Brother Gary Sunday Morning 10/28/12
Joh 17:19 And for their sakes I
sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.
Jesus sanctified Himself that we might be sanctified: that
we might be separated to the service of God and cleansed.
It may be that the first thanksgiving celebrated was when
Cain and Able both came before God to offer a sacrifice. Able bowed himself to the ground. We don’t always have to bow before God until
our head touches the ground when we pray.
But if you are young enough, it is a good experience to try.
There were an innumerable company of angels that were
praising and thanking God in Revelations.
Joh 17:1 These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his
eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come;
glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:
Here we see Jesus praying, lifting up His eyes toward
heaven. He said, “Father.” God and His son really knew each other and
Jesus made provision that we could know His Father also.
Jesus asked that God would bring His Spirit to Him so that
He might worship Him. So that He might
be in His presence and so that He would speak the things to Him so that He
might worship God.
When we pray we can pray that God will send His presence
that we might pray for ourselves in the right way. We can also pray that God would send His
presence and His Spirit so that we could pray for others as He’d have us
to.
“Help me to pray for others not telling you what you’ve
heard from me over and over again about how they relate to me; help me to pray
for your presence because I don’t want them to be lost. For those that irritate me and pour salt into
my wounds, help me to pray with the help of your presence.”
Joh 17:2 As thou hast given
him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou
hast given him.
Joh 17:3 And this is life
eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom
thou hast sent.
If there is a sincere, genuine, heart-felt prayer from a man
on earth that would move the heart of God, I would recommend: “God help me to
pray so that souls would know the true God.”
Everywhere you look, if you are in contact with any from the
world today, you will probably be in contact with individuals that don’t know
the true God. Knowing God has such
wonderful benefits today and for the days to follow!
I looked at a young man that was wearing a t-shirt that had
something written on it that I would never repeat. It thought: it is so sad that this young man
doesn’t know the true God. It is
heart-breaking that people don’t know the true God. It is heart-breaking to think that anything
out in this world will satisfy the deep hungering and thirsting of the
soul. It will not do it at all.
Jesus was praying that we would know life eternal and the
true God and the son whom He has sent.
Joh 17:4 I have glorified thee
on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.
God help us to know the true God and to glorify Him and His
son. Jesus completed what the Father had
sent Him to do. Jesus taught you and me
how to deal with children. He said,
“Suffer the little children to come unto me.”
Jesus told His disciples to bring the children to Him when they thought
the children were too unimportant.
When Jesus was in the crowd on His way to touch the
nobleman’s son, a lady touched Him. I
don’t always deal well with interruptions.
God help me to be more like Jesus when I am interrupted.
This lady had a desperate need. She had spent her last penny seeking out
physicians to try to get that need met.
She had an opportunity to reach out and try to touch Jesus.
He asked, “Who touched me?”
The disciples looked at Him and said, “In this crowd that is thronging
you; you ask, “Who touched me?””
It is wonderful that we have this example to follow. I want to be not always running late but able
to say as we pray, “God I have done what you have called me to do.”
Jesus had done everything that the Father had sent Him to
do.
Joh 17:5 And now, O Father,
glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before
the world was.
He had been in heaven with the father and they had known
such times together in creation. Can we
go there with the Father and with Jesus in creation? All of you that have children in your life
know how excited they get over projects and over creation. One day this Father and His son spoke the
world into creation.
The Father and the Son had such a relationship: Jesus had so to speak been gone from home for
about 30 years and He said, “Father, may I feel your glory like I’ve felt it
before?”
Joh 17:6 I have manifested thy
name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and
thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.
It is wonderful that you can hear from heaven right
here. God sent His Word: Jesus became
flesh and was the Word of God.
Joh 17:7 Now they have known
that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee.
Joh 17:8 For I have given unto
them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known
surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send
me.
Joh 17:9 I pray for them: I
pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are
thine.
Joh 17:10 And all mine are
thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them.
Joh 17:11 And now I am no more
in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep
through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as
we are.
Keep through thy own name those that thou hast given me: Jesus doesn’t want us to be no namers. He wants us to be kept in His father’s
name. My heavenly Father is in heaven
and I am not ashamed to be a child of God or a member of His church. Jesus prayed that we could be kept in the
Father’s name.
He prayed that they may be one as He and His Father were
one. God fully ordained that All of His
children have the same last name, the name of God, and all be one family. Everyone that is saved has the same name,
Children of God.
Those that are in manmade religions that are saved, the
father wants them kept in His name too.
Joh 17:12 While I was with them
in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept,
and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be
fulfilled.
Jesus kept all that would be kept. It is a choice to be kept. In life you have opportunity after
opportunity to say goodbye. You can reject
Jesus and reject God but you can choose to serve Him too. You have the opportunity to serve God.
You can have power to serve God. There is more power in one scripture than all
the temptations that there are. The
Blood of Christ brings a total separation between us and the enemy.
Joh 17:13 And now come I to
thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy
fulfilled in themselves.
Jesus prayed that we would have everlasting Joy. This is one of the first things that the
enemy wants to take from an individual.
When He is able to take the joy from your life and heart then He has
attacked the kingdom of God.
The kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and joy. Through the dark and sad times you can have
joy that your name is written down and that you have spiritual life.
All of us have had the experience of having a difficult job
and we’ve worked hard at what was hard to do.
We chose to pray because we knew that when we have God helping us that
everything seems to go better. We prayed
and cried out to God, “Would you help me to have your joy as I do this job?”
With joy we draw water out of the wells of salvation. We need to know how to draw water out of the
wells of salvation with joy. When you
begin to seek after God after you get up, it is vitally important that you
know, “I’m going to the word of God and it is my privilege as well as my duty
to draw water out of the wells of salvation.”
God has water for us 365 days of the year. Sometimes I wake up with the joy of
salvation. Yet there are mornings that I
wake up feeling that I have been wrung through a wringer. But God is just the same. We can take the Bible and search the
scripture and know that He will never fail.
The enemy has dark hands, dark spirit, and dark everything
else… We know this, but when you begin
to pray and praise God and with faith go to the well to draw living water, the
darkness must flee.
God has a way of speaking through the Word of God beginning
in Genesis and ending in Revelations. God
has scriptures in His word that will produce joy.
Joh 17:14 I have given them thy
word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as
I am not of the world.
When men and women love darkness then they will be
disrespectful and maybe hateful to those that love light. When they meet someone that has a different
spirit, they know. When they come upon
people that have the same spirit that they have they recognize that.
There are those that want to change their life and live
right. There are others that want to
believe that they can live how they want and that there will be no
consequences. When people meet someone
that has the presence of God in their life, if they love darkness then they
will hate light and the one that has it.
Joh 17:15 I pray not that thou
shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from
the evil.
God doesn’t want you running from problems, he wants you
settled in the things of God enough that when you come in contact with an evil
spirit that you don’t take off running but stand your ground and be
uninfluenced. When you try a spirit,
you can know an individual by their tracks.
Their words may be one thing but when you see how they have lived and
what they have done then you know them.
You can take a stand so that that individual knows that you
love God and love truth. Jesus prayed
not that we would be taken out of the world but kept from the evil. God will empower you to be kept from the evil,
but don’t tempt God. If He has told you
to not touch something then don’t touch it.
If he has told you to take a stand, then take a stand.
Joh 17:16 They are not of the
world, even as I am not of the world.
Joh 17:17 Sanctify them through
thy truth: thy word is truth.
John heard Jesus praying this prayer. He spoke in 1st John moved by the
Holy Ghost:
1Jn 2:12 I write unto you, little children, because
your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake.
1Jn 2:13 I write unto you, fathers, because ye have
known him that is from the beginning. I
write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write
unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father.
1Jn 2:14 I have written unto you, fathers, because ye
have known him that is from the
beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the
word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.
1Jn 2:15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world,
the love of the Father is not in him.
1Jn 2:16 For all that is
in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of
life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
1Jn 2:17 And the world passeth away, and the lust
thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
Many times people have tried to identify, “What is the
world?”
We see Jesus trying to identify with us that we are not of
the world.
Col 3:1 If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those
things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.
Col 3:2 Set your affection on things above, not on
things on the earth.
Col 3:3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with
Christ in God.
Col 3:4 When Christ, who
is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in
glory.
We all live on this earth.
We are here; we need food, houses, clothes, warmth and all these things
we need. But we need to not set our
affections on things in this world.
Things in this world that are necessary are not sinful, but when you set
your affection on what satisfies the lust of the flesh and of the eyes, all
that does is send leanness to the soul.
Mat 6:24 No man can serve two
masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will
hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
Mat 6:25 Therefore I say unto
you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink;
nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat,
and the body than raiment?
Mat 6:26 Behold the fowls of
the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet
your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
Mat 6:27 Which of you by
taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
Mat 6:28 And why take ye
thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil
not, neither do they spin:
Mat 6:29 And yet I say unto
you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
Mat 6:30 Wherefore, if God so
clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the
oven, shall he not much more clothe
you, O ye of little faith?
Mat 6:31 Therefore take no
thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal
shall we be clothed?
Mat 6:32 (For after all these
things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have
need of all these things.
Mat 6:33 But seek ye first the
kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto
you.
Mat 6:34 Take therefore no
thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of
itself. Sufficient unto the day is
the evil thereof.
Mammon is the god of money and of prosperity: You can only
serve one God. Don’t allow your heart to
become focused on any of the tangible things of this life. In the winter we love warm clothes. We don’t mean that we love it more than
God. We want to love God first.
Don’t get caught up with the eating and drinking in this
life. God takes care of the birds and the
flowers. Whether you are short or tall
here, be happy. Solomon had everything
the best that could be gotten. Jesus
brought a whole new season. He said,
“God takes care of the lilies.”
The Gentiles seek after these things. Our Heavenly Father knows the needs of
everyone in this world. He told us to
seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things would
be added to you. The greatest thing that
you can do to have all of your needs supplied is to seek first the kingdom of
God and His righteousness and the promise is that all these things will be
added to you.
Jesus prayed for us.
He prayed that we would be kept from the evil of this world. This is a big request. There is evil all around us in the world and
everyone that is saved is the target.
Jesus prayed that we would not be followers of the world but that we
would be sanctified: set apart and cleansed in this world.
Set apart that we could do the will of God in this world.
Ps 82:5
Warning, all the foundations of the earth are out of
course. Anything that the world plays up
and makes big is out of course. There
are a lot of things that you can do that will not damage your soul unless you
get caught up in the worldly side of its foundation. People are drunk on things in the world.
The fashion world is out of course. There is news about how the celebrities dress
everywhere that people can write.
Everything that carries news carries news of fashion. People become drunk on it. It’s foundation is
out of course.
Pr 4:18
The path of the just is as the shining light. The path of the just shines more and
more. Every one of us here made choices
last week and will make choices this week.
We make a choice to walk in the paths of light. This light shines more and more.
You and I are making choices. You may be in difficult situations in life
because of your age. It is not easy
getting old. Every week children make a
choice to stay in the light. The
teachers make a choice to teach what is right.
The goal is that I would be walking in all the light that God
in His graciousness shined on my pathway from the day that I got saved to today. The light is to increase.
It will not get lighter as I see less of my work getting
done. I don’t feel good to not have all
my work done. So my focus must be
different. The equation must be, “God,
let me focus more on heaven. I’m a
grandpa; I’m going to pray more.”
I don’t know that I have another year to pray for my
grandsons, my granddaughter, my daughters, my sons-in-laws, and my
brother. I want to use my time
wisely. I’m not sure that you need a
sharp mind to pray lots. We can get real
dimness into our life when we see things deteriorating around our house. Our focus needs to be something different.
The path of the just:
I don’t want you to get up here one of these days and say, “I hope
Brother Kelly limped into heaven.” No I
want my path growing brighter and brighter.
My words may be fewer but hopefully with more power. We want the times that we spend with our
grandchildren to be bright times. We
want it to be bright when we gather together and say, “Let’s pray.”
Brighter and brighter: our love to each other and toward
family members that have been hard to show love to. There is a God in heaven. You want more brightness and the joy of God? Live right.
The path of the just is as a shining light that shines more and more
unto the perfect day.
We want to have a perfect day. I want your light shining bright and able to
say, “I ended the day and bowed beside my bed and because of Him and my light
shining bright, this has been a perfect day.”
