SERMON NOTES WITH APPLICATION - "GETTING BEYOND BROKENNESS" PT I - JOHN 16:31-17:5 (MSG)

Series: ENGAGING IN THE HOLY

“GETTING BEYOND THE BROKENNESS” — PT I - John 16:31–17:5 (MSG)

Year Theme: HIGH AND LIFTED UPMovement: From Holy Ground to Engaging In The Holy

BIG IDEA (For Everyone)

October marks an important turn in our journey.

Holy Ground taught us to recognize where God is present—to discover our launching pad, water our ground, exhale, flourish, and finally “Let Jack Out the Box,” refusing to confine God to what God has done before.

Now comes Engaging In The Holy.

It is one thing to recognize holy ground. It is another thing to live differently because you encountered God there.

And Jesus teaches us how while standing on the edge of His own brokenness.

Betrayal is coming. Abandonment is coming. The cross is coming. Yet Jesus speaks of peace, victory, life, purpose, and glory before circumstances look anything like victory.

That is the remarkable theological movement in John's Gospel: what appears to be approaching defeat is already being interpreted through God's future. Jesus can face what is about to break because He knows brokenness does not get to write the ending.

Getting beyond the brokenness does not mean denying what broke you. It means refusing to let what broke you become the final authority over who you are becoming.

1. SPEAK OVER YOUR LIFE (John 16:31–33)

What’s Happening?

Jesus knows exactly what is coming.

He tells the disciples plainly:

“You’re about to make a run for it...and abandon me.”

There is no denial here.

Jesus knows He will experience abandonment, suffering, sorrow, and pain.

But then He says something extraordinary:

“I’m not abandoned. The Father is with me.”

Notice the distinction.

People will leave Him, but Jesus refuses to define Himself as abandoned.

Then He tells the disciples:

“In this godless world you will continue to experience difficulties. But take heart! I’ve conquered the world.”

In John's Gospel, victory is not merely postponed until some distant future. Jesus speaks as though God's future has already broken into the present.

The difficulty is real.

But so is the victory.

Faith doesn't require you to lie about what's happening; it teaches you that what's happening doesn't get the last word.

Cliff Note (Plain Talk)

Be careful how you speak about yourself when you're hurting.

You can say:

“They left me” without saying “I am abandoned.”

“I failed” without saying “I am a failure.”

“This broke my heart” without saying “My life is broken.”

Tell the truth about what happened without turning the experience into your identity.

Practical Application

Christian:Speak God's promises alongside your pain. Jesus doesn't deny trouble; He places trouble inside the larger truth of God's presence and victory.

Non-Christian:Your inner narrative matters. Describe your circumstances honestly without allowing temporary experiences to become permanent definitions of yourself.

Gen Z / Millennials:Don't allow rejection, relationship failure, career setbacks, financial pressure, or somebody else's opinion to become your personal algorithm—feeding you the same negative definition of yourself repeatedly.

Professionals:A setback is information, not identity. Learn from it without allowing one failure, firing, missed opportunity, or difficult season to define your capacity.

Families & Friends:Speak life over one another. Healthy community does not deny someone's pain; it helps people remember themselves while they're hurting.

Black Community Word:Black people have repeatedly had to resist definitions imposed upon us by systems that could see our struggle but refused to see our fullness. Our ancestors learned to speak another word over themselves: dignity when called inferior, possibility when denied opportunity, beauty when told otherwise, freedom while surrounded by structures of oppression. Sometimes speaking over your life is an act of liberation.

This Week:Catch one sentence you repeatedly say about yourself that turns pain into identity. Rewrite it truthfully but hopefully.

2. SEEK GOD’S/THE WORD’S REVELATION (John 17:1–3)

What’s Happening?

After speaking to the disciples, Jesus looks upward and begins praying.

And something intimate happens.

For chapters, the disciples have heard Jesus speak to them.

Now they hear Jesus speak to God about them.

They become overhearers of an intimate conversation between Father and Son.

Jesus says:

“Father, it’s time.”

The “hour” has arrived.

Past, present, and future begin collapsing into one theological moment. What looks like impending suffering is simultaneously becoming revelation, glory, victory, and life.

Jesus then defines eternal life:

“That they know you, the one and only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you sent.”

Eternal life is not merely endless existence later.

It is relationship with God beginning now.

So when brokenness distorts what we can see, revelation helps us interpret the present from the perspective of God's future.

Sometimes you need more than an explanation for what happened—you need a revelation of what can still happen.

Cliff Note (Plain Talk)

Don't let pain be the only voice interpreting your life.

Brokenness tells you what happened.

Revelation helps you see what remains possible.

Practical Application

Christian:Don't seek Scripture only for information. Allow the Word to reveal God, yourself, your circumstances, and possibilities you could not see while overwhelmed by pain.

Non-Christian:Seek perspectives larger than your immediate emotions. Wisdom, reflection, trusted relationships, spiritual exploration, therapy, learning, and honest self-examination can help you see beyond the moment.

Gen Z / Millennials:Not everything you feel is false—but everything you feel is not necessarily the whole truth. Give yourself room to discover perspectives beyond your immediate experience.

Professionals:When circumstances change, don't merely ask, “How do I restore what I had?” Ask, “What is this moment revealing about what should come next?”

Families & Friends:Sometimes people don't need us to explain their pain. They need us to remain close enough for them eventually to see possibility again.

Black Community Word:Black faith has historically helped our people imagine futures that present circumstances said were impossible. Enslavement said bondage; faith envisioned freedom. Segregation said separation; people envisioned beloved community. Exclusion said stay out; our communities built institutions of their own. Revelation has always given oppressed people permission to imagine beyond the evidence immediately in front of them.

This Week:Before asking only, “Why did this happen?” add another question: “What can I see now that I couldn't see before?”

3. SETTLE IN YOUR PROMISE (John 17:4–5)

What’s Happening?

Jesus says:

“I glorified you on earth by completing down to the last detail what you assigned me to do.”

The cross has not happened yet.

Resurrection has not happened yet.

Yet Jesus speaks with the settled assurance of someone who knows where the story is going.

Then:

“Father, glorify me with your very own splendor, the very splendor I had in your presence before there was a world.”

Jesus is anchored in something deeper than the crisis immediately before Him.

He knows His origin.

He knows His assignment.

He knows His relationship with the Father.

He knows where He is going.

That is what makes Him able to move through the “hour” without allowing the hour to redefine Him.

To settle does not mean becoming passive.

It means something has become resolved within you.

When your identity and purpose are settled, circumstances no longer get to renegotiate who you are every morning.

Cliff Note (Plain Talk)

You don't have to have everything figured out to know what you're standing on.

Settle some things inside yourself:

Who am I?What do I believe?What am I called to do?What will I no longer allow pain to decide for me?

Practical Application

Christian:Settle into God's promises before circumstances validate them. Let God's faithfulness become your anchor while the story is still unfolding.

Non-Christian:Establish core convictions that do not change every time circumstances do. Know what you value, what you stand for, and what kind of person you intend to become.

Gen Z / Millennials:You do not need everybody's approval before moving forward. Become secure enough in your values and purpose that disagreement doesn't automatically become self-doubt.

Professionals:Know your assignment. Every opportunity is not yours, every battle doesn't deserve you, and every criticism doesn't require a response.

Families & Friends:Help one another remember purpose. Sometimes people need somebody who knew them before the breaking to remind them who they still are afterward.

Black Community Word:Our people have survived because generations before us settled certain things: we are human, we have dignity, our minds matter, our families matter, our faith matters, our culture matters, and our future is worth fighting for.Their circumstances repeatedly contradicted those convictions, but they lived toward promises their present world could not yet accommodate.

This Week:Write down three things about your identity, values, faith, or purpose that you need to stop renegotiating because of temporary circumstances.

BIG PICTURE TRUTH

Jesus gives us a pathway beyond brokenness:

SPEAK OVER YOUR LIFE.

Don't allow pain to name you.

SEEK GOD'S/THE WORD'S REVELATION.

Don't allow the present to become the only evidence you consider.

SETTLE IN YOUR PROMISE.

Become anchored enough in who you are and where you're going that brokenness cannot continually renegotiate your future.

And notice:

Jesus doesn't wait until after the cross to do these things.

He does them before it.

That's important.

Getting beyond brokenness does not always begin when the difficult season ends.

Sometimes it begins while you're still in it.

John's Jesus brings the future into the present.

And when you live in hope, the present begins moving toward the possibilities of the future while the future starts transforming how you experience the sorrows of the present.

FINAL WORD

Somebody reading this has been bracing for impact so long that you have forgotten how to expect anything else.

Brokenness taught you to protect yourself.

Disappointment taught you to lower your expectations.

Rejection taught you to question your worth.

Failure taught you to shrink your dream.

But Jesus stands at the edge of His darkest hour and says:

“Take heart! I've conquered the world.”

So—

SPEAK OVER YOUR LIFE.

Tell the truth about what happened without letting what happened become your identity.

SEEK GOD'S/THE WORD'S REVELATION.

There is more to your story than what you can see from where you're standing.

SETTLE IN YOUR PROMISE.

Know who you are deeply enough that temporary circumstances cannot permanently redefine you.

Dream Big.Brokenness does not have the authority to reduce the size of your future.

Decide To Become.Allow the breaking to awaken—not bury—the person you are still becoming.

Demonstrate Your Power.Stand, heal, learn, love, build, create, serve, and move forward again.

Because getting beyond the brokenness does not mean pretending you were never broken.

It means discovering that broken was never the final version of you.

So brace yourself—

not merely for another impact.

Brace yourself to shine.

And keep living High And Lifted Up.