Intercessory Prayer

Well, good morning, and uh thank you once again for having me.

Uh it's really I I bring you, I hope what you'll receive is pretty exciting news, and that is that not only are these extraordinary times in which we live, but unlike any other time in my lifetime, I'm seeing God moving his church to pray.

And I think it's because the times in front of us are gonna be so challenging that those of us who make it are gonna be the ones who know how to cry out to God quickly.

Are you with me?

Oh, by the way, those of you who are not at the seminar, do you mind if I laugh?

Sometimes I just have a lot of fun laughing.

Is that okay?

Now, let me ask you this before we look at the passage today, and that is this.

Imagine yourself getting some very bad news from a doctor, from a family member, and it's that kind of news that just hits you, you go numb.

And you know beyond a shadow of a doubt, you are in deep trouble.

Some of you have already gotten that news somewhere along life's way, but for a lot of us it's still out in the distance.

But let me ask you this.

When that news comes, if you could have one person in your life, one person on planet Earth praying for you, okay?

Let's just say that was the case.

You could only have one.

Is someone coming to mind right now whom you would ask?

Now, can I ask you, and is it okay if I ask for a response, Scott?

Is this okay?

Can I okay.

Um may I ask you, don't give me a name, but what is it about that person that made you want to pick him or her?

What qualities were there about them?

If I could only have one person praying for me, planet Earth, when the bad news comes, this is my guy.

What is it about that person?

And I'd love to hear from you.

I'm sorry?

Committed?

Okay, good.

Steadfast.

Good.

They're known, yes, they're known for being a prayer warrior.

Yes.

They love the father, yes.

What else?

Keeps track of results.

Yes, takes it seriously enough.

What else?

A caring heart, yes.

What else?

This is my guy, I know it, and it's because of these reasons.

There's one other I'm actually looking for.

These have been wonderful answers, but I'd love to hear somebody land on one more.

A childlike faith, yes, yes, very good.

Yes, they care about me.

They know you.

You're not just a name on a prayer list, it's someone who really knows you and who loves you, and you know will make a case for you before the Father.

Am I right?

Does that make sense?

You don't want to just be a name in the phone book or a social security number.

Dear Father, this morning I wish to pray for 434065.

No, you want to be known and you want to be loved.

That's what I find so amazing because that is the Father's heart.

And why do I say that?

Because Jesus said early on, he made it quite clear.

He said, I do what I see my father doing.

You with me?

I do what I see my father doing.

And so Jesus, on the last night of his life, when he slips away to pray, it is amazing what he's praying.

And it shows us not only the concern of Jesus, but the concern of the Father.

And the passage of John 17 that Pastor Scott wrote for us, something amazing happens, and that is this that up until now, Jesus has fashioned himself.

He has basically said that the key to understanding life with my father is you've got to learn how to become a child again.

And that was the main theme of our seminar.

But here, it shifts from child to friend.

Why?

Why does he shift from child to friend?

He also does it in the Gospel of Luke in chapter 11.

I think it's this.

If you're a child of your father, your father's pretty well obligated to look after you.

You know?

I mean, it just kind of comes with the territory.

We look out for our kids.

But a friend, a friend who intercedes for you, a friend who makes a case for you, that is a different story.

And so my first idea that I just want to share with you right here is that in Jesus, we not only see a praying friend, but we see a model for praying deeply from the heart.

If there's anything that comes out in John 17, it's that the heart of Jesus really is the heart.

And notice this: Jesus is not afraid to begin his final prayer of intercession.

He's not afraid to begin this in praying what's really on his heart.

And he's actually praying for himself.

In other words, we can tell Jesus has thought long and hard about this hour.

And he's thought long and hard about the agony he's about to have.

And what comes out is he says this, Father, with all my heart, as I face this agony, the one thing I want is to come back to the oneness that you and I had before I came.

Jesus is not afraid to pray what's really on his heart, and what's really on his heart is for the oneness that he had with his father before he came.

And what does this mean?

It means that if you're gonna be an intercessor, you're gonna have to learn how to be honest with your heart before your father.

Is that okay?

Does that make sense?

Does that throw anybody?

In other words, we're not just coming in and whipping through words on behalf of someone, but we're actually coming in with a motivation deep in the heart.

In other words, the disciples, what's about to happen, the heirs of the disciples are not just a punch list for Jesus.

He really is concerned about what's going to happen to him, what's going to happen to them, and what's going to happen to us as the heirs of the disciples.

You know what Jesus is doing?

It's a pattern you see throughout the Gospels.

He's slowing his life down.

He's taking a hard look at himself and at others.

And then he's moving to action by praying for them.

He's looking, he's feeling, and he's taking action.

And the action is serious prayer.

It's the slow, hidden, quiet work of the Spirit.

You know what amazes me about this is not only is Jesus honest about what's really on his heart, not only is he not afraid to begin his praying for others by praying for himself, but what amazes me is Hebrews 7.25.

Hebrews 7.25 says, consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him.

Now listen to this.

Since he always lives to make intercession for them.

And he says, I live for this.

This is what gives me energy.

This is what fires up my passion.

I live for this kind of interceding.

I love how Jesus does this.

After slowing down and reflecting, not only those key things, he's not afraid to come with his real heart.

He's not afraid to pray for himself.

But notice this Jesus is the praying friend, Jesus is the true intercessor, also makes a case for his friends.

He argues a case for them.

I love this.

Look at verse six.

Are you seeing it there?

Do you see what he's praying?

He's saying, Father, they have kept thy word.

Anyone else here want to go, what?

Is he praying for the same disciples that I'm reading about?

When I read about the disciples, they seem like really flawed guys.

I mean, at one point Jesus finds them arguing among themselves who is the greatest in Mark 9.

And he, you know, he walks up to them and they're arguing who's the greatest, and Jesus says, What are you guys talking about?

And they get very quiet.

You know, I mean they're just nailed and they know it.

And yet here is Jesus before his father, and he says, These guys, these guys have kept thy word.

Flawed?

Yes.

Imperfect?

Uh-huh.

Hot and cold?

Yeah.

In and out, mm-hmm.

But let me tell you, these are the guys that have kept thy word.

Did you have any idea Jesus sees you and me that way?

In other words, when he makes a case before the Father, folks, listen to this.

He bases it on the positives that he sees in your life.

He's not straining out the flaws like a bully would do.

He's basing it on the positives.

He knows you.

He knows what's truly positive about your life, and he's arguing that before the Father.

When you and I are called to the ministry of intercession, that's what we get to do.

Is that kind of neat?

Is that kind of fun?

You don't have to zero in on all their foibles.

In other words, in verse 7, Jesus said, these are not just nice guys, they really get who I am.

That's the criteria that Jesus is looking for in order to make a case for you.

Do you really get it?

Hello?

Do you really get who he is?

And if you do, thank God for that, because you've got the Lord Jesus arguing a case for you in front of your Father.

Amen.

Whoa.

He slows down and reflects.

He makes a case for why the father should help his friends.

And he basically says this father, keep these guys.

They're keepers.

Don't throw them back.

Keep them.

And then it really blows my mind.

I would have never dreamed this.

But then he says, Father, I long for them to enjoy the oneness that you and I have had.

Did you know that's in store for us?

Did you know we're not just going to be maidservants in the kingdom?

That would be fun in the kingdom of God.

I'd take that, wouldn't you?

But he says, oh no, you get to come sit at my table.

You get to come be with us.

You get to bear the family name and be a full heir.

You get to enjoy the oneness that we enjoy in the Trinity.

But then Jesus prays this for the disciples.

He says, you know, I really hope you'll protect them from the spirit of their age.

The spirit of the age.

I love this because I think if any of us can identify with the spirit of the age, if any of us in all of Christian history, it's you and I.

Because we live in a culture that's unraveling.

We live in a culture that's in a really bad mood.

Right?

You know, there is a low-level crankiness just all over Western civilization.

And Jesus says, I want you to protect them from the spirit of their age.

I kept them in your name, verse 12.

I'm giving them my joy, verse 13.

I've given them your word, verse 15.

In other words, uh, what Jesus is doing and praying for the disciples and what you and I get to do if we're going to be true intercessors in his church.

He's not just praying that they'll be healthy and happy so that they can get back to Netflix or fantasy football or YouTube.

He's praying for us, for our oneness, our joy, our maturity, that we'll just be odd when it comes to the spirit of the age.

But then notice this.

Pray for your friends with the end in mind.

Verses 20 through 26.

As Jesus prayed for all who would believe through the word of the disciples, that's us.

We're the heirs of the disciples.

Make sense?

I want to encourage you that when you pray for your friends, when you make a case before your father, I hope you'll begin praying for their heirs as well.

Does that make sense?

This is, uh-huh, this is, uh-uh.

In other words, if you're praying for me, I hope you're also praying for Ben, Lydia, and Emily.

Why?

Because I think it's easy for those of us who grew up in Christian homes to just take Christian parents for granted.

Right?

We kind of just grow up thinking the whole world is this way.

The whole world is crazy about me and loves me and will sacrifice for me.

And then they leave home and they go out there and they find the world doesn't care about you.

In fact, the world just as soon beat you up.

What you see in Jesus is he's praying for the lineage of his friends.

And we get to do that too.

So don't just pray for the spiritual maturity of the person.

Pray for the lineage for all those who come for all those who come from that person, their actual children, but also their ministry lineage.

And the next, a praying friend gets to keep in mind the joy of the oneness with the Father that Jesus has with his friends.

In other words, he wants us to be part of that glory that he and the Father and the Spirit enjoy.

That's a generous spirit.

When we take on the role of intercessor, we're praying out of a generous heart as well.

I love how Jesus ends all of this.

He says, I have made known your name, and I will continue to make it known.

So here's what I just want you to take out of this.

God is moving his church to pray in an extraordinary way.

But I'm concerned that we don't know how to pray as an intercessor the way Jesus did.

And the key to doing it the way Jesus did it really is to deliberately slow down.

Deliberately make efforts to get to know people that you're going to intercede for.

Reflect on their life as you pray for them, and then make a case for them based on what you do know.

A case based on them from the heart.

Does that make sense?

In making a case for them, the glory of God will become your primary argument.

I think the way the fathers just broke through my shell, if you will, was when I was uh lying in a hospital bed for 10 days after a cancer operation.

And uh because the cancer was in my tongue and mouth and whatnot, uh they they put a tracheotomy in.

You know what that is?

It's a hole in your neck where they put a breather.

And um result was I couldn't, I was not allowed to even try to speak, and I couldn't speak because no air would come over the vocal cords.

And you you find yourself in this very vulnerable position.

You really can't move, and you're just kind of there with your thoughts.

And I saw this great dichotomy, this great contrast as to how people visit people in the hospital.

I learned how to not visit people.

How do you not here here's what I found was, you know, now remember, I can't say anything.

I'm just there.

And I know that's uncomfortable for people.

But here's what didn't work.

Hey, Bob, I'm Jerry Jones at such and such Baptist Church.

I just came by to say if you need anything here, we love you, we're praying for you.

Bye.

Look.

I don't know what just happened there, but I think a guy was just in my room.

You know whom I really connected with?

You know who really encouraged my faith and lifted me up?

It was the nurse who would get down like this and would just look at me, make eye contact with me, and I would look through the bar of the bed, you know, right?

Look through the bar of the bed, and she would just look.

She deliberately slowed her life down.

She deliberately looked and connected with me.

And then she said, you know.

A lot of people are praying for you, don't you?

And you know you're gonna be just fine.

That nurse was Jesus.

Jerry or whatever is that, he was the spirit of the age.

What I want to encourage you to do is to become an intercessor like Jesus.

Slow down, look, connect.

And then when you do go and pray, don't be afraid to pray the burdens of your own heart while you make a case for them based on the positives that you've seen, all with the end in mind that the glory of God is coming.

That's Jesus.

That's our Savior.

Would you bow with me as we pray?

Oh Father, I pray.

Father, I pray you would make us like Jesus.

As you uh just bow quietly before him, is anyone coming to mind who needs intercession, intercessory prayer?

Would you just look at them in your mind's eye?

Now would you make a case for them before your father?

And I ask this in his name.

Amen.

I know many of us uh have had a chance to uh participate in the prayer conference and to enjoy uh the ministry uh that Bob has presented and uh this morning as well.

So can we can we give a round of applause just in appreciation to Bob and his ministry?

Thank you, Bob.

Really, really do appreciate his heart and his uh coming to us and ministering to us.

As we respond uh this morning in closing, I'd like you to turn to your hymnal to hymn number 428.

I need thee every hour.

Let us stand and sing together in closing.

Number 428.