Awake Us Now

"Assurance" tackles centuries-old questions: Can I know for certain, what is my eternal destiny? Can I be sure of salvation? Can I know I'm going to heaven? Can I know my sins are forgiven? Can I know that God loves and cares for me? Pastor shares some life-changing truths that will show us the ASSURANCE we need for answering these questions!

The Gospel of John Week 22 Scripture: John 17:1-21.

Pastor starts today's class off with an interesting observation. The other three gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke mention the prayers of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, but John does not. John talks about the prayer that occurred before Jesus got to the garden, the prayer He prayed on the way there.

When we put those two different sets of prayers together (the ones from John on the way, and the ones from the other writers at the Garden) it gives us a greater sense of Jesus' heart during this evening, but also of the assurance the He had from the Father that this is going to turn out for our deliverance.

In Hebrews 12:2-3, we are encouraged to "fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him who endured such opposition from sinful men that you may not grow weary and lose hope." And so we are blessed by Jesus' obedience and faithfulness so that we also do not grow weary or lose hope, but that we see and understand that God is in control.

Jesus and His disciples have left the upper room and are walking to the Garden of Gethsemane. In John 17:1-2 we see Him pause on His way to the garden to pray what has been referred to as the "High Priestly Prayer."

Jesus begins with, "Father." It's personal and it's an example for us to be personal with God as well. Jesus says, "Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you." The Father is glorified by the obedience of Jesus, His Son, by Jesus being obedient even unto death on the cross.

Jesus continues, "For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent." What is eternal life? It is eternal life to know the Father and know the Son and to be in relationship with the Living God.

In verse 6 Jesus starts to pray for His disciples and we see the love He has for them. He sees them as precious and loved. He looks past their mistakes and loves them and He looks at us the same way, He looks past our mistakes and loves us. We are precious to Him. We don't need to remember our failures and allow those to control us. We remember what God says about who we are and allow Him to guide and direct us as His loved children.

As Jesus' prayer continues we see Him blessing them, interceding for them and praying for their protection. And He prays for them to be protected in the power of the Father's name. God's name IS His character and Jesus has revealed His name, His character, because if you want to know what the Father is like, you look at the Son.

Jesus goes on to pray that he wants the full measure of His joy within His disciples. He says this knowing that in just a bit He will be arrested, tried and crucified. But what He also knows is that there is victory coming. He focused on the outcome, that of giving us an eternity with Him for all who believe in Him. And that's what He wants them to hold onto, too. And he prays for their protection from the evil one and that they would be set apart for the Father's work and His purposes.

Then Jesus' prayer moves from the 12 to pray about us. verses 20-21, "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me."

Pastor talks about how Jesus continues to pray for us and believers today. In Hebrews 7:25 we read, "Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them." (Intercede is to pray for). Jesus is praying that we will live in unity with God and one another. We want to love as He loved, obey as He obeyed, speak as He speaks, follow as He followed. To go where He goes.

He prays unity of the believers, so that others, non-believers, the world, will know that God the Father sent Jesus because of His love for us and that is the love we share together and with others.

We should flee religion and rush to the Father, seeking out a relationship with Him through faith in the Lord Jesus and becoming transformed. It's not about knowing certain facts, it's about knowing God. It's not about knowing the answer to how to get to heaven. It's is about knowing the One who get us to heaven!!

Jesus says, "no-one comes to the Father, except through Me." And that is Jesus; prayer, complete unity, unity with Him, even as He and the Father are one.

Jesus goes on with, "Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world." Wow, He wants to spend eternity with us. We are truly loved! We may live in His presence and live in relationship with Him, basking in His love and taking to heart what He has promised: "I am always with you, even to the end of the age."

And then we read that when He had finished praying, Jesus left with His disciples and crossed the Kidron Valley. (And they continued to the Garden of Gethsemane.)

Our website – https://www.awakeusnow.com

Watch the video from our website! https://www.awakeusnow.com/2-year-study-of-the-gospels-upper

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⁃ The Gospel of John study is part five of five of our Two Year Study of the Gospels. ⁃ The Gospel of John may be one of the most powerful books ever written. Many people have come to faith after reading only this book of the Bible. Scholarly and archeological discoveries in recent decades give us new insight on details in the Gospel of John. We can now understand it as the most Jewish rather than the most "Gentile/Greek" of the Gospels, and when we do that we see many things that we missed before.

Our 2 year study of the gospels is great for large group, small group or home group study and can be started at any time!

No matter what we have done, God calls us to repent and turn to Him. The example of Manasseh shows how God can use even the most despicable individual to demonstrate His grace and power.

We all have blind spots. Wouldn't it be great if Jesus could help us see them? He can... and He will!

Happy Thanksgiving! This is a time to thank God for His amazing blessings. Thankfulness is an important part of our lives. Thankfulness is to be part of the life of every believer.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 "Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."

God calls us to rejoice in Him always and calls us to pray continually. He desires we talk to Him throughout our day. He also calls us to give thanks in all circumstances, in the good times and bad times. Thanksgiving puts our eyes on the God who has saved us. It causes us to focus on the things that are good and worthy of praise instead of the difficulties. Thanksgiving gives strength to God's people. It's a way of life.

"Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before." Daniel 6:10

Prayer was part of Daniel's life in the good days and the bad days, the days of deep and difficult persecution, but Daniel risked it all to remain faithful to God and to his prayer life with his God, even to the point of being placed in the Lion's Den. The Lord was faithful to David and delivered him.

Thankfulness is powerful because God is powerful! Let us not just give thanks just today but every day all the time, because He is good.

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Ever feel trapped in a hopeless situation? Let Jesus Christ surprise you!

John the Baptist preached a message of repentance which asks for a twofold response -- that of turning FROM sin and death, TOWARD God and life!

Jesus Christ calls every person on earth to follow Him. Matthew teaches us how to answer His call!

How do we deal with worry that threatens to overwhelm us? Be it money, job security, relationships, health, current events... the list goes on! How does a believer deal with these? There is clear guidance and Godly wisdom in the Scriptures. Scripture testifies to this truth: God cares for His Children. He calls on us to TRUST in Him, REJECT the lies of the Enemy, ACT on His promises, and GROW in the new nature He has given us through faith in Christ Jesus.

The Gospel of John Week 21 Scripture: John 16:1-5.

This week we head into more of the final hours before Jesus' arrest. We open with John 16:1-5 ""All this I have told you so that you will not fall away. They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God. They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me. I have told you this, so that when their time comes you will remember that I warned you about them. I did not tell you this from the beginning because I was with you, but now I am going to him who sent me."

He's telling them difficult days are ahead, but He wants to make certain that when difficult days come, they are not going to be taken off guard, that they will not fall away or lose their faith. He's telling them tough times lay ahead, be ready!

Jesus continues to tell His disciples that He is teaching these things so they don't stumble, so that when even us today, see these things beginning to take place, that we look up because the time of redemption draws near. So Jesus says, to be awake and prepared for His return. And again He tells them the Holy Spirit, the Advocate will come after he goes away, that the Father will send the Holy Spirit to them. Jesus tells them it is to their advantage for Him to go away and the Spirit to come.

Why? Because this is fulfilling everything the prophets had predicted, and it is ushering in a new age, the age of the Holy Spirit. In Joel we read the Holy Spirit would be poured out. So Jesus is saying hang in there, don't stumble and the Holy Spirit will be with you when I'm gone.

Then Pastor shares a personal testimony about how reading the New Testament and only getting as far as the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7 how the Holy Spirit convicted him and how he realized he was a sinner in need of a Savior.

The Holy Spirit convicts and convinces people about righteousness. The Bible describes our righteousness (we are sinners) as filthy rags. We cannot stand before a holy God, no matter how nice, how good we've been and say "Hey, God, let me in, I've done this and that." None of us is righteous, but Jesus is our righteousness. He is the righteousness of God that by His perfect life, by His willing obedience, by His sacrificial death, by His resurrection, He has paid the price for our sin and rebellion.

The Holy Spirit convicts us of sin and point us to Jesus as our righteousness through faith in Jesus. It is only because of the Lord Jesus Christ and faith in Him that we are saved. When need to we realize that God is gracious and we that we need to rely upon Jesus and on Him alone. It is only In Him that we are protected from judgement. It's at the cross of Jesus that the punishment for our sin was paid. In Him alone is forgiveness, hope, peace and life ever after.

Did the Holy Spirit only guide people in truth in the 1st century? No, there is nothing in the Bible that says the Holy Spirit was given at Pentecost and active for a few year and that once the New Testament was complete, that the Holy Spirit was gone. There is nothing in scripture to indicate the Holy Spirit has ever stopped working. The Holy Spirit still desires to guide and direct His children today.

Jesus says, "But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you."

Then Jesus goes on to say "in a little while you will see me no more and then again in a little while you will see me. You will weep and mourn while the world rejoices." He adds that they will forget the anguish and goes on to say that now is the time of grief but that He would see them again and that they would rejoice and that no one could take away their joy.

In just a few hours the disciples will have their lives turned upside down. They will be in fear of their lives. And they are going to think everything is being taken away, the enemy has won, BUT Jesus tells them you will see Me again and no one will be able to take away that joy!

Then He says "I have told you these things so that in Me, you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble but take heart, I have overcome the world!"

Bottom line - we win because He's the Victor!

Our website – https://www.awakeusnow.com

Watch the video from our website! https://www.awakeusnow.com/2-year-study-of-the-gospels-upper

Watch the video from our YouTube Channel!! https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTaaqrC3dMOzMkhPyiNWwlJRpV6Bwpu01

⁃ The Gospel of John study is part five of five of our Two Year Study of the Gospels. ⁃ The Gospel of John may be one of the most powerful books ever written. Many people have come to faith after reading only this book of the Bible. Scholarly and archeological discoveries in recent decades give us new insight on details in the Gospel of John. We can now understand it as the most Jewish rather than the most "Gentile/Greek" of the Gospels, and when we do that we see many things that we missed before.

Our 2 year study of the gospels is great for large group, small group or home group study and can be started at any time!