Our Confident High Priest

Our Confident High Priest John 17:1-5 Outline for Jesus' High Priestly Prayer 1. Jesus prayed for Himself (1-5) 2. Jesus prayed for His disciples (6-19) 3. Jesus prayed for Us (20-26) 1. Jesus had confidence in His Father (1, 5) Philippians 2:6-7 - 6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. 2. Jesus had confidence in His power (1b, 2-3) Jeremiah 31:34 - 34 "They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them," declares the LORD, "for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more." 3. Jesus had confidence in His mission (2b, 4) John 10:17b-18 - 17b ... I lay down My life so that I may take it again. 18 "No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father." Prayer is only effective when we pray God's will. 1 John 5:14-15 - 14 This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him. Any attempt to know God apart from Jesus the Christ is idolatry. Acts 4:12 - 12 And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved. 1 Thessalonians 1:9b - 9b ... how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God. There is a difference between knowing about God and having a relationship with Him through His Son Jesus the Christ. Matthew 7:21-23 - 21 "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. 22 "Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' 23 " And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.' The confidence of Jesus before the cross teaches us that our trust in Him for everything is well placed.