makes me feel right at home. I'm glad to be with your church family for a couple of days. I had the privilege of being with you last October for a Sunday, and I remember it so well, and the spirit of the Lord in the place, and just very encouraged to see all of you here for the Bible study hour this morning. I love your pastor, I know you do, and I thank God for what the Lord is doing here at your church, and to get to spend three days with you studying the Bible to me is a wonderful thing. And I love the way you're singing already this morning. Let's pray and ask the Lord to guide us. Would you join me? Father, I thank you this morning for your goodness and mercy that follows us all the days of our life. We thank you, Lord, for the presence of the Holy Spirit. And Spirit of God, we ask now in the name of Jesus that you will do exactly what you came to do, and that is guide us into all truth. Oh, Lord, open the word to us this morning and open heaven to us. And open our hearts to you and I thank you and I praise you for it in Jesus name. Amen. How many of you have a copy of the word of God with you? Would you hold it up just a moment? You have a Bible with you this morning. Very good. I love to see people carrying a Bible to church and if you've got one, I want you to open it. And if you don't, I want you to slide down the row and get next to somebody that does, all right? Because I want you to put your eyes on this text this morning. I want you to open your Bible with me to the gospel according to John, to John chapter number 17. And once you get there, if you've got a little Bible ribbon or marker of some type that you use in your Bible, I want you to mark John 17. Because for the next three days, if the Lord will allow us, we're going to live in John chapter number 17. When I come to a meeting like this, I pray, leading up to the meeting, that God will guide me to some portion of the Bible where He wants us to be. As a general rule, I never ask the pastor what the needs are there, what's going on, or that kind of thing. I'm just trying to find the mind of the Lord about some portion of Scripture, because here's what I've discovered. I believe in the sufficiency of the Word of God. And I have found that if I find myself in the place where God wants us to study, then the Lord, by His Spirit, will meet whatever needs are there. Now, all scriptures give my inspiration of God and it's profitable. You all still believe that, right? So that means we can open our Bible anywhere and find something that God has for us. But John 17, full disclosure, is one of my all-time favorite chapters. I've never preached through it this way, but I have read through it many, many times. In fact, John 17 is one of those go-to scriptures for me. You have a list like that. When you get low, maybe you never get low, but when you get a little down, when you need strength, when you need fresh courage, you ought to have some scriptures that you can run to where the Lord just ministers to you. And John 17 has been through the years one of those scriptures for me. In fact, I remember even now this moment in my mind. a juncture on our journey. We were living in Knoxville, Tennessee, and I was having a hard time. I was trying to find the mind of God. I felt like I was battling all the hounds of hell. You ever have the devil after you? And I was just trying to get through it. And I remember God bringing me to John 17, just in my course of normal Bible reading. I still remember where I was. I remember the room I was in. I remember getting down on my knees and weeping my way through John 17. God used this chapter to minister to me because John 17 is not just a chapter. It is a chapter of the Bible. It is scripture, but it is not just that. It is one of the prayers of our Lord Jesus Christ. When you get to John 17, you get to hear Jesus pray. How many of you would like to hear Jesus pray? All right, now wait a minute. When the disciples go to sleep in the garden, they don't hear what he prays. So everybody wake up really good right now, would you please? Get very alert. Get wide awake. Ask the Lord spiritually, Lord, help me be wide awake because I not only want to hear him pray, I want to hear the heart of Christ. And I want the heart of Christ to capture me. Did you know in nothing else is the heart of a person revealed any more than when they pray? If you want to know your spouse or you married people, if you really want to know your spouse, listen to them pray. Because prayer is spirit level communication. And when people pray, they're really opening their heart to the Lord. And when you read John 17, you're getting a glimpse of the heart of Christ, connected to the heart of the Heavenly Father, and then making a connection to all of our hearts and to our deepest needs. Now, in this Bible study hour, I want to just lay a little foundation, if I may, a framework for everything else we're going to study. Because in the next three days, we're going to study our way through all of John 17. And in fact, I'd like to give you a homework assignment. I'd like to ask you to read John 17 every day this week. How many of you will do it? You'll read John 17, all right? So in addition to wherever you may be devotionally, or maybe you want to take a little detour for now, but I want you to live with me in John 17. But before we walk through all the verses, I want to show you how it starts and how it finishes, like bookends on this amazing prayer. So back up to John 16 for just a moment, because there's a divine order here. God progressively gives us his word. John 17 follows John 16. That's deep, right? John 17 is a prayer. John 16 is a message. Jesus has been teaching his disciples. He includes his words to them from John 14, 15, and 16, and then immediately launches into his prayer in John 17. Look at how it ends. In John 16, verse number 33, these things I have spoken unto you. that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation." Stop, lift your head, and look at me just a second. How many of you know that is true? In the world ye shall have tribulation. Oh, but I want to stop and say, I sure am glad he didn't stop there. But, isn't it wonderful when the Lord buts in? But, be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. Immediately, my mind goes to 1 John, greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. So is the world bad? Yes or no? Let's try that again. Is the world bad? Yes or no? Yes, but the Lord's always good. Are times difficult right now? Yes or no? Yes, but the Lord's grace is sufficient. Are there things going on in this world that you can't figure out and you can't fix? Yes or no? Yes, but the Lord is still where he's always been seated on the throne of the universe and he has everything under control. Be of good cheer. Isn't this wonderful? Jesus ends on a note of cheer. Not a down note, on an up note. I meet so many Christians when I travel. I call them Eeyore Christians. You know who Eeyore was? Everything's bad. It's always on a down note. May I say to you, the Lord never finished his messages on the down note, he always lifted us And the up note to him, he literally ends with this note of hopefulness. The tone of the message is one of cheerfulness. And then look at chapter 17, verse 1. These words spake Jesus and lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify thy son that thy son also may glorify thee. Isn't that interesting? That on Christ's darkest night. The hardest day he ever lived. He says to the disciples, cheer up. And he says to the Father, Father, the hour has come. Now be glorified. Can I tell you what I've discovered about John 17? John 17 holds for us, I think, truth that all of the Lord's disciples need in dark days. When we're walking through the shadows, when we're trying to deal with whatever's coming our way, when we're facing uncertainty, the prayer of John 17 is going to help us. Now, that's how it starts. Look at how it ends. Look at the end of John 17 and then read through into chapter 18. John 17, verse 26, he ends the prayer this way, and I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it, that the love wherewith thou hast loved me May be in them and I in them. What a glorious way to end. Christ in us. Paul said, Christ in you, the hope of glory. How many saved people are here today? I'm just curious. Are you saved? Let me tell you what that means. It means Christ lives in you. So if you've got nothing else to cheer up about, nothing else to rejoice in, rejoice that your name is written down in the Lamb's book of life in heaven. Look, take heart, be exceedingly glad because shortly we're going to be with Jesus and Jesus is with us now. And then look at chapter 18, when Jesus had spoken these words. In fact, you might go back to verse one and mark these words, spake Jesus. And then chapter 18, verse one, when Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples over the brook, Kedron, where was a garden into the which he entered and his disciples. Now, you know, the garden, what garden is it? The garden of. Right. So probably the most famous prayer we think of at the end of Christ's life and ministry is that prayer in the garden. Remember he prayed and sweat great drops of blood. Oh my father if it be possible let this cup pass for me nevertheless not my will but thine be done. But watch this please. Before he ever prayed the prayer of John 18 he prayed the prayer of John 17. Before he ever met with a father in the In the prayer closet of the Garden of Gethsemane, he was actually praying his way across the Kedron Valley, across the brook, going into the Garden of Gethsemane. Prayer was not something he did on occasion. Prayer was a whole way of life to our Lord Jesus Christ. It was so natural that at one moment he's talking to the disciples, and the next moment he's talking to God. That's exactly how natural prayer ought to be for us. It not just be something you do, it ought to be the way you live. That's why the Bible says pray without what? Ceasing. It's the only thing we're told to do in scripture without ceasing. And our Lord, like in every other area, is the perfect example of that to us. Would you like to get your prayers answered? How about this? Would you like to get your prayers answered when things are really difficult? Would you like to get your prayers answered on your hardest day or your darkest night? Let me tell you how to be sure you're on praying ground on those moments. Pray all the time. You want to know how to get your prayers answered in the garden of Gethsemane? Be praying on your way to the garden. You see, you can be sure that you are in tune with God in the midst of your suffering and your difficulty when you live in tune with God every day of your life. And John 17, I'm convinced, is a prayer of our Lord for us and a prayer that we ought to make our own every day. In fact, you might want to take your pen and write over John 17, the Lord's Prayer. Would you just write that, the Lord's Prayer? And typically if I said, what's the Lord's prayer, but it's, oh, the Lord's prayer is our father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done. Now that's not really the Lord's prayer. That was the model prayer that the Lord gave to the disciples. I can prove that to you. The Lord never had to pray that prayer. Study that prayer carefully. Forgive us our debts as we forgive those who trespass against us. Let me ask you this. Did Jesus ever have to pray for forgiveness? No. Because he never sinned. So that was not his prayer. That was our prayer. That was the model prayer he gave to us. If you really want the Lord's prayer, you've got to study John 17. Because John 17 is the great high priestly prayer of Jesus. Would you come with me? Come on. Let's follow our great high priest. He's passed into the heavens now. He's seated at the right hand of the Father, ever living, making intercession for us. But in John 17, our high priest goes beyond the veil. and into the throne room of heaven, into the father's throne room, and he communes with God. Would you like to hear what it is that he prays? I hope when we're done with our study this week that John 17 will so come alive to you. Long after this revival meeting is over, long after you forgot who the preacher was this week, and long after you have misplaced the the notes that you write down from the sermons. John 17 will be something you read and reread and reread and meditate on, maybe even memorize it. I hope it'll be a prayer that you make your own and that you pray your way through. It is truly my favorite prayer. You know, there are familiar prayers. God is great, God is good, and we thank him for our food. That's pretty familiar. We teach our children to pray when they're just very little. Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. That's pretty familiar. The truth is, even when you get older, there are familiar prayers. How many of you find yourself sometimes in your prayers just saying the same words? Be honest. Would you raise your hand? Yeah. We get in a rut, don't we? Dear God, bless the food. Thank you for it. Da-da-da-da-da-da-da. Dear Lord, help me today. I really need this. Da-da-da-da-da-da. We just go through the motions. These are very familiar prayers. That's not all bad. It can become vain repetition. And then in the Bible, there are lots of famous prayers. Study the prayers of David. Study the prayers of Moses. Oh, Lord, show me now thy way that I may know thee. That's a famous prayer. Lots of prayers. But this is my favorite prayer. And the reason it is my favorite prayer is because it is our Lord's prayer. He prayed many prayers. But this is the longest, most extended prayer we have of the Son of God to the Heavenly Father. And I love this. Would you like to know the real reason it's my favorite? Because in John 17, he prayed for me. Don't you love to find yourself in the Bible? You know, when you come to the Bible, you see God, but you also see you. It's a lens on the Lord and it's a mirror on you. Everybody look back at John 17 again for just a moment. Mark something in your Bible. I want you to mark in verse 9, I pray for them. You're going to find the basic nature of this prayer. It's an intercessory prayer. He's praying for the disciples. I pray for them. Read that with me. Would you please? I pray for them. One more time. I pray for them. All right, so he prays for the disciples. I'm talking about Peter and James and John and all the rest. Everybody but Judas is with them now. There are 11 men with him. He's praying for them. Somebody said, oh, I would love to have heard Jesus pray. And even more, I would love to have heard him pray for me. Well, good. Hold on to your seat. Come down to verse number 20. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also, which shall believe on me through their word." Would you do something? Take your pen and write next to verse 20 your name, right in the margin of your Bible, just sign your name right there in the margin of the Bible. You do no disservice at all to it because in verse 20, watch this, Jesus was praying for you. What do you think about that? On the cross, he prayed for you. Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. We get in on that prayer. But I want to tell you, before Jesus ever went to Calvary, he was already thinking about you. Do you know why? Because that's how you got saved. He said, I pray for those who believe through their word. Do you know how you got saved? One of those first disciples told somebody, who told somebody, who told somebody, who told somebody, who told somebody, who told somebody, who told somebody, who told somebody, who told somebody, who eventually told you. How many of you are glad they told you? Which means that our Lord was looking all the way down the line and seeing all these generations of people who would come to faith in Christ because these disciples were kept and made known his truth. And Jesus prayed for me. Today, I've had some people say to me, we're praying for you. That's very meaningful to me. I call home and my wife says, I'm praying for you today. That helped me. My kids will send me a text, dad praying for you. Oh, that puts fresh courage in me. But I found something better than that. If nobody on earth remembered to call my name to God today, I mean nobody prayed for me today. I know one person who prayed for me today because Jesus is praying for me. He's praying for you. Robert Murray McShane said, if I could hear Jesus praying for me in the next room, I would not fear a thousand enemies. Then he stopped and said, but the distance makes no difference. He is praying for me. You may not be able to see him and you may not be able to hear him, but I want to tell you on the authority of John 17 this morning that Jesus Christ has prayed for you, is praying for you, and will continue to pray for you. This really is my favorite prayer. May I give you just some basic things, some general impressions about John 17? I'd like you to write them down somewhere. So would you find something to write on and make a little list because I think this will help you process this chapter this week and think a little more about what God has for us in this prayer. Number one, I want you to write down that this prayer has principles that we need to know. It's a teaching tool. You learn a lot in prayer and this prayer is full of principles, I mean by that spiritual truth that God wants each of us to know. For example, notice when it was prayed. It was prayed immediately after our Lord's final discourse to his disciples. I wish I had time to do this, I really do. I wish I could study with you John 14, John 15, John 16, and then John 17. Because I think if you could read it all together, in fact, you may take this challenge this week. Don't just read John 17. Spend some time in the three chapters that precede it. You'll see how it all grows and flows together. Because basically, our Lord is teaching these disciples, I'm getting ready to leave you, but I'm not leaving you alone. No, no, I'm leaving you truth, and I'm sending you the Holy Spirit, which means you're going to have everything you need to be victorious in dark days. And then it's on the heels of that lesson that he gives in John 14 through 16 that he prays this prayer in John 17. It is really like the divine exclamation point on everything he's just said to them. I was thinking about this this morning, pastor, you know, for me as a preacher, I don't know about you, but as a preacher, I would say if somebody really pressed me and said, when do you pray most over your messages? I would say before I preach. And I got convicted about it, really, because I got to thinking, if you look at our Lord's example in the gospel records, he's tended to teach and preach. I think he prayed before. But when he was done, he would go apart into a mountain to pray. He would go away from the people to pray. Or here, he prays over these disciples that he's just taught. And it dawned on me that I think a lot of times my prayers as a preacher and as a teacher are motivated by being transparent with you. Oh, dear God, please help me not fall on my face today. Lord, please let me not be embarrassed. Let me get through this. Let me get this out. But our Lord, that wasn't what motivated him at all. No, no. He would plant the seed, and then he'd water it with his tears. He would plant the seed and then cover it in prayer, because he knew that was the pivotal time for the hearers. We may pray a lot for ourselves before we preach, but we ought to pray a lot for those we give the truth to after we preach and teach, because that's when the devil wants to swoop down and catch the life-giving seed away. And so our Lord is praying here after his preaching, but I would say this to you, if you study John 17 in light of the three previous chapters, you're going to see that he's praying about the same things he's just been teaching. He literally is saying to the father, father, I've given him this, I told him, but I need you to work deeply in them now. I'll tell you something I've learned about preaching and teaching the Bible, just because we say it doesn't mean people get it. Let's take a survey. How many of you ever came to a church service and you were there, but you weren't really there? How many of you are here this morning? I'm just curious about that. I mean, frankly, just because you're present doesn't mean you're present. And just because you're looking at me doesn't mean you're listening to God. And just because you hear a sermon doesn't mean you receive the Lord's message. And so the Lord is saying here, Oh father, I've given him my name. I've given him that truth. Now you sanctify them through that truth. Thy word is truth. And so there's this beautiful weaving together of teaching. and of praying, oh, church, listen to me with your heart just a moment. When you study John 17, it is full of spiritual truth God wants you to know. If you want to find out what's important to Jesus, listen to him pray. If you want to know what God wants for you, listen to him pray. For example, look at John 17 just for a second. Let me show you a couple things. Look at verse 3. This is life eternal that they might know thee. the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. I think that's the greatest definition of eternal life in the Bible. If somebody said, what is eternal life? Jesus defined it. It's to know God and Jesus Christ. That is eternal life. The greatest knowledge in the world is the knowledge of God. So what's one of the principles God has for us to know? He wants us to know God. How about verse number seven? Now these have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee. He wants us to only know God. He wants us to know the things of God. He says in verse eight, they've known surely that I came out from thee. So what is it God wants us to know? He wants us to know him. He wants us to know about the Father and He wants us to know about the Son. By the way, if you think we're leaving out the Holy Spirit, only the Holy Spirit can help you know the Father and the Son. So He wants us to know the fullness of God. Something else God's teaching is here. He wants us to know about this world and about the world to come. Read John 17. Now, we're going to study it, but read John 17. He talks about the world they're living in, which was pretty rough at the time, just like our world is. And he also talked about eternal things and the world to come. He wants us to see both time and eternity. He wants us to know something about spiritual conflict and about divine resources. John 17 is a battle chapter. I mean, he's doing battle in prayer. That's where the battles were lost, you know. And he taps into the divine resources of Almighty God. These are the principles God wants us to know. Would you pray right now? Don't even bow your head, just from your heart. Would you just pray right now? Dear God, help me know this week what you want me to know. Just breathe that prayer to God right now. I mean it right now. Say to the Lord, Lord, teach me. Teach me these spiritual principles. I don't want to just hear sermons. I don't want to just come to meetings. No, no, Lord, I want everything you have. And do you find it interesting? that Jesus is teaching through a prayer. And I give just a little observation to you. And it is this. I believe that the prayer closet is actually Christ's greatest classroom. That the deepest spiritual truths are learned not sitting listening to a guy like me. The deepest spiritual truths are always learned on your face in the presence of a holy God. That's where God speaks to people. I know this is a praying church. I've heard about the prayer meetings that you have during the week. I remember being with you a year ago and a group of men gathering together and praying with me. I know that this church is filled with people who pray, but I want to say to you, when we pray, we don't do all the talking. When we really pray, we're listening and God is teaching us. And so through this prayer, God is giving us principles that we need to know. There's a second thing I want you to write down, and it is this. This prayer also has promises that we need to claim. I said to you earlier, it's a hopeful chapter, a hopeful prayer. I think sometimes our prayers are all in the minor key. And that happens sometimes, you know, sorrowful, sad, difficult. But I want to remind you that the people of God always have something to hope in. I am an optimist by nature. That can be good and that can be bad. Sometimes optimists are overly optimistic. My wife would tell you that I sometimes tend to think something is going to end up better than it actually is. Overly optimistic. How many optimists are in the room today? I'm just curious. Optimists, God bless you. How many pessimists are here and are proud of it? Would you raise your hand? A handful of folks, God bless you. How many of you are afraid to vote this morning? Would you raise your hand, please? Do you know what the difference between optimism and faith is? There's a difference between optimism and faith. Optimism hopes the situation will get better. Faith hopes in the God who's always good. There's a difference. So you can be optimistic and say, it's going to get better, brother. And it might not get better, brother. Because optimism doesn't change the reality. Let me tell you what faith does. Faith says, if the situation doesn't get better, I just believe God is always good and God's going to take care of us. Now remember where he's going. He knows where he's going when he prays this prayer. The disciples don't know. He knows he's headed to Gethsemane. He knows he's headed to Gabbatha. He knows he's headed to Golgotha. He knows he's headed to a grave. And yet, it's on that night that he prays this prayer. And when you read John 17, it's full of hopefulness and expectancy and faith and the promises of God. You want to tell you some of the promises in John 17 we ought to claim? Write them down here. There is the Father's power. I mean, immediately, when he begins John 17, where does he run? Father. By the way, that's a good way to start your prayer. Father. If you're a child of God, father. You say, I feel like such a weak little child. It's okay to feel like a child as long as you know who your heavenly papa is. Abba, father. That's why Solomon said, I feel like a little child. I don't know how to go out, how to come in. And his heavenly father answered back and said, it's okay. I'm going to give you wisdom. And so when you read John 17, repeatedly we're taken back to the Father. I'll show you that a little later today. We have the Father's resources. We have His power. And then we have the Son's joy. Right in the middle of this sad night, He says, I want them to have, in verse 13, my joy fulfilled in themselves. Isn't it wonderful that even in sad days you can have a glad heart? I still believe you can have a song of Solomon's heart in an Ecclesiastes world. We are living in an Ecclesiastes world right now. Vanity of vanity, saith the preacher, all is vanity. What is Song of Solomon? It's full of love and light and joy, of intimacy with Christ. I will tell you something, church, you may not be surrounded by lots of happy people, but you can keep a happy heart if you learn to live in the presence of God. And then you have not only the Father's power and the Son's joy, you have the believer's final victory. When you come to the end, how does it end? It ends with us being one with Christ and one with the Father and with him forever. I mean, it's beautiful. The theme of this prayer is positive and the tone is jubilant. And friends, it's time for God's people to get back on the sunny side. I meet a lot of Christians who are on the right side, but they're not on the bright side. You ever meet somebody like that? Bless God, they believe the right thing, but they're perfectly miserable in it too. And they go to a church that preaches the Bible, but they have none of the joy of Jesus. And I tell you, my friend, when you hear Jesus pray, and His prayer affects you, and you get in step with His prayer, when you get in tune with what Christ wants, I'm telling you something, the joy of the Lord and the victory of Christ will be yours. It's my favorite prayer because it has principles we need to know and promises we need to claim. And number three, write this one down, this prayer has a pattern we need to follow. I believe John 17 is not only our Lord's prayer, it is a prayer that the Lord's people can use, a template for prayer. Let me show you what I'm talking about. First of all, our prayers should look upward. How does the chapter begin? How does the prayer begin? Look at it. It begins with Jesus lifting his eyes. Would you mark that? He lifted up his eyes to heaven. Typically, if I say, let's pray, what does everybody do? Right, and that's good, nothing wrong with that. Everything right about that, we bow in the presence of God. But in Jesus' day, it was very common for people to look up to heaven as they prayed. I'd recommend that to you every now and then. I sat down on the front porch of our house the other day and by myself very early in the morning and I was just talking to the Lord and I looked up. Above the tree line, the clouds were moving by and the sun was shining through. And it just came all over me. I mean, it just dawned on me that the person I'm talking to is the God who sits yonder, not where I can see, but in the third heaven, where I cannot see. But he's over all of this. I'm going to tell you something. When you get into the throne room, you'll get a different perspective of your life. See, everything looks different from heaven's vantage point. Part of our problem is we pray just looking this way. No, no. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in his wonderful face. The things of this world will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. Prayer, first of all, has to look upward. You know what I fear? I fear that right now people are becoming so introspective. Now, listen to me carefully. Did you know you can become so introspective, like looking at yourself and your sorrow and your problems and your difficulty and your emotions? You can become so introspective, you become almost morbid about it. You know, we just get bogged down in the muck and mire of this world, what we're wading through like molasses. And dear Lord, I don't know how we're going to make it. And the Lord says, get your head up. Get your head up. Stop looking downward and stop looking inward and instead look upward. Dr. Robertson used to say, two men behind prison bars, one looked at the mud, the other at the stars. And so where does this prayer begin? It begins with an upward look. In fact, let me show you something. Everybody hold your place here just a second. We're coming right back. With your left hand, go back to Psalm 5 with me for a moment. This is a good morning prayer. Look at Psalm 5. David said something very similar. Take this as your morning verse for a little while. Psalm 5 verse 3, my voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord. In the morning while I direct my prayer unto thee and will, say the last two words with me church, look up. Would you mark that in your Bible? Through prayer we must look up. And when should we do it? First thing, in the morning. Get your head up. In fact, say that with me, would you please? Get your head up. I want you to tell the person next to you, right now, turn to the person next to you and tell them, get your head up. No, no, no, that's pitiful, that's pitiful. I've heard folks in nursing homes do better. Try it again, all right? Let's put a little Holy Ghost enthusiasm in it. Tell the sinner next to you, come on, get your preaching finger out, that will help you. On the count of three, we're all gonna say it. Ready? One, two, three. Get your head up. Good. Now turn to the person on the other side. Ready? Here we go. One, two, three. Get your head up. Look back at me. What should God's people be doing right now? That's right. Look. Hear somebody say, chin up, chin up. By the way, just because somebody says it doesn't mean it's all better, does it? But watch. Spiritually speaking, if you apply the principle of looking upward to the Lord and get your eyes fixed on God, listen to me, God will give you a different perspective through his prayer. Here's the second thing, go back to John 17. After the prayer looks upward, secondly, the prayer looks outward. I said to you a few moments ago that primarily, if you study the nature of this prayer, it's an intercessory prayer. There are many kinds of prayer. Praise is a type of prayer. Thanksgiving, a type of prayer. Confession of sin, a type of prayer. Petition where we ask God for specific things, a type of prayer. But John 17, by and large, is intercessory in nature. This blows my mind. Jesus, on the hardest night of his life, is praying for others. Oh, wait a minute. When did God turn the captivity of Job? Anybody remember? When he prayed for his friends. I'm convinced if we did a better job of praying for others, we might see more of our own prayers answered. We get pretty selfish, don't we? We get so consumed with our need and yet, watch this please, before the Gethsemane prayer, he is praying for Peter and for James and for John. Could I just give a practical application here? I'd like to challenge you to take John 17 and use it as a prayer list. I've done this. I've gone through it and identified 7, 8, 10 things, specific petitions he prayed for the disciples. I've prayed those things for my wife, for my children. Now, this week, one particular one came to my mind, and I prayed that request for my children. See, you can always know you're praying in the will of God when you're praying the Word of God. You ever just read names to God? You say, I don't know how to pray for this person, all right? Find you something in Scripture, and on the authority of God's Word, pray that principle for that person. So, the prayer looks upward, the prayer looks outward, and then thirdly, write this down, please, then the prayer looks onward. You see? He's praying his way to the finish line, all the way to the end. He's praying for eternal goals, for lasting things. Don't just pray for the present tense. No, no. Pray for what God has in the future. God's people always have a future. And then let me give you one more thing to write down. It's my favorite prayer, first, because it has principles to know and promises to claim and a pattern to follow. But number four, this prayer also has a preparation that we need to learn. See, John 17 doesn't stand alone. The text has a context. And the setting of the story, as I've said to you already, is Jesus is on his way to the garden. Watch this, please. Prepare him for betrayal. What would prepare him to be forsaken? What would prepare him for the great temptation of Satan in that garden? What? One thing, prayer. And what's going to prepare us for the uncertain days ahead? Only if we're people of prayer. Flip over to John 18. I said to you, John 17 naturally leads into it. Would you mark this expression over the brook Kedron? He's crossing the Kedron. The Kedron Valley, also known as the Valley of Jehoshaphat, the Valley of Decision, was a place through the Old Testament that was associated with death and burial and lots of tough things. In fact, did you know the word Kedron literally means dark, obscure, black, or heavy? Sounds like a cheerful place, doesn't it? Some of you say, I'm getting ready to face some dark, heavy things, preacher. There's some things obscure to me right now. I'll tell you what you're doing. You're crossing your Kedron. By the way, did you know this is the exact same brook that David crossed? The first mention of Kedron in the Bible, it's the exact brook that David crossed when Absalom, his own son, had turned on him and David had to run for his life. You read it for yourself in what Samuel wrote. He's barefoot, his clothes are torn, he's got ashes on his head, and he's going up the mountain wailing. Somebody says, that doesn't look hopeful. No, but listen to me, that was not the end of the story. And I want to tell you that where Jesus is, crossing the Kedron, is not the end of the story. And the only thing that's going to enable you to keep moving forward by the grace of God is if you and I truly learn to pray. Crossing the Kedron is never easy, but prayer will sustain you. I sent a message to a friend this week who's been going through a tough time. And I said to him, I've been praying for you and your wife. And immediately, he texted back. He didn't know what I was meditating on, didn't know what I was preaching on today. He said this to me, prayer has sustained us. I like that. Do you need to be sustained? Do you need fresh courage? Do you need increased faith? Then I'm going to tell you what you need. You need to learn to live in Jesus' prayer and learn to make this prayer your own. Could I give you one little footnote that the Lord's taught me in the last few days, just thinking through this passage, and it is this. Did it ever dawn on you that when Jesus prayed this prayer, he did not get his prayer answered immediately? I'm going to prove it. What did Jesus pray in John 17? He prayed that all of his disciples would be kept, would be sanctified, and would be used. Everybody knows that's a good prayer, amen? The very next chapter, they all forsake him and flee. Ponder that just a moment. He just prayed over them. I mean, he just prayed a hedge around them and prayed God's greatest blessing on them, and they all forsake him and flee? Spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. But watch this, that was not the end of the story. They will all come full circle back to him. They will only come back to him. They'll be closer to him than ever. And then they'll be mightily used of God to advance the cause of Christ to another generation. I tell you, Jesus always gets his prayers answered. And if you and I will learn to live in this prayer, we'll see great answers to prayer as well. I hope when we're done, it'll be one of your favorite prayers too. But I hope it'll be more than just a prayer you say, oh, that's one of my favorites. I hope it'll be a prayer you say, I'm going to make that prayer my own. Would you bow your head with me for just a moment? At the close of this Bible study hour and this little introduction, could I ask you right now, would you pray? Before I pray for you, would you pray? In the stillness of this moment, would you ask the Lord, Lord, speak to me this week? Teach me this week? Help me this week? Jesus for praying for you right now. Oh, thank you, Lord. Christ is praying for me. Lord, I pray again. Open this wonderful chapter to us. Open your heart to us. Speak, Lord. May your servants hear. May we be a different people when this week is done. And may Christ get his prayer answered in us. And I thank you for it, in Jesus' name, amen.