Grace Fellowship Church Pastor/Teacher Jim Rickard Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2012

Doxology Praise God, from whom all blessings flow; Praise Him, all creatures here below; Praise Him above, ye heavenly host; Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.— Amen.

John 17 The Great High Priestly Prayer of our Lord!

John 17:6-19 John 17:13 Sharing the Happiness of God! +H

John 17:13a, “But now I myself come face to face to You.” (Via His impending Ascension)

This also shows the intimacy of prayer, as all prayers should be intimate between the one praying and God the Father.

Principles: 1. All prayers are directed to God the Father and God the Father only. John 15:16; Mat 6:6, 8-9

We do not go through any intermediaries. Yet the Holy Spirit and God the Son act as intercessory on our behalf, Rom 8:26, 34.

2. Our prayer life should be one of intimacy with God the Father. That intimacy includes confidence in your personal relation with Him. Heb 4:16; 1 John 5:13-15

Heb 4:16, “Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

John 17:13b, “And I kept on speaking (teaching) these things (Bible Doctrine) while in the world.”

John 17:13c, “In order that they might keep on having My joy (+H) made full in themselves.”

Joy = CHARA, “joy, gladness, happiness, etc.” This is the +H of our Lord Jesus Christ that comes from having God’s Word resident within your soul.

Inner happiness is designed for the believer to have all of the time that he is on this earth.

The Subjunctive Mood says, happiness is potential. As a Christian it is strictly potential, based on whether or not you have God’s Word resident within your soul.

“My Joy” - It is not just any type of joy that comes from the various stimuli of life. It is the +H that Jesus had based on having built His ECS by means of the Word and Spirit.

“Made full” - Participle Verb PLEROO, “to make full, or to complete.” Perfect, Passive, Accusative

Intensive Perfect, emphasizes the continuous results or present state produced by past action.

The Past action: inhale of Bible doctrine through GAP. The Continuous results: the erection of an ECS that means continuous happiness.

The Passive Voice, the disciples receive the action of the verb. We receive +H by taking in and applying God’s Word in faith. Therefore, the believer receives inner happiness through GAP.

A.T. Robertson: “That they may keep on having Christ’s joy in their faithfulness, realized in themselves.”

PLEROO with +H means: 1. To fill up a deficiency. Inner happiness (+H), joy, fills up a deficiency in life. Phil 4:11-12; Heb 13:5-6

2. To fully possess. Inner happiness fully possesses the believer during the various functions of his priesthood. It fully possesses in the ECS.

3. To fully influence. The ECS and its resultant happiness can fully influence you in all aspects of life.

4. To fill with a certain quality. Inner happiness is a certain quality based on God’s Word in your soul, having Divine norms and standards.

It comes from the filling of the Spirit, Gal 5:22, and from the ECS, John 17:13.

PLEROO with CHARA: John 15:11, “These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.”

John 16:24, “Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made full.”

1 John 1:4, “These things we write, so that our joy may be made complete.” This emphasizes the abiding permanence of the joy.

Phil 2:2 - how joy is obtained, “Make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.”

Grace Fellowship Church Tuesday, January 3, 2012 Tape # Jesus Prays for His Disciples Sharing the Happiness of God Great High Priestly Prayer, Part 52 John 17:13; 15:11; 16:24; Phil 2:2; 4:11-12; Gal 5:22 James H. Rickard Bible Ministries 2012