What Jesus Prayed For Us - Pastor Daniel Batarseh (Maranatha Shabiba Conference 2021)

Hey, man. Hey, can we show our appreciation to the worship team, please? Thank you. Thank you. They I don't know if you noticed, they sneak out early from dinner, they sneak out early from breakfast to come and practice, or even before breakfast I think.

Right? I could be wrong, but thank you guys for serving us with your gifts. Let me put it this way. Thank you for worshiping. Right?

And not, feeling the pressure to perform. We feel that you are worshiping. Somebody gave an illustration once about what true worshipers. Is. If you're in this place and you're a worship leader or you play on a praise team at a church, pray for this kind of effect on your ministry.

Have you ever have you ever seen this happen? Maybe you have, maybe you haven't. If you wanna try and experiment, do this. Go downtown with a couple people, and in the busy street, just stop and look up. Not at anything, just look up.

And watch how people will naturally, as they look at you looking up, what what are they gonna do? They're gonna follow soon, but what are they looking at? And I believe this illustration that this one preacher gave is a perfect illustration of what true worshipers do. As they look up, those that are before them will be stirred to look up where they're looking. And as worshipers worship God truly, it will cause others to look where they're looking as well.

If a worshiper is looking at themselves and wants others to see them, that's where people will look. But when they gaze upon the face of Christ, others will feel magnetized to the same direction. Actually has nothing to do with the message, but I hope it will help you. I hope it will still be something that will help your walk with the Lord. Let me put it this way.

You can be in an environment like this. I'm sorry, guys. I'm gonna walk around. I don't get to do it at church. I'm stuck at a pulpit, so I'm gonna walk around.

You can, you can be in an environment like this, this beautiful place, this conference with lovely people, and it's very possible for you to feel this numbness, as though, there's no hunger, there's no expectation. In fact, if you're honest, you're you're not in a good place even while you're here. I'm just saying, I'm not not because I talked to anybody, just just wanna offer something not just for this conference, but for life in general. You feel no stirring, you feel no excitement, no zeal in your faith, in your spiritual in your spiritual pursuit after the Lord and even with God's people. May I offer you something that will set you free?

I promise you according to the authority of the bible, God's word, that this simple secret will save you from self destruction. It will save you from weeks and months and even years that are wasted, murmuring and complaining and focusing on the things that you don't have and wishing that God answered something earlier and all these things that can rob Christians from true joy. It's a little thing that if you practice it, I assure you, it will save you. You know what it is? Gratitude.

Gratitude. If you practice this, if you know how to just pause with all the misery that you're experiencing, even the misery that does not have explanation, things are just like there's a cloud over my soul. I I feel a fogginess in my spirit. I I feel like there's a there hasn't been a ray of joy in my faith. What will unlock, what will clear the air is gratitude.

Practice it like a child would say it, and you thank God for the littlest of things and watch what will happen to your joy. It's wonderful to think that the Bible doesn't suggest, it commands us to be thankful. And it's not because God is in need of validation. It's not because God is in heaven wanting to be appreciated. God doesn't need your approval or mine.

It's for your sake and mine. And so look. It's because you can be in a season in life where and and this is true because I've even known it where you you are because of our fleshly nature, we gravitate we gravitate towards the one thing that is not working right when there's a thousand other things that God is doing in our favor. And what gratitude does is it recalibrates us, it realigns us, and something happens in your view of God. I hope that helps somebody tonight.

If it doesn't help you in this moment, remember that for the future. Now, with that being said, let's turn to John chapter 17. John chapter 17. As we continue, if you were here with us this morning, we spoke about Jesus's prayer, that high priestly prayer, and just a few short verses. And let me remind you that it is nearly impossible, unless you wanna stay here till midnight, for us to cover every single verse in detail.

So what we're doing for the rest of this session is we're gonna look at the rest of the segment of his prayer, and we're just skimming over. We're just scraping off the surface of what Jesus is saying here, and we concluded this morning, at least in part, Jesus's prayer concerning himself before the father. And may I remind you, especially if you weren't here this morning, the purpose of understanding this prayer is not so that you can have a more sharpened theological understanding. It's greater than you having a greater grasp on understanding the deity of Christ. Please look at verse 13 once more with me to see Jesus' intention with this.

He says it clearly. But now I am coming to you and these things I speak in the world that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. There is one goal. It's not for you to cry after this service. It's not for you to be on your knees, though that might happen.

That's up to you and God. The one intention that Jesus has, the one sole purpose of this is that you would leave here with a greater joy. If that does not happen in every person's heart in this place who is truly saved, then one of two things is is is wrong. Either one, it wasn't understood and it wasn't clearly communicated, or two, it wasn't believed on. One, either it wasn't understood or two, it wasn't believed on because let every man be a liar, but God be true.

God is true. And if Jesus said that he spoke these things so that you and I would know his joy, that means that is possible and that is the aim and that should be our experience as a result of it. Now, I need help because listen, I I can say some things and it'll it'll reach your head, but only Jesus can touch your heart. Only the Holy Spirit can get down deep and actually minister to you. And I I really don't wanna just speak to your head tonight.

Alright? I'd rather do something else. But I'm here tonight and I hope you're here tonight for Jesus to touch our hearts. Can you join with me in prayer, please? Lord, you know very well for you told your own 12 that they could not minister apart from the power of the Holy Spirit.

And Lord, humbly, we're not putting an expectation or a condition on this meeting tonight of what it should look like and how we should feel. We're just taking you at your word. You said that when we'd we'd hear these things, we would have your joy fulfilled in ourselves. And Lord, we're asking that that would be the experience tonight, however that would manifest. Lord, rescue us from our own shame.

Rescue us from a false understanding of you. Rescue us from the misery. Rescue us from that dry spell that's been plaguing perhaps some. Lord, empower the ministry of the word tonight. Let Christ be heard tonight.

Let the Holy Spirit heal your people tonight. Redeem souls that don't know you in this place. Rescue us. God, please rescue us. Lord Jesus, help us in this place.

No amount of insight, not the volume of any voice, no sophisticated words can save anyone. It has to be your spirit. So we trust. We trust in you, master. This is your meeting.

This is your word. And these are the hearts that only you can touch. Have your way in this place, we ask. In Jesus' name, amen. Read with me, please, in verse nine.

I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those whom you have given me for they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one even as we are one.

While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost, except the son of destruction, that the scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you. Notice how many times he's saying I'm coming to you. Sounds like he's excited.

But I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Ask a sinner why Jesus came into this world and even an unbelieving person has enough understanding of who Jesus is to say, he came to die on the cross.

Ask a Christian why did Jesus come into this world and they would say, to come and to die on a cross. And that is the ultimate answer. That is the ultimate purpose, his redemptive work to save our souls so that we would be forever in his presence, but it's not limited to that. You heard it this morning. Jesus, I learned from this scripture, did not just come to die.

He came also to pray certain promises that affect my eternal destination, to affect the experience of my life in the here now. And that might not mean anything to you if somebody says they pray for you, but it makes all the difference discover. You read in verse nine of the clear transition that Jesus now shifts the focus of his intercession to his 12, And from that point, he's gonna he's gonna speak about those that would believe in the message that the 12 would proclaim. And as he focuses on the 12, there is insight, no doubt, about how he feels, what he desires for us even. And And so for the remaining of this message, you're going to hear Christ's heart for us, and you're going to also hear Christ's desire from our hearts towards him.

And what we see here in verse nine down to verse 10 is that Jesus says something wonderful. All mine are yours, verse 10, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. We can't skip that without reinforcing the depth of what he is saying. All mine are yours. What is he talking about?

Well, he just said that I am now praying for them. I'm praying for those that you have given me, the disciples that have been chosen to be the apostles and carry on the message. He says all mine are yours. So those ones that you have given me, they're not just mine, father. They belong also to you.

Now that doesn't seem so profound, but it is when you understand it in light of our relationship with God himself. Every single one of us who claim to be Christians should be able to say that to God. All mine are yours. Everything that I have belongs to you. I promise you, Christian, that is the safest place to be in this life.

If you want the greatest security, if you want the greatest insurance, if I can use that pathetic word in light of this promise, it is this, commit it to the Lord. Sanctify it unto God. Consecrate it for his glory because he is a greater manager of your life than you are of your own. And when you commit it into his hands, you know that his perfection and his wisdom and his holiness will guide it even though it may not make sense and it may not be on your timetable. Regardless, we should all be able to say with great joy, all mine are yours, God.

Every penny, every fabric, every ounce of health in my bones, everything that I have is yours. But not every person can say what he says after that. All mine are yours, but he goes on to say, and yours are mine. Every man who's a true follower of Christ should be able and must be able to say, all mine are yours, but only Jesus Christ can say, and yours are mine. You know what he's saying there?

Everything that belongs to the Father actually belongs to me. Again, just to just to understand that we are not speaking about a mere teacher this this evening. We're not speaking about a prophet. We're speaking about God himself who's saying, I share everything with you, and you everything you have belongs to me. Your glory and all that is yours shares the same prerogative as mine.

It's all belonging to me as well, and he's declaring that. This is Christ. But look what he says here. Doesn't that touch your heart? All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them.

Curse me tonight. Bless me tonight. It doesn't matter. The greatest thing that can ever be said of you or me is what he just says here. Imagine the joy of the disciples that heard Jesus praying this prayer.

What do you think went into their hearts? What kind of chills went up and down their spine when in the presence of the master as he looks up to heaven and is speaking to the father on their behalf? They hear out of his lips, and I am glorified in them. Wow. Really, Lord?

Can you imagine something more thrilling than that than Jesus Christ who knows the heart of all men? To be able to look in your heart tonight, more importantly at the end of all age, to be able to look at your heart and say before all the trillions of angels and the saints of all the ages, I'm glorified in him. I'm glorified in her. Nothing can even come close to knowing that Jesus can confidently say that about a life. I'm glorified in them.

Now here's my question tonight. Does he say I will be glorified in them? Does he say once the Holy Spirit comes and I send them and fills them, then they will glorify me? No. He says I am glorified in them.

Currently, presently, right now, I am glorified in them. Now if that is the desire of your heart for Christ to be able to say it all over your life, we have to ask the question, what is it that these men did for Jesus to be able to say that? Lord, I want you to be able to say right now, even though I can't hear you in the corridors of heaven, I'm glorified in this man. The answer is found at the end of verse six. He says here in verse six, I have manifested your name to the people whom you've given me out of the world.

Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. That's what it is. They have kept your word. When the word went out, they believed on me. And not just believed on me, they clinged to the word.

They clinged to my commands. They clinged to my instructions. They they gave up everything to follow me. They left boats, nets, wives, land, homes, and they followed me. And when the crowds would walk away, as brother Daniel just shared earlier, when Jesus would give these wonderful miracles and they said, I like this Jesus.

If he stays around, then he'll be able to give me enough bread where I don't have to work another day of my life. And Jesus says, actually, you have to eat my flesh and drink my blood. I didn't understand that, Jesus. You just multiplied a wonderful meal. Now you're asking me to eat of your flesh?

And purposely coming against their notion of what it means to follow Christ, he says, I it's about me. It's not about what you get out of me, and thousands walked away. Thousands walked away. I want you to imagine in this room right now, everybody being offended by this message and 99% of this room being emptied and everybody going in their cars and driving home. Who remained?

Just a dozen people? And Jesus looks at them. He goes, I'm surprised you're still here. Don't you wanna go as well? Lord, you have the word of eternal life.

Let them go. Where can we go? We have eaten of your word. We have eaten of you. We have kept your word, and Jesus is saying it here.

They have kept the word of God, and that's why I am glorified in them. He's saying it in their faces and he's saying it before God. Now you might hear that, you might say that is encouraging, and I can I can probably guarantee that some people are even discouraged by that? You know why? Because you tonight can point to a desire in your heart when you long to glorify God, but as you point to that desire, you are immediately met with the stumblings and the shortcomings along that pursuit where you feel as though you failed to glorify God.

And so let me present this again. When did Jesus say that these disciples glorified him? Right then and there. That helps because the disciples were far from perfect. Two of them, the fact.

Jesus said, listen. We're going to Jerusalem. Go ahead through Samaria. I want you to ask them to prepare the way so that we can go through. James and John, sons of thunder.

And as they go through, they're rejected by the Samaritans, and they come back with with frowns on their face and with clenched fist, Jesus, do you see this? They won't let us go through. They won't let you go through. Jesus, I have a recommendation. Why don't we call fire down from heaven like Elijah did and just let's get rid of them once and for all?

And in the King James version, Jesus looks at them and he says, you don't know what spirit you are operating in right now because I did not come to destroy, I came to save. How many times did the disciples in the presence of Jesus, even after he says I'm going to die, be buried, and raise, How many times did the disciples, even in that kind of conversation, were talking about who was gonna be the greatest one? I I think I'm gonna sit closest to him when he when he sits on his stone. And multiple times, Jesus says, you guys don't get it still, do you? All the failures to understand these teachings, all the shortcomings, and yet Jesus can still say, I'm glorified in them.

Reminds me of a very, very can I use this word? Strange verse, and not to criticize the verse, but strange to the immediate understanding, and you have to check it out. It's quite incredible. It's in Romans four twenty. Look what it says here.

In verse 20 to 21. Now Paul is speaking about Abraham, and I want you to see what Paul says about Abraham by the spirit of God. No unbelief, in Romans four twenty, made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, Fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. Excuse me. Did you read that carefully?

If you want a hint to seeing revelation in the bible, simple tip, read slowly. Romans four twenty, what did he say? No unbelief made him waver. Are you sure? I can tell you by memory, and I'm sure you can, about the the failures of Abraham and his faith toward God.

And the Holy Spirit in the New Testament is actually saying nothing made him waver in his faith, but he grew stronger in his faith. Oh, so he lied twice about his wife being his sister. He didn't believe that God could bring a seed through his own wife, so he marries another woman. That's not wavering. That's not stumbling?

That's not doubting? That's not taking works into your own hands and not trusting in God's protective and powerful work in a human life? How how can Paul say that Abraham did not waver? Well, I think the way to understand it is that even though this man had failures, they did not disqualify his overall and obvious surrender to the call of God. See, the answer here is that Abraham's relationship was not defined by his failures.

Abraham was not labeled for his misconduct, for his missed aim, trust in God. Because when you looked at the man, his heart was truly set on loving and obeying the Lord, and sometimes when you do that, you will fail along the way. You will trip, you will stumble, you will do things that seem contradictory to everything that you claim to believe, and that's exactly what happened to this man. Because the answer here is what we read. Yes, he didn't waver.

We know he wavered. But how is it that the Holy Spirit can say as though it was all canceled out because the end result, he grew strong in faith? So as those single years of waiting for a son became double digits, What began to happen in with Abraham's life is that though he tripped along the way let just picture a graph with me. And here's twenty something years. I want you to see that though there were dips in his faith, he was ultimately climbing.

He was still headed towards greater trust and greater love for God. His faith became stronger and yes, he slipped, but he got up stronger. He slipped stronger and stronger and stronger to the point where after receiving the miracle child, God says, I want you to lay him on the altar, and there was no hesitation because Hebrews says that he believed that God was able to raise him from the dead. How do we understand this? You understand it in this way, you and I must understand the direction of our faith.

That's how God sees it. And even though this past year might have had a few failures, here's my question for you since last Maranatha. Are you stronger in faith? Are you stronger in your trust? Are you stronger in your devotion?

See, failures, yes, they're important, but if the failure leads you to turn away from the Lord, that's a difference than a failure leading you to trust in him more. And that's why Abraham here is regarded as a man who had no wavering in his faith. I would say otherwise if I was Paul, but it says something about how God views man, how God views you and me. His mercy is more. His mercy is far greater than you and I can even imagine.

And this man's faith shows us that the process is what God considers because his heart was set on pleasing him and obeying him no matter what. And even a man like Abraham can stumble, surely you and I will. But if that stumbling caused you to stay there or to never again trust in the Lord and living for him zealously, that's where you're mistaken, friend. I want you to see an example of God's mercy. Would you like to see it?

Go to Exodus. This is the eighth plague in Exodus chapter 10. And this plague speaks about the locusts that God sends on the earth. Specifically in Egypt. And it says that it was so bad, the locusts so covered the land, that there was nothing like it in that day nor after that day.

The other week, I had one cicada fly into my house. It flew into my house and it screamed. These things scream. And as it scream I said this is once and it just laid there on the floor. It was hideous.

And I thought to myself, if this is one one thing, I can't imagine a sea of them. And that's exactly what they experienced because this man would not let God's people go. So here's the punishment in verse 13 of Exodus chapter 10. So Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt, and the Lord brought an east wind upon the land all that day and all that night. Can you imagine all day and all night, twenty four hours of a wind blowing into the land, and all it's ushering in as hideous little creatures, covering the grass, covering the driveway, the courtyard, and east went.

And here's another example of why we have to read our Bible slowly. Pharaoh realizes it. His feet are deep into this. His shoes are covered into it, and because of this, he says enough is enough, and he sounds repented. Read the verses on your own time.

He says, forgive me for my sin. I ask that you remove this guilt from me, remove this punishment from me, and and God does it. Moses pleads on behalf of Pharaoh. God answers, and then look at what happens in verse 19. And the Lord turned the wind into a very strong west wind, which lifted the locusts and drove them into the Red Sea.

Not a single locust was left in all the country of Egypt. Did you see it? In 13, when judgment and discipline came, it says, a strong east wind came. But then when the mercy was applied, when the grace was applied, when the removal of the discipline was applied, it doesn't say a strong west wind, it says a very strong west wind came. God is so much more eager to show mercy and forgiveness than judgment and wrath.

And he blew that wind so much stronger than when he brought it in, showing his willingness, his eagerness, his longing to turn a new leaf in your life, and to wipe your slate clean, and to actually redeem and forgive and restore and replenish. The problem is we don't believe God is like that. Surely, he is in the old and the new. And so we see here that he says, I'm glorified in them. I'm sure Peter had a smile when Jesus said that.

Did you hear what he said, Andrew? He's glorified in us. Then we read in verse 14 of this chapter in chapter 17. I have given them your word and the world has hated them because they are not of the world just as I am not of the world. You wanna glorify God?

It's a wonderful thing to know that Jesus is pleased with your life and mine, but it comes with a price, always does. And the price here is this, that they will be hated because they are not of the world. How are they not of the world? They're flesh and blood like you and me. They had jobs, they had families, they had things to do, but the thing that made them distinct from the world was the word.

It was the word. The word believed on, preached about, lived out, and that was a thing that would cause the world to hate them, and it will come in your life and mine. America is not a sanctuary from persecution, by the way. It might be for now, but it's gonna turn very soon, and it's happening very quickly. And as you heard this morning, it was no different from Jesus.

John seven seven, hey, they hated me. They don't hate you, but they hated me. And now because the disciples are following suit with their master, they're gonna hate you as well. So why are we so desperate to fish love and appreciation from people that hate our Jesus? You're wasting your effort and your time.

And if we make it more of an ambition for people to love us and appreciate us and fill our buildings, something will be compromised and most likely will be the word of God. And so this this tells us something, hatred is on the way. And let me remind us again that Jesus didn't say, the world can't hate you, but the Pharisees hate me. See, we think that the only people that didn't like Jesus were the Pharisees, and we think that the people that loved Jesus were the prostitutes and the tax collectors. And like you hear all the time, Jesus went out with sinners.

Yes. He went out with sinners. But what do you think he did with them? Like any good friend would, he said, hey. Look.

I appreciate you allowing me to come over for dinner, but I wanna talk to you about something called repentance. Have you heard of it? But the Pharisees weren't the only ones. Jesus, the world. So even those who weren't the self righteous, there were some even in those that experienced his healing, his wisdom, his truth that says, I hate you.

I hate your light because I love my sin. And I wanna tell you something, we do the world no favor when we downplay what the word of God says even with the language that the Bible provides. There is a new type of ambition to dilute things. I heard an evangelist preaching on the Internet the other day, and he was preaching to a young man. And as he was preaching to this young man, he was confessing that he was a Christian, And he even said that he had devotions that day.

He read one Psalm and he read the Sermon on the Mount. And quickly, things began to turn to another direction because as the evangelist was questioning his lifestyle, he without hesitation says, yeah, I fornicate. I I mess around with my girlfriend. We sleep together. I stay over our house sometimes.

And the evangelist began to press and press and press, and he kept using the word fornicate. He kept using the word sexual immorality. And amazingly enough, this person, when he was being told, you claim to be a Christian, but you're living in a lifestyle of fornication, he stopped the preacher and he said, look. And he looked disturbed, only to say, you keep saying that I fornicate. I don't like when you use that word because it's ugly.

Because it is ugly. And we're changing our vocabulary even on how sin is. I remember sitting at a conference and the the q and a session heavily focused on what are we going to do about the LGBT thing that's infiltrating the church. And I remember the moderator said, you know, when people come in and they are living in this, and he was about to say the word sin, and he stopped himself and he said, alternative lifestyle. And we expect people to know the conviction of the Holy Spirit.

We don't wanna say what the Bible says and how Listen, there are some sins. It's not an alternative lifestyle. Let me tell you straight, it's an abomination. It will lead you to damnation and that lust of the flesh will torment you for all of eternity unless you put your faith in the blood of Jesus Christ. And so we just wanna do the Holy Spirit a favor, and Jesus said it plain and clear, the world will hate you on account of my word.

And the only reason why Christians might not be hated today is because we are doing something with the word that we shouldn't be doing. There's a price to following this Jesus. And it's not that we fish for hate or that we unnecessarily offend. I have to give that disclaimer because you say things like that, people get all riled up and they go and they start yelling at people. Relax.

Just preach the holiness of Jesus in that sensitive spirit and in the beauty that he is, and that will be enough for people to either love him or hate him. And we read here in verse 15, I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. That you keep them from the evil one. You know, this goes against the notion that as Christians, holiness means isolation. I have some conversations with people that might come from a traditional background, and sometimes they bring up these old saints, and sometimes they praise them because they isolate themselves in the that's not what God wants.

That's not holiness, to stick yourself in a cave and to let your beard grow forever. He says, I am asking not that you take them out of the world, I'm asking that they would stay in the world. You see, Jesus, as much as he longs as we're gonna finish with this point, as much as he longs for your fellowship and mine in heaven, he also understands one thing. There is a different desire there and that's for you to remain on the earth and to fulfill a purpose. This is a comforting thought to know that I have a purpose in this life, in this world.

Father, I'm asking that you would keep them in this world because if Christianity just was about escapism and and leaving this world and to entering into heaven, then you and I would have been raptured the moment we confessed Christ. There would have been a beam over your head and you would have just disappeared into his presence forever, but that goes against what Jesus prayed. I pray that you keep them into this world. And you've heard me say this, especially if you are at UE church, you've heard me say this a million times, but here's a million one. That one of the most anchoring things from my life, whenever I'm afflicted with some kind of sickness, or whenever things don't go what I think should go my way, I'm comforted by this one thought.

I'm telling you it is a lullaby to my sleep, That the devil and all demons of hell and any person with a malicious intent can't touch me until Jesus says that I can be touched. I am not going anywhere, and neither are you if you're filled with the spirit of God. If you're set on glorifying God, you have a certain promise. And here's the comfort, not that I just have purpose, but the evil one can't touch you. I'm praying that they would remain in this world and that the evil one would not touch them, have nothing to do with them.

And we see that in so many places of the bible. Can I show you one? You don't have to turn there in Acts thirteen thirty six. We should put it up so that people can see it now. Listen to this about the life of David.

For David, look at this, after he had served his generation. David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid with his fathers and saw corruption. When did he die? After he served the purpose of God in his generation. You wanna know the expiration date for your life?

It might be '28, God forbid. It might be '88. It might be a hundred and eight. Doesn't matter what the age is. The thing that calls you and I home is when God determines you have served your purpose in your generation, now time to come home.

How can you go to bed with anxiety with that truth in your heart? How can you fear anything? How can you be disturbed how ministry goes if people are disrupting it and trying to divide it? I'm not going anywhere until Jesus says, you're done. Now come home.

And that was true for these men. I can imagine how excited they were. It's like, wow. No wonder he says my joy will be fulfilled in them after hearing these words. They just heard that I am glorified in them?

Nudging each other. Did you just hear what the master said? And now I'm asking father that you would not take them out of this world, but that the evil one would have no finger on them. Come on. As one old preacher said it, that you and I are technically immortal until we go home.

And that is true to a certain degree. We are invincible in the sense that we have life and nothing can threaten our life until the Lord says, you've served your purpose. You've served your purpose. I'm tempted to go on here, but somebody has been reading their bible today, and they came up to me after the first message. I like when people read their bibles.

It's encouraging to me. And they came up to me and they and they said, you mentioned in verse five that Jesus shares the glory that the father alone has and does not share with any man. Said, yes. Means you weren't sleeping during the message. Yeah.

Beyond me not sleeping, I've been reading my bible because I read something here. In verse 22, Because now we go from the disciples. In verse 20 before 22, we transition to his prayers for us. Now pay attention. I know you're sleepy perhaps.

I know you're aching. I know you're desiring many things in this moment perhaps, but I want you to hear what's being said in verse 20. I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word. That's us now. This is you.

We're not talking about history anymore. We're not talking about somebody that lived two thousand years ago. The prayers of the eternal son of God that he prayed in this moment have been echoed into this very room right here, right now, if you would believe it by faith. This is new now. This is you.

Yes, you. And then he he speaks for the church. He prays for the church. And look at verse 22. The glory that you have given me, I have given to them that they may be one even as we are one.

Brother, you just finished this morning saying that God doesn't share his glory with anyone according to Isaiah, and then we we learned that Jesus shares that glory because Jesus is, in fact, God. I'm satisfied. Thank you. But I keep reading, and now I'm seeing that Jesus is saying, the glory that you have given me, I'm gonna give it to a bunch of sinners that put their faith in me. And that's why some who do not believe that Jesus is God will say, see?

So what Jesus said in verse five has no validity concerning who he is as a divine person because the glory that he apparently has from God before the world, he actually shares with his church. So are you divine? Absolutely not. Are you God? No.

Then that glory doesn't belong to Jesus either. Come on. And that's where people get nervous. Would you like to know the answer to that? I hope so.

Let's clarify one step at a time, pause, and open your mind for a moment, because this is gonna require specific attention. Go to verse 24. Jesus continues to pray, Father, I desire that they also whom you have given me may be with me where I am to do what? To see what? My glory.

Now, what we have here in verse 24 is the same glory that he speaks about in verse five. There is a glory that Jesus speaks about that is a different kind of glory that he shares with the church. Are we on the same page so far? The glory that Jesus is praying about here doesn't mean there's only one type of glory. And verse 24 clarifies that.

There is a glory that solely belongs to God, and it is a glory that causes man to recognize that he is God. And that's why he says in verse 24, I want them to be where I am, not to share in my glory, but to do what? See it and behold it and bask in it. So there's one type of glory, and it's a glory that is only in God. It's a glory that we look at, that we worship, that we adore, that we are stunned by for all of eternity.

So then what is the glory that we share with him? What is the glory that he says I give to them? And there are many debates, but I'll give you what I believe the answer is. Remember what we are told in John chapter one? We are told in John chapter one verse 14 that we beheld his what?

He dwelt among us and we beheld his glory, right, full of grace and truth. So hold on for a second. Jesus prayed in John 17, father, restore the glory that I had with you before the world even existed. And Father, I long for this glory. I long for those that you have given to me, those that are saved by my name to be with me so they can see that glory.

So why is he asking for that glory to be restored if while he came to the world, he had a glory? Do you guys follow? He came to this world laying aside that glory. He asked for it near the end of his life, but hold on. In John one, we're told that he comes into the world and he apparently has a glory.

It's a different kind of glory. It's not the glory that defines him as God. It's not the glory that beautifies him as God. This glory that they beheld when he came into the flesh is the glory of his moral majesty. That when he came and he embodied flesh, when he came into this world and wrapped himself with with flesh and bone, he was full of grace and truth.

He radiated the moral greatness of God. He radiated perfect love, perfect compassion, perfect mercy, perfect every attribute that you can think of. And the the world that lived in that time saw his glory, his moral beauty and his excellence and how noble he was. And here's the awesome thing. That is the glory that Jesus says, I share it with my church.

My church now can actually share in this glory of my moral greatness, so that when the world looks at the church, they would see the glory of Christ. Not the glory that makes him God, but the glory that makes him good. And that's why Paul says something like this, and it will make sense hopefully. In that famous verse in second Corinthians three eighteen, and we all with unveiled face beholding what? Tell me.

The glory of the Lord. Right now, whenever we come to this book, whenever you have your personal devotions, whenever you seek the face of God, we with unveiled face are continually beholding the glory of the Lord. But what happens? We are being transformed into the same image from one degree of what? Glory to another.

Do you see? So the glory that Jesus says in verse 22, I want to give to my church and share with my church, is the glory that we see when he came into this world. His love, his forgiveness, his charity, his grace. That is what you and I share in him. Brother, I'm not gonna name your name, but meet me after the service and help me by saying that helped or it didn't help, and then we'll go on if it if it didn't.

And I hope that helped you as you heard it. That's why Peter says if they persecute you for righteousness' sake, he says praise God for that because the spirit of glory rests on you. First Peter four. Side note. Let's come back.

Jesus is praying for you and I. If you wanna feel conviction, try to try to hear what I'm about to say and not be moved. If you're not moved, and if I'm not moved even I'm in need of revival. Verse 24. He says, father, I desire that they also whom you have given me may be with me where I am to see my glory.

That you have given me because you love me before the foundation of the world. I wonder what the faces of those disciples look like at that moment. I wonder what was more shattering to them. This prayer right here or the prayer that Jesus prayed in Gethsemane. Nobody heard what Jesus prayed in Gethsemane.

And maybe by God's divine wisdom, we don't hear and we don't have any recorded words in great detail other than that one famous prayer he made. Because it would probably crush us if we heard what he said. But this should equally crush us in a holy beautiful way. Father, here's Jesus praying, I desire. You know, what you pray for reveals what you really want in this life.

Really does. And a lot of people, their prayers are, Lord, protect my house from robbers and give me good health. That's not how Jesus prayed. He comes to a crescendo in his prayer. He comes to an end.

He comes to the the final the final notes of this glorious symphony of intercession. I deeply long, Lord, that they would be where I am. For one sole purpose, that they would be able to examine and behold my glory. I don't wanna beat the same drum over and over, but that's what makes heaven heaven. And that is the cry of the heart of Jesus for his redeemed that they would be in close proximity to him.

Me? Me, really. The one that when I make mistakes, I hesitate to go even into my prayer closet because God surely isn't gonna hear me after that stupid mistake I made. Yeah, you. You with all your fumblings and your bumblings and all your inconsistencies and the things that you say that you shouldn't say as a Christian and the things that you think that the Holy Spirit who lives in you should not allow you to How do you go there with your thoughts?

Yeah, you. I long for them to be with me. It would be glorious enough if Jesus saved us and put us in like some separate compartment in heaven, and we can watch from a giant beautiful glass screen the angels worshiping him and us being at a distance with some nice robes. But that's not what Jesus prayed. And if he would have prayed that, that would have been saving faith and glorious truth in itself.

He doesn't say put them in some compartment so that they can witness me from a distance. He says, I want them to be with me. I want them to be in close proximity. You know, what's amazing about this is that this prayer shows the thrilling anticipation that he has. And as you heard earlier, Jesus prayed a prayer, yes, leave them in the world.

Leave them in the world. But at the same time, as we are in this world appealing and calling people to join the kingdom of God, Jesus is in his world. You know what he's doing? John told us earlier, and he's preparing a place for us. So while we're busy here doing what we need to do to draw in fish into the net, so to speak, Jesus is up there doing many things, and one of those things is, I'm preparing for them to come.

Doesn't that shatter you when you live, like, even a moment not thinking about Christ while while Christ is in heaven setting up the meeting place for you and I? I'm so happy Jesus doesn't treat us the way we treat him, man. I'm so Can you imagine if Jesus was as faithful to us as we were to him? I wouldn't wanna get out of my bed. I would be terrified.

But I read here that he is eager to see me in his presence, to see you in his presence, and many people irk at that because, Bara, this is man made theology. No. This is Jesus' prayer, brother. This isn't man centered doctrine. This is Jesus' desire for you.

Let your heart open up and relish in that for a moment, would you? Jesus prays this glorious thing and zoom out to behold the thought that we are here. And Jesus is up there, and he's preparing a place. And that makes heaven heaven. It's not the celestial home.

It's not a sick free world. It's not any of that. It's this, that they would see my what is it about your glory? I want you to understand that. You're telling me that the whole center of heaven is us witnessing your glory?

The human mind can't comprehend that. You and I can't watch a clip for more than five minutes without switching the channel on our YouTube app. And you're telling me for thousands upon thousands upon millions upon millions of years, we will be totally satisfied with one task, and that's to behold your glory? What is it? Who are you?

What do you radiate for you to be able to captivate my attention for the rest of my days? And that you won't exhaust and you will not dry. Everything about you will be as though I've seen it for the first second, and it will remain that way for all eternity. There's something so magnetic about him. There's something so majestic about him that it will be no issue to win our affections for the rest of time.

Father, I desire that they would be with me. You know what's amazing about this verse? Read it carefully. Is it in the future tense? Father, I desire that they also whom you have given me, may be with me where I am going.

No. Father, I desire that they also whom you have given me may be with me where I am. Where are you Jesus? Well, clearly you're in the presence of your 12. You're on earth.

You're looking up according to verse one. You're looking up into heaven. So how are you asking that they would be where I am? Met somebody new that came to our church last week and we got to sit around the church basement and he was discussing about some minister that he knew. And it's a mutual person that we know, and he knew him in greater ways than I did, but he was describing his relationship with him, and he said something that really intrigued me.

He said something that struck my heart. Some of you in this room were there were there. He said, when you were sitting with this man, and he was sitting across from you, he was there, but you had this feeling that he wasn't really there. And it wasn't that he was ignoring you. It wasn't that he was being rude to you.

You just had this feeling that even though he was there, he was actually with the Lord. He was so in love with God, he had this awareness of the presence of the Lord no matter where he went. Isn't that isn't that amazing for an onlooker to observe that? I I mean, the guy didn't say, you know, as we're talking right now, I'm actually not here. He didn't say that.

That's arrogant. If you ever say that, oh, don't. It was the testimony of those that knew him. When you sat with this man, you knew that he was somewhere else. And Jesus says, father, I pray that they may be where I am.

Where are you, Jesus? You're somewhere else. You're there. You're in the presence of the 12. But in reality, you're experiencing a connection with God in that moment.

And what you're asking the father is that the church would know that same connection that you have in this very moment. I want them to be where I am right now. That doesn't mean that he's not praying for that future glory that we would behold, But if your relationship with Christ is vacuumed into a future experience, you're missing what Jesus prayed here. Right now, where I am, I want him to be in this experience, what I'm relishing in, this oneness that I have with you, this sensitivity I have to your voice and to your leading. This is where I want my people to be.

Now would you would you answer that prayer that Jesus made and would you submit to that prayer with your life And say, Lord, if you pray, then surely it's possible for me. I wanna be where you were when you were on this earth. Obviously, there's something unique. Obviously, there's something special about Christ and the Father. But surely, he's saying something here that invites us into a reality, into an experience that is glorious.

Would you like to know would you like to know where Jesus was with the father? Go to first, rather John one chapter 18. This is where the ESV does this service. Who here has a King James? Where are the King James people at?

Who here is a new King James? Who here is NASB? Who here is ESV? Who here doesn't have a Bible? We'll give you one.

I'm a Bible book guy, by the way. I don't like reading my Bible with notifications showing up in my devotions. It's okay if you have one. Don't feel condemned tonight. John one eighteen, I don't I'm not sure how I feel about how the ESV translates it.

But I like how the other ones do, the word for word translations. No one has seen God, I'm reading it from the King James, at any time, the only begotten son who is in the bosom of the father, he has declared him. Listen to the language of that. You know where the son, you know how the son relates to the father? You know how close he is to him?

The same way a a child lays his head on the chest of his earthly father. That is what John says where the son is with with God. That he is as close to the father as a dependent infant is to their dad. You know what Jesus says? I want him to be where I am.

I want them to be where I am, and I've been on your bosom. Father, I'm asking that they would be as close to your heart as possible. I want them to hear your heartbeat for them. I want them to feel the warmth of your love for them. I want them to feel so secure that even if the whole world growls and salivates hatred towards them, they would feel the loving protective arms of God wrapping around them even now.

I want them to be where I am. Where have you been Jesus? I've been at the bosom of the father. You You know what's amazing about this prayer? All these prayers?

I hope this is at least exciting you to explore the other verses. Let me tell you what's amazing about the fact that Jesus prayed this prayer. It's because Jesus prayed this prayer. That's what's exciting about it. You're saying, what's the point?

This is the point. There is not a prayer that Jesus prayed that the father would deny. You want proof of that? Here's where we might be ending. John chapter 11.

This is when he comes to the funeral of his good friend Lazarus. And when he comes to Lazarus Lazarus' friend, he is met by Martha, Lazarus' sister. In John eleven twenty, we read, then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him, But Mary was sitting in the house. Now Martha said to Jesus, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. Now look at verse 22.

But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give it to you. And she was right. Jesus didn't deny that. Jesus didn't correct her theology. Martha knew enough of Christ's relationship with God that she says, whatever you ask of God, God will give it to you.

You know what Jesus prayed for you? Father, I desire that they may be with me, that they may behold my glory and God will answer that prayer. That is your destination if you're in Christ. You're headed somewhere. Yeah.

You might have wavered. Yeah, you might have made mistakes. But if you're truly in Christ, and I hope you're not a false convert in this place. I hope you haven't been faking it till you're making it because it won't work when you go to hell. Doesn't matter who you fool in this life, it's not worth your eternal soul.

But if you're in Christ, that prayer turned to promise belongs to you because there's nothing that Jesus will ask of God that God will not give to him. And you know what he asked? He asked for your presence in his presence for all of eternity. Last night we were talking about the song of Solomon and how this woman was infatuated with this man. Like, you read that chapter of how she describes, I've never met a girl or a guy that can talk about someone like that woman talked about her husband.

His wavy hair, I mean, maybe he's bad. His eyes, his cheeks, his lips, do you smell the cologne that he has on? Amazing. His legs, his an incredible descriptions, really. And it's a picture of how we should be so familiar with Christ, and we should be able to define him and describe him, look at him from head to toe and love every aspect of him.

But you know what's amazing about what that woman says before she describes him from head to toe? She tells the daughters of Jerusalem, if you find him, can you please tell him that I am sick with love? Can you please tell him that I'm There is a pain in my heart. What what was that You know it if you're in a romantic relationship and I hope it's a godly one. You know what that feeling is like.

When you're so intoxicated with infatuation, that when you have to travel for a week or two, or when you're separated for a few days, what happens? You get sick with love. Sick what do you mean? You wanna be in the presence of that person. You wanna be in close proximity.

That's what that woman was experiencing. He came to the door, he knocked on the door, and she was in bed. She's like, I just got in bed, and I don't wanna put on my shoes again. And he left. And that's a picture of when Christ nudges on our hearts, and you've known that, haven't you?

You have known that, haven't you? I've known it where he woos you and he says, why don't you go into your prayer closet? And he whispers, why don't you open Beyond the personal devotion, I'm talking about in the middle of the day. Why don't you go on a lunch break and why don't you go on a walk and pray and seek my face? You've known that.

Right? And what do we often do? Not now, Lord. I'm busy. I'll I'll talk to you later tonight.

I'll meet you in the morning. And that's what she did. And so he leaves. He gets quiet. And that's what God did to Hezekiah.

After God healed Hezekiah, we are told that God removed himself from Hezekiah to test and see what was in his heart. I talked to a lot of people that said, brother, I feel God's voice is so silent. I don't sense his presence. I don't sense tingly winglies. I don't sense anything, man.

I need some help because this thing is really getting dry for me. And I look at that verse in second Chronicles about Hezekiah and I say this, perhaps God is testing you. Because he removed himself from Hezekiah to see what was in the heart of Hezekiah. In what sense? What are you gonna do in my silence?

What are you gonna do when I get quiet? Where are you gonna go? Are you gonna go back to your worldly ways? Are you gonna go back to your worldly TV shows? Are you gonna go back to your worldly flesh?

What are you gonna do? Or are you gonna get desperate Say, Lord, I can't live like this. I can't live like this. Lord, if you do not make yourself known, if you do not warm my heart, Lord, I'm finished. You know the There is a season of being vulnerable here.

Hopefully not too vulnerable. There was a season where that silence was very real in my life. And I remember driving once, it was in the middle of the day, and during that season, a familiar scripture has come to life in a way that it has never come to life in my walk with the Lord. And it's often quoted in the Psalms where the psalmist says, Lord, if you do not answer my cry, we read it in one of the sessions, if you do not hear and answer my cry, I will be like those who go down to the pit. I never understood what that meant necessarily.

Until there was that season where I can't really explain it. Sometimes you can't explain things, you can only experience them. And the feeling that came over me in that moment was there was lack of direction. And it was so haunting in that moment that it made my future so bleak that I thought to myself, God, if you do not assure me, which you do, but this is the moment where you you cry out in your honesty, I don't think it's worth living. How can I live my life with no sense of your guidance?

How can I even think? How can I even plan? How can I do anything experiencing this silence until the day I come and see? It's not possible. And then that scripture came to mind in Psalms.

If you do not hear me, I will be like those I'm I'm as good as dead. He removed himself from Hezekiah to test what was in his heart. Are you gonna run towards me or are you gonna run away from me? That woman in the book of Song of Solomon said, I'm sick with love. You know, you can preach this personal intimacy with the Lord, and you can actually cause people to say, brother, I think you're pushing this a little bit too much.

Are you really saying that the Bible demands such affections from my heart towards a person that I've never seen before? Brother, maybe you're reading too much of the Song of Solomon, you're taking too much out of this relationship between a man and a woman, and you're putting an unrealistic burden on us for me to feel a certain way about Jesus Christ, but my Bible says in the book of Revelation at the end that it is the Spirit and the bride who say what? Come. Most of us would agree theologically that it's the Spirit who says come. It didn't just say the Spirit.

It says the Spirit and the bride, the church. The church of Jesus Christ can be so acquainted with the Lord Jesus. The church of Jesus Christ can have such a knowledge of who he is that there is a love sickness that says, Lord, I I know you have a purpose on this on this earth, but I can't wait to see you face to face. I'm so encouraged to be in conversation with people, and I have been in this conference, as we talk about how these days are like the end times. And you can actually say something like this and not have people question you whether you should be in a psych ward or not.

Aren't you excited for Jesus to be coming? And without a miss of a beat, oh, I'm so excited. I'm getting pretty tired of this one. Me too. Who can you say that to except somebody who knows a love sickness for Christ?

It's this weird tension. It's this weird tension that Paul felt. I can stay on this on this earth, and it will be beneficial to you. I'll bear fruit, and I'll help you out in your walk with the Lord, but let me tell you something, to be with Christ is far better. The theologian.

Why is it that we have so many theologians that are frozen? Why is it that we have so many preachers that are flat? Why do we have so many dead meetings? As one preacher said, there should not be one dead meeting since we have a living Christ. How?

That love sickness. Let me ask you this question. I'm not asking anything but this simple reality of God. I'm not here to condemn you tonight. I'm here to stir you to a new reality where you can be where Jesus has been and is today in the sense of knowing him.

Knowing him. And yes, it's veiled, and yes, we see through a mirror dimly, but this thing doesn't start when we get to glory. This thing starts now so that when I see Christ, I'm not looking into a face of a stranger. I'm looking to the face of somebody that I've been talking to since I've known him, and that I know and has made himself known to me. And we've been in this relationship long distance and sending messages and doing this thing via letters, my prayers to him, his love letter to me, but here's the day where I see you face to face.

I'm not putting this unrealistic, mystical thing on us today. I'm just saying this. You can come to the point where your heart really, not theologically, not in some weird, really be in a place of saying, Lord, I I I really, really want you to make yourself known to me. And it aches. It makes bible reading different.

It makes prayer different. I've used this illustration before. Maybe I'm beating a dead horse. But I can tell you that when I first got saved, and I'm weary of using that because I don't wanna be able to just say when I first got saved and point to how I felt about Jesus. I wanna be able to say it's been getting better since then.

Pray for me. But I remember when I first got saved, listen, you couldn't pay me to read the bible and I promise you that. You couldn't pay me to do a few things. I remember my mom sat all our siblings out and she wanted us to drink carrot juice so badly that she offered money. And I said, I'm not drinking that orange slush.

You can't pay me anything. And you couldn't pay me to read a Bible. I rather drink the carrot juice probably at that time. But when I got saved, you couldn't pull me away from this. It came to life.

And I remember when I would hear sermons, it's like everyone would disappear in that room, and the sermon could be about anything. It could be about the dietary law of the Levites, and I would be spellbound. I remember that actually happened to me once. I was listening to a sermon of a preacher speaking about the two she bears that mauled a bunch of kids because they insulted the prophet Elisha for his baldness and for other reasons. And I was like, Lord, you're amazing.

Because it was his word. It was his word. And there was that season, that glorious season where no matter what was preached, it didn't matter if it was fifteen minutes, it didn't matter if it was forty five minutes, my heart would get warm as I sat in those chairs. And I would get up in the fellowship time and people had and I'm not judging them, I'm not saying anything wrong. I'm just saying where I was in that season.

People had reservations ready at restaurants, people wanted to do this and do that, And my heart was aching, man. Go to your room and spend time with the Lord. And there was that wonderful season where I would go to that two bedroom apartment shared with another Christian. I would lock that door and the way my room was positioned was at a certain time of the night, the moonlight would shine into my room, all the lights off, sitting in my chair, putting worship music on and just talking to the Lord. You're amazing, Lord.

My heart yearns for you. I need you. I really do. Lord, I don't wanna sin. I love you.

And time didn't matter in those meetings. Time wouldn't matter. Yeah. Seasons change. Life gets busy.

But I'm one of those who believe that no matter where God takes you in this life, your first love never changes. Never does. It's very simple brothers and sisters. It's very simple. I remember in that same Can I keep going?

Is that okay? I know some might not appreciate personal stories, but you've heard Bible today. I remember in that same apartment being able to leave even in the winter, Canada freezing winter. I would put on a jacket, I didn't care how I looked. I just had one concern, being warm and walking alone, putting on headphones, walking, listening to worship, and there was a lake.

There was a lake, and in the winter I wouldn't go there, I would walk around. I remember in the summertime, I would go to this area, push through some bushes, and there was these giant rocks, Lake Ontario, and I would sit and I would lean back. The rocks were huge. I would lean back, And sometimes the moon would be so clear and it would just kiss the the water and just you would see trickles. Quiet.

Quiet. Quiet. Quiet. And just talking to the Lord. Just talking to the Lord.

And I remember there was one particular thing that always was there. Swans. Gorgeous swans, white and they would be right at the shore where the rocks were and they were sleeping. And there they were swans with their babies and they're just floating there with the gentleness of the water and the only thing that's happening is communicating with the Lord and the presence of the swans. And because of that experience, swans have like an like there's that connection.

You know what I'm saying? Is that and I'm trying to be funny. I'm I'm being serious. It was like, it when I look it brings me back to that time of my first year of walking with the Lord, because that's where I often had my time alone with him. Fast forward many years, that that was when I was 20, 21, 22.

I'm now 30, serving at a wonderful church, serving with wonderful, godly people. Many things have changed. My face changed. My height changed. My relationships changed.

Everything in my life changed. And I live down the street from the church. And when the weather is nice, I'll go for walks. Not alone though. I'll walk with the Lord.

And there's an area near the church, where it has like a man made pond, and I remember one day just walking and talking with the Lord, and as I'm walking and talking, I look over to the left, in the water I see swans. After six, seven years, eight years, nine years probably, and I remember walking and I looked at those swans, as though the Lord impressed in my heart, no matter where you go in life, one thing doesn't change. You walk with me. You walk with me. And I wanna tell you tonight, the Lord's desire for you is very simple, your heart.

Where are you today with Jesus? I say this in love. Are you where you know you were before? Things have changed and unfortunately with the change your heart became crusty and dry. You're a good person.

You'll come to church. You'll listen to sermons. You're not sinning. You fear God. You won't do evil things.

But the desire just for that simple intimate It's vanished, it evaporated, hasn't come back. He doesn't condemn you tonight. He uses moments like this, like how he used swans in my life. Think brother, that's very weird. I challenge you to go to the bible and see how many times God has spoken through animals.

Just a side note. I'm not saying that God spoke to me and especially I'm just trying to clear the air I guess. I'm not gonna be emotional right now. Pretty much done. Just gonna ask you to spend time with the Lord in your chair.

Talk to him and say, Lord, make my heart soft again. I see your prayers here for me. And Lord, I wanna be able to match your desire for me to be in your presence, for my desire to be equally in your presence. Ask him, like how the psalmist prayed. Lord, if you don't do a work in me, if you do not enlarge in my heart, I will not be able to run-in the way of your commitments.

You have to do a work in me, and God will do it. God will do it. Would you bow your heads, please? Lord, may we be able to testify that we sense your joy in our hearts. Lord, the message was straight forward and clear.

We wanna give to you our hearts again. And so Lord, in this moment, protect our minds from distraction. Protect us from being pulled by somebody who is not where they should be. And may this moment just be a moment of sanctified time with you. And let our hearts feel that burning that those disciples felt on the road to Emmaus.

Lord, we're not asking for heightened emotions. We're not asking for something out of the ordinary in the sense that we want something to be flashed before us. Lord, we just want our hearts to love you afresh. And however you see fit that that would work in us, we pray that it would be done in this place. Bring back the simplicity of devotion to Jesus Christ.

Bring back the wisdom of being able to know how to walk with you in the context that you've ordained for us. Lord tonight, if anybody doesn't know you, may they realize that this prayer does not apply to them. But if they are in you, this prayer is their promise And that they will be where you are because you asked the father who will not reject your request. Lord, we worship you tonight. This retreat is about you and we just wanna worship you.

In Jesus' name, amen.