Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Peace”
Our Bible verse for today: “I am leaving you with a gift – peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.” John 14:27 (NLT)
Our thought for today: “True peace is found only in Jesus.”
On the night before He was crucified, knowing that His time with His disciples was almost over, Jesus spent hours reviewing with them the most important lessons He had taught them. It’s all recorded for us in John chapters 13-17. In the middle of it He paused and told them about the wonderful gift He was leaving them – peace of mind and heart. His peace. It’s a deep, resilient, abiding peace that the world can’t give and which the world therefore cannot take away. So don’t be troubled, and don’t be afraid.
It was so important to Jesus that His followers get this point and embrace the truth of this lesson that He repeated it a little while later. In John 16:33 He told them (and us), “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” (NLT)
It has been rightly observed that when a person knows they are close to death their final words are often very revealing and insightful. Those five chapters in the Gospel of John (13-17) give us great insight into the things that were most important to Jesus. If you want to hear His own concise summary of the teaching points He most wanted His followers to hang onto, carefully read those chapters.
Jesus concluded, just prior to going to the Garden of Gethsemane and just prior to His arrest, with His great prayer in John chapter 17. If you want to hear the heart of Jesus for you as He prayed to His Father:
“During My time here I protected them by the power of the name you gave me. I guarded them so that not one was lost …” (verse 12)
“I’m not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one.’ (verse 15)
“I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message.” (verse 20)
“I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one. I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me. Father, I want these whom you have given me to be with me where I am.” (verses 22-24)
Jesus loves you. Jesus prays for you. Jesus gives you His peace. And so, don’t be troubled; don’t be afraid.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 