Jesus Praying Before the Cross - John 17

Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, "Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You, even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life. This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do. Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was. I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. Now they have come to know that everything You have given Me is from You; for the words which You gave Me I have given to them; and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from You, and they believed that You sent Me. I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom You have given Me; for they are Yours; and all things that are Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine; and I have been glorified in them. I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are. While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You have given Me; and I guarded them and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled.

But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves. I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth. I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.

The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, although the world has not known You, yet I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me; and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”

What is the GOSPEL?

Radical - David Platt

Very thought provoking book by David Platt. I read the book a while back and did a small group study on it. The sad part is I heard quite a few people say they thought the book was a little extreme and God's not really calling us to live that way. Guess those people don't spend much time in God's word.

What we call radical Jesus calls normal...what we call normal Jesus calls lukewarm...

12,480 Sermons?

I have lunch about once a month with a really good friend of mine from the church I attend. He is actively involved in the senior adult ministry, but also takes time out of his schedule to fellowship and mentor me. During our lunch I asked him if he thought his Sunday morning bible study would have any interest in hanging out with the college age guys bible study I teach. I explained to him that I hoped it would eventually lead to some mentoring relationships but in the meantime it would at least allow the different generations a chance to get to know each other. He said he would love to and so we started running through the schedule of the average member in his class. There is Sunday morning bible study and then attend the main service, Sunday night service, Wednesday night service, Thursday mornings men’s fraternity, and since the new push this year is to take a seminary class of some type quite a few had either signed up or were planning on signing up for one of those as well. His class did service projects every so often and they helped out some with other various ministries. This of course does not include choir practice, part time jobs, time with wife and grandkids, or any class activities. I sat there for a second with my head spinning and realized this was going to be pretty tough. I suggested maybe we could do it every so often during the Sunday night service or even during the Sunday morning bible study hour, but he assured me there was almost no way his class would miss a service. We both just kind of sat there and I honestly believe we were thinking the same thing. These guys honestly don’t have time to disciple or mentor due to all the church activities they are involved in. Now my friend is clearly the exception because he is mentoring, but at the end of the day most of us have attended thousands of church services, but have never discipled a single person.

Let me see if I can make it a little clearer for you. If I die at 80 and attend church like a good Christian, I’ll sit through 12,480 sermons, but how many people will I disciple? Think about that for a second, and then let me say it again 12,480 SERMONS. Amazing right? Now before you pat yourself on the back for your amazing sitting in a pew staring forward and listening skills let me add a few more things to that list because those numbers are just weekly services. They don't include Bible studies, small groups, Sunday School classes, Christian conferences, youth camps, mens fraternity, seminary classes and the list goes on and on. Now let be as clear as I possibly can so no one reads anything into what I am saying. All of these things in and of themselves are great and essential for the growth of the church, but they never have and never will replace the need for Christians to make disciples. God’s not handing out crowns for church attendance, and if the Great Commission calls me to go into all the world and make disciples, then I really need to take a look at my life and see who I’m discipling!

Matthew 28:19-20

"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

Howard Hendricks - Discipleship

Great sermon by Howard Hendricks discussing his method of discipleship. It might be an old recording but his points are biblical as well as very applicable.