"Confidence and Trust" Part 2 John 17 Part 7 by Kathryn Kuhlman part 7 in her "John 17 Series"

I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me, for they are thine, and all mine are thine, and thine are mine, and I am glorified in them. And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep... to thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one as we are. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name. Those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost but the son of perdition, that the scripture might be fulfilled. And now come I to thee. And these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them thy word, and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified. through the truth. Thus is a part of the prayer that Jesus prayed to the Father, expressing the desire of his own heart for you and for me, for those who have accepted him as their Savior. You will remember one of our heart -to -heart talks. I showed you from the word of God that in expressing his desire for his own, he expressed three desires. First, keep them in thy name. And then, that they may be one even as we are. And then third, keep them from... The evil. First of all, before I go a little deeper into the scripture, I want you to see something in regard to those of us who are born again. And when I say those of us, I mean men and women everywhere. To the generations. Those who have become... a part of the body of Christ, born into this invisible body that we call the church. The hour has now come that Jesus must take a new position, the position of great high priest. He is leaving. As he expressed himself to the Father, The work that thou hast given me, I have accomplished. I've carried out salvation's plan. In just a few hours, I will have dismissed my own spirit. And then, after the glorious resurrection, I will ascend again into heaven. I will no longer be walking this earth. in person. I will be standing in the Holy Spirit. And the only ones who will represent me in the flesh will be these that thou hast given unto me. Do you realize the responsibility that is that of every Christian? Do you know Do you know what a Christian really is? Do you know what it really means to be a Christian? Do you know what it really and truly means to say, I am one of them? I belong to him. I know we like to think of our inheritance. An heir of God and a joint heir with Christ Jesus. But remember something. Before the crown, there is a cross. Know that. For me to live this very hour. The next hour. Until that last day without a tomorrow. For me to walk down the street. For me to be a part of that family life. For me to stand on that stage. For me to live is Christ. I am the only Jesus that thousands... actually see with the visible eye. Sometimes that responsibility is so overwhelming that I feel it so keenly. No one knows how seriously I take this whole responsibility. Because we're still in the flesh, we're still human. I realize that when I walk into the store, that little sales lady behind the counter, when I open my mouth, will say immediately, Oh, you're Catherine Coleman. And standing there, I'm the only Jesus that she sees with her natural eye. I walk down the street. A man suddenly recognizes me. He has seen me on television. He dips his hat and he says, I've never seen you in person, but you're Catherine Kuhlman. I realize immediately my terrific responsibility. I may be the only Jesus that that man is seeing. I represent Jesus. That young person. And I realize my tremendous responsibility among the youth. Those young people are seeking reality. They sense sincerity. They've been looking for it all of their lives. They're seeking it. What these young people today are really seeking is sincerity. The truth. I really believe that the majority of them are honest within themselves. They're seeking something. They're tired of this falseness. And the world is such a sham. And most people are so false. Most men are so false. The majority of women are so false, you know. I hear their chatter. When you deal with as many people as I deal with in a week, you'll understand the fickleness of human nature, the falseness of seemingly sincerity. The world is seeking reality. And if you profess to be a Christian, the unsaved man, the unsaved woman, has every right to expect something different from that life of yours. They have a right to. When Jesus walked this earth, the disciples could see him. Literally. They could touch his person. They saw his face. They heard his audible words. As he spoke to the multitude, as he walked among the 5 ,000 that day on the hillside, they could see him. They could go home and say, we saw Jesus. I touched his garment. He walked past me. He laid his hand upon my head. He talked with me. He prayed with me. But one day Jesus said, I can no longer stay with you. It is expedient for you that I go away. I must take a new position. And he left. And when he went away, he left that responsibility to you and to me. He left a responsibility to every man and every woman. who has accepted him in the forgiveness of their sins. It means something to be a Christian. If you are one who stands in that pulpit, my brother in the Lord, your responsibility is great. You represent him. You do not represent a religion. You do not represent some great organization. You represent the Son of God. You represent Christ. You represent God Almighty just as much as Jesus represented the Father when he was here on earth. And in representing him, be careful that you glorify him. Do you really understand what I'm trying to say? That man, that woman who sits in that pew, being a Christian is something more than sitting in that pew for 30 minutes, 45 minutes, an hour once a week. It means something more than that. It means that when you walk out of that sanctuary, when you walk out of that cathedral, when you walk out of that church for the Catholic or Protestant, Jew or Gentile, black or white, when you walk out of that place of worship, you're going out into the world. A world that you are not a part of. You're in the world. You still walk the same streets that the unregenerated man walks. You still go into the same stores. You still buy your groceries from the same place that the unregenerated man buys. You are in the world because you steal the flesh. But you're not of the world. You're not a part of it. You do not do the things that the unregenerated man, the unregenerated woman does. You see, we've gotten to the place where we think everybody else is doing it. It's the thing to do. Everybody's doing it. So what? It's a spirit of the age. It's old -fashioned to do differently. My friend. Jesus never has changed his laws, his code of ethics, nor his standards for any one generation, not even for the day in which you and I live. What he is saying here, I'm going away. I leave the whole responsibility now. To those who will accept me, the teaching of the word, the truth. And remember, his word is truth. And the whole thing is based on faith and trust and confidence. He might have said, if they fail, I have failed. The whole thing crumbles. It all comes down. Do you realize what confidence Jesus had in you and in me? Do you realize? I stopped talking about my faith in him. I haven't preached a sermon on faith for so long. I'm beginning now to get a glimpse of the faith that he must have in you and he must have in me. I'm not worried about my faith in him. That'll take care of itself. When I need faith, I have the confidence that he'll give me that faith for that need. When I come to the edge of my Red Sea, I'm not going to have to worry about my faith in crossing that Red Sea. When my iron has to swim, I'm no longer worried about my faith. When I need that faith to make that iron to swim, he'll provide it. It'll be there. He'll give it to me. because he's the author and the finisher of my faith. What I'm thinking about more than I've ever thought about in my whole Christian life is his confidence in me. His faith in me. I don't dare fail. I get tired. I get weary. I'm human. And many a time I feel like I've carried it so long. I've carried it so long, this responsibility. And yet suddenly, I realize he has confidence in me. I don't dare let him down. I just don't dare let him down. I don't. He's depending on me. He's got confidence in me. You know, it's the most beautiful thing in the world to know that somebody has complete confidence in you. Have you ever had that feeling, do you know what I'm talking about? Maybe you live and die and never know what I'm talking about when I talk about faith and talk about confidence. That confidence that your little son has in you. Man, how in the world can you live the type of life that you're living, the kind of life that you're living, if you're a daddy? And you have a young son. For the life of me, I cannot see how any daddy dare goes wrong. How can you do the things that you do? How can you be the immoral person that you are? How can you be the failure that you are? How can you be the drunkard that you are? How can you? When at home, you have a little boy who thinks you're the... greatest human being. He thinks his daddy can do anything. He's the strongest. He's the biggest. Maybe you don't hear him bragging about you and boasting about you to the other kids on the playground. Many a time he has to cover up for you. He sees things he doesn't want to see and he thinks. His eyes are lying to him. He'll tell wonderful stories about his wonderful dad that really aren't true. He tells them because he wants you to be that kind of a person. He'll tell the other kids, you're stronger and bigger than any other man in the world. You're dead. Why, he says, my dad can lick your dad. He can lick any guy. My dad could just, you know, do this and that and the other thing. That confidence. When a person has confidence in you and you know they have confidence in you, there's something about it you're not going to let go. them down for anything in the world. You'll keep working. You'll keep plugging. You'll do what you can't do in the natural because you want to live up to everything that they think about you and to all the confidence and the faith that they have in you. You see, that's the way that I feel about Jesus. I'll work like Rob. I'll work until my heart takes its last beat. He has confidence in me. And so before he went away, he talked to the Father about those of us to whom he has given this terrific responsibility. And your responsibility is just as great as mine. My responsibility is no greater than yours. Know that. I've only used myself as an example. As a Christian, your responsibility is just as great as mine. When you fail another, you're failing him.