Jesus' Final Wishes

Some insurance and all of our campuses. If you remain standing here for just a minute want us to begin this morning with just a time of prayer together across nine campuses in the summa church as one body in Christ. I do not know if you have heard but there is going to be a pretty big election here happening in a few weeks and a lot of people want to know if we have a stance as a church or we give recommendations on how to vote in the short answer is no.

Is a matter of policy, we do not recommend you vote for in any election that is not of course because I don't have opinions or because other pastors will have opinions.

It's because I am a pastor and I do not want an indication of what I plan to do to become the litmus test for what spiritual maturity or fellowship looks like of the summa church because I think that Christians can in good conscience come to different conclusions on some of these issues and remain in close fellowship together and so I think it's very important in this season that we do as a friend of mine says we need to learn to give space and to show grace I don't know about you all but after watching the first couple of debates I was not encouraged in the Lord. In fact, after the first debate I was downright depressed and died the next day our Summit Bible reading plan just happened to me and ask chapter 4 and it was like just relic all helical announcement of refreshment to my soul as the early church is in the midst of their own, political turmoil, they got together and they prayed and this is what they said or asked for 24 when they heard these things, they lifted their voices together to God and they said sovereign Lord who made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything in them through the mouth of our father David, your servants about the Holy Spirit. Why do the Republicans rage.

One of the Democrats plot in vain. The kings of the earth the candidate.

Both parties set themselves and the rulers were gathered together against Lord and against his anointed. For truly, in the city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel to do whatever it was that your hand in your plan and predestinate take place peacefully and charges working history not for the sake of the United States of America for the church now Lord look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, that's our job while you stretch out your hand to heal and signs and wonders were performed of the name of your holy servant Jesus.

When they prayed like this place, in which they were gathered together was shaken. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and they continue to speak the word of God with boldness brothers and sisters when we are shaken by the authority of Jesus were not to be shaken by the chaos of politics, so I know that you know this. I know that you know this, but let me just say it to you very clearly is a word of reminder, the church does not depend on what happens in Washington DC salvation does not come in riding on the back of a donkey or an elephant. Technically, Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, but I think that was a political metaphor, the hope of the world whether the first century or the 21st century is not found in our political decisions is found in the power of Christ to his people. God is not building his kingdom in Washington DC he is building in the church and so yes, the Republicans may range in the Democrats plot in vain.

But whoever becomes our president in January 2017. One thing is certain. Jesus will remain seated on the throne. John Piper, John Piper says one day America and all of its presidents are going to be an obscure footnote in human history.

But the kingdom of Jesus every and so that's the kingdom and I'm living for a man hey man amen will people say the pastor you gotta tell us who are you for I have publicly called for both of them to step down. That is about all that I will tell you I'm wondering, I'm wondering if we could just go with nobody in November for the next four years. You know find ourselves might be the right course of action. But we come together this morning as one body in Jesus that we are people that register different political parties with people that see things rather differently, but we have something in Jesus that is greater than anything that might divide us and so I don't often do this because to be honest with you, why can we do a lot because I'm gonna get germ phobia and strength to interfere in all the gotta stop but I want this. This is one body we could in a very special moment. Can we just join hands with approval to our right and left. You just gonna stretch out there across the aisles. I know you don't know him.

I know I might be another dude in your like that's creased.

Now you know what I find there sometimes in some places that we need to say were a body of people who love Jesus more than anything that divides us. So like the early church and ask for we just lift our eyes to heaven and let's pray together at all campuses.

Father, we come together seeking the fullness of the holy spirit that you might open up a new door for us in the chaos of politics to pursue our kingdom and to preach our gospel with more boldness that we like the apostles would be visited with an unusual outpouring of your power miracles and signs and wonders God that would show people to salvation is found in Washington DC, is found in the name of Jesus I pray God that you would give us the unity that goes far beyond any political turmoil that might threaten to divide.

Gotta pray that we love our brothers and sisters. I pray that we would stand together unified around our love for Jesus in a way that shows the world to our real pray and ask God in Jesus name. In Jesus name in all God's people said they man amen you may be seated at all of our campuses. Well, I'm probably most thrilled to tell you that today's message has nothing to do with politics. Although if you understand it. It's exiting to help you think about politics much better. John chapter 17. If you have your Bibles as we work our way through our Bibles this year. This is the passage that we come to we had to cancel church last week here at the broadcast campus because the power was out due to hurricane and so the campus pastors at the other campuses. Besides the Berkeley campus. They all had power, so they did an abbreviated version of this chapter last week and we spent time praying together as a church.

I honestly thought about just leaving it there. We went to the passage one time but you'll there is so much in this passage that is so timely for our church right now that I really thought we ought to take a deeper look.

When I first read it I was just overwhelmed at how relevant it was to where we are right now I'm even now I feel like the proverbial mosquito at the nudist colony where to begin. I have no idea. This is this is the last recorded prayer that Jesus prayed, he prayed it on the night right before he died.

Not personally never been with somebody in the last night of their life when they knew it was the last night of their life. Maybe you have never heard some say pray a final prayer, knowing that this was their final prayer button that I would imagine that that if you knew that somebody you are about to die, whatever you prayed would have a great amount of clarity to just ask yourself if you knew that you were going to dine you a chance for one prayer. Would you pray this is what Jesus prayed in the last prayer he made publicly before he died what he asked for you and let me to say this as we get into it.

There are some things that Jesus prays in this prayer that belonged uniquely to him.

He was the son of God. He was the second member of the Trinity and so not everything he says in his prayers going to apply to us but a passion and Louis Giglio down in Atlanta points out that there are three major things that Jesus prays for in this prayer that ought to serve as a pattern for how we should pray these are the things that Jesus prayed on the last night of his life, which means we ought to pray them on every night of our lives. I lamented to some of you before how trite the average Christians prayers usually sound we fill up our prayers with clichés and platitudes, and spent most of our time asking God for things that is only promised to give us what I always your old God be with us and God says I promised you I would never leave you or forsake you. He was 13.

Five. Read your Bible asking for something else.

We spent the whole time asking God for things that are okay but really not supposed to be our main focus.

Lord help me do well on this test and the Holy Spirit, so that you study the question.

I read you the brain I gave you to study the view that asked me to magically transmogrified the information on your textbook in your lazy mind or will say Lord bless this food and he's like you know your email half pound hamburger top with three strips of bacon and onion salt. I can bless that go get some broccoli. They got up prebuilt in blessing you have asked for to write their collectivist traveling mercies. What the heck are those I have a PhD in theology and on the foggiest idea how the gods probably like put on your seatbelt and drive the speed limit, stop texting when you drive there if you're traveling Mercy, I'm not saying that there's never a place to asked for any of those things, but hope you understand my point. What is supposed to be the core of our prayer what her prayer supposed to sound like this passage can show you how you can pray like Jesus. How you can pray what Jesus prays our prayers are sound like it there we go. The first thing that he prays for the three number one in his final prayer, Jesus prays for himself. But in verse one father the hours come. Glorify your son that your son may glorify you know it might strike you as strange that Jesus opens up this prayer praying for himself, but the key is an understanding why Jesus is asking God to glorify him. You see this glorify me so that I can glorify you. We often have a wrong view of Christian humility within Christian humility means that you don't seek prosperity, but clearly hear Jesus ask God to bless them and glorify him and raise him up, let me introduce you to a phrase that Pastor Louis uses phrases me for you.I'm asking you to bless me so that I can glorify you. I'm not saying me for me and save me, for you. Humility is not not thinking, prosperity, humility is using whatever prosperity that God sends you to direct people's attention back toward God. I pray all the time for God to raise up the summit church but not for the sake of the summit church. I asked that he raise up the summit church for his glory. You can ask that same thing about your own life you say.

Well, that sounds convenient God, but getting glory. How can you know that when you say that it's not really all about you that's a great question here are couple of ways you can know when you're asking us whether this about you it's about God Way, #1 when God gets glory for himself by exalting somebody else besides you, you can tell by the jealousy in your heart. Whether you're more concerned about God's glory than your own not told your God revealed this to me as pastor. The church many years ago I was praying for God raise this church up lesser ministries like God. Would you do something in the triangle area that will transform the area. The kind of thing will write about in history books. 100 years from now of the great gospel waking in the drying was one of those times where God the Holy Spirit spoke to me, not audibly but in the voice that was every bit as clear as if it had been audible. The Holy Spirit said okay what if I say yes to this prayer. What if I just transform the triangle for the gospel. Once, I don't use your church. What if I don't use the summit church to do what if I use the church down the street near the one that gets famous metal ones are my thoughts about your church stays the same may go I knew I knew the right answer. You must increase an honest decrease. I knew that was the right answer and I made in the right answer. But when the real answer. I was not okay with God bringing glory to himself if it didn't involve me in our church and that you showed me that all this time I been saying, thy kingdom, what I really meant is my kingdom come. So yes you can see by the jealousy in your heart when God chooses to exalt somebody else when you're in this for you or for him years is a second way you can know it's about God's glory is what you do when he sent suffering to you like he did Jesus what easily would be sent suffering to you like he did Jesus see sometimes God brings glory to himself by how joyously a believer suffers by help copy that you remain in pain how happy you remain in poverty. It is true. Yes, that God gets glory when sick Christians miraculously get well. But it's also true that he gets glory when sick Christians died well also. When you and I are able to say even in the midst of great pain. I got a treasure that's greater than health. I got a treasure that sweeter than earthly benefits. When you and I are able to say in the midst of confusion and disappointment.

I trust God even in the midst of this confusion for his loving purposes of my life and people say why. Why would you why would you say that because your life is clearly falling apart.

You say because he proved it. At the cross that brings glory to God in his final prayer, Jesus prays first for himself, but his prayer was need for you, glorify me so that I can glorify you and when you send the cross. I'm to glorify you through that also will listen most of us pray as if the pointer prayer was to get God on our side of God blessed me. Oh God. You newsflash Yorty is on your side of the gospel tells you you are his child. He is for you. He's promised to prosper you. The question is no longer whether he is for you that's been settled. The question is whether you are for him.

So when you ask God is it me for me or send me for you, that's the question here's number two in his final prayer, Jesus prays for his disciples. Verse six. I revealed to you to those you gave me out of the world they were yours. You gave in the me and they've obeyed your word holy father protect them by the power of your name. The bulk of Jesus's prayer. He spends right here he is thinking specifically about the 12 disciples of his mind is Judas you can see in verse 12 that he excludes Judas because he knows that Judas is about to betray him the best correspondence to this group.

Jesus prays for I think is probably your small group. Let's say there's 4 to 6 people in your life that you pray intimately and daily for unlike Jesus, I don't think you should feel pressure to identify who out of your group is Judas and exclude him or her from your prayers have probably taken a little far before we look at what he prayed for these guys. By the way could I just really quickly say something about the importance of Christian friendship. Christian friendship is probably the greatest earthly gift that God gives to us and on the last night of his life.

Jesus is spending this time with the people that he is made his friend everybody should have sewer three really close friends know you and love you enough that they pray for you daily. Not this is a bold statement what what I'm about to make the lesson I have yet to see a healthy vibrant Christian did not have to work three really close Christian friends like this matter how spiritually mature they were and I tell you why this is on my mind a lot right now is because there's been a slate of high profile pastors in the last few months have fallen out of ministry and they all had this in common. All of they were isolated things that grown a secret garden always grope mutants you show me an isolated man.

Proverbs 820 24 and also you, Amanda seeks his own desire.

You need close Christian friends okay will write how a form. There's got to really easy quick actions that are the summit church and one join a volunteer team on the weekend the single best way for you to get to know people here the summit church is joining a volunteer we can see. I don't say that because we need the help I'm saying is you need to friendship I here's number two.

The second thing is join a small group go to the two forms that we create for uniform relationships now back to the point you're 40 prays for these guys. Verse 11 holy father protect them by the power of your name. Verse 1350. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world my prayers that you protect them from the evil one in the world.

He prays not that we would be taken out of the world, but that they would be kept by the power of God in the world. I point this out because there is a warped version of Christianity that seeks to remove itself from the world because it believes that isolation is only only way to avoid corruption in high school I went to a private Christian school whose sole goal seem to be to keep others isolated from the world as humanly possible. So we were supposed to go see movies at the theater because you might why you there actually see an R-rated movie. And even if you don't see an R-rated movie maybe were there to see fireproof something rated G. Others might not know that you were there to see that and they would think you were there to see an R-rated movie and then they would be imposing an R-rated movie and you will be responsible, we weren't allowed to dance because dance will make you want to know so will I listen to rock music, rock music had peed in it and make you want to even Christian music you should listen to that because that might make you want to dance. When I got married a Veronica my wife loosened me up quite a bit because she grew up Presbyterian and I you know how they are there for you in Christ all over the place and so got 07 we got married, a baptizer made a quick drink and and consented. It was all predestined to happen.

That was our our compromise. She even got me to start dancing and Nancy mini quit again. So anyway the point the way the high school was going to. Their goal was a good one goal was to keep us from being corrupted by the world but it's not Jesus's vision of how you stay uncorrupted true discipleship is not isolation from the world. True discipleship is living like Jesus within the world. Our friend David Platt says alike that is our mission is not to disinfect Christians and put them on a shelf.

Our mission is to disciple them and put them in the service is what happens when you remove yourself from the world.

You lose your evangelistic witness, which is the very reason that God leads you in the world. Instead, you become part of this inbred subculture that has it. Shepherds guides in its Christian radio stations that only knows how to talk with each other and nobody on the outside. Do you know people outside the church. Are you actively engaged in their lives. Could you plot your phone right now and import the numbers of three people who are not believers and text any of the sales go get coffee after this and it wouldn't be where can you speak the language of culture because a holiness that is disconnected from the world is no holiness at all, which Lisa verse 17 sanctified instinct by means make holy, set them apart. Think about and how by removing them think about. And by the truth. Your word is truth.

Your word is true. Jesus wanted us in the world, but he didn't want us to be shaped by the world.

So how do we develop a holy heart and holy life within the world.

Short answer really simple answer by knowing God's word because the greatest way to avoid a lie is to know the truth.

Your success in the world spiritually in the success of your kids is not going to be based on how well you isolate them from the lies it's going to be based on how much they know the truth is going to many of you in this political season on both sides demonstrate that what you think about politics is shaped more by your culture than is the word of God. Do you want your life to be a success. You wanted to be founded upon a rock.

Do you want to be wise and avoid the deceptions of the enemy. You want your kids lives to be a success.

Let me let me let me speak you as a dad. Other parents are our family take this so seriously. We memorize Scripture together as a family. In fact I pay my kids to memorize Scripture.

You may think that but am I going to give money for something I'm going to give the money to memorize Scripture, I pay them in the summer to read books about Christian heroes.

We do devotions together as a family.

I have been involved in programs of the church that helped take them deeply God's work. My kids love sports.

My kids love extracurricular stuff we as of the family have made a decision that we just will not do things that negatively impact their opportunity to learn God's word here is why it is unlikely that my kids will ever play a professional sport or dance for a living. It is 100% likely that they're going to go to heaven or hell right and so I'm to make sure that they're prepared for that. I'm also 100% sure that God has a plan for their lives. So we are going to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, which was making sure they know Scripture and let extracurricular be added in on the margins right not notice specifically. He's concerned about two things in regard to the truth.

The first thing is that they recognize that these words have divine origin to verse seven. Now they know that everything you've given me comes from you I want you, according to the prayer Jesus I want you to have the confidence that this book that we learn from every week is from God.

This is not practical life lessons from uncle JD and this concept is always under attack in the culture and sadly even in the church might be like well I Jesus seems legit. I'll certainly want to be close to God, but not everything in the Bible is true. It's written by men. After all, and so is full of errors. That's not true. Like I showed you a couple weeks ago.

Jesus always equates his teachings with what the apostles right because he promised his spirit would preserve the apostles and the accurate recording of his words. In this prayer he wants his disciples and those of us who receive their testimony to know that these words come from God. It's not just a collection of enlightened thoughts about Jesus. It's not even a reliable guide to God. It is the very words of God's second concern was that they internalize these words verse eight. Fry gave them the words that you gave me and they accepted them. I can teach these things to you. You see, Jesus could teach them but you're the only one that can actually take them into your heart. If I were always pushing you here to do what we call quiet time, which is a terrible name.

I hate that phrase because it sound like I'm being punished in a corner somewhere, quite honestly the time every day when I open up God's word. I read it, and I begin to see the lid to the lens of the gospel.

Things are going on in my life apply the promises of Scripture to my problems is a time when I meet God I pray I do every single morning first thing when I get up and I do often before I go to sleep at night. Why because I need to internalize God's word, and so do you is why we also push you to be a part of a small group because we realize that there are certain dimensions of God's word that you can learn better when you're seated in circles talking about God's word and when you're seated in rows just listening to God's word to you need to internalize here's number three in Jesus's final prayer. He prays for his church. Look at verse 20. My prayer is not for them alone. I pray for those who will believe in me through their message about the way that was me and you he was praying for right there as well as people all over the world who have yet to hear. I pray that all of them. Maybe one father justice you're in me, and I mean you that may also be an officer the world may believe that you sent me couple observations here. First, notice that Jesus is not pray for the world.

Not one time in John 17 this Jesus pray for the lost world when he prays for less than are believers in the world that he says quite plainly verse nine, I'm not praying for the world.

I'm not praying for the world.

I'm praying for those you've given me is that because Jesus didn't care about the world, hardly John chapter 3 I came into the world to save the world for God so loved the world that he gave his only son believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life know you care for the world. It's because he knew that the hope for the world the hope for any community is found in the believers in that community. What that means is that if you really want to pray for some group you want to pray for a nation, a city, a group of people you want to pray for a school campus. The best strategy is to pray for God to raise up and strengthen the believers within that group.

So The Church. We Pray for America and We Pray for the Triangle. We Should Mostly Pray for the Help of the Churches in the Triangle, You Say Well It Can Feel Selfish. The Best Analogy I Can Come up with It Is That You Know When You're Traveling on an Airplane. The Dual Safety Demonstration of the Front Always Telling You That the Oxygen Mask Drops out and Got Kids to Put Yours on First before You Put It on Them Right. I Never Had That Happen Airplane. By the Way, except One Time and Those Short-Circuiting… We Freaked out, but I've Never Actually Had the Cabin Pressure Drop, but I Imagine That If I Were Seated with My Four Kids. I Would Be Very Difficult Apostles and Struggling for Air Actually Put Mine on First but If I Really Cared about and That's What I Would Do Because I Cannot Help Them upon Alert. If I'm Not Alert What Jesus Tells Them Is the Hope for People in Your Community Is for Believers to Be Healthy and Vibrant so That They Can Testify to the Salvation That's in Jesus.

The Church You See Is God's Plan a for Working in the World. Therefore, It Is the Main Thing That Jesus Prayed for on the Last Night of His Life and by the Way If You Happen to Be One of Those People Were like You Know I'm Just Kind of Fed up with the Church about the Hypocrites. Titus One Reach People for Jesus and It's Better to Do That, Apart from the Church.

You Are Totally Out Of Step with Jesus. Jesus More Than Anybody Knew How Messed up the Church with Me Right Mean Judas Is in This Group and He Was an Outright Liar, Thief and Betrayer Probably Pull for Alabama Football Had the Whole Did Everything Was Wrong. Peter Peter Would Turn out to Be a Coward Who Falls under Pressure 10 Years after Being Appointed Head of the Church. Galatians 2 Will Show Us That He Still Partially Racist like We Saw Last Week. Jesus Even Called Satan One Time James and John Were Constantly Concerned about Whether or Not They Were Being Viewed As the Number One the Apostle Thomas What He Was Sure He Believed That What Happened Disciples.

I Just Mean That the Messed up Group.

He Knew the Church Was Messed up.

Yet He Pray for This Church Has the Greatest and Only Hope for the World to Know the Truth so Quit Trying to Be Holier Than Jesus Never Churches Got Problems. New/so Do You Quit Being so Self-Righteous and Her Testimony. Hypocrites Want to Thank God for That Because I Mean There's a Room for You Also Write This Is a Hospital for Sinners. It's Not a Spot for Safe People Which Means When You Come in Here and You Start Looking Close, You Can Find That Were Not Perfect People Were Messed up, Starting with the Pastor People like Me Is like a Model Christian.

I'm Not Going to Close Don't Get Close Because What You That We Don't Tolerate Outright Sin Here, but What What Means Is That When You Get Close to Us Here to See the Word Group of People That Are Often Inconsistent Were Messed up and We Want to Do Is Point You to Jesus and yet the Church Is Messed up. But This Is the Bride of Christ like.

It's Axiomatic That You Can't Love Somebody and Hate Their Bride at the Same Time Right. My Wife's Name Is Veronica You Invited Me over for Dinner and Said I Need You to Come Alone When Veronica and I Get over Your House You like a One Every Virginity like You We Think Is Funny. We Just Want to Be Friends with You but That Veronica Recipes Work Right There Forever Hear You and I Can Have Problems, You Can't Love Me Hate My Bride. You Can't Love Jesus and Hate His Pride. So If You Love the Church You Don't Really Love Jesus Right That Love Grandma When I Get Going so Back to the Main Point.

We Pray for World.

The Main Thing We Are, Pray for Us the Spiritual Vitality Believers in the World. So Yes in This Season.

Pray for the Election. Pray for the Candidate Salvation Periphery Mostly for the Church. Pray That the Church Will Be Healthy and Bold during This Time That Will Be Focused and Clear about the Gospel Now Second Observation. The One Dominant Thing from This Section That Jesus Prays for Is That We Would Internalize God's Love Verse 26 I Pray the Beloved Which You Have Love Me May Be in Them, and I Am Them. Please Praying This Is Pray First That We Would Love Jesus the Way That God Loves Jesus Love That You Love Me May Also Be in Them and That We Would Also Love Others like Jesus Loves Us and That I Would Be in Them. Also, Because When We Do That He Says Listen This People Will Know That He's Real. See Verse 23 I Am Him and You and Me, That They May Become Perfectly One, Because Then Then the World Will Know That You Sent Me.

How Does the World Know That God Is Real Is about How Will I Preach Is the Cogent and Watertight Arguments That I Make to the Existence of God Is.

Is That How They Know His Real Is It by How Loudly Worship All That's Got to Be at Home.

I'll Be Working They Can to See That God Is Real How Loudly Worship about Miraculous Answers to Prayer Is That How They Know His Real How We All Vote Will Look the Same Way the Know Know That Israel Now He Says Very Clearly for How You Love Each Other in the Church. Here's How I See It, You Never That the Show on the Invisible Man This One Superhero. They Haven't Brought Back at Marblehead Will Back Out Of the Invisible Man I'm Kind of Excited When They Do That Was My Favorite One Is a Kid.

I Love Superheroes. All of the Dress up like Superheroes Should Be Told, I Still Do but Increase the Neighbors out When I Do Run on the Flex Monument but I so the One in Superhero Whose Costume.

I Could Never Really Quite Master Was the Invisible Man There Enough Best I Could Do Was Seek in My Sisters Room and Nestle Herself up and Saving Visible Bandit, but I Never Could Master This Constant. So If You Remember the Show the Way, If You Were near the Invisible Man. The Only Way That to Make Invisible Was to Do What You Think Dust on Their Dust on Poor Pain on Top of Them and Then You Could See the Outline of the Invisible Man with a Local Church Love in the Local Church Is Supposed to Be like the Paint That Makes the Invisible Christ Visible Not Love Shows Itself in Primarily Two Ways This Chapter It Shows.

First of All, How We Serve People on the outside. The Love That Jesus Has for Ice Just Spilled out like a Waterfall like a Gushers in the Austin and through Us into the Streets Several Years Ago.

If You Been around the Church for A While. You Know Some the Stories, but Let Me Remind You Who Haven't Been Several Years Ago RRR Archers Have Very Convicted about That. We Just Weren't Loving Our Community so We Just Said All Right.

How Is It That We Can Bless the Broken Places in Our Community. In the First Place. The Holy Spirit Led Us to Was a String of Underprivileged Schools.

One Particular School Get Really Involved Then We Renovated the Classrooms and We Adopted Teachers. There Is in a Whatever Your Supplies You Need Must Be the First Line of Defense Dozens of Our People.

Scores Are People I Tutor Kids There, in Fact We Had. I Was a Refugee Family in the School That I Have Lost Their House to a Fire and We Had an Engaged Couple Said Hey We Got a Wedding Shower Instead of Given All the Stuff to Us for Our House When We Redirect This to This Refugee Family. What a Breakfast That We Put on for the Teachers before the School Year. The Next Year.

One of the Teacher Stood up and She Said She Said You're Not a Christian. I'm Not a Christian, but I've Always Known That You Christians Believe You Were Supposed to Love Your Neighbor Never Do It Look like until Now What Happiness You Made the Invisible Jesus Visible to the Way That You Love Those on the outside That Can't Necessarily Pay You Back Because That Looks like Jesus Love the World Loves People Love Them Back. Jesus Love People Who Couldn't Pay Them Back. And That's How You Make the Invisible Jesus Visible Why My Proudest Moments As Your Pastor until Judas When I Proudest Moments As a Pastor Was November. Years Later, in November, I Got a Call from the Mayor's Office in Durham and the Mayor's Representative, Not Him. Mayor's Representative Said, I'm Extending an Invitation to You to Speak at the City's Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Rally in January. It's a Big Deal.

It's Televised on Public Television, All the City Council, Government Officials Have To Be There and We Want You to Be a Keynote Speaker.

I Said No I'm Not the Typical Candidate for Martin Luther King Jr. Speech. Can We Agree on That and I Said Well, Sure, Why Are You Asking Me. She Said I Don't Know I'm Just the Representatives so Can You Do It or Not Answer Season Which Is Free for 20 Minutes. Also Going to Talk about. She Said You Talk about Whatever You Want to Still Be Controversial and I Said Cannot Talk about Jesus, He Said, Only I Don't Think He's Controversial and I Said I Think You and I Talk about This and Got so They Comes Now You'll Know That I Do. I Agree It's Enough That I Really Don't Get Nervous Anymore When I Sit in Front of Group Bows Nurses for This Will Not A Lot That I Was near Him Were Talking Donald Trump about It on the View Nervous. That's How I Felt and and and I Guess It Was Written All over My Face Because One of the County Manager the County Manager Comes up in the Dinner Jersey Times and He Was like You Really Look Nervous and I Used To See This Way Is a Yes or I Am He Said You Know What You Been Asked to Speak like No I Don't, Nobody Would Tell Me He's I'll Tell You Why He Says Because He Says Everywhere in Our Little Council Meeting.

We Were Having. He Said Everywhere in Our City That Something Is Broken. There Somebody There from the Summa Church since Trying to Fix It. He Said No I'm Not Even Saying Always Doing a Good Job but Your Think Your Affair Ends. We Couldn't Think of a Spirit We Would Rather See Honored on a Day like Today Than the Spear That Is Embodied in Your Church, What You Did. As You May See the Invisible Jesus Suddenly Became Visible for the Way That You Served If When We Take in Foster Children and Love Prisoners and Serve Refugees and Befriend Political Enemies. That's When We Make the Invisible Jesus Visible Here Is the Second Way His Love inside of Us Shows Itself through Unity in Jesus Stronger Than Anything That Could Divide Us. Watch This Verse 23 I in Them and You and Me, That They May Become Perfectly One, so That the World May Know That You Sent Me.

When We Lose Our Unity in the Church Is Because Something Has Become More Important to Us.

Then Jesus Pointed This out to You before When When When When the Gospels List out the Names of Jesus and His 12 Disciples Includes a Couple Little Interesting and Seemingly Irrelevant Details with Them. One of Them Is Described As Simon the Zealot Now so It Was a Political Platform That They Believe That Only Come in and Stole All Their Properties They Wanted to Run out.

There Was a Political Movement in Israel.

The First Century Church Shortly after Him, You Have Matthew the Tax Collector, Matthew His Political Position Was the Best Thing Is to Work with Rome You Could Not Get More Opposite Politically Than These Two Guys, One like Tea Party Ones like a Bernie Sanders Support and yet There Here in the Same Group of Disciples. You Know They Had to Have Some Incendiary Discussions around the Campfire Right and I Was Going to Get You Thinking about Jesus Listening to Them Back and Forth on What's the Best Strategy. Yet Somehow They Found in Jesus, Something That Unified Them. That Was Greater Than the Things Politically That the Five That the Bed Disunited in Whatever Divided Interstate It What Was in Jesus Was Greater Then the Disunity and Politics. I Listen to Speak As Your Pastor for a Minute. Some of You by the Tone of What You Put on Your Facebook Wall during the Season Demonstrate That You Care More about Politics and You Do about Jesus. I Know Christians Are No Christians Go to Pure Hearted Christians Who Cannot Fathom How a Believer Could Ever Vote for Trump Because of the Terrible and Repulsive Character. He Displays in the Inlet Amount of Idiotic Things That He Says and There's Some Aspects of Clinton's Platform That They like to Learn about for There Are Others Who Say Yeah, but How Could You Vote for Clinton in Light of Her Position on Abortion and We Know, Shall Appoint the Supreme Court and the Disastrous Implication That That's Can Have a Religious Liberty. Maybe the Best Way to Stop Her Is to Hold My Nose and Vote for Drop and Then There Are Others Who Cannot Fathom How a True Christian Would Vote for Either 1 to 30 about Third-Party and Others Alike Can Write down My Ballot Lord Jesus Please Come Back Soon. Right Which Maybe That's the Best Option. Now My Points and Not Today. Not in the Weekend of the Form That We Did.

My Point Is Not to Adjudicate between Those. My Point Is Not to Tell You That There's Discussions No Matter My Point Is Not to Say We Shouldn't Discuss Them. My Point Is to Tell You That When We Do Discuss Them, We Do so with the Spirit of Love and Unity That Declares That What We Have in Jesus Is Greater Then Any Opinions We Have about Secondary or Tertiary Matters, Which Is of the Highest Politics Can Ever Get That We Give Space to Show Grace Because of What We Had Together in Christ and Even Our Home and How We Talk Communicates That Summa Church As Best I Can As Best I Can.

I Refuse to Let Secondary Opinion That Any Opinion on a Secondary Issue Separate Me from Those Who Love Jesus, or to Let Something like That Inhibit My Ability to Talk about the Gospel Have Often Told You I Might Be Wrong in My Perspective on Global Warming, but I'm Wrong about the Gospel. Therefore I Will Not Let My Opinions on the Former Key People from Hearing the on the Ladder. This Unity in the Church Happens Not Because We Care about Politics Too Much. It Happens Because We Care about Jesus and His Church to Let Some of You Understand We Live This Way, You Know, When You're Talking to Somebody from Another, Politically Aligned with That Sensible like Relax You, Suddenly Feel You Met the Milk out.

They Were on Site. We Are Filled at Times 100 with Jesus and Wages Outweighed Anything That We Disagree with in a Secondary Matter. Summa Church We Live This Way and Loving Unity with the Spirit of Jesus Are Evangelism Efforts to Get a Whole Are More Effective to See What Jesus Said If They Do This If They Do This, Then the World Is in and Know That You Sent Me Write This down Love on Display in the Church Is the Church's Most Powerful Apologetic Apologetic Means How We Defend Our Faith Love on Display in the Church Is the Church's Most Powerful Defense of Its Faith Is Not Me Trying to Be Cute As John 1335 Were Jesus Says It in the in His Explanation before This Prayer. He Tells That He Says. By This All Men Know That You Are My Disciples, How Well the Price by How You Pray, Is about How You Preach No Know That You're My Disciple to How You Love Each Other Love and Forgive and Prepare with and Serve Each Other and How You Refuse to Be Divided from Each Other.

Summit If We Did This We Would Not Have To Invite People to Come to Our Church, They Would Be Beating down the Doors to Come and See What Is Going on. Who Is This Powerful, Invisible Superhero That Fills and Empowers Your Church and Then We Would Say Were Talking about Jesus and We Tell Them about Him. It's Always Interesting to Me in Church Surveys That We Do the Number One Answer When People Get Asked Why Do You Come Back to a Church after Having Visited Is Not the Music Is Always under Three Is Not a Preaching.

That's Number Two, It's Whether or Not They Felt Loved.

Let Me Wrap This up by Saying This. What I Said at the Beginning. If Jesus Was Praying for These Three Things on the Last Night of His Life.

For God to Raise Him up so That He Could Glorify God, Praying for Us) That They Be Preserved in Their Faith in the World and Pray for His Church If He Prayed for These on the Last Night of His Life. We Ought to Pray for These Three Things Every Night of Our Lives.

And Here Is Why This Is All We Can Pray These Things with Confidence. This Is an Awesome Fun I'm Getting Jesus Quit Praying These Things after John 17 That Was Is It Done Partly You and from There to a Cross Where He Was Died to Make Us Think Possible and Then Hebrews Tells Us That When He Was Resurrected.

He Was Resurrected to Sit down the Right Hand of God, Where He Won Makes Intercession for Us. Intercession Means He Prays for Us What You Think Is Praying He Trained John 17 That's Why It's in There Is One to Show You What to Pray for Right Now Jesus Is Praying. John 17 over Right Now, Which Means That When We Pray Work Listen Were Not so Much Praying to Him As We Are Praying with Him and I Makes a Huge Difference in How You Pray, You Want to Have an Explicit Prayer Life. You Quit Praying to Him and You Start Praying with Them at My Pastor When I Was Some Time Six Years Old. I Remember I Remember Him. When People Come up to Him to Pass What You Pray for Me.

This Made an Impression on Me at Six This Mail.after You. Pray for Me He Would Say Yes to Be Having. Pray for You, but More Importantly, Jesus Is Praying for You, Join Him in Praying for You When I Stop Will Continue Later If I Forget He'll Actually Never Forget That When We Pray We Have a Chance to Come to Jesus and We Can Just Say God Your Praying These Things and I Want to See Them Happen in My Life Noticing Happen in My Family's Life That's Organ in the Services over to Do Again This Week on the Last Night of Jesus Life We Pray This Prayer Is What He Did That to the Lord's Table Together the Bread and the Cup Right and Then Judas Left Right Then and Then Jesus Prayed John 17 for Them and Then They Sang a Hymn Together and Then They Went out That's Organ It. It at All of Our Campuses Are Campus Team to Calm There to Distribute the Bread and the Cup and Print. By the Way, I Would Not Leave the Service Early Because That Would Make You Judas and Everyone Is Okay. This Is Not a Week for You to Get a Head Start to Your Car Right Library Goes, There Is a Restraint Right so You Say Only the Take Communion Together Were Going to Pray Noticing Him to Be Sent As Our Teams, They Begin to Distribute the Elements.

The Bread and the Cup Me Just Remind You You're Not a Believer. These Are Not for You and Offer You. Jesus Made Very Clear There Only for His Followers. The Walking with Him, but Please Don't Hear That Is Me Being Exclusive Because He What's What's for You Is the Greatest Gift That's behind These Things. The Symbols Not for You Anymore Than You Should Wear My Wedding Ring.

What's Being Offered to You Is That Jesus Christ Was Died for Your Sins That He Can Forgive You and Give You the Assurance of Salvation That You Have an Right Now As Others around You Are Taking the Bread in the Coffin Are Holding It. You Could Open up Your Heart Right There in Your Seat at One of Our Campuses and Say Jesus Save Me. I Receive You Right Now Is My Savior. So As Others Are Taking the Bread and the Cup. Why Don't You Do That Once You Do That on You Take the Bread and the Cup Is 13 Passes and If You're a Believer Here. The Summit Church and You Hold onto These Things and Meditate on the Grace the Lord Jesus in Just a Minute Whenever Campus Pastors Worship Team Will Comment on the Leaders in the Taking of the Cell