Sent Them - John 17:16-19

John 17:16-19 ESV 

They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.

We are in the world, but not of the world. It is the truth that makes the separation, that divides the light from the darkness. God sent His Son into the world for this purpose and the Son sends us out into the world for this same purpose. 

He has fulfilled all holiness that we might be holy. We have become the sent ones of God to be the children of light, the light of the truth. 

We have become one with the way, the truth, and the light. 

Glorified In Them - John 17:9-10

John 17:9-10 ESV 

I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them.

He prays for those not of the world, but for those from the world. To become the full and exact image of God, He purposed that we begin in these jars of clay and be fired in the furnace of life to become sons of God. We join Him as He is, for He is the first of many. He has been where we are and is present even now as we wait for His return. 

We are joined in the glory of the Lord. This is confirmed by the giving of the Holy Spirit into the heart of each believer. We are glorified by God because He is in our midst, a real and present comfort in the seat of our existence and the source of our life. 

The Words You Gave Me - John 17:7-8

John 17:7-8 ESV 

Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me.

Jesus speaks the word of God because He is God and the word of God from the beginning. 

The disciples experience the word of God uttered from the human lips of the living God. Before the giving of the Holy Spirit, few had heard directly from God. Now we each are called individually by God. Upon acceptance of His call we are sealed in the Holy Spirit and have our hearts opened to the voice of God. In our mouths is the word of God and its confession the appropriation of His salvation. 

Experiencing the joy of the Spirit and learning to be sensitive to His presence and voice is an ongoing process in our walk with Him. We are given the same intimate relationship with the Lord as the apostles achieved at Pentecost. This is the ultimate encounter and union with God. This is becoming one with God. 

Rise, Let Us Go - John 14:29-31

John 14:29-31 ESV 

And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe. I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me, but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here.

The ruler of this world has no claim on the Son of Man. The ruler of this world has no claim on the sons of God, for Christ is given for and to each believer. We are sealed by His Holy Spirit. The shadow of death has no claim on those who walk in the light of God. Our feet remain in this world where we have become stars in the night sky that shed the light from the kingdom of heaven to the world below. 

We show our love for God with our obedience. Our walk with God will take us from here to there through the wilderness and into the promised land of our inheritance. 

Rise up and let's go!

All That I Have Said - John 14:24-26

John 14:24-26 ESV 

Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father's who sent me.

“These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

Jesus is the Father's word. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the Father. Jesus is the word and the word is God. 

This is true because God is true. 

We Will Come - John 14:22-23

John 14:22-24 ESV 

Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father's who sent me.

Jesus manifests in the body of the believers. He has taken on our flesh. He and the Father manifest in the Holy Spirit. In this way they manifest in our earth, filling us with the life and shape of God. 

I Will Not Leave You - John 14:18-20

John 14:18-20 ESV 

“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.

How long did Jesus leave us? How long was a little while? Between the time He ascended into heaven and He returned in the Holy Spirit. He is in us, you and me. 

We have not been left behind as orphans, but gathered as sons and daughters of the living God. He makes His home on earth in the Church, in the the temple of the hearts of believers who worship God in spirit. We live because we partake in His life. 

The time has come in which true worship does not take place on this or another mountain, but of spirit worshiping in Spirit. This is what God seeks. Seek and you will find this to be the case.