Process of Faith
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Process of Faith
John 17 and Jesus's longest recorded prayer
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We are back!!! We took a bit of an uncontrolled break but we haven't left, we are still here trying to spread the word of Jesus while Jon is recovering from a man cold. We discuss how to pray and what to pray for because at some point we all struggle with that.
Welcome friends to Process of Faith. Here, we don't just study the Bible, we live it one step at a time. This is about the raw, real journey of discovery. We unpack verses that hit like lightning, wrestle with questions that keep us up at night, and celebrate those aha moments that remind us God's story is still unfolding in ours. Whether you are a lifelong believer, a curious seeker, or somewhere beautifully in between, grab your Bible and your listening ears and join us. You're not alone on this path. Let's walk it together. Welcome to the process. Okay, we're back. John, how are you doing? I'm well, Kyle. I missed you. I missed you too, buddy. It has been way too long since you we have recorded, but here we are.
SPEAKER_00Here we are. I'm looking forward to this. It's been it has been a while. How are you? What's new?
SPEAKER_02Well, school's out. School's out for summer. Who sang that song? Alice Cooper.
SPEAKER_00Yes.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yes. Daising Confused is the soundtrack that I remember that song from.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Good one. We're on chapter 17. Yes. And this is the longest prayer from Jesus in the Bible, from what I understand. The longest recorded prayer.
SPEAKER_00Interesting.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00It's probably worth paying attention to.
SPEAKER_02Might be. It might teach us a little thing about praying.
SPEAKER_00I mean, if Jesus was, you know, whenever whenever Jesus prays, I'm like, okay, let me get my notebook out. Let's take some notes and find out what you know, how did he do it? Should we do it the same way? Probably.
SPEAKER_02I think there's bits and pieces we should take from it. Absolutely. Yep. So before we get into Jesus' prayer, how about we pray?
SPEAKER_01Sounds good.
SPEAKER_02Alright. Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to get back together to record. I know schedules have been crazy, but you found a way to get us back together. So thank you, Lord. For those listening, it is Memorial Day that we are recording this. So let's keep in our memories what Jesus did for us and also what everyone did for us so we could keep our freedoms in this world and this beautiful country. The best country on earth, if I don't mind saying. Lord, as we read this, please help us understand the words on the page and what you were trying to tell us. Help us spread your message and help us interpret it so that everyone else can understand and hear your message loud and clear. In your holy name, I pray. Amen. Amen. Alright, so I think this is the end of the upper room discourse. I think they just left. Is that correct?
SPEAKER_00Yes. Yes. Or they're about to leave. Yeah, they haven't left yet because they're still there.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. How about I'll read the first half? You read the second half? Or reading the whole thing first and then going through it.
SPEAKER_02Do you want to do that? Well, let's do this. Let's let's the first part Jesus prays for himself. Let's read that and we'll go over that.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_02John 17. 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 earth by completing the work you gave me to do. Now, Father, bring me into the glory we shared before the world began. I just want to say, I didn't say before. I am reading from NLT, so if you're following along, some of the words might be slightly different, but message is the same. What do you take from that, Johnny Boy?
SPEAKER_00So I mean, you know, whenever whenever Jesus talks about prayer, like I always I always go back to excuse me, I'm getting over a cold, so if I sounded a little weird, that's why I always go back to the Lord's prayer when he talked it, dude. It was a man cold. I was laid up on the couch for like 24 hours. It was I had a fever and the whole thing. It was unpleasant. Poor guy. I know. I'm I'm alive though. I'm not scared. I just sound funny. I always go back to like the Lord's Prayer, and you know, the way that I was taught to pray was modeled after the way Jesus taught the disciples how to prayer, which and he would always start by acknowledging God, who he is, worship him, and then go about asking for his needs, you know, asking for needs and forgiveness, and you know, he would go through the whole the whole prayer like that. And so when I'm reading this, I'm like, okay, well, what is how is Jesus going about praying in this and this and he starts off the same way. He's like, he addresses who he's praying to, and then as he's his request is a his prayer is a mix of a request for what he needs and worship of who God is. Like he's like his desire in this in this opening part of this prayer is I want to bring glory to you. Like, give give me what I need. Give me this is part of the plan, give me the glory that you gave me so that I can give glory back to you. So Jesus is number one. I mean, the all the way through John, his whole thing has been, I just here to do what the Father tells me to do. I'm just here to bring glory to God. And even in his prayer, right before he goes and the whole ball starts rolling, once again, he's praying, God, I want to bring glory to you. Give me what I need so that I can bring glory to you. And I think we should pray the same way. Father, give me, you know, here's what I need. I pray that as you give it to me, that it would allow me to bring glory to you and to expand your kingdom.
SPEAKER_02It makes me wonder when we pray, at least I'm gonna speak for myself, when I pray, some of the things that I pray for, maybe they are, I don't want to say pointless, but you know, I pray for things that maybe in a sense on on like first appearance or outward appearance might not bring glory to God. And so I guess when I reflect on on his prayer for himself, am I praying too much for earthly things and not enough for godly things? You know what I mean? So I don't know. I I think that we can still pray for that stuff, but I think maybe there's a reason if God doesn't answer.
SPEAKER_00You know? God is a lot less interested in our belongings and the things around us than he is in the hearts and souls of the people that he created.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So but he knows what we need, so right.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. I guess I I wanna my argument would be let's say let's say somebody is ill. Okay. Okay. And you you pray for you pray for God to heal them. And now it's tough because Jesus healed many people on with his time on earth. Does that give glory to God if God were to heal them? Like, you know what I mean?
SPEAKER_00I'm not following you. I would think it would. But how? Well, if it's a miraculous healing and science can't explain it because the healing happened in a way that isn't traditionally the way your body heals, then one explanation would be that God healed you, and that would be glory. The word to give glory to something is to magnify it, right? To put the spotlight on it. Yes. So if if someone were to be healed miraculously, it puts a spotlight on the healing, and depending upon who all is involved, then hopefully the spotlight actually goes on to the healer and not just the healing.
SPEAKER_02But I would argue that that is somewhat of a rare occurrence. What do you mean? That people are healed? The miraculous healing that defies science.
SPEAKER_00Yes, it is. It is, it's not common. I mean, that's part of what makes a miracle a miracle, right? And if it happened every time, it wouldn't be a miracle anymore. It'd just be the way it is.
SPEAKER_02Okay, so what if let's take this another path. What if I what if I'm praying for someone to get get a job that they applied for? Whether or not they get that job, does it really glorify God? Is it silly to even ask for that?
SPEAKER_00No, because those are needs that we have.
SPEAKER_02Paul says But it's a monetary need. Yeah, but it's still a need. God doesn't carry care about money.
SPEAKER_00He does. How? Well, let me ask you this. Throughout the Gospels, how often does Jesus talk about money? A lot. One of his most dramatic moments is when he fashioned a whip and messed with the people in the temple who were making money in the temple, right? Right, because he didn't care about the money.
SPEAKER_02The money wasn't important.
SPEAKER_00He he money is an money is a tool. Money is a tool. God Jesus cares about our hearts, first and foremost. And you know, there's the there's the verse that says that the love of money is the root of all evil. Um nowadays I would say social media, but sure. Right. Well, the the bottom line is that money plays a huge part in our lives. Jesus cares about it. He cares about our needs, even our little ones. Paul says that in all things with Thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. We are supposed to pray for the things we need. We were supposed to, we're supposed to talk with God about things that we that concern us and and and you know that bother us. And it's just like me and you are friends, and we can talk about money or jobs or relationships or weightlifting or whatever. And we we have a we have a discourse, we have a relationship, and it and part of that is sharing back and forth. Same thing with God. Excuse me, God cares about our little needs, God cares that we are fed, God cares that we are clothed, God cares that the little kids are taken care of, he cares about all of those things because we need them and we care about them, and so therefore he does too. Is it his number one priority? No. Is it gonna make or break eternity? No, but but he does care about money. Jesus talks about money all the time, especially in Matthew, and and then he, you know, they they hand him a coin and say, Do we should we pay taxes to Caesar? And Jesus is like, Yeah, you gotta pay taxes, give to God what's God's and give to Caesar what is Caesar's, you know, like God cares about money. Interesting. You don't think he cares about money at all?
SPEAKER_02I'm struggling to put into words the thoughts that are in my head. I guess how could I put this? And part of it is just not I'm st and and I think I will be forever learning how to pray. So part of it is learning and understanding how to pray, but the other part is learning what to pray for, what is frivolous, and what is not prudent to my time speaking with God. You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_00Right.
SPEAKER_02Okay. Does that help a little bit?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it helps me understand where you're coming from. Okay, so the Lord's prayer is in Matthew chapter six, verse nine. So why don't you go to Matthew 6, 9 and hold on a second? What should I hold on to? The page. Matthew. And then I'm gonna go to Philippians. We're just gonna have a little, I didn't know we were gonna turn this into a little topical study on prayer, but it'll be very brief. Prayer is a deep subject. What's what's one of the biggest takeaways that we've gotten from reading in the book of John so far? Uh to me, one of the biggest ones is that God desires relationship. That's what I was gonna say. More than really anything. I mean, He He desires a relationship with us. There's sin and there's consequences and there's death, but God, what He really desires is a relationship with us. So the prayer is a huge part of that. And why is that? Because how do you have a relationship with someone if you never talk to them? I mean, I I remember, you know, the I remember going through a season where I was really struggling with maintaining a consistent devotional life. And I was struggling with reading the Bible more than more than anything else. And I was meeting with my mentor, and he was like, So, you know, and he would always ask me these same accountability questions every week, and I knew they were coming, and I didn't want to have to answer them. But he'd be like, Have you been spending adequate time in your devotional life with the Lord? And I'd be like, No, and he'd be like, Okay, well, have you been reading the Bible? And I'm like, not really, but I pray, I listen to worship music and pray in the car. And he one time he said to me, He goes, So basically, you're just doing all the talking and you're not listening at all. He was like, When we talk to, when we pray, we're talking to God. When we're reading the word, we're listening, because that's the number one way that he speaks to us is through his word, right? Right, like that's the most accurate way we're gonna hear from God. And he's like, So if you're praying and you're sharing all your thoughts, but he doesn't get a word in edgewise, then it's a one-sided deal. And the opposite could be true, although probably less damaging if all we did was read and we didn't pray as much, but you need both because the relationship is two ways, right? Right. So, in read the Lord's Prayer in Matthew 6.
SPEAKER_02Before I do that, yes, I have a perfect example. Okay, perfect of what I'm trying to say. Saturday, we had our state championship baseball game. Uh-huh. Okay. And so I don't know why this makes me emotional, but it does. So before the game, I prayed for God to give the boys strength, to keep them safe from harm, to keep their hearts full, their minds clear, that kind of thing. As the game's going along, it is a very oh, I got something popped up on my computer. It is a very emotional game. It's a very up and down roller coaster game. And I find myself, I mean, we have a bunch of the boys just you could tell the nerves were there. We had one kid, his eyes were red, he was on the verge of tears. Like, I'm sure the pit in their stomach was huge. I mean, it was a big, important game, and it means a lot to them, and they worked their tail off for the last several years to get to this point. And I find myself praying for God to help us get through with the win. But then I start thinking, he doesn't care if they win or lose. Is it even worth praying for that? You know, it doesn't mean anything if they win because yeah, maybe it shows the glory of God, but to who? Just to him, or maybe just to me. Right? You know what I mean? So, so I sort of think like I totally understand. I'm I'm praying for them to to stay calm and for God to to to ease their nerves and and give them some peace while they're playing. But to pray for a win, what you know, what good is that?
SPEAKER_00What's the point of praying for a win because it doesn't have anything? Because it matters to you. Because it matters to you, would be the would be the thing. So if God answers a prayer that you pray, even if it's inconsequential in the grand scheme of things, does that boost, could that bolster your faith? Could that could that encourage you? Could that lift you up? Could couldn't that bring you some joy or peace or hope or faith in the future? Sure. It could. Okay. If we're kids and God is our father, I as a father now I can relate to this in a better like it's easier for me to understand. But my kids come and ask me for everything. Dumb stuff, little stuff, big stuff. You know, sometimes I say no, and sometimes I say yes. But I love that they come and ask me anything. I love it. As a father, I love to know that my kids are not afraid to come to me with whatever is on their little precious hearts and share it. I love it. And I feel like God probably feels the same way when we come to Him in prayer. Is he gonna answer every prayer? Does every prayer matter? No, it doesn't. But if it's on our heart, why wouldn't we want to share it with the person that we look up to, that we adore, that we love the most? You know?
SPEAKER_02That's a really good explanation. Intimacy with God.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. Again, it's it's a two-way conversation, and prayer is the way that we talk to Him. And so from that, is every prayer really important? No. But is there anything wrong with talking to God about everything that's on your mind? Probably not. So I would encourage you not to get too lost in that. There is another old saying that says, and the Lord's Prayer kind of covers this, and we'll talk about it in a second, but there's another one that says, When you when you pray, you seek his face, not his hand. You know, like so often, especially in our culture, we pray and we're asking for favors. We're asking God, do this for me, do this for me, bless me here, give me more money, make sure my job's taken care of, make sure my kids are healthy. We're we're seeking things from his hand without necessarily seeing his face. You know, we're like, Daddy, gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme. And instead of daddy, I just want to sit with you for a little bit. So there's a there is, you know, you can check your heart against that. And the Lord's Prayer is perfect for this. So what you want to read it?
SPEAKER_02Sure. This is NLT, so it's should I read from NLT or a different one? Because it's slightly different in here. It doesn't matter. You probably already know it by heart. Mostly. Yeah. But I'm gonna read it anyway so I don't screw it up. Perfect. Because I'm, you know. Yep. Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. May your kingdom come soon, may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today the food we need and forgive us our sins as we have forgiven those who sin against us. Okay, stop right there.
SPEAKER_00What was it say? What did you say about food? Give us today the food we need. Okay, so in the outline, prayer. I by the way, I don't, I mean, you could recite the Lord's Prayer, but to me it's an outline. Like it's a set of bullet points, and then you can pray on each one that in a way that's specific to your life or whatever. Right. Give us this day our daily. This is just an example he gave. Right. Give us this day our daily bread. So that includes resources. Jesus says in the Lord's Prayer, prayer, ask for resources if you need them food, clothing, shelter. I mean, that all would fall into that category, wouldn't it?
SPEAKER_02Yes. I kind of like this version, though.
SPEAKER_00So Jesus is actually telling us, hey, it's okay to pray and ask for what you need. This is our daily bread. Now, one thing worth mentioning there is it doesn't say give us, give, give me everything I need to get through the rest of this year comfortably. He says, give me what I need to get through today. Yeah, because Jesus obviously we want God wants us to be reliant on him, and if he blessed us with abundance, that this is a don't judge me, pray for me. If you're listening to this, don't judge me, pray for me. But if I was given a year's worth of whatever I needed, then I would probably not be as reliant on God as I needed to, because I'd already have what I needed to make me comfortable.
SPEAKER_02So this is, I mean, a perfect example is when the Jews were wandering in the desert. Yes. God gave them mana every day, but they weren't allowed to save it because he would give them manna the next day. He would give them what they need, and they needed to trust that he would do that each day.
SPEAKER_00Yes.
SPEAKER_02It wasn't he didn't give them a 40 day supply or 40 year supply or a Year supply to get through, he gave it to him daily.
SPEAKER_00Exactly. Huh. Exactly. So one of the big things in the Lord's Prayer is praying for resources, things that we need. Not so that we can have more than we need, but so that we have what we need. Because obviously we are human beings, we're finite beings, we're mortal, and we can't live without food. We can't do much if we are dead.
SPEAKER_02So Heavenly Father, I cannot live without a Ferrari. I need it. So okay, keep going. All right. And don't let us yield to temptation, which the way most people know know it is lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, this says, but rescue us from the evil one. If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your father will not forgive your sins.
SPEAKER_03Hmm.
SPEAKER_02I think that's the end of it. Well, this one's longer.
SPEAKER_00Well, this one, yeah, that's the end of it. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation. But deliver us from evil. But deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the glory, and the power.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, but I was actually, I think I read or heard somewhere that that was not, that was added later, that that wasn't originally in this manuscripts. I like it though.
SPEAKER_00Could be. I don't think there's anything wrong with it.
SPEAKER_02No, not at all.
SPEAKER_00But so Jesus starts with worship, but I think that was added later.
SPEAKER_02Yes, he starts with worship.
SPEAKER_00And he ends with worship, if that's yeah and the end. And then in the middle, it's asking, asking him to forgive us for our sins, asking for the things we need, and praying for the relationships with with those around us. So that's the basic gist of the Lord's prayer. That's that's the that's the outline that we can follow and probably pray okay. Does that mean anything is off limits? No. Is God gonna answer every prayer? No, no, at least not in our timing.
SPEAKER_02Okay, good explanation. I like that. Thank you.
SPEAKER_00Fun fact, on a sorry, on a slightly, because my brain's still on this. My mentor that I was talking about, he is in hospice. Okay, and yeah, he's terminal. He has pancreatic cancer and it's terminal. But he's been sending out a text to all of you know, I somehow was blessed enough to be in this circle of people that he sends his text to, just daily reflections on what God's saying to him, what he's experienced in life, kind of doing like a whole like life review and sharing what is he's comfortable sharing with with us. And he talks about divine healing in there. He was a pastor, and he's like, I believe 100% in divine healing. He's like, I've seen God heal people. He's like, it happens, like you know, but at the same time, I've seen people die painful deaths from cancer or whatever, even after we pray that they be healed. And he's like, and here I am in this position. I'm dying of a painful cancer, and I am praying to be healed because I still believe in divine healing. But I realize that maybe my healing isn't going to come until after I die. He's like, maybe the ultimate healing is is on the other side. He's like, So I don't know if God's gonna heal me or not. I don't know what makes him decide to heal one person and not another. He's like, but either way, I'll be healed when I get to heaven, and I have peace in that. And it's it's a it's really cool to read these things from him. It makes me sad, but it's it's really cool and encouraging.
SPEAKER_02I listened to a really good podcast by a pastor. It's called Live Free. If you haven't found it yet, you should really look it up. But he actually, there is a one of his episodes, he talks about I forget how he said it, dying as a man in Christ or dying in Christ, something like that. Basically, basically what your what your mentor is doing, you know, it's acceptance, but it's trust and faith and you know, peace.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02At the end of that, I highlighted, now, Father, bring me into the glory we shared before the world began. I I have recently met someone who is uh quote unquote Christian that I don't even remember what the denomination is, but they do not believe in the Trinity. What do they believe in? You know what? I it was really hard to follow the explanation, so I don't know. Okay. But uh but this is just once again, just more proof that the Trinity exists. Jesus was there with God at the beginning, with the Holy Spirit, and he wants to go back there.
SPEAKER_00So yeah. All right, I'm sure the thought of going back to glory in heaven was a huge help in him carrying out this task that he had to do.
SPEAKER_02I'm sure. You want to pray, or you want to read the part where he prays for his disciples?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so in verse six it says, I have revealed to you 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 have 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. My prayer is not I'm gonna keep going because No, you're fine. Uh my prayer is not for the world, but for those you have given me because they belong to you. So, this whole prayer, if you're a Christian, this is for you. All who are mine belong to you, and you have given them to me, so they bring me glory. Now I am departing from the world, they are staying in this world, but I am coming to you. Holy Father, you have given me your name. Now protect them by the power of your name so that they will be united just as we are. During my time here, I protected them by the power of the name you gave me. I guarded them so that not one was lost, except the one headed for destruction, as the scriptures foretold. I'm gonna pause there. That's a big chunk.
SPEAKER_02There is, but I I wrote quite a few notes on this section, actually. Yeah. The first thing that stood out to me, and it was like, I don't know why I never thought about this before. Verse 7, it says, Now they know that everything I have is a gift from you. When I read that, it was like just immediately in my head. If you know my father, he has I used to say he's cheated death multiple times because he should have died a few times over. Yes. Okay? So I'd call him Superman because he couldn't be killed. However, it wasn't until I read this that I thought that wasn't dad cheating death or dad being he was a big tough guy. It wasn't him being too strong for death. That was God sparing him for a reason. I don't know the reason. I don't I'm sure my dad doesn't know the reason. I'm sure he's never thought of that. But I don't know why I never thought of that, but until I read that, I had to highlight it because that's immediately what I thought what I thought of. Interesting.
SPEAKER_00God protects us.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. He kind of prays for he prays for unity in this. Yes, he does. You had said before that God draws a line in the sand. But at the same time, he wants us to be united.
SPEAKER_00Yes. Yeah, I I mean, you know, everyone thinks that Jesus is the unifier. And he is. It's he divides the world between believers and unbelievers. If you know of Jesus, you have to pick a side. Like you can't under like if you you hear about his teachings, wonderful, that's great. You hear that he was crucified and then rose from the dead, you can't stand neutral on that. You know what I mean? Like, oh, this guy just rose from the dead three days after he was killed, and here's his teachings that backed up that this was gonna happen. You can't look at all of that and then just be neutral. You have to pick a side. You either choose to believe it or harden your heart and be angry or whatever, or you accept him and his teachings and his forgiveness, and you're in that camp. You're it there is a line in the sand. You can't you can't have a neutral posture towards that. That puts you that keeps you in the enmity with God section, right? But yes, among the believers on the side, on one side of that line, his desire is for the believers to walk in unity. 100%.
SPEAKER_02I think unity can sometimes be construed poorly. People will say, well, Jesus wants us to love everyone and and be united, but love doesn't just mean blind acceptance, right, or affirming things. Preach. Okay. So like in this day and age, we see it a lot, like coexist bumper stickers and and I mean there's I can't tell you how many videos I've seen of pastors wearing rainbow-colored garments and have pride flags in the background. I even heard a pastor say she doesn't like the Bible. She, yes. That is not unifying to say, well, they just have a different outlook or they have a different thought process. That's not that's not unifying in Christ. And there's also a big difference between, I think, eternal unity, unity in Christ, and w what I would call temporary unity. So we can unify on many things, worldly, fleshly things, but that's not the unity that God's talking about. Right.
SPEAKER_00Unity isn't always agreement. Is that what you're yeah? Yeah.
SPEAKER_02You can't you can't hide from truth. No, the truth is the truth. I don't remember who said it, but there's a quote that goes something like Have peace where you can, but never stray from truth, or something like that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. When I read that, I was like, I started thinking about all the different Christian denominations. All I mean, I you know, like we all have there's Lutherans and Methodists and and Presbyterians, and then there's non-denominational and the charismatic and you know Baptist and Catholic and Yes, all of these different denominations that believe different things. And Jesus, what how does he put it?
SPEAKER_02He says Well, fun fact the original thought of the Catholic Church was a little see Catholic, which was supposed to be all-inclusive unifying under Christ. It wasn't necessarily a denomination.
SPEAKER_00Right. So Jesus prayed, I think he mentions it a couple times in there. He he desired one of the ways that the world will we will stand out from the world is that we are unified. And you like you said, it's not about just blanket acceptance of a whatever, it's not about inclusion in a broad sense. We are unified as Christians because we have been forgiven and saved by Jesus Christ, who died on the cross and then was resurrected from the dead and came back to life. Like that is the unified, like that is something that I believe that all believers can get behind. And if you're in and if you believe in Jesus that way, and then he says the two greatest commandments are love the Lord God with all your heart, soul, mind, and body, and then love your neighbor as yourself. That simplifies everything. Like we get we get caught up in the weeds on different theologies, different lines of thought, you know, like is the rapture gonna come before the tribulation? Is it gonna come after the tribulation? Is it gonna be in the middle, like put pre-post trib, whatever? We get caught up in these, and it creates these little minor divisions within the body. But I've I have met so many wonderful believers that don't believe the same thing that I do about everything. In fact, I don't know if I've ever been to a church that believes like that preaches exactly what my belief system is. Like, there's always slightly differences because we don't know it all.
SPEAKER_02Well, unity doesn't mean same, right? And you talked about all the denominations, for the most part, all those denominations have one thing in common that could unify them. Yes, and that is that Jesus Christ is our savior, he died and rose from the dead for us.
SPEAKER_00Yes, yeah, and if we stick to that and we keep that as our core tenet and we love our brothers and sisters in Christ, then that is one of the best ways that we can witness to this world that Jesus is real and that what happened, like that what he said was true. Correct. It is, it is, it is our biggest witness. And so I would encourage everyone if you have a brother or sister in Christ that you are at odds with for whether it's a personal wrong or an offense or whatever, go figure it out. Yeah, get it figured out. Forgive and move on. We are we are living in in an age where the world needs to see what it's like to love like Jesus does. Truth. Keep going.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Verse 13, I think. You want me to read? Yeah. Okay. You're so good at it.
SPEAKER_00Oh, well, what do you know? All right, 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. I have given them your word, and the world hates them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one. Ironically, you mentioned that earlier when we were talking about praying. They do not belong to this world any more than I do. Make them holy by your truth, teach them your word, which is truth. Just as you sent me into the world, I am sending them into the world, and I give myself as a holy sacrifice for them so they can be made holy by your truth.
SPEAKER_02So he talks about his disciples not being part of this world, not because they were, you know, some sort of co-Messiah or anything like that, simply because they were believers and followers of Christ. Right. Which means if you are a believer and follower of Christ, you too are not of this world.
SPEAKER_00Right. Reminds me of that old switchfoot song, The Beautiful Letdown. Such a great song. Such a great song.
SPEAKER_02The other part I noticed in here, where is it at? Oh, he's sending them out into the world. I wish I would have written it down, but I didn't have a pen and paper handy. The in the original manuscript, I think it was in the the Hebrew one, Greek, Aramaic, I don't remember which one. The word is basically the root word for mission. So he's sending his disciples out on a mission to spread the word of God. And then I highlighted, I have to remember why. Oh, make them holy by your truth. I forget which version it is, but it says to sanctify. Okay. Alright. So, do you know the three version or the three stages of sanctification?
SPEAKER_00No.
SPEAKER_02I looked this up, I wrote it down.
SPEAKER_00I love it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. So, sanctification means to set part, to make holy, etc. Yes. The first stage, positional sanctification. It's the initial stage that maybe happened already, maybe it's happening now. It's a one-time event where you say, in your heart, you believe in Jesus Christ. You accept him as your Savior. That's positional sanctification. That's stage one. Okay. First Corinthians chapter six, verse eleven says it talks about basically sinners, and then it says, But you were cleansed, you were made holy, you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. Stage two, progressive sanctification. This is where most of us believers are. It is the lifelong journey of growing in Christ. It basically emphasizes that we're not saved by works, but for works. So over time we we sin less. We start doing more godly things and start living more like Jesus Christ. Okay. First Thessalonians chapter 5, verse 23. Now may the God of peace make you holy in every way, and may your holy may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again. And section or part three, ultimate sanctification. When we die. This is where we all want to get to. This is the finale, and it's our ultimate freedom from sin. Paul said in the book of Paul. I'm just kidding. Romans chapter 15, verses five and six. May God who gives this patience and encouragement help you live in complete harmony with each other as is fitting for followers of Jesus Christ, then all of you can join together with one voice, giving praise and glory to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. So the three stages of sanctification. God to sanctify them.
SPEAKER_00What was that in again? Romans 12. Okay. The first couple verses. We are changed more into the likeness of Jesus. We become more like Jesus as we renew our minds and we renew our minds by reading the truth, by reading the word. The Bible is the key to rewiring us in a way that makes us more useful to the Lord. So when Jesus says here, he says, make them holy through your truth, or however it is, he phrases that exactly that we have the truth. We're reading it right now. This whole podcast is about reading the truth, right? So as we do that, that's part of phase two in the MCU universe. JCU. Yeah, the JCU. So as we continue to read the word and pursue him and desire to be like him, we become more and more sanctified as we go along. Nice. Yep.
SPEAKER_02I don't know why I highlighted this. And I verse 19, and I give myself as a holy sacrifice for them so they can be made holy by your truth.
SPEAKER_00That's phase one of the JCU.
SPEAKER_02You're right. You're right. I didn't, I don't know why I didn't write that down. Sometimes I'm who knows. Like you call it squirrel brain.
SPEAKER_00The greatest lie I ever tell myself is that I don't need to write that down.
SPEAKER_02That's funny. Jesus prays for future believers. Who us? That is us. Verse 20. I am praying not only for these disciples, but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. 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 have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one. I am in them, and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me. Father, I want the 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 these disciples know you sent me. I have 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. He's still talking about unity. He still wants the church to come together, believers to come together. So right at the end there, because it's on my mind. I have revealed you to them, and I will continue to do so. He's telling us that he's always gonna be with us. He's telling us that he's always gonna be around and be in our hearts and and be there to guide us.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. And it's not a one time process. He says I've revealed you to them and I'm going to continue to do so. We don't have it all figured out yet.
SPEAKER_02No. You have anything else from that? Yeah. I mean, oh, yeah, I do and I don't. The big takeaway I get from his entire prayer. Ooh, here we go. If you just read it without like dissecting it, just beginning to end, at least for me, it sounds like you said, chapter or the book of John, the whole uh big message was that he wants a relationship with us. And that's exactly how the prayer sounds. He's just chatting it up. He's talking, you know, just having a conversation. It's not any complicated, you know, pre-written prayer. He's just he's just talking, he's sharing his feelings and and you know, asking for help and giving glory.
SPEAKER_00Right. Yeah. Jesus is sharing his feelings with the one he loved the most. And we so when when I read this, I'm like, okay, so let's find out what a perfect human being's feelings look like. And his desire was for the rest of us to know him and to know the father the way that he did, the way he does. This is very it's such a wow, dude. That's gonna come on the mic, I bet. Oh, I don't know. I wasn't watching the screen.
SPEAKER_02Your stomach was so loud, dude.
SPEAKER_00It's been doing that for like 10 minutes now.
SPEAKER_02Oh, that's hilarious. Like a little lion in your belly.
SPEAKER_00It is. It's I don't know what's happening down there. Yeah, I mean, Jesus is praying that we would all grow up to know him and know the Father more. I mean, that's that's the basic gist. I prayer is a relational thing, and his desire for us to be unified together in love is I mean, that was the main crux of the that was his desire for the whole prayer. And he kind of explained how to do that by by remembering what Jesus said and seeking the Father and knowing him, and then the rest of that takes care of itself. I I'm with you. My the big takeaway here is that uh is relation, relationship, relationship, relationship, relationship.
SPEAKER_02Yep. Cool. Well, that's the end of chapter 17. You got anything else for it before we sign off?
SPEAKER_00I do not. I think we I am good. We could we could read this chapter like 10 times and have 10 hours of discourse on it. Oh, I'm sure it would be all different, just depending.
SPEAKER_02I'm sure, I'm sure.
SPEAKER_00But no, it was great. This is good.
SPEAKER_02Okay, thank you for listening. That's chapter 17. John, if you want to send us out in a prayer, and then next time we're back, we'll be on chapter 18. So make sure you if you have questions, comments, make sure you let us know. John's probably gonna ask you to like, subscribe, whatever, share. I was going to, but you just did it, so I don't need to.
SPEAKER_00I did it for you. You're welcome. Yes. Oh, one one other housekeeping note our our scheduled time to get together has been altered due to my work schedule. So we are still on the air, but the episodes may be coming out somewhat more sporadically, but we are still here. Yeah, so hopefully we're not going anywhere. We aren't going anywhere. We just it won't be as consistent. The timing is gonna be a little different.
SPEAKER_02So we'll do our best.
SPEAKER_00Yep. All right, John, you want to pray? Yes, Heavenly Father, thank you for sending your son Jesus to teach us, to lead us on this earth. Thank you for his sacrifice that he made so that we can come to you directly. Your word says that we can come boldly to the throne of grace, and uh that is because of what Jesus did on the cross. And so, Father, we thank you for him. I thank you for Kyle. I thank you for our listeners. You're so good to us, and I pray that we would we would not hesitate to bring all of our stuff to you big stuff, little stuff, or anything in between. I pray that we would come to you with all of our needs and wants and thoughts and hopes and dreams and share them with you and get to know you better. We love you so much. In your name we pray. Amen. Thanks everybody. See you next time.