Ron Dunn Podcast - Jesus' Prayers Part 1

Episode Date: August 18, 2016

Pastor Ron Dunn preaches a message from John 17:9-11

You are listening to the Ron Dunn Podcast. Ron Dunn is a well-known author and was one of the most in-demand preachers during the latter part of the 20th century. He led Bible studies all over the United States, Europe, and South Africa. For more information and resources from Ron Dunn, please visit rondunn.com. John chapter 17, and tonight I want us to begin our reading with the ninth verse and read through verse 11. John chapter 17, verses 9 through 11. Jesus said, I am asking on their behalf.

I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I have been glorified in them. And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me so that they may be one as we are one. I want to take a moment to thank all of you who from time to time send us these prayer cards

that the pastor was talking about yesterday. It is always a blessing to know that people are praying for you, not just before the meeting, but year-round. And occasionally, every once in a while, we'll get a bunch, and we'll get one here, one there, one there from some of you that have been praying for us, and just jot down a little note and say that you're praying for us and other members of our family. And that's always encouraging. It is always encouraging to know that people are praying for you. I believe in intercession.

I know that it works. And I know that there are times when I can, I'm sure that I can feel that people are praying for me. And it always means so much to know that. I remember I was in a meeting not too long ago, and there was a woman who, a friend of mine for a number of years, and she would catch me in the hall before the service and draw me over to the side and pray especially for me that night and that service and that always encouraged me and meant a lot to me and i know that my wife prays for me when she's not with me why she knows what hour i'm preaching and uh and she at least i think she does you yeah

yes okay uh i know you used to but i you, but you may have backslidden in my absence, and I didn't know about it. But anyway, it is always encouraging to know that people are praying for you. Every once in a while I get letters from folks that I've never met, but they've been in a meeting or read a book or something, and they'll write and say, I just want you to know that my family is praying for you. And as I said, that's just about the most encouraging thing that you can hear.

And I think the greatest thing you can do for another person is to pray for them, to bring them before the presence of God and ask God to meet their needs and to show them mercy. But I tell you what impresses me and encourages me more than anything else, more than you're praying for me and more than my wife praying for me, and that's the fact that Jesus is praying for me. And the Bible says he is able to save us to the uttermost because he ever liveth. For this reason, to make intercession for us, you see. I mean, we're saved to the uttermost. That means that we're saved to the end.

I mean, right down there to the end, no matter what happens in between, no matter how much we fail, no matter how much we are attacked, yet we are saved to the very uttermost, to the very end. We are saved. Why? For one reason, because Jesus ever lives to make intercession for us. So you see, he not only chose you, but he's praying for you right now at this moment. He's praying for you, he's praying for me right now at this moment and this 17th chapter of John

which is a as we said is the prayer of Jesus intercessory prayer of Jesus is a preview of that heavenly intercession and when he ascended to the Father he entered into that ministry of intercession as As a matter of fact, I think you could almost make the word intercession synonymous with the word redemption. For the Bible says that he came to make intercession for the transgressors. And while he was here on earth, he interceded. He took our place and stood between us and God. On the cross, he exercised the power of intercession by saying, Father, these that are crucifying me, forgive them, for they know not what they do. And when he ascended, he sat down on the right hand of the Father, and there began his intercessory ministry.

But not only that, he sent the Holy Spirit to dwell in us who makes intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered. And so there is this intercession. We have Christ interceding before us in the heaven, before the Father in heaven, and we have the Holy Spirit here on earth interceding for us as well. So that even though we do not know what to pray for and don't know how to pray, and sometimes the burden is so great that, I mean, if God were to say, write down on a piece of paper and I'll answer it,

I wouldn't even know what to write down. I don't know what to pray for. But the Holy Spirit is there who makes intercession for me with groanings that cannot be uttered, that human beings cannot put into words. And I think that some of the greatest times in prayer I've ever had has been when I've not said a word,

but I've just groaned in the presence of the Lord, not knowing what to ask for, not knowing what to pray for, but knowing at that very moment that the Holy Spirit who dwelt within me was making intercession according to the will of God. And so what we have here in John 17 is a preview of that heavenly intercession. And now he turns in verse 9. I said last night, yesterday, in verses 1 through 8,

Jesus is praying for himself. But now in verses 9 through 19, he turns to pray for his disciples, his immediate disciples. That's why he begins by saying, I am asking on their behalf. In other words, those who have believed that you have sent me. I'm not asking on behalf of the world. Now let me just pause there for a moment. He says, I am asking on behalf of the disciples. I am not asking on behalf of the world. Now some people have used that statement as a proof text that we are not to pray for the world, that we're not to pray for the world,

that we're not to pray for lost people. I remember a number of years ago, I was to give a series of lectures, and I wrote and told them, I don't lecture, I preach. And they said, well, that's what we mean. But they wanted me to preach on intercessory prayer. And I was to have, I think, four days, four sessions. And they wanted copies

of my messages so they could approve them, you see. And so I sent them copies of my message, and one of the messages that I sent was praying for the lost. And a few weeks later, I received that one in the mail. sent it back to me and they said the president of our seminary does not believe that you can pray for the lost and they quoted that statement and so we're asking if you would change this message to some other message which I did because I mean I wasn't going out there to make trouble, and that's what the president of the seminary believed, and that's what they taught, and I wasn't going to try to

overthrow, you know, so I did something else. But I think it's largely a matter of semantics, and if I could have ever had the chance to talk to him about it, I think we could have ironed it out. This verse, Jesus says, I am not praying for the world. What he means is right now at this moment, I'm not praying for the world. That doesn't mean that he never prayed for the world. When he was on the cross, he prayed for those that crucified him and said,

Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. And he came to make intercession for the world. And so you don't use this verse as a text to prove that we're not to pray for the world. On the contrary, we are to pray for the world, and we are to pray for the lost. And I think one of the greatest evangelistic tools that we have as Christians is to pray for those who are unsaved.

I tell you, there's one way you can reach any lost person, and that's by means of intercession. You may never get to meet them. You may never get to speak to them. You may never get to witness to them verbally, but there is no way that they can keep you from praying for them and bringing them before the throne of God

and praying for their salvation. Paul said, my prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. And if Paul could pray for lost Israel that they may be saved, then I feel like I can pray for the lost world that they may be saved. And so I just mention that in passing

because a great many people point to that statement and say, well, we're not to pray for the world. But that's taking this out of context, and you have to interpret every verse in its context. And Jesus here is praying for his disciples. That's what this prayer is about. He says, right now I'm not praying for the world, I'm praying for my disciples.

And so he enters into this prayer for his disciples. But look at verse 20. He said, I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word. And so actually he's not just praying for his disciples, he's praying for all of us. For the very same thing he asks for his disciples, the immediate ones, he also asks for us.

Now, why does Jesus feel the necessity of praying for us? Why does Jesus intercede for us? Tomorrow, we're going to talk about what he actually prays for. Tonight, I want us to look at why he prays for us. Why does Jesus pray for us? And there are some reasons that he gives us here. So let's read some of these verses again. He says, I am asking on their behalf. I'm not asking on

behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because, why does Jesus pray for me? Because, first of all, he says, they're yours. They're yours. Why does Jesus pray for you? Because you belong to God. Now, I said last night that they were gods to begin with. Jesus said they were yours, and you gave them to me. And now he comes back and says, they are yours. And then he goes on to say, and they are mine. And what's yours is mine and what's mine is yours. And shows

us the total unity between Jesus and the Father. Even though the Father has given us to Jesus, yet we still belong to the Father. And so Jesus says, I am praying for these because they're yours. They belong to you. In other words, he says, they are your responsibility because they are your property, and therefore you need to watch out for them and watch over them and protect them as we'll see later on because they belong to you. You see, Jesus prays for us because we are a special people. We are a special people in that we are the possession of God himself. And that's what makes us valuable is because of whom we belong to some years ago I was visiting with my on the Baylor campus down in Waco Texas and I was going through the Browning library and I spent a number of years I guess they still

have it there the Robert Browning and Elizabeth Browning Library. And they had all kinds of items and things, books that they'd written and samples of their original poetry and such as that. But they had a glass case that interested me. It contained things that had belonged to Robert Browning, his watch, his spectacles, a pen, and a few other things. But it also had a lock of hair, just a lock of hair wrapped up, you know, and his white hair about that long, and it wrapped up, and it was in there, and it was some of Robert

Browning's hair now they had that under lock and key and there was an alarm system to that protecting that lock of hair I offered them a lock of my hair too but they were not interested now when I want to ask you a question. What made that lock of hair so valuable? I mean, hair is hair. I cut off more than that in a week. Some of you would like to, but you don't have the wherewithal.

But hair is hair. what makes that hair so valuable that you would put it on the lock and key and put it in the museum friend you know you really made it when they save your hair what made that hair so valuable wasn't because it was hair, but because it came from the head of Robert Browning. Its value was based upon its owner. Now, what makes us valuable in the sight of Jesus is because we belong to God.

We're His property. We belong to Him. Therefore, we are of utmost value because we belong to Him. And we become His responsibility. And so Jesus prays for us, first of all, because we belong to God. But there's a second reason that he prays for us, and that's because we belong to Jesus. He says, because they are yours, all mine are yours, and yours are mine. In other words, Jesus is saying, I'm praying for them because they're yours and also because they're mine.

Now, what does this mean? Is this just double talk? What does Jesus mean by this? He says, I'm praying for them because they're yours and they're mine. And again, it enforces that unity that exists in the Godhead. What belongs to God belongs to Jesus. But now they both have a mutual interest, you see. They both have a special and mutual interest in us. And what Jesus is saying here is this. Now this is very important. Jesus

is praying, first of all all that the Father will protect them because they belong to God, but now he says also, Father, I'm praying for them because they belong to me. They belong to me. In other words, Jesus is throwing his entire merit on our side. He's throwing His weight onto our side. And He's saying, I want you to watch over them and protect them, not simply because they belong to you, but also, Father, because they belong to me. I purchased them with my blood,

and I have a special interest in them. And I have thrown all of my righteousness on their side, and I'm throwing all of my righteousness on their side and I'm throwing all of my merit onto their side and so I pray for them because they belong to me you see and that's the basis of his intercession I love it when in first John he talks about this intercession and he says but he said I write these things to you that you sin not but if any man sin if any man sin he comes down to reality first of all he sets the standard these things I write unto you that you sin not and it means that you do not commit a single act of sin that's the word that you do

not commit a single act of sin you say well that's pretty high standard well you God couldn't have a lower standard, could he? God couldn't say, these things I write unto you so that you don't sin too much. He says, no, these things I'm writing unto you because my will is that you do not commit a single act of sin. But then he comes down to reality where we live, and he says, and if any man sins, and the meaning there, and since we do sin once in a while, that's the idea of the word. He's not talking about continuous sin there,

but he says we do sin, we do sin, we do sin. What happens then? Are we lost? Is our salvation taken from us? He says no, and if any man sin, we have what? We have an advocate. That's just a fancy word for lawyer. We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And he is the covering for our sins and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. We have an advocate.

I have someone that has such a special interest in me that he prays for me. A number of years ago, we decided that we would turn our living room, well, into my office, and would convert our garage into what, a game room? Is that what we decided to do? Yeah. And so we lived in the den anyway,

and we never used that front room. So we decided this was when I was, right before I left the church, that we would turn that into an office, a study for me. So we hired an inferior decorator who came in, and we told them what we wanted. And so we sat down, and we itemized everything. We wanted the bookcases, and we wanted this, we wanted this, and we were going to buy a desk and everything. And so they itemized everything, and it was going to cost a total of so much. Well, things didn't go good from the start. In the first place, they were terrible. I mean, the bookshelves they built sagged

even before they had any books in them, you know. And they didn't meet right at the corner, so they had to put an extra partition or whatever you call it in there, I don't know what it was, to make it look like it was even. I mean, just, you know, it was terrible. So I was going to buy a desk.

I found a desk for $700. You can tell how long ago this was. And I was going to buy a desk. I'd found a desk for $700. You can tell how long ago this was. And I was going to buy this desk for $700. And they said, oh, we'll make you a desk. And I showed them the desk and the catalog that I was looking at. I said, can you make it as nice as that? He said, oh, we can make it much nicer than that. And I said, okay. Now folks, when they delivered that desk, it was made out of the

same wood that the bookcases were made out of. The drawers were stapled, you know, together. Matter of fact, when I opened the drawer, the top front came off because the staples were loose. It was awful, wasn't it, honey? I mean, it looked like a piece of junk. And I said, this, this, I said, I'm not going to pay for this. I said, I'm not going to pay for this. I said, I'm not going to pay for this.

They already complained about the bookshelves and everything else. But I said, I'm not going to pay for this. Take it away. And so they did. They took it away and never came back. They never finished the work, and the work they finished was pitiful. But they sent me a bill for the entire amount.

I mean for the entire amount. And I said, well, they're crazy. So I got that sheet down where we had itemized everything. I was gracious. I didn't count off on the lousy work they did, but I paid them for the work that they did do, see. And it was about half as much as the total cost. And so I sent them a check with that itemized list.

Here's what you did. And I sent them a check for that amount. And I thought, well, that's the end of that. We'll get somebody else to finish this. And a few days later, I got a letter from them and it had my check in there and with big black marks a lot had written over that check, void or unacceptable. And in the letter, they said,

if you don't pay us the full amount by a certain time, we're going to sue you. Well, I'd never been sued before or even threatened to be sued. I don't know. I just, boy, I worried over that. I thought, boy, this is terrible. A pastor of a local church is going to be sued because he won't pay his bill.

This is going to be terrible. And I worried over that for about three or four days. And Kay said, why don't you see a lawyer? It never occurred to me that I might need a lawyer, you know. I just never had a lawyer before, and so there was a Christian lawyer in town that I knew, and so I called him, made an appointment. I went in, and when I sat down, he turned on the tape recorder, and I told him my tale of woe and gave him the papers and everything, you know, everything. And so when I finished, he turned off the tape recorder and got up.

Well, I was smart enough to know what that meant. It was time for me to leave, you know. He got up, but he hadn't said anything to me. You know, he hadn't told me what to do. And so I said, well, I said, what do you want me to do? And he said nothing. I said, well, what do you want me to tell these people?

He said nothing. I said, well, I've got to tell them people he said nothing I said well I've got to I've got to tell them something he said preacher have you ever had a lawyer before I said no I've never had one he said well now let me just tell you something you've retained me to be your lawyer you are to no longer have any more contact with these people I will handle it all you'll never speak to them again that's what I'm for I'm your lawyer and I will handle them I'll handle it all. You'll never speak to them again. That's what I'm for. I'm your lawyer, and I will handle them. I'll handle your case.

You don't have to say a word to them or do anything. You just go home. Well, I went home, and Kay said, What did he tell us to do? And I said, Nothing. He said, Don't have any contact with them or anything. But I want to tell you something, folks. I couldn't resist it.

I sat down and wrote them a letter, and I said, you'll be hearing from my attorney. That sounded so good. I mean, even if, hey, if you don't have one, you ought to put one on retainer, because it feels so good to be able to say, well, my attorney did this, you know, my attorney. And so anyway, and he handled that. We never communicated with him again, never talked to him again because we hired an attorney.

Well, I have another attorney. That's a lot cheaper than that one I guarantee you as a matter of fact I've been just as well off paying the whole amount they wanted by the time I paid my lawyer's fees now to come out even the other way are better off the other way I guess but I have a heavenly attorney and I have an accuser the devil and he keeps books and he knows every sin I've committed and every sin you've committed and I like to think that one day he comes into the presence of God, and he brings with him an indictment,

and he says, God, here's your son, here's your servant, here's one of your children, and I've got a record of all the sins they commit. He said, now you said yourself that the wages of sin is death so I demand that you keep your word and that this boy die and suddenly someone rises and and approaches the bench. And you know who it is? It's the Lord Jesus Christ, my heavenly lawyer. And he comes and he jerks that indictment out of the hand of Satan and says to the judge, he says, Judge, everything in this indictment is true.

But he said, I want you to release him because I have already paid for every one of these sins. You see. He's a mighty good lawyer. He is. He's never lost a case. He's righteous. He's in good standing with the court. But the best thing a case. He's righteous. He's in good standing with the court. But the best thing is his father is the judge.

And you know, I have a feeling that if you ever have to go to trial, if you can get a lawyer whose father is the judge, you'll be a little bit ahead of the game. And so he says, and this is a strange lawyer. He does not plead my innocence, but he pleads his blood. And you know what the verdict is? There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.

Now I want to tell you something, the devil's going to accuse you, and he's going to bring all of your sins before God, and by all rights and justice, you ought to be sent to hell. But you know what? You're never going to be. Why? Because you have an intercessor in heaven who throws all his merit and his blood on your side. And he says, Father, I pray for these because not only do they belong to you, but because they belong to me also. So I have someone right now who's praying for me.

This doesn't mean that I'm not to grieve over my sin and confess my sin, but it does mean that there is nothing, there is nothing that I can do that my lawyer cannot handle. And it is the power of His presence that preserves my salvation. And as long as Jesus Christ is standing there

in the presence of the Father interceding for me, I have the assurance that I'm saved and that my sins are all forgiven. Why? Because it says he is the covering for our sins. Now the president may have trouble defining what the word is is, but I want to tell you something. I know what is is. He is the propitiation. He is the covering. Not he was, but he is right now. Even right now. He was when he died on the cross,

but that didn't end there. Right now, at this moment, he is still the covering for our sins. And so his intercession is what keeps us saved. He ever liveth to make intercession for us. Therefore, he can save us to the uttermost. All right, there's a third reason that Jesus prays for us, and this is interesting. He says, and I have been glorified in them. In other words, he prays, first of all, because we belong to God. Secondly, because we belong to him.

We're not only the Father's responsibility, but we're also the responsibility of Jesus, and He bears that responsibility by interceding for us in our times of need. But there is another reason He prays for us. He says, I have been glorified in them. I have been glorified in them. Now wait just a minute. You mean that ragtag band of unlearned, uneducated disciples who are always stumbling and always weak and frail in their faith? And no matter how many miracles Jesus performed, like the feeding of the 5,000, yet when they got in a storm, they became terrified. And often, over and again, Jesus had to say, O ye of little faith,

where is your faith? And here is Peter that's going to deny Him, and all the others are going to forsake Him. And yet Jesus says to the Father, I have been glorified in them. Isn't that amazing? I have been glorified in them. They glorify me. And so I'm praying for them, Father, because they bring glory to me.

How in the world do we do that? Because we believe Him. Because we have come to Him and trusted him as our Savior. And because, and boy, he makes a big deal of this over and over again. Because they know that I came from you. They know that I came from you. You see, folks, that's why I labor the fact that it's not enough to talk about God. You've got to talk about Jesus. Why?

Because the one thing that he wants them to know is, and one reason he prays for them is, because he says, they know that you sent me. They know that you sent me. Therefore, I am glorified in them. You know, as I read this prayer and what he has to say about these disciples, you'd think they had been perfect men, wouldn't you? I mean, he doesn't point out any of their flaws. He doesn't point out any of

their weaknesses. He doesn't point out any of their frailties. He speaks of them as though they were absolutely perfect and had never let him down. You know, I speak as a fool when I say this but if I'd been Jesus I think the most disappointing day of my life would have been resurrection day you know why because there was nobody there to meet me nobody there to meet me it wasn't that those disciples hadn't been told I I'd told them over and over again I was going to rise the third day, but they didn't believe. And on the greatest day of my life, the day when I conquer death and I rise from the tomb and I step out into the glorious sunlight

of that first Easter. Not a single one there to greet me. They were all hiding in an upper room because they didn't really believe. And yet Jesus says, I am glorified in them. Now, I tell you, folks, it has to be a mighty work of grace for God to be glorified in people such as we. And do you know what? That's how God sees us.

That's how God sees us that's how God sees us he sees us through the blood of Jesus Christ our sins have been washed away cast behind God's back and somehow you and I in the midst of all of our frailties and failures broken promises broken resolves you and I, in the midst of all of our frailties and failures, broken promises, broken resolves, yet we glorify Jesus.

He says, I'm glorified in this bunch. And so I pray for them. But there's a last reason that he prays for us. And I'll not have much to say about this because this leads into what I want to talk to you about tomorrow. Like I said, this is a circular prayer. And he'll say one thing that leads into the next thing. But there's another reason that he prays for us. He says in verse 11,

And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. He says, Father, I'm praying for them because I am leaving the world. But they're not. They're staying here. And I'm leaving the world.

And so, therefore, I desperately need you to watch over them. That's why I pray for them, because they're going to be here by themselves. You know, in John chapter 14, Jesus was talking about leaving, and he said to his disciples, I will not leave you comfortless. The word literally means,

I will not leave you as orphans as helpless orphans I've always figured that Jesus when he said to his disciples I'm leaving you that there must have been a look of panic in their eyes and maybe they thought to themselves what are we going to do without Jesus we haven't done too well with him what are we going to do without Jesus? We haven't done too well with him. What are we going to do without him? And you could see the panic in their eyes, and Jesus said, now don't worry, don't worry. I'm not going to leave you as helpless orphans.

I'm going to make provision. I remember when my dad was dying, and he had come home from the hospital. There was nothing they could do for him, and so came home just to die. And my brother and his wife, who lived just a hundred feet or so down the hill, were taking care of him. My sister-in-law, Janet, would stay with him during the day, and then my brother, Barry, would stay with him all night, sleep over there, and get up several times during the night to attend to Dad when he woke up and needed help.

And they'd done this, I don't know, for several weeks. And if any of you have ever had to do anything like that, you know how exhausting it is because Barry would have to go to work the next day without much sleep, and it's just, I tell you, it exhausts you when you're caring for someone who cannot help themselves. And so I had a week off. I saw a week off coming up, and so I called Barry, and I said, well, you and Janet, just y'all take off vacation or something and go somewhere and rest. And I'm going to come up, and I'm going to stay there for a week.

I've got a week off. I'll take care of him day and night. I'll take care of him day and night. And so you just, you know, do that. So I arrived on a Friday night. And so we were sitting around in the den, my dad and Barry and Janet and me, and it got to be about 10 o'clock, and so Barry and Janet decided they'd leave. And so they were leaving, and Barry came over to Dad, and he said, now Dad, Jan and I are going home. He said, Ronnie's

going to stay with you. And I was standing there, you know. And all of a sudden there came this look of panic in my dad's eyes. His eyes just got big. They did. They got big. And he said, where are you going? He said, Dad, I'm going home. Jan and I gonna take a few days off and rest and Ron is going to be here all week and he's going to take care of you and he just looked panicky he said well where are you going he said dad we're going home Ronnie will be here to take care of you and I got the feeling I said you know I mean that really made me feel great. And so after they left, my dad kept saying, he kept muttering, he kept saying, where's Barry? Where's Barry? Where's Barry?

And I said, Dad, he's gone home. I'm here this week. I'm going to take care of you. I'm going to take care of you. And he just panicked. I mean, there was just panic in his eyes. Oh, no, he's left me to this boy here. I mean, the younger son who can't do anything. I mean, I'm going to be in his eyes, oh no, he's left me to this boy here, I mean, the younger son who can't do anything. I mean, I'm going to be in his care. And I have an idea that's the way these disciples must have felt and must have looked when Jesus said, I'm leaving you. But he said, but I will not leave you as helpless orphans. And so Jesus prayed for them. Why? because he was leaving them and he turned them over

to the father's care and I did a pretty good job taking care of my dad may not have been as good as Barry but I beat the bell one night I felt like that was a point of pride. My dad had a little bell by his bed, you know,

and when he woke up during the night, you know, he'd ring that bell, and I was in the other bedroom, and I'd hear it, and I'd wake up, you know, stumble. But one night, I woke up just a moment before that bell rang. You know how a mother with a newborn baby will wake up just before the baby starts to cry? I felt so proud of myself. I said, I beat the bell.

Dad scared to death when Barry left. But he wasn't left alone helpless there was somebody there to take his place and Jesus says to the father I'm praying for them because I'm leaving them I'll no longer be in this world

but they will be here and so I need you Father to watch over them and that's where we begin tomorrow night when he prays for the Father's protection of them aren't you glad we have a high priest

who right now at this moment is praying for us praying for you and throws all of his righteousness and all of his merit on our side so that we are not left helpless. available only for personal edification, not to be duplicated, uploaded to the web, or resold without prior written consent. It is managed and operated by Sherwood Baptist Church. For more Ron Dunn materials, sermon outlines, devotions, and scanned pages from his Study Bible, please visit rondunn.com.