John Chapter 17:14-26

People will be drawn to God through the Word of God and through your testimony. You know, I share my testimony, but I don't get into gory details because I don't want to give glory to my gory past.

See, I've done a lot of stupid things. That's not my testimony. My testimony is that I walk with the Lord today. See, I want to clarify that because, see, we've got youth coming up in the church that aren't doing these incredibly stupid things I did. And the last thing I want them to do is hear how stupid I was, and then they think, well, I've got to go get me a testimony, go get arrested and different stuff.

So I can come back in and say, oh, I used to be an idiot. You know, that's not your testimony. Your testimony is that you walk with the Lord now. Welcome to Cross the Bridge with David Magee. David is the senior pastor of The Bridge in Kernersville, North Carolina. We're blessed to have with us on the program, DA Brown, one of David's associate pastors.

Welcome today, brother. Hey, Bob, today's teaching is true, true, true indeed. Did you know that your testimony has the power to change a life? You should share your story, your God story with others. Today, Pastor David explains the importance of our testimony as he continues in the Gospel of John chapter 17. So now here's David Magee with the final part of his six-part teaching, The Real Lord's Prayer. Last week in John 17, we kind of ended up on verse 14, but there's something else I want to cover there.

But just a little background information. What we see is the real Lord's Prayer. Now, I know there's a section of Scripture that we call the Lord's Prayer in Matthew, but really that was Jesus teaching us to pray. That was not his prayer. What we have in this chapter is we have the prayer of Jesus, the prayer of Jesus. We've got an inside window, and we can learn a lot by looking at what was important to the Lord and what he's praying about. Because I think we can agree that if it's important to Jesus and we're following Jesus, it should be important to us. Amen?

So let's read 14 again. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not pray that you should take them out of the world, but that you should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by your truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.

Well, wait a minute now. Surely Jesus expects us just to kind of hide out in here, doesn't he? I mean, it's scary out there, isn't it? That was never the plan of Jesus, that we hide out in these four walls. God's design is that the church should go into the world.

Not that we passively just kind of sit here and wait for people to show up. No, but be actively inviting them, actively talking to them about Jesus and about what's going on here. Jesus, in Matthew 28, said, And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you.

And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Jesus said, Go, go. What's amazing is some people say, Well, you know, I really haven't been called to evangelism.

What do you mean, I haven't been called to evangelism? Jesus said, Go. He didn't say, Go, except that one person there in Kernsville, you can stay. No, he said, Go, all of us. We want people to go from being an unbeliever to a believer and then our job's over, right?

No. Jesus said, Make disciples. So we don't see people going from unbelievers to believers to disciples and then those disciples coming back and helping reach unbelievers and helping believers turn into disciples. That's a biblical model. That's the vision of this church, unbeliever, believer, disciple.

You should be able to, if somebody says, What are you all about? You can say, teaching the Word, sharing the Gospel, and moving people from being an unbeliever to a disciple. Everything that we do, we look at that. Does that have anything to do with this? If it doesn't, we're not going to do it. There's a lot of cool stuff we could do, a lot of neat stuff we could do, but if it doesn't have something to do with this, we're not going to do it. But see, in order to reach the unbeliever, we're not just going to sit here and go, Well, let's just pray that they come. And God's like, Go tell them. There's a time to pray, there's a time to do. And if you're going to pray, I would suggest you pray a prayer that says, You know what? God, forgive me for ever being content doing little or nothing while the world slips off into hell.

I don't want you being content like that. See, we think that it's the pastor's job or the church's job. Ephesians 4 says very plainly that I am to equip you guys to do the work of the ministry.

So are you doing it? Jesus in John chapter 20 verse 21 says, So Jesus said to them again, Peace to you. As the Father has sent me, I also send you. See, now talk about evangelism, but let me qualify that a little bit. There's several questions that you can ask people when you're in a conversation with them about the Lord. And we always say, Well, what's your relationship with Jesus? Or what do you think about Jesus? That's a great starting place.

That's a great starting place. I was out street witnessing out on a strip one night and everybody that I talked to was saved. It was amazing. Kids that smelled like weed, glassy-eyed. I'm saved, I know Jesus, dude. People who had been drinking, people who were dragging.

Oh, yeah, I went forward years ago. And you know, I started to think, You know what? It's not just the question, Do you think you're saved or do you academically believe in Jesus? The question, Are you living for God? Are you living for God?

Be bold. Well, what do you mean living for God? Well, you didn't fellowship? Well, I go to church every now and again. Every now and again?

Let me ask you a question. This analogy came up yesterday. If you were fighting the world champion in six months, would you be content training for about once a month? No, you would be training what? Several times a day. Exactly, exactly. So in our training, in our preparation, we should be plugged in like that and we should present that to people. If you're following Jesus, look, if you got it all down and you're sinless, sure, visit the church once a month.

Go for it, man. God bless you. I'd love to hear from you.

But if you're like the rest of us and you're struggling, you need all the encouragement you can get. Are you in fellowship constantly? Constantly, not occasionally, constantly. Do people here know you and you know some people here? I don't know. I don't mean everybody. At this point, I'm not sure any of us can know everybody.

But do you know a few select people that if you don't show up, they're gonna call you? That's what small groups are about, inviting a deeper, intimate relationship. And we should be asking these questions of one another because you know what? It's been said, we might be the only Bible that some people ever read and they're looking and they wanna know the truth. And see, we're the link. We are the link from a loving God who offers salvation to a lost and dying world who needs salvation. We are the only link. We're the missing link. We are at times the missing link, if you will.

Well, let me go ahead with that analogy. At times, we are the weakest link. Don't be the weakest link because you're the only link between some people in heaven. Verse 19, and for their sakes, I sanctify myself that they also may be sanctified by the truth.

And again, we're told in Ephesians 5, part of how that sanctification happens, we're told in verse 17, Ephesians 5, 26 says that he might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word. The life lesson, the word of God helps us to grow and sets us apart for special use. The word of God helps us to grow and sets us apart for special use. This is an amazing book.

It's a supernatural book. I think sometimes we forget that. See, the word of God and the spirit of God join together to cause us to grow in him and to grow closer to him and to be drawn along a path that brings us closer and closer to him. Now, there's three terms. Sanctification is one of them, and let me map these out. Salvation is I am saved. The moment you ask Jesus to forgive you of your sins, you're forgiven, you're saved. But then there's something progressive that begins to happen, and that sanctification, as you begin to let go of the things of the world and let go of sin and let go of selfishness, then you, I am being saved. That's sanctification. Now, ultimately, we have glorification. I will be saved. At some point, you're no longer struggling with the flesh. You're no longer struggling with sin. You've been glorified. So those are the three phases, if you will, of salvation.

Now, let me go back to the first one just so we're all clear. Getting saved is not a process. It is something that happens like that.

It happens in a moment. But the working out of your salvation takes a lifetime. And then at the end of that lifetime is the glorification. Now, we tend to think of sanctification as for our benefits, not for your benefits, for others' benefits. Jesus just said that, that they may be sanctified by the truth, that they may question what is different about you and give you the opportunity to share. Verse 20, I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in me through their word. Jesus is praying for us. Jesus is praying for me. Think about that next time you're going through a hard time and you wanna go to another human, and I encourage you to go to somebody and ask for a prayer, but before you do that, understand, Jesus is praying for you. Talk to Jesus about what's going on.

What an amazing thing. Now, those who will believe in me through their word, the word and testimony, you understand those are two things the book of Revelation mentions us. People will be drawn to God through the word of God and through your testimony.

Let me clarify. Your testimony, and I always like to say this. You know, I share my testimony, but I don't get into gory details. I don't do that with my testimony. I could share stuff that would just freak people out, and I just don't wanna do that.

Why? Because I don't wanna give glory to my gory past. See, I've done a lot of stupid things. That's not my testimony. My testimony is that I walk with the Lord today.

See, I wanna clarify that, because see, we've got youth coming up in the church that aren't doing these incredibly stupid things I did, and the last thing I want them to do is hear how stupid I was, and they think, well, I gotta go get me a testimony, go get arrested, and different stuff, so I can come back in and say, oh, I used to be an idiot. You know, that's not your testimony. Your testimony is that you walk with the Lord now.

That's your testimony. I encourage you to share your testimony. You're listening to Pastor David McGee on Cross the Bridge.

He'll be right back with more in just a moment, but I want to remind you of the free resources available to you on crossthebridge.com. There's a team of hundreds of people that will pray for somebody to be saved. You have a loved one that needs to know Jesus as Savior. You need people to pray for him. You need someone to present God's Word to him. Every day we're presenting God's Word to him here on Cross the Bridge with Pastor David McGee. We can pray for them as well, just by simply going to crossthebridge.com and click on the Pray for the Lost button. All you need to do is put in the first names of the people you love that need to know Jesus as Savior, click on Submit, and immediately, hundreds of people will begin praying for your lost loved ones. And what an awesome way to bring your loved ones to Jesus. Here's a word from Associate Pastor D.A.

Brown. Hey, we're really excited that you've tuned in today. And if you're listening right now, we're taking a few moments in the program to pray for cities in our listening audience. So if you're listening right now, we're praying for you, and specifically these cities in Missouri, Springfield, St. Joseph, and St. Louis, and in Montana, Arleigh, Belt, Billings, and Culbertson. Lord, thank you for the people listening in these cities. Thank you for the work that you're doing in their life.

Them listening is evidence that you're at work. Father, I pray that you would fill them with the faith to believe in what you're doing. Lord, help them to say yes to everything that you're wanting to do in their life. We pray for the city leaders, the mayor, the police chiefs, the fire chiefs. Lord, we pray that you would give them wisdom, the town council. And Lord, we pray for Your Holy Spirit to pour out in these cities. Give the pastors wisdom.

Help people to get plugged into churches. And Lord, we thank You that we can ask for Your help and expect You to move, in Jesus' name, amen. Amen, thank you, brother. And now, let's get back to David McGee as he continues teaching verse by verse. Verse 21, 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. Wow, there's a lot in that verse. Jesus is talking about unity in this verse. He'll talk about this for the rest of the chapter.

He's talking about being one. This is so important, guys. Now, what's the primary weapon for division in the body of Christ? Your tongue. Now, guys, there's a lot of times I want to say things. I don't say them. There's times where you might want to say something, but you shouldn't say them. Or you should say them to the right people. See, if there's a problem, if you think we could do something a little better, we want to hear from you.

Please, let us know. Call the office, set up an appointment, talk to a deacon, talk to an elder. That's a good thing. But the moment you just turn to somebody else in this fellowship and start talking, in love, you're in sin. That's causing division. Don't ever ask me to take that lighthearted because Jesus didn't take division lighthearted. You see, well, let me read a couple verses. Titus chapter three, verse nine and 11 says, but avoid foolish disputes, genealogies, contentions, and striving about the law, for they are unprofitable and useless. Verse 10, reject a divisive man after the first and second admonition, knowing that such a person is worked and sinning, being self-condemned. Now, many of you are familiar with the process of Matthew 18. Matthew 18, if somebody is in sin, you go to that brother, you confront them individually.

If they don't respond, you go back with another brother or with another sister, you confront them again. If they don't respond, then you ask them to leave the church. That's biblical. And some of you are sitting there probably going, that's in there? You betcha. Refer to it in Matthew 18.

Regrettably, we've had to do it here before. But understand, according to Titus, division doesn't go through Matthew 18. It says after the first. It says and second, but it says after the first admonition.

That's it. Guys, don't be divisive. I don't think we understand how critical this is in the body of Christ.

And there's a lot of places that don't deal with division. They wink and they don't do anything about it. Romans 16, 17 says, now I urge you, brother, know those who cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you learned and avoid them. Avoid them. That means don't hang out with them, don't chat with them, don't pray with them. Avoid them.

Why? Because again, division is so detrimental to the body of Christ. Life lesson here is we should be protective of the unity of this body. We should be protective of the unity of this body. I am not naive enough to think that everybody that has a problem is gonna come to me.

But they should succumb to somebody in leadership. And guys, be careful with this one because if you come to us and go, you know, such and such was talking bad about the church. Because you know what leadership was gonna ask you? Really, what'd you say?

Did you shut them down? Tell them be quiet? There's a lot of analogies between battles and warriors and the body of Christ. We're in a battle.

Let me ask you a question. How serious does the military take division? Well, they have such words as mutiny. They have such words as treason.

And these things are dealt with quickly. Understand that this is a, it's a serious thing for me, this issue of division. And it's a serious thing to Jesus. We're compared to the body of Christ.

This is the body. Look at the medical terms that are used for division in your body. Dislocated. You ever played sports and dislocated something? It's very painful. That's what division causes. Or a more serious version of separation is amputation.

Amputation. Or when there's a contrast of purposes in your body, you may have cells that grow rebellious and you have cancer. Now think of those three words, dislocation, amputation, cancer. If you heard those words from your doctor, let me share just a little insight.

If you heard those words from your doctor, what would you sense, what would you feel when you heard those things? Do you understand that's what I feel when I hear about division in the body? You know why? Because I know people are gonna get hurt. I've seen it. Sadly, repeatedly, people getting hurt over division.

Guys, don't do it. If you have fundamental problems with us, if you think that Jesus is not the only way to heaven in love, go find another church. Me and you are never gonna get along. But there's a lot of things that we can agree on and there's some things that we can agree to disagree on. Maybe you prefer the hymns over the rock and worship.

Maybe you like the rock and worship over the hymns. That's not something we need to fight about. But be careful with division. Why? Because the enemy's strategy would be to have us infighting. Why? Because if we're infighting, you know what's not happening? We're not fighting on the fronts. God wants us to.

And that's why Jesus is talking about unity repeatedly in this prayer. Why? Because it's so important.

It's so important. So be careful. And you know what? Some of you, I mean, we haven't talked about this. We haven't come across in Scripture. Some of you in love, some of you probably need to repent of this.

Even as I've said this, you've probably thought, you know what? That one conversation or that kind of, I shouldn't have had that. I need to ask the Lord to forgive me. Ask the Lord to forgive you and perhaps ask the leader that you spoke against to forgive you. And be cleansed and walk away from that because you know what?

We got too much to do. We got too many battles to fight to be infighting. And again, Scripture tells me to take this very serious. Luke 11, 17 says this. But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation.

And a house divided against a house falls. If I allow division, if leadership here allows division, allows people to go through here and run their mouth about this, that, and the other, that's what'll happen here. I can't do that. Don't ask me to do that.

It's too serious of a thing. And how many times have we heard divide and conquer? Divide and conquer. And you know, when this happens, what do you think the enemy does? Sits back and laughs. And what does the world do? Look at these guys. That's why Jesus said you gotta be unified or everybody else is gonna sit back and point and laugh and go, that's a joke. This is so important.

That's why I spent some time on this. Verse 22, and the glory which you gave me, I have given them that they may be one just as we are one. Again, Jesus here is claiming deity.

The glory which you gave me. Deity wasn't ascribed to Jesus several hundred years later. Colossians 1, verse 15 to 16 says, he is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation, for by him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and visible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through him and for him. This is talking about Jesus.

It's the height of ignorance to say that in 325 all of a sudden they voted Jesus into being deity. There's so many scriptures in here that talk about that. So verse 23, I in them and you in me that they may be perfect in one.

Again, unity. And that the world may know that you have sent me and I have loved them as you have loved me. What an amazing thing. Jesus is saying the love that exists from the Father to himself is the same love that exists between the Father and you. You are loved. You're loved. You're loved by a God who's not gonna pull his love back. He's gonna continue to chase you with his love. Verse 24, 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 foundations of the world. To be with me, to be with me, he says, we get to go be with Jesus. Well, let me clarify. If you've asked the Lord to forgive you of your sins, you get to go be with Jesus.

What an amazing thing. He actually wants that to happen. He wants to fellowship with us. Revelation 21, three and four says, I heard a shout from the throne saying, look, the home of God is now among his people. He will live with them and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. He will remove all of their sorrows and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain for the old world and its evils are gone forever. Man, that's a day to look forward to, isn't it?

The day that we lay our burdens down and the sword which we're carrying can finally relax at our side. Life lesson here is real simple. If you know Jesus, you're going to heaven.

The old adage is not what you know but who you know. That's biblical. That is biblical. If you know Jesus, you're going to heaven. Verse 25, oh 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 it to them your name and will declare it that the love with which you loved me may be in them and I in them. Jesus, we're on his heart.

We're in his mind. Jesus is praying for you. Jesus wants to see you in heaven. Jesus wants to see you in heaven so much that he died that you might have the opportunity and the ability to go there.

Oh, and not that it's just something that happens at the end of your life but that all your failures can be placed behind you so that you can follow Jesus today and every day for the rest of your life. But what will you do? Will you sit there and say, well, that's fine, that's great.

Glad you reminded me of that. That's encouraging. Now what will you do? From this point on, from this day forward, what will your life be like? Because we have an awesome opportunity before us right now today to make changes. Friend, do you know for sure that your sins have been forgiven?

You can know right now. I want to lead you in a short, simple prayer simply telling God you're sorry and asking him to help you to live for him. Now God wants you to pray this prayer so much that he died to give you the opportunity and the ability to ask him to forgive you.

Please pray this prayer with me out loud right now. Dear Jesus, I believe you died for me that I could be forgiven. And I believe you were raised from the dead that I could have a new life. And I've done wrong things. I have sinned. And I'm sorry. Please forgive me of all those things.

Please give me the power to live for you all of my days. In Jesus' name, amen. Friend, if you prayed that prayer, according to the Bible, you've been forgiven. You've been born again.

Jesus said he would not turn anybody away who comes to him, and he came for those people who knew they needed forgiveness, those who were sick, not the righteous. So congratulations, friend. You just made the greatest decision that you will ever make. God bless you. If you prayed that prayer with David for the first time, we'd love to hear from you. You can visit crossthebridge.com to receive our First Steps package with helpful resources to help you begin your walk with Christ.

Or you can write to Cross the Bridge at P.O. Box 12515, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, 27117, and share how God is working in your life. You know, the Bible tells us that the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord. But it does cost for us to come and bring that message to you and to others in your neighborhood, through radio, through the internet, and through the mobile technologies that God has gifted us to be able to use. So if you'd like to support this ministry, please go to crossthebridge.com, click on the donate button, and ask God how much he would have you give, either on a one-time basis or a continuing basis each month to help ensure that the teaching of God's word continues to go out through Cross the Bridge.

Thank you so much. Well, D.A., before we go, what are some ways that we can bless our listeners? Each day you can wake up with encouragement from Pastor David through the Word of God with his email devotional, life lessons to consider, a daily reading plan, and a thought to meditate on throughout your day from the heart of David McGee. Those are terrific, and it's easy and it's free. So, folks, sign up today at crossthebridge.com. Thanks again for listening, and join us next time as David McGee continues teaching verse by verse in the Gospel of John.