John 17 contains the real Lord's prayer. We call the other prayer in the synoptic gospels "the model prayer." This is a prayer that Jesus actually prayed. Jesus prayed for Himself, His diciples, and for future believers. Today is the first in a three-part series, entitled "The Hour Had Come."
To begin with, we need to realize that if Jesus had to pray for HImself, we certainly need to pray for ourselves and for others. I. Verse 1 - Jesus knew that the hour had come. A. Jesus lived on the Father's schedule. Through John's gospel we read where "the hour had not come..... " Now the hour had come. B. The hour had come for Jesus to be glorified. His glorification would be on the cross. C. Through this God would be glorified. II. Verses 2-4 - Jesus stated the purpose of the hour. A. He came to give eternal life.... In heaven, forever and ever. B. He came to enable us to know God. The word "know" here means intimate knowledge. We can only have this intimate knoweldge through Jesus. C. He came to finish the work that would result in our salvation. It is the finished work of the cross. III. Verse 5 - Jesus is worthy of glory. A. It is eternal glory - that is it has always been...... B. We share in His glory for He lives in us through the Spirit. C. We should share His glory with others: 1. Through the way we live. 2. Through what we say to people. 3. Through our actions. Aren't we glad that "the hour is come." Without it we could not be saved.
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Psalm 40 has always been a great comfort to me. It reminds me of God's love, that God hears us when we pray and that He acts on our behalf. It is a synopsis of what the Bible has to say on what it means to have God in our lives. (In our case, we know it through Jesus and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.)
I. Verse 1 - God hears! A. 1a - The condition of God hearing us: Waiting patiently. We have to wait for God's timing - sometimes immediate and sometimes later. B. 1b - The inclination for God to hear us. "And He inclined unto me..." Philips Brooks wrote: "When we pray, we are not trying to overcome God's reluctance, but we join Him in His willingness." C. 1c - The fact of God hearing us. "And heard my cry..." II. Verses 2-4 - God acts! A. 2 - He acts to deliver us from the predicaments we into in life. He brings us out of the "miry clay," "sets our feet on a rock (of ages) and establishes us. B. 3 - He works in our hearts to deliver us from self-pity, etc. to praise. He puts a new song in our mouths and enables us to praise Him. C. 3b- He gives us a message for other people, for others can see and trust Him.. D. 4 - We are blessed, or happy, when we trust the Lord enough to pray to Him and receive His answers. God still hears and acts on our behalf. Claim the promise of these verses from Psalm 40 for yourself Repentance - Greek is "metanoia" and means "change, reversal of past, etc. There is initial repentance when we are saved, but it is not a one-time thing. Repentance should be a fact of life in the life of every Christian. Too often, we resist the changes that we need to make and we do not repent. We never outgrow the need for repentance. We will not grow in our faith if we are not repentant.
I. Repentance take place in at least four steps. A. It is grounded in conviction of sin and the need for change by the Holy SpYirit. B. It is rooted in contrition, which mean sorrow for sin. Not sorry that we got caught..... C. It results in confession. (1 John 1:9) D. It is accompanied by consecration. This means that we have been set aside by the Holy Spirit to live holy lives and to serve Jesus. II. Repentance means change of mind or heart. A. It is a change in how we view God. We fear Him, hold Him in awe, love Him and accept His love for us. B. It is a change in how we view sin. We relize that sin is not our friend and is not worth it. C. It is a change in how we view ourselves. We cease being self-centered, and learn to subjugate false pride. C. It is a change in how we view other people. We make every effort to love people, which is not always easy. We never outgrow the need for repentance, for genuine change in our lives. Tis not enough to say, "I'm sorry and repent" And then go on from day-to-day Just as I always went. Repentance is to leave The sins we loved before, And show that we in earnest grieve By doing them no more. author unknown |
All of these materials are free of charge. There is no copyright on them and you are free to use them as you see fit. I am happy to be of assitance to you in your preaching/teaching minstry.
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