BIG PICTURE: How do you handle really bad news? Jesus cares so much that he willingly lays aside his own anxieties to help us navigate even the most traumatic of life’s experiences. We have been given the Holy Spirit to be our daily helper. What Jesus sees in us is greater than we see ourselves.

TEXTS: John 13-17

KEY VERSE: I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.- John 16:33

JESUS PREPARES

Face the

.

your perspective.

Be in

community.

JESUS PROMISES

The Holy

, wind, air (pneuma, ruach).

The

(parakletos).

Holy Spirit.

JESUS PRAYS (John 17)

your Son.

After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed:

“Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. 2 For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. 3 Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. 4 I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began. —John 17:1-5

Those here now:

them. Give them joy. Sanctify them by truth.

You and me:

.

“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.” —John 17:20-26

NEXT STEPS: What effective ways have you dealt with really bad news? How have you noticed God’s Spirit during those times? Welcome the Holy Spirit into your life in a greater measure. What can you do to help fulfill Jesus’ prayer for unity?