Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Today we are going to look at Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer of

Entire books are written on - Warren Wiersbe wrote a 12 chapter book just on and many others

I thought we would look at some quick facts about prayer.

When we think about praying is this what we think about?

Prayer Picture

Folding our hands - heads bowed.

However we do have references to holding our hands in the air.

Folding our hands - heads bowed.

The problem is - folding our hands is not found in scripture.

1 Kings 8:22

Spread out his hands toward heaven.

Nehemiah 8:6

with their hands uplifted all the people said, “Amen, Amen.”

Psalm 28:2

Pslam 28:2

When I lift up my hands towards your holy sanctuary.

1 Timothy 2:8

Pray - lifting up holy hands without anger or argument.

When was the last time you followed the biblical model of praying with hands lifted towards the Holy sanctuary of God

Prayer

Please stand and raise your hands if you are able as we read this prayer of Jesus.

Raised Hands

John 17

Let’s Pray.

We are going to look at this prayer in four sections.

Jesus Four Part Prayer

1. Jesus’ prayer for glory:

2. Jesus’ prayer for security for His disciples:

3. Jesus’ prayer for the sanctity of His disciples:

4. Jesus’ prayer for church unity:

- Glory

We bow our heads when we pray - Jesus looked up to heaven!

The method of our prayer does not matter -

Sometimes you can stand while you pray - like Abraham

Genesis 18:22

You can Bow

Genesis 24:52

You can kneel

Daniel 6:10

Or you can even sit like King David

2 Samuel 7:18

Our physical posture is not as important as the posture of our heart.

Jesus’ hour had finally come - to give us eternal life.

Glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you.

Jesus has authority over all flesh

Jesus is the one who gives eternal life.

Eternal life is defined by Jesus:

“This is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God , and the one you have sent - Jesus Christ.”

If you were asked to define eternal life, would you define like Jesus defined it?

Let’s go back to the beginning of our study in John

Now Jesus’ prayer

John 17:5

In the beginning was Jesus, He was with God, and He was God - and He had the glory of God before for the world existed.

Jesus

Jesus turns his prayer from glory to security.

- Security

Isn’t it interesting that Jesus did not pray for the world, but for the those that God gave Him for no other reason - than that they were His.

Holy Father - Protect them.

Jesus prayed for protection.

Protection that the disciple would be as one, like Jesus and the Father are one.

Protection for Unity.

Jesus prayed for their sanctity

- Sanctity

- Sanctity

Jesus Prayed - Sanctify them by the truth.

Your Word is Truth -

Jesus is the Way, The Truth and the Life.

-

The Spirit Is the Truth -

To be sanctified means to be set apart as holy, purified, free from sin.

We can be sanctified by being in the Word, abiding in Jesus, listening to the Spirit.

Jesus was sanctified, set apart as Holy, for us.

So that we could also be sanctified and set apart as holy, through his death and resurrection on the cross.

Jesus died for you.

He loved you so much he stretched His arms out and died on the cross for you.

The wages of sin is death - and Jesus paid that price for you so that you can be set apart as holy, sanctified through His death and resurrection.

Now Jesus turns His prayer to unity.

Let’s talk about Unity.

The Human Resource Committee and I have asked for a special business meeting to call Aaron as our worships leader.

One Wednesday night I was told that I have a fight coming at that business meeting because some of you do not like Aaron and some of you are getting really tired of the way I have been leading this church.

So let me apologize.

I do not want disunity in the church, so we are calling off that meeting for a time.

See I need to apologize to you because the seminary I attended did not teach us about Committees and Committees.

They didn’t teach us about Committees at all because its not in the Bible.

They taught us that Bible says that Pastors and Elders lead the church.

That deacons are to be servants of the church - let’s me read

The Biblical polity that is laid before us in scripture is Elder Led, Deacon Served, Congregationally Accountably.

That is what we were taught in seminary through a searching of the scriptures from Acts, to the Pastoral Epistles.

So on behalf of every pastor that came before me at Hillside Baptist Church let me corporately apologize for their poor leadership in allowing us to be a non-biblically led church when it comes to polity.

We can take some more time looking at this during our Wednesday night adult class if you have questions.

We can search the scriptures for Committees on Committees and we can search the scriptures for Elder Led, Deacon Served, Congregationally Accountable and see if for nearly 66 years if we have been doing church as the biblical model or of another model.

Which leads us to unity.

I know some of you are not comfortable with the biblical model and that is okay.

You have been led astray by many pastors before me so.

So let’s focus on unity - that is the prayer of Jesus.

Let’s turn our attention back to the unity of the church.

- Unity

- Unity

Jesus prays for oneness.

Jesus knows us.