Podcast Introduction It’s Gospel Saturday, we’ll be continuing in the  Gospel of John, and we’ll read chapters 16-18.  I’ll have some comments after the reading for you. And of course I’ll have an “On This Date In Church History” segment for you, too. I’m calling today’s episode “Jesus’ Prayer For You.”   Design: Steve Webb | Photo: Krisztus az olajfak hegyen Christus am olberg Comments on John 17 Did you know that there is a prayer by Jesus about YOU in the Bible? How exciting is that? Jesus prayed for you before his crucifixion.  He knew he was soon going to be betrayed and turned over to be beaten and hung on a cross. He knew that His purpose would soon be fulfilled, and He prayed to the Father about many things. And you and I were on His mind.  Jesus’ prayer in John 17 is a marvelous look into the mind of our Savior in the hours before the sacrifice that would change the eternities of all who believe in Him. The events of the coming hours will be the fulfillment of His mission…the reason He gave up the glories of Heaven to be born in a manger some 33 years earlier.  He prayed to the Father, as a Son. “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You…” There had never been a moment when Father and Son were out of touch with one another. Think of it. Jesus was with the Father from eternity past until this very moment when He prayed this prayer. And He knew that in just a few short hours, the Father would turn His face away from Him when all the sins of the world would be placed on Him. Jesus would be completely alone for the first time in all of eternity.  And yet…He thought to pray for you and for me. First He prayed for the disciples, that they would be one, as Jesus and the Father were one. And that they would have His (Jesus’) joy fulfilled in them. What a prayer! The joy of Jesus fulfilled in them. Think what that means. A perfect, pure joy. A joy that comes for knowing that you have perfect oneness with the Father. That there is *nothing* separating you from Him. Pure joy.  And Jesus prayed that the Father would not take the disciples out of the world, but that He would keep them (or protect them) from the evil one…from compromise, from falling away, from anything that would keep them from running the race to a victorious finish. And Jesus prayed that the Father would sanctify the disciples by the Father’s truth. To sanctify is to set apart for God’s purpose. Jesus said, “…by Your truth.” How do we know what God’s truth is? By reading His Word, hearing it, understanding it and appl