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When Jesus Stopped to Pray Msg 46 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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  Speaker 1: The ever present mission of Jesus. Let us never forget
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  Speaker 1: was the Cross. Unlike all of us who come to
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  Speaker 1: live hopefully, long and healthy and satisfying lives, Jesus came
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  Speaker 1: to die. He came to die for the sins of
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  Speaker 1: the world.
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  Speaker 2: The shadow of the.
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  Speaker 1: Cross never left the landscape of his life.
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  Speaker 2: From one year to the next.
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  Speaker 1: It was bringing him inevitably closer to that climax where
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  Speaker 1: he would pay the complete penalty for the sins of
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  Speaker 1: the world. Two works of art remind us of that
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  Speaker 1: fanciful and imaginary though they may seem, the artists depict
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  Speaker 1: beautifully how significant the Cross was to the Savior. The first,
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  Speaker 1: the Shadow of the Cross, shows him on canvas as
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  Speaker 1: a little boy four five years of age, with the
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  Speaker 1: sun to his back as he's running with his arms
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  Speaker 1: outstretched to his mother and cast on her long flowing garment,
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  Speaker 1: is the shadow of the Cross. The other, the Shadow
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  Speaker 1: of Death, is depicting him years later as a young adult,
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  Speaker 1: still a carpenter apprentice in Joseph's shop. He's busily working
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  Speaker 1: in the afternoon hours on a beautiful piece of furniture,
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  Speaker 1: and he for a moment lays aside his woodworking tools
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  Speaker 1: and turns to look out the window of the shop
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  Speaker 1: onto ancient Nazareth, and he stretches for a moment, casting
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  Speaker 1: an ominous shadow of the cross on the wall of
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  Speaker 1: the shop behind him. Never forget the purpose of Jesus
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  Speaker 1: in coming to this earth was to satisfy the mission
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  Speaker 1: of salvation, to pay the complete penalty for the sins
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  Speaker 1: of the whole world. That was the driving, throbbing pulse
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  Speaker 1: beat every year of his life. As his ministry began
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  Speaker 1: at the young age of thirty, it began to move
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  Speaker 1: inexorably toward the cross. And as those years turned into months,
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  Speaker 1: and then the months into the final days, the reality
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  Speaker 1: of the cross weighed heavily upon him.
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  Speaker 2: The moment for which he had come was soon to arrive.
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  Speaker 1: John refers to it in the words his hour.
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  Speaker 2: Had come.
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  Speaker 1: It was clear to Jesus that the lamb could not escape,
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  Speaker 1: nor would he try.
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  Speaker 2: The lamb could not escape the sacrifice.
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  Speaker 1: In order for people like you and me to know
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  Speaker 1: a relationship with Holy God, there must be a sacrifice,
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  Speaker 1: and his perfect life.
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  Speaker 2: Provided that perfect sacrifice. And because of that life, as
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  Speaker 2: we heard as.
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  Speaker 1: Recently as last evening, we are now enabled to live
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  Speaker 1: out the life that he has left for us to live.
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  Speaker 1: The lady Thomas put it well, the life that he
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  Speaker 1: lived qualified him for the death that he died, and
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  Speaker 1: the death that he died qualifies us for the life
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  Speaker 1: that he lived. But back to this site. You may
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  Speaker 1: not know it, but you are. You are sitting very
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  Speaker 1: likely where Jesus literally walked. Let me restore the scene
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  Speaker 1: for you. At last dark night, he and his disciples
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  Speaker 1: were beyond that stone wall and over in the old city,
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  Speaker 1: in what we would call a second story.
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  Speaker 2: Flat and an upper room.
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  Speaker 1: The room, no doubt lit by torches, and they were
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  Speaker 1: reclining around a table. Unlike the famous portraits or pictures
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  Speaker 1: we've seen of the Last Supper, where there are all
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  Speaker 1: sitting behind one side of the table in New England
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  Speaker 1: ladder back chairs looking toward the artist, no one set
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  Speaker 1: for a meal. They reclined for a meal. They leaned
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  Speaker 1: on an elbow and they ate with the other hand.
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  Speaker 1: They reclined around a low table where there was the meal,
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  Speaker 1: all of its symbolic of the ancient days when the
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  Speaker 1: Hebrews were delivered from bondage under Pharaoh. Jesus served this
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  Speaker 1: last meal, and they ate it together and well.
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  Speaker 2: John tells us about it as he.
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  Speaker 1: Describes the scene in chapters thirteen through sixteen.
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  Speaker 2: You can read it for yourself. As he introduces the.
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  Speaker 1: Thought of his death to them yet again, not for
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  Speaker 1: the first time, but now with the hour having come,
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  Speaker 1: the acute reality of it landed on them with full force.
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  Speaker 1: And so he said to them, don't let your hearts
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  Speaker 1: be troubled. You believe in God. Believe also in me.
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  Speaker 1: In my father's house are many places of residence. If
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  Speaker 1: it were not so what I've told you, I go
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  Speaker 1: to prepare a place for you. And if I go
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  Speaker 1: and prepare a place for you, I will come again.
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  Speaker 1: Where I am there you may be Also. That didn't
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  Speaker 1: bring them comfort. Even though he told them not to
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  Speaker 1: be troubled. They were troubled. They had long awaited the
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  Speaker 1: coming of the kingdom. Now they realized there would first
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  Speaker 1: need to be the cross. We read that they sang
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  Speaker 1: a hymn as they finished the meal following this discourse
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  Speaker 1: recorded in the thirteenth through the sixteenth of John.
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  Speaker 2: And then watch closely.
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  Speaker 1: He made his way along this direction late at night,
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  Speaker 1: across the Kedron Valley to your left, and just beyond
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  Speaker 1: your ability to see it up the Mount of Olives
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  Speaker 1: to a small garden gessimony, where the final battle would
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  Speaker 1: be fought, ultimately releasing his.
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  Speaker 2: Will, not mine, but yours, be done. And then he
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  Speaker 2: was arrested. Then the torturous.
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  Speaker 1: Trials, not one, not two, six of them, all of
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  Speaker 1: them illegal, and not one of them was he proven guilty,
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  Speaker 1: but declared guilty.
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  Speaker 2: And finally nailed to the cross.
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  Speaker 1: But what makes this place significant is that somewhere between
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  Speaker 1: the meal and the garden, he prayed. The prayer is
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  Speaker 1: recorded by John in the seventeenth chapter.
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  Speaker 2: Of the Gospel.
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  Speaker 1: By John, it's a profound prayer, but it really can
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  Speaker 1: be outlined in a simple way.
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  Speaker 2: It's in three parts.
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  Speaker 1: Verses one to five record the part where Jesus prays
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  Speaker 1: for himself or regarding himself. Jesus spoke, lifting up his
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  Speaker 1: eyes to Heaven. Imagine his doing it right here. Father,
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  Speaker 1: the hour has come. Glorify thy son, that the Son
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  Speaker 1: may glorify thee, even as you gave him authority over
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  Speaker 1: all mankind, that to all whom you have given him,
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  Speaker 1: he may give eternal life. This is eternal life, that
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  Speaker 1: they may know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ,
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  Speaker 1: whom you have sent. The early part of the prayer
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  Speaker 1: is about Jesus. It is regarding his being glorified again
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  Speaker 1: as he once had been when he had been with
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  Speaker 1: the Father before coming to this mission of salvation. The
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  Speaker 1: next section, verses six through nineteen, Jesus prays for his
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  Speaker 1: own faithful eleven. Listen to the words at verse six,
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  Speaker 1: I made your name known to the men whom you
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  Speaker 1: gave me.
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  Speaker 2: Out of the world that would be the eleven. I
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  Speaker 2: made your name known.
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  Speaker 1: I manifested your name to them you gave them to me,
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  Speaker 1: and they have kept your word. Now they have known,
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  Speaker 1: They've come to know that everything you have given me is.
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  Speaker 2: From you, And so I pray on their behalf.
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  Speaker 1: Interestingly, he doesn't pray that the Lord would take them
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  Speaker 1: off the earth, as he would soon take him away
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  Speaker 1: at the ascension, but that he would protect them and
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  Speaker 1: leave them until the work on earth is done, as
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  Speaker 1: we just sang. So he prays for his eleven, pray
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  Speaker 1: for their protection and praise for their mission. And then
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  Speaker 1: you may be surprised to know that it was on
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  Speaker 1: this same site Jesus prayed for you and me. Did
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  Speaker 1: you realize that in verses twenty through twenty six. I
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  Speaker 1: do not ask in behalf of these alone, those faithful
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  Speaker 1: elevens still with him.
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  Speaker 2: But for those who will believe in me through their word,
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  Speaker 2: there we are. Isn't that a great thought? I pray
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  Speaker 2: not only for these and those who will immediately hear,
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  Speaker 2: but I pray for all who will hear.
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  Speaker 1: They made his name known, those to whom the name
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  Speaker 1: made his name known, and those continued the mission right
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  Speaker 1: up to this present day. And for a moment, stop
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  Speaker 1: and remember the one who introduced you to the one
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  Speaker 1: who bore the sins on the cross. Pause at this
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  Speaker 1: moment and thank God for that person who was the
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  Speaker 1: link in your coming to know the truth of the Gospel.
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  Speaker 1: If you have your Bible open, I want you to
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  Speaker 1: notice the specific things for which he prayed regarding us verse.
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  Speaker 2: Twenty one, that they may all be one, even.
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  Speaker 1: As you Father are in me and I in you,
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  Speaker 1: that they also may be in us, that the world
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  Speaker 1: may believe that you sent me. First, he prayed for
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  Speaker 1: our unity, not uniformity. He didn't expect us to walk
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  Speaker 1: around in Christian uniforms. He didn't expect us to all
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  Speaker 1: become the same temperament. He left us as we are
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  Speaker 1: talk about variety.
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  Speaker 2: Look around. I mean, just look at this group.
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  Speaker 1: You'd never know we're a part of one another except
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  Speaker 1: for the banners paint.
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  Speaker 2: Bus red bus, blue bus, green bus. But we're all different.
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  Speaker 1: However, we're all linked to one and the same person.
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  Speaker 2: He prayed for our unity, that.
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  Speaker 1: They may be one, even as you and I are one.
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  Speaker 2: Verse twenty four.
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  Speaker 1: Father, I desire that they, also, the ones whom you
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  Speaker 1: have given me, be with me where I am, in
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  Speaker 1: order that they may behold my glory which you have
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  Speaker 1: given me.
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  Speaker 2: For you love me.
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  Speaker 1: Before the foundation of the world, not a wonderful statement,
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  Speaker 1: before there was ever matter, before there was ever world,
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  Speaker 1: before there was ever sun or moon, our stars the
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  Speaker 1: Godhead existed perfect harmony together, and Father, bring them to
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  Speaker 1: that place where they will ultimately witness it for themselves.
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  Speaker 1: And finally, he prayed, Oh Righteous Father, although the world
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  Speaker 1: has not known you yet, I have known you, and
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  Speaker 1: these have known that you did send me. I've made
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  Speaker 1: thy name known to them, and I will make it
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  Speaker 1: known that the love wherewith you did'st love me may
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  Speaker 1: be in them and I in them. That great demonstrable
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  Speaker 1: proof that we have been changed from darkness to light.
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  Speaker 2: Is the presence of love, a love that this world.
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  Speaker 1: Around us knows nothing of, not in depth, not in reality,
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  Speaker 1: not with Eternity's values in view, but the kind of
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  Speaker 1: love that flows through the people of God. Three contrasts
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  Speaker 1: stand out to me as I apply the prayer that
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  Speaker 1: we have just read. As Jesus made his way from
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  Speaker 1: the upper room to the garden, he had us on
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  Speaker 1: his heart. He prayed not only for himself, but for us.
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  Speaker 1: That's the first I love that thought. Had you and
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  Speaker 1: I been on the way to the cross, I have
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  Speaker 1: the feeling our entire thought life would be absorbed in
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  Speaker 1: our own suffering and the pain and the sacrifice, the
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  Speaker 1: ending of a young life. Jesus, however, prayed for us.
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  Speaker 1: The second contrast I notice is that he deliberately chose
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  Speaker 1: not to take us out of the world, but to
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  Speaker 1: protect us through it. As we've often said, not isolation
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  Speaker 1: but insolation. You've been left here for a purpose. If
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  Speaker 1: you learn nothing else on this journey, learned that you've
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  Speaker 1: been left for a purpose. And when you go back
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  Speaker 1: to your homes, remember that purpose is to be fulfilled,
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  Speaker 1: lived out, carried out. He prayed, don't take them out
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  Speaker 1: of the world, but protect him from the evil one.
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  Speaker 1: The third contrast not for uniformity, but for unity. For
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  Speaker 1: unity because we are believers in Jesus Christ. We are
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  Speaker 1: linked together in love, because we abide in Christ. There
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  Speaker 1: is a fruit that is produced through the power of
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  Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit. And we are gifted by the Spirit
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  Speaker 1: to carry out our particular realm of responsibility, calling and mission.
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  Speaker 1: And we all anticipate the same future, the same glories
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  Speaker 1: of heaven will be ours. As time passed, following the
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  Speaker 1: days of Jesus and the early days of the Apostles,
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  Speaker 1: a darkness fell over this earth.
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  Speaker 2: Dark ages, they're called.
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  Speaker 1: The gospel could hardly be heard even from among the
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  Speaker 1: religious officials. But there's always been a remnant, always been
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  Speaker 1: a remnant, and it emerged the fifteenth and sixteenth century
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  Speaker 1: in a reformation of faith called by us the Reformation.
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  Speaker 1: One of the leaders of the Reformation left a statement,
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  Speaker 1: I'm going to teach you today, and we're going to
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  Speaker 1: repeat it from time to time, as Paul and others
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  Speaker 1: remind us.
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  Speaker 2: Listen to it. In essentials unity, we start there.
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  Speaker 1: There are essentials in the faith that we all embrace
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  Speaker 1: the deity of Christ, the inerrancy of the scriptures, the
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  Speaker 1: substitutionary death of the Savior, the absolute certainty of his
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  Speaker 1: coming again. There are numbers of them, and we embrace
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  Speaker 1: them in unity together. They are essentials in essentials unity.
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  Speaker 1: Say it with me in essentials unity. Once again, in
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  Speaker 1: essentials unity. Now, the fact is that there is variety
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  Speaker 1: in the family of God.
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  Speaker 2: There are different tastes, there are different convictions. There are
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  Speaker 2: areas that are strongly felt by one group but not
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  Speaker 2: by another.
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  Speaker 1: Often this creates division disunity, whereas there ought to be liberty.
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  Speaker 2: There So the.
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  Speaker 1: Second part of the statement is in non essentials liberty.
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  Speaker 1: Say that with me in non essentials liberty. What was
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  Speaker 1: the first in essentials unity and the next in non
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  Speaker 1: essentials liberty? Oh, but that last one is the crowning
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  Speaker 1: part in all things charity, In all things charity. Again,
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  Speaker 1: in all things charity. Our Savior prayed for us, He
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  Speaker 1: had us on his heart, and he made his way
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  Speaker 1: to the climax of his life, to the cross, to
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  Speaker 1: the grave, to the ascension back to heaven. But He's
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  Speaker 1: left us here that we might be unified around the essentials,
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  Speaker 1: that we might release one another from the clutches of
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  Speaker 1: legalism and personal demands that they fulfill our agenda, that
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  Speaker 1: they hold in the same convictions we hold to.
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  Speaker 2: It's a matter of liberty. But in all of it,
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  Speaker 2: let there be charity, an old word for love.
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  Speaker 1: Let's put them all together once again, in essentials, unity
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  Speaker 1: in non essentials, liberty in all things charity.
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  Speaker 2: Say it again, essentious.
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  Speaker 1: Unity, non essentials, liberty in all things charity. May we pray,
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  Speaker 1: our Father, We need this reminder today in a world
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  Speaker 1: that's lost its way. However, in a world that's become
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  Speaker 1: increasingly more convincing and persuasive, it is easy to forget
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  Speaker 1: the essentials, to think that they really are not that important,
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  Speaker 1: and to give way in those areas, and thereby deny
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  Speaker 1: the truths for which our savior died. Give us a
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  Speaker 1: deepening sense of unity together and commitment to those essentials. Father,
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  Speaker 1: it is tragic how the Church of Jesus Christ has
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  Speaker 1: been wounded by the breakdown of harmony and the loss
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  Speaker 1: of liberty as a toxic religion is replaced a free,
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  Speaker 1: flowing and joyful faith. So I pray that you would
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  Speaker 1: give us liberty in those areas that are non essential.
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  Speaker 1: Give us broad shoulders and great hearts to leave room
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  Speaker 1: for others who choose to disagree with us in the
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  Speaker 1: small things, the many non essentials of life and Lord.
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  Speaker 1: In the process, may we be models of the kind
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  Speaker 1: of love Jesus lived out in not only living for.
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  Speaker 2: Your glory, but dying for our sins.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you for the one who bore the cross on
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  Speaker 1: our behalf, thank you for raising him from the dead,
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  Speaker 1: and thank you for the joy and the pleasure of
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  Speaker 1: living out that love relationship as long as we are
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  Speaker 1: left on this earth.
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  Speaker 2: In the magnificent name of our Savior Christ and all
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  Speaker 2: of his people said.
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  Speaker 3: The preceding message, When Jesus Stopped to Pray was copyrighted
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  Speaker 3: in two thousand and eight and the sound recording was
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  Speaker 3: copyrighted in twenty fifteen by Charles R. Swindall, Inc. All
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  Speaker 3: rights are reserved worldwide. In the preceding message, Charles R. Swindell, Inc.
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  Speaker 3: Is grateful to Meadow Green Music Company and Word Music
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  Speaker 3: and Sandy Patty for use of the arrangement of Via
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  Speaker 3: del Rossa lyrics and music by Niles Borop and Billy Sprague.
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  Speaker 3: Sound recording copyrighted in nineteen eighty nine by Word Records
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  Speaker 3: administered by EMI, CMG Publishing and Word Music