Introduction:
Three Anxiety Killers Given to Us From Jesus (John 14:25-31):
- He gives us His Truth . (John 14:25-26)
1 Timothy 2:4 - who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
- He gives us His Peace . (John 14:27)
Isaiah 26:3 - You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.
- He gives us His Example . (John 14:28-31)
Four Things That Brought Jesus Peace (and Can Bring You Peace):
- Viewing Death realistically. (John 14:28)
- Resting in God's Control . (John 14:29)
- Regarding Satan as Defeated . (John 14:30)
- Obeying the Father out of Love . (John 14:31)
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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00:00-00:08
Open up your Bibles with me to the Gospel according to John 14.
00:12-00:18
So John 14, we're going to continue our series, Knowing Jesus.
00:18-00:24
We're moving from knowing about Jesus to knowing Jesus.
00:25-00:28
And this past week I was talking with my assistant Brooke.
00:29-00:45
She told me this story and I got permission to share this with you, but she said that her and her sister and her cousin took a trip to West Virginia and they ended up in a sheets and somehow the keys got locked in the car.
00:46-00:51
Now, the way I was told the story was it was absolutely not Brooke's fault that the keys were locked in the car.
00:52-00:55
And I'm getting a thumbs up confirmation on that, obviously from Brooke.
00:56-00:59
but the keys got locked in the car.
00:59-01:07
So they waited at Sheetz for AAA to show up and bail them out, open their car.
01:07-01:12
They waited for three and a half hours for AAA to show up, three and a half hours.
01:13-01:22
Well, afterwards, Brooke had told me that, you know, we have friends that are part of our church that had moved here from West Virginia.
01:22-01:45
So Brooke said, "I just got curious." And so I called the Puckett's and said, "Hey, were we anywhere near where you used to live in West Virginia?" And the reply was, "Oh yeah, you." The Puckett's said, "You guys were in like our hometown." And Brooke's like, "Oh, that's interesting." And she told them the dilemma that they had.
01:47-01:50
And Chuck Puckett had informed Brooke.
01:50-01:55
He said, "Oh yeah." He goes, "That's, she's where you were?" He says, "I have a cousin that lives 10 minutes from there.
01:56-01:57
And he's a locksmith.
01:58-01:59
(audience laughing)
02:03-02:04
Isn't that funny?
02:06-02:08
I mean, now.
02:10-02:14
You're like, why did you tell us this story besides the fact that it's funny?
02:15-02:16
Because here's the point of that story.
02:19-02:33
Brooke and her family, Whoever's fault it was that the keys got locked in the car, they had every resource available to them right there.
02:35-02:38
And they just didn't know.
02:39-02:40
They didn't know.
02:41-02:42
They didn't know.
02:43-02:48
Everything they needed was right there.
02:49-02:55
And you see church in this passage of scripture, We are sitting around the table with Jesus.
02:56-02:57
Right, that's what we've been doing.
02:57-02:59
That's what this image is about, by the way.
03:00-03:03
That's where we are in John 13, 14, 15.
03:04-03:10
We're sitting around the table and we read these passages of scripture.
03:10-03:16
And I need to remind this church that Jesus wasn't giving these random inspirational quotes.
03:17-03:23
Like they're sitting around the table and they're eating And Jesus is like, "Oh, oh, oh, oh, I got one, I got one.
03:24-03:27
"I am the truth." Write that down.
03:27-03:28
And everybody wrote it down.
03:29-03:35
And Jesus is like, "Oh, I got another one, "I got another one." This is gonna be great for like some calendar or something you can put on your desk.
03:35-03:36
All right, I got another one.
03:38-03:40
"Love people the way I loved you." Write that one.
03:40-03:42
Oh, that, oh, good, Jesus, that was a good one.
03:42-03:47
And they think that Jesus was giving just like these random things, but this isn't random at all.
03:48-03:52
This conversation that's taking place around the table has a definite theme.
03:54-03:59
And this theme overarches this entire conversation that Jesus was having with his disciples.
03:59-04:00
And here's the theme.
04:01-04:19
Jesus says, "Guys, I'm leaving, "but I'm going to resource you "so that when I go, "you're going to have everything that you need "to carry out the mission." That's the theme.
04:21-04:34
And one of the greatest resources that the disciples needed, and quite honestly that we need, and quite specifically that I need, is peace.
04:36-04:38
Just this idea that everything's going to be okay.
04:41-04:47
Is there any message that God's people need to hear than this message today.
04:48-04:53
A message for somebody to stand up and say, "Listen, I know what you've seen on TV.
04:55-04:57
I know what you're reading online.
04:58-05:01
I know everything's going to be okay.
05:03-05:03
I know.
05:05-05:07
I know there's violence and murder in our neighborhoods.
05:10-05:11
Everything's going to be okay.
05:13-05:20
I know things look horrible on the world stage with China and Taiwan and Russia and North Korea and Israel.
05:20-05:21
Are you following these things?
05:25-05:26
Everything's gonna be okay.
05:28-05:30
Don't forget about COVID.
05:31-05:34
And you're like, can you really forget about COVID?
05:35-05:37
I mean, we got the Delta variant.
05:38-05:53
You know, I was reading this week about the Lambda variant, the gamma variant, the zeta variant, the fight over vaccinations, the violent political scene, economic collapse, inflation, talks of another lockdown.
05:55-06:01
And in light of all of these things, I got two words to share with you.
06:01-06:04
One is, it's only gonna get worse.
06:06-06:07
It's only gonna get worse.
06:09-06:10
but there's something else I gotta tell you.
06:12-06:13
Everything's gonna be okay.
06:15-06:16
And you're like, how can you say that?
06:17-06:21
How can you stand up there and say, everything is going to be okay?
06:22-06:24
How can, are you, do you not watch the news?
06:25-06:27
Are you delusional, Jeff, that you would say something like that?
06:30-06:32
Well, I'm gonna give you two reasons why everything's gonna be okay.
06:34-06:41
First of all, everything's gonna be okay because everything is going down exactly the way God said that it would.
06:42-07:03
Have you read your Bible? Like ever. Everything is happening. We're going to talk more about this, but it's exactly what God said was going to happen. But the second thing, Jesus people And only Jesus people have real peace.
07:05-07:12
Only Jesus people have the inner confidence and contentment that no matter how bad things look everything is going to be okay.
07:16-07:18
And I have that on the authority of the Word of God.
07:18-07:26
So, the question we have to ask, why are so many Christians rattled?
07:28-07:34
You see, our job, church, is to show the world the difference that Jesus Christ makes.
07:35-07:44
Our job is to show the world when God's Holy Spirit indwells His people and transforms His people based on the blood of His Son.
07:44-07:45
This is what that looks like.
07:46-07:48
This is the change that takes place.
07:49-07:50
We're to show the world that.
07:50-07:54
So why is the church so caught up in the hysteria?
07:56-07:59
Why are so many churches just turtling right now?
08:00-08:03
In the shell, close the door, run away, hide.
08:07-08:09
Well, you know, I can't control what other churches do.
08:11-08:14
I can't control what other Christians do.
08:14-08:22
I can't control how anybody else reacts, but I'm going to say for Harvest Bible Chapel, we are not going to live like that.
08:25-08:31
We are going to walk in humble confidence in Jesus Christ.
08:33-08:34
Are you with me on that?
08:36-08:39
You're like, "How do we do that?" I'm so glad you asked.
08:39-08:40
I want you to write this down.
08:41-08:43
There's three anxiety killers given to us from Jesus.
08:45-08:49
Three anxiety killers given to us from Jesus.
08:53-08:56
Number one, write this down, He gives us His truth.
08:57-08:58
He gives us His truth.
09:01-09:04
John 14, look at verses 25 and 26.
09:05-09:13
These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you, "The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name.
09:15-09:23
He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you." Stop there.
09:26-09:31
You see, try to put yourself in the place of the disciples sitting around the table with Jesus.
09:31-09:34
Jesus was always the ultimate go-to guy, right?
09:34-09:36
Think about that. For three years, they traveled with Jesus.
09:37-09:42
"Anytime there was a question about anything, "we'll just ask Jesus." He knows the right answer.
09:42-09:45
He always handles every situation perfectly.
09:45-10:09
And we've talked before, now Jesus is talking about, "I'm leaving, I'm going, "I'm heading back to heaven, going back to the Father." And the obvious question the disciples would have been asking, "Where's the wisdom going to come from "when he's gone?" And again, Jesus reminds us that his presence will be in the hearts of His people through His Holy Spirit.
10:13-10:22
And here in this passage, and we've talked about this so many times before, God's presence in God's people through the Holy Spirit.
10:22-10:27
But Jesus highlights two things He says the Holy Spirit is going to do.
10:28-10:32
First of all, letter A, He's going to remind the disciples of Jesus' words.
10:33-10:34
That's the first thing he said.
10:36-10:37
Do you see that?
10:38-10:46
He says, "Bring to your remembrance all that I've said to you." That's very important.
10:48-10:52
Because you know, the disciples, the disciples didn't have smartphones.
10:54-10:54
You know that?
10:55-10:56
And do you know how I know that they didn't?
10:57-10:59
You're like, that's a pretty gutsy statement for you to say, Jeff.
10:59-11:01
Did you really, are you sure about that?
11:01-11:01
Did you study that?
11:02-11:03
disciples did not have smartphones.
11:04-11:05
And I know that for a fact.
11:06-11:06
How?
11:07-11:13
Because as I turn the pages of my Bible, I see no pictures of the food from the last supper.
11:14-11:15
(congregation laughing)
11:16-11:19
Because that's probably what they would have done with their smartphones, right?
11:21-11:23
Like, hang on a second, I gotta get a picture of this.
11:24-11:25
You know, no.
11:26-11:36
They didn't have, you know, the means to record everything that Jesus was saying.
11:36-11:38
They didn't hire a film crew.
11:39-11:41
Like, "Hey, this guy's gonna make a great documentary.
11:41-11:45
You gotta follow him on a camera and get this stuff." They didn't have that.
11:47-11:53
But yet in your hand, you have a Bible that has all these words of Jesus.
11:53-11:59
And you're like, "How did they remember what he said?" This is how they remembered what he said.
12:00-12:09
And you can't bypass what a miracle this is because let's be honest, you don't remember what I said in June and that was two months ago, right?
12:10-12:10
Right?
12:11-12:11
Like I do.
12:12-12:13
What book did I preach on in June?
12:15-12:16
Oh, see?
12:17-12:17
See?
12:18-12:20
No, we were in Zephaniah.
12:23-12:25
So you don't remember, now you're fighting about it.
12:28-12:32
All right, okay, so if you do remember the book, do you remember the sermon points from my last sermon?
12:33-12:36
Do you remember Justin's sermon points from last week?
12:36-12:37
Do you get the point?
12:38-12:40
Look, I don't remember all that stuff either.
12:42-12:52
That's why we can't bypass this miracle because so many people say, well, you just can't trust the gospels because they were written so long after the time that Jesus said these things.
12:53-12:55
Well, you're discounting Jesus' promise here.
12:55-12:58
Jesus said the Holy Spirit is going to make this happen.
12:59-13:00
It's a miracle.
13:01-13:07
The Holy Spirit is going to bring to your mind the exact things that I said, and secondly, He's going to teach you.
13:09-13:10
Did you see that?
13:10-13:18
He says He will teach you all things, meaning this, the Holy Spirit isn't just going to bring the verbiage back to your mind.
13:18-13:24
Like, I remember the words that Jesus said, but I never understood what they meant.
13:24-13:26
He says, no, He's going to teach you that too.
13:29-13:33
So this first anxiety killer is absolutely foundational.
13:35-13:36
Jesus gave us His truth.
13:40-13:44
This is foundational to everything, church, because what do we do if we don't have the truth?
13:47-13:49
Don't you want the truth more than anything?
13:51-13:52
I mean more than anything, don't you want the truth?
13:53-13:56
I don't care what the truth is, I just want to know what the truth is.
13:56-14:13
you want that? You're like, "No, no, I really don't. Just lie to me. I'd prefer people lie to me." Really? Is that you? Come on. Would you say that to your doctor?
14:14-14:25
You go to the doctor and the doctor's like, "Hey, your lab results came back." And you're like, "You know what, doctor? Just lie to me. Just lie to me." Is that what you'd want from your doctor?
14:27-14:36
Or you go to the mechanic, the mechanic says, "Hey, we found the problem with your car." You're like, "I don't really wanna know what it, just lie to me, just make something up.
14:36-14:37
Just make something up.
14:38-14:42
Tell me something that'll make me feel better about my car." Would you say that?
14:43-14:44
Duh, that's stupid.
14:45-14:53
Would you go to the bank and say, "Look, I don't really want a statement on how much I have in the bank.
14:55-14:59
You'd really be doing me a solid if you just tell me I have more money than I actually have.
15:01-15:06
Because it would make me feel good if I thought I had a lot of money in the bank when I don't.
15:06-15:14
But I don't really care what the truth is, I just want to feel good about how much money I really don't have in the bank, but just lie to me.
15:18-15:19
Do you see how foolish that is?
15:20-15:23
That's exactly what people do when it comes to spiritual matters.
15:24-15:25
That this is the truth.
15:25-15:30
They're like, "No, no, I don't really believe that." They would rather people lie to them.
15:32-15:50
And the world would grab at peace so bad, the world wants artificial peace so bad, kind of like the lie to me about my sitcom piece, the world wants that so bad, they will grab hold of all kinds of strange beliefs.
15:51-15:52
And I hear this all the time.
15:52-16:06
And look, some of you might be offended by some things that I'm about to say, but you just have to ask yourself, "Am I speaking the truth or not?" But the world grabs at all kinds of strange things for peace.
16:07-16:16
Like when somebody passes away, people say this, "Well, you know what? God just wanted another angel in heaven." Have you ever heard that?
16:17-16:19
There is nothing true about that statement.
16:20-16:23
When you die, you do not turn into an angel.
16:24-16:38
And it's not like God was walking around heaven going, "This place is pretty cool, but it would be a lot cooler if Andrew kicked a bucket and was here with me as an angel." God just wanted another angel.
16:38-16:39
That's a lie that people embrace.
16:40-16:41
Or here's another one.
16:43-16:50
You know, a robin visited today, a robin landed on my windowsill.
16:51-16:56
And I know that that was, I know that was mom checking on me.
16:58-17:00
There's people that believe that stuff.
17:02-17:08
That you're being visited by a deceased family member when this animal visits you or whatever.
17:10-17:14
Or, I hear this one all the time, even from church people.
17:16-17:17
Like you know, I was really having a hard time.
17:18-17:19
I was really having a hard time.
17:19-17:24
And my grandpa who died, I was having a hard time and my grandpa, he was helping me.
17:24-17:27
I know that my grandpa was looking down on me and helping me.
17:28-17:29
And that's not true either.
17:33-17:35
There's nothing true about any of those things.
17:38-17:39
"How can you say that?
17:41-17:52
I'm kind of offended now, you kind of hurt my feelings." And my response is, "Okay, well, where did you come up with that stuff about the Robin is your mom or whatever, grandpa's helping you pass your psychology test?
17:52-17:53
Where did you come up with that?
17:56-18:11
What are you basing that on?" The world is just so steeped in lies right now We live in a day more than ever that we have no idea what to believe.
18:13-18:14
I mean, more than ever.
18:16-18:23
I can't remember a time in my life when I'd be watching the news and the whole time they're talking, my mind's going, "Well, that's probably not true.
18:24-18:24
I doubt that.
18:25-18:40
That can't be right." The whole time, from politics to pandemic to whatever, we're just trapped in these lies and the only escape that we have is the truth.
18:41-18:42
Jesus said something about that.
18:43-18:47
The truth will make you free, right?
18:49-18:51
There's freedom in the truth.
18:53-18:54
There's peace in the truth.
18:55-19:09
Because 1 Timothy 2.4 says, "God desires all people to be saved "and to come to the knowledge of the truth." Being saved, don't miss this, being saved is coming to the knowledge of the truth.
19:09-19:11
That's what it means to be saved.
19:13-19:16
That's what the gospel of Jesus Christ is all about.
19:16-19:22
It's coming to this Holy Spirit empowered enlightenment that you're going, wow, you know what?
19:22-19:26
I realized I have sinned against a Holy God.
19:27-19:36
I realized that I am a wayward, rebellious person by nature and I see what God has done through Jesus Christ.
19:36-19:45
He sent his son to die on my behalf, to pay the penalty for my sin, and to raise from the dead, to give me the promise of eternal life.
19:45-19:46
I understand that now.
19:46-19:47
God loved me so much.
19:48-19:55
This is what he did for me, and calls me to follow his son, and to receive his son.
19:57-20:04
That's the truth of the gospel, and that is going to set you free, And that is going to bring you peace.
20:06-20:22
So first of all, church, we have the words of Jesus, we have the words of God himself, and this will comfort you more than anything because this is rooted in reality, not superstition.
20:25-20:26
So he gives us his truth.
20:27-20:29
Three anxiety killers given to us from Jesus.
20:29-20:32
Number two, write this down, He gives us His peace.
20:33-20:34
He gives us His truth.
20:35-20:36
Secondly, He gives us His peace.
20:37-20:38
Look at verse 27.
20:41-20:42
Jesus says, "Peace I leave with you.
20:44-20:46
"My peace I give to you.
20:46-20:49
"Not as the world gives do I give to you.
20:50-21:08
"Let not your hearts be troubled, "neither let them be afraid." Right now, at this point in the sermon, This is where there are people that are going, look, I don't know who all this is for, but Jeff's up there talking about peace and all of that.
21:08-21:11
I don't know who this is for, but this ain't for me because I don't have anxiety.
21:13-21:15
Like, look, Jeff, I'm not hiding under the bed.
21:16-21:16
I ain't afraid of nothing.
21:19-21:20
All right, tough guy.
21:22-21:31
I wanna remind us quickly that not having peace shows up in different ways, okay?
21:34-21:40
Sometimes not having peace does look like I'm scared, I'm terrified, but jot these down.
21:40-21:43
Sometimes not having peace looks like depression.
21:45-21:48
That's a sign that you don't have peace.
21:48-21:49
You're depressed.
21:51-21:52
You're just like, man, I'm just, I'm in a funk.
21:53-21:57
I am so worn out with all of this stuff.
21:57-21:59
I'm just worn out.
22:00-22:02
And that shows up in just letting things go.
22:03-22:04
You just let things go.
22:06-22:14
Stop taking care of yourself, stop taking care of your house, stop taking care of everything.
22:16-22:22
Last week I was speaking to someone at the Area Agency on Aging.
22:24-22:28
And this man had told me that he sees a lot of this right now.
22:31-22:37
That there are people because of COVID and self-isolating and lockdowns and things like that.
22:37-22:50
He said, "We've just seen people completely stop "taking care of themselves to the point "where it requires direct intervention." And he goes, "It's really hard to see, But people have just, they've just given up.
22:52-22:54
And that's a sign of not having peace.
22:55-22:59
Another sign of not having peace is anger.
23:00-23:01
That's another way it shows up.
23:04-23:06
Okay, that's the guys, I am so ticked off.
23:06-23:09
You know, I am so sick of stupid people.
23:11-23:16
You know, all those idiots out there that don't think exactly like I think in every way, fools.
23:16-23:17
I'm so sick of it.
23:18-23:22
I'm so sick of the idiots out there.
23:25-23:26
Anger.
23:28-23:31
And it shows up when you're irritable.
23:34-23:49
You'll go off on some social media rant, like, "Anybody who will listen, I've got to get some things off my chest about how stupid I think people are." Listen, that's a sign that you're not at peace.
23:52-23:54
You certainly didn't see Jesus doing that, did you?
23:56-23:58
And here's another sign, despondency.
24:00-24:03
Despondency, that's a sign that you don't have peace.
24:03-24:16
That's the "nothing's ever going to change." "What's the point?" "Why bother?" And that shows up as complacency, which often manifests as lack of prayer.
24:17-24:17
Just lack of prayer.
24:18-24:22
"Eh, God's going to do what God's going to do." Whatever.
24:24-24:27
We talked about complacency back in Zephaniah.
24:27-24:28
Did you remember that?
24:29-24:30
Did you remember that?
24:33-24:42
Some of you are like, "I want to be nice and lie, but he was just talking about truth, so I don't know what to do." We're moving on.
24:43-25:02
"However, you are not having peace manifest." Look at this, Jesus says, "My peace I give to you." My peace, meaning it's his peace, meaning the peace that we have is exactly like his.
25:04-25:12
That Jesus isn't saying, "I'm going to create in you your best version of peace." This is what peace is going to look like for you.
25:13-25:18
Jesus, no, no, no, He says, "I have perfect peace, and I'm going to give that to you.
25:19-25:36
You're going to have peace exactly like I have peace." Talk more about that in a second, but notice Jesus says, "Not as the world gives." It's not as the world, Jesus, I don't give you peace the way the world does, but how does the world give peace?
25:37-25:39
The world tries all kinds of things.
25:40-25:44
Sometimes it's just, it's medical piece.
25:45-25:50
Listen, this is the part of the sermon where somebody's not going to hear what I say.
25:50-25:55
And you're gonna be like, "Pastor Jeff is anti-medicine." No, Pastor Jeff is not anti-medicine.
25:56-25:57
But hear what I'm saying.
26:00-26:13
Some people who do not have a legitimate medical problem just don't wanna cope with events of life and would rather be medicated to avoid facing reality.
26:16-26:22
I am not anti-medicine for people that need it, but there are a lot of people that are taking medicine that do not need it.
26:22-26:23
Why?
26:23-26:25
Because that's how the world gives peace.
26:25-26:27
I can't handle this.
26:27-26:28
I just can't handle my life.
26:28-26:31
All right, well, just take these and it'll help you calm down.
26:33-26:35
You know what else will help you calm down?
26:37-26:39
God's Word, God's Spirit.
26:41-26:42
Nope, nope.
26:44-26:45
I'll take the chemical option, please.
26:46-26:49
Another way that the world gives peace is escape.
26:49-26:51
You know what, you just need to run away for a while.
26:51-26:52
You just need to get away for a while.
26:52-26:56
Go to the Poconos, go to St. John, go to wherever.
26:56-26:58
Just get away for a while.
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And the problem with that is your problems are still there when you get back.
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So, same with the medicine, right?
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When the medicine wears off, you still have the problem.
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But there are a lot of ways that the world tries to give peace, and the fundamental issue is the world's peace is based on circumstances.
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The world's like, "We're going to help you, make you feel better through the circumstances." Jesus says, "No, my peace transcends circumstances." Because the peace that Jesus gives is internal.
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It's when you know that the Holy Spirit who lives within you is gonna handle whatever it is.
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Like he's got this, whoa, do you see this mountain that we're facing here?
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My God moves mountains.
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Do you see these enemies that are rising against us?
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Yeah, my God vanquishes my enemies.
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"Well, you see these problems?" That's not a problem for my God.
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That's peace.
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He knows what's going to happen and he's going to be with me no matter what happens.
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He left his peace.
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Jesus, I'm leaving my peace with you.
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I'm giving you my peace.
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So why do so many believers just lack peace?
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black piece. It's because you aren't going after it.
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You're not going after it. You're like, "Whoa, whoa, hang on a second, Jeff. Hang on.
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You just said the piece was given, and now you're saying I have to go after it.
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So which is it? Is it given to me or do I go after it?" It's both.
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You're like, "Well, that doesn't make sense." Yeah, it does. Think about it.
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If you needed money, and I deposited $500 into your bank account, you would have to go to the bank to get the money, but you would have possessed the money, right?
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It's the same thing with Jesus' peace. You have it. It's in your account.
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You just got to go get it. You got to appropriate it.
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Are you withdrawing from that?
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Isaiah 26.3 says, "You keep him in perfect peace, whose mind has stayed on you, because He trusts in you.
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And I have to ask you, if you're struggling right now, saying, "You know, I haven't felt peace in a long time." I just have to challenge you and challenge myself to say, to ask this question, "Has your mind stayed on Jesus?" How much is your mind focused on the Word of God?
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Because peace doesn't mean life is easy.
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See, that's a lie of the world.
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Peace means everything's fine out here.
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That's when I have peace.
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Peace doesn't mean life is easy.
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Peace means I have the calm assurance that God is in control, and that God is going to do whatever is best, no matter what happens.
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That's peace.
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That's peace to say that I trust God.
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No matter what happens.
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And finally, three anxiety killers given to us from Jesus.
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Finally, He gives us His example.
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He gives us His example.
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So we talked about truth, right?
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We talked about His peace.
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So here's a question, like, okay, so what does it look like when you have His truth here, like on the page, what does it look like when we have His truth here, but internally we have the spirit of peace, like what does that look like?
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when you put His truth and His peace together.
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And what that looks like are these next few verses.
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Because what I want you to see here is Jesus' serenity, despite what's happening.
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Let me ask you, how would your day go today?
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If you knew tomorrow you were going to be brutally tortured and publicly executed, how would your day go today?
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I think a lot of us would be just complete basket cases, right?
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Be a lot of tears and pacing and wailing.
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But you realize at this point in Jesus' life, that's exactly what He was looking at.
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He was literally hours away from enduring humiliation and pain and things that we can't even imagine.
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But through it all, He has perfect peace.
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We have to take a close look at Jesus' example here, church, because I'm going to be honest with you, we stink at it when it comes to being peaceful and trusting God and receiving His peace.
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We stink at this because we fall apart over nothing.
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Again, Jesus about to be executed the most painful way in history, perfectly calm, comforting and encouraging His disciples, total peace.
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Our week is ruined because that cashier at Target was just so rude!
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And there are people that will, they're off for the week.
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I had a coupon and he said I couldn't use an online coupon but he was a kid.
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"Pastor Jeff, that sounds like that came from a personal example." Well, maybe it did.
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But here we have the example of Jesus.
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And you're like, "Yeah, okay. Yeah, we have the example of Jesus, but newsflash, Pastor Jeff, I ain't Jesus." Point taken, but the Bible was clear.
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That Jesus gave us an example to follow in His steps.
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1 Peter 2.21-23 says specifically, everything that Jesus did here is an example for us to emulate.
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So as he was about to face the cross, his words here lay out how he had perfect peace and how we can have his perfect peace if we follow his example.
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Four things that brought Jesus peace can bring you peace.
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Okay, here's the example.
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Home stretch here.
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Are you still with me?
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Yeah, we're gone long today.
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And I'm barely half done.
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I've been like storing this up for a month.
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Four things that brought Jesus peace and can bring you peace.
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I just want you to see this.
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Four things that brought Jesus peace and can bring you peace.
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Letter A, write this down, viewing death realistically.
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Viewing death realistically.
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Verse 28, Jesus said, "You heard me say to you, 'I am going away, and I will come to you.
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If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.'" Jesus points out the disciples were kind of selfish here, because they were so troubled, and so concerned, and so...
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What's the problem here, guys?
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They were only thinking about what Jesus' death meant to them.
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We are going to be without Jesus.
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What are we going to do?
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We are going to be lost.
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What about us?
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Like you realize he's about to die and suffer and return to heaven and all of, but what about us?
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That's why Jesus said, if you love me, you see, if you love me, you would have rejoiced.
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Like guys, have you really thought through the implications of everything that's coming?
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Jesus says, "I'm going to the Father." He's like, "I'm going back to heaven.
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"And if you really loved me, if you cared about me, "you'd be so happy that I'm going back home "to be with my dad, "and all the earthly limitations are gonna be gone." And he makes this statement that the Father is greater than I.
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What's he talking about?
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It's speaking of Jesus' humanity.
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Philippians chapter two, Jesus emptied himself and now he's going back to resume the glory that he had with the father.
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And Jesus said, "You should be so thrilled for me because of where I'm heading." And church, we have to get a biblical perspective, whether it's facing our death Or, the death of a loved one.
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I think we need to remind ourselves of a biblical perspective.
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Because church, so often we grieve for believers who die.
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And too often, like the disciples, our grief is about us.
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Right?
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It's really about us.
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This past month we had a celebration of Pastor Bob's life.
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And a lot of you know he taught me what I know about being a pastor.
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He discipled me.
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And he died July 4th of last year.
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And this year, July 4th, we had sort of the celebration of his life.
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And there's barely a day that goes by.
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I think about picking up the phone and calling.
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Oh my gosh, I gotta tell him something hilarious I get to ask him about this and sometimes I still feel that loss, you know?
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And it'd be real easy for me to just be like, "Oh, because of everything he meant to me and the influence he had on me and the wisdom he gave me, I feel so bad for myself." But then I think about what he's seeing right now.
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And you know, it's kind of hard to feel bad for him.
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And I'm like, "Man, it'd be great if I could have Pastor Bob just come back here, like for a week and help me out." And he'd be like, "Dude, I was in heaven with Jesus and you want to bring me back down to the earth?" But like Jesus, we need to view death realistically, right?
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That gives you peace.
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Secondly, resting in God's control.
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in God's control.
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Verse 29, Jesus says, "And now I have told you before it takes place, that when it does take place, you may believe." We've already discussed this before, but Jesus had to tell them what was coming so they recognized his sovereignty.
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Like, "Hey, things are about to look real bad, but understand it's like the plan, okay?" and all of the craziness we see today with the wars and pestilence and hatred and move towards one world government and one world economy and not being able to buy or sell without a mark.
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You're like, man, tinfoil hat stuff, Jeff.
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Is it?
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Is it really?
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Or are we watching the events of God's word unfold right before our eyes?
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God told us everything that was going to happen.
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The things that we're seeing now, we went through the book of Revelation.
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We're watching it now like live.
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And church, God is not pacing around heaven right now, going, "Oh, what am I gonna do?
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Oh, did you see what they're, oh, did you see what they're doing to Israel?
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What am I gonna do?
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Oh, I don't know what, I don't know how I'm gonna handle this." God's up in heaven right now saying, I am watching over my word to perform it.
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This is exactly what I said was going to happen.
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And there's peace.
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Because like Jesus, we know how this story ends.
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Pressing in God's control, let her see regarding Satan as defeated.
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Regarding Satan as defeated.
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Verse 30, "I will no longer talk much with you, "For the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me." The ruler of this world, that's how Jesus referred to Satan.
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Satan is the ruler of this world, for now.
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But I love this, Jesus said, "He's coming, but he's got no claim on me." What's that mean?
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It means there was no sin in Jesus' life that Satan could lay hold of.
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There's nothing in Jesus' character that could have been used against him.
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That Satan is like, "Well, you realize, son of God, you're suffering because you sinned against your father.
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You understand that, right? You're a failure and a disappointment." See, if Satan would have had something like that to hold on to, oh, he would have grabbed onto that.
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But Jesus said, "He has nothing. He has nothing. He has no claim on me." Jesus knew that Satan already lost.
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Satan was defeated at the cross and he's going to be executed in the lake of fire.
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And in the meantime, yes, he's stealing, he's killing, he's destroying, but he's defeated.
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And since Jesus gives you His righteousness when you believe in Him, you understand Satan has no claim on you either.
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Sometimes, church, we give the devil way too much credit.
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Like he's able to sovereignly do all of these evil, wicked things in our lives that we have no control over.
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And is he going to overcome us?
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You need to see Satan the way Jesus saw Satan.
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Like, "Yeah, he's powerful, yeah, but he's got no claim on me." He has no claim on you either.
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And finally, obeying the Father out of love.
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Obeying the Father out of love.
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Verse 31, Jesus says, "But I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father.
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Rise, let us go from here." Obeying the Father out of love.
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Satan isn't the reason Jesus went to the cross, by the way.
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Jesus' love and obedience for His Father was the reason that He went to the cross.
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Jesus said, "I'm doing this because the Father commanded me, and I'm going to deal with the hurt and the hate and the agony.
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I'm going to deal with everything that the cross means because I love God.
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And Jesus' example is obedience, excuse me, motivated by love, is an example for us.
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That you have to get to the point in your life that you love and trust God so much that nothing else matters to you except doing what He's called you to do.
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When you get to that point in your life that you say, "Whatever trials God has before me, whatever is down the road for me, I'm going to honor God through them and the world is going to see no matter what, I love God." church, that is what the world needs from us right now more than anything. The world needs to see your testimony that loving God is what brings you peace. And they can love God and receive that peace too. So you want to kill your anxiety? Get in Jesus' truth.
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You want to kill your anxiety, receive Jesus' peace.
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You want to kill your anxiety, watch and follow Jesus' example.
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Let's pray.
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Father in heaven, we thank you for the peace that Jesus gives.
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And Father, we confess before you that even though it is on our spiritual bank account, that we are in possession of it, we are just so often, we're just neglectful, and we don't go to the spiritual bank to make a withdrawal.
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We end up acting just like the world, living in fear.
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Father, we thank you for Jesus' words and today we thank you for his example.
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And I'm asking, Father, that this church would be a light.
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That while panic and hysteria continues to amplify around us, that you would give us opportunities in this neighborhood, in our neighborhoods where our homes are, in our workplaces, give us opportunities, Father, to show the world that this is the peace that is given by Jesus Christ.
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Let them see that, Father, in a way that gives us opportunity to share the good news of the gospel with them.
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Thank you, Father.
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Thank You for killing our anxiety.
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We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.
Small Group Discussion
Read John 14:25-31
What was your big “take-away” from this passage / message?
What are some ways the world gives peace (John 14:27)? How is the peace Jesus gives different?
How does “not having peace” show up in your life: worry, depression, anger, despondency, something else? How should you respond when you feel this coming on?
What example from Jesus do you most need to embrace and emulate right now?
Viewing Death Realistically. (John 14:28)
Resting in God's Control. (John 14:29)
Regarding Satan as Defeated. (John 14:30)
Obeying the Father Out of Love. (John 14:31)
Breakout
Pray for one another.