Live Free with Josh Howerton - Jesus Prayed for You | Ep. 298 | Wednesday, March 27, 2024

Episode Date: March 27, 2024

For the last few days, we’ve been hanging out with Jesus and listening in as He gives His final words to His disciples. In John 17, Jesus prays to His Father, giving thanks for the disciples and those who would come after them. On the night He was arrested, Jesus prayed for you! He prayed for us to be unified so we could be a beacon of hope to the world, pointing to Him. For more information, visit lakepointe.church/dailydrive

Thanks for tuning in to today's Daily Drive with Lake Point Church, a daily dose of God's Word for your morning drive. When the word, not the world, becomes the majority of your week, your life will start to change. For that reason, our prayer is that God will speak to you through today's devotional. For more digital content to feed your faith, visit lakepoint.comit. And now let's dive in to today's devotional. Hey, what's up everybody? Welcome to the Daily Drive. My name is Mike, and we do this little podcast Monday through Friday for just a few minutes. And if you're new to this, welcome. We're wrapping up a journey. We started back on January the 1st, welcome through the Gospel of John. And we're almost to the end of this. And again, the term gospel simply means good news. And the writer John was one of the original disciples of Jesus, a super close friend, and an eyewitness to all the amazing things that Jesus said and did. For the last few days, we've been hanging with Jesus and John and the rest the guys in an upper room in Jerusalem. It's Passover week, and it starts the countdown to Jesus going to the cross as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Now, we're going

to visit the cross and the empty tomb in the next couple of episodes, but today I want to look at a few more things that Jesus says to them and to us as he prepares to endure rejection, betrayal, excruciating pain, humiliation, take a cross and walk up the hill and be nailed to it. He's told them about the coming betrayal from one of the guys. He told them to serve each other and love one another just the way he is modeled. He told him that the Holy Spirit was coming to be with them, to lead them, comfort them, to guide them, to be in them. He told them that he was the way, the truth, and the life, that he was going to prepare an eternal place for them with the father. He's told him that it was not going to be easy for them, but he was leaving them with a

matchless peace that would help them endure. He told them to stay connected to him like branches is due to a vine and they would produce lots of fruit with their life. Like we said in the last few episodes, if you have a Bible where they put Jesus' words and red letters, most of chapters 13 through 17 is bright red. And here in chapter 17, John records not so much what Jesus said to them, but what Jesus said to his father about them and us. Let's just check out a few highlights from this prayer. John writes this.

After saying all these things, Jesus looked up to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. 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 and Jesus Christ the one you sent to earth. I brought glory to you here on the earth by completing the work you gave me to do.

Now, Father, bring me into the glory we shared before the world began. So here's Jesus in front of the guys, opening up to the Father saying, God, I've faithfully done everything you have asking me. I have been the light of the world throwing a floodlight on you for the past 33 years here. I've given them the way to eternal life. I'm completing the plan for their salvation, and I'm coming home. In earshot of the disciples, he's thanking the Father for them. He's asking the father to protect them from the evil one, to keep them unified.

He asks his father to continue to fill them up with eternity-changing truth. He prays, help them maintain the joy that I have given them, as I send them out into a world where they're going to experience hatred and rejection and even persecution. And, gang, this is so moving to me. On the night before Jesus would be crucified, he's reached those final moments before Judas betrays him, his disciples abandon him, he's arrested, tried, beat him, and crucified and draws his final breath. So what do you do in a moment like that? Well, Jesus did what

many people do in their final moments. He prayed. And I would encourage you to read the entire prayer, because many of us probably know that Jesus prayed for himself and the extreme anguish he was in in the Garden of Gassimony. But what some of us may not know is that the bulk of his passionate prayer was not about himself. It was about his followers. It was about us. Amazingly, on that night, we were on his mind. Verse 20, I am praying not only for these disciples, but also for all who will ever believe in me because of their testimony. My prayer for all of them is that they will be one, just as you and I are one, Father,

just as you are in me and I am in you, so they will be in us, and the world will believe you sent me. Does it surprise you like it did me that when Jesus looked ahead and saw all the needs of all of us followers for all time. What he prayed for was our unity, our oneness. He says, my prayer for all of them is that they will be one. And by one, he was not talking about uniformity and like cookie cutter followers, but rather about symphonic harmony, all kinds of different people with different gifts and personalities and backgrounds, harmonizing with each other as they proclaim the good news of God's love. He says, I pray that they will be one like that. And did you catch what? Why? He says, because, Father, when they are unified, when they live in harmony, when they are one as we are one, then the world will believe, you sent me.

Jesus was convinced that our unity was mission critical, that without unity our harmonious spirit as believers in Jesus, the world will not come to believe and embrace the redeeming work of the cross. You know, there is so much division in our world, so much division in our country. And sadly, there's division even among believers. So today, I just want to pray for the oneness, for the unity of the Church of Jesus Christ. I pray for all of us to be one in heart, one in spirit, one in purpose, that kindness and compassion and courage and truth and grace and wisdom and forgiveness would flow out of all of our hearts in such a distinctive and beautiful harmony that the world would hear the song of hope and put their faith in Jesus Christ.

thousand years ago on this day, that's what Jesus prayed for. So why don't we do the same? I'll see you back tomorrow. Thanks for tuning in today. For more biblical teaching and worship, join us for our church online live weekend services on Saturdays at 5 p.m. and Sundays at 9.30 and 11 a.m. Central Standard Time. For more information, visit lakepoint.com. Church slash daily drive.