we are not of this world

John 17. As part of this series on how to live a healthy life the Pastor has emphasized prayer as an essential tool frankly to cope with whatever the enemy or life or the world throws at us, essential is prayer, and he has used as an example this couple of weeks the prayer of Jabez. Today we continue this theme using as an example a prayer raised by none other than our Lord Jesus.

My brothers: first of all I imagine that the main ministry of heaven is intercession. Do you know that prayer is a two-way street? it is a dialogue. Their prayers go up to heaven but the Word also promises that the Lord, Romans declares, "is seated at the right hand of the Father making intercession for us." The letter to the Hebrews describes him as the great High Priest offering prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears.

Just as prayers go up before the Throne of God and in heaven, prayers are sent as well. What's more, I believe that praise and intercession are interchangeable in heaven, major tones and minor tones that come out of the heavenly host and that mingle before the Throne of God like a great energy, a great touchable, palpable cloud that does not we can imagine here on this Earth, but there it is the language of heaven, prayer, intercession. And there is Jesus sitting at the right hand of the Father, the great intercessor.

My brother, haven't you imagined what that would be like? When the Lord begins to intercede for us, what will He say? When he leans down to his Father and speaks in your ear, what will he say? what does Jesus think of you? what does he say about you? Have you ever thought about that? When Jesus begins to intercede with the Father for us, what will he say, what will he think?

This sentence gives us an idea why examine this sentence? Two reasons. First, very important: so that you know what God sees when He fixes His Eyes on you, so that you know the depth of love and passion. If it were someone other than Jesus I dare to call it "the obsession that He feels for His creation."

The Greeks had to invent a word to describe it because there was no other word in their language to describe this indescribable emotion that the Father, that the Son, that the Holy Spirit feel for His creation. And one of Satan's most damaging lies is: "God doesn't see you, God doesn't understand you, God doesn't care, God has ignored you." That is what burns us the most in moments of trial.

Not so much the test. The test only weakens us and opens the way, and opens the way for Satan at that moment to introduce his dagger which is: "God has abandoned you", that is his purpose, that is his great lie and today in the Presence of the Lord he I deny it so that you hear that lie and can identify it in its moments of trial, and know, when that moment arrives, that it is the opposite. Hear in this prayer the depth of love and divine concern that Jesus has for us and rebuke the devil in Jesus Name.

Number two: so that we learn from this prayer and imitate this prayer, so that we learn from this prayer and imitate this prayer. In English we call the prayer that the Lord shared in Matthew chapter 5 "The Lord's prayer" "The Jesus prayer" but in many ways we could call John chapter 17 the Jesus prayer as well. It is described as the priestly prayer, but whatever you call it, the Lord Jesus is our coach and teacher in prayer and intercession. Learn to ask for yourself and your loved ones what Jesus asked for you, let's imitate this prayer. Go home and pray for yourself and your loved ones just like Jesus, say amen to the Jesus prayer and let's go home and pray the same.

Now, this prayer is made up like many of our prayers, the vast majority of our prayers are made up of that and that's good for us to know, it's made up of statements and requests, statements and requests. Statements, things that Jesus declared about Himself and about us, and requests. Let's imitate it.

First, what did Jesus declare about Himself? and the first thing we see here is that Jesus has all authority, Jesus has all authority, remember that when you pray. Verse 1: "These things Jesus spoke and looking up to heaven he said: Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son so that Your Son may also glorify You, as You have given him power over all flesh to give eternal life." to all that You gave and this is eternal life, that they know You the only true God; And I have glorified You on Earth, I have finished the Work that You gave me to do; Now then, Father, glorify Me You by your side in that glory that I had with you before the world was." Powerful.

First, first my brothers: let's abandon any idea of Jesus as the humble carpenter rabbi or as the benign and neutral philosopher of the first century, I don't know where that came from, I don't know where that idea came from, it didn't come from Jesus, it's not the what He says about Him. He declared and we should declare to everything in heaven and on earth, and under the earth who He is when we pray.

Address your prayers to the proper party, direct your prayer to the right person. That's why we make those statements. And He declares here that he has authority "over all flesh" understand that. He is creator and sustainer with authority over all created beings, living or dead and yet to be born. Nothing moves, a star doesn't shine, a leaf doesn't fall unless He commands it. This is full power, know it. A full and eternal power, eternal, sharing according to this Word: "Glory to the Father even before the world was" that is Jesus, that is Jesus.

Already in these five verses we see a Jesus with all authority over all created beings since before the world was and as long as the universe lasts, that's Jesus. That is our Jesus. A fearsome presence. The God of the universe made flesh and know: the last authority, the last authority granting eternal life to whom He wants, to whom He sees fit. How's that for power?

To understand the love of God my brothers, to understand His Grace and His mercy, it is first necessary that we understand that terrible authority. He first has to inspire awe, oh! as they say in English, a terrible Presence. An amazing God.

But it's true, this fearsome God is a God of relationships. A God eternally searching our hearts, eternally communicating with His creation and inviting us into a relationship because that really is eternal life, that is eternal life. It's not just living for endless days, I would find that boring. It is about an eternal relationship with the Creator of all that has ever been.

He himself defines it. Do you want to know what eternal life is? "This is eternal life;" "that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent." Eternal life is knowing Him and being known by Him.

He takes this relationship very seriously, very seriously, I would say that it is one of the things that Jesus takes most seriously because just as He makes statements about Him, be prepared for what He declares about us. First He declares that we belong to Him, we are His. Verse 6: "I have manifested your name to the men whom you gave me out of the world, they were yours and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they have known that all the things you have given me come from you."

The scene here my brothers is: a few hours before Jesus was handed over to the authorities, nailed to a cross and crucified, and He knew it. However, his biggest concern was not that, do you see? Here, before that hour came, He delivers His greatest treasure at the Father's feet, He delivers His treasure at His feet, and that treasure, a people that He treasures who keep His Word and that He considers His belonging, and if that You must know that Jesus treasures you my brother and that we are not of the world. That is the next statement about us: we are not of the world.

Verse 8: "For the words that you gave me I have given to them and they received them, and they have truly known that I came from You, and they have believed that You sent me. I pray for them, I pray not for the world but for those who you gave because they are yours, and all mine is yours and yours is mine, and I have been glorified in them" first look at verse 8 my brothers, "Because the words you gave me I have given them and they received them, and have known truly that I came from You, and they have believed that You sent me."

If verse 8 my brother, my friend, if verse 8 describes you, that is, if you have ever declared: "I receive you as the Lord sent from heaven to save me and I receive your Word not as suggestions but as the law of my life" if you have said that, if you have done that, if you have declared that not as mere words but in your heart and the Lord knows how to distinguish it and so do you, you know something and it is very important: a consequence of a declaration is that you have chosen a field. You have just taken a side in an everlasting controversy.

The Lord clearly distinguishes here: I pray for them, I do not pray for the world. The cosmos is the Greek word here, the anonymous human system, the human race in general; I do not pray for the cosmos, I do not pray for the world, I pray for those you gave me because they are Yours.

We live and I want to point this out, I know that we live in a pluralistic world that perhaps dislikes these terms but this is the reality, that is the inescapable spiritual reality. According to this word the universe is divided into two camps: those who recognize the Lordship of Christ and submit to His Word He recognizes them as His and says: I have been glorified in them, we will explain what that means. And then there are those who oppose Him and resist His Lordship.

My brother: newsflash, there is no such thing as neutral ground, there is no such thing as neutral ground. We are not allowed to live in a no man's land swearing allegiance to the principles of the Kingdom while using the rules of the Kingdom when it suits us, neither camp will allow you that. The world will not allow you that. The Kingdom of heaven will not allow you that. Either we are one thing or the other or we will fail at both, that's life.

Author Cis Louis wrote that those who choose to follow Christ are like forming a new species of human being, a new level of evolution if you believe that upon which Christ pours out His glory and through which God executes His purposes on earth. Land. In other words, there are these people who say: count on me, I am Yours, you came to save me, Your Word is law for me; those people become in the eyes of Jesus, special, those people He incorporates into his divine plan. Those people He registers and sets apart for eternal life. Those people He moves through them as Himself, He glorifies Himself through them, "I have glorified myself through them." We are part of His divine plan and we are not of this world as this Word declares.

And if you believe this and have said amen, you should know that this implies one thing: those who do oppose the Lordship of Christ and seek to destroy it will identify you as his and will also target you. It is a compliment that Satan gives you, you should know that, a compliment from Satan.

That is why, my brother, if you came to the altar and you took it seriously, you are seeking to live according to the Word and your life has become a little more complicated, don't be surprised, what's more, I congratulate you: you are doing something well, you are doing something good. What's more: welcome to life, finally evidence that you live, evidence that God is in your life, that he has taken you seriously, that you have a relationship with God, that you are a threat to Satan; you Samuel, the son of Carlos threatening Satan, imagine, it is a compliment.

But don't be scared. Do you think that Jesus did not think of that? He thought of everything! He asked about it. What did He ask for us and what should we also ask for our Church? three things: protect them, sanctify them, unite them and use them. Protect them, sanctify them, unite them and use them.

Let's go to verse 12: "When I was with them in the world" declares the Lord "I kept them in your name, those whom you gave me I kept and none of them was lost except the son of perdition so that the scripture might be fulfilled , but now I come to you and speak this in the world so that they have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them your word and the world hated them because they are not of the world as I am not of the world, I do not ask that you take them away of the world but keep them from evil."

Know this, what does this Word say? while walking on Earth Jesus remained "the good Shepherd" of his disciples. In other words, this is actually translated spiritually, spiritually the Presence of Jesus constituted an impenetrable barrier that the enemy could not cross. These disciples were still very green, very new, not prepared for the big leagues and Jesus there with his rod and his staff saying: Don't you dare, don't mess around, don't mess around, deal with me, pick someone of your own size, you want this? do not mess.

And Satan tried, tried. But look, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't cross with one exception: one whose heart never belonged to Christ and even he, Judas, ended up fulfilling God's purposes in Jesus. Notice my brother: no one opposes the Kingdom of God and gets away with it just in case. Even Judas advanced the interests of the Kingdom of God.

Jesus says: "But now I am going to you" but now I am going to You. Now what? Without Jesus there is no way to confront hell, we are flesh. The Word declares that we do not fight against blood or flesh in Ephesians, the weapons of our militia are not of this world declares Paul in Corinthians, without Christ we are easy prey and that is why Jesus intercedes for our protection.

This is one of my favorite moments of this prayer. I can almost hear the Voice of the Father, there is a space in the dialogue in which I almost hear the Voice of the Father asking him: do you want me to get them out of there, to snatch them away and have them here with us at once?

For Star Trek fans including me, Spot died this week, praise my heart, I look forward to seeing him, and look, it's like God said to him: do You want Me to take them at once? No, leave them there for now. He is, the restrained power of Jesus, the same one who said: If I can call I don't know how many legions of angels at My disposal and at that moment if it had occurred to Jesus the rapture occurs there, but the Lord had other plans like this no, leave them there, they are useful to me there for now. I do not ask that you remove them from the world but that you keep them from evil.

My brother: learn to pray like this for yourself and your family as the Lord taught us in the Our Father, as Jabez prayed in last week's prayer, deliver me from evil so that it does not harm me, I suggest that we learn to pray like this . Lord you know me better than myself, you know my weaknesses where I am open to evil, protect me from the enemy, protect my loved ones from the enemy, protect my children from the enemy, cover me, cover us with Your blood, deliver me from evil. If the Lord asked for your protection, ask yourself too.

Then He said: "Father, sanctify them" verse 16. "They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in your truth, your Word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world and for them I I sanctify myself so that they too may be sanctified in the truth."

By the way, sanctify them and agasio throughout this passage is the same word in Greek. But in Greek as well as in English the same word can have two meanings depending on its content. The same word agasio when referring to Jesus is used in the same way that it was used for a creature, a chosen animal that was used as an expiatory sacrifice, that is, the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world, a sheep, a lamb, a goat, whatever it is in them to sacrifice, was sanctified, set aside for the use of the expiatory sacrifice. In this case, the last case was Jesus, set aside for that.

But when it refers to them or in this case we indicate "separated" or "separated", both separated from the world and separated for God, in this world but not from the world, separated from the world but separated for God's purposes or rather as the Lord makes clear here, separated and sent. When does sanctification begin brothers? sanctification begins brothers when you raise your hand and say "from this day on I belong to Christ and I ask the Lord to separate me from living in the world without him." From that moment we are separated, we are separated.

But we still arrive with our bumps, we arrive with our troubles, bad habits, and to the extent that we learn to walk in the truth, we will be sanctified. Sanctify them in Truth, Your Word is Truth.

As the Word becomes the truth of your life, as the Word becomes the truth that you live because you say: I avoid that because God condemns it, I believe that as God because God promises it. You practice sanctification as you walk under the truth and are set apart under that sense, sanctified. In good Spanish "changed" you will change, not only you but your world around you, your family, your work, your office, your friends, your marriage, your children, the Kingdom of God advances to these areas as you change, as you are sanctified.

Do you want to change the world? sanctify yourself and you will see how quickly the world around you will change. Let us learn to pray: Lord, sanctify me in Your Truth, Your Word is the Truth, even if the world does not see it that way, I am not of the world, I am Yours, I give you my world Lord, I give you my world.

And then the Lord asks: unite them, use them. In verse 11 He declares: "And I am no longer in the world" sorry, "and I am no longer in the world but these are in the world and I am coming to you. Father, keep those whom you have given me in your name for that they be" so that they be what? "as so we." In verse 24 "as we are one."

That word one, do you want to know what it is in the Greek? the word hen. Do you want to know what hen is? the number one, the basic number, indivisible, without fractions, "so that they may be one just as we are one or as Jesus declares in John 10:30 "I and my Father are one" implies that in a way, in a way we are one in the sense analogous to God the Father and God the Son being one, not in deity, not in deity but one in mind, one in purpose, one in vision.We become in other words an extension of Christ and therefore God He has you so much in mind.

What's more, Scripture is more radical than that: we become part of the Body of Christ. Not an extension, members of the Body of Christ, I can't describe it more radical than that.

And I say to us, this is not merely those eleven disciples. Verse 20: "But I do not pray only for these eleven but also for those who will believe in me through their Word" in the Lion of Judah Congregation in 2015 "so that they may all be one" all may be one, "like You O Father in me and I in you, may they also be one in us, so that the world may believe that you sent me."

Throughout this prayer the Lord was thinking of you, thinking of you, interceding for you from now on. Does that rock you? I couldn't write this without crying. For us.

His request was not that we heal stadiums or raise the dead, but that we be one. All of that would also happen if we were one. However, if we were not difficult, something we did would be worthwhile, and Jesus knew this very well. Not only Him, every New Testament writer: Paul, Peter, John, James, read his letters, First, Second, Third John, most of James' letters, all of that he emphasized in his letters, it's a big deal.

If there was something that would prevent the work of the Kingdom of God and that would frustrate the purposes of the Kingdom of God for you and in you, it would be if Satan managed to separate you from the Body of Christ or prevent you from playing your role in the Kingdom of God, among so many passages. Echoing this is this passage in Ephesians chapter 4 verse 4 which states: "One body and one spirit as you were also called to one hope of your calling." One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all" verse 11 "He himself made some apostles, others prophets, others evangelists, others into pastors and teachers in order to perfect the saints for the work of the ministry and for the edification of the body of Christ until all" all, not one is lost, "we all arrive at the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God and a perfect man.

Jesus wants nothing less than your perfection to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Samuel, how are we going to achieve that? Know? Jesus left nothing to chance, He left nothing to chance.

Verse 22: "The glory that you gave me I have given them that they may be one just as we are one; I in them and you in me that they may be perfect in unity, so that the world may know that you sent me and that you have sent them." loved them as you have loved me." Jesus left nothing to chance.

The glory you gave me I have given them. The same spirit of God that through which Jesus ministered on this Earth now dwells in us, now dwells in you. Jesus equipped us with a resource that would ensure that we would remain one no matter what the devil did and that at the same time would fulfill the purposes of God in us, the Holy Spirit, that is why what the Pastor proposes to do is so important, to invest a month, maybe two, with those who are experiencing their faith for the first time or their faith is blossoming for a deep impartation of the Holy Spirit, the glory that Jesus had dwelling in you how to navigate it, how to use it?

Because His purpose is that this world be saved through the impossible things that God has done in you. He forgave me, he healed me, he freed me, he restored me, he made me anew, he used me and if all that were not enough, you declare: he loved me.

The world will not be able to believe it because even here the Lord longed for one thing above all and that is His true goal, His true purpose and if this is not part of your mind, if it is not part of your heart in the Name of Jesus made room in his mind and heart for this truth: what He longed for more than anything is to see you, that simple, that simple. Love is simple and the love that God has for you is that simple, He wants to see you, see you hug you and welcome you home after completing His mission.

Verse 24: "Father, I want those whom you have given me to be with me where I am so that they may see the glory that you have given me because you have loved me from the foundation of the world" since the foundation of the world He is hatching this plan , from the foundation of the world He knew that he was going to create you and He knew that he wanted you by his side, and that that moment had a purpose, and that you shared His glory, and that when the angels glorified Him He could say: amen good faithful servant I share part of this victory with you and with you, and with you, you are part of this son, we are one.

It is one thing to hear that Word from Samuel Acevedo, when you hear it from Jesus: "Son, I was waiting for you. I have made your name known to him and I will make it known even so that the love with which you have loved me May Jesus be in them in the Name of Jesus and I in them."

When praying brother never lose sight of this. Welcome to March huh? take advantage of the winter while you can, spring is coming, then summer and autumn, but I have news for you, if we get to that, another winter is coming, that's the cycle.

This is not home, you know? This is not home, this isn't home. With all due respect to Guatemalans, we are waiting here for the eternal spring, the eternal spring, I can't wait. We are not of this world, this isn't home. Don't get too used to it, it's not home.

Do you have a moment? Sister Anita has a vision that she wants to share.

Anita: I saw an army entering this Church and I saw how they were piling up on all the chairs, they were standing all over the house and I said: Lord, who are these, are they the people that come from outside, is your army, who are they? these sir? And he told me: This is my army that is taking its position, I am waiting for My people to take their position.

And He told me: I want My people to take authority over the Earth, it is time, He told me, for my people to take authority over the Earth, and one of the strategies that the enemy uses so that we do not take authority over the Earth are the Earth's trials, and many times we feel so burdened, so many problems that we have, that we cannot look further because the only focus we have is the trial that is before us, and the Lord said to me: If you knew the resources that they had to be able to solve those problems would not be as focused on those problems.

They would be saying: it is that I have the resources of heaven, and if I have a proof, it is my Father who has the solution, then I am not going to be praying asking: Lord, what do I do, Lord, what am I going to do with this? asking this way because I can't focus on anything else, because I'm so sunk in my situation that I can't see beyond.

And the Lord told me: it is time, it is time that we look at those burdens, those problems that each one of us has in a different way, that we say: the resources of heaven are with us, the Holy Spirit is in us. If we have received the Lord, if we have been baptized in His Spirit, we no longer have to pray: Lord, Lord, Lord, no. He told me: I want My people to take authority, and when I heard the Pastor preaching I said: thank you Lord because it is confirmation.

It is time that we take authority over our situation, authority over our neighborhoods, authority over our city, this is our city. The Lord has given us weapons, we have the resources of heaven, and we stop saying that we do not have when we have all the resources of heaven. He tells me: ask and he will give you. If your son asks you for something, are you going to give him something bad, are you going to give him a stone, a scorpion? No, you are going to give him the best of you. Imagine your heavenly Father wanting to give you the Kingdom of Heaven, wanting to give you all the resources you need and not live like a poor person, like someone who doesn't have what they need.

The Lord is speaking today, he is giving us a challenge that it is time for us to move forward, it is not time for us to stay in kindergarten, it is time for us to look and think further, how can I conquer this city, how Can I conquer my neighborhood? Lord You are going to solve this because I am going to put my focus on something else. I am not going to be fighting, fighting for my wife, my children, no. I am going to focus on what is important, these things You are going to solve Lord, somehow You are going to teach me in Your Word how to solve things, I am going to get more into the gap I am going to seek more from the Lord, I am going to fast more, I am going to seek the Lord more, because the more one seeks the more one finds, seeks more, finds more. Seek more find more. How much do you want, do you want a little or do you want a lot?

If you want a little, He will give you a little. If you want a lot He is going to give you the Kingdom of Heaven but be someone who fights, be someone who says: I want something more from my life, I not only want this but I want more from my life, I want the Kingdom of Heaven to be open in my favor because my Father is the governor of all heaven. Ask and He will give it to you.