Jesus Heart beats with Glory for us
John 17
INTRODUCTION
Shane Falco Glory Quote
Shane Falco: I wish I could say something classy and inspirational, but that just wouldn’t be our style.
[pause while everybody is in the huddle]
Shane Falco: Pain heals. Chicks dig scars. Glory... lasts forever.
T.S. Glory is supposed to be inspiring for us. It was for Jesus. Let me share with you oe of his final prayers.
John 17
The Prayer of Jesus
1 After saying all these things, Jesus looked up to heaven and said, "Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son so he can give glory back to you. 2 For you have given him authority over everyone. He gives eternal life to each one you have given him. 3 And this is the way to have eternal life--to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth. 4 I brought glory to you here on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. 5 Now, Father, bring me into the glory we shared before the world began.
JESUS’ HEART BEATS WITH GLORY FOR US!
T.S. That Glory was always supposed to be inspiring, igniting a passion in our lives. Thismoring I want to help us understand how Jesus’ Heart Beats with Glory for Us.
Let’s Pray.
I. The Bottom Line was all about Glory.
1 After saying all these things, Jesus looked up to heaven and said, "Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son so he can give glory back to you.
Glorify -- doxazo to render (or esteem) glorious (in a wide application)
Glory -- to think in terms of something being of undenialbe true worth and estimate.
Glory we know it when we see it. Applied to God it is the declaration of everything that he is in all his greatness and magnificence.
Glory is of ultimate importance. It’s what wars are fought over and empires built for.
* At Achilles tomb, O fortunate youth, to have found Homer as the herald of your glory! Alexander the Great (356 - 323 BC)
* "Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever." Napoleon Bonaparte
* "For glory gives herself only to those who have always dreamed of her." Charles De Gaulle
* As Commanding General of the Seventh Army, Patton and his soldiers stole the glory that General Montgomery so badly wanted. Hampered by higher echelon, sparse supplies, and forced to use secondary roads, Patton and his Seventh Army still managed to reach Messina first. Montgomery was surprised and embarrassed to march into the town and find Patton and his men sitting there, waiting for him.
Glory
It’s what Satan wants and what God is jealous for.
Isa 48:11
11 For my own sake, for my own sake, I do this. How can I let myself be defamed? I will not yield my glory to another. NIV
Everything God was doing in the coming of Jesus was to reveal his glory to the greatest number of people in the most ostentatious way. The Bottom line has always been that people would know, and acknowledge the lasting greatness of God.
Appl: Jesus longs for us to share in that.
II. Two key ways God is Glorified (his glory acknowledged)
One thing in common with all these stories
* Kim Avery shares how she almost committed suicide, and how through a near fatal car crash she reconsidered!
* Shannon - shares how after severely backsliding and living dangerously God gave her a new start.
* David Smith - shares how the Lord saved him from death while in a coma, and some things of what he saw and experienced during that time.
* Unwanted - Bunnie Klassen shares how she was drawn to Christ after a very traumatic childhood.
* When I Needed Jesus - Trudy Veerman describes how the healing of her mentally ill sister was a key factor in her coming to Christ.
* Overcoming life’s Battles - Eve related her story of how she met God and how God helped her in difficult times.
* You can’t run - Gloria shares how God got a hold of her and her husband after experiencing a family tragedy, and the miracle that followed in their lives.
A. God Glory is connected to People Knowing Him
B. God is glorified when people come to Know him.
3 And this is the way to have eternal life--to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth. 4 I brought glory to you here on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. 5 Now, Father, bring me into the glory we shared before the world began.
When people know him they acknowledge all sorts of things, his wondrous works in creation, the amazing grace of salvation, the incredible nature of his character. Knowing Him leads us to declare these things.
At the core of God’s Glory is his never ending desire for people know him in all his glory, and that story always began at the cross.
Luke 15:7 In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away!
Luke 15:10 In the same way, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels when even one sinner repents."
Luke 15:32 We had to celebrate this happy day. For your brother was dead and has come back to life! He was lost, but now he is found!’"
III. God’s Glory is amplified by his character becoming clearer in us
IN this picture of a father and son heading in to the pacific surf to catch a wave, how do you think the boy learned to surf, learned to love the water, how did he get that wet suit. The image of his father is all over him.
That is exactly what Jesus prays for us. That we will be made holy by the truth, that we will reflect the image of our father.
John 17:15 I’m not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one. 16 They do not belong to this world any more than I do. 17 Make them holy by your truth; teach them your word, which is truth. 18 Just as you sent me into the world, I am sending them into the world. 19 And I give myself as a holy sacrifice for them so they can be made holy by your truth.
That in us people will get glimpses of what the father is line. People will get who he is when the see reflections of his character in us.
Our sharing in his glory is connected to our unity in God’s mission
20 "I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. 21 I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one--as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me.
22 "I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one. 23 I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me. 24 Father, I want these whom you have given me to be with me where I am. Then they can see all the glory you gave me because you loved me even before the world began!
There are more opportunities to share his glory and share in his glory today than ever before.
Why -- 7 billion people
SUMMARY:
We get foretaste of God glory whenever we are privileged to introduce others to him. Glory gets magnified when we as one are working to reveal more of the glory.
CHALLENGE:
Embrace Glory, share it, reveal it.
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