John Chapter 17 - Jesus the Prayer

Let’s Get Started

John 17:1-2

Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, 2 as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him.

Glory Be

Key Point - “I have overcome the world,” Jesus declared to His disciples (John 16:33nkjv), and His prayer illustrates that fact. As He prayed for Himself, Jesus focused on glorifying the Father - turning the spotlight of attention on Him. It was time for Jesus to die. His whole ministry on earth had led to this point in time. He left heaven to become a man for the sole purpose of dying for our sins, so we can have eternal life with God. Jesus’ request was not a selfish one like any of our prayers for ourselves. Instead, He asked God to draw attention to the supreme sacrifice of Himself so that He, in turn, could focus people’s attention on the Father.

John 17:3-5

3 And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. 4 I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. 5 And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.

Giving God Glory

Something to ponder - At the end of His earthly life, Jesus was able to say He had completed the work God gave Him to do. The apostle Paul said the same thing: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7nkjv). Will you be able to say the same thing when you get to the end of your life?

God doesn’t leave us in the dark when it comes to knowing the work he wants us to do.

Micah 6:8

He has shown you, O man, what is good;

And what does the Lord require of you

But to do justly,

To love mercy,

And to walk humbly with your God?

Matthew 28:19-20

19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

Hebrews 13:15-16

15 Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. 16 But do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.

James 1:27

Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.

John 17:6-8

6 “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. 7 Now they have known that all things which You have given Me are from You. 8 For I have given to them the words which You have given Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that You sent Me.

Know It Alls

Names of God

Elohim Creator

Jehovah Self-existent One, I Am

El Shaddai Almighty God 

Adonai Lord, Master

Jehovah-Jireh God provides

Jehovah-Rophe God heals

Jehovah-Shalom God is peace

Jehovah-Rohi God my shepherd

John 17:9-10

9 “I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. 10 And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them.

Community Property People

John 17:11-12

11 Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are. 12 While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.

The Name that Protects

John 17:13

But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves.

Bring on the Joy

Nehemiah 8:10

10 Then he said to them, “Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”

Psalm 16:11

You will show me the path of life;

In Your presence is fullness of joy;

At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Balloon Experiment

Accept Jesus today

Romans 10:9

That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved