Last Words  Week 5

Good morning. Good morning. Hey. Awesome. Awesome. Good to be here. I'm glad you guys are here. I'm excited that you're here. If you don't know where you are, you're at Rock Point Church. So,

hey. I wanna start off today talking a little bit about some celebration here. It'll tie into my my my sermon, but we got some exciting things going on. I mean, first of all, I don't if you noticed, out in the lobby now over there by where the the model is for the new building,

we have a a sample of the chair that's gonna go in the new building. It won't be that color. My my my my wife wanted me to reiterate that's not the one it's gonna be, but that's the actual sample of the chairs we're gonna be put in, so you can actually go try it out, see what you think. And if you try it out, you don't like it, you have plenty of time to go try new churches. So there you go. But because that's the chair. And with that said but the more exciting news is, you know, you might have noticed that we've been doing something over in this part of our our land here. It just looks like we're moving dirt around and and stuff like that. So from the from the

ground level, it doesn't look like much. But I want to show you a picture from just a few days ago from the the aerial shot of what's going on right over here. And there you go. And when you look, the footings are in. So

you could see that if there's a building going in there. And and it's really cool. You could see where where we're gonna sit and we're in all that stuff. And and the the the really really cool thing is they tell me the walls are gonna start next week. So you're gonna start seeing walls going. So you're gonna actually start seeing something happening.

And and what is really cool about those walls is is is we want these walls to go up so walls can come down between people and God in this community. I mean, that's what we've always that's what we've prayed about. That's we have always been a

church that prays for that and goes after that. That's what I'm so proud of this church. I thank you all for this church, of your courageous generosity, and knowing that, hey, we wanna do this because we wanna reach people for Jesus. Matter of fact, we've always we've always been that way. I mean, our our this building,

in these two walls here, there are thousands of people's names on cards that those that helped pay and and build this building. We wrote names of people we wanted to know Jesus and put them in in the wall. And I've met multiple

of the people that came and found out after they came and came to know the Lord. They said, hey, just found out that my friend, my family member, whatever, has put my name in the wall and has been praying. So that's just kinda we we've always focused. If if if you have have come and you've made a commitment to our courage campaign

and you were here on groundbreaking day, you probably have the one of those jars of the dirt from out there as a reminder to pray. But as we kicked off the courage campaign, everyone who made a commitment, you probably went and you signed one of those bricks. Remember? And and and and if you signed the brick, had to sign your family name and then somebody you're praying for. Someone the wall needs to come down between them and them and Jesus, and they were actually gonna put those bricks on one of the walls, and I could show you that's gonna go right

there. That's gonna be the wall. It's it's it's gonna be on that wall there, and there's gonna be our new cross that we'll put in front of it. So that's exciting. Isn't it? Ain't that really cool? Isn't that something to celebrate and say amen to? But

you know what's really cool? It's that idea of us praying for the people that that that need to know Jesus and praying for him before we even know them, so to speak. You know, building the building, doing all that. That that that history goes all the way back to when we came out here and and started Rock Point.

Eighteen years ago, me and a couple friends that were stupid enough to come with me.

We came out here and we were looking around for a place of church and and and, you know, we had literally took the that that phrase when Jesus says, I'll I'll build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail. So we decided to go past the gates of hell into the suburbs here. And

and came out here in the heat, we started praying. And we were in this little park in an area in Power Ranch neighborhood, and and and it was really that was the only thing. There's only a few houses built there, and then everything else around here was corn and cows and a few little houses here and there, but that was about it. And and we just started praying, and we, this this this this group of knuckleheads that really just the only thing we had going for us is we believe that Jesus would actually

provide where he guides. That Jesus, if he calls you to do something, he'll actually do what he says. So we came here and we started praying, and I remember one of the last things we prayed in that little park before we came here to start Rock Point was we had the unmitigated gall

to pray for the thousands of people that we knew were gonna come to know Jesus and grow in that and be a part of this church called Rock Point. And so what's crazy is in our history, honestly, if you're here and this is your church, we prayed for you eighteen years ago. We prayed for you before we even knew your name.

Well, a lot of us, a lot of you, we still don't know your names, but but we prayed for you. And what we did is we prayed, and I said, hey, I didn't know him, but God knows who you are. God knew. So we already had prayed for you years and years and years and years and years ago. And now you're an answer to that prayer.

And God knew that you would need to be here, that we needed to be here, and he made it happen. But you know what's even more powerful than that? Is in the passage we're gonna look at today, John 17 in the series on the last words of Jesus before he's crucified, is is this amazing fact. Jesus prays for you.

That's the big idea for today that we wanna we wanna unpackage. It's as simple. Sometimes I try to come with these big ideas that are really catchy and memorable or rhyme, or maybe they're just stupid. I don't know. But but today, it's so powerful. It's simply this. The simple big idea we wanna talk about today is this. Jesus

prays for me. Jesus prays for me. But it's even more powerful than how we prayed for you eighteen years ago before we met you. What Jesus prays for you and me, he doesn't just pray, but he prays for you and me. Very literal. So I what I wanna do is we're gonna go through John 17

is the entire chapter is a prayer. It's Jesus praying with his disciples, and and it's just right before he ends up getting arrested, and and he goes off to get crucified. So this is kind of these last moments here. And and as he

he he's gonna pray. Here's the thing. We're gonna look at this prayer, the whole chapter. We're just gonna take it apart and see what's in it. What does this mean for us? But what I wanna do is show you something that Jesus when I say Jesus prays for me, it's it's much more powerful than this generic, oh, I'm gonna pray for you, or I'm gonna I'm gonna do this. I I want us to know how personal this prayer is to us, not just in principle,

but in actual literal value to us. And if you look so I wanna look at a couple verses before we start going through this prayer. In verse 20, I just wanna point something out here. It says this in verse 20, I am praying not only for these disciples, but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message.

So right there, he just said, I'm not just praying for these 11 guys I'm with. He just now sets up that this entire prayer is not just for them, but it's for anyone who will ever put their faith in Jesus. So if you are sitting here and you, I believe in Jesus, then he just prayed for you.

But here's what's more powerful. That's he didn't pray for you the way I prayed for you eighteen years ago. This generic, I know people are gonna be here, but when I prayed eighteen years ago, we prayed that we knew that, hey, we knew God knew who was gonna be here. But guess who just prayed this prayer? God. So so the Jesus

has all the attributes of God. He has omniscience, omnipresence. He's not can he is not contained by space and time. As a man, his man he is, but but as God, his nature is not. So just think about it. I want us to think about this for a minute. When Jesus said, I pray for everyone who'll ever believe, he literally

already knew you when he prayed that. He knew your name. Does that not blow your mind? Jesus knew your name before you knew your name. Jesus knew your name before your mom and dad knew your name. When

Jesus prays there, he's not just given a blanket generic statement. He's the great I am. He is God of the universe. When he prayed that, he already knew who he was praying for. The only reason he didn't save everyone's name is he would still be praying. It's a pretty long list.

But what I wanna do before we dive into this prayer, just to set the stage, you know, because this is this is powerful stuff. But I want us to really let that sink in. So for just a minute, I'm I'm gonna do something that's even more miraculous than that. I'm gonna stop talking for about thirty seconds.

And and and and and it's gonna get awkward. Some of you are gonna get scared. You're gonna wonder what's going on, but but it's gonna happen. But what I wanna do is I just wanna stop talking, and I what I'm gonna challenge you to do is think about this. This that at this moment, the night before, though one of the last things Jesus did before he was arrested and tried and crucified, when he knew what he was going into this hour, we'll see this hour where he is gonna go let his soul be crushed by taking on our sin, not just dying a horrible physical death, but taking on our sin. Are you letting his soul can be consumed with our brokenness, and he took it, and his soul was literally crushed in this.

Right before he was about to go do this moment that was the father's plan, that was the goal of his life, is why he came, all this stuff. He had all that on his mind. He stopped and prayed. And think about it. Two thousand years later, we could think of it. He literally was thinking of you

in this moment. The the Bible's always for us, but it's not always directly to us. So sometimes we look in on and go, I can learn from this because it's about me and it involves me. That is one of the best verses in the Bible because we are actually in that verse. Have you thought about that?

That right before Jesus went to the cross, he literally knew your name, knew your face, knew what he was doing, and he prayed for you. Now, here comes the moment you're like, thought he said he's gonna shut up.

Take whatever struggle, the storm you're in right now. The thing that makes you wanna doubt God. The things that maybe even wants you to doubt life. The thing that you're like, I I just can't have joy. This just seems so hard. And for thirty seconds, can you just look at that

through the lens of laying down this truth right next to it? Just let it sink in that Jesus not only prayed for you two thousand years ago, the book of Hebrews says he continues to do so today. Think about that.

It's pretty amazing, isn't it? Not just the fact that I was quiet for thirty seconds, but if you really think about that. Now with that in mind, I wanna walk back and I wanna look at one more verse before we start in the beginning. Because you gotta bear in mind, Jesus, this prayer is very much directly for you and me.

He was thinking about you and me. But I want to look at what as we take this apart, there's a lot of theology in this prayer. I'm gonna try to keep it simple. But before we get there, go, well, what is the bottom line? Because now I know he actually thought about me, and he thought about you, and he prayed for us.

But what was really the bottom line? What does Jesus really want for you and me? Because I think if if we if we can embrace that, I don't think we're so afraid to trust Jesus. And I think he shares the heart of his what he wants

through this prayer. The heart of what Jesus really wants for you and me is actually found in the heart of this prayer.

Verse 13, there's 26 verses right in the middle as I think what Jesus really wants for you and me. And it says this, now I am coming to you. I told them many things while I was with them in this world so they would be filled with my joy.

He would say, he goes, I I didn't tell him all these things about how I'm gonna die for them and how we're broken in sin and how we we need to trust him and he loves it. He didn't say all this stuff so they'll be filled with guilt and resentment and fear and all this. What he says, the reason I give you my word that he's gonna say in this prayer. The reason we have the word of God. The reason Jesus says trust me. The reason Jesus wants to follow him. The reason we should try to live our lives the way Jesus has asked us to

is because what he's doing and what he's done and what he's praying and what he's always wanted is for you and I to have joy. The problem is most of us are pursuing happiness. And like I've shared the last few weeks, happiness is controlled by our circumstances.

Happiness is if the circumstances are good, I'm happy. If the circumstances are bad, I'm not happy. And and and so I don't have peace when I don't have happiness because peace is calm.

And and I'm not calm when happiness isn't there. I'm not calm. Where Jesus wants us to have joy, which peace comes with joy. A peace that surpasses all understanding, which means what Jesus is calling us to is it's a gift.

He's saying, hey, what some stuff he asked us to do doesn't sound very peaceful and it doesn't sound very happy. But he goes, but you know what you will get when you go the way I built you to go and called you to go? You'll get joy and peace. And what he means by that is a peace that happens,

a calm when you feel like you shouldn't be calm, and joy is an exuberance that happens when you don't feel like you should be happy. It transcends.

And everything in the world that we run after that we think that'll make, you know, the more stuff, the more things, the better job, the different relation, all these things we chase after, that might give you moments of happiness and moments of peace, but they're fleeting.

You have to understand that the God who made you wants you to be filled with joy. But joy is not about name it and claim it. It's not about praying and getting all the things you ever wanted. It's about pursuing what Jesus wants for you.

And you gotta understand that or this prayer is not gonna sound like a very nice prayer because he challenges in this prayer. He prays over the things that he knows we need,

and he knows he wants for us. And when he prays over these things, he's saying, hey, when you if we embrace what he prays over us, when we embrace it, we can have joy.

So a lot of us, even as churchgoing people, even the people that believe in Jesus, you're like, you keep saying joy is something I can have despite the storm in my life. I don't seem to have the joy. There's a good chance it might be because you're not embracing what Jesus is praying over you.

You're not embracing what he wants for you. And if you reject what he wants for you, you can't have that peace and that joy. Make sense? So now let's go through here. And as we start, I wanna give you a quick outline.

Now it's gonna sound like the, seminary class for a minute because there's a lot of theology, but to break it down I just want you to know, let me give you a picture. This this sermon, this this prayer can be broken into three parts. And each of the three parts, when we analyze it and take it apart, there's a theological term to each part of what Jesus is talking about.

And and and really theology terms are are crazy. There are these words, these big words. They're they're on the screen behind me right now. And and then these words are words that that that there are attempt to try to summarize an incredible truth

about God we find in his word. They're they're they're they're deep, they're meaningful, but they they don't really sound that way. So when you look at this verse, this this this prayer is broken into three parts. The first five verses, Jesus is praying about salvation. He's praying for himself, but he talks about this concept of salvation.

Verse six through 19, as he starts to pray over the 11 disciples, and we know by the end and us too, is this idea of sanctification, being set apart to grow in the word and and and what does that mean and stuff like that. And then the last six or so verses, he transitions into this this concept of glorification.

Man, don't you just read that list and feel joy already? Man, salvation, sanctification, glorification, joy. Hallelujah. You know, you're there. Right? Or does that seem more like a list like you just went to the dentist. He goes, I got three things for you. You got cavities,

you need a crown, and to top it all off, you need a root canal. Joy. And your insurance doesn't cover any of it. That might feel like, what does this mean? And that's the whole point. Theology

is like seminary's attempt to take these beautiful things and make us hate them. That's what I think it is. But these words are beautiful when you understand what he prays and we take it apart.

So I'm gonna give us a statement for each one of these that puts the cookies on the bottom shelf. It's more like, okay, what does that mean for you and me? What does that mean? Or at least this is what I gotta do because it makes sense when I do it this way. But as as we look, we're gonna look at these first five verses, salvation

and what it means, this doctrine of salvation, what Jesus is about to start this prayer about is it means this.

The first step, the first thing I need to embrace to experience joy in my life is to understand and know that if I put my faith in Jesus, I have a pardon for my past. That's step one. That's the first thing he's gonna pray about. I have a pardon for my past.

Let me look at that. Let me show you what I mean. So he starts off in verse one. After saying all these things, Jesus looked up to heaven and said, father, the hour has come. Now all the time he keeps on this hour, this hour, this hour. The hour is the cross. Jesus had a mission,

and that mission was to come and die for you and me. He even actually explains what that means. He goes he goes, glorify your son so he can give glory back to you, for you have given him authority over everyone. He gives eternal life to each one you have given him.

And this is the way to have eternal life, to know you, the only true God. So the the way to have eternal life, I talked about a few weeks ago, eternal life, that word for that, eternal and the word for life there to it doesn't just mean existence that doesn't stop. We're not we're not like vampires.

We don't just keep living. It's it's that word there for life is zoe. It means eternal life in the fullest, the way God created it to be. And he goes, the only way we can have that is in a relationship to God.

And the only way we can know the true God is what it says, in Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth. I brought glory to you here on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. Now, father, bring me into the glory we shared before the world began.

What Jesus is that when you understand Jesus' death on the cross, when you understand what he's saying here, is he's saying that none of us have eternal life. We aren't separated from real life. We need it.

It's our brokenness, our sin that took us away from it. That's all through scripture. All through scripture. We are separated because God is holy and righteous and just,

and so he will judge sin. He will judge rebellion. He'll judge so when we run after happiness, when we run away from God, we don't trust him. We're like a rebellious child when we go our own way, and and we can't survive. There's no eternal life in that.

And God will judge sin. That's why we have a sense of justice in us, because we have an image of God in us. Well, problem is we don't like to look at our own brokenness and our own sin because our sense of justice, we want judge we want justice for you. I want mercy and grace for me. The reality is God is both.

So Jesus coming across is God is gonna judge sin. There will be righteousness. There will be holiness. There will be a reckoning.

But at the same time, he loves us. And so there is love, there's grace, and there's mercy. That's why Jesus is the only way. Jesus died on the cross, thereby proving that God is consistent with who he is. Sin gets judged. Jesus doesn't God doesn't forgive us by saying, oh, just don't worry about sin. He can't. He won't.

But he loves us so much that it says that look at how much first Jesus loved us so much, he says the hour has come. He knows this hour is brutal. He knows what he's about to do. And then he says, father, I gave up my glory. I veiled my glory. I'm still God, but I humbled myself and took on the nature of a man. And you realize we're gonna see Jesus in heaven. The man the nature of man that God took on, the son took on,

was not just a a man suit he put on until he died and was resurrected. Jesus is eternally now gonna be like you and me. He is eternally keeps his human nature. That wasn't just a temporary choice for you and me. You will be able to physically see Jesus, the man, someday. That's who left. The Holy Spirit stays.

So he chose to do that, and he veiled a lot of his attributes, his glory, as he said, because now I'm looking back to coming back to you, father, and having all the glory back and and and and that. But I did that. I'm gonna do this hour. I did it. Why? Because you gave them to me.

So Jesus died for us because he loves us. He was willing to sacrifice. He was willing to submit. He was willing to do all that because he loves us. But did you catch the rest of that? What he's saying in that prayer to the father when he's talking to God the father? Who gave them to him? The father.

It's a love gift. He says it more in the next few verses. He'll talk about it. But so the father loved us enough that even though we couldn't know him because of our sin, he came up with a plan. The son said, I'll buy the plan. I'll purchase the plan. And the Holy Spirit says, I'll and empower the plan.

The whole Trinity, the whole band's involved in this. But what that shows you is that look at how much God the Father just like last week, I said, sometimes we think of God the Father as the mean old man in the sky with a lightning bolt. He's the grumpy grandpa,

but the luckily Jesus jumps in front and says, don't worry, dad. I'll take care of it. I'll get them in shape. Don't worry. And you think that, you know what? Yeah. I know Jesus kinda loves me, but God the father, you know, God just tolerates me. He he he doesn't really

like me that much. Much. In other words, you sit there and you think, I know Jesus died for me, but the reason I come to church, gotta try to be as good as I can, and I try to embrace Jesus. Because you know what? God the father, he's out to get me.

And you know what? That's not true. God the father is is is is is not out to get you. You know what he is? He's out to get you. He let me say it again. God the father, he's not out to get you, but he is out to get you. You're like, did he just have an aneurysm? Was that thirty seconds of silence too much for him?

Think about it. When you hate somebody, your arch nemesis, you say, I'm gonna get you. But I bet when you met someone, maybe the love of your life, you said, man, I wanna get them. Same words, very different meaning. God the father was not out to get you. He came out with a plan to get you, To get you back.

That's the beauty that and it's a pardon for my past. Why do I say that? Because all of us have sinned. All of us have fallen short of the glory of God. And you know what? Someday we stand before God, we answer for that, and you either answer it for yourself or you have a pardon for it. And the reason to call it your past is because at the end of time, all of things we've done on this earth are gonna be past.

Matter of fact, tomorrow, today is gonna be yesterday. Think about that.

Remember the past back when I did that thirty seconds of silence? See? That was the past already. And and and and so this idea that we are pardoned,

and because God loves us, the father loved us so much, he came up with a plan to pardon us. And Jesus loved us so much, he purchased the plan. He he did the work. He says, I have finished the work you asked me to do. That shows you how much God loves you, that he pardon us. And the reason we call it a pardon is, if you get a pardon, does that mean you were innocent?

It just means you're now free from the penalty. And that's why a lot of us struggle with why do I need Jesus? Well, if you really think you're innocent, a pardon isn't a blessing. It's not a gift to you. It's more of a it's about time. I shouldn't have to be pardoned. I didn't do anything.

So when we understand our brokenness, we can get the pardon. And you know what? But what the salvation means too is not just a pardon for my past, it's the ability for me to move past my past. Because some of the stuff I carry around, some of the stuff you and I are hurting over isn't the things we've done. It's the things that other people's sin has done to us.

And what this allows us to do is unchain ourselves from that. We can walk away from that. We can walk into this healing. We can be freed from it. Because too many of us, we can't get past our past. And if we can't get past our past, it's ruining our present, and it's giving us no future.

Now doesn't that sound a lot more beautiful and joy giving than just this word called salvation? Jesus wants to pardon us from the past. It's not just him. It's it's God the father. And, you know, he's not out to get you, but he is out to get you. So

then it goes from this. It goes in into the next thing. In verse six, he starts saying this. I have revealed you to the ones you gave me from this world. They were always yours. You gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything I have is a gift from you. For I've passed on to them the message you gave me. They accepted it and know that I came from you, and they believe you sent me. So he's saying the ones I'm praying over now and everyone who will ever believe this message

has put their faith in Jesus. They they you've accepted Jesus. I'm I'm I'm a Christian, so to speak, is what he's saying. That's why I'm praying for them.

Because he he he says, I my prayer is not for the world, but for those you have given me. So anyone he's given, anyone who's put their faith in Jesus, this is who he's praying for.

And he goes, because they belong to you. All who are mine belong to you, and you have given them to me, so they bring me glory. But now here's the point here's where we get into the idea of what he's trying to say in the second part is. Now I am departing from the world.

They are staying in this world, but I'm coming to you. So he goes, now I'm leaving, but they're staying.

Now think about the 11 sitting there. That's what's been freaking him out the whole time. Jesus has been there and this whole time now he's praying in the middle of the prayer. He says, and now I'm going, but they're they're sticking around. He's like, what?

See, not only does he give us a pardon for our past, what he's about to say the next few words, this is a lead in to the second point, this thing called sanctification. And what does that mean? It means a power for my present.

Not only does he give me a pardon for my past, but Jesus is praying over the disciples, and I already said it includes us. He's praying that he's about to say, hey, they're gonna have a power for the present. He goes, I'm gonna go. They're gonna stay. And the next few words is he prays about what he wants to see him, what he needs from the father to give to us, what he wants for us, a protection and a power and this ability, but he explains what that is. He explains what's going on. And this is the part I think. This is the part of the sermon. This is the part of the prayer that I think most of us get locked up on, and this is where we lose joy. This is where we miss out on joy. Because in this prayer, what he prays about, he actually answers,

gives us the answer to why when he goes, why do we stay? If I put my faith in Jesus, why do I need to be here anymore? Why do I need to stay in a broken world? Why don't why doesn't Scotty just beam me up? Why why don't I just fade away like they did in that Infinity War movie? Why why

can't I just call the all father and take the Bifrost like Thor to heaven? Why why do we need to be here? In other words, why are you and I still breathing after I put my faith in Jesus? Is it to pursue happiness?

Is it to beg to God? Is it to try to be a good boy and girl so he'll give me the better house, the better car, the better kids, the better spouse, the better this? Is it I is is it am I here to try to spiritualize

the pursuit that every human being is running after on this planet, only I think I got a head start because Jesus is gonna help me get it? Does that make sense? A lot of this we think I how many of us we pray? If you look at what I'm praying for,

I'm pursuing and asking for all the same things that my non Christian friends and neighbors are running after. I'm just trying to sprinkle Jesus over it. I'm trying to use Jesus. I got a head start. I got an advantage. I got a performance enhancing drug. It's called Jesus. Is that really why we're here?

Is it to run after the same things? Because I think if we do, we miss what Jesus has prayed for us. We don't embrace the power for the present, and we miss the joy.

And you think the lack of joy is because Jesus is thwarting your plan. You're like, Jesus, I love you. I embrace you. I go to Rock Point. I sit through that guy's sermons every week. I deserve a break here. Why is my job stink? Why is my marriage struggling? Why do I have problems?

He answers the why right here, and it's about this power for the present. He says, I'm going. They're staying. But where was I at?

I'm departing the world. They're staying in this world. But I'm coming to you. Holy father, you have given me your name. Now protect them by the power of your name. Good. Protection in the name of God. But then he goes, so that they will be happy and get everything they want. No. It says, so they will be united

just as we are. He wants us to have relationships, a unite a unity the way the father and the son have a unity. Loving, deep, committed community relationship. Unity. But he goes on to explain what that unity looks like.

He goes, during my time here, I protected them by the power of the name you gave me. I guarded them so no one was lost except the one headed for destruction. That's Judas. As scripture foretold, he's saying, hey, they were all believers. Judas never was.

Bottom line. That's what he's saying. Judas just played the game. That's why I always say, hey, I don't care how long you've been in church if you really put your faith in Jesus. Because just because you show up doesn't make you a Christian. Judas showed up. He played the game. He wasn't a Christian. If you go sit in your garage, it doesn't make you a car.

Some of you say the thing that sits in my garage isn't much of a car either. But that's why I'm mad at Jesus. But it says sorry. I'm getting 08:30 in the morning. I'm distracted. He says so he says, I've protected them. I've guarded them. Now you need to protect them.

Up until this point, I've physically been present with them. But now I'm not. You need to protect them. Why? Because they need to have this unity. But what's this unity for? So in verse 13, it says what I already said. I want them to have my joy. But then in verse 14, he says, I have given them your word. So now he's starting to explain. How do we have unity? What's his unity for? I've given them the word.

And the world hates them because they do not belong to the world just as I do not belong to the world. We're supposed to belong to the word, not the world. That's what we need to be united about.

And then he says, look at verse 15. I'm not asking that you take them out of the world, but you keep them safe from the evil one.

I don't know about you, but but if you thought I'm following Jesus just to be safe. If I if you think being a Christian is all about being safe and and staying in a safe place, he goes, I'm not asking you to take them out of the world, but I am asking you to keep them safe from the evil one. Well, they need to be safe from the evil one, that implies we're doing something where the evil one is. That that we have the word, that we're there, and and and we're in a dangerous place. He's not saying I'm gonna keep you out of the valley of the shadow of death. Walk with them through the valley of the shadow of death. Keep them safe as they go. And he get and he explains it even more. It gets even deeper. He goes, they do not belong, verse 16, to the world any more than I do.

So they we if we believe in Jesus, we don't belong to this world any more than Jesus did. So why do we try to come to church and spiritualize our pursuit of the world?

And now he gets very specific. Make them holy by your truth. Teach them your word, which is truth. So we're united. We need to be united in knowing the word of God and living it out. But here it comes. Final answer. But what for? Verse 18. Just as you sent me into the world, I'm sending them into the world.

And guess what? Him sending us into the world, he adds in verse 19, and I give myself as a holy sacrifice for them so they can be made holy by your truth. He's like, and that's why I died.

I'm dying so they can have the truth of the word of God. They can have the relationship with you, so they can have the protection and the unity to go on mission, to go do what I've sent them to do. You realize we we've said this a in church. If been in church a lot, you we'd say this claim, when we try to live,

follow, trust Jesus, You probably said to your kids, hey, you know what? We're in the world, but we're not of the world. You've heard that phrase before. Right? In the world, but not of the world. Do you realize Jesus never actually says it that way? He never says in the world, but not of the world.

It's the other way around. He goes, you're not of this world, but I'm sending you into this world. Doesn't that just kinda have a different vibe to what it really can be taken to mean? When you say in the world but not of the world, that sounds like we're stuck here,

and we better do our best to circle up the wagons and protect me and my own and and and and make sure I'm okay and white knuckle it till Jesus till the cavalry of of Calvary comes to save me. And and and until that happens, we gotta we gotta stay. It it the idea of saying in the world but not of it, so many of us as Christians realize that we read that wrong, and we think we read unity as uniformity.

Because what we think it means to be in the world and not of the world is to mean, hey, I need to isolate. We need to isolate.

I need to be isolated from the world. I need to make sure my kids are isolated. I better keep them away from all those unten those those those heathens out there that will taint them, and I need to stay away from that, and I need to find a church that we all act alike, dress alike, look alike, say the exact same things. You know, we gotta be exactly alike because it's about uniformity.

And really, it's called we're this wagon train that we realize we're in a hostile territory, So let's circle the wagons. Everyone get your guns, which in the Bible there's one weapon that he gives us. And what is that?

The Bible. So we all grab our weapons, and we line up, and you circle the wagons. And and and we think that to be a Christian means find a church where we circle the wagons together, keep the kids in the middle, and keep everything away from us. And we need to isolate,

and we're all gonna dress like and act like and chew gum the same way and do this. And and and it's all about our action and how we look the same and we say the same things and we circle the wagons and we get our weapon to fight off to defend ourselves from the the people on the outside. Here's the problem with that.

Jesus isn't talking about isolation. He's talking about infiltration. He's saying, I'm sending you into hostile territory with a mission.

And so if you circle the wagons, how are you going to go rescue the people you're supposed to rescue? I'm sending you. He says it later on. Just as I'm gone, now they're going. He's basically saying you're now taking my mantle. My mission is now your mission. You, by my power, and I'm giving you my glory, he's gonna say we carry the glory of God. We have Jesus in us. We're supposed to go share the gospel. We're supposed to go point people to Jesus by loving them like Jesus. We're not supposed to circle the wagons and defend. We're supposed to be got on a mission together in unity looking for others that we need to rescue. And the problem yeah. Keep it going. The problem with that is when you circle the wagons and you become about uniformity instead of unity and mission is what we do is we circle the wagons. And here's the problem with that. Anything that's not in my circle is a target.

And you shoot the wounded, you shoot the people we're supposed to reach, we shoot everybody, we act like jerks, we take our Bibles and we Now

we do need to live the word. He said he gave us the word. I'm not saying that anything goes. I'm not saying that Jesus loves us so much that you just take the way how you wanna live, put a circle around it, go bullseye.

Jesus loves me just like this. He loves you right where you're at, but he doesn't wanna leave you there. But the purpose is not isolation. See, when when you get isolation mentality and circle the wagons mentality, you get paranoid about everything.

And then you find a church that just wants to tell you what you wanna hear, and really by yelling at everybody out there and not challenging us.

And and and and and and so when you hear stuff like, well, they're building that building. They want me to give money to it. Why do they need to build that building? Why does the church need a bigger building? You know who says that? Isolationists.

See, if you get a bigger circle, there's more places that can get breached by the enemy. God, that'll water it down. We can't don't wanna be in those big churches that are actually reaching people for Jesus. We gotta keep the circle tight and small, because it's about uniformity and purity and all that.

When I say, hey, we're doing 10 services at Easter. Why? Well, seven of them are because that's the day everyone that comes to church here decides to come on the same day. Surprisingly, we have about three times as many people that come to this church that show up on any given week. But there's a lot of outreach,

but we need you to serve. When I say you should tithe, you should give financially and support your church because we have a mission together. That's the unity. We unity to we come together in unity to to come together as a body because we're better together to then go on mission. And if you don't wanna go on mission,

if your idea of knowing Jesus is is that isolation, the uniformity of circling the wagons,

you are never gonna understand how I keep preaching about serve, give, get involved in community, use your gift, share your faith. You're gonna gonna be like, I don't have time for that. You know why? Because you're too busy running after the world. You're in the world and of the world.

We need to be not of this world. We need to be of Jesus of the word. But we were sent on a mission into this world. So when it says that what he's praying for us here is he's praying for a power for our present, you could add one more word to that. His prayer is for a power for our present mission,

not a power for my present wants. And I think that's where a lot of us struggle and miss the joy.

There are some of us, and you've been a Christian for a long time, but you you can't seem to get joy because you keep wanting to be about your mission. Oh, you'll focus on these little theological innuendos

and stuff and and and things like some of you probably sitting here and missing my whole point because you're like, hey, that verse where he talked about Judas being the outcast and the destroyer, why isn't he talking about eternal security right there? Why isn't he preaching the doctrine of you're going off on that tangent, and that's the dumbest thing in the world to do.

Because that's not what Jesus' point is. It's a lot easier to have little stupid theological debates than to be unified in the mission of pointing people to Jesus by loving them like Jesus. And he's praying that for you and me. I spent too much time on that. I'm way behind. That stupid thirty second pause

cost me everything.

The last thing he shares as he says on mission, as he prays about this, because he says, make them holy just as I've sent you, and I give myself as a holy sacrifice. He then goes into verse 20 and prays, hey, I'm not just praying this, I'm praying it for you and I. Verse 20. I already read that.

So this is a calling for us and a prayer for us too, to embrace the present mission. And know that when I embrace that, he brings his power and his protection. But but the last thing is, one thing we've talked about before we always need is what he's gonna pray over us.

Is this idea that it really doesn't matter what you're going through if you really understand what you're going to. We know that. We'll put up you guys, every one of us, you've probably sacrificed and does hard things in the moment and not had a lot of happiness.

But the joy is you know why you're doing this. You know what's on the other side of it. If you're a parent, you get it. I mean, everybody wants to be a parent until you actually have a kid.

And you're like, this isn't happy. This isn't happy. It's one of the fights I get my wife. She's like, man, I I hate the idea of how parenting and how I always have to make my kids do what they don't wanna do. That's the definition of parenting. I go, we'll put up with it because we know what we see on the other side.

You really want the joy? Understand that getting on mission with Jesus isn't always happy. It's not always easy to serve, to give, to sacrifice, to share your faith. People are not gonna like you. They think you're weird. To give up your money is gonna make you sacrifice in some other area to to get involved. It's gonna be hard.

But if you really know what's on the other side of it, if you know what you're going to, it's you'll be able to go through. And you're willing to go through whatever if you know what you're going to.

And so that's how it ends. In verse 21 says, I pray that they will all be one just as you and I are one. As you are in me, father, and I am in you, and may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me. I've given them the glory you have gave me, so may they be one as we are one. He's really he wants us to be unified. I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me. Get this. How is the world gonna know? Our unity

in the mission and our love. And he goes, and then and that you love them as much as you love me. He wants us to know that God, the father, loves us as much as he loves Jesus. You

can trust him when you know you're loved that much. You can trust him when you know he pardoned gave us a pardon for our past. You can trust him when he says, and I'm praying that you will have the power and the protection. You have the power for the present. You can be on mission with me and it will work. You can have joy in that if you'll embrace it. And then finally, he says, father, verse 24, I want these whom you have given me to be with me where I am.

Then they can see all the glory you gave me because you loved me even before the world began.

O righteous father, the world doesn't know you, but I do. And the disciples know you sent me. I've revealed you to them, and I will continue to do so. Then your love for me will be in them, and I will be in them. Jesus, I'm so excited. See, that's what glorification is. We're gonna be made just like Jesus. The problems are eventually gonna go away. The pain's eventually gonna away. And eventually, we're gonna be face to face with Jesus. And have you ever thought about it? He's not like, finally you got here. You were alright. Great. You're in trouble. Sit in time out for a couple centuries.

It says, I can't wait for us. And when you remember this prayer is about us too. Jesus just said, I can't wait for us to be face to face. I can't wait for me to show you the glory. I can't wait for me to show you the other side of this. What it was all for, the power, the beauty of it. I can't wait for that.

That's what glorification is. It's that we have a promise for my future. Pardon for the past, a power for the present, and a promise for my future. That's what Jesus prayed for us. And if we will embrace that pardon, and we will embrace the power by grabbing hold of the mission of saying, okay, Jesus, I'll be sent by you,

and we can look forward to that future. That is where joy will come from. It's not gonna come from trying to force Jesus to give you everything the world wants. That doesn't work. When we get blessings of this world and you get nice things and all that, that's just the icing on the cake. That's thank you Jesus.

But that's not the point. But it really comes back to this.

God the father loves you and he had a plan, and Jesus took care of the plan. He's not out to get you. He's out to get you. You know what? I wanna close with this. Just wrap it up right now and kinda wrap this up is, thinking that Jesus prays for me this way and realizing that really transformed the way I saw Jesus,

the way I trusted Jesus. And I had something similar like that happen with my grandma.

See, I grew up in a home where my dad was, know, kinda Catholic, kinda just my mom would kinda walked away from from from her faith a little bit. And then and then really, my grandma was the only person in my life growing up that loved Jesus. And I knew she loved Jesus, and I knew she loved me.

But, know, she didn't live with us at the time, and she was, you know, became a widow, and, you know, not not really. She spent thirty some odd years as a widow. She was a tough Irish woman that loved the Lord and served him, was all in on the mission, traveled a lot, was always going places and stuff. And I I knew she loved God. I knew she loved me, but she was one of those grandmas when you're not around him a lot, because she did. She she did believe in the word, and she wanted you to live the right way, and she would challenge you. But I knew she loved me, but I wasn't sure she liked me that much.

She kinda scared me. Anyone else have a parent or a grandparent like that? Like like like like like like, I I just felt like she just tolerated me for for for for the sake of her daughter, I guess, or whatever. And and and every year of two weeks of the summer, we had to go stay with her in Ajo, Arizona. I've told you stories about that before. And I and now that I'm a parent, I realize that my parents just said I've had enough of you kids by midsummer,

and so they said, we gotta have a two week break. We're dumping you with grandma. And it was scary to be with grandma, you know, because she had rules.

And and she had ways I knew she loved me, but it was hard to feel it. I didn't feel it. I always felt like I I better ship up. Ship up. Shape up or ship out. She would've got on me on that. Ship up. That's right. Incorrect. No. But but you know, I I knew she loved me, but it was always intimidating.

She was always making me do stuff, you know, like like wash my hair when I didn't want to. And but she would tell me stuff like, you know, girls don't like disgusting. So she was actually doing me a favor. And and and and and and stuff like that. But but

and and growing up when I'd see her at our house or spending time with her, I'd get up early in the morning, especially when she would be with us at our house and I was up early for school. I'd get up and I thought that there's nobody up this early. It's dark out. I'd walk in. There's my grandma sitting at the kitchen table already dressed, ready, hairdone. I mean, she's been up for hours,

and she's just sitting there with her eyes closed hunched over a book. And and you know what I thought? I thought grandma got up so early that she just fell back asleep.

So I'd be really quiet. I didn't want to wake her up because then she'd get mad at me or something. So I grabbed the cereal and sneak into the other room. I never understood what she was doing. Then you fast forward in high school, became a Christian. My freshman in high school.

And I did this crazy thing after being a Christian. I decided that I was gonna actually believe that what Jesus asked me to do, he will empower it. So I'm just gonna go all in with him. I'm not gonna fight him. I'm just gonna do it. I'm gonna trust him with everything and see what happens.

And I had joy. It was great. Well, one day, my grandma moved in with us my senior year,

and and now she's living with us again. And I walked out now, a Christian that's been a Christian for several years. I had my Bible. I walked out because I was gonna get up in the morning and pray. And and as I walked in, I'm oh, grandma's already in here asleep again. But now I'm a Christian. I look and I go, oh, wait. She's got her Bible. She's praying.

So I knew what she's doing. So I went and opened my Bible, went to the other side of the table. I'm like, I'm gonna impress grandma. And I started praying. And then I actually started to sleep while grandma kept praying. Because I couldn't keep up with grandma. But then I heard her close her bible, oh, amen.

I'm like, grandma, look. You were you were just reading your bible and praying. When you go, well, I saw you, so I I did too. She goes, that is awesome.

And then we started to have this conversation. And as this conversation happened, my my my whole view of her changed. The past didn't change. Every action was still the same, everything. But it it got kinda got reshuffled in the way I saw it. And and as I talked, I go, wait. What you just prayed ever.

Do you pray like that? And she goes, every day. And I go, what do you pray about? She says lots of things. But for about the last eighteen years, I was 18 years old, and a little bit over 18, she basically said since December 1970,

which was six, seven months before I was born, is when she found out I would be born. She goes, I started praying for you a lot. I'm like, really? She goes, yeah. She goes, once I found out your mom was pregnant with you, I started praying for you every morning before I even met you.

And I go, how often? She goes, every day. How often since? Every day. And I thought, wow, I really needed a lot of prayer. She goes,

well, your mom was running away from the Lord, and I wasn't sure about your dad. So I thought I should probably pray for you. And and so and and when I asked her what she prayed about, basically, what she unveiled was what this prayer was. She goes, I pray that you would know how much Jesus loves you.

You would embrace that love with all your life, and that you would look for joy in that and not anything else. And I sat there and realized, since before I knew me,

my grandma prayed for me every morning.

Instantly, I knew it wasn't just she loved me. She liked me. She cared for me. She prayed every single day, and you know what? I started praying the same thing she prayed for me is how I started praying for my kids every day. Just knowing that moment transformed my relationship with her.

Do you realize Jesus has prayed that way for you and I since thousands of years before we even came into existence, and he continues to pray for you.

Can that not change your trust of Jesus? The way you look at him? Because with my grandma, I realized she's not out to get me.

She's out to get me. And so is God. Father, I thank you, Lord. I thank you that you pray for me. Thank you that you pray for us. And Lord, it's a simple prayer. I just pray that we would realize the truth of that. Let the depth of that sink in, and then choose to embrace to live out what you prayed for.

I ask this in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.