Good morning to everyone. Allow me to greet you all in the wonderful name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. It's always an honor and a privilege to share the gospel of Christ, even though sometimes you're never totally ready to share the gospel. But he makes it possible at any given moment. Let's read from the book of John, chapter 14. I'm not going to talk about him coming to take you and giving you new houses in heaven. No, I'm not going there. But we read verses 15 up to 19, then we will read 25, I mean 25 up to 27. John chapter 14, let's read 15 to 19, and then we read 25 to 27. If you love me, you will keep my commandment. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another helper to be with you forever. Even the spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, Because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he will dwell with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you. Yet little while, and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. And verses 25. These things I have spoken to you while I'm still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He will teach you all these things and bring your remembrance and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. Now, verses 27 says, Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you, not as the world gives, do I give you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. That's the word of the Lord, and let's live with it from now on and forevermore. Amen. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word, and thank you for this opportunity that you have given us this morning, Lord, that we may listen to you as you encourage us, call us to you, rebuke us, and give us hope in this world where there's many tribulations. As I was growing, or let me rather say, the first time I opened my eyes and I saw somebody as a mother, that was my grandmother. And I grew up knowing my grandmother as my mother. And everybody in the community knew my grandmother as my mother. Now, 2010, then I got a call when I was at home. I was already in Mami Lodi and she was in Cardigan. And I got a call. I knew she was ill. I knew she was on her last days. And I got a call, your mother wants you. And I drove home. And as soon as I entered her bedroom, and she smiled. And she said her last words, which for me at that moment was like, what are you doing? What are you saying? And she greeted me. She greeted everybody. And she last said to us, remain as a family. And she breathed her last breath. And I think you can imagine the pain and the anxiousness at that moment. You can ask yourself a lot of questions. Yes, she's old, but then God, why? Why now? And I believe all of us have experienced something like that. And I think even the disciples of Christ felt the same thing when he kept on telling them, I am leaving. Soon I will depart, you will see me no more. But soon again, you will see me again. That was at home. At one stage, even Peter asked him anxiously, Lord, Where are you going? And why can't maybe we go with you? Think of this. The problem was the words Jesus was saying at that moment was too heavy for them to understand or even accept. You know why? For their understanding as Jewish, Jesus was that person they owed. He will restore the kingdom back to them. Now all of a sudden, there he comes. I'm leaving. They won't see him for a while, and they must not worry. How possible is that? How possible is that? But the good thing is, our savior, Christ himself, understood their fears as much as he understand our fears. Now listen to this comforting words. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let them be afraid. Now, fellow brothers and sisters, allow me this morning to preach the word of God under this theme. Let your heart not be troubled, nor afraid, for I leave you with a gift of peace and a gift My fellow brothers and sisters, the truth we learn from scriptures is that Jesus came down to earth, took the human flesh, lived among men, looked like men, walked like men, acted like us, spoke like us, but he was never, ever a man of sin. He was God and he is God. He remained as Emmanuel. And for him to walk in this world, there was a purpose or a greater purpose from the father. And the purpose was very clear from the onset that he will suffer, he will die, he will rise from the dead. And after that, he will bring peace between me and the father. La Journe chapter 14. It was the last hours of his ministry on earth. Yet it was the night of the Passover. and they had already shared the Lord's supper. Now Satan has already entered Judah, as we know the story, who disappeared into the night, now to betray him. You know what comforts us mostly? It's the fact that During this countdown, or you can imagine the countdown of the last hours of Christ, Jesus knowing very well what will soon take place. But he was at peace. I tell you the honest truth, if it was me, I would have made all means to run away. But he was at peace. with all what was happening, with all the knowledge that he had concerning his suffering ahead of him, he was at peace. But the disciples had a lot of questions about what he was saying. This is our expectations. This is how we saw this man. Yes, they had him teaching. They saw him doing whatever he was doing. But their expectations was this man will restore the kingdom of Israel back to us. We have opened this man. Now all of a sudden, these are the words he's saying to them. I am leaving. Now you can imagine the countdown of the last hours, Jesus doing very well what will soon take place. He turns to his disciples and he said, I will no longer talk much with you for the ruler of this world is coming. That is verses 30. Now he was referring to the devil. He was about to strike. He was about to do what he has been planning to do. In other words, Jesus was saying, all I have been saying concerning me, it's about to take place. The moment of truth, it's about to happen. I will live. Now, can you imagine the anxiety in the lives or during that moment of his disciples, three years with them, and this is the man whom they say, we will follow. I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. Under all these painful developments, we must also be comforted by the fact that Jesus, as I said, knew and was prepared to grow and to go through the suffering ahead of him. For he knew what Judas will do or was busy doing. He knew how he will be denied by Peter. He knew how he will be brutally beaten. But he went through because of the love he has for the Father. As I mentioned, he could have just decided never to go ahead. He would have just changed his mind, but the love for God compelled him to go ahead and surrender his life. Now listen to this message. Through all this unclear and traumatizing farewell waits, the master was preparing his disciples for their coming persecutions. But the master did not only say all those words and left them. He did not tell them that I'm leaving and just leave them with pain. But he gave them a comfort, which also applies to us today as Christians. He gave them hope in the midst of all what he was saying. You know, as I was standing there in front of, you know, the lifeless body of my grandmother, my mind was... Look, at that time, I was 10 years preaching now in ministry, and I've been preaching, I've been telling people at funerals that we come for them, but I was standing there asking myself, God, wow, really? She's gone. Now the questions in my heart were rising and I looked at my sisters and I looked at my brothers and I said, do you really understand what is going on? Christ did not leave them just like that. He gives hope. And look and listen to what he's saying. He says in verses 27, in the midst of everything that has been saying, I am leaving and I'm not leaving you as orphans. He kept on promising them. He kept on showing them. Now listen to verses 27. He says, peace, I leave with you. But come on, let's be realistic. Do you think this is normal? Now, a few minutes ago, you were telling us you are leaving. Now, a few minutes thereafter, you are saying, peace, I live with you. I think that's unrealistic. He says, peace, I live with you. How? Now, brothers and sisters, how will they experience this peace in this unclear condition? How do they experience peace while the person they expected to restore their life But Jesus says, I leave you with a gift of peace. Now the question is, what kind of peace is he talking about? What kind of peace will make believers never to be anxious? You know why I'm asking this question? What kind of peace is Jesus talking about? You know why I'm asking about this? been in ministry for some time, I have heard and I have seen people before I can try to answer this question, what kind of peace? You know, I have seen people eager and striving to find what they call peace of their soul. When you're living here, people say, give me my peace. Where do I get peace? People striving to find peace of what they call peace of my soul, peace of my life, peace of mind. But you know what unfortunately is? After all the efforts people strive to find peace, there's still a huge vacuum of uncertainty remaining. And you know why? The peace, the world, It's different from the peace Christ is talking about. The peace Christ is talking about, it's totally different from the peace the world is offering. Because the world, we expect the world to offer us peace, but it's unconditional. It's not the peace we want, because it's limited. It's not free from trouble. from hostility, from unrest, from conflict. It's an external peace the world is giving us. But Jesus says, peace I leave with you. And listen to what he's saying, my peace, my peace I give to you. Jesus is promising a different peace. without condition, without limits. And I'm sorry, not everybody will ever understand or experience the kind of peace is to live about. You can be in a theological seminar, you can be a lecturer, you can work here, you can... As long as you haven't found in Christ or he found you, this is the kind of peace you will never experience. which will make you feel forever uncomfortable. But Jesus speaks or is promising a different peace, without condition, without limits. And to be specific, he says, my peace I give you. And this makes it so much different. My peace I give you. It is his peace. He gives a priceless peace that he paid for. You know, when you were in school, you would do history, and they would tell you this nation signed a peace treaty with this nation. Then a few pages down the line, you hear, oh, they broke the peace, and they killed each other. And you say, oh, OK, what kind of peace is this? Because it is conditioned. If you do this, then I'll do this. You say, if you don't do this, then I'll react in this way. But Christ, it says Jesus is giving the peace he possesses or his peace that he owns. Now, as I was reading this, I was comforted by this way that the peace he speaks about, it is the peace that he experienced while he was faced by the ruler Pilate. while he was faced with a cross, while he was facing death, when he looked at death in his mind, heart, eyes, he was in peace. At the very same peace, he says, I deposit to you as a gift. It will be something inside of you. Something not influenced by the world, but by the spirit of God. One old man in the congregation I served earlier, he was very old, I think he was 90. And his children calls me and the wife, he said, but that's me. He keeps on talking alone. I said, oh, but he's old, what do you expect? I know him, so allow him to talk, but he says, no, no, no, no. Then I went there, then I, you know, I found him sitting there, talking and talking and talking and talking. But later then, he uttered what was bothering him, and he spoke from his heart. And two weeks down the line, he passed away. Before he left, he says, now, you know what? Reverend, he called me, do you know what he said? I don't know. He says, I'm at peace with Christ. I'm at peace. Whatever was bothering him, he said it. And he was at peace. That is one peace. He's giving it to his disciples. He says, I'm going to deposit it into you, in the midst of all this, in everything that I'm telling you, that I'm living. Here's hope. It will be something inside of them, inside of us. Something not influenced by the world, but by the spirit. It is a kind of peace that will remain deep, even things go wrong or hard. With such peace, Christians will forever have hope that our God is in control, despite the difficulties. It is peace which will help us sing a song, it is well with my soul, despite all the difficulties. Paul says in the book of Philippians, when he explained this, he says, it is peace of God which surpasses all understanding, which guards our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus. And Jesus adds the following gospel words. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let there be afraid. I really don't think it was just as simple as he was saying it for his disciples to understand. Never to be worried, never to fear. Think, he's living. Then he says, don't be afraid. Is it possible? The reality is the disciples at this moment, even if he's talking about peace, even if he's talking about the spirit coming, they were still trying to digest what he was telling them. They were still thinking of what he was telling them. And he says, let your heart not be troubled, not afraid. My fellow brothers and sisters, yes, I agree the atmosphere was tense, but the promise of peace and the Holy Spirit about to be given to them. I mean, the promise of peace, which was about to be given to them through the Holy Spirit will help them understand the mission of God behind the suffering, death, resurrection, and the ascension of Jesus Christ. My fellow believers, have you ever experienced this kind of peace? Many Christians, or so-called Christians, haven't come to that point. They sing songs, they worship well, they pray daily, but they haven't come to that. The only place to find it is a relationship with Jesus Christ. The only time you can feel this is a relationship with Jesus Christ. Remain in Him, you will feel it despite all. My kids ask me one day, why do you keep on greeting and smile when people treat you like, okay, I shouldn't have, I don't have to say this. Rubbish. But they see it happen. Let me tell you the honest truth. I don't know. Most naturally, I sometimes feel like, let me just deal with them the way they deal with me. But the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, which guards our hearts and our mind, keeps us humble. I'm asking again. I'm asking again. Have you ever experienced this peace Christ is talking about? Have you come to the point in your life where you've seen hymns and praises? Like John, I know my Redeemer lives even things goes wrong. I repeat what I said, unfortunately not all will experience that. Even if I can be a staunch member of a particular church, it does not qualify me for that. but being in Christ is the root of that peace. Romans 5, one says, therefore since we have been justified by faith, we have this peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. The peace he gives us is priceless, is forever, it's expensive. Now let me go towards my conclusion. How then will we experience this inner peace? How will we be able to live with such peace without losing it in this painful world, where things go wrong each and every day? Where the people we trust, our government officials, they forget us. Where pastors we trust forget us. Where parents sell their children How will we live with this peace? Where poverty hit us hard, sicknesses, death, unanswered questions. How do we live with this kind of peace and forever say, Lord, John 14, 26 says, but the help of the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all these things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said unto you. Maybe somebody will say, well, no, it doesn't go with that, but it goes. Because the very same Spirit is the one that will make it alive in us. The promise of the Holy Spirit comes not only to the disciples, but also to us. Look at this. He comes as a counselor, he comes as a teacher, not of new things, but of all what Jesus has been teaching. Jesus says, he will bring to your remembrance all what I have taught you. Is that not a comfort? That Christians are not left alone as orphans who must find their way to survive with this gift of peace which might end up without me. And I think the same with the disciples. It was a question. How do we make sense of the peace he's talking about? The answer is simple. The Holy Spirit will be at work in our lives. In their lives, he will forever be at work in us. Reminding us of the promises of Christ. Reminding us of the Word of God. Reminding us reminding us of how great he is, reminding us of how he loves us, even despite all what is happening. He will take us back to the scriptures to find our comfort there, to have a forever or everlasting peace that makes us see it is well with my soul. despite everything. I once sang this song when things goes deep. And the scripture testified this, that soon after the resurrection and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the disciples started to understand the true meaning of this piece Jesus is talking about. Think of Peter, the book of Acts. As soon as he felt the comfort of the spirit. He stood before people who killed his master and was able, peacefully, strong and straight to preach the gospel of Christ without fear. Think of Stephanos, who was killed, stoned to death, but still called upon I doubt how many Christians today can do that. I doubt. Paul and Silas went to jail. They kept on singing songs and hymns praising God. Now I close, my fellow brothers and sisters. Have you come to that level of understanding? Have you come to that point? When you are hit by challenges, when you are hit by many things in life, how then do you look at Christ and be able to say, thank you for being with me? Despite all my suffering, despite all my troubles, you have been with me. The Holy Spirit will forever sustain the peace in you and in me to continue resting on the Lord under all circumstances. The Spirit will bring to life all the promises and the teachings of Christ for us to understand them. And not only to understand them, but to apply them to our lives and find comfort in them. and find peace of knowing that our God, He is in charge. He lives, He does not sleep, He does not slumber. Do you have that kind of peace? And may the Lord give it to you, that you may forever see Him, despite all difficulties of life. We are weak as your children. We suffer many things each and every day. We are attacked daily by many things. Families, friends, people we trust, by sicknesses, by anxiety. And we ask you, Lord, to continue comforting us through your word as we listen to you daily. That we may never forget who you are in our lives. That we may never forget what you have done for us through Jesus Christ. That we may continue praising your name despite all challenges. that we may forever see you clearly and more dearly, loving you as your children. Please, Lord, do not remove your spirit in our lives, that he may forever give us this comfort of feeling safe, protected, provided, Even when we see things not going the way we would wish them to go, but we will see you as our God. In Jesus name we pray, that you may forever guide us, forever walk with us.