Have you found yourself wondering lately what the world is coming to? As you watch the news or open your newspaper, or log on to an internet news site, it mostly looks like the world is falling apart. World nations are experiencing economic meltdown. Volcanic ash can shut down a major portion of the worlds air travel, also costing national economies billions. Third world nations are bent on becoming nuclear powers. Haiti continues to experience earthquakes.

And it’s not just the world. Our own country is suffering from economic woes, an oil slick that threatens the whole gulf coast and the livelihoods of thousands of people already suffering economically. People are trying to kill people in Times Square. Gas prices are going up and so are food prices. And there’s isn’t time this morning to address all the issues that have inspired the Tea Party Movement.

What are we Christians supposed to do, scattered throughout a pagan world that seems to thrive on hatred, violence and oppression? What are Christians supposed to do when we feel like we’re a minority, out of step, out of place and out of time? With the world falling apart around us, what are we scattered Christians supposed to do? Jesus tells us we are to pray.

We can pray with confidence, because we come to God in the name of Him who has overcome the world. Prayer is an intimate and powerful relationship between God and His people. A man named Samuel Chadwick once said, "The one concern of the devil is to keep us Christians from praying. He fears nothing from prayerless studies, prayerless work, and prayerless religion. He laughs at our toil, mocks at our wisdom, but trembles when we pray."

Our text for this morning is part of Jesus’ farewell discourse to his disciples. Jesus had told them many things in figures of speech, but now he tells them plainly about the Father. He is giving them the information they will need to endure the future, when they will be scattered after Jesus’ arrest, and when they will have to endure tribulation as apostles of the Gospel in the months and years ahead.

The disciples were having a hard time wrapping their heads around a world without Jesus, but in just a few hours, they would find themselves in that situation. They will watch Jesus’ arrest, trial, crucifixion, and death. They could truly ask, after this complete miscarriage of justice, "What is the world coming to?"

In this uncertainty, Christ reassures them of His victory. He is leaving the world, but he tells them "But take heart. I have overcome the world."

Even though Jesus still had to endure His Passion, the outcome was assured. It was as good as completed. There was no doubt that Christ would accomplish the task set out before Him by the Father. And just like the disciples, we can be confident that if Christ has overcome the world, we can be confident about our futures as well.

I guess you are thinking, "Yeah, well, nice words preacher, but it’s still hard to feel confident about our futures in this world."

Maybe you remember several years ago during the NFL playoffs, when the Packers were playing the Seahawks at home in Green Bay. The game went into overtime. When Seattle won the coin toss to start the overtime period, their quarterback said the infamous words: "We want the ball and we’re gonna score." Well, history tells us they didn’t score and that Green Bay won the game.

Other professional athletes have made such claims, guaranteeing a win, only to have their teams lose. But those kinds of predictions aren’t confined to the stadium or arena. How many polls during an election year have been wrong? How many politicians have promised to fix a problem, only to end up accomplishing nothing, or even making the problem worse?

Sure, we would have to be uncertain about the future if we tried to predict that future without remembering Christ’s words. We ask, "What’s the world coming to?" We agonize about the future. We worry about the world. We wrestle with our country’s problems.

We forget what Christ told us: "I have said these things to you that in me you may have peace." We overlook the cross and the resurrection. It is by that cross and resurrection that Jesus is able to say "Take heart; I have overcome the world." We neglect the future when we forget Jesus’ words; "Now I am leaving the world and going to the Father."

So, what are we Christians to do, scattered throughout a pagan world that seems to thrive on hatred, violence and oppression? We are supposed to pray.

For life in this uncertain world, Christ assures us that we can pray in His name with confidence. "Whatever you ask of the Father in my name he will give it to you."

The disciples had not asked anything in Jesus’ name. To do so probably didn’t make much sense. But now Jesus tells them the time is coming when they should pray in his name. In verse 24 of our text, Jesus says; "Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask and you will receive, that your joy may be full."

Through his life, death and resurrection, Jesus has given us direct access to the Father. By praying in Jesus’ name, we have our heavenly Father’s ear. "For the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God."

Sure, all the evil in this world may get you down, but just remember how right before Jesus died on the cross, he told his disciples "Take heart, I have overcome the world." Jesus is still in charge, no matter what. Evil things happen all the time, but we can always go to God with our concerns, knowing that in the end, through his sacrifice on the cross, Jesus has already taken care of all the evil that can get us down.

Even death couldn’t prevent him from taking care of us. He’ll be with us and with the whole world too.

As Christians, we have no need to ask "what’s the world coming to?" Instead, we ask whatever we need – in the name of Christ. Amen.