May 28, 2017
Scripture:
Scripture:
Hymn 198 - There is a name we love to hear
Prayer
So far, we’ve looked at John 14, which we named ‘hope’; John 15, which showed us that we are branches on the Vine; and John 16, which we called ‘comfort.’ Today, let’s look at John 17; we’ll name it ‘prayer’.
John 17:1. Don’t we pray to Jesus? Yet here we find Him praying. At this point He was a man, God incarnate while on Earth. He was praying to the Father as He often did, but this time it was within the sight and hearing of His disciples. We’ll also see Him praying later in Gethsemane, but it was quite a different prayer. There it was in agony, but here He prayed as if His work on the cross was complete. He prayed for His people, the ones that God had given Him. He saw His disciples as a special gift from His Father, although He still had to pay for their redemption. These disciples were able to hear and see this prayer, and John was able to write it down so that we can read it today.
We can all look to Heaven and call God “Father”, just as Jesus did. He didn’t call God “Jehovah” or “Almighty.” Whether we experience tribulation or joy here on Earth, if we know Jesus as our Saviour, we can turn to God as our Father. Fathers care for their children, and our Heavenly Father can be everywhere and do anything for us. He can see us and hear us, and He does answer prayer. He likes to hear not only our trials, but whatever makes us happy, too. He is as close to us as we need Him to be.
In verse 2, Jesus says that we have been “given” to Him. God has given each one of us to His Son as a gift, and He has given us eternal life, which we need in order to go to Heaven.
Verse 3 teaches us something important. Many people believe in different gods, or believe wrong things about God, but there is only one true God. So how do we know we have the right One? The true God sent His Son Jesus Christ to Earth. If the god you’re talking about hasn’t done that, then it’s not the Living and True God. If you miss that, you’ve missed the most important thing in the whole world. There are so many carved idols in the world, but our God is living, with eternal life. He has always existed! God is bigger than we can understand.
This is where salvation starts and finishes. We know the living and true God, and as a result we have eternal life. Jesus has gone to prepare a place for those who know Him as their Saviour; and if we have eternal life, we will go and enjoy Him one day. Until then, Jesus spoke to God as “Father” in the presence of His disciples, and that’s our privilege as well.
2 Thessalonians 1
Suffering seems to be a part of the Christian pathway. The Lord gives us so many blessings, but usually when we’re preaching we don’t tell of the persecution that comes with it. It gives an indication of faith and patience to endure. Sometimes we do have the desire to take revenge, but God says He’ll take care of that.
Romans 12:19
That is opposite to the world’s thinking, but you can sometimes conquer the evil doer this way.
We talked about the rapture in the first epistle, and here we have the Lord’s appearing. The tribulation is in between. The Lord will deal with those who were not taken up in the rapture. We will leave before the tribulation. Some believe we will have to go through the tribulation, and others believe we are in it. But I don’t think anything happening today can really be compared to what will happen in the tribulation. Jesus will be revealed from heaven during His coming; that’s why it’s called the Appearing. This is different from the rapture. In the rapture, He will come in the clouds and we will go. Here, He comes with mighty angels and flaming fire in vengeance.This speaks of His power, and ability to use anything to accomplish His purpose.
There are two categories mentioned in verse eight. We might say, “But if someone doesn’t know God this isn’t fair.” In Romans we are told everyone has some chance of knowing a higher Being. Everyone will be without excuse. It is also sad to think that some have heard of Him and have deliberately turned away. We are able to rejoice in being with God forever, but it says that God will bring everlasting destruction on those people. We have limits on everything on earth, so everlasting is a little hard to understand. Even today, though, people don’t want the Lord. You tell them of God’s love and grace, and they still turn away.
God’s presence is in the world around us whether you believe in Him or not. There will come a day, though, when God’s presence will no longer be here. We can see His presence and blessing everywhere. Whether your saved or not the rain still falls on your grass; and, saved or not, your lawn will go brown.
It is a solemn contrast to think of the everlasting destruction of some, and what we have to look forward to. It is a wonderful blessing to look forward to being in God’s presence forever in His glory.
Hymn 178 - Glory unto Jesus be!
Prayer