Why are we here and what are we doing? 2016 YG Kick off Why are we here and what are we doing?

Why are you here? What should you expect from yg? John 17

John 17:9-23 “I am praying for them…I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world...Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in your name…But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one…Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.

John 17:9-23 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. I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.”

Jesus main desire Will the pleasures or the rejection of the world pull the disciples from God’s truth and Christ’s love? Or Will Jesus’ disciples’ be kept in God’s truth and the fellowship of God’s love? Jesus has prayed as His central prayer and desire that God, by His perfect, infinite power, would keep you in His name.

Three things that mark those kept by god First, Jesus prays that His people would be sanctified by God’s truth. Look at what Jesus says: “I have given them your word…Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.” God sets us apart and purifies us in two ways. He says that we are sanctified by the truth, which is God’s word. He says that He consecrates himself for our sake so that we may be sanctified.

Three things that mark those kept by god If God’s word is truth, and God’s truth is what sanctifies us and enables us to be who God wants us to be, then our time together in youth group should be rooted in God’s word, aimed at growing in the truth. And if Jesus’ death and resurrection is what brings us to the truth, applies the truth, and makes the truth effective in our lives, then we should be continually and repeatedly focused on and looking to Jesus and what He did for us.

Three things that mark those kept by god Second, Jesus prays that His people would be one together. “Holy Father, keep them in your name…that they may be one, even as we are one.” And then, “The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one.” He prays three times that we would be one just as the Father and the Son are one. Jesus uses comprehensive language – he prays that they may ALL be one.

Three things that mark those kept by god You have something more significant in common with everyone here than you do with any non-Christian friend, because you are both united in the family of Christ You are called to show up here with the intention of encouraging, loving, blessing each other, not just finding a fun time by hanging with a few people you enjoy who also like you Our unity is especially evident when very different people show this love to each other because they are united in Jesus.

Three things that mark those kept by god Third, Jesus prays that the world would know the truth of God’s love and salvation in Jesus because of the unity of His people. “As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.” “May they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” “May they become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.” By growing and being sanctified by God’s truth, and by being united together as His people, we will be a testimony to the world that God the Father sent Christ as the Savior of the world