Joseph Carroll emphasizes the significance of glorifying God through our lives, drawing from Jesus' prayer in John 17. He stresses that true fulfillment comes from a central loyalty to Christ, which should dominate our lives above all else, including family and personal ambitions. Carroll warns against the distractions of earthly concerns and the need to set our affections on things above, urging believers to live passionately for Jesus. He highlights that a life filled with the Holy Spirit will naturally glorify Christ, contrasting this with the self-centeredness that leads to spiritual stagnation. Ultimately, Carroll calls for a commitment to finish the work God has given us by prioritizing our loyalty to Him.

Dear Father, give us understanding, give us compassionate hearts, we pray. Save us from ourselves, save us from our traditions where those traditions would hinder the working of the Spirit of God. In doing what He wants to do in the way that He wants to do it. Give us patience, one for another. And give us that love that covers a multitude of sins, we pray. And dear Lord, as we come tonight again to the consideration of your prayer, this prayer which in one sense seems to be so completely beyond us, and yet which is so full of the most practical teaching for us. Give us grace to accept it, and by the Spirit to obey it. For we pray in your precious name, Amen. We turn again to John chapter 17. John chapter 17, and let me say how delighted I am to have Brother Cassidy back. The Lord has done great things for him whereof we are glad. And we are trusting our Lord to complete that which He is doing for our brother. John chapter 17, verse 1, these words spake Jesus and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father the hour has come, glorify thy son that thy son also may glorify thee. For thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. I have glorified thee on the earth. I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. Last week we saw that our Lord sums up his earthly pilgrimage with two tremendous statements. I have glorified thee on the earth. I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. He finished the work which his Father gave him to do, because the dominating passion in the heart of our Lord was the glorifying of his Father. No man can finish the work God gives him to do, unless his dominating passion is the glorifying of Jesus Christ. I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. Why? Because I came into this world to glorify you. I have glorified you because I have finished the work which you gave me to do. Again and again our Lord said, the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works, the Son can do nothing of himself. Always he pointed to and magnified the Father, always. The man who is filled with the Holy Spirit always points to and magnifies Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone. I have a very dear friend in Australia. He is the leader of the work of Back to the Bible in Asia and Australia. And we were together in the army. And one morning a dear boy, a soldier came to the chaplain. And he said, chaplain, I'm filled with the Spirit. And my brother, my friend says, well, thank God. He said, I'd like to talk to you about it. He said, come in. So he sat down and he told him of this experience that he had had, this ecstatic experience, this tremendous experience. And he talked for almost an hour. And my friend, a very wise man of God, didn't say a word. But when he finished, he said, well, what does the Scripture say about the Holy Spirit? He shall glorify me. He said, that's right. He said, now, if a man is filled with the Spirit, who would he glorify? Well, he would glorify Jesus Christ. Do you realise you haven't spoken about Jesus Christ once in 45 minutes? That's the test. That's the test. Not what you say you have experienced, but who you magnify. That's the test. I have glorified thee on the earth. I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. The passion of the Father, the passion of the Son was to glorify the Father. The passion of the Spirit is to glorify the Son. The man filled with the Spirit lives for one thing, the glorifying of Jesus Christ in his body and in his spirit, which are God. Being a Christian is not a past time and it is not a fair time occupation. It is a passion that totally controls the individual. His driving, motivating passion. And if that driving passion is absent, I am convinced that you can doubt his salvation. The night I was converted I knew and nobody told me that when I rose from my knees, Joe Carroll was finished living for himself and henceforth he had to live for Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone. Jesus Christ must become before his plans, his ambitions, his family, everything. Jesus Christ was all. Nobody told me that. Who told me? The Holy Spirit told me. And listen my friend, he will tell you the same thing when you say it. He will tell you exactly the same thing when you say it. But your supreme task now is to live for Jesus Christ. The glorifying of Jesus Christ. What was the devil's sin? He wanted to be like the Most High. He wanted to be somebody. He wanted to be noticed. He wanted to be exalted. He wanted to be praised. He was not willing to occupy that position for which he was created, which would have meant the glorifying of God in everything that he did. He wanted that which belongs to God alone, which is glorification. And I want to say again, when you want to be seen and noticed or heard or listened to or to be somebody, you're placing yourself right on the devil's territory. And when the word of God hits your pride, you will react. Yes, you will. I had a person come to see me yesterday about a certain need. Her need was not that which she thought she had. And when I spoke to her about her pride, she certainly reacted. Oh yes, that's the devil's sin. I want to be seen. I want to be noticed. I want to be heard. I want to be listened to. I want to be somebody. That's the devil. When you really know Jesus Christ, you want to be nobody and want Jesus Christ to be everybody. Because that's what's going to be in heaven. We are in this earth. We are on this earth to glorify our Lord Jesus Christ. And unless there is that driving passion, we cannot finish the work. But why don't we have this passion? One of the reasons is because our affections are in the wrong place. Our affections are in the wrong place. Now the word of God is crystal clear. We are to set our affection on things above, not on things on the earth. Now that's a command. That's a command. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. You say, but Mr. Carroll, you don't understand. My husband has this problem, and my children have this problem, and so on, so on, so on. You set your affection on things above, and listen my brothers and sisters, God will take care of your problems. And one of the reasons why we have the problems, especially with loved ones, is this. We have never truly, resolutely, once for all, committed that to the Lord. And left it in his hands, we will persist in meddling with it. Ye are dead. Dead to what? Dead to everything of this life. Crucified with Christ unto this world, and unto all that is in this world also. Dead to your children, yes. What do we mean by being dead to children? That the children are no longer able to influence you in any way, in any decision that the Lord is asking you to make for him. When you die to something, or you die to somebody, you pass completely beyond their ability to influence you in any way whatsoever. That's what death is. If a man dies tonight in the General Hospital in Greenville, he hasn't the faintest idea of what's happening in that hospital. There could be doctors and nurses scurrying about all over the hospital, the place could catch fire, he wouldn't know. It could be raining, could be a storm outside, he doesn't know why. He has passed completely beyond his former environment, and therefore can no longer be influenced in any way whatsoever, he is dead to it. He's in a different world. A different sphere. To die to your husband, to die to your wife, to die to your children, means that you pass completely beyond their ability to influence you in any way, in determining the life you will live, and your obedience to Jesus Christ according to the principles of God's word. And the enemy is well aware of this. And he's very clever at turning people aside, so that most of their attention is concentrated upon their children, or their grandchildren, or their wives, or their husbands, and they tell them, if ever at times get beyond that. You might say that's an exaggeration. In some cases it is true. It is the thing that dominates the life. I tell you my dear friends, nothing should dominate your life but the glorifying of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit wants to set you free to be the Lord's man, the Lord's woman, the Lord's intercessor. Thank God. And the devil wants to bind you and drag you down. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. That means everything on the earth. Don't set your affection on them. You are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. Your affection is in the wrong place. Our Lord was always conscious of these two spheres. He says, I have glorified thee on the earth. On the earth. Why did he glorify the Father on the earth? Because heaven dominated his life on earth. He knew that his time on earth was temporary, transient, a few years, then the crisis, then back home to the Father. He knew that. Two spheres. Our life here is a very short life compared with eternity. A drop in the ocean, not even a drop in the ocean. Which life do you live for? The life on earth, or that which is eternal? That which is to come. That which is at present yours, if you are a true believer in Jesus Christ. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. No man that woreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life. That's the word of God. The devil will have you all tangled up with the affairs of this life, and you can't make war. Spiritual warfare. You must not become entangled with the affairs of this life. The devil can play havoc with a wayward child. You commit that child to the Lord, trust the child with the Lord, and trust him to work it out in his time and way, and he'll do it. Very often, that which we call intercession is nothing less than an evidence of unbelief. It's an evidence of unbelief. You examine the prayers of the Bible, they're all brief prayers. Every one of them is a brief prayer. Five, ten minutes at the most, that's it. That is when you come to the wording of the prayer. This is a very brief prayer of our Lord, but look at the ground that he covers. You examine the prayers of the Apostle Paul, they are very brief prayers. But they are uttered in faith, and they reveal a tremendous knowledge of the will of God. But you will notice that they are aimed at the magnifying of the Lord through the perfecting of the saints. But always for the glory of the Lord. Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. That's how Paul finished his greatest prayer. And if we finished our prayers in that manner, and preceded our prayers with an outpouring of our heart for the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the ultimate glory of the Father, we'd really see something happen. I have glorified thee on the earth. I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. Why? Because the glorifying of the Father was the central loyalty in the life of our Lord. And I want to speak a little again tonight about a central loyalty. A central loyalty. A central loyalty that dominates and brings into subjection every other loyalty. I was reading recently an account of the Battle of Midway. You Americans should know that the great naval battle of Midway was one of the great turning points of the war. When an American task force, two task forces in fact, one under Admiral Spruance and the other under Admiral Fletcher, sunk the four most famous Japanese aircraft carriers in six minutes. They sank three of them. They were fantastically outnumbered. But Admiral Spruance, who was at the last minute placed in command of the task force, the main task force, won a great victory that day. And you read the American account and you read the Japanese account. The most famous Japanese admiral in charge of the largest aircraft carrier, which is at the bottom of the ocean, with most of the men that manned it and the planes and everything else. When he reported to Admiral Yamamoto, who was the chief of the naval forces of Japan, only one thing concerned him. What am I going to say to the Emperor? That's all. His ship was gone, his men were gone, his planes were finished. Only one thing concerned him. What am I going to say to the Emperor? The only thing that concerned him. Many of those officers committed harry-carry. They took their lives. They would rather take their lives than face failure, as far as the Emperor was concerned. After the last war, I went to Rabaul. There were 100,000 Japanese prisoners of war there and I had an interpreter. And I helped him with some medical supplies, which I should not have done, but I did. And he realized how much he owed me. And in a quiet, confidential moment, he looked at me and he said, What will you do with the Emperor? He didn't care about himself, he didn't care about returning Japan, he didn't care about his men. He said, What are you going to do with the Emperor? The only thing that concerned him. You see, this is the power of a central line. From his earliest childhood, he is taught, the Emperor is divine, the Emperor is God. Therefore, your central loyalty, the loyalty above all others in life, is to the Emperor. You must live for him, you must die for him. And that was the only answer to the fantastic success of Japan in those early days. And the only answer to the tremendous defense of that nation, when finally she headed back to the war. The power of a central loyalty. An Admiral that we are probably more familiar with is Admiral Nelson. Certainly the greatest of all British Admirals. And the most famous battle that Nelson fought was the Battle of Trafalgar. When the French fleet came out into the channel and had the British fleet been defeated, England would have been invaded. And Nelson went forth to meet the French fleet. And the French ships were larger than the English ships. And he ran from his halyards a signal to all the sailors of the fleet. England expects that every man will do his duty. That's all he said. England expects that every man will do his duty. And when he was wounded, his last words, his dying words were, I have done my duty. That is the power of a central loyalty. Nelson's central loyalty was to England. He loved England. His life must be that which fulfilled his duty to England. And therefore his dying words, I have done my duty to England. Done my duty. Strange words for our ears today, are they not? Very strange words. To read the history of the last war, especially as far as the Nazis is concerned, is simply overpowering. Again and again, you find these Nazi soldiers in the most impossible positions, still shouting, Hail Hitler! And even when defeat was so obvious, they still couldn't believe it. Why? Because Hitler took time between 1933 when he came to power, and 1939 when he declared war, he took time to indoctrinate the youth of Germany. And the youth of Germany indoctrinated in those six years was the Nazi army. Do you know one of the chief reasons why we have so many hippies and so many utterly confused kids? There is no central loyalty in the lives of their parents, and therefore no central loyalty in theirs. You establish a central loyalty early in the life of a child, and that child will never turn from you. That's what the scriptures say. And that central loyalty is not to you, it's not to your family, it's not to your church. It's to the person of Jesus Christ. Those men, trapped in a winter in Russia without any clothing, pleading to death and still saying Hail Hitler. The power of a central loyalty. Same with Russia. Russia suffered more casualties than all the rest of the people involved in the war combined. Why did they suffer them? For Mother Russia. Mother Russia. The Nazis will not have Mother Russia. The central loyalty, Mother Russia. Of course you know what's going to come next. If the Lord Jesus does not come soon, and if the Western world does not have a revival, we cannot possibly withstand communism. This is impossible. You have read the account of the visit of the President to China. You know what he saw there, you know what these men saw. A nation totally under the domination of one man. One man. So that the journalists would speak to an engineer, what would he say? Chairman Mao gave us the inspiration to do this. He would speak to a first class surgeon. Chairman Mao inspired us to reach this point in our surgery. He would speak to a common labourer. Chairman Mao inspires me to do my daily duty. Chairman Mao, Mao, Mao. What has the devil done? What he has always done. He has established a central loyalty. And the central loyalty to Mao is a central loyalty to the devil. And I tell you my brother or sister, if you don't have a central loyalty to Jesus Christ, you'll have a central loyalty to yourself, which ultimately is an alliance with the devil. Let's be honest about it. That's a pretty serious statement. And yet if I ask you tonight, what is the central loyalty in the Western world? What is the central loyalty in Australia tonight? What's the central loyalty in the United States? Do you know what it is? You know what it is, I don't even have to tell you. It's me. Myself. What a loyalty. In Australia it's expressed in a desire for sport and freedom and self-expression. In America I believe primarily it's revealed in this demonic desire for money. But it's still the same thing, it's self. And it's ultimately the devil himself. Central loyalty for Jesus Christ. Because he had a central loyalty to his father. I was once in the Great War Museum in Paris. And in that war museum the dominant figure of course is Napoleon. And there is the lifelike figure of a French soldier. And he's jumping into the air, rifle in one hand and the other hand outstretched and eyes almost bursting out of their socket. And he's crying a shout of praise to the Emperor. It's very lifelike. Napoleon the Emperor. His central loyalty was to the Emperor. That's why it was a powerful army. When the army of Jesus Christ returns to the central loyalty which he should have, Jesus Christ, he'd be tremendous power again. One of those French soldiers when the Napoleonic army was in Egypt was wounded and a bullet entered very close to his heart. In those days they had no anesthesia and the surgeon had begun to probe for that bullet. He had to make an incision. He was probing, it was very painful and he knew it. And the young soldier looked at the surgeon when he was very close to his heart. He said, dig a little deeper and you will find the Emperor. Dig a little deeper and you will find the Emperor. Was he overcome by his pain? No. Why? Because he was occupied with his Emperor. We talk about our problems. You know why they are seemingly so insurmountable? We're occupied. We're not occupied with the Emperor. Sad to say. Now shall we pray? Dear Lord, thy word has told us that if judgment begin at the house of God, what will the end be of them that believe not? And Lord, we know that judgment must begin with us. Judgment must begin with me. We pray that in the stillness thou will say that word that needs to be said. For Lord, unless you say it, it will not bring forth truth. But where we have been snared by Satan into a lesser loyalty dominating our lives, even whilst expressing a total loyalty to thee, do thou show us ourselves. Dear Lord. Where loved ones have displaced the one who should be all, give us grace to confess our sins. Where earthly pursuits in business or a desire for happiness or the fulfillment of some personal plan has displaced the passion for the will of God alone to be done, then Lord, give us grace to confess our sins. With that loyalty to thee, my Dominator. Our every action, what does this mean to my Lord? If I fail, what will it mean to him? I cannot fail. If I do this, will it dishonor his name? O Lord, you alone know that which is needful, and you alone by your grace can meet the need in each one of our lives. We believe, dear Lord, that you are coming soon, and we will have to give account. We cannot finish the work you have given us to do, wherever we are, if our loyalty is less than what you would have it to be for your person. So look upon us in thy mercy, we pray, and meet us in our need. For we pray in your precious name. Amen.