Here's Pastor Alan Wright with today's blessing, a biblical faith-filled vision for your life. There is the sound of the rushing of rain. May your ears be blessed to hear it. There is a miraculous outpouring on the horizon. May your eyes be blessed to see it.
If you're in a season of drought, take heart. A small cloud rises from the sea of God's grace. If you're in a season of plenty, praise Him. God's grace knows no bounds. Elijah was just as human as you are.
And God changed the whole atmosphere through his prayers. Likewise, your prayers are unspeakably powerful and effective. Because when you are in Christ, you are clothed with His righteousness. Though may the heavens open. and miracles rained down, bringing glory to God.
and blessing to many. In Jesus' name. Pastor, author, and Bible teacher Alan Wright. A lot of what Jesus is praying here. Part of you wants to go, well, why are you including that?
I mean, your Father knows these things. John 17, 3, this is eternal life. That they know you, the only true God. Verse 10: All mine are yours, and yours are mine. Verse 11: They are in the world.
I'm coming to you. I mean, there's a lot in this prayer that you want to say, hey, Jesus, I think the Father already knows those things, you know. The fact is God knows all of your thoughts. That's Pastor Alan Wright. Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light.
I'm Daniel Britt. Excited for you to hear the teaching today in the series Abide, taken from John 14 through 17, as presented at Rinolda Church in North Carolina. If you're not able to stay with us throughout the entire broadcast today, I want to make sure you know how to get our special resource right now, which can be yours for your donation this month to Allen Wright Ministries.
So as you listen to today's message, go deeper as we send you today's special offer. At any point, contact us at pastorallen.org. That's pastorallen.org. Or call 877-544-4860. That's 877-544-4860.
More on this later in the program. But now, let's get started with today's teaching. Here. is Alan Wright.
Okay, church, are you ready for some good news? Think about it. The night before He was going to be executed. the very eve of the crucifixion of the Messiah, He was praying. But he wasn't praying for himself.
He was praying for you. And the prayer that he has prayed is timeless. and powerful and true. You can learn a lot about somebody by the way they pray, and especially fun to know what's going on in a child's heart, you hear them pray. A boy asked his mom, said, uh, mom, would you rather...
Pray for me that I don't fall out of a tree and break my leg, or would you rather pray that I don't get a rip in my brand new pants? She said, well, honey, I'd rather pray you not fall out of a tree and not break your leg. He said, good, your prayers have been answered.
Some other little boy, some other little boy told his mom, said, Mom, I think God lives in the bathroom. And she said, What? And he said, Well, every morning I hear Dad standing outside the door and praying, My God, are you still in there? And. One little boy said, dear God.
Please help all the bad guys become good guys. And if you can't, just kill them. That's just fine. That's fine. Watching too many.
Superhero shows. I need you to make my mom not allergic to cats. I really want a cat. And I really don't want to ask my mom to move out. You can learn a lot about how somebody is praying, and so you learn a lot about Jesus.
And you learn about How he understands prayer, and you learn about how he understands his father. And what you really learn is what he felt was most important to pray for you. the night before he was going to be crucified. It's a It's a thrilling look into the very heart of Jesus. to see what his will is for every believer.
And so, what's remarkable about this, I invite you as we go through this, to just think: this is what Jesus has prayed for me. This is what he prayed for all the disciples. And if Jesus prayed it, then you can count on it, and you can join in partnership. With him. We'll have three weeks to look at John 17.
At first, I thought, well, we'll deal with the first third, but I just instead want to look at this prayer as a whole. and show you some of the wonders of what is implied or what is meant by the fact of the way Jesus prayed here. And I wanna start with this. What's marvelous And really, if you stop to think about it for a moment, is mystifying, is that Jesus prayed? I mean that he prayed at all.
He is the Son of God. And He's God in the flesh. Why does he need to pray? He has perfect oneness with the Father. This is the mystery of the Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
So, why does he even need to pray? And he prays out loud here. It seems that. There's something very, very important to the heart of Jesus to pray. It raises kind of the age-old question I've been asked a thousand times: if God is sovereign, If God has all power and he has a good will and mind for you and wants to do what's best for you, then why do we need to pray at all?
You know, you've probably had that thought. Like, if he's just going to do what's good anyway, or whatever. But, you know, it's really no different than asking the question: why share the gospel with anybody? God doesn't really need us to reach somebody. We know He can just reach somebody directly by the Holy Spirit.
It's not really even different than saying, Why teach the Bible? Because the Holy Spirit's the Spirit of truth. He could just illumine His word for anybody while we teach the Bible. Or it's not really different than saying, Why do you even care for the poor? God owns the cattle on a thousand hillsides.
He has it all. He could just provide for people. But He calls on us to help provide and care for the poor and care for one another.
Well, it's because of this. God values and little cherishes the The partnership. And that's the way he has made us world. He so designed the world, when we use theological word, say he ordained it. He made a plan that this is what it's going to be.
Is that he is going to do what he does through a partnership with his own children? And so he loves Prayer. Because prayer is talking to God. And he loves that. And through us talking to God, God works miracles.
Shows his grace. And brings about his providential care. Mm-hmm. to help bring into this world good things. And every kind of spiritual blessing in Christ in our lives.
And so The first thing that I marvel at in John 17 is that Jesus prayed. I mean, I paid attention and like... A lot of what Jesus is praying here Part of you wants to go, well, why are you including that? I mean, your Father knows these things. John 17, 3, this is eternal life.
That they know you, the only true God. Verse 10, all mine are yours, and yours are mine. Verse 11: They are in the world. I'm coming to you. I mean, there's a lot in this prayer that you want to say, hey, Jesus, I think the Father already knows those things, you know.
The fact is God knows all of your thoughts. This is really mystifying to think of. I don't know how you... Except that God's in eternity, He's not like us. And so he knows your thoughts.
Psalm 139, verse 1. O Lord, you've searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up. You discern my thoughts. from afar.
You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word's on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. In fact, before teaching Or what? We call the Lord's prayer. In Matthew 6, Jesus told the disciples.
When you pray, this is verse 7. When you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they'll be heard for their many words. Don't be like them. Look at this. For your Father knows what you need.
before you ask him.
So what's on display here with Jesus Is that the Son is talking to the Father about things the Father already knows? Wow. It says something about the value that God places on having you talk to him. Even though he knows your thoughts, And he knows what you're going to pray with the words of your mouth before you pray it. And yet He absolutely loves to have you talk to him about it.
And he honors it. And he moves through it. It's just The nature of God. He's a father. And dads, dads who have got lots of love for their kids, they, you know, they want to talk to them.
That's why I am.
So my daughter Abby, I've just always been so, so close. My baby girl, she'll always be my baby girl, but she's 26. She's all on her own in Washington, D.C., and she's got a really responsible job, and she's traveled around the world, and she can really take care of herself. But there's some things that she still calls me for, and we text each other a lot. I mean, you know, this is like, this is what parents do.
We're staying in touch. We know what's going on. We're kind of a close-knit little family. But one thing doesn't happen that often is my 26-year-old daughter doesn't just call me out of the blue just to chat. You know, we text.
And so when she does call, oftentimes There is something that is needed. And it's kind of become a joke with us, you know. Like, I like to answer the phone, which doesn't happen that often. I mean, you know. We'll be talking.
I'm just waiting. Like, what do you need? You know, what are you calling? And so she called a week and a half ago. She said, Hey, Pops.
I said, Abs, how are you doing, sweet? She's all doing good. How's work going? That's good. Tell me how you change work.
And we carry on this whole conversation under the guise of, I'm just calling to talk to you because you're my dad. But I'm sitting there going, I know, there's something. I'm just waiting on it. Just waiting.
So we get to this moment and it just gets a little quiet. And she starts chuckling, because I know it's coming. And she goes, You know, since I've got you on the phone. Since we happen to be talking to each other. I said, what is it, baby girl?
She said, well, I'm here in the parking garage, and my car won't start.
So I'm like, okay, here's you got AAA. I'm sending you a picture of the number. Here's a thing. Call them. It's probably the battery.
Did you leave the lights on? No, you know. And so she called AAA. They came. They put a new battery in.
And I just chuckle about it because I love to talk to her and I love to visit with her. But even if she is calling just because it's something about the car, and that's a good number of the calls have been about the car. But even if it just is, like what I'm saying is a dad, like I know why you're calling. And I even know what you, I got a feeling, what you're going to be asking me about. And I still love to hear your voice.
And I'd like to help you. This is how God feels about you. You bring your most mundane concern to him. And he's like, I'm glad to hear your voice. Good to talk to you.
And the Son is talking to the Father. about things the Father already knows. And could do without the sun asking for it, and yet. God even in his own triune Existence is demonstrating that the The relationship. Matters so much to him.
This is the ongoing part of the ongoing ministry of the risen Lord Christ.
So he prays while he's on earth, but we're told he intercedes in the heavenlies. Romans 8.34, Christ Jesus is the one who died. more than that, who is raised, who's at the right hand of God. who is indeed interceding for us.
So this wasn't a one-time prayer from Jesus. This is the nature of how Jesus continues to pray for you. Hebrews 7, 25. Consequently, He is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him. Look at this, since he always lives to make intercession for them.
If you are new to exploring Christianity, gospel means good news, and what is so good about the good news? is that though we had A sin problem that has caused a big separation of humanity from God. God had a solution for that. He had a way that he No one could have envisioned this, but a way in which he could be both just That means doing the right thing. And merciful, that means being really gracious and kind.
at the same time. There's a real dilemma because If you Call God just, then it means that evil is punished and good is rewarded. And the problem is that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. This is why we say good news is good. It's because though there is this terrible, terrible news of human sin.
God came in the person of Jesus Christ. To take upon himself The debt, the punishment, the justice that needed to be. Poured out against sin, so the Bible says he, in a sense, became our sin. And when you trust in Jesus, what you're trusting in, therefore, is that though you could never be good enough to save yourself, you're trusting that Jesus was absolutely good. and you're trusting that God has the capacity to Mystically take your sin and put it on Jesus.
so that then you're left in the eyes of God As a Christian, you're left in his eyes as if you hadn't sinned. And the word for that is justified. And someone has said, you could remember it this way, it's just as if I'd never sent. That's what it means to be a Christian. It doesn't mean you stop sinning, but it means in the eyes of God it's just as if I'd never sinned.
Which means that now you are invited into a relationship with God.
now and forever as his child. And because sin is no longer in the way of that relationship, and there's no longer any punishment that is due to you. then God can do what he's always wanted to do, and that is pour out blessing upon you as your Father. and you as his child. And that's what it means to be a Christian.
If you've never said yes to that saving mystery, you can do so today. We'll be praying after the service. And you say yes to that, and the Bible says you're. You're born anew.
So Jesus has this finished work. of justification. It's what he accomplished. It's what he did. But it's a beautiful thing to think about what Jesus is now doing.
And this is principal to what he's now doing. He is interceding for you. He is bringing the total effect. of his justifying work. as if in the heavenly courtroom before the Father, On your behalf, advocating and saying essentially, I died for him, I died for her.
She is justified and therefore It is proper to pour out blessing upon them. This is the heart of Jesus. The same heart that you see in John 17. to pray for his disciples and to pray for you. Is the heart of Jesus still?
Dane Ortlin and his Beautiful book, Gentle and Lowly. has written, it isn't as if Jesus' heart throbbed for his people when he was on earth, but has dissipated now that he's in heaven. It's not that his heart was flowing forth in a burst of mercy that took him all the way to the cross, but has now cooled down, settling back once more into kindly indifference. His heart. Is as drawn to his people now as ever it was in his incarnate state.
And the present manifestation of his heart for his people is his constant interceding on their behalf. It is, Ortland says, as if Jesus' intercession is the constant hitting of refresh of our justification in the court of heaven. Just continually bringing up your justification, continually bringing up that you've been forgiven, continually bringing up that the debt has been paid, continually bringing it up in the heavenly courtroom, that you're free. And he's interceding and advocating for you. to really really Let your soul be nourished by John 17.
Let your soul be reminded that Jesus continues to pray like this for you. Pastor Alan Wright, our good news message, the real Lord's Prayer from the series Abide. Please stay with us. Pastor Alan is back here in the studio sharing his parting good news thought for the day in just a moment. Unlock the power of blessing your life.
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So, we've got to get a clarification. What is this?
Well This wasn't my term. I gained this from some others because it is true to call the prayer that Jesus taught us to pray, Our Father who art in heaven, and we call it the Lord's Prayer. But he was saying in there, here's a model and you can pray like this. But this, John 17, is where the Lord Jesus Himself prays. You can learn so much about someone from the way they're praying and what they're praying about.
So part of what we get here is just this. inside look into the very heart of Jesus, It's the night before he'll be executed. And he prayed, And Daniel? He wasn't praying. about the torture he was about to experience.
He was praying and For you and me. That's extraordinary. This is the This is the deepest and most intimate look at Jesus' prayer life that we ever have. been given a glimpse into and is worthy of exploration the real Lord's Prayer. Uh Thanks for listening today.
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