Tuesday, July 11, 2017

sermon, "Jesus' Prayer (Part 1)...", by Pastor Ruth L. Foss, Stetson Memorial United Methodist Church, Patten, ME. July 9, 2017




July 9, 2017
Stetson Memorial UMC
“Jesus’ Prayer…”
Part 1 of 2
Psalm 65:5-13
John 17:1-19 NIV

“Jesus’ Prayer (Part 1) …”

The Lord be with you…
Let us pray… (Pray for the sermon to be God’s word to His people)

I would ask that you please stand for the reading of the Gospel according to St. John, chapter 17, verses 1-19. Listen to and for the Word of God to you and I, His ambassadors to and in the world…Read the Gospel of John...

What a difficult and confusing night this has been. First my Rabbani…my teacher washes our feet. He shouldn’t be washing our feet, we should be washing His. (And of course when He got to Peter he had to just go over the top and say wash all of me…boy that Peter) And then He tells us to do the same to others. We are to be servants to all as He has shown us to be.

And to top that, He told us He would be betrayed tonight by one of us. And yet He still washed all our feet and shared the Pass Over meal with all of us…even though one of us is a traitor. It was Judas. I couldn’t believe that he would betray Jesus. But then again, he has always been about money. Even when that woman bathed Jesus in the perfume he was more concerned for the cost of it. I wonder if he is getting paid for it…

Jesus has said a lot of confusing things tonight. How difficult it is going to be. He is going to be betrayed…by one of our own. Even Peter is going to deny Him tonight. I really hope that Peter doesn’t…I hope we all don’t and stand with our beloved Rabbi. He told us we who believe in Him will do even greater thins than He. How can that be? He told us we can do nothing if we are apart from Him. How can we still be a part of Him when He is going to be crucified? I really don’t understand… And now He is praying for me and the other disciples. How can he think of us knowing all He is going to endure tonight? I am so confused…

Good morning. We have just finished our journey of and with Hope and we have now decided it is time hope comes in…that Hope enters our presence. What a journey it was. And I have challenged us to go out and share that Hope…but where does our authority come from. Where is the “certificate of ability” come from? What does the bible say about disciples of Christ and what we are able to do through Jesus Christ? Do we have some sort of “Laying on of Hands” that gives us authority?

I think the answers lie within the Gospel of John chapter 17. If I had to choose a Gospel that was my favorite it would have to be the Gospel of John. The other Gospels give you the information but John gives you the feeling behind the words. In this chapter, we hear Jesus praying from His heart to the Father.

He prays for Himself, I am sure He truly longed-for heaven even though He came here to set us free. From the John Scripture, we hear about how Jesus prayer for first Himself to be glorified and back where He had been since the dawn of time up until the night love was born in a stable. He had completed what He had come to do and now was going back to heaven where He began. Imagine being in heaven from the dawn of time. Being in the presence of Father God…Yahweh. And then you had to leave His presence to complete the work He has for you.  Now your work is done…You get to go back to be with God again…, next He prays for His disciples.

I am sure that the disciples must have had such a confusing night when Jesus was betrayed. First, He washed their feet. He shared a meal with the one who would be tray Him. He taught them about how they could do nothing unless they remained in him. But he was getting ready to be crucified. How could they remain in Him?

After they heard Him pray for himself…He began to pray for them. This is the first part that he began to pray for us. We, who are His disciples are promised the same things that His first disciples were promised. He was praying for us too. How does that make you feel? Give time to answer. Does it make you want to share this hope we are now given within this prayer? Give time to answer.
What are we promised…What ability or authority are we given as we share hope?
v We will give glory through Jesus. We who obey Jesus and God’s word. We who have accepted Him as sent from heaven.
v The power of Heaven protects us. Protected by and in the Name of Jesus…the name that God gave Him from heaven. The name God gave Mary and Joseph to call him. God is the one who gave him his name…
v We have the joy of Jesus within us
v We are protected from the evil one. As we share hope, we are protected from the evil one…Satan…by and in the Name of Jesus. With the name and power of Jesus the enemy must flee…
v We are sanctified in and through Jesus, and are sent forth in Jesus’ name.

We are sent forth into the world to be in and not of this world. This world we live in needs hope. We are the ones who must assist Jesus…to let Jesus work through us to change the tide. We see all the corruption in the world We see Isis getting stronger…we, as a body of Christ are split. There are sanctuaries closing because no one cares anymore…there is no hope. This can’t be. I have given us a charge and we must fulfill our call…We must walk in our profession…we profess that Jesus is lord… There is more to this prayer that is even more awe inspiring. But we will talk about that next week before we go forward with and in “This Living Hope”.

Church, we have been prayed over…we have had Holy hands placed upon us and anointed…by our Lord Jesus because we are disciples. We are sent forth with this hope. We are given the ability through and in our Risen Lord, Jesus Christ. This our authority.

And we will be hated by some and mocked by others…the first to the last disciple will be ridiculed by some…but we are not of this world so who care what the world thinks of us, We are not worldly but are eternally. We will be asked by whose authority do we speak so boldly. And we have the answer and the authority…it is in and through the One who has paved the way…Jesus Christ…in whose Name we proclaim and profess.

Jesus prayed for His disciples. And we profess ourselves as His disciples…we too are included in that prayer. We are the future of the Christ’s church…His body. Being a disciple means we are living in the legacy that was given us by the first disciples. To preach the gospel of love, grace, and hope… It is within this prayer that we can make disciples for the kingdom so they too will be able to live out birthright…and it is a birthright given to us as children of the King of kings… from here in Patten…to the surrounding community…and beyond. Maybe…just maybe…as we bring hope into the world, we just may be that change in the tide of the chaos and despair that is besieging us…humanity. What do you think? Are you up for the challenge to share the hope that has entered in?

Amen




July 11, 2017
Christ still washed all of our feet
July 11, 2017
praying, after washing the feet of Judas
July 10, 2017
Christ’s time in prayer
July 10, 2017
we have been prayed over
July 10, 2017
Christ prayed over us
edited/ new name July 10, 2017
we are sanctified through Christ
July 10, 2017
we are sanctified in Jesus
July 9, 2017
this is our power
July 9, 2017
this is our authority
July 9, 2017
we are to be servants
July 9, 2017
Stetson Memorial UMC
“Jesus’ Prayer…”
Part 1 of 2
Psalm 65:5-13
John 17:1-19
and Sermon, “Jesus’ Prayer (Part 1) …”
video and text:

text:
video:
by Pastor Ruth Foss
sermon blog
meditation blog
“God’s Whisper” blog
Children’s Message
by Pastor Ruth Foss
Stetson Memorial United Methodist Church
July 9, 2017

All of my poems, photographs, and videos are copyrighted by Raymond A. Foss, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017. All rights are reserved. Contact me at Ray Foss (raymondafoss@gmail.com) for usage. See all 44,510 of my poems at www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com Poetry Where You Live.

Christ, Spirit, God, Faith, love, grace, hope, prayer, Pastor Ruth Foss, Stetson Memorial United Methodist Church, John 17, Psalm 65, disciple, Jesus, protection, power, authority,

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