Week 15
104
Fellowship
Read John 17:20-26

Imagine having the opportunity to jump through a secret time portal, set to 29 A.D., landing in the very room where Jesus prayed one of His last prayers with His disciples. Suddenly, your ears train in on what He is saying and WHO He is praying for. HE’S PRAYING FOR YOU! Listen in…

John 17:20-26 

My prayer is not for them [ His disciples ] alone. I pray also for those [ you and me! ] who will believe in me through their message, 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. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me— so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
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.
Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. 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.

This prayer represents the deliberate desire of Christ for your life. Nothing ever penned could be more true about you – independent of your feelings, life situation, sin, or brokenness – true not in the subjective sense, but true about you in the heart of God. These are truths that, if you so choose, you can build an entire life upon; a life so rich and so deep that it would become the envy of wealthy men and glorious angels. They are truths like those found in a secret will disclosing wealth designated and directed totally at you, but previously left unclaimed due to lack of knowledge. Spend a few minutes next to Christ in that upper room and “play back” this prayer several times. Let it settle into your soul. You don’t have enough life to write down all of the potential implications of this prayer – it will take a gathering of tens of millions of souls a billion years just to begin to express its reality. Fortunately, He’s bought us that much time and then some! 

Write down some of the implications of the truths surrounding the Universal Church (for example – Jesus prayed for our unity – any time there is “disunity” Christ’s perfect will is not present).

Memory Verses

Primary Verse

And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.

Matthew 16:18
Secondary Verse

For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.

Matthew 18:20
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