Participants: Deyvy Rodriguez & Jon Paulien
Series Code: JBOTB
Program Code: JBOTB00023B
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00:01 Well, welcome back to this program.
00:02 We are in Chapter 17. 00:04 We are talking about the prayer that Jesus is giving. 00:07 Now during the break, I was thinking that, 00:09 you know, I don't have any children myself 00:11 but the message of the cross is a message 00:14 that I cannot fully comprehend or understand 00:17 but as I read and I just can't imagine 00:21 how a Father will give His Son 00:24 but the message that I get from this is unselfish love 00:29 that God would give His son to die for me on the cross 00:32 and that's even though I don't understand it 00:34 completely that I can believe and accept. 00:38 And that's why I accept Jesus Christ. 00:40 And, Dr. Paulien, 00:42 so, we were talking about the prayer of Jesus 00:45 and just how powerful it is. 00:47 He is praying for His disciples Himself and for you and me. 00:50 Yeah. So why don't you and I proceed? 00:53 Well, let's move fairly quickly through verses 6-19 00:56 because that's the part of the prayer 00:58 that's focus specifically 00:59 on the disciples and their situations. 01:01 We will say a couple of things about that 01:03 but I want to save little time 01:04 for the last six or seven verses which are about us 01:08 and therefore really powerful for us. 01:11 Let's look at verse 6. 01:13 "I have manifested Your name to the men 01:16 whom You have given Me out of the world. 01:18 They were Yours, You gave them to Me, 01:21 and they have kept Your word." 01:23 So here we see the attention is focusing from Jesus Himself 01:29 to the disciples and Jesus revealing 01:34 of what God is like is first of all for the disciples, 01:38 right there right at that time and place. 01:40 Verse 8. 01:42 "For I have given to them the words 01:44 which You have given Me, 01:46 and they have received them, and have known surely 01:49 that I came forth from You, 01:51 and they have believed that You sent Me." 01:54 So this verse tells us that there's two things, 01:58 first of all he disciples now know who Jesus is. 02:02 At least in part, they are getting the idea. 02:05 This isn't just a human being, this isn't just a prophet, 02:08 this isn't just a superstar. 02:10 This is God Himself living among us in the flesh. 02:14 So disciples are beginning to grasp that 02:16 and the other thing they are grasping 02:18 is that the Father sent Jesus, 02:20 those two go together that Jesus came from the throne of God. 02:25 He wasn't born into this world 02:27 and that's where His existence starts. 02:29 As a person He pre-existed. 02:31 So disciples are beginning to grasp these things 02:35 and certainly by the time the gospel 02:37 is written they have it down. 02:40 Let's touch base on verse 13. 02:43 "But now I come to You, 02:45 and these things I speak in the world, 02:47 that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves." 02:51 So we see Jesus praying for the disciples 02:55 while He is still in the world 02:57 and He wants them to have a full measure of His joy. 03:02 Now we've talked about that in the series, 03:04 the difference between joy and fun. 03:07 It's not fun to go to a cross, it's not fun to suffer 03:10 but there is joy when there is a purpose in it. 03:13 There is joy when one has a larger picture 03:17 that's aligned with God's picture. 03:20 And he wants the disciples to be able 03:23 to be in this world what He was. 03:26 Jesus leaves two things behind to take His place in the world. 03:30 First of all, the Holy Spirit 03:33 is left behind to take Jesus' place. 03:35 Through the Holy Spirit, God can do for us the things 03:40 that Jesus did while He was on earth. 03:43 He can do all the miracles etcetera, 03:45 whatever, it is that they need. 03:47 Second of all though Jesus is leaving the disciples 03:50 behind to take His place in the world. 03:53 So Jesus, when He goes away is replaced by two things, 03:57 the Holy Spirit and disciples. 03:59 And that's really the message 04:00 of these last five chapters in the Gospel of John. 04:04 Let's look at the last 04:05 two verses of Jesus' prayer for His disciples. 04:08 Verses 18 and 19. 04:11 "As You sent Me into the world, 04:14 I also have sent them into the world. 04:16 And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, 04:19 that they also may be sanctified by the truth." 04:23 Here Jesus says, you, Father, sent me into the world 04:27 now I send them into the world. 04:30 So the model of the disciple's behavior 04:33 is what Jesus did in relation to His Father. 04:37 So Jesus reveals the Father to the disciples. 04:44 Disciples reveal Jesus to the world. 04:48 That's the picture 04:49 and it's what we call witnessing. 04:52 Witnessing is not about building kingdoms on this earth. 04:56 Witnessing is letting people know what God is like. 05:00 It's the clearest window the world has today 05:03 through disciples and through the Holy Spirit 05:06 that the world can come to see the things 05:08 that this gospel talks about. 05:11 And witnessing is not necessarily through words 05:14 but through deeds and actions. 05:16 That's right. 05:17 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples 05:21 through the love that you have for each other. 05:23 So witnessing is more than just words, 05:25 witnessing is how we treat each other. 05:28 Verse 20, big shift. 05:30 "I do not pray for these alone, but also for those 05:33 who will believe in Me through their word." 05:36 All right. That's the second generation. 05:38 That's us, you know. 05:40 The only window we have to Jesus 05:43 is through the words of this gospel 05:46 and now the exciting thing is, 05:48 Jesus didn't just pray for Himself and His disciples. 05:52 He didn't pray for us generically, 05:54 He specifically looks down the ages and say, 05:57 now I am going to pray for everyone 06:01 who comes to Jesus through their word 06:04 not just through this gospel. 06:07 And by the way, let me just mention to our viewers 06:10 that we are definitely trying to stretch the time here 06:14 as you can see. 06:15 There are so many things, 06:16 the Gospel of John is a huge book, 06:18 much could be said and we will be posting 06:21 the scripts including all the things 06:24 we left out on my website, 06:27 thebattleofarmageddon.com. 06:29 So if you would like to get the scripts and go deeper 06:33 and have other texts to look up, 06:35 please do that. 06:36 And earlier you said this is very powerful to me that, 06:40 that second generation is us meaning that we never-- 06:45 we have never seen Jesus, 06:46 we have never seen His miracles been performed. 06:49 Nevertheless that generation or that first generation 06:52 who did has no advantage over us 06:56 who have never seen Jesus. 06:59 In fact you even said that it's even better for us 07:02 because those who did see Jesus, 07:04 many of them did not believe. 07:06 And now we who don't see Jesus 07:10 have a great advantage to believe. 07:12 That's right. 07:13 Sounds like you've been studying the Gospel of John. 07:17 Well, the way you presented it is just so fabulous 07:20 and so amazing that you know sometimes we read, 07:23 we just read over it like, you know, 07:25 but if you read and then and you ask yourself 07:28 why or when or how come, 07:31 then it just makes you go back to you know, verse-- 07:34 the previous verse or the previous chapter 07:36 and then you put it on to context begins to make sense 07:39 and just more powerful to the word. 07:42 Now put yourself in Jesus' place. 07:45 He's got a chance here to pray for us. 07:48 There's one thing 07:51 that he would pray for what would it be? 07:54 You know, you think about all the options, 07:56 what could he have prayed for? 07:59 He chooses one thing, verses 21-23. 08:03 "That they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, 08:07 and I in You, that they also may be one in Us, 08:10 that the world may believe that You sent Me. 08:13 And the glory which You gave Me 08:15 I have given them, 08:17 that they may be one just as We are one. 08:19 I in them, and You in Me, 08:21 that they may be made perfect in one, 08:23 and that the world may know that You have sent Me, 08:27 and that I have loved them as You have loved Me." 08:31 Of all of things Jesus could have prayed about right now. 08:33 The one time he actually prays directly for us. 08:36 He says, you know, 08:37 looking down to the halls around it, 08:39 the biggest thing you're going to need is unity. 08:41 He must already have known 08:43 that that's the opposite 08:45 of what the church would actually become. 08:48 As you look at the Christian church today 08:50 the followers of Jesus, 08:51 there are hundreds and thousands of denominations 08:55 and different branches and different groups. 08:59 The unity is fractured and Jesus says, 09:03 "By this you will know you are My disciples 09:06 by the love that you have for one another." 09:09 A bitterly divided church makes God look bad. 09:13 The whole point of Chapter 17 is what God is like, 09:17 self-sacrificing, merciful, gracious with people 09:21 who are spitting in His face. 09:23 Much less someone who disagrees with us. 09:25 We get bend out of shape if someone disagrees. 09:28 And yet people were spitting in His face, 09:31 slapping Him, beating Him, 09:33 torturing Him and He love them still, 09:35 Father forgive them. 09:37 If we took on the Spirit of Jesus, 09:41 there would be unity in the church. 09:44 We would be able to look past the differences, 09:47 look past some of the struggles 09:48 that we have with each others personality and character. 09:52 I am not talking about uniformity 09:55 that we all got to think exactly the same way 09:58 but rather unity comes 10:00 when there's an acceptance of each other, 10:02 even when there are some differences 10:05 recognizing that nobody sees exactly 10:08 alike with somebody else. 10:10 Comes back to John 3:8, 10:13 when the Holy Spirit comes in, 10:15 we become a little bit like the wind. 10:18 There are differences but in those very differences, 10:22 if there is unity, it's a miracle 10:24 and it testifies to the world 10:26 that Jesus is present in this community. 10:29 That was Jesus' number one prayer for us today. 10:33 And, Dr. Paulien, the message 10:34 I get from this is to know God 10:36 for what He really is and that is love. 10:40 And friends, I invite you today 10:42 to invite Jesus Christ into your lives, till next time. |
Revised 2014-12-17