Well, open your Bibles, please, to John in Chapter 17. John in Chapter 17. When you go into Chapter 17, of course, you're coming to that section of the Gospel of John that we call the Upper Room Discourse. It started in Chapter 13 of John's Gospel. And when exactly they step out of the upper room and start transitioning to the Mount of Olives is somewhere between chapter 16 and 17, most likely. They're on the move, but it's still the same group of men, minus Judas, who is checked out during the course of those chapters. And it's Jesus leading this discussion. And we're going to draw our attention to chapter 17 in just a few minutes. I have a question for you. You ever notice how some people repeat themselves? I like Mark, if you're around Mark Meredith, he keeps repeating himself over and over and over, and it's usually about himself. No, I'm just kidding. Love you, Mark. No, why do people repeat something so often? Repetition is usually caused by several different factors in my observation. First of all, it can be because of a poor memory. I feel you on that one. I feel as I push towards the higher 50s that the memory is not what it used to be, and so I say things more often over and over. I understand that. Repetition can come from poor memory. Or number two, repetition can come from what some clinicians would call obsessive compulsive thoughts and speech. This is just where, until you evacuate these nouns and verbs from your mouth, it's like you can't free your brain up and so you repeat things perhaps over and over. and over. That could be a reason people repeat things. Poor memory, compulsive thoughts. Number three, just a worry wart. Worry warts tend to not do so quietly. Us worriers tend to vocalize it. But there's a fourth reason, too. I think it's fair to say that people repeat themselves. And it's this. Some people say the same thing predictably over and over because it's coming from a very firm conviction. It's something that they hold dear, that they have made, the truth has made that significant impact in their lives, and they're excited to tell other people about it. They never tire. As a matter of fact, the more they share it with someone else, the more, listen, they feast on it all over again. So repetition often will come from very deep-seated conviction. I mean, if I can say it on a human level, Jesus modeled this for us with the Sermon on the Mount. And having preached to lots of Matthew and then all of Luke, I see the full context of that Sermon on the Mount in Matthew. But in Luke, it's the same material, but it's shared over different occasions at different points on the timeline of his lifelong ministry, or his earthly ministry, which means these were themes in the Sermon on the Mount that Jesus preached over and over. He repeated them. So much so, that at the end of the Gospel of Matthew, when he gives the Great Commission, what does the Great Commission consist of? Going and making disciples and baptizing them, and then what? Teaching whatever I've commanded you. He's like, I've given you the core content of the kingdom, and as I've repeated it over and over, you do the same. And I'd like to point out that his brother James, before James even came to faith, which was after the resurrection, James heard that sermon enough, nonetheless, that when James, years after being a Christian, and even a leader in the church at Jerusalem, would write his epistle and nuance at least, some say as many as 20 times, the Sermon on the Mount. which he heard so many times, even before he was saved, that he had the content down. Jesus repeated that from a firm conviction. Peter does, too. At the end of his life, Peter says, I have some firm convictions that I want you to be able to recall to mind long after I'm in heaven. And he shares these, and we've looked at these before. In 2 Peter, he says, I'm worried that you're going to forget your purification from your former sins, 2 Peter 1.9. And then he says this, he says, therefore I will be ready to remind you of these things even though you already know them and have been established in the truth which is present with you. I consider it right as long as I am in this earthly dwelling to stir you up by way of remembrance. Why? Verse 15, I want you to call these things to mind. And then as he gets ready to sign out from his epistle, he starts into the reminding thing again. He says, I'm stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder that you should remember the words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets and by the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken by your apostles. I had dinner, Lori and I had dinner with the pastor and his wife this past Friday night in our home, pastor in Southeast Michigan area. and we've known him many years, and I asked this pastor at that dinner, I said, so, I mean, we're about the same age, I says, what are 10 things, what are 10 things that you would love for your current congregation to be able to explain at the drop of a hat, years after you're out of their life? What are 10 themes, 10 realities, 10 truths? And that just gave birth to a fun conversation, got me thinking too. So I say all that just by way of observation. Sometimes a very firm conviction becomes the occasion for you to be repetitive in what you say. And I'll have to confess that there is something that I repeat often. that comes from a firm conviction and burden in my heart. I say it to you all often in every context that I get the occasion to interact with you. And that conviction is this, I want you to be daily connected to your Bible. That's one of my top 10. No matter what's going on in your life, and I use this phraseology a lot, the Bible must be your daily background music, no matter what you're going through. The high points, the low points, the crises, the peace times, the storms, the questions, the hurts, the joy. The Bible, your Bible, needs to be your background music every day. I'm convinced that that's important. And I even push it a little into my personal recommendation of not only should you be connected to your Bible every day, but I'm talking about your paper Bible. I mean, I'm thankful for my digital Bibles, and I use them often on visits or things like that, whether it's an iPad or a phone. But there's something about having a tactile, old-school book that carries your hand oils and your pencil markings in it. It's not any more spiritual than the digital one, but it does carry some of you with it. And when someone picks up your Bibles someday, your grandkids, your nephews, your nieces, your own kids, to be able to see your hand oil, your markings, your tears, in some cases your blood on different pages, you are in essence leaving a life print, a footprint on every page that will continue to teach long after you're gone. I'm a fan of tactile Bibles for your personal devotions. And I usually take, as we turn into the new year, every year since I've been here, I use that as the annual challenge for you to read your Bible through. Or Pastor Michael will also do that as well. and 4D men, that's one of the big pillars of our men's ministry is we're gonna have fun, we're gonna eat, we're gonna shoot guns and go to bonfires and pray together and read a book together, but part of the pillar is, one of the big pillars of 4D is just being in the word daily as men. I repeat that over and over. I try to demonstrate it in every service that we have here. Even a business meeting, we always have the public reading of scripture at the very least. I'm trying to teach you how important that is. In the news and prayer, we recommend Bible reading schedules and books that will help you study your Bible. Yeah, that's a conviction of mine. That's one of my top 10, and you'll continue to hear that, because that's something I want you to hold on to long after we are not in each other's lives. But you know I repeat that already. And so here's my appeal to you. Before you make my Bible connection reminders become ambient noise in your life, I want you to consider something. that as much as I have this conviction, my burden about you and your Bible pales in comparison to Christ's burden for you and your Bible. As a matter of fact, I'm going to be so bold as to say Jesus is praying for you today with regards to your relationship to your Bible. And I want to talk to you about that this evening. We're in a series It's called Jesus prays for you. You say, what launched this series? It was a couple of expositions out of Romans chapter eight, particularly verses 26 to 34, where we find out that every member of the Trinity is involved in dialogue about you constantly. We see that the Spirit intercedes for you to the Father, and the Father knows the heart of the Spirit about you. And then we also saw in Romans 8.34 that the Son himself intercedes for you, and that captured us. We're like, wow, that's an amazing thought. If you think about it, that the Trinity is carrying on a conversation about you, always. And so we got a little curious. We said, what might that look like? We went to Luke chapter 22, verses 31 to 34, and we saw an actual situation that happened just before the cross, if you will, before the betrayal, where Jesus tells Peter, I've prayed for you. And Peter didn't even know he was in trouble. And there we saw the heart of our Lord leaning in and having a concern and talking to the Father about Peter before Peter even knew he had a need. And so now we got a little greedy with this, and it's capturing us even more, and we started asking, well, I want to know if I'm being interceded for by the Son, what kind of stuff is He praying? What are the major themes that He is carrying to His Father for me, on my behalf? And that's what sent us to the chapter we're in now, in John chapter 17. This is, as some of your Bibles say with the header, the high priestly prayer. And that should really tell you something. We're not just learning here in John 17 that Jesus is interceding for his disciples and therefore for you. As a matter of fact, you're gonna come up in this chapter. We'll see tonight. It's not just that he's interceding for you, it's what he's interceding for on your behalf. And we've looked at three things so far. We've looked at the fatherhood of God, or the fatherhood, yeah, the fatherhood of God himself, the first person of the Trinity, and how Jesus is addressing him. Father, verse one, the hour has come. We've talked about two facets of the glory of Christ, the glory of Christ as revealed by what he's done, but also how he is glorified in his glory, and there's this brilliance about him, a brilliance that he had from before time began. We're turning the corner to a fourth thing that Jesus is not just going to mention once in this prayer, but it's going to bring us back to this theme of repetition. No less than six times he's going to revisit, listen, the relationship between the believer and the Word of God that the believer has. Six times at least. This is important, so it begs us to ask the question, what are the six reasons why Christ prays constantly for your, quote unquote, devotions? Your regular, and I'll say daily connect with his word. Why does he repeat so much about that in this prayer to his father? It must be important. So here are the six reasons why Christ prays constantly for your devotions. First of all, number one, we'll call it his personal investment of it. His personal investment of it. Now, I want you to pick up on these themes. They're going to surface. Some will take up a whole verse. Some will take up a phrase or a word. But here, we're going to see three key words come out in just a moment. But before I get into those words, I just want to tell you the story about a pastor friend of mine from another state. We're not super close yet, but time is giving us a deep friendship. And I've noticed something about my friend. When he's around me or other guys, other pastoral friends, he's quietly studying us. He won't tell you, but he listens to things you say. If he's in your home, he notices things around the home. He notices background talk. He notices hobbies. And then a week or two after that time of fellowship, you'll often get a box in the mail that you're not expecting. And it's a gift from him. And it's one of the most thoughtful gifts you could get from another pastor. The first gift he gave me, I'm not allowed to tell you until next year, OK? But another box showed up here recently after my wife and I had a chance to minister to him and his wife. And a box shows up in our mail, it's from him, and I open the box and I pull out a very fine writing instrument, a fountain pen. And from the research I can do on it, and I'm not into fountains, I had one other one that I use for journaling, and that's it, I'm not a fountain pen guy, but he had observed and asked questions and thought through what would be a meaningful gift, and he just doesn't want to shock you with, oh, that was thoughtful, and then everyone forgets it. He wants to give his friends a gift that they will keep with them and find occasion to intersect with every day. And so far, he's two for two for me, and giving me this nice pen. You know, just an illustration, though, Here's a friend that studies me to know exactly what I need, or what he deems I need, and then gives it to me, and he wants it to be a permanent attachment to my days. You know, I think of that illustration, and I think about Jesus, and what he's given to his disciples, them, that we're reading here in John 17, and us. And the gift he's given to us is his truth, is his word. And I want you to note three occasions here. First of all, look in verse six of John 17. We're gonna see a very important word here. It says, I have manifested, Father, your name to the men whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours and you gave them to me and they have kept your word. I've manifested your name. In other words, I've given them the truth of who you are. That's your name. Your name is the definition of you, your character, your glory. And it comes out in propositional statements. Look what he is, look what he's done. He says, I've manifested your name to them. That word fani ra'o means to just make clear. to reveal what otherwise they wouldn't be able to find on their own. But there's another word I want you to see. You're going to see it in verse 8 and verse 14. In verse 8, the words, Father, which you gave me, I have given to them. And they received them and truly understood that I came forth from you, and they believe that you sent me. Look at verse 14. I have, and here it is again, given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Here's an important word. It's not a tricky word. It's the word give. This particular word means that you're personally active in delivering this. So we have the word manifested, we have the word give. It means to make clear personally and to deliver. But there's one more word I want you to note, and this one we'll come to in verse 26. I have made your name known to them and will make it known so that the love with which you love me may be in them and I in them. I have made known. I want you to feel the weight from these three words that our Lord seems to be creating this whole argument about the fact that, Father, you gave me your word. I have made your character, your word known to them through nouns and verbs, and they have believed it. They've believed in me. They believe that you sent me. And I can't help but see these four different landing points in his prayer. I can't help but notice Jesus's personal investment of his word in our lives as disciples. This is a doctrine that God's word is from God to us. We call that inspiration. But that's not all we hear in the upper room discourse here. If we go back to chapter 14, same conversation, Same location, we see another doctrine introduced here about the Holy Spirit and the Spirit's illumination. It's not just that, listen, it's not just that the Word is given to us by Christ, entrusted to us from the Father through Christ to us, but the Spirit itself, the Spirit himself, opens our eyes to grasp the truth. That's the spirit of illumination. Chapter 14, look at verses 16 through 17. I will ask the Father and he will give you another helper that he may be with you forever. That is the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it does not see him or know him, but you know him because he abides with you and will be in you. And stay in chapter 14, look at verse 25. These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you, but the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you." And so I read this. I read these verses. I read this emphasis that Christ is saying, he's praying to the Father in front of the disciples so they can hear him. Father, I've told them what you wanted me to tell them. I've given them the truth. I've manifested, I've made known, I've revealed to them your word. And the Spirit will interact with these nouns and verbs that I've gotten from you and I've given to them, and the Spirit will open the eyes of my disciples to see and to learn and to know and to do. Well, you see, why does Jesus pray about you and your devotions? Because of his personal investment of it in your life. When we say that Jesus is interceding for you about your relationship to his word, it might sound something like this. These are Jim Newcomer's words, but it might go along these lines. Father, I don't want my disciples to ever be separated from your word. It's got to be the background music every day. because of his personal investment of it. But what's another reason that Christ prays constantly for your, quote unquote, devotions? Number two, because of the urgent acceptance of it. There needs to be an urgent acceptance on your part of God's word that he's given to you. And I see this in chapter 17, in this prayer, in verse six. I have manifested your name to the men whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours and you gave them to me. And look at this last phrase. This is the phrase. And because you've given them to me, they have kept your word. They have kept your word. You see, someone who is regenerated is not content to merely know the word. It goes beyond knowledge. It goes beyond facts. It goes beyond parsing. It goes beyond quoting a favorite author or blogger. No, the true disciples know in order to keep the word. There must be an urgent acceptance of it. We saw that in John 14 when we saw the ministry of the Holy Spirit involved here and it's at this point I want to remind you of 1 Corinthians 2.14 where Paul writes, the natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness to him and he cannot understand them because they are spiritually appraised. But not so with the child of God. God opens our eyes, the eyes of our heart, as Paul will say in Ephesians 1 in his prayer. He opens the eyes of our heart, not only to understand the word, but to apply it. Here's a principle here. For actionable faith to be realized, Bible connection must be intentional. You and I cannot keep The word, unless we're intentionally exposed to the word. See? We can say, well, I'm a Christian. I'm religious. And I go when the doors are open. And we can go down that train of thought and not open our Bibles unless someone forces us to. And even then, it's distracted and interrupted with digital distractions. If we have a Savior who's speaking to His Father on your behalf to urgently accept this Word that we've been given, then of course the big connection there is disciples need to be in the Word. You've got to be in the Word to know it and to have your affections engaged by it so that your choices and your actions and your words flow out of it. You show me someone that professes to be a Christian, and probably all of us can fall into this category from time to time, who has lost their joy. They've lost their desire. As John Piper will say, there are some days when even he and anyone, if they're being honest as a Christian, will say that they don't delight in God. More often than not, it's because it has ceased, the Word of God has ceased to be the background music in their days. Because when you introduce the Word of God, even during the lowest points, it gives you terra firma on the worst days. Paul writes in Romans 10, 17, faith comes by hearing. Now that's talking about a salvific, evangelistic thrust, of course, but that doesn't end As believers, you and I increase our faith the more we are in the Word. That's why Paul will also say to Timothy in 1 Timothy chapter 4 verses 7 and 8, which we'll soon be studying that epistle together. He says, discipline yourself. Set up schedules. Set up routines. Set up repetition. Create a healthy discomfort if you have to, but make sure you coordinate your life, you schedule your life to be growing in godliness. Discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness. Why? Jesus is praying for you to be in your word every day, in his word every day. Why? Because it requires an urgent acceptance of it. If you're not in it, you can't accept it. If you can't accept it, you won't keep it. Maybe Jesus uses nouns and verbs like this. It's just my guess on this point, but maybe he says, Father, I want them to be connected to your truth because your word is their very life. So why is he praying for you and your devotions constantly? Because of his personal investment of it, because of the urgent acceptance of it. But let me give you a third reason. It's because, simply, the constant trustworthiness of it. The constant trustworthiness of it. It's interesting, as you get into this prayer and listen with the disciples, As you press in against their shoulders to hear what our Lord is saying to our Heavenly Father on our behalf, we get a little surprise here. When we get to verse 12, we get a little prophecy. A little prophecy about a man who started this. This prophecy is about a man who started this evening with this group in the upper room. And he has left suddenly. And we know his name to be Judas. And he left to betray Jesus. He's not with this group at this moment, but Jesus is talking about him with a little prophecy here. He and the Father are discussing a prophecy. Verse 12, while I was with them, the disciples, I was keeping them in your name, which you have given me. And I guarded them, and not one of them perished. Here's the prophecy. But the son of perdition, so that the scripture would be fulfilled. The fact that, and the disciples will learn this soon, the fact that Judas left that room abruptly to betray Jesus, they're gonna find out that was fulfilled prophecy. People reach for different Old Testament texts to cross-reference with verse 12. I think some of your best would be Psalm 41, verse 9. Psalm 41, verse 9 and Psalm 109, verse 8 are two of the text that people reach for, Psalm 41 verse 9, says, even my close friend in whom I trusted who ate my bread has lifted up his heel against me. And there are other passages scholars reach for, but no one's going to argue, verse 12, that this is fulfilled prophecy. What happened with Judas is fulfilled prophecy. We're not expecting a prophecy lesson in this prayer. Why are we having one? Well, maybe it's this, because The Godhead is teaching us that fulfilled prophecy requires a couple of things. It requires a decree from the Godhead, promises from the Godhead that something will happen, and then faithfulness from the Godhead that indeed it will happen if it was decreed and promised. All that's wrapped up there at the end of verse 12. Here's fulfilled prophecy, which means it was decreed, It was promised and it was fulfilled because of the faithfulness of the Word of God. Now hang with me on this one. This third reason I've worded this, I've worded this way. The constant trustworthiness of it, of the Word of God. It is so trustworthy, even in the nuances of prophecy. that Jesus is convinced your life has to be glued right up next to it. You need this word that is so trustworthy. I look at this number three, and I see the sufficiency of scripture all over this reason. And I define, as you know, the sufficiency of scripture. I guess this would be one of my 10 things I want you to know, too. I repeat it often. When we talk about the sufficiency of Scripture, I mean this, word for word. It is God's special revelation that completely addresses any spiritual need in any person, in any generation, without acceptance. I mean, if it's so on about the nuances of prophecy, it's going to be absolutely all that you need for any spiritual issue you face in your life. It's totally trustworthy. You remember I spoke recently about the three big issues often in counseling. It's either because someone comes for biblical counseling, and I seek biblical counseling. I sought counsel twice in the last week from some of you. I hauled three of you in my office last week and said, you gotta tell me how to think about something. I just, I'm dependent on it. We seek biblical counseling when either we are suffering or when we are in sin or when we need guidance and direction for a decision. You'll never, your entire life, park in one of those three parking spaces, sin, suffering, or guidance, but that God's Word will be sufficient for you. We're not surprised that Christ is praying so hard and repeating so often to his Father, Father, keep them connected to your Word. It's all they need. Christ will never leave us lacking wisdom, even up to the end of time. You say, how do you know that? Because it's in the Great Commission. I am with you always, even to the end of the world, the end of the age. I don't know what the nouns and verbs are for this prayer between the Son and the Father, but maybe it's something like this. Father, help my disciples know that what your truth says is yes will always be yes. And what your truth says is no will always be no. It'll be constantly, eternally trustworthy. Father, keep them connected to it. Well, what's the fourth reason? That we can discern from this prayer that he wants you to be constantly connected to his word. Number four is what we'll call the sustaining joy of it. The sustaining joy of it. I find this one in verse 13. But now I come to you, Father, and these things I speak in the world so that they, my disciples, look at this, may have my joy made full in themselves. He's saying I'm speaking truth. to my disciples with this express purpose, with this end game. I want the joy that I have because I know you. I know the truth. I've given them their truth. I'm very jealous that they have the same joy in their heart as they connect with your truth that I have with truth that I know is true. That's significant in verse 13. Why? Well, we gotta pan back just a little bit here at this point in John 17. Remember the context of this part of the prayer? It's that part of the prayer where Jesus is praying to the Father to sustain his disciples in this life when they are going to be crushed. To quote the great Puritan thinker, Michael Cerenko, He used a word tonight, or this morning, that resonated with me. He used a lot of words that resonated this morning in that excellent sermon, but he used the word unfun. I love that word. And Jesus knew that his disciples were called to a life of discipleship and suffering that would be unfun. And if the suffering had the last word in their lives as they pushed through this dark, rebellious culture, then there would be no joy. Remember what he says here? Let's hear him in this upper room. Look at verse 11. I am no longer in the world, and yet they themselves are in the world. My disciples are. I come to you, Holy Father, so keep them in your name, the name which you have given me, that they may be one even as we are. Now, while I was with them, I was keeping them in your name, which you have given me, and I guarded them, and not one of them perished, but the son of perdition, so that the scripture would be fulfilled. But now I come to you, and these things I speak in the world, so that they may have my joy made full in themselves. I've given them your word, and the world has hated them. Because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I don't ask that you take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. He's saying, it's going to be a hard ride down here for my disciples. So Father, here's what I pray. Here's what I pour out my heart about. Keep them connected to what I've taught them. Because in the midst of the crushing darkness, it will be a joy that pierces the darkness of suffering. It will sustain their joy. Jesus had already taught them that they are going to be resisted. Even in the Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew chapter 5. Remember this? These disciples would have. Matthew chapter 5. and I'm gonna go with verse 10 here. Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. That's what he's praying about in John 17, the crushing blows of Christ rejecters. It's oppressive, it's dark, it's blinding. If those disciples are staying connected and glued daily to the word that they've been given by God, there's going to be a joy. Or as Jesus said here in the Sermon on the Mount, rejoice and be glad when it gets dark, for your reward in heaven is great, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. In Luke chapter 9 and in Luke chapter 14, we hear Jesus saying to these same men, yeah, you've got to die. You have to take up a cross and follow Jesus. You have to be rejected. You have to love Jesus more than any person, more than anything, and more than yourself. It's going to be hard. So what Jesus does is he prays to his father, and he says something like this. Father, keep them connected to the truth, the word. Because it's the truth that has everything to do with their survival and their joy. You understand that your Savior is consumed with you having joy in the right direction, in the person of Christ. He shows this not only in the verse I just read in chapter 17, verse 13, but in chapter 15, same context, verse 11, these things I have spoken to you so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full. Chapter 16. Chapter 16, verse 24. Until now you have asked for nothing in my name, ask and you will receive so that your joy may be made full. No word as background music in your daily life. No joy in your darkest moments. Well, there's a fifth reason that I believe we can find in John 17, a fifth reason that Jesus is praying for your devotions. And I call it this, number five, the sanctifying impact of it. The sanctifying impact of his word. Look at verses 17 and 18. This is where it is. Sanctify them in the truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. For their sakes I sanctify myself that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth. There's just something about God's word. See, the more you read this book, Both Testaments, as we say often around here, the more you read this, the smaller it gets. It becomes more and more familiar as you do your plow reading, faster read-throughs when you're marking the pages and meditating on them, and quiet, undisturbed moments. And every journey through makes it shorter, but it also makes it more familiar. But there's another effect of it as well. The more you read the word, and it becomes more familiar, the more it walks with you through the day. And as it walks with you through the day, more and more, further and further on your journey, it's transforming you more and more. As Paul will say in 2 Corinthians 3.18, but we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. this word transforms you. Now, this is important and urgent. Why? Because in this day, where Christ is giving these words, and in our day in 2024, we exist in a world, listen, that is forcing us into its mold. Believe what we believe. Embrace what we embrace. Defend what we defend, the world says to us every day. I was just sent this afternoon from Dr. Dan Davey in Virginia Beach three articles that broke my heart about compromise towards the LGBTQ movement by crew ministries. And I haven't read all three articles all the way through. But, so, I'm reserving my judgment on that, but I'm recorded now, and I'll be glad to share those articles with you if you wanna take a look at them. But the sad thing is, is I've seen Crewe or Campus Crusade have an amazing impact during my decades of life, but I've seen other ministries have an amazing impact during my decades of life, who finally cave in to the values of a God-rejecting culture. There's pressure constantly in your life coming from every side and down and from underneath to conform you to the image of a God rebellion. See, what's the solution to that? Stay in the Word. Because what the Word does is it pushes it back out. It sanctifies you. It distinguishes you. It has that effect. It's as if Jesus is praying something like this, Keep them connected to your word because this is their distinction. You know, I think of, you might just want to write down this reference next to this point, but Psalm 73, remember that? Psalm 73, where the psalm writer is just feeling this crush. He's wondering if he has washed his hands in vain. He listens to the world. boasts of their godlessness, he hears the world beckoning to him, and then he looks around and sees other followers of the true God begin to lose their footing as well and to give in. It comes to the point where the writer of this psalm says, I wonder if I'm washing my hands in vain too. He starts to stumble. He says in verse two, as he introduces this psalm, as for me, my feet came close to stumbling. My steps had almost slipped. Why? For I was envious of the arrogant. I saw the prosperity of the wicked. There are no pains in their death. Their body's fat. They are not in trouble as other men. They are not plagued like mankind. Therefore, pride is their necklace. The garment of violence covers them. Their eye bulges from fatness. The imaginations of their heart run riot. They mock and wickedly speak of oppression. They speak from on high. They have set their mouths against the heavens, and their tongue parades through the earth. It's so bad, in verse 10 he says, and your people are starting to buy into it. It says, therefore his people return to this place, and waters of abundance are drunk by them. They say, how does God know? And is their knowledge with the most high? Behold, these are the wicked, and always at ease. They have increased their wealth, and surely in vain I've kept my heart pure, and washed my hands in innocence, and I've been stricken all day long, and chastened every morning. And if I said I'll speak like that, behold, I would have betrayed the generation of your children, Lord. So when I pondered to understand this, it was troublesome in my sight, verse 17, until, listen, until I went into the sanctuary of God. And then I perceived their end. And for the rest of this psalm, he's found his north on his compass again. He's remembering what God said he'll do with the wicked. and how faithful he will be with his own people. And the psalm writer who starts this psalm saying, my foot almost slipped. It was caving in on me from every direction, and I almost folded. And then something happened, and he pushed back out. It was the truth from God. And he ends this psalm with words like this. Nevertheless, Lord, I am continually with you. You've taken hold of my right hand. With your counsel, you'll guide me. And afterward, you'll receive me to glory. So whom have I in heaven but you? And besides you, I desire nothing on earth. As for me, the nearness of God is my good. I've made the Lord God my refuge, that I may tell of all your works. What happened? The sanctifying effect of the truth from God allowed him to push back out. Well, there's one more reason that Jesus prays for your devotions that we can see here in John 17. And it's in verse 20. Look at verse 20. I do not ask on behalf of these alone, these 11 disciples with me, minus Judas, no. But I ask for those also who believe in me through their word, Guess who that is? That's you. These disciples, the Apostle Paul, and even our Lord's brother James, the author of Hebrews, God will move. He will work through them to give us this New Testament with the Old Testament. And he says to his disciples then, what you've learned, give away. So what's the sixth reason that he prays for you in your quote unquote devotions? There's an expected stewardship of it. An expected stewardship of it. I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in me through their word. That's you. And all of us in the generations that follow the apostles. Disciples, not just the original gang, but us as well, we are to be salt and light. We receive God's word. It's having these effects every day in us, these five that I've just gone over with you. And we are to take that and live that where God has planted us as salt and light. We are to go to the nations and teach all things what Christ has taught us. The bottom line is this, what you have been given, give. Your fruit will be beyond your sight and your lifespan. I guarantee Peter and John And the other disciples who are hearing this prayer in John 17 could have even imagined that in 2024, in a place called Southeast Michigan, that there would be a Curtis Forshee here that came to saving faith and has been discipled for years because of what these disciples did with the word they received. Guess what? The assignment is still on for you. What you've received Give. Maybe Jesus uses nouns and verbs like this, just my imagination, but maybe along these lines, Father, I've given it once to them. They are to share it constantly. Constantly. The expected stewardship of it. I believe Jesus, and this is one that is repeated over and over and over through this prayer. This is one of the main repeated themes in this prayer of the son talking to the father about you. About what we call, quote unquote, our devotions. Jesus prays for your devotions. Because of his personal investment of it, your urgent acceptance of it, the constant trustworthiness of it, the sustaining joy of it, the sanctifying impact of it, and the expected stewardship of it. So, before you make my Bible connection reminders every year, before you allow those to become ambient noise in your life, consider one thing, that my burden for you and your tactile Bible pales in comparison with Christ's burden for the same. be daily connected to your Bible. It is the background music of every waking moment every day. As a matter of fact, I think we can argue that he's praying for that for you right now. Right now. So how does knowing how Jesus is praying for you change the way you pray? Maybe you should pray like this. Lord, help me each day this week to glory in your word. You know, you roll over and look at the clock. You're already on the second round with snooze. Why should I get out of bed? Because someone's praying for you to get out of bed and get in the Word. Or why, after a tiring day of work, should I, I want to get the feet up, but maybe I need, before I get the feet up, I got to get the book open. The time of the day is, we're not legalists here. It's gonna be different for each of you. But the regularity of it is something that Jesus is praying for. And so it's gonna mean, maybe this is what it will take for you to put down that phone, and put it out of reach, so you can put your head down. Maybe this is what will get you out of bed. Or to be content with streaming only two episodes. To get to the Word. I have, as we close here, at the bottom of your notes, A quote from Jonathan Edwards and his Bible, his connection to his Bible. I find it compelling in light of how Jesus is praying for you tonight and your connection to his truth. Edwards says, I had then and at other times the greatest delight in the holy scriptures of any book whatsoever. Oftentimes in reading it, every word seemed to touch my heart. I felt a harmony between something in my heart and those sweet and powerful words. I seemed often to see so much light exhibited by every sentence and such a refreshing food communicated that I could not get along in reading, often dwelling long on one sentence to see the wonders contained in it. And yet, almost every sentence seemed to be full of wonders. Kind of like to hook a speaker up to his brain when he's reading his Bible in the morning, you know? What a relationship he had. That was Jesus answering his own prayers for Jonathan Edwards. And he's praying for you to be attached like that to the truth he's given to you. That's how he's praying for you. Would you stand as we're dismissed in a word of prayer? Father, thank you for letting us see once again in these quiet moments as disciples listen in to you interceding for them to your Father. And oh my goodness, thank you that these words were recorded for us tonight. as we hear how you pray for them and what would become their disciples. And specifically tonight, that we would be daily connected with your word. It's time to lose our excuses. It's time to lose our assumptions we're okay without your truth in our lives as our background music. It's time that we realize when we're nodding your word, we are actually fighting against what you're praying for. and you're only doing this for our joy. So keep this scene in our lives and in our mind's eye as we press through this week, and a thousand voices cry out to us to sleep a little longer, scroll a little deeper, be distracted, run. Help us to remember you're praying for us, so that we'll open this word and allow it to be our life. Thank you again for this Lord's Day, our corporate gatherings, as we launch into our assignments as kingdom disciples this week in Southeast Michigan. Keep us safe, guard our integrity, transform us into your image by your word. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. God bless you, you are dismissed.