[0:00] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alpharetta, Georgia. This is the next message in our series on the book of John entitled, Jesus is God.
[0:14] Please join me this morning in John chapter number 17. We're going to get right into the preaching of God's word in John chapter number 17. And it's the wonderful cross that makes all this possible today.
[0:27] It's the reason that we have gathered here. It's the reason that children can show a love towards their father. And we thank him as little kids and adults came up here and they held up a sign that says, I love you, dad, because of this in my life.
[0:40] And those last two songs, that's what you have said from your heart, that his love for you demands your all and your soul and your life. And what a wonderful thing to praise him this morning through music.
[0:52] John chapter number 17 is a prayer of Jesus. And as you know, inside of our church, we just go through the books of the Bible. And so John 17 fell on Father's Day.
[1:02] But can I tell you that as a Christian, John 17, seeing Jesus pray to the heavenly father speaks to me so much. But as a dad, it screams and it speaks so extremely loud.
[1:14] As I see the love that Jesus has towards his disciples, I am challenged to love my children in a different way than I ever had before. And in my prayer life with them, that's something different.
[1:25] So we're going to look at five reasons, five requests today that Jesus had for his disciples that every dad should have for his kids. And so in the back of your bulletin, there's five things there.
[1:36] But before we get into it, I was meeting with pastor yesterday and he he wanted to make sure we showed honor to the dads and believe that we have. And it's a wonderful time. How many of you enjoyed the kids there?
[1:47] Raise your hand. It's wonderful. We didn't know what they were going to say. Yeah. Give him a round of applause. We didn't know what they're going to say. I'm thankful they said what they did. And I was a little bit nervous with a few of them, especially my own.
[1:58] But hopefully they were checked before they came up here. But that was wonderful. But pastor said, there's one more thing that I need to do. And we do this every Father's Day. We have some accolades. We pick three fathers based on some criteria.
[2:11] And so and after that, we want to give them a hand. And so pastor said, pick three men inside the church, three fathers, and we want to give them a hand. And if Brother Roberts in here, he can help me. But let's have, first of all, the man with the most children.
[2:24] Brother Mize loves this event, doesn't he? Okay. Who has more than five children in here? Raise your hand. All right. We have a winner. Okay. Brother Mize, hands down, undisputed champion. Brother Mize, if you could come up here.
[2:37] Brother Roberts, you'll come up here and help me. Let's see. Another category we have is we have the newest dad. Who has the youngest baby? If you could just join me right up here, Brother Mize. Who has the youngest baby in here today?
[2:49] Anybody have a kid under the age of one? Raise your hand. All right. We have Paul Talby. I thought you would have more competition. Under one. John Boris. Okay. Under one month of age.
[3:01] Paul Talby is our winner. Okay. So Paul Talby. If you, if Paul or JoLynn or Josiah, who's younger? JoLynn. All right, Paul, if you'll make your way up here. The little JoLynn.
[3:13] All right. And then lastly, not, um, we, I'm not going to ask who's the oldest dad, but it's pretty similar. Who has, who is the dad who has the oldest kid in here today? You have, who has children that are over the age of 10?
[3:26] Will you raise your hand? All right. Good. How has kids over 15? Keep your hand raised. 20. 25. We're down. Brother Chuck.
[3:36] You sure? Okay. 25. 30. Oh, we have two still in this thing. 35. 40. 35. Brother Hugh, if you'll make your way up here.
[3:48] He's not the oldest dad necessarily, but it's very likely he is. Okay. So pastor said, so bring these men up here and brother Robert, if you'll help me, we brought these men up here and I'm going to do what the pastor told me.
[3:59] He told me that we ought to give them a hand. So if you'll give each of these dads a hand, let's give them another hand right there. All right. Thank you guys. All right, pastor.
[4:11] I hope I got that right. I'm not exactly sure if that's what you had in mind, but I'd take it literally. Okay. We study our Bible literally and we give out hands literally today, but we see it.
[4:21] We've looked at expression today through our children and we're looking at a love and you saw a group of guys up here and they represent me. I was going to stand with those men. They said, my dad was absent in my life.
[4:31] I lost my dad at a young age, but men inside the church taught me how to be a man of God and be a spiritual father. Can I challenge everyone of you in here not to check out this morning on father's day?
[4:42] This is Jesus praying for his disciples. How many of you would say I'm a disciple of Jesus Christ in here today? So he's speaking to you. He's not, he's praying for you in these verses.
[4:53] And that's wonderful. When somebody tells me they're praying for me, I think it's great. I'm encouraged by it. When Jesus says he's praying for me, that's on a whole nother level of what it means to me. And then also I challenge you in here, not only as dad, but we also see that these disciples are being prayed for by Jesus and we see it as dads.
[5:11] It applies to all disciples. It also applies to you in here today, if you're not a dad, to be a spiritual father. That's what people have been in my life to me. The pastor of this church is a spiritual father to me. He is a mentor to me.
[5:22] He got a Father's Day gift. He got a lame gift like I would have given my dad. And he's been a dad to so many and his son serving the ministry here today. And so take this to heart and say, I want to pray this for some people in my life.
[5:35] And we learn. So in here, no matter if your dad was absent and no matter if you have the greatest dad in the world, which some are represented here, nobody is a better example of how you ought to love your kids or love other people that you're discipling than Jesus is.
[5:49] And dads in here, all of us would say, we have no, we touch nothing on Jesus. He is a far greater provider for his disciples and loves us way more than we could ever for our children.
[6:00] And we can learn from him. And we should today. And the first sixes, verse six through 10, we're going to look at a profound love that Jesus has for his disciples.
[6:11] Not as God right now, but in true human fashion, he is laying out his innermost love and affection he has for his disciples before his father's own loving and responsive heart.
[6:22] Our father loves us as we've already looked at. Not only Jesus loves us, but the heavenly father loves us as well. He finished the conversation with them in the upper room. He's speaking to the disciples there, the 11.
[6:33] And when he gets done, he looks up to heaven and begins to speak to his father. We saw in the first part of the chapter, he prays for his glory. He says, father, I want to glorify you. And then at the end of it, he says, I want to glorify me so that I can bring more glory to you.
[6:46] And we see that wonderful witness that they have. But verses six, seven, eight, nine, and 10, we'll look at real quickly because in those verses, what he's saying is how much he loves us. Verses six, it says, I have manifested thy name unto the men, which thou gavest me out of the world.
[7:04] Thine they were, and thou gavest thou me, and they have kept thy word. And simply in verse number six, he tells what he shared with them. I have shared. This is Jesus speaking. I have shared my life with these disciples.
[7:16] I have manifested myself. I have revealed myself to them. When large crowds of people would gather up, he would sneak away just to be with the disciples. He spent his life revealing his name to them.
[7:29] There's no greater love can be shown for somebody than the investment of your life into their life. As we spend time with our kids, he is saying, I've invested. I've manifested myself to them.
[7:40] Verse number seven, now they have known all things whatsoever that has given me are of thee. At the end of the last chapter, verse number 30, they made their public confession and they said, we know that Jesus came from the father and he's here and he's going back to the father.
[7:55] And they said, we believe that he is God. We've always believed, but now we believe even more that he comes from the father. So we see in this love that they believed in him as our children would believe in us.
[8:06] Verse number eight, for I have given unto them the words which thou has given us, gave us me and now have received them have and have known surely that I have come out from thee. And they had to believe that thou didst send me his divine investment to him.
[8:21] He said that the father had given him the word and he had invested it into these disciples. We talk about it all the time in here. He was their game plan. How else did he decide to get the word to the world?
[8:32] How else did he want people to reveal God to this world through Jesus and he gives it to his disciples? What an investment. There's no inheritance who ever get that is greater than what Jesus left us as the disciples.
[8:44] And we see this in verse number nine. I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but for them, which I gave us me that they are thine. This special relationship. They belong to the father and now they belong to me.
[8:56] And in verse number 10 and all are mine are thine and thine are mine. And I am glorified in them. He shared ownership of them with the father. Him and the father said these disciples are ours.
[9:08] And it's a beautiful double ownership. We're owned by the father. We're owned by Jesus. And we have seen how precious the disciples are in the eyes of Jesus as well as the eyes of the father.
[9:19] And you can see dads in here how this speaks so loudly to us. Oh, how he loves us. We've seen it today and we've read it here that there's nobody who's ever had a greater love for any group of people than Jesus has for us, his disciples.
[9:33] And so as a dad, I want to learn from you, man. I want to learn from the older men, but I want to learn from Jesus. When Jesus says he loves his disciples, well, then that means whatever he prays for his disciples.
[9:44] I want that to be my prayer for my kids. And can I tell you, as I studied this chapter, I saw so many times how my prayer life has fallen short and asking for my kids, what Jesus asked for his disciples here on earth.
[9:59] And we look at five things here today real quickly that he prayed for. And starting in verse number 12, when we look at the five prayer requests that Jesus had for his disciples. The big thing that we see right here in the scripture is that Jesus is saying, I'm now, I'm no more in this world, but I'm leaving.
[10:39] But the disciples are staying behind in his prayer here. He prayed that they would be ready for his departure. Jesus leaves the world while the disciples remain. And he says here, Holy father, because in a few verses, he's going to contrast the Holy father with an unholy world.
[10:55] He knows the Holy father loves and cares and protects for them. But he also knows that the world he's leaving them in hates them. The world hates them, but God loves them. We are now in him, in his name and the world will hate us.
[11:09] Can you imagine another source of unity? That's any greater. We can't replicate the law, the union that Jesus has with the father, but we're told to replicate it. He says, as me, Jesus and the father are one.
[11:22] I pray that they will have that same oneness in truth. He's going to say it here in verse number 21. He says that they all may be one as thou, the father art in me and I in thee, that thou also may be one in us that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
[11:38] He's saying here that Jesus never planned for Lone Ranger Christians. He's saying, as I'm leaving, I'm trying to prepare my disciples for my departure. And one of the big things in my preparation for preparing the disciples for me leaving is that they understand unity in truth.
[11:54] Jesus planned for them to form churches, to be together. And he says that the unity that would be brought together would be in truth. You cannot say, oh, we're unified in something and we all get along, but doctrine doesn't matter and truth doesn't matter because Jesus says the only unity that's ever found is in truth.
[12:10] And that's his prayer for them is that they would know truth and that they would have unity in this truth. He will show us how he provides protection here for us in unity. The entire prayer of John chapter number 17, that's only made possible because the cross he is going to, the entire prayer has the great burden that we may be preserved in oneness by complete adherence to the word of God.
[12:33] As I adhere to the word of God, I am drawn in unity with other people that have said that the word of God will dictate how they live their lives. Jesus preparing for his disciples is praying to God the disciples are listening.
[12:47] And he says, I pray that they will be one. And the only way that it's possible is that they are one inside of the truth. Jesus, while he had been on earth, he said, I've been their guide. I've been their provider.
[12:58] And now that I'm leaving, father, I'm asking that you will continue. He says, I've kept all of them except for Judas and Judas. Judas was never part of them. He was not a believer that stopped believing once you, we are eternally secure in Jesus Christ, but he was a man of transgression.
[13:14] But it says that they numbered him with the disciples, that Judas was so involved that when he stopped his work among the disciples, he had to be replaced, that his involvement in his action was so great that when it stopped, they had to replace him.
[13:29] Isn't that unbelievable? That his heart wasn't there. He didn't love Jesus. He didn't believe in Jesus as other disciples, but his actions were there. Dads, can I tell you in there that this hit me right between the eyes when I began to realize that what a challenge it is for me as a dad to go for the heart of my children and not just for the actions.
[13:49] If that Judas can get along and work with the trail disciples to the point that they numbered him with him and that when he left, he had to be replaced, even though his heart was not upon Jesus Christ, that I could tell my son Thatcher intentionally be so involved in the things of the Lord that their actions were so great inside of this church that when they left it, their role in the church would have to be replaced.
[14:10] But Jesus never had their heart. I'm so challenged in here tonight to pray for my kids like I never had before and to pray for their heart and to talk about Jesus and how wonderful he is and the wonderful cross and not just to talk about the ministry that he has given us.
[14:25] Are we preparing our kids for our departure from earth or will or their departure from home? Jesus spent time with them in a busy ministry. He found time with his disciples.
[14:37] He left the multitude and he spent time. Are they prepared for unity and truth? Do they understand the importance of church and the age that we live in that we are unified together?
[14:48] Are you teaching that to your kids? Do you teach them how important truth is? Are you teaching them to be in his name? There's nothing that unifies us greater in here. I love church because we're the most diverse group of people.
[14:59] Nothing would bring us together in this world, but Jesus does. We're in his name and we love Jesus and we love his word. And that truth has unified us. Are we preparing for our departure?
[15:11] Dad, you don't know how many days you have in here. You don't know if you'll have the honors brother Chuck will and brother John had of walking their daughter to the aisle as he will brother Chuck. You don't know if you have that.
[15:22] You know that you have the day to prepare them for your departure. Will you go for the heart of your children so that they love Jesus above all things and they love Jesus above even his ministry that they have their hearts.
[15:33] Are you preparing them for their departure? Maybe the departure will not be your death. It'll be them leaving home. That's what brother Chuck calls the wedding. That's going to happen here. Hannah and Kyle, they call it a wedding.
[15:44] He calls it the great departure, the great exodus. And he has been preparing. And you saw Hannah standing here in tears, thanking her dad for showing her how to love Jesus. And that's what she wants from her life because he's been preparing here for a departure.
[15:59] He's been preparing for his departure. Jesus prepared for his departure. He prayed for his departure with the disciples. And dads, I want to work like I've never worked before when I saw these verses for my departure because I do not know when it is.
[16:11] So first of all, he prayed for his departure. Then also we see that he prayed that they would experience joy. And now I come, I, to thee, verse 13, and these things I speak in the world that they may have joy fulfilled in themselves.
[16:26] Verse number 12, he says, while I was with them. But then verse 13, and now I come to thee. He says, while I was with them, but now that I'm getting ready for the departure, I am concerned about their joy.
[16:37] The joy in the heart of Jesus should be in the heart of all the disciples as they go out into their mission. That it's fulfilled. That it's a vessel that's just filled to the brim that they can take from. Jesus speaks about joy and peace objectively.
[16:49] And he said in verse number 14, he said, my peace I give to them. He says, my joy I give to them. The type of joy and peace that Jesus had, he was leaving with his disciples.
[17:01] He is speaking out here audibly out loud. These things in the world for the sake of disciples. These things I speak in the world that their joy may be fulfilled. These words I'm reading to you should cause great joy in your heart.
[17:14] As the disciples were gathered around Jesus and he was looking to heaven and they prayed for him. They should have had joy in their heart. And as you hear the words read to you as a disciple of Jesus. Your heart ought to be filled with joy to know the God of heaven.
[17:27] The creator God who came to earth to die for you. Loves you and he's concerned about your joy. There's something special about knowing he is praying for us. Jesus believed it to be important that the disciples see him pray for them.
[17:41] His prayer was that they would hold to the word, be protected from the world and have joy. Dads, have our kids ever heard us pray this prayer for them? First question, has our kids ever heard us pray for them?
[17:54] And then secondly, have they ever heard us pray that they would have the type of joy that we have in Jesus Christ? Dads, do you have the type of joy that Jesus Christ offers?
[18:05] Do you want your kids to have joy like you do? Or do you want them to have something better? We say that all the time. I didn't have much growing up, but I want my kids to have better. Well, when it comes to joy, nobody has anything greater than what you have.
[18:17] You have the joy that Jesus provides. And I want my kids to have exactly that. I want them to have the joy that only Jesus can give. When Jesus protected the disciples, he did not do this alone, but he did this with the Father.
[18:29] He prayed for guidance. Who in the world do we think we are, dads, that believe that we can raise our children without the Heavenly Father? Jesus, in his humiliation that he took on flesh, he put himself in obedience and submission to the Father, so that he prayed to the Father for his kids, and he asked the Father for guidance.
[18:47] How do we think that we are equipped to lead our kids without the help of the Holy Father? Who do we think we are that we believe that we are that good? And the Father would protect them.
[18:57] It would be done with the help of the Holy Spirit. He doesn't say we'll be the Father and Dad. He said we have falsely elevated our importance in the life of our kids. He said as Jesus is leaving, he sends another comforter for his disciples because of the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives is way greater than the work of any man.
[19:14] And can I tell you that what the Holy Spirit wants to do in the heart of your kids is way greater than anything you can ever do. And you ought to help them understand. That you ask them to understand your voice when you say come here, and you say you got three seconds, you got negative four seconds, you got to whatever you do.
[19:31] Delayed obedience isn't obedience at all. Some of you would say, I need three seconds. I'm going to go ahead a minute. Sometimes we get to seven on bad days, okay? But you want them to learn your word. You want them to hear you when they're running out to the road and say stop.
[19:44] But can I tell you them recognizing your voice isn't near as important as them recognizing the voice of God in their heart. Do you tell them that voice that tells you this is right and this is wrong and this is what we love and this is what we don't love.
[19:56] That's the Holy Spirit work in your lives. And you ought to train your children after they become believers that they are filled with the Holy Spirit and to listen to his voice because he is way greater than any dad in this room.
[20:08] Do you have concern for their joy? Do you even think in those terms? There are certain subjects that we joke about that are hard to talk to with our kids as we're getting ready for them to grow on. There are some subjects like drugs and marital relations but joy should not be a hard thing for you to talk about.
[20:24] Dad, you should talk to your kids about joy and help them find it in this hateful world. Are we too busy to pray? Jesus wasn't too busy to pray going to the cross.
[20:35] We can only be too busy to pray when we have elevated what we can do in the life of our kids above what we believe that God can do. We are needy people. We need God to do a work and there's nothing that I can do in the life of my kids that's important, more important than pray for them.
[20:51] He says, I will not leave you comfortless. I will come to you. Jesus made provisions. He sent the comforter. Can I ask you in here, dads, do you pray for your kids' joy? Do you help them find it? Do you help them emotionally and spiritually find the joy?
[21:04] And the way you're going to do it in here, dads, is you're going to find it yourself in your life and then you're going to let your kids get it. Because it's contagious. It was great, wasn't it, that the kids came by here and said, I want to be this, I want to be that because my dad is like this.
[21:17] They want to be just like him. And so knowing that our kids want to be just like us, we want to be like our Heavenly Father. Because even though what we don't think we're teaching is being caught by them, and my joy will be caught by my son.
[21:30] And I want to have his joy, what he called my joy. He prayed for the departure and he prayed that they would experience joy. Verses 14 and 17. I have given them thy word and the word hath hated them because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
[21:45] Verse 17. Sanctify them through thy truth. The word is truth. Verses 14 and 17 tell us he prayed that they would continue in his word as they are hated in this world.
[21:56] He says, I've given them the word and the world hates them. In verses 6 and 8, he had already talked about the word and he continues here. We are not of this world because we are of the word.
[22:07] It is not a physical journey that makes us foreigners here, but it is the word that has changed us spiritually and made us strangers. In 1983, I was born of this world by natural birth.
[22:17] But it was in 1992 that I became a believer and I was born of the word. And because of being born of the word, I am now a stranger. It wasn't a physical journey that I went on.
[22:29] It was a spiritual journey when I put my faith and trust in Jesus Christ, which means my relationship with the word changed on that day, which means my relationship with this world changed on that day.
[22:40] And I want my son to see my hometown where I grew up and I want him to know where I was born physically. But I also want to take him and show him where his dad bowed his head and was born of this word.
[22:51] And I want him to know that story. I don't mind when I get older if he says, I don't remember where my dad was born and I don't remember what year. But I know that he says in 1992 and that in a closet he was born of the word because my relationship with the word changed on that day.
[23:06] And I need my son to know that. We are not of the world. We are the children of God. That's good news. The world hates us. That seems to be bad news. But the world hates us for the same reason they hate Jesus, which means we are in great company, which makes that good news.
[23:22] Through their contact with Jesus, the world had considered the disciples traitors and renegades in this world. The joy the world had that they had from the word they hated.
[23:33] That's awesome. We find joy in the word and hate from the world and it should not be the other way around. I want to teach my son, I want you to teach your sons and your daughters and those that you're discipling to find their joy in the word.
[23:46] Because if they cannot find it in the word, then the only other place they can go and look is in this world where it will never be found. Because this world hates them. They will be looking for joy among people that hate them because they are believers.
[24:00] That it's in this word and by Jesus Christ that we find joy. In John 14, 17, it calls the Holy Spirit the Spirit of truth which will guide them and teach them and witness to them. The Holy Spirit is teaching us in the word.
[24:12] The way we will be guarded and protected in this world is through the word of God. The word protects us from this world. Some men went out the other day and they shot some guns over at Newton Baptist Church.
[24:23] And they talked about how great it was. They want to get Brother Clap on board. And we want to show our kids how to handle things like that. Our kids are involved in our youth ministry so they have good friends.
[24:33] You enlist them in programs like Boy Scouts. You take them to the YMCA. We take them to summer camps. You get security devices. You put tracking devices on their phone. We do everything in the world to protect our kids.
[24:45] And we should. But nothing will protect your kids like the word of God. It is in this that they must hide if they are going to live a single day in this world. And Dad, are you protecting your kids through the word of God?
[24:58] God, protection is provided and ongoing sanctification through the word because we have a mission. You know those words? We're renegades, disciples. I want my son to see me like that.
[25:08] I want your children to see you like that. We are not of this world anymore. We are different. We live to a different beat of a different drummer. We follow after Jesus. And we do not get pushed and swayed by the things of this world.
[25:21] Dads, does your kids know your relationship with this word? Do they see you find your joy in learning of Jesus as you turn from page to page? My grandfather in his last few days had dementia.
[25:33] He didn't know many things. But he knew that for many years he went and sat at the kitchen table and that he would read 10 chapters of the Bible and he would turn it. And when he had lost his mind, he hadn't lost his heart.
[25:45] And when he couldn't read, he still went and sat at that table and he turned the pages. Jesus, that means something to me, Brother Mize. It means that he found something in this book. And so as I read it, I keep turning those pages and I find what my grandfather found in those.
[25:58] And it's on every page. And he was looking for something that he found. And I found something that he found. And I want my son to find something in this word. Do they know our relationship with the world?
[26:09] Do they see us as renegades? Or do they see us as comfortable people in this world? Do they see us not having any time for the word but having time for the world because we're far too comfortable? Do they know that we're strangers here?
[26:20] Do they know that we are renegades? We are people of the book, not people of the world. You know, I'd like to bring every kid down here and let them know that and let them know we are not people of this world. And every dad in here, hold up the Bible and say, we are people of this book.
[26:34] But no statement alone will do it on a Sunday morning. Your life will have to let them know that you find no joy from that world out there. That world hates you. You find it in the word. There's no greater tool in child rearing in our marriages or in life than the word of God.
[26:48] You'd be better off being a basketball player that never handled a basketball than a Christian who is not at home with the word of God in his hand. This is what we have. This is what was given to us.
[26:59] It's his word. He prayed they'd be ready for his departure. He prayed they would experience joy. He prayed that they would continue in his word as they are in a hateful world. Number four.
[27:09] He prayed for their protection and their mission in this world. And he did not look for a safe, missionless life for them. Verse number 15. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but thou shouldest keep them from the evil.
[27:25] Taking them out of the world cannot answer the question for the violent world. He knew that the world hated them. Jesus was going to be with the Father. Why didn't he take the disciples with him? Because he knew the world hated them.
[27:36] They knew they were violent. He even knew that they would die for his name. And he says, I don't pray that you take them out of this world, Father, and bring them with me. They must be left in this world because they have a mission.
[27:48] He prayed that they be kept from the evil one, from Satan and all that. Judas had fell prey to them. 14, 12, 14, and 16. He mentions the prince of this world. He was very much aware of the enemy. Because he was aware that they were on the mission.
[28:01] And so many times I forget that there's an enemy out there. And I also forget that I'm involved in a mission. We tend to forget those things. And Jesus did not in his prayer for the disciples.
[28:12] His priority for the disciples should be my priority for my kids. And I say so many times I pray for protection, not in the mission, but outside of what he gave them. You know, Psalms 127, verses 3, 4, and 5.
[28:26] Verse number 3 is one of our favorite verses. Because in Psalms 127, 3, it tells us that children are a heritage of the Lord. And a fruit of the womb are his reward. If you'll find that for me, Jacob, I appreciate it.
[28:38] Verse number 3 we all like is that it's a reward. This is about us, right? It's a reward. It's a heritage to us. He gave us our kids and they're for us. But number 4, we know this. But as arrows in the hand of a mighty man, so are the children of the youth.
[28:52] So we learn that kids are given to us. But then in verse number 4, we learn that they're given to us for a purpose. Apparently we're involved in a battle. And our children are supposed to be involved in a battle. And as we raise them, as they're being taught in church, as they're being read the Bible to at home, they're being shaped like an arrow to go out.
[29:09] And as many people would say, they're prepared for long distance battle. You may send them to the other side of the world. You may send them across the road or do something. But verse number 5, I love this. As we're thinking about us men, as people on a mission, as renegades in this world.
[29:24] Verse number 5, it says, Happy is the man that has his quiver full of them, that they should not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate. Hosey, this is great. What happens here is that he says that he can go to a gate of a city that is filled with his enemies and not be scared at all.
[29:42] Why is this man not scared? Because he has a bunch of kids behind him that are prepared for battle to take on the world. That he can go before this gate. You know, if Brother Jeff ever got mad at me, Brother Mize, and he got a few emails and I knew he was mad at me and I didn't answer his phone call because I didn't want to talk to him.
[29:59] And he shows up at the door, Brother Jeff and all of his boys, I'm going to tell him I'm not home. You know, I'm not here. I live two doors down where Zach lives, okay? I'm going out the back door, especially the little ones.
[30:11] I'm not scared of those guys, okay? And so he's prepared because he has a mission in this world. I have a mission in this world. And every kid that God gives me, I want to prepare them for a mission. And I want to be able to face the world and say, I have kids prepared for battle.
[30:24] Not taking the devil lightly, but knowing that they were given to me for this battle. I want them to know that their family is in a global business around the world. Satan wants you, dads. He wants you.
[30:36] He says that he wants you. And I know as you sit here today, you say, why would Satan care at all about me? I'm not that important to his economy, to the mission against Satan. Have you not been listening how the Father loves you?
[30:49] Oh, how he loves you because he's your disciple. Simply because Jesus loves you, Satan hates you. I'll say it like this. I'm not even sure that Satan even understands why he hates you so much.
[31:01] But he knows that Jesus loves you incredibly. What's an amazing love? That he died on the cross. So he has declared war against you and your family. And you always need to be aware of it.
[31:12] Ephesians 6 teaches us that we're in a spiritual warfare against the world. Every godly dad is, has, and will continue to serve in a war.
[31:23] We celebrate Veterans Day, Memorial Day. And I'm thankful for the men who fight in this service. And I don't want to take anything away from that. But every godly dad in here, you have fought, you are fighting, and you will always fight.
[31:35] You're involved in a war, a spiritual battle for the souls of your kid. And you can never let up. And you cannot think that it is not real. Satan hates you because Jesus loves you so much.
[31:46] He prayed for their departure. He prayed for their joy. He prayed they would continue in the word, even though the world hated him. He prayed for their protection and their mission in this world. And he did not look to take them away from it.
[31:56] I know that I love missions and I talk about on the wall. But when he gets to the age and my kids could go forward and serve in missions, will my prayer be, God, protect them from your mission so they can enjoy the world?
[32:08] Or will I say, God, protect them in your mission so that they stay away from this world? You know why kids so many times get caught up in this world and find their happiness in the world? Because they forgot we're on a mission.
[32:19] They forgot that their dad is greater than any superhero. They forgot that their dad was given a job to do. I never want my son to drive by this place and say that's where my dad works. Or at any business.
[32:29] I want my son to walk out the front door of our house and say, this is where my dad works. My dad is fighting in this world for the souls of men. And I want that to be said about every man in here.
[32:39] The world is where we work. And any other job you have, and any job I have as assistant pastor's job, is a second job. I've been given a mission by Jesus Christ. And I want my son to know that.
[32:51] I don't want him to see me working at one place or when I'm doing something. But every time I'm talking to a person, every time I leave the front door, I am going to work. And dads, that's true of you too.
[33:02] It's not for the vocational minister. It's for every one of us in here that we have been given a work to do. Lastly, he prays that he will realize that we are on the same mission.
[33:12] Verses 16 through 19. Let me read for you some here. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth. The word is truth. As they have sent me in the world, even so I have sent them into the world.
[33:24] And for their sakes, I sanctify myself that they also may be sanctified through the truth. I am sending them as I have been sent. On the same job that Jesus Christ came to do, he secured victory on the cross.
[33:35] I am in a continuation of that business. I'm going about my father's business. He prayed that the disciples would recognize that they are involved in the same work that he was involved in.
[33:46] I don't know. I know most of the stories of the men in here. And I don't know how many of you are continuing in the same work that you did. If your dad was a carpenter or if he was a teacher. But every one of us here continue in the work that Jesus started.
[33:58] And our children need to know this. Sanctification means we were set apart for God for a purpose. Which means set apart to God away from this world. It's already been seen here. He said, they are mine.
[34:09] They were yours. You guarded them. They give them the word. Work should be considered completed when Jesus is leaving at his death. When Jesus goes to the cross, he says, it's not over, boys. I still have a plan for you.
[34:20] Which means you need to continually keep separating yourself to the work that is done. How exciting is it to know that we're a continuation of the mission that Jesus invites us into the mission he was sent on by the father?
[34:32] The purpose of oneness in this world is that the world will believe in verse number 21. That they will see that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. As we go out into this world and we show our love one for another.
[34:45] The world should recognize that we have been given a great mission. Our commissioning here is connected to the sanctifying. Why should a kid ever be concerned about a prayer life or spending time in this word?
[34:57] Why should he learn to handle the weapons of Christianity, if you will, if he doesn't know that he is involved in a war? If you do not set the mission before our kids, then all the things that we teach them about the word of God do not seem to make sense to them.
[35:11] What am I set apart for? The Christian life is boring. Why would I want to do that? There's more. I don't find any joy in it. And we must let them see that there is something to be found in the mission.
[35:21] Jesus voluntarily heads to the cross. He says, I sanctify myself. I set myself apart to God for this holy work. In doing this, the disciples will receive all the promises given, including the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, who will continue sanctifying them.
[35:36] He made the hard decision for what was best of the disciples. He said, I know that going to the cross will make it possible that they can set themselves apart for the work of God.
[35:49] Man, you've got to make the hard decisions. We're not going to the cross. Jesus has went to the cross. But we have to set aside time to spend time in prayer. We have to set time aside to be in the book. We have to make the hard decisions in our lives so that we can fight and win and demonstrate to our kids the battle that is being won for us.
[36:07] Look at where we are sent into, into the world. That is the scope of our mission, dads. As I've already said, your kids need to know that you're involved in a global business. It's not Alpharetta.
[36:18] It's not coming. You don't work from home. You do not go to an office. All those things are true and well. They should see you providing. They should see all these things. But they ought to know that you have a mission in this world that is greater than all that.
[36:29] And it's a global mission. It should not be an odd thing for you to have a conversation about the homeless in Atlanta or the poor in China or those that have never heard the gospel in India. Because you talk about your business in front of your kids.
[36:41] And they sign up to be part of that same business. 1 Peter chapter number 2 and verse number 9. Can I challenge you men as we're closing here today? I'll repeat the five things.
[36:52] Could I challenge you to go home and read this verse to your kids? Could you take them in 1 Peter 2.9? It says, Can I tell you, Brother Clap, sometimes I get a little bit jealous of Spider-Man.
[37:12] You know, they sometimes say, Be who you are unless you can be Spider-Man. Then be Spider-Man. It's always better to be Spider-Man. Well, I don't want to compete with Spider-Man or Superman or all that. I want my kids to know that I am part of this royal priesthood and that I've been involved in a battle against darkness into his marvelous light.
[37:32] Dads, if our kids could see us like that, it would change their relationship with us. It would change their relationship with the Word. And it would change their relationship with the world. Would we demonstrate these things to them?
[37:45] Let me repeat these to you. He prayed that they would be ready for his departure. Have you thought about your endgame? Have you thought about how it may be almost over for you? What is that thing that you would like to say on your deathbed to your kids?
[37:57] Say it today. Because it may be your last day. He prayed they would experience joy. Do you experience joy? Do they say, I found my joy the same way my dad found his joy? He prayed they would continue in his Word.
[38:09] Are you continuing in the Word? The Word so that the world would hate you and you hate the things of this world. The carnal, the fleshly things. I'm not talking about creation. We're talking about the things that take us and try to get between us and our view of a holy God.
[38:21] Pray for their protection in the mission. Have you stopped praying for their protection in the mission and you just spend your whole life trying to keep them safe? But in keeping them safe, you've given them a missionless life that is void of any kind of risk for the cause of Christ.
[38:34] And then number five, pray that they will realize that they are on the same mission that he is on. Can you invite your kids into the mission that Jesus has set you on? Have you made that the priority in your life?
[38:48] Dad, just time for us to get real in here. Does your prayer life resemble that of Jesus? Prayer for the disciples. Why not? You love your kids more than... Do you really think you love your kids more than Jesus?
[39:00] And if you didn't, and if you know that you didn't, then you should make your prayer his prayer for us as disciples. And I'll ask you to join me at the altar today during our invitation and to say, God, I am spending time in prayer with you right now for my kids and I plan to continue to do so.
[39:17] For the rest of you in here, those are not dads. Ladies, some will be dads someday. You're not off the hook today. This was not a prayer of dads to his kids, but Jesus' prayer for you. Are you involved in the things that were challenging the dads to make sure their kids are involved in?
[39:33] You're living a safe, worldly, missionless life? Or are you having a risky but protected, a joyful life, even though you're in a world that hates you and living life that is on mission? Dads, we cannot say no to the role that Jesus has put us in and the mission that God gave us and think that we are truly saying yes to our role as dads.
[39:53] Simply put, you cannot be disobedient to the God of heaven and the mission that he gave us and be an obedient father and husband in your family. We need to say yes to him and the role that he has given us in this world and then we are able to say yes to the role that he has given us there.
[40:11] Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word, Lord. I'm asking that you will bring conviction in the hearts of men as you have brought it in my heart this week, Lord. I'm praying for dads to find their place at this altar as the piano player will begin to play, Lord.
[40:23] I'm asking that men will take their challenge, Lord. They will live courageously and that they will challenge their kids to be involved in this wonderful mission. That they will have joy and they will invite their kids into that same joy.
[40:36] That they will have a business they're involved in, a global business, and they'll invite their kids to be involved in it. Father, I also pray for those in here who are not dads. I pray that they will look at what Jesus prayed for the disciples and they may recognize that they are disobedient to your command of their lives and that they will come right now and join us at the altar and they will say, I have lived a life that does not have your mission.
[40:59] I have lived a life that has not been in the word. I've lived a life that did not have joy. Lord, make this a day of getting real with you so that we can be the dads that you desire us to be and the disciples you have called us to be.
[41:12] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred, Georgia. For more information, log on to www.visionbaptist.com where you can find our service times, location, contact information, and more audio and video recordings.