The Prayer Of A Pastor

Church Anniversary | February 1, 2026

Pastor Ralph S. Emerson

Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:01):
You were married, you had a family.
How did you balance that?
I tell them, really, there's nosuch thing as balance.
And people want to know thisbecause this is what they know
that you can find yourself soengulfed in one place that you
completely neglect the other.

(00:22):
That your attention in one areacan cause adversity in another
place.
You know, you're so caught upwith the kids your marriage
suffers.
That both things need attention,but here it is, they just need
attention differently indifferent seasons.

(00:42):
What I have discovered is thatwe have to learn how to have
healthy tension.
There's a difference betweenpressure and tension.
Pressure is an external forcetrying to move you, but tension
comes from the inside.
Tension is internal.
Where pressure wants to moveyou, tension is designed to

(01:05):
stabilize you.
Why would I talk about this?
Because our text is written toexpress tension.
It is the tension that exposesthat Jesus is both human and
divine.
That the Gospel of John iswritten to deal with the

(01:26):
difficulty of this reality.
That there is tension, there isconflict among these people in
the Jewish community aboutJesus.
Some believed he was God andothers did not.
And John, after readingeverybody else's gospel, says,
let me step in for a second.
Let me write my letter to makesure that you know that Jesus,

(01:49):
yes, is fully man, but he's alsofully God.
That Jesus is the God man.
He's God and He's man.
And here's what I believe todaythat in the church culture
today, we so easily focus onJesus as God.
We love Jesus' godness.

(02:10):
We love his miracles and hisability to hear thoughts and his
power and his transfigurationand his resurrection.
But we miss the magnitude andthe magnificence of his manhood.
That as a man, he lived andwalked and breathed on this
earth.
As a man, he wept and ate andsuffered and partied.

(02:33):
As a man, he got angry andflipped tables and had
compassion.
As a man, he lived just like wedid.
And in our text, Jesustransitions from talking to the
disciples about him, that'sdivinity, to talking to the
Father about them, that'shumanity.

(02:55):
He transitions from trying toexpose to them the Savior of the
world to actually being ashepherd for them.
He moves from being just Godover them to the pastor who
loves them.
Here it is, John 17.
If you didn't know, it'sclassified as the high priestly

(03:19):
prayer.
It is a pastoral prayer.
It is believed to be the prayerthat Jesus prays in the Garden
of Gethsemane.
It is the detailed prayer ofMatthew 26 and Mark 14 and Luke
22.
And this prayer is where Jesusmoves from just simply being a
powerful presence above them tobeing a priest and pastor who is

(03:44):
with them.
And he is emphasizing theimportance of prayer.
Here's my my my issue.
We like prayers about thepastor.
We're familiar with prayersabout the pastor.
We pray about how a pastorhandles his ministry and his
money.
We pray about his integrity andhis family.

(04:06):
We pray about his messages ormaybe even his mess.
You pray about the pastor tohear right and to see right and
to live right and to do right.
You you love the prayers fromthe pastor to you.
You love the prayer at thehospital from him.
You love the prayer in thecounseling session from him, you

(04:26):
love the prayer at the funeralhome in the courthouse.
We love to pray about them.
We love the prayer we get fromthem, but I suggest Jesus says
that you've got to listen to theprayer of the pastor.
The prayer of a pastor's heart.
That this is a prayer that Jesuspraised for his church, for his

(04:50):
12 men that he loved and coveredand taught.
That this is not a prayer forthe people that Jesus wanted to
reach.
This is a prayer for the peopleJesus had already received.
It was a prayer from a shepherdfor his sheep.
It was a prayer that thescripture teaches us that he

(05:10):
sweat drops of blood for in Luke22.
This is a prayer that waspainful in his heart to pray.
And here's my issue with theprayer that if it is true, that
if this is the details of theprayer in the Garden of
Gethsemane, then the church willsleep on the prayer.

(05:33):
My issue is that Jesus ispraying and they're asleep, so
they miss the entire prayer.
And maybe, can I mess with youfor a minute and ask you, are
you struggling right now becauseyou missed the prayer?
And maybe your family isn'twhere you need it to be because
you missed the prayer.
Maybe your money isn't how itneeds to be because you missed

(05:55):
the prayer.
Maybe you would see somethingdifferent in your marriage if
you paid attention to theprayer.
So I want us to unpack theprayer just for a few minutes
because I can hear you asking,what did he pray?
You ask good questions.
Here it is.
This is what he prays.
He first prays that thedisciples would stay.

(06:18):
He prays that they would stay inthe world.
John 17, 11, he says, I willremain in the world no longer,
but they are still in the world,and I am coming to you.
In verse 15, watch what he says.
And my prayer is not that youtake them out of the world.

(06:40):
It is like when my daughter, mydaughter, she she's nosy.
She likes to eavesdrop on hermama and daddy at a point that
it's annoying.
And we'll sit down, we'll behaving conversations, we'll be
trying to plan a vacation.
Babe, do you want to go herethis year?
Where do you want to go?
And oh, we can do this and dothat.
And here she comes.
Oh, well, this is what I want todo.

(07:02):
And we have to tell her, that'sgood, babe, but you're gonna
have to stay.
You you'll be with granny.
We're going someplace else, butyou'll have to stay here.
Jesus wants them to stay, and hewants them to stay in the world.
If that's not insult to injury,you're leaving me.

(07:26):
You're leaving me, and thenyou're gonna tell me I got to
stay in the world.
And please understand that wordstay in the Greek means to not
be removed from location orstate.
It is about a mental andemotional and a physical
disposition.
Why, Jesus, if you're my pastor,why, Jesus, if you love me,
would you tell me to stay?

(07:47):
Okay, let me see if I can if Ican help you.
Uh uh, I'm lactose intolerantreal bad.
I I cannot do dairy at all.
I can cook with it a little bit,but I cannot consume raw dairy,
and I'm allergic to cheese.
However, cheese is processed, Icannot eat it.
I'm allergic to cheese.
My family knows this.
They hate it because lasagnawent out the window.

(08:08):
They want to eat pizza, I can'teat pizza.
I never forget it was a couplemonths ago.
My daughter wants to order apizza.
She comes to me, Dad, we'regonna eat pizza.
Baby, I can't eat it.
This is what we're gonna do,Dad.
We just gonna take all thecheese off the pizza.
I looked at her and I said, no.

(08:31):
She said, why not?
I said, I don't want tomatopaste bread.
Tomato paste, meat, bread, I'drather make spaghetti.
If I'm gonna have tomato pasteand meat, let's boil some
noodles.
Let's have spaghetti.
She said, no, take the cheeseoff.
Watch.
I said, no, because if you takethe cheese off, it's no longer

(08:54):
pizza.
If I take the cheese off thepizza, the pizza no longer is
any good.
You're not hearing what I'msaying.
Christ's community, what good isthe world if you leave it?
What good is the world if youget removed from it?

(09:17):
And Jesus prays that you wouldstay, that as a church, you
would stay in the community andin the world, because the world
cannot be better if you're notin it.
He's praying that you would stayto make the world better than
what it is.
Not to just sit here, but tohelp transform what you see.

(09:39):
Because the prayer is for us totake what we have learned and
apply it where we go, becausewhat good is it to call yourself
change if nothing around you ischanging?
God changed us so that you couldchange it.
You say you are a believer.

(10:00):
My question to you then is doesyour behavior align with that
belief?
I understand that you might haveissues in the state house and
the white house and even yourhouse.
But if you say you're abeliever, then you need to stop
complaining about the cultureand activate the gifts God put

(10:22):
inside of you and do somethingabout it.
Can I really say this?
That maybe if the realhousewives of the church live
differently than the realhousewives of Potomac, we might
see something.
The Lord is asking that youwould stay.

(10:44):
That you would stay faithful towhat he's called you to, that
you would stay faithful to theword of God, that you would stay
faithful to serving and givingand loving, that you would stay
in the fight and say, until hereturns, God, I'll do what
you've called me to do.
That you would stay.

(11:06):
Here's the second thing heprayed.
He prayed that you would besafe.
The pastor's heart, I believethis is your pastor's heart.
That he that they would praythat you would be safe.
That you would be safe fromtrouble.
Let's keep reading verse 11.
John 17, verse 11.
I will remain in the world nolonger, but they are still in
the world, and I am coming toyou.

(11:27):
Holy Father, protect them by thepower of your name, the name you
gave me, so that they may be oneas we are one.
Verse 15 My prayer is not thatyou take them out of the world,
here it is, but that you protectthem from the evil one.
As a man, as a pastor, as apriest, Jesus prays for the

(11:52):
disciples' protection becausepastors long for the people to
be protected.
It is a protection from evil.
This word protect it means to beguarded, to be kept, to be
protected from injury.

Here's what Jesus knows (12:08):
I'm leaving you in something you'll
need help with while you'rethere.
He says, So while they are init, Father, protect them from
succumbing to it.
Meaning, right?
That I'm in the world, not ofit.

(12:29):
Keep them while they are here.
Now, here it is.
Let's go to the deep end of thepool.
Two types of protection areneeded based on these
circumstances.
Why would Jesus pray forprotection?
Here it is.
Watch, remember this that Jesusas a man is representative of
the second Adam.
The first Adam messed up.

(12:51):
Jesus is the epitome of humanitybecause he is the second Adam.
So if he's leaving them, heunderstands what happened the
last time man was left tothemselves.
So he's praying that the Fatherwould protect them.
Two things he's praying for.
Here's the first one that theywould have fortitude in the

(13:13):
midst of temptation.
That they have fortitude in themidst of temptation.
Why?
Because in the garden, Eve wastempted by the serpent.
She was tempted into deception,meaning the fruit looked good
and was pleasing to the eye.
And Jesus knew if we're gonnastay here, the issue will be

(13:36):
when the world offers somethings that look better than
what he offered to us.
That Matthew chapter 4 and Lukechapter 4, here's what happened:
that Satan tempted Jesus to tryto take a better offer.
Can I talk to you for a secondChrist community?
That here's why relationshipsstruggle, because when you're

(13:59):
going through, you thought, ohgirl, was a better offer.
The reason why companies sufferis because employees don't like
to be challenged.
They're always looking for abetter offer.
The reason why churches aresuffering and dying is because
people don't want to serveanymore.

(14:20):
I just want to go whereeverybody else is going because
it looks like a better offer.
The reason why you're broke isbecause those shoes and them J's
and that purse and those videogames look like a better offer
than your budget.
The reason why you're unhealthyis that Popeyes looks like a

(14:40):
better offer than that broccoli.
You gotta be careful that youalways wanna take a better
offer.
The world is a tempting place,and Jesus says, Hear me, Christ
community, that even after 27years, you gotta have fortitude.

(15:02):
You gotta have fortitude in themidst of temptation, because
temptation isn't the sin givinginto it is, though.
Fortitude tells temptation thatwhen I see you coming, I know
how to run.
You some somewhere you gottahave a Genesis 39 kind of

(15:24):
anointing that Joseph is inPotiphar's house, and here comes
Miss Potiphar, and she got allof the right things to say.
Oh, you fine, Joseph.
Oh, you look good, Joseph.
My husband isn't here, Joseph.
It's just me and you, Joseph,and the Bible says that he runs
naked.
Meaning he was willing to leaveeverything he valued so he would

(15:47):
not fall into that sin.
You gotta learn how to havefortitude in temptation.
Here's the other thing whenJesus says protect them, he also
understands that you need afortress in the midst of
trouble.
You need a fortress in the midstof trouble because Eve has

(16:08):
bitten the fruit, but Houston,we have a problem because now
she offers it to Adam.
Trouble is flashing red in hisface.
And if we be honest, Adam needsa covering in this moment.
He needed to run to thefortress.
Because here's the real issue.

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Come here, listen to the tensionin the text that Eve is his
wife.
Eve is his partner.
Hear me, y'all.
Real trouble is not having tochoose between what you like and
what you don't like.
Real trouble is having to choosebetween what you love and what
you love.

(16:51):
Real trouble is not when you'restuck in the middle of bad and
good.
That's easy.
Real trouble is when you'restuck in the middle of good and
good.
I can prove it in the textbecause Adam loves God.
But Adam also loves Eve.
Now, who do I listen to?

(17:12):
Because Eve was deceived.
But when Adam ate, now Adamdisobeyed.
And Jesus is saying, listen,they need protection, Father,
from the trouble that causesthem to disobey.
Okay, let me see if I can helpyou.
Let me embarrass her a littlemore.
Uh uh my parents bought mydaughter uh an iPad.

(17:34):
My parents, you know,grandparents be spoiling these
things, bought her an iPad.
So when she got the iPad, uh, weset it all up.
She was excited, we puteverything on there.
She came downstairs, she said,Daddy, uh, I tried to download
this app and I couldn't.
I said, I know.
She ran upstairs, she said,Daddy, I tried to buy some Robux

(17:57):
and I couldn't.
I said, I know.
She said, Why?
I said, because it is myfingerprint on the iPad.
It is my face on the iPad.
Meaning you have access to it,but I have authority over it.

(18:18):
You've got to go through me toget what you want.
She said, Why, Daddy?
I said, because I'm trying toprotect you from stuff you don't
need to have in your life.
Jesus says, protect them fromtrouble.

(18:39):
That you would be kept from thepain that you could cause, or
even the pain caused againstyou.

Because here's the truth: reality is many of us suffer (18:46):
undefined
from the pain of somebody else'sdisobedience, but I just need
five people who are a witnessand grateful that we serve a
keeping God.
A God who will keep us when wecannot keep ourselves, a God who
will hold you when trouble showsup, a God who reminds you that

(19:09):
never will I leave you and neverwill I forsake you.
He prays that we would be safe.
Here's the next thing.
He prays that we would stand.
That we would stay, that we'd besafe, that we would stand, that
we would stand where?
On truth.

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That we would stand on truth.
Watch there, it's in the text,verse 17.
Sanctify them by the truth.
What's the truth?
Your word is truth.
Jesus wants the disciples tostand on truth.
He says, sanctify the wordhagias, meaning holy, the tense
of the word hagiaso meaning tomake them holy.

(19:52):
He says, make them holy, makesanctify them, make them stand.
Lord, make them holy.
How?
By the truth of your word.
Because here's the truth.
We live in a time where nobodywants truth.
It's all about my truth.
It's my truth.

(20:13):
This, this is my truth, this ishow I feel.
This I like it, then you loveit, be quiet.
No, it needs to be the truth.
We live in too much of a I'mgonna do me culture and leave me
alone.
We live in a you do you and I'lldo me, and then we wonder why

(20:33):
the world is jacked up becausenobody likes truth.
Christ community, you gottaremain a church that loves the
truth.
Here it is.
What do you gotta do with thattruth?
You gotta digest it.
You gotta digest it.
That you would you would teach,you would treat truth like

(20:55):
spinach.
Let me let me help you.
You would treat truth likebroccoli to a four-year-old.
Meaning it may not always tastegood to you, but you gotta
remember it is good for you.
You gotta digest it becausehere's the problem with the

(21:16):
four-year-old.
Their palate has not beendeveloped to appreciate the
taste of the food.
Their palate is so used to themilk and the sweets that they
don't have an appreciation byhow them collard greens simmered
overnight.
In other words, you gotta growup to digest the truth of his

(21:37):
word that understands that evenif it's hard going down, it does
something on the inside of me.
We got too many Christianssurviving on donuts and hating
vegetables, and then wonder whyeverything is so messed up.
You are Christ's community.

(22:00):
Meaning you gotta you gotta hangon to the truth of who Christ
is.
You gotta digest it, then yougotta disseminate it.
You gotta disseminate it, yougotta give it away.
That you can't keep truth toyourself.
Verse 20 says, My prayer is notfor them alone.

(22:20):
I pray also, watch what he says,for those who will believe in
me, watch, through theirmessage, though.
I ain't gonna preach anothersermon, Jesus says.
I'm out.
But they will believe because oftheir message.
Jesus implies that there will beothers who believe through the

(22:41):
disciples' message.
This means they need to get aword because they also need to
give one.
You need truth for you, but youalso need truth for them.
And many of us, our life is thetruth that people are hearing.
So here's my challenge to you.

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If no one new is believing, whatis your life speaking?
You've got to give the truthaway.
You've got to stand in a waythat says, Lord, speak to me so
that my life can speak tosomebody else.
Jesus is praying this highpriestly prayer.

(23:25):
He has been these disciples forthree years and he's pastorally
praying over them.
He is, I believe, your pastorechoes this heart.
That he prays what I believeevery pastor echoes, and he
would pray that you would stay,that you would be safe, that you
would stand.
But hear me, Christ's community,that even in the year 28 and 38

(23:48):
and 48, finally, that you wouldstick.
That he prays that you wouldstick together.
He prays that we would sticktogether.
Watch the end of verse 11.
I will remain in the world nolonger, but they are still in
the world, and I am coming toyou.
Holy Father, protect them by thepower of your name, the name you

(24:09):
gave me, watch, so that they maybe one.
As we are one.

Verse 22, he says it this way (24:16):
I have given them the glory that
you gave me.
Why?
That they may be one as we areone.
Jesus bookends this prayer 22 isthe end.
He bookends his prayer bypraying that we would stick
together.
Remember, John writes thisgospel to explain how Jesus is

(24:40):
God.
And subsequently, when yourealize this man was God, how
you should live as a human.
And so he says, if you get thisaccurately, then you need to
understand we have to sticktogether.
That we have to be one.
Why?
Because God is one.
In this word stick, when he saysbe one, it is the idea of being

(25:04):
stuck.
It is the idea of being single.
It is the idea of being same orone unit.
You ever see scotch tape on awall you forgot about?
And then you can't find thetape.
You're trying to peel it off,and what happens?
You got wall on the tape andtape on the wall.

(25:27):
Because it's been on there solong that you can't
differentiate between tape andwall.
Okay, maybe that's the wrongcrowd.
Let me try again.
Maybe some of you remember theepisode of Martin when Gina's
head got stuck in the headboard.

(25:48):
That she became one with theheadboard.
They tried to cut it off,couldn't get it off.
So what they do, they put a wigon the headboard, they put a
scarf on the headboard, they puta coat on the headboard.
Why?
They were one.
The Lord is praying that youwould be one.

(26:09):
And it does not erase ourdiversity.
We will be different.
This is why Revelation 5 and 7say, every tribe and nation and
tongue.
It does not remove yourindividuality.
You need to be yourself.
Because if you're not you, thenwe lose something special in
this earth.
But the question is, are we one?

(26:30):
Are we together?
Are we the same?
Because my biggest fear in thisseason is that the church
becomes just as divided as theworld does.
But I pray, I pray your pastorprays that Jesus prayed that the
church, that Christ's communitywould be one, that you would

(26:52):
stick together.
I'm done.
Why?
That you would stick so that youcould see.
That you would stick so that youcould see, that you would see
the glory of who He is.
I'm done.
John 17, verse 24.
Father, I want those you havegiven me to be with me where I

(27:13):
am.
Glory, you have given me becauseyou love me before the creation
of the world.
You must not know what glorymeans.
You would have shouteddifferently.
Glory, the brilliance and thebrightness of God.
Glory, the weight and theheaviness of God.
That glory can do what your workethic cannot do.

(27:34):
That glory can do what no otherprofessional resume could ever
do.
That glory can do what moneycannot buy.
That what power cannot obtain.
God, I want your glory.
Because when your glory showsup, lives get changed.
When your glory shows up,marriages get restored.
When your glory shows up,addiction has to break.

(27:56):
When glory shows up, bodies gethealed, and minds get regulated,
and hearts get fixed, anddepression rolls away and
anxiety dies.
God, I want to see your glory.
Because your glory changeseverything.

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That it is your glory that cando what no amount of work can
do.
And God, we will stick togetherbecause we know where two or
three or gather, you show up inthe midst of us.

(28:44):
God, how we thank you.
We thank you for this 27 yearsof ministry in the life of this
church.
God, we thank you for thispastor, his wife, and these
people.
God, we hear your prayer today.
God, that we would stay.
That the world needs light anddark places.

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And that, God, as we live andserve, that you would keep us
safe from trouble.
That when opposition and theenemy and even policy in America
shows up differently, that wewould stand on truth.
And that, Lord, that while weare ourselves, that we would
stick together.
Because then we can see theglory of who you are.

(29:27):
Lord, have your way today.
We love you and we thank you inJesus' name.
Amen.