Sanctified in the Truth

Sunday, January 11, 2015
John 17:6-21 KJV 

6 I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word. 7 Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee. 8 For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received [them], and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me. 9 I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine. 10 And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them. 11 And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we [are]. 12 While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled. 13 And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. 14 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. 18 As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. 19 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. 20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; 21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, [art] in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.

OBSERVATION QUESTIONS
1) What did our Lord tell the Father that He had done for His disciples? (v.6a)
2) What did Jesus tell the Father about His disciples? (v.6b-7)
3) What had Jesus given His disciples and what did they know as a result? (v.8)
4) What did Jesus say to identify those He was praying for? (v.9-11a)
5) What did Jesus pray and ask the Father to do for His followers then, and His followers to this present time? Why? (v.11b-21)

APPLICATION QUESTIONS
6) How do you know that you are a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ?
7) What distinguishes you from the people of the world?

LIFE LESSONS
8) Those who follow Christ are being sanctified (conformed to the image of Christ) by the word of God.
9) The people of the world and the people of God have the sames problems, but followers of Christ trust in Him alone, in times of trouble.