John 17_20-26

Secular:

Pastor’s Heart
The enemy… divide and conquer
Infiltrate… political strategy – highlight disunity
Family… means comments
-- my past dealing with collections
Family… exposed… soft under-belly

Marriage… the damaging comments…
NOT THE CHURCH! Christ’s “High Priestly Prayer”

Biblical: John20 "My prayer is not for (the twelve disciples) them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message,21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: 23 I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. 24 "Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. 25 "Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. 26 I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them."

Personal:

Pulling together vs. pulling apart
Tug ‘o’ War

Bridge:

1) Liar, Lunatic or Lord
2) Hard Teaching
3) Prays for US

Rely on God

One People
One Power
One Purpose

Body:

1) One People

20 "My prayer is not for (the twelve disciples) them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message,21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

What… all one
Believing in Christ…

the apostle’s message
1 Cor 1:22 Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24 but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
not watered down
This is how we are one! – one message…

Perfect Unity… within the Trinity is the model of hope of our Saviour’s desire!

As in Trinity

United Persons

Three-in-one
Distinct
Different focus
Same mission

Father – Providence
Son – Redemption
Spirit - Regeneration

One Power
One Purpose

To save souls to the glory of God

Why… One people

Witness as “fully devoted disciples”
Eph 4:4 There is one body and one Spirit-- just as you were called to one hope when you were called-- 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
So the world sees Christ in us and believes

No mixed message…
No house divided against itself
No ‘cross-purposes’

God wants us to be one people… striving for the glory of God and the furtherance of the Kingdom… We are the hope of the world… we are all on the same team.

2) One Power

22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: 23 I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. 24 "Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.

John 15:26 "When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me.” (one Power)
Gal 2: 20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (One Power… one in whom Christ lives)
To experience the glory

Glory = holiness and power

Attributes manifested
Deity in Heaven

To have eternal hope
To Jesus Glorified
To be with him
In relationship to the Father

Jesus wants you to share in love and glory of God that began before the foundations of the earth!!

In Christ… in his glory… in his power and in his love…unity

Presence of God – experience the unending love
God wants us to be one people…proclaiming the glory of God through the love of the Spirit… striving for the glory of God and the furtherance of the Kingdom… We are the hope of the world… we are all on the same team.

3) One Purpose

25 "Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. 26 I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them."

Before going to do business in Asian Countries…

Learn language
Learn Custom
Learn appropriate gestures

Don’t touch the head of an older person… head top of the person due most respect
Don’t point sole of foot at anyone… lowest part of body…

Bridge… for relationship

Jesus said “Know the Father through knowing me”

We need that saving relationship…
Through Christ we can come to the Father… we can know Father through the Son…

Jesus reveals the love and glory of the Father

Jesus is the perfect revelation of the Father, his glory, his love and his redemptive plan for humankind.

We are to know the love of the Father through Him and the World to know through us.
When we know Father his love for us and manifest the love of Christ as believers we are called to the One Purpose – Matthew 18:18 Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

In that one purpose we will manifest the glory of God… and fulfill the great commandment

Mark 12: 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.'
God wants us to be one people…proclaiming the one power… the glory of God through the love of the Spirit… for one purpose… st riving for the glory of God and the furtherance of the Kingdom… We are the hope of the world… we are all on the same team.

Conclusion:

One People – Apostle’s teaching… shared with us
One Power – The Glory, the love, holiness and power of God
One Purpose – To carry the message of the love, holiness and power of God, thru Christ the Son in our lives….show him that the world may know