November 9, 2025 - Bobby Dagnel - A Little While Again and Again

November 9, 2025 - Bobby Dagnel - A Little While Again and Again

00:00 Introduction and Greetings
00:18 Reflections on PK Chapel
02:21 The Importance of the Upper Room Teachings
03:35 A Little While and Again a Little While
05:10 The Nature of Life's Trials
09:40 Finding Joy Amidst Hardship
14:55 Anticipating and Embracing Adversity
34:34 The Power of Prayer
44:00 Conclusion and Final Prayer

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction and Greetings
• 0:18 Reflections on PK Chapel
• 2:21 The Importance of the Upper Room Teachings
• 3:35 A Little While and Again a Little While
• 5:10 The Nature of Life's Trials
• 9:40 Finding Joy Amidst Hardship
• 14:55 Anticipating and Embracing Adversity
• 34:34 The Power of Prayer
• 44:00 Conclusion and Final Prayer

Transcript

[00:00:00] Introduction and Greetings

it's good to be back with you. We always look forward to, uh, being here. We were actually in Lubbock, uh, for the past few days. I had a speaking engagement Friday night, and we came on, uh, yesterday morning to pk. Didn't stick around for the game, just got in the car and came on and listened to it on the radio.

But I always enjoy being here. 

[00:00:18] Reflections on PK Chapel

And I, and I've told Mike this before that I hope you don't ever take for granted what we have here because, um, after having served in local churches for 41 years and, um, you know, and most of those were in very large churches, it's very refresh refreshing because I think what PK Chapel represents.

It is really a wonderful portrayal of what I think the early church looked like, um, and what the, the church is supposed to be, where you have a local community of, uh, believers and they come together on a weekly basis and they come together. And they sing songs of worship and praise and adoration. They hear the word of God talk and then they disperse out into their, uh, respective lives and communities.

Uh, you don't have multi staff to deal with. You don't have budgets to deal with. You don't have programming that you've got to do. All of those were manmade creations. And, uh, let me tell you, as a pastor. Those are all the things that wear thin on you. That's, uh, those are all the things that drive you to retirement.

And, uh, so this has just been a breath of refreshment for us to be able to be here and to do this, uh, with you and for you to be a part of this. Um, I think this is the first time. In my coming to PK that I wasn't following Joel Gregory, and I think he's following me next week. Uh, but you know, to follow Joel Gregory is always daunting and I hope you never take for granted, uh, as well, uh, having opportunity to sit under the teaching of, of Joel Gregory, just as I hope you never took for granted the opportunity that you had to sit under the teachings of Jim Denison.

Uh, Joel Gregory, I believe is, is truly. Uh, the finest orator. In the English language today. And, and I've believed that since 19, probably 84 when I first heard Joel speak. And, uh, so you, you are being given a very unique privilege and opportunity to be able to send Joel's uh, uh, preaching whenever he is here.

[00:02:21] The Importance of the Upper Room Teachings

Uh, I want us this morning, as you see on the board, I want us to look at John chapter 16. We returned to the upper room, uh, where I left. Off with you last time, where we will be, uh, next time I'm with you. I think I'm, I think I'm with you one other time in November, twice in December, but, uh, we will probably continue to be in the upper room.

I think those are, uh, some of the most significant teachings of Jesus for his disciples. Then, uh, these that would be entrusted with the, with the ongoing with. The establishment of what would be the church of the Lord Jesus Christ and the apostles and the theology of the apostles, uh, was going to be vital, crucial, and foundational, uh, to the establishment of the church and the church that would continue even to here 2000 years, uh, later.

So the, uh, these are not insignificant. Words that, uh, we are considering, uh, because Jesus knew the importance of this occasion in these moments. And just as these words were important for those disciples, then, uh, they are nonetheless important for, for us today. And so, uh, my season of life, I've enjoyed this final discourse and, uh, I think it'll be challenging and rewarding for all of us.

[00:03:35] A Little While and Again a Little While

The message this morning is entitled A little while, uh, again. And again, a little while again. And again, uh, so I, I hope if you, if you have your Bible or your smart device that, uh, your phone, whatever it is you need, that you will open it to these particular passages. Uh, you know, I've always been a note taker all of my life.

Always been a note. I don't care what arena I'm in, uh, whether it's, uh, you know, out in the community, uh, whether it's in church. Anytime I hear someone speak, I've always been a note taker. Uh, because there are always thoughts or something that I hear that I can use. I think, well, I thought, I, I, you know, I, I would've done it this way.

I would've said it this way. When I listen to pastors, I get ideas, I get thoughts, and, and I think that's helpful for us. 'cause I can go back through my notes. If I'm listening to a sermon, I can use that devotion. Through the course of the week because one of the way that God's spirit, uh, works in our lives, I do believe that there is this connectiveness between, uh, one that God has called to proclaim the word, the the ones that in this season are listening to that word.

I think that the Holy Spirit is there in your life situation, in your circumstance, that he is able to take the foolishness of preaching. And he is able to use that. The spirit is able to use that in a way that is applicable to your life and to your circumstances. And so, uh, this morning we find ourselves at John chapter 16 in verses 16 through 24.

[00:05:10] The Nature of Life's Trials

What elicited this, this sermon idea? Was really a reflection upon my, my early years, a young man. Uh, I'm sure you've all had this experience as well. There's nothing unique to the human dilemma, but I remember as a young man, oftentimes whenever you had difficult circumstances, uh, and confessionally, I would say just, just hardships, difficulties, losses.

Appointments, grief, whatever it might have been. Uh, if it was something that was, that was disruptive to the life I wanted to, the life I was planning for myself, uh, that when these things occurred, my thought was well in a little while, everything will be better if I can just get over this. If I can just get this behind me.

Well, I'll never have to deal with this again. And we can get back and I can get back to the life that I wanted, the life that I think it should be. And it seems like we, we so often find ourselves in these, these, these times in life where, where we're always waiting for something to become other than what it is right now.

What we discover with experience and wisdom, that all of these things that we're anticip, that we're anticipating, getting past all these things that cause us to think well in a little while, everything will be better. All of those things are just life, aren't they? All of those things are just, are just life.

Such as the nature we come to understand, such as the nature of this, the brokenness of this world, a world that has been ravaged by sin. That the kind of disappointments, the kind of disruptive things that, that we experience in life, whether it's the death of loved ones, the diagnosis of disease, the, the turn of the, the economy, whether it's mental illness, the loss of a child, all the, this litany of things that just happen that are so tragic, that bring disruption, that bring heartache, that bring disappointment, that bring, that, bring grief.

All of these things are just life.

The things that this world offers us can never bring the fullness in the sense of wholeness and completeness that only God can offer. That's why Job would say in Job 14, one man born of woman has been a few days and filled with trouble. In other words, the nature of this world and what it offers to us, it is incapable.

Of offering to us what we desire most. A sense of stability, a sense of purpose and mission. Something that that keeps us pushing forward into the, into the future that God would have for us. And so to continue the quest of thinking that this world is going to somehow offer to us, uh, a sense of rootedness, a sense of joy, a sense of wellbeing.

That's a, it's a bit naive, isn't it? I think that's what Jesus is saying here. If you'll notice in verses 16 through 19, in John chapter 16, Jesus says a little while and you no longer going to see me again and again. A little while you will see me. So some of his disciples said to one another, what is this that he is telling us a little while, and you are not going to see me, and again, a little while and you will see me, and because I'm going to the father.

So they were saying, what is this that he says a little Wow. We do not know what he's talking about. Jesus knew that they wanted to question him, and he said to them, are you, are you deliberating together about this that I said a little while and you're not going to see me? And again, a little while you will see me.

[00:09:40] Finding Joy Amidst Hardship

Now what Jesus is going to offer in the unfolding of these verses, he's going to offer them something, a kind of joy in life and approach to life, and a joyful foundation in life that transcends the circumstances of life. That there's always gonna be circumstances, there's always going to be hardship, there's always going to be trial.

That's the nature. That's the only thing that the brokenness of this world has to offer to us, and yet what? What Jesus is going to bring to the table, what he's saying to those disciples is that I'm going to offer to you what you will see eventually and what you will come to understand post-resurrection and on the day of Pentecost.

What you're going to discover is something that transcends the trials of this life, of how even in the midst of it, what is going to set you apart as my disciples, as my people, is that even in the midst of hardship and crises, there is going to be a joy about your life. There is going to be a rootedness of joy in your life.

That everyone around you will see and they will wonder what is it that they have? What is it that they have experienced that we have not experienced that sets them apart from everyone else? You see this, this joy was really something, this joy of which Jesus is going to speak. It's something that that really wasn't readily seen in that first century world.

It was a, you know, Jesus said that, uh, or Paul wrote of Jesus' coming, that when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his son into the world. Well, part of the fullness of that time was the despair and the hopelessness of the people. There was this overwhelming sadness and there was, uh, they were not lacking for religion.

They were not lacking for philosophies, but, and so you had all of these offerings of men and philosophical thought, religious thought that all attempted to fill this void, but it left them wanting, I mean, you had, you had on one extreme, you had, uh, you had the despair of stoicism. And the other extreme was epicureanism, you know, the, the attempt to experience every pleasure that this world could, could possibly offer.

And in between that you had every kind of religious expression available, and yet, and yet we find that the people were wanting, and it was into the brokenness of that kind of world. Listen, it was into the brokenness of that kind of world that the gospel came forth and the prevailing joy that the world would see so prevalent is this joy in the life of those, those early disciples.

So distinguishing was this kind of joy was that it would, it would become one of the identifying characteristics of early Christianity. In fact, even in our, in our New Testament, there are some 24 variations, this word joy that Jesus uses, there's, you take the root word of that, that word joy, and there's some 24 different derivatives variations of that word that are found in the New Testament, and it's used over 326 times because this is supposed to be one of the identifying qualities regardless of circumstances in life.

Regardless of, of what happens to us, no matter what hap this is the identifying characteristics, one of them, of those who would be followers of Jesus Christ. Well, knowing that and understanding that, and I think it takes great intentionality for this to be exercised as we journey forward in the journey of faith, if that be so as to what is to identify us, one of the identifying qualities of us as followers.

Of Jesus Christ. If this is to be a dominant trait, then I think it's a fair question. How do we then process hardship? If this really is to be one of the dominant qualifying characteristics of my life as a follower of Jesus, then how do I process the inevitable circumstances? How do I process the things and the events and the circumstances, the ever-changing circumstances of life, that somewhere that that attempt to overwhelm us, that somehow, uh, leave us with grief and heartache and uncertainty regarding the future.

Well, I wanna share with you from the text three things that I think are, are applicable for us that help us in processing this hardship. 

[00:14:55] Anticipating and Embracing Adversity

The first thing that I, I think the text offers to us is that, is that you and I in this processing of adversity that we should anticipate it. I think we should anticipate adversity.

Now, notice here in verse 20, I'm gonna read verse 20, and then that first clause in, in verse 22. But in verse 20, Jesus says, truly, truly, I say to the, say to you that, that you will weep and mourn, but the world will rejoice. You will grieve, but your grief will be turned into joy. And then verse 22, that first clause I want to read it says, therefore, you too have grief now, but I will see you again.

Now, whether you underline that in your Bible, you highlight it on your smart device or whether you underscore it in your mind, I think, I think it's imperative that we hear this, that you will. Weep. The, the first person here, you, it's emphatic. He's saying, you is my disciple. You will grieve, you will weep, you will mourn, and you will have grief Now.

That is until things become clear, until you understand the providential purposes of God and how God is working. But now the way things are right now is that you're not going to be exempt. And I think this is a significant word for us because we, we are part of a generation that, that really struggle with the idea of suffering and heartache as, as a child of God, this seems to be the only generation that is somehow offended by suffering.

That somehow that being a follower of Christ means I get a get out of jail free card. It seems like all previous generations understood. Hardship and suffering is just, is just life. Uh, thi this, this is how, this is how, uh, your faith is forged. This is how maturity is forged. As we go through the, through the trials and the challenges of life.

We build up calluses, don't we? In the trials you're going through here, the things that are so challenging and difficult here, uh, we find that these things just are preparing for preparing us for that next trial. You know, in dealing with student athletes for the past 15 years. I was, I always had to be mindful, you know, that 20 year olds when they would come and want to talk to me and, and they'd say, man, I'm just really struggling and, you know, life's hard.

And, you know, I've got this going on in my life. And, you know, and I hear these, you know, 18 to, uh, you know, to 23, 24 year olds talk about their struggles, you know, and in my mind is a 67-year-old man. I think, my goodness, if this, if this is, if this is bringing so much challenge to your life. Oh, I can't even imagine what the thirties and forties and the 50 year olds are.

Seasons of life. But, but, but what I realize is what they're dealing with with now, uh, just preparing them for what will come in the thirties, what you go through in your thirties will prepare you for what you go through in your forties and your fifties and your sixties, right? It's just part of the process that God.

Uses us to keep us pushing forward into discovery of his providential purposes. So I think there's, there's wisdom in our anticipation of adversity. Now that doesn't mean have a morbid out outlook on life, but I think what, what it means far, if I can anticipate adversity. Then I can also prepare my response, can I not, if I'm, if I have a sense of readiness, if I know that this world and its offerings can, can never bring me a sense of fulfillment in life if what this world al offers is always going to leave me empty and wanting and just waiting and waiting and waiting, chasing every kind of pursuit.

Then, then what I, what I discover is that, is that if I can plan my reaction to hardship, then I can respond in a way that is appropriate to my faith and the expression of my faith to the world around me. I pray. When the unexpected happens in my life, I pray that my response, that my reaction would be something that that is fitting to the faith that I profess, that how I would respond would show a confidence and a trust and the redemptive ongoing purposes of God.

Now, lemme tell you, it's easier to preach about that than it is to practice it. It's a whole lot easier to stand up here and talk about it and teach it than it is to put it into real life. You know, I can wake up every day planning to act a certain way. I can wake up every morning and say, Lord, when my feet hit the floor, I want to live my life in a way that honors you, that reflects the impact that that, that you've had on my life.

How your, my commitment to you is foundational to everything I do. I can plan that, how I'm going to act, but you know what's going to be more telling. Let's say I'm rounding the corner and you run into me with a cup of coffee and spill it all over me. In that moment, how I react is going to be far more telling than how I planned on acting.

And see, God uses our response. To influence others around us who are watching. I had a gentleman in my previous church by the name of Norman Lockett. He and his wife Norma, were faithful members, and Norman was diagnosed with, with cancer, advanced cancer, was told he only had about six months to live. He is one of my, one of our very best adult Bible teachers.

And, uh, Norman ended up living about three years, but, uh, during that first six months, Norman came to see me and, you know, he was going through treatments. He was weak. And he said, my intention is, is to keep teaching my Sunday school class. And he said, as long as I have energy, he said, I'm going to, I'm going to be in church.

And Norman and Norma had, you know, they sit right there. About eight rows back, same spot. They were just a fixture in the life of our church, and he said, I'm gonna be there as much as I can. He said, because I know people are watching. And he said, I know people, when they know someone that's going through cancer, we all, we always say, I wonder how they're dealing with this.

I wonder how they're really doing. And he said, I know people think that way because I've thought that way before about others. And he said, I want people to look at me and I want them to see my joy. I want them to see my contentment in the worst season of my life. That's someone who anticipated adversity, who was trusting in the providential purposes of God.

And realize that everything else is just a little while. It's a part of processing our, our adversity. It's a part of processing our trials so that joy is truly prevalent. Well, building on that, I should say. Allow the text to say that not only should we anticipate advers adversity, but I think we must, uh, I think that we must embrace it joyfully.

Now, I don't mean enjoy it, that's not what it means, but we embrace it joyfully knowing that God is doing something in the midst of it, that somehow God is going to use what, what evil would, uh, what Satan would intend for evil. The purposes of God will not be thwarted. Notice, uh, let's just pick it up here.

In this last part of verse 20, that last clause in verse 20, he says, but your grief will be turned into joy. Now, that word but there in contrast to what was just described here, uh, here's, here's a strong word of transition that he's offering here, but. But your grief will be turned into joy. What brought so much grief?

The very thing that brings grief. Uh, the very thing that has brought uncertainty. The very thing that has brought disappointment. The thing that, that, that has caused you maybe to despair, pushed you to the brink of giving up. He says, oh, I'm going to turn that into joy. And then I, I love the analogy that he uses here.

Jesus says, but, but when a, whenever a woman is in labor, she has pain because her hour has come. But when she gives birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy that a child has been born into the world. I love, I love that analogy. You notice what Jesus doesn't say? He says, listen, what has brought joy?

What, what has brought suffering to your life? What has brought grief and heartache? He doesn't say that. Listen, we're gonna make that go away, and we're going to, we're going to, we're we, he's not making a bargain here. This isn't like dealing with a whiny child at the, at, you know, at Walmart. Like, honey, if you'll start, stop crying.

I'll get you a toy. That that's not the exchange that is taking place here. Jesus is saying something very important. He's saying this very thing that is causing your heartache, that is causing your pain. Childbirth analogy, this very thing. This is gonna be the source of joy. What you see now is only being in this circumstance and you're experiencing only pain, not you keep pressing forward.

Now you just keep faithful in abiding with me. This is going to become a source of joy for you, and this source of pain will actually be used by me as a ministry. To others. See, it's not like what is said of Jesus. And, uh, the author of Hebrews chapter 12 in verse two, in speaking of Jesus, who, for the joy set before him endured the cross.

Now the, the cross was painful. He endured it knowing that, that this very cross would become the very source of unspeakable joy. Apostle Paul says the same thing over in over in his letter to the second letter to the church at Corinth. In second Corinthians chapter four and verse 17, Paul says, for our momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison.

While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen for the things which you're seen are temporal, how often we get, we get locked in on the temporal nature of this pl, this pain. Not realizing that the eternal is is being accomplished, but at the things which are not seen.

For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. Now Paul's not diminishing our present pain. He's saying, oh, you, Paul's not saying, you know, your, your pain's not real. I can't believe you're grieving over this. That's not, this isn't something to grieve about. Paul is not dismissing the fact that this life is hard.

Yeah. But you see what Paul is doing and what he's encouraging us to do is, is to frame things and to have a perspective that put things in their proper place. This, this is just for a little while. Thi uh, the pain now is just of a temporal nature. Listen, I know it's intense. I'm not diminishing that, but this, this is just temporary compared to the eternal weight of glory.

That God is accomplishing for you for what he has in store for you. Most of you in here are old enough to know that what I'm saying is true. God has a way of breaking us in all the right places. As all those, and as those places that God has broken are circumstances that God uses to create a brokenness in our life that is, these broken places begin to heal.

They become stronger. And you and I, in the midst of that healing through this process of brokenness. When God is, is accomplishing his healing work in our spirit, in our soul, in our person. Well, these, these things become, these places become stronger in our life, and you and I, what happens with the passage of time is you and I become wounded healers by our faithful continuing forward in the midst of our pain and our heartache and our grief.

As God does his work of healing, we become wounded healers. And by that I mean that at some point in our faith journey, God is going to providentially in our intersect our lives with individual. Who, who is going through the very thing that you went through months and years ago, and in the divine purposes of God, somehow your lives are going to intersect and you're going to become an encouragement to that person.

Because what happens in our pain, we isolate, don't we? We turn inward. We think we're the only one going through this, that this is a path I have to walk along, but God brings these people into our lives. They say, I know what you're going through. I've been there. You don't have to walk alone. And I want you to know that God is faithful to bring you to the other side, but like the way it continues here, he says in verse 22, he says, therefore.

I've always loved the word, therefore in the New Testament 'cause it's always a word of transition based upon what I've just said to you. Therefore, he says, you too have grief now, but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice and no one is going to take your joy away from you. Underscore that in your mind.

If not in your Bible, I will see you again. See, that's a contrast to what Jesus has said back in verses 16, 17, and 19, I believe. Yeah, verse 16, he says, in a little while, and you will see me says that three times 16, 17, and 19 in time, you will see me. But now I don't miss the turn of the phrase. Here he says I, I will see you.

And he's talking about in post-resurrection. Can you imagine what Jesus saw? He saw their, he saw their joy and I mean, I mean, on Friday there, I mean, Jesus knows very well what these disciples in the, in the upper room, he knows what they're going to go through on Friday and not just Friday with the crucifixion and in the years of ministry to come.

He knows the difficulties and the challenges that they're going to experience. But this kind of joy is going to be the only thing that sustains. And then Jesus got to witness that, that joy in the life of his disciples after the resurrection. Can you imagine after the, after being in the midst of despair, and we give him three years of our life to following this man, believing that he is the Messiah, now he's dead.

They crucify him. I mean, we can't even imagine the joy that they must have. Must have experienced that Sunday. And you'd love to be a fly on the wall to see, just to see the joy that Jesus experienced in seeing the faces of those disciples. See, you and I we're on this side of the crucifixion. We are on this side of the resurrection.

You and I know far more today than those disciples did sitting in that upper room.

I wonder what Jesus sees in us when, when life blindsides you, when you experience the unexpected, what does, what does Jesus see in me? Knowing what I know about the resurrection, having confidence in conviction regarding the resurrection and the hope that is mine in Christ Jesus, is that being reflected is my joy, and that's the language of hope.

Is that joy evident in what Jesus sees in my life today, does he see in me, in my times of adversity, the realization. All of this is, but for a little while, which brings me to a third and final thing regarding what I think and understanding the passage of, of what is necessary to processing our hardships and our difficulties.

If, if, if, if transcendent joy is to truly characterize our lives, regardless of circumstances. 

[00:34:34] The Power of Prayer

Uh, based upon what Jesus says here in verses 23 and 24, i, I think that we need to learn to pray differently. Now, Jesus says it this way in verses 23, and well, let's just look at that first clause in verse 23. He says, on and on that day, you will not question me about anything.

On that day, you will not question me about anything. He's talking post-resurrection, the after the resurrection and, and even Pentecost. Because what's going to happen post-resurrection and especially on the Pentecost Day of Pentecost and the coming of the Holy Spirit, is that all the dots are finally going to be connected.

Things that Jesus has been saying to, to them that, that they have misunderstood. You know, they continued to cling to their anticipation of what the messianic ring would look like. Even though Jesus said, over and over my kingdom is not of this world, they continued to cling to this model of a messianic kingdom that was based on political power, militaristic power, overthrowing Roman oppression.

Jesus said, my kingdom's not of this world. And they continued to cling to that, that model during the three years of following after Jesus. But it wouldn't be until Post-Resurrection and Pentecost that the dots become connected. And now then they, they understand what the Kingdom of God is about and at that point they realize how all of the questions that I had, and we've all been there with our questions.

They will, what they will realize in a little while post-Resurrection Pentecost. You know, all my, all my questions are really irrelevant. All of my questions are really unimportant. All of my questions that I, that have been raised in my mind because of the temporal circumstances of this world, uh, they, they are really just that, they're just temporal in nature.

And now what my real concern should be is not, is not having my, my questions answered by God, but rather my getting with God. You see that? Listen, that's when that's when prayer becomes transformational is when we stop viewing prayer as something to get from God, but rather prayer is getting.

And in my getting with God, all of my circumstances are placed in their proper perspective. Now, notice verse 23 continues, and on that day, you will not question me about anything. Truly, truly I say to you, if you ask the Father for anything in my name, he will give it to you. Ask anything in my name, my father will give it.

It to you. Now, if you go back and read the Sermon on the Mount, uh, the Sermon on the mount, the upper room discourse in, in full, you find that with just small variations, that same prayer is offered some, some six times that ask what You will ask the father for anything in my name and he will give it to you.

Now when, when Jesus speaks of praying and asking the father in my name, this isn't some kind of formula, this isn't some code. That if in my praying, I say in Jesus' name after every phrase in my prayer, that somehow I've backed the Almighty into a corner, he's my jack in the box. And if I say in Jesus' name, then the father is obligated to pop out and to give me my every longing because I asked it in his name.

Well, nothing could be further from the truth. There's no biblical basis for that. Uh, that fits well with American capitalistic religion, health, wealth, and prosperity. It just has no biblical basis. Whatsoever when he says to pray in my name, that means you understand my being. You understand my person. You understand my identity.

You understand who I am. You understand my mission and knowing who I am, knowing my person, knowing my identity, knowing my my mission, to see the will of God being accomplished. And glorified in it. Well, that, that's going to reframe how you pray because you're going to pray according to my mission. You're going to pray according to my person, to who, to I, to who I am, and what is my heartbeat.

And it says, when you learn to pray. In this way, when you learn to pray with the same motivation as me, then your joy will be made fully. He says in verse 24, until you have asked for nothing until now, you have asked for nothing in my name. Ask and you'll receive so that your joy may be made full. Doesn't mean they haven't prayed before, they've been praying, but their prayers have been self consumed.

Their prayers have been self concerned. Prayer is driven by the temporal circumstances of life that circumstances would change. So yeah, you've prayed, but you've, you've prayed nothing according to my identity and in my mission and my heartbeat. But when you learn to pray this way, then he says, your joy will be made full.

But you know, one of the things I appreciate and that in regard to this subject of prayer. Is really the prayer of our Lord in the garden and that deep agony that Jesus was experiencing in the garden, even as it's described as sweating forth, uh, you know, droplets of blood, that kind of agony, that kind of deep, intense agony and, and grief and anxiety.

And when Jesus prayed, he asked his father. Father might this cup pass from me. I think it was an expression of his full humanity. He did a very human thing there. And no 33-year-old in the right mind wants to die, and certainly not the kind of death that he was going to anticipate. Father, if it's possible, might, might this cup pass from me.

It's a very human prayer, isn't it? Change. Change my circumstances. That cup is the cup of responsibility. Lord, is there, is there not any latitude in this? Could we maybe rethink this or there's some other routes maybe that, that we could take? I mean, could we, does it have to be this? Could we do a little end round, uh, end round on this?

But then the heartbeat of his father emerged knowing, knowing his father's person. Knowing his father's identity, knowing his father's objective and mission, well then, then his prayers became something vastly different, didn't they? Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done. You see it's, it's in this kind of prayer and it's in this kind of obedience.

That your joy is made full. That's why Jesus said in chapter 15, verses 10 and 11, if you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love just as I've kept my father's commandments and remain in his love. These things I've spoken to you so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be made full. I'll end with this.

If somehow in your circumstances, whatever they may be, if somehow, if you find joy is lacking in your life,

could I suggest that maybe you begin by examining your prayer life, let the examination begin at the point of prayer. Are you praying in his name? Are you asking and praying according to his name, his identity, his person, his heartbeat. His mission

only then is joy made full, making sure that our prayer life is not filled with all the things that are but far a little. Wow. 

[00:44:00] Conclusion and Final Prayer

Let's pray together, father, how grateful we are for that needed reminder that all of these things, that these world, that this world would bring upon us and bring against us. That all of these things are, but for a little while, but as we remain steadfast, as we remain faithful.

As we continue pressing forward into this faith journey, regardless of circumstance, father, we find that our, our joy is made full regardless of circumstances. As we abide with you, as we seek your will, as we pursue your glory, knowing that we are but apart. Of the great redemptive purposes, this great salvation that you are accomplishing even now.

In Jesus name I pray, amen.