Welcome to Connect with Skip Heitzig Weekend Edition. We're glad you've joined us for today's program. Connect with Skip Heitzig exists to connect you to God's never changing truth in ever changing times through verse by verse teaching of His Word. That's why we make messages like this one today available to you and others on air and online. Before we kick off today's teaching, we want to let you know that you can stay in the know about what's happening at Connect with Skip Heitzig.
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That's connectwithskip.com. Now, let's get into today's teaching from Pastor Skip Heitzig. So there was this guy who needed a job. He reads in the one that's help wanted bodyguard. He thinks I can be a bodyguard. So he finds the place hiring, knocks on the door.
A guy answers the door. He says, what do you want? He goes, I want to be a bodyguard.
He's a little guy. And the man says, you couldn't guard anyone. I certainly don't want you to be my bodyguard.
He goes, don't underestimate me. I'm tough. Oh, yeah, you're tough. I'm really tough.
Yeah. Just how tough are you? Let me tell you how tough I am. I worked on a farm. And when I was working one day, I was out driving my combine. We were harvesting and some hay got stuck in the combine. So I went around the back of the combine to fix it to see what was wrong. And as I was reaching in, my arm got cut off completely by the combine. I then took the arm, went inside the house and sewed it back up. And then went back out and finished my job. The guy said, wow, you really did that? Yep, I really did that. You're really that tough?
I'm really that tough. The man said, you got the job. You're hired.
And the man who applied said, awesome. So, if I were to ask you how you're doing when it comes to getting along with other people. Think of all the people in your life that you're dealing with. How are you doing at getting along with them?
I bet you'd go, awesome. Some good, some bad. Because some people are easy to get along with, right? And some people are hard to get along with. And have you also discovered that some Christians are easy to get along with? And some Christians are hard to get along with. Amen?
But you know what? You have to be in heaven with them all one day. You ever think about it that way? Sometimes I'll think about that. I don't get too excited about that. I go, really?
I have to be in heaven with that person forever? I don't want to bump into them there and go, oh, it's you. Or they to me. But the truth is, all of us have our own baggage. We have our own idiosyncrasies.
We have our own ways. And they rub up against the ways and idiosyncrasies of other people, even in the body of Christ. Here's some examples in prayer.
See if you can relate to any of these personalities or know someone. Lord, help me to relax about insignificant details beginning tomorrow at 11.41 Eastern Standard Time. Lord, help me to consider people's feelings, even if most of them are hypersensitive. God, help me to be responsible for my own actions, even though it's usually not my fault. God, help me not to try to run everything.
But if you need some help, just ask. Lord, help me to be open-minded to other people's ideas as wrong as they may be. Now the truth is, there are overly sensitive, hyper-controlling, very detailed, perfectionistic believers in the body of Christ. And in the prayer we're about to look at, in John 17, Jesus prays for future believers. And one of the things He prays for is that we would experience unity. And as Jesus is praying for this, that's when we go, Awesome!
Because sometimes it's there and sometimes it's not. But it's what He prays for. And we're going to look at chapter 17 beginning in verse 20 down to the end of the chapter. I do not pray for these alone, Jesus says, but for those who will believe in Me through their word, that they all may be one as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be one in us that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me, I have given them that they may be one just as We are one, I in them and You in Me, that they may be made perfect in one that the world may know that You sent Me and have loved Me as You have loved them.
Or love them as You have loved Me. Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, the world has not known You, but I have known You, and these have known that You sent Me.
And I have declared to them Your name and will declare it that the love with which You have loved Me may be in them and I in them." We are reading what are among the final words of Jesus Christ to His followers who were with Him on the earth. No doubt in days ahead, their minds would go back to the upper room discourse. Their minds would go back to the night Jesus washed their feet.
Their minds would go back to the prayer that Jesus prayed for them. It's what happens when somebody we love dies. I know that when my father died, I remember when my mother told me, your father passed away this afternoon. When I got that news, my mind the rest of the day went back to the last conversation I had with my father. Things that I said to him, things that he said to me, and those were treasures to me.
Same with my mom. I was actually at her deathbed when she died, and I'll never forget, and will always treasure those last few words of communication before she went into heaven. So these disciples will always go back in their minds to the night Jesus prayed for them. And today our minds go back as we look at a message I'm calling, Listen Up, Jesus is Praying for You.
Now in this last paragraph, there are three things I want you to notice. We want to look at the scope of Jesus' prayer, who he's praying for. We want to look at the substance of Jesus' prayer, what is he praying for. And then the sum of Jesus' prayer, as we consider a couple principles in closing. We begin with the scope. Who is Jesus praying for?
Well, let's look at it from wide to narrow, from general to specific. In general, he is praying for believers. It's a prayer for followers, for disciples.
Go back with me to verse 9 for just a moment. And notice what he says there, same prayer, same time. I pray for them. I do not pray for the world, but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. Jesus says, I'm not praying for the world. Do you know that Jesus never prayed for the world?
At least that is recorded, except for one time, one time. When he was on the cross, that's when he said, Father, forgive them, for they don't know what they're doing. That's the only time we have recorded in Scripture where Jesus prays for the world. And here, he specifically says, I don't pray for them.
I'm praying for the followers. That doesn't mean Jesus didn't love the world. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. It doesn't mean that Jesus didn't give the ultimate sacrifice.
He did. He died for the sins of the world. But it seems as though he's leaving the praying part up to us, as if to say, that's your part.
That's your deal. 1 Timothy 2, Paul says, I urge you, brothers, that first of all, supplications, prayers, intercession, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for those who are in authority that you might live a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness. So generally speaking, Jesus is praying for believers.
Now let's narrow the focus. Specifically, Jesus is praying for second generation believers, third generation, fourth generation. Notice he says in verse 20, I do not pray for these, that is the eleven alone, but for all those who will believe in me through their word. Here, Christ puts on the lens of future evangelism and peers through history.
It's like he's on the balcony of an eternal perspective, peering down through the corridors of time of future history, future evangelism, knowing that what these followers of his are seeing and hearing, they will one day preach and write and tell, and others will be affected by it. When Jesus says through their word, we have to include the Gospel of Matthew. Matthew was one of the followers of Christ.
He wrote the Gospel of Matthew. We have to think about the Gospel of John, which we're reading now. We have to think about the revelation of John.
We probably have to think of the Gospel of Mark because we think that Peter actually gave that account to John Mark who wrote it down. But I am sure that these disciples had no idea just how much impact their lives, their preaching, their writings would make. Jesus anticipates it.
Now here's something, just let me help you frame that for a moment. Do you realize that there are more Christians alive on the earth today than there were people who lived on the earth 2,000 years ago? So think of the impact that those disciples would have on so many people.
You're listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig, Weekend Edition. Before we return to Skip's teaching, misunderstandings about Jesus abound. Some see him as a prophet, others as a moral teacher, and still others as just a myth or mere historical figure. But the Bible tells a different story about who Jesus is. We want to help you know the real Jesus of the Bible by sending you Skip Heitzig's nine-message CD series, Who Is This Jesus? In this eye-opening series, Pastor Skip addresses common misconceptions about Jesus, clarifying both Jesus' humanity and His divinity to equip you to confidently answer questions about who Jesus really is. We'll send you the Who Is This Jesus series, as well as Skip's booklet for new believers titled, Life Change, as thanks for your gift of $50 or more to reach more people with God's love through Connect with Skip Heitzig.
Go to connectwithskip.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888 and request your copy when you give. Now, let's get back to Skip for more of today's teaching. There were 300 million people that lived on the earth 2,000 years ago. That's the rough estimate.
300 million. Today, according to Christianity Today, their latest statistics, they say there are 2 billion Christians on the earth. Now, you can argue with that and say, well, they're not all true believers. But my point is, those people who have been impacted and influenced by the testimony, the writing, the preaching of those disciples of Jesus, it's enormous.
He's praying for second-generation, third, fourth, fifth, hundredth, thousandth-generation believers. Now, there is a principle that's couched in what we're looking at this morning. I'm going to call it trickle-down evangelism. Some of you remember the Ronald Reagan era when it was coined trickle-down economics and some people like that term and some people don't like that term and that's still debated and argued among political circles.
But trickle-down evangelism undisputedly works and it's simply this. It's one person telling another person who will tell another person who will tell another person the truth. It started with these disciples and it would go down through history, go down through history, go down through history until it gets to us. And now we have to ask ourselves what are we going to do with it?
Will we also pass it down? That's the principle. Jesus says those who will believe, notice that, they will believe through their word. Through their word. Three words. Through their word. In Greek it's four words.
Dia tu lagu auton, which is through the agency of their communication. Whatever they write, whatever they speak, that's their communication. People will believe on that. Now these disciples evidently pictured the truth of the gospel like holding a baton in a relay race. So here's Peter, he's running. Here's John, he's running. Here's the other disciples running.
They have the baton, it's the truth. But they're passing it on to another runner and they're telling that runner, you run your lap, you pass it on to somebody else, and then tell that person to pass it on, etc. Now that's how evangelism takes place. One person telling another person who will tell another person. It seemed that Edward Kimball was used by God that way. Let me tell you his story. Back in 1856, not that I was around to remember, in 1856 a very simple man, godly man named Edward Kimball, he was a Sunday school teacher, was pacing outside of a store in Chicago and he was struggling with something. He's walking back and forth and he's asking, should I go in and tell that young shoe salesman about Jesus?
Well, finally, he did. And he led that shoe salesman to Christ. That young shoe salesman was a kid by the name of Dwight Lyman Moody, D.L. Moody. D.L. Moody became a great preacher in Chicago at the Moody Memorial Church.
It's still in existence today. Quite an evangelist. One night, D.L. Moody was preaching and somebody in his audience named Frederick B. Meyer, F.B. Meyer, was very moved, came to Christ. Himself, he became a preacher.
One night years later when F.B. Meyer was preaching, a young man was sitting in his audience named Wilbur Chapman. Wilbur Chapman was a young college student who worked for the YMCA. That's when it really was the YMCA, Young Men's Christian Association. And in those days, the YMCA would hire evangelists to preach the gospel. Wilbur Chapman hired an ex-baseball player named Billy Sunday to preach the gospel at the YMCA. Billy Sunday, some years later, went to Charlotte, North Carolina. In Charlotte, North Carolina, he met with Christian businessmen about evangelism. They were so moved by Billy Sunday they decided to sponsor an evangelistic crusade under the leadership of a man named Mordecai Ham. It was a several-night crusade in Charlotte, North Carolina. And one of those nights, I think it might have even been the last night of the crusade, as Mordecai Ham gave the altar call, a young, blonde-haired, tall, lanky, Charlotte kid named Billy Graham walked forward and accepted Christ.
So what happened in 1856 in the heart of Edward Kimball and then in subsequent hearts to Dr. Billy Graham, who preached the gospel to more people than anyone who's ever lived on earth, and many have come to Christ, and I'm one of them, that's trickle-down evangelism. That all began with those 11 who saw the truth as a baton and they were going to pass it to the next generation. So the big question we need to ask ourselves with this is, okay, I've got this truth.
I've got this baton. What am I going to do with it? Am I going to study it? Okay, that's a good start. I'm going to analyze it. Okay, good. I'm going to defend it. Good. But at some point, please do this as well. Give it away.
Pass it on. Jesus anticipates those believers, including ourselves, that's His scope. That's the scope of His prayer. Now, let's consider the substance of His prayer. What is He praying for exactly?
Two things, very simply. He's praying for something now and something later. He's praying for present unity, that's now, present unity, and future glory.
That's later. I want you to look back with me at verse 21 and a couple of verses after that. I want you to notice something with me in these verses. That they all may be one, that's His prayer, that's unity, that they all may be one.
Now watch this. As, notice the word as, as you, Father, are in me and I in you. Look at the next verse. And the glory which you gave Me, I have given them, that they may be one, just as we are one. And then verse 23, I in them and you in Me, that they may be made perfect in one.
Here's what I understand from that. Jesus is praying that the kind of unity that we will have with each other is the same kind of unity that the Father and the Son share. That our unity is to be modeled after and enabled by the Godhead Himself. Father, Son, and Spirit.
Jesus back then could say, Father, You and I are like this. Man, we're one. We track. We are on track together. And just as we are like that, it's my prayer that Your people in the future would be like that.
Which now makes us go, huh, really? Well, is that prayer being answered? Is there that kind of unity among us? I mean, we're a little bit embarrassed at church history.
Heck, we're embarrassed with biblical church history if we think of it that way. I mean, did these apostles themselves, these disciples, did they always get along with each other? As far as your reading of the Bible, did they always get along?
No. Did they ever argue with each other? Yeah, did you know this very night that we're dealing with, they were arguing about who would be the greatest in the kingdom? That night. As Jesus is on the way to the cross. They're arguing. I'm going to be the greatest.
No, dude, I'm going to be. They just kept going back and forth. In fact, on one occasion, James and John, sons of Zebedee, had their mama come and ask Jesus. When the other guys found out, you had your mom ask Jesus? And her request was, Lord, I just want my two boys, one to be at the right hand and one to be at the left hand forever in glory with you in your kingdom.
The other guys were so just torqued at that. They didn't always get along. As we fast forward into church history, we understand that it's not the only case. Did the first church in Jerusalem, did they get along with each other?
No, they didn't. The council that is spoken of in Acts 15, there was an argument about salvation by works versus salvation by grace through faith. There was that argument. It was pretty contentious. We fast forward a little bit. There was a disagreement between Paul and Peter, according to the book of Galatians, about how Jews who are believers will treat Gentiles who are believers.
Fast forward a little bit more. There was an argument, the classic argument between Paul and Barnabas about their second missionary journey and if they should take John Mark with them or not. And it says they argued and their contention was so great, they had to split company with each other. And then add to that all of the disagreements throughout church history, all of the splits, all of the divisions, all of the denominations, all of the fights. And so we ask ourselves, is this prayer being answered?
So we have to approach it. Please understand what Jesus means by unity and what He doesn't mean by unity. Let me tell you what He doesn't mean by unity. When Jesus says, I pray that they will all be one as we are, and He prays for unity, He is not first of all speaking about organizational unity.
He doesn't have in His mind what some of us have in our minds that if we could just get all religious groups together under one roof and make one big super spiritual organization, or if we could get all churches together and we could just all get together and sing Kumbaya together just once, boy, that will be it. Not going to happen. Has never happened in church history.
Not going to happen. It'll happen in heaven. But that kind of unity isn't principally what Jesus is speaking about.
We're glad you joined us today. Before you go, remember that when you give $50 or more to help reach more people with the gospel through Connect with Skip Heitzig, we'll send you Pastor Skip's series, Who Is This Jesus? and his booklet, Life Change, to help you better understand both who Jesus is and why you can trust what the Bible says and who you are as a believer in Christ. To request your copy of these resources, call 800-922-1888.
That's 800-922-1888. Or visit connectwithskip.com slash offer. For more from Skip, be sure to check out the many resources available at connectwithskip.com slash store. We'll see you next time for more verse-by-verse teaching of God's Word here on Connect with Skip Heitzig Weekend Edition. Make a connection. Make a connection at the foot of the cross and cast your burdens on His word. Make a connection. Connection. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.
