I want to be an answer to Jesus’ prayer!  Stop and think about it – in the Gospels, we find Jesus praying and asking God for very specific things.  One of the things that Jesus prays for is unity.  Read the Scriptures and it is obvious that unity is a pretty important thing.  It must be important if Jesus would take the time on the night before he was to die to actually pray and ask God to give it.

In John 17:20-26 we read:  20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.  22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—  23 I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.  24 “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.  25 “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. 26 I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”

Here Jesus is in the garden, his disciples can’t stay awake, his head is beaded with drops of blood and He approaches the throne of His Father and prays that his followers might be brought to complete unity.  Why would he pray such a prayer?  The answer is obvious:  It’s about the GOSPEL!

The GOSPEL is much more than an invitation out of hell and into Heaven.  The GOSPEL is a call to a new way of life and new order to living.  The message of the GOSPEL is foolish – asking people to live the opposite of the culture that they are surrounded by.  The GOSPEL asks people to entrust their lives, both now and for all eternity to a man named Jesus who died on a cross and was resurrected from a grave.

If the church cannot come together, accept and be changed by this amazing “GOOD NEWS”, then how can we expect for anyone else to even listen.  If we can’t come together and agree about what is really important, then why should anyone take the time to listen to what we have to say about the issues of life, death and eternity?

When we who are different, with different opinions about life, come together in unity around Jesus, we make a bold statement about what we really believe and the difference it can make in the world.

The task of being witnesses and making disciples cannot be accomplished by a divided people.  And the only real thing that can draw sinful men and women together is the Jesus that has redeemed us from our sins.  If we don’t come together, work together and serve together, then we will not share the GOOD NEWS of the GOSPEL and we will one day stand and give account.

I want to be the answer to the prayer that Jesus prayed and I want you to be the answer too.  So – what am I doing about it?   I am asking and receiving God’s forgiveness through my Savior Jesus Christ.  And that forgiveness, grace and mercy that God has given to me, I am doing my best to give to others.  I am looking to do it together, because to be real honest – it’s a lot more fun that way!

I hope you will join me, because none of us can do it alone, but together in unity, the possibilities are out of this world!  G3!