Welcome to the Daily Blade. The Word of God is described as the sword of the spirit, the primary

spiritual weapon in the Christian's armor against the forces of evil. Your hosts are Joby Martin

and Kyle Thompson, and they stand ready to equip men for the fight. Let's sharpen up.

Welcome to the new week of the Daily Blade. Happy to have you guys here. This

week we're studying the longest recorded prayer in the entire New Testament. So it's the prayer of

Jesus as recorded in John 17, and it's often referred to as the high priestly prayer of Jesus.

But let's set the scene a little bit here. John 13 through 17 is the

upper room discourse, okay, with John 17 being the climax. At this point, Jesus is winding down

his earthly ministry and he marches ever closer to the cross at Golgotha. But before getting to

the upper room, Jesus has performed many miracles. He's had a triumphal entry into Jerusalem,

and he had predicted his forthcoming death to his disciples. And while in the upper room for the

Passover feast, Jesus washed the Apostle's feet. He predicted aloud that there was a betrayer in their

midst. He predicted aloud that Peter, in particular, would deny him three times,

expressed his exclusivity that no one can come to the Heavenly Father except through him,

foreshadowed the coming of the Holy Spirit,

and prepared his disciples for the hatred that would soon be coming their way from the world.

So Jesus is wrapping up this last meeting with the apostles before he is betrayed and arrested.

So let's actually go to the text here, John 17, verses 1 through 5, and I'll be reading everything in the ESV this week.

When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven and said,

Father, the hour has come. Glorify your son that the son may glorify you,

since you have given him authority over all flesh to give eternal life to all whom you have given him.

And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

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