Jesus' Prayer for You, Part 1

And so he talked to the disciples about God and then he talked to God about the disciples and he prayed for us. The first thing he prayed about was our protection. Did you know that Jesus prays for you 24 hours a day? Hello and thanks for stopping by for this Monday edition of Destined for Victory. It's true, even as you listen to this radio broadcast, the Lord is praying for you and for all of us.

And he'll keep doing so until the day of his glorious return. But Jesus also prayed for us while he was on earth in the Garden of Gethsemane and on the night he was taken into custody by the Roman guard. For the next few days, Pastor Paul Shepherd examines the prayer Christ prayed for you on the night before he died. Stay with us now or visit PastorPaul.net to listen anytime on demand. That's PastorPaul.net.

You can also listen and subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. But right now, here's Pastor Paul with today's Destined for Victory message, Jesus Prayer for You. I want to give this message that I trust and pray will be a very timely series of messages to assure us that God has us covered. We live in days where you can feel awfully insecure when you look around at the trouble in the world, the trouble in many of our lives through personal circumstances and crises, some facing unemployment, some facing family troubles of one sort or another.

We live in an increasingly dangerous world, threats of terrorism and all sorts of things around us. And I just sense this was a good time to stop and to let the Word of God speak to us and let us know that we are not away from the mind of our Heavenly Father. As Jesus prepared to leave this earth realm after his ministry of just a few years, I often say Jesus took 30 years preparing for a ministry that took only three years to fulfill. And that's why it always amazes me when people don't want to take three years to prepare for a ministry that might take them 30 years to fulfill. You got to take some time and get ready to be who God has made you to be. If that means going back to school, taking up a new career, whatever it means to do the will of God, you need to do it. And remember what Jesus said in John 9. It's daytime now, but the night is coming when no man can work.

So whatever God's put on your heart to do and you keep putting it off waiting for a better time, unless the Lord is saying not yet, the default position is to occupy until he comes and to get the work done. That was free. That's not even in the message. Little quick word of knowledge for somebody.

All right. Now, as Jesus prepared to leave after this earthly ministry, he is now moving at the point of John 17. He is swiftly moving toward the time of his arrest, his crucifixion, his resurrection and his ascension. He's getting his disciples ready very much as a master who is about to leave his business in the hands of employees, if you will. Jesus is making sure that the disciples are ready to take the mantle that he's about to hand off to them. And that's why you do well to read the gospels, especially the Gospel of John, as much as you can, because there's so much Jesus has to say, not only to his original disciples, but also to those of us who would believe on him as he said in this prayer through their message. That is, all the disciples down through the centuries. And because he knew he was leaving a great responsibility with the church, you find him in the Gospel of John telling us a lot of things that we need to know.

There's so much good information. When you look at the gospels, you'll see a lot of red in the Gospel of John if you have one of those red letter Bibles. And that's because Jesus did a lot of talking and you would do well to take in what he said. And especially when you read John chapters 14, 15 and 16, you see him giving the disciples a lot of good information about the fact that I'm going away.

You can't come with me now, but don't worry because I'm not going to leave you alone. He says, I'm going to bring you, send you another comforter, another one just like myself who will abide with you. I have been with you, he says, but the Holy Spirit is going to come and get in you and he will be Jesus in you. So instead of walking around with Jesus as the disciples did back then, we get to walk around with Jesus in our lives and it is to be just as active a walk as if he were with us physically.

And so he tells them those kinds of things. He tells them what the Holy Spirit will be doing and he tells them that he's giving them his peace so that they won't worry. And that's John 14 through 16.

Well, when you get into 17, he stops talking to the disciples about God and he starts talking to God about the disciples. And what I showed up to tell you is that when Jesus prayed in John 17, he didn't just pray for Peter and James and John and all of those fellows. He prayed for you. I want you to know before Jesus left this world, he prayed for you. You say, well, that's a nice sentiment, but is it true?

Yes. Verse 20 of John 17. My prayer is not for them alone. Speaking of the present disciples, he said, I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message. In other words, the disciples were just the first generation of people who would believe through the teaching they got from Jesus. Then they passed the teaching on on Pentecost. Three thousand people received the message. Got saved.

They went out, began to share it. More folk got saved. And down through the centuries, there has been the perpetuity of the gospel message resulting in the salvation of souls. If you're saved, you're saved through the message Peter preached. There's only one gospel. And if we're saved today, it's by God's grace through faith and that faith came to us. We're told in Romans 10 through hearing the word of God.

All right. So we're all there. So you know that I'm not presuming upon the scripture. I want you to know that when Jesus said, I'm praying for all who believe through their message, he's talking about you. Jesus prayed for you. You're feeling uptight, you're feeling upset, you're feeling worried. You're going through some changes.

But I want you to stop and say, wait a minute. Jesus prayed for me. Is that incredible or what? That before Jesus left this world, all the stuff he has to do. He had to tear down Satan's kingdom. He had to defeat Satan and all the principalities and powers. He had all this heavy duty spiritual stuff to do before he left. And he got it all done because the record reads, he hung on Calvary and said, it is finished. I got it all done, Father.

I'll be home in a few days. That's why when the Psalmist says, lift up your heads, O ye gates, be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors and the king of glory shall come in. It's talking about that triumphal entry. See, you're reading the gospels and you see the triumphal entry into Jerusalem.

No, no, that's not the real triumphal entry. The other one happened in the heavenlies. Somebody in heaven, after the resurrection, he was standing on the mount, giving those final words of great commission to the disciples. And they said, oh, he's getting ready to take off.

They knew he was about to leave and ascend. And somebody in heaven said, lift up the gates, be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors. The king of glory is coming in.

And then somebody else on the other side of heaven said, who, I mean, they were just having fun. Who is the king of glory? The answer came back, the Lord strong and mighty. The Lord strong and mighty. The Lord mighty in battle.

He is the king of glory. And heaven stood along the boulevard, probably Hallelujah Boulevard. And watched the king of glory come on in. And because of the work he had done on earth, the Bible says the father now had highly exalted him and given him a name that was above every name. And when Jesus came in, heaven bowed. They didn't even get in on the salvation that he just accomplished. But they knew he was a king. And they bowed and worshiped him. And they've been worshiping ever since. And if that doesn't make sense, churches on earth won't worship and the folk in heaven hollering, praising and lifting up Jesus for what he's done for us. Let me tell you something. Jesus was successful.

And that God who wrapped himself up in flesh and had all of that wonderful work to do, took time before he left earth and prayed for you. Jesus said, they're going to be in a wicked world. They're going to be in some difficult places. They won't have me physically with them to give comfort and reassurance.

They're going to face all kinds of things. And so he talked to the disciples about God and then he talked to God about the disciples. And he prayed. You're listening to Destined for Victory with Pastor Paul Shepherd, Senior Pastor of Destiny Christian Fellowship in Fremont, California.

He'll be right back with a second half of today's message. But first, this reminder. If you haven't already, be sure to download our free mobile app. This gives you the ability to listen to Destined for Victory right in the palm of your hand. And the app is easy to navigate. You can even take notes on Pastor Paul's messages so they'll be there the next time you tune in. Search Destined for Victory at the app store and download it today.

Absolutely free. When Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, he asked God to do three things for his disciples, and that includes me and you. Here's Pastor Paul with the rest of today's message. Jesus prayer for you. There are three things in the prayer that I want to talk about before this series is over. The first thing he prayed about was our protection. He prayed for our protection.

Look at what Jesus said. Verse 11, I'm remaining in the world no longer, but they are still in the world. I'm coming back to you, Father. And because of that, he says, Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me so that they may be one as we are one. While I was with them, watch this, I protected them and kept them safe by the name you gave me.

None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that scripture would be fulfilled, talking, of course, about Judas. But he said, Father, I protected them very well when I was walking with them on earth. When the enemy tried to come against them, I protected them by the power of your name. Now, I've told you before, when the Bible talks about a name, it's just not talking about a tag, it's talking about identity, essence, who you are. These days, we just get a name that sounds like it's something we want to call our children.

But nothing wrong with it to help yourself, knock yourself out. But just to understand, in Bible times, you didn't name a kid based on how cute the name sound. In Bible times, you named your child based on the character you saw developing or the character you projected would be developed. In some cases, you name them by faith, strength.

You want your kid to be strong, so you find a name that means strength and put that on them. In some cases, you'd see that early character developing in the wrong way and you'd see those Jacob kind of kids. And you know, in Bible times, they just caught it like they saw it. His name is Jacob.

That's a tricky little boy there. But the point is, in Bible times, a name bespoke a character, an essence, who you were. And Jesus said, I protected them by the power of who you were operating through me. And now, I want that same power to operate in my absence in their lives. Protect them, Lord, on the basis of the fact that they have a relationship with you. They are yours just like I am yours and I want you to protect them just as well as I protected them. Lord, these are your children I'm leaving in the world.

And I want you to personally see to their protection. I want to let you know, the old saints called it, God is a keeper. See, these are talking about the fact that, you know, we rejoice in being saved. There are some more things to rejoice about besides being saved.

And one of them is being kept. I remember being a young child and hearing the saints testify. Old saints used to have testimony service, at least on Wednesday night, Tuesday night, something like that. And they'd get a chance to testify. And so they'd get up and say, and some of them had pretty much the same testimony.

But some of them would use these little buzz words that as a child I heard but I didn't understand. And so they'd say, Lord, I thank the Lord for saving me. And I thank him for keeping me. And I would think as a child, all right, now I think I understand about salvation. But now what's this keeping stuff?

Didn't understand what keeping me, what do you mean keeping me? Oh, but as I got saved later on, started going through my own stuff, experiencing all kinds of troubles and difficulties and problems. Because, you know, I used to hear the saints testify about trials so much so that as a child they made them sound exciting.

They did. You know, they'd talk about these trials. God took me through a trial last week. Saints, God took me through a trial, brought me out.

And so I'm sitting there as a child growing up listening to all the saints. I said, man, these trials sound pretty cool. I think I want to go through some myself. Well, I didn't know that I didn't have to ask for trials. I later discovered you don't have to say, Lord, would you hook me up with a few trials? How many know that trials are just coming? You don't even have to want them.

And let me tell you something else. You don't even have to bother praying that you don't go through them. Some of you all want to have an experience where I'm just believing God for a trial-free life. No, you can't pray that prayer.

That's not an authorized prayer. Because your Savior said in this world you will have tribulation. You're going to go through it.

You don't even have to want to. But here's the thing I learned that the saints were testifying about, that because Jesus prayed for us, he already knew trouble would come into our lives. We'd live in a dangerous world.

We'd have all kinds of temptations and trials and situations that would test us. And he said, Lord, I'm leaving them in the world and I'm coming back to you, but I want the same protection I gave them while I was on earth to remain with them. And I'm asking you, Lord, to personally protect them, to keep them, when otherwise they wouldn't be kept.

They wouldn't be preserved. I want you by the power of who you are to keep them. And when you understand that Jesus prayed for you to be protected through the power of his name, it makes other scriptures come alive when you see them talking about being kept and being safe. That was God's answering the prayer of Jesus. For instance, in Proverbs 18, 10, some of you know it, but today I want you to feel it in a new way. The name of the Lord is a strong tower. The name of the Lord is a strong tower. The righteous run into it and they're safe. Out in a dangerous world, out going through all kinds of situations that would test your very mettle. But if you can find a strong tower, if you can find a place where you can run, and once I get in there, what's going on around me can no longer harm me.

I want to let you know there is such a place. And it is the name of the Lord. It is who your God is. It is learning to run to God. I came to tell somebody, when you go through tough times, that's not when you want to run away from God.

The enemy loves running you away from your strong tower, going through tough times, going through difficulties, facing all kinds of circumstances that are trying your very soul. And the enemy will come along and say, you don't feel like church today. You don't feel like church today.

I mean, they're all right. Pastor Paul's your boy and all, but you don't need that today. You've been going through too much. Why don't you just lay here in the bed and just, you don't need all that. They're going to be singing, you know you're not happy. They're going to be singing and, you know, and the enemy will tell you, you don't want to be around a bunch of happy people and you'll be the only one in there who's not happy. And you'll feel like a fool. You don't feel like saying praise the Lord when people ask you how you're doing.

They don't really want to know. And so the enemy runs you away, runs you away. I've told you all before, there's a whole lot of truth you can learn if you get the Animal Planet channel or the Discovery channel.

And you might not want some of the other stuff, you know, some of these other premium cable, but see if you can get a package with just those in there. That's one of the, when people say, Pastor, how do you handle all your schedule? I watch the Animal Planet.

That's one of the things I do, just sit down and find a nice show with it, showing you what's going on in the Serengeti, you know, and what have you. And I just sit there and watch what happens. And sometimes you will see a certain pride of lions or something on the hunt, and they might find an animal that in the pack, in safety, you can't bother. Because, you know, sometimes, especially those pride of lions, sometimes they'll go after those big buffalos.

But they know not to fool with them when they're in safety. And so they're looking and they try to find one. They try to find one that they think they can talk into moving away from safety. And it's amazing to see what happens. And so the one will roar or something and the others will look around.

And then they find this one that's not too connected to what's going on. And he's just standing around, what's up? And he'll go wandering off trying to figure something out by himself. Because they know if they can get you away from wherever your safety is, and child of God, you've got to learn that God's name is a strong tower. You don't run from God when you're in trouble. I'm not going to church no more because God's not asking my prayers. No, no, show up at church and say, Lord, I don't understand why you haven't come through yet.

But I tell you what, I won't let the enemy pick me off. I'm going to stay right here in your name. Stay among God's people. Stay where you hear the name of the Lord. Stay where folk are praying, where they're loving. Go to small group. Get in ministry activity.

Stay where God can protect you by the power of who He is. Thanks so much for joining us for today's Destined for Victory message, Jesus Prayer for You. Remember, if you missed any part of today's program, or if you'd like to hear it again, please visit pastorpaul.net. That's pastorpaul.net. As you may know, Pastor Paul has devoted his life to the advancement of the gospel, helping lead people to faith in Christ, and then helping them grow in that faith. And because he knows so many of you share that desire, he'd like to invite you to help by giving a generous gift today. Destined for Victory is a listener-supported ministry, and we hope you'll prayerfully consider supporting us today.

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Their transformation takes place over time. And that's how the life of a believer in Christ works. In Lessons from the Cocoon, Pastor Paul helps you understand that God is doing good things in you, even when your life seems somewhat stagnant and unremarkable.

And he reminds you that eventually you will have wings, because you were born to fly. That's Lessons from the Cocoon, our gift to you today by request for your generous gift to Destined for Victory. Call 855-339-5500 to give over the phone, or mail your gift to Destined for Victory, Post Office Box 1767, Fremont, CA 94538. You can also make a safe and secure donation from our website, PastorPaul.net. Thanks in advance for helping keep Destined for Victory on the air.

So that when you have a stumbling point, you have one of those power failures. The Bible says the righteous fall, but they're not utterly cast down. God will pick you back up, and he'll say, now go on and try it again, and let my grace be sufficient for you. On the night before Jesus died for you, he prayed for you. Join us tomorrow for Pastor Paul Shepherd's message, Jesus Prayer for You. But until then remember, he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. In Christ, you are destined for victory.