Bible Talk with Deb Osborne: Part 2. Embracing the Power of Jesus' Prayer and Finding Joy Through Sanctification in a Challenging World

What if you had the privilege of being prayed for by Jesus himself? Journey with us as we explore the profound prayer in John 17:6-19, where Jesus entrusts his disciples with a mission that transcends his physical presence. This episode illuminates the immense power and privilege of being supported in prayer, urging us to reflect on our own practices of intercession for others. Through a gripping analogy of shipwreck survivors, we uncover how Jesus' guidance is our lifeline, empowering us to be set apart and carry forth the gospel in a world fraught with challenges.

In this heartfelt journey, we delve into the transformative process of sanctification through truth, and the joy that God promises amid worldly opposition. As Jesus prepared his followers for their essential roles, he promised them joy despite the tribulations they would face. We discuss the call for Christians, both then and now, to align with God's truth and embrace their heavenly citizenship, sharing personal stories that highlight the struggles and triumphs of living a life set apart. Tune in for an enriching reflection on the journey of aligning one's life with divine truth, and find inspiration in the assurance of God's guidance and protection.

Chapters

• 0:17 Jesus' Prayer for His Disciples
• 12:45 Sanctification Through Truth and Joy
• 23:59 Bible Talk With Dev Osborne

Transcript

Speaker 2: 0:17

Hey, you're listening to Bible Talk with Sister Deb Osborne. You can also listen to the show on WIC 88.1 Christian radio station every Sunday at 5 pm. You can also listen to her show and much, much more on the 421 show. Whatever streaming platform you listen on Google, apple, spotify or contact information, you can email Sister Deb at Osborne-devor-kaye at gmailcom. If you'd like to support the show, you can support it through PayPal, slash HOR421, or you can go through the website at HOR421showbuzzsproutcom. All shows are recorded live, no post editing, recorded at the 421 studio. For contact information for all of your studio needs, you can email at hor421ministries at gmailcom. Phone number is 239-849-1502. Now your host, sister Deb.

Speaker 1: 1:21

Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, welcome to Bible Talk. It's a beautiful day, in the Lord. I feel like I haven't been here in forever, for some reason, anyway, so today I don't know if you heard the show last week it was in John 17. And that's a big chapter. It has like 26 verses.

Speaker 1: 1:44

But in my Rainbow Bible, in my King James Version, it's broke down into three sections. So I did the first section, which was Jesus praying to his Father for his glory and his Father's glory. So this week I'm going to do this is John 17, 6 through 19, and this is Jesus praying for his disciples. Hopefully, lord's Will, next week we'll be able to listen to the last part of the series, which is John 17, 20 through 26, and where Jesus prays for all believers. So let's get this show on the road.

Speaker 1: 2:24

So John 17, verses 6 through 19. And this is a beautiful and inspiring prayer offered by Jesus for his disciples, and John 17 and 20 says and for all who believe in him through their word. And of course, we know that's us, you know, and it's so amazing that Jesus prays for us. I mean, think about this. I love being prayed for, I love to pray for people, I love being prayed for, and I think it's a pleasure to be on someone's mind enough that they pray for you, and just think someone thinks enough of you so that they call out to God, the Father, for you. And so I think about this how much more awesome does it feel that the Son of God prays for us? I mean, wow, what better pleasure could we have? You know? So in this prayer, jesus, of course, is getting ready to go to the cross and ultimately, he's going to return back to heaven soon, and it's now time for his disciples to do the job that they have been given to do without Jesus, without them there physically anyway, without them there physically anyway. And Jesus is praying his heart out before the Lord on behalf of the men that were really considered his closest friends. He didn't have a lot of friends, a lot of people didn't like him.

Speaker 1: 3:56

But ask yourself this and these are just questions to think about when was the last time you found yourself on your knees praying for somebody hard, fervent, effectual prayer? When was the last time you've felt yourself doing that? I know we all pray and we pray for people, and you know people on Facebook will say I need prayer and we'll write prayers, but do we really say those prayers? Do we really pray for people when they ask us to? When was the last time?

Speaker 1: 4:28

So the thing about it is, you know, when Jesus was with his disciples, he could protect them, kept them safe. You know, a lot of people didn't mess with them because he was there and I don't know if it was their fright of who he was and they didn't want to really believe he was the son of God, but they seen the miracles that he'd done, you know. But now things were about to change, and so Jesus prays for his disciples and he asks his Holy Father in John 17, and I'm not going to go through every single one of these verses and I'm just going to, you know, just sporadically through here. But Jesus prays for his disciples and he asks his Holy Father to protect them. He says in verse 11, he says and now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world and I come to thee, holy Father, keep thou thine own name, whom thou hast given me that they may be one as we are, whom thou hast given me that they may be one as we are, and then he's specifically praying also for their protection from the evil one, of course, and that's in verse 12. You see, the evil one wants nothing more people than to tear down God's people. He knows a house divided cannot stand.

Speaker 1: 5:43

And so Jesus goes on in his prayer and he asks his father, you know to. He says, you know, sanctify them through thy truth. And sanctify them means, you know, set apart. You know to be set apart, jesus, you know, to make us holy. And you know Jesus is saying that. You know we should be set apart. He's saying that they don't belong in the world, just like he doesn't belong in the world. You know he's saying they don't belong. He said but I've sent them back into the world is what he's trying to say. And he's saying you know they were sent into the world. He's asking his Father to guide them, to lead them, protect them, to set them apart from the world as they spread the word, as they spread his gospel.

Speaker 1: 6:28

I hope I'm making sense with this. It may sound kind of confusing, but so let me see if I can paint a picture. Okay, so there's a bunch of people in a boat, in a ship, and the ship rolls over. People fall out into the ocean and they're struggling to stay afloat. Okay, so a few of these people make their way back to the lifeboats and now, once they get back on the lifeboats and get safe, now they are in a position that they can help others who are still treading water. Right? So, if you look at it, we, as followers, as believers of Jesus, we are the ones in the off boats, you know. And so now we've been set apart from the rest, even though we are no longer we, even though we no longer belong to the ocean. We're no longer in the ocean, or, you know, we're not right in the ocean anymore. We've been, we've been picked up out of the ocean, but we're still on the ocean, in the ocean. You know what I'm saying. But now that we've been set apart and put in this lifeboat, we're in a position to help others that are still struggling, and people.

Speaker 1: 7:39

When I say that, I'm meaning spiritually. The world is a tough place and it's a struggle to stay afloat, and I mean spiritually too. Some people barely keep their heads above water. Sometimes I feel that that's me, but there is, and always will be, trials and tribulations in the world. Everyone's fighting some kind of battle and the world's full of battles. But, friend, I'm telling you what I'm trying to say is we're, and what Jesus is trying to say, we're not of this world anymore. We follow Jesus, we're in the world, but we're not of it, we're not a part of it. You know, we have a God, we follow, a God that loves us and he cares and that makes all the difference in the world.

Speaker 1: 8:30

You know, you see, when we gave our hearts to Jesus, he lifted us out of the ocean of sin and he put us on his lifeboat. And, friends, there's only one lifeboat and there's only one person who can save us in that lifeboat. And so it kind of kind of remember like, ok, so think about Peter. Peter attempted to walk on the water, right, and he did it for a few steps. But see, so that's kind of like us trying to live on our own. We can live on our own and try to make decisions on our own and not look for guidance anywhere, but once we notice the storms and the waves, we're going to start to sink. And that's exactly what Peter did. He took his eyes off Jesus and he started to sink right.

Speaker 1: 9:08

Well, what did Peter do? Peter cried out to Jesus. He said Lord, save me Matthew 14 and 31. And Jesus reached out and caught him and people. That's exactly what Jesus has done for all of us. He puts us in his lifeboat and he saves us from the world. But, just like the disciples and he's talking about in this prayer here, they're going to be sent back out into the world, just like he sends us back out into the world, just like he was sent into the world. See, we're sent back out into the world to introduce the Savior to the world, to preach the gospel to everybody, to tell the world of God's undefined love for all and the things that he's done and the things that he can and will do. You know the offerings and the blessings that we can have. We are sent back into the world to tell people that you know.

Speaker 1: 10:04

And so in John 17, verses 9 and 10, you know the request that Jesus was making to the Father. It didn't include the world, and he says it right there. He says, you know I pray making to the Father. It didn't include the world, and he says it right there. He says, you know, I pray not for the world but for them which thou hast given me, for they are mine, and this request only included the ones that the Father had given Jesus, and I believe he's talking about his disciples that were in the upper room, the ones that sat right there, the ones that followed him those three and a half years. That's who he's praying for right here and right now, the ones that believed that he came from the Father, the ones that listened to every word and believed every one of the words that he was given.

Speaker 1: 10:45

And the need for Jesus to pray for the disciples, like he's doing right here to his Father, was he was getting ready to depart. He was getting ready to depart from the world but, see, they were going to be left in it and Jesus asked the Father to keep them, that they might be one, just as the Father and the Son are one. And that oneness that Jesus prayed about here is unity among the disciples. They have to be unity among the disciples in their battle for Jesus and against the world. If they were against one another, what good was it going to be? They were fighting in battles and they had to have unity, and they needed to remain united in both their love for one another and proclaiming the truth. Because, you see, like I said earlier, when Jesus was here, he kept them guarded from the world and he kept them united. Jesus' care and love for his disciples like I said earlier, when Jesus was here, he kept them guarded from the world and he kept them united.

Speaker 1: 11:35

Jesus' care and love for his disciples John 17, 12, resulted in none of them being lost, but Judas, who is referred to as the son of perdition, and it's usually when they refer to somebody lost, it's usually what they say. And you know, when I first started reading through this stuff and I read that son of perdition and Judas, you know I was thinking wow. And I stopped there for a minute and I was thinking what? How did they choose who was going to betray Jesus? Somebody had to be a betrayer, somebody had to do it. How did they choose who was going to do that? Did he have something in his heart that God knew in the future that he was going to do things bad? I don't know. It just kind of makes you feel sorry for the man, because this was prophecy. I might be getting off the subject here, but this was prophecy that he was going to be the betrayer. It was a fulfillment of prophecy. Just a little extra note on the side. I just kind of felt sorry for him there for a minute, but anyway. So John 17 and 13,.

Speaker 1: 12:45

The result of Jesus' prayer would be that the disciples was going to have Jesus' full joy in them. You know, you see, jesus was going back to the Father, and even in the sadness at Jesus' departing, the disciples knew that they would face tribulation because they knew the world hated them. They knew they could still have joy though, because they knew the Father was going to fulfill Jesus' request to guard them and keep them in his name. Who the Father was going to fulfill Jesus' request to guard them and keep them in His name? See John 17 and 14,. The disciples would have trials and tribulations in the future because the world would hate them, because they followed the Father's word that Jesus had given them and they were no longer a part of the world. They would be like Jesus, who was not a part of the world, you know, and it had to be this way. It had to be this way. It was fulfillment of the prophecy. It had to be this way.

Speaker 1: 13:42

And so you just kind of ask yourself, or I ask myself, or you ask yourself, what if every Christian that had given their life to Jesus right now today were taken straight to heaven. That had given their life to Jesus right now today were taken straight to heaven. Every single person that converged converged their self over to Jesus Christ, which I think. I wish it. It was a perfect world and it would happen like that.

Speaker 1: 14:05

But then who would stay behind and evangelize? Who would go to the ones who have never heard about Jesus and tell them about the gospel? Who would do that? Somebody had to stay behind and teach all of that. Somebody had to stay behind and be a witness and see.

Speaker 1: 14:24

The disciples were going to be left in an evil world, and it was on purpose. They had to stay behind. They had to stay behind to preach the gospel. But you know, jesus told them. He told them back in John 14 and 12,. He said you know, you're going to be doing greater works than I'm doing. And he told them in John 15,. He said that they were going to be chosen to bear fruit for him. And he told them in John 15, 26,. He told them that they were to bear witness of him, just as the Holy Spirit would. So he gave them all these things and told them all these things that they were going to need and that's why he had his talk with them and stuff.

Speaker 1: 15:04

But see, friends, as much as we want to avoid the battles of this life, we have to remember that God has a plan for each and every one of us and he wants to use us for kingdom work. We just have to remain faithful to Him and that's exactly what he's done for His disciples. God protected them from the evil one who was lurking around, and it's no different today, because he will protect all of us as followers. You know, in John 17, 16, jesus states directly in verse 16 that they are not of this world, even as I am not of this world. You know he's trying to say here, people, they're going to remain in the world, but they're going to be separated from the world. They now belong to Christ as followers, as believers confirmed in his image. And this is the same for us Christian people.

Speaker 1: 15:57

Today, in our day, we're transformed into his family, we're adopted as his children. He changes us from being slaves of sin to slaves of righteousness. You know we've actually become strangers to the very world we were born in. He changes us from being slaves of sin to slaves of righteousness. You know we've actually become strangers to the very world we were born in. But our citizenship is no longer in the world. Our citizenship is in heaven and that's our goal, you know. And we're now different from the world because we are following Jesus and this puts us on an entirely different path from the world.

Speaker 1: 16:30

But see, we have to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus to see when. You know when he wants us to do, where he wants us to go, what is it he wants us to do? We can't look behind us. You know we can't look behind us. I mean, look what it got Lot's wife. Look behind her. See the word used for being separated to God from the world. It's called sanctification In John 17, 17,.

Speaker 1: 16:52

Jesus prays about this very thing. Jesus asked the Father to sanctify the disciples through truth, and God desires that the truth be the innermost of a person. Psalms 51 and 6. So you know God's very concerned about the truth. John 4 and 24 says that those who worship him must do so in spirit and in truth. Psalms 86 and 11 says we are to walk in truth and those who suppress the truth in righteousness will find themselves under the wrath of God Romans 1 and 18. Under the wrath of God, romans 1 and 18. And people, revelations 22 states that no liars will be in heaven, that they will be cast into the lake of fire. And if you read Matthew 7, that tells us about a whole lot of people who will do all kinds of things in Jesus' name one day, but they're going to fail to understand the truth. And you know what they're going to be told. Depart from me, see. Truth will cause sanctification in those who desire to follow God. A person following God will change to match the truth, and a person who does not follow God will suppress the truth and mix it with their own thoughts, so that they can continue to do so and to do whatever they want to do.

Speaker 1: 18:10

And I see, at one point in time I gave my life to the Lord. I was one of those persons right there. I gave my life to God. But people, I thought I could hang on to marijuana. I was quite the marijuana swoker and I thought I could hang on to marijuana. You know, to me it was an herb and I could just open the door and throw it out there in the grass, like in dirt, like I do my onions and and stuff, and they would grow, and that's to me. I didn't think it was bad, but see, god had to show me, he had to, he had to show me and he had to convict me.

Speaker 1: 18:41

You know what I'm saying. But, people, the truth, the truth can be known and it will sanctify us, it will guide us and people. John 8 and 32 says the truth will set us free. You see, jesus is the embodiment of truth. He is the truth, the way and the life. John 14, 6. And all that he said was from God and all that he did was directed by God. And you see, that ministry of truth, it would not end with Jesus leaving.

Speaker 1: 19:13

Now, the word is truth and that word applies to all scripture and the word will stand. It will stand. You know, 1 Timothy 3, 16 and 17 says all scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training, righteousness, that the man of God be adequate and equipped for every good work. See, that truth, that word. It teaches us the path of life that we should walk and it warns us when we start you know, when we start to stray. It equips us, if you will. You see, friends, god doesn't send us to stray, it equips us if you will. You see, friends, god doesn't send us to do something without equipping us to do it. And that Holy Spirit is going to continue the ministry that Jesus began with his disciples, that Holy Spirit will lead the disciples in the truth, and that's John 16, 13. See, the Bible is truth and it makes no claim to speak on every subject. It's sufficient for everything pertaining to life and godliness. Now, it's not a textbook on every single subject, but it is the truth. It doesn't have any errors or any issues to which it speaks and it will not lead anyone astray.

Speaker 1: 20:29

And Jesus prayed that the disciples would be sanctified in truth, and that prayer was answered. And the result was that the disciples turned the whole world upside down and left a record of God's Word in the Bible. See, we have His Word and we can also be sanctified in the truth. John 17 and 18,. He said as thou hast sent me into the world, even so I also send them into the world. See, they're going to be sent right back out into the world, just like all of us. But they're going to be empowered to accomplish God's will in the Word in the world, just like we are. They are going to go on Jesus' authority and they are going to complete the task that they were given, and that's just exactly how he does us today. He sends us back out into the world. He says go ye there into the world and preach the gospel. And he equips us with this word to do it. And in John 17, 19,.

Speaker 1: 21:28

Jesus said in verse 19 that he sanctified himself, though the disciples will be sanctified in truth and see, jesus always lived separated unto God, and that final act would play out that very night and the next day that he'd done this prayer. That final act is going to be played out, that he done this prayer, that final act is going to be played out. He's going to be willing. He's willing to give himself as a sacrifice for the sins of men. And this sacrifice would enable the disciples to be made righteous before God through faith in Jesus, and they would be separated unto God. And that would not have been possible without Jesus' sanctification of Himself.

Speaker 1: 22:15

People, I'm telling you, friends, jesus prayed for His disciples because they received the Word. He prayed for them because they believed the Word and he prayed for them because they kept the Word. And he prayed for them because they kept the Word. And if we desire Jesus' prayer on our behalf today, we have to receive His Word and we have to believe every word of it, from cover to cover, from book to book, from front to back. We have to believe every word and people. We have to keep it. It's not just to believe it, but we've got to keep it, otherwise we're not going to be kept in unity, we're not going to be kept from the evil one, we're not going to be sanctified by the Word of God.

Speaker 1: 22:59

You know, jesus still prays for his disciples today. You know, are we doing our part? Are we doing our part by receiving the Word of God and believing it? Are we doing our part by believing the Word of God? You know, people I'm going to close with this this part of Jesus' prayer was for His disciples, but next week, at Lord's Will, we're going to see that many of these same elements. But next week, at Lord's Will, we're going to see that many of these same elements would be in his prayer for us also, who followed him. You know who's followed Jesus in our time?

Speaker 1: 23:37

Several statements that Jesus made in his prayer for his disciples are truths that also apply to us today. Like we're not of this world, you know that the world hates us. That's all truths. That God's word is truth and we'll be sanctified in it. That's truth. So I ask you, please join me next week and, in the words of Paul Harvey, for the rest of the story, if anybody needs prayer, if anybody needs prayer, just be sure and send me an email at my email at OsborneDebraK at gmailcom. You can call my phone at 606-909-0256. God bless everybody.

Speaker 2: 24:20

Thank you for listening and have a good week hey, you're listening to bible talk with sister dev osborne. You can also listen to her show and much, much more. You can catch the show on wuic 88.1 christian radio station every sunday at 5 pm. You can also listen to her show on the 421 podcast. On whatever platform that you listen to it on Google, apple or Spotify, or much more. If you'd like to email Sister Deb, you can email her at osborneanddebrak at gmailcom. If you guys like to support the show, you can support it through PayPal, slash HOR421, or you can go to HOR421showbuzzsproutcom. All shows are recorded live, no post editing, recorded at the 421 studio. For contact information for all your studio needs, you can email at hor421ministries at gmailcom. Phone number is 239-849-1502. Thank you you.