DO NOT LET YOUR HEARTS BE TROUBLED

"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid" (John 14:1, 27b NIV).

There are a lot of problems and hardships today that make the world unbearable for living. No one is immune from these things that are confronting human beings every day. Many have given up all hopes and are expecting the worst to happen. Some have even resorted to taking their lives. However, in all these, Jesus Christ says, "Do not let your hearts be troubled."

Jesus Christ was with His disciples in the upper room giving them His farewell speech when He made this statement. His disciples were disturbed because of some events that He predicted. These events included: He was going away (John 7:34; 8:21; 12:8, 35; 13:33); He would die (John 12:32-33); one of them was a betrayer (John 13:21); Satan was  at work against all of them (Luke 22:31-32); they would not be able to follow Him to where He was going (John 13:36); Peter would deny Him thrice (John 13:38); and all of them would fall away (Matthew 26:31). Nevertheless, Jesus counseled them to believe in God and also in Him (John 14:1). He was saying in essence that they should believe in, adhere to, trust in and rely on Him. Trust is the great antidote for a troubled heart. Seeing God above our problems will make our hearts not to be troubled.

Jesus Christ did not ask His disciples to only trust in Him as an antidote for their troubled hearts, He also gave some other reasons for His admonition. He affirmed the reality of heaven where He was going to prepare a place for the disciples (as well as other believers), and come back to take them (John 14:2-3). The reward of Christian service in the hereafter is an encouragement to the disciples and even believers today to persevere in trials of faith.

Jesus would not leave the disciples alone in the world. He promised that the Father would send another Comforter to them, Someone who would abide with them forever (John 14:15-17, 26). This would be the Holy Spirit.

Despite the fact that Jesus Christ would leave His disciples, He would give them His peace (John 14:27). This peace would be different from the worldly peace or any other peace that they could think of. But this peace, as Paul put it, "…transcends all understanding, [and it] will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:7 NIV). This would not be for them, just as part of their lives in eternity, but as a vital aspect of their lives on earth. The peace is also for all that put their total trust in Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ briefly mentioned it as He was rounding off His farewell speech that He has overcome Satan, the prince of this world (John 14:30). Satan might have come to this world, yet he would not overcome the disciples. Jesus Christ reaffirmed it also in John 16:33 that He has overcome the world.

What are you passing through that is making your heart to be troubled? Remember Jesus' admonition, "Do not let your hearts be troubled." He has gone to prepare our eternal home for us. He will come back to take us to Himself. Come to God through Him, the only true living Way. Allow the Holy Spirit to have His way in your life. You will experience His peace. "For our light and momentary troubles are  achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal" (2 Corinthians 4:17-18 NIV).

In His service,

Bayo Afolaranmi (Pastor)

Daily Smile:

Four high school boys afflicted with spring fever skipped morning classes. After lunch they reported to the teacher that they had a flat tire. 

Much to their relief she smiled and said: "Well, you missed a test today so take seats apart from one another and take out a piece of paper." 

Still smiling, she waited for them to sit down. Then she said:
"First Question: Which tire was flat?"

Today's Sponsors:
The StarLight News Reminding Everyone To Shop At Home FIRST!!!

GOD IS LONG-SUFFERING

     “What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much long suffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which had prepared beforehand for glory, even us whom He called not of Jews only but also of the gentiles.” (Romans 9:232-23)

     

     Peter writes how “the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.” (1 Pet. 3:20.)  What was the condition of man in Noah’s day? “God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” (Genesis 6:5.) Yet, in view of such evil, God did not swiftly execute His wrath, but He was long-suffering while Noah built the ark for the saving of eight souls.

      God would make known the riches of His glory through vessels of mercy, but it appears to take a long time to prepare such vessels, longer than it does to bring forth vessels of wrath. Man, born in sin and shaped in iniquity, has the root of the mystery of iniquity working in him from the moment of his natural birth, when he begins to breathe the atmosphere of this world’s system. A baby can manifest its own self-will the day it is born. But to prepare a vessel of mercy takes the tender care of God, as little by little He purges and purifies, until the whole is conformed to His image. Therefore GOD ENDURES, He is patient; He continues a long time while waiting for this spiritual maturity. Just like He endured the whole wicked stream of humanity all those years while Noah constructed an ark, so now He waits for our perfection.

     “Shall not God avenge His own elect, which cry day and night unto Him, though He bear long (is long-suffering) with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily.” (Luke 18:7-8.) What a beautiful balance, long-suffering with His creation, and yet when He does move, it shall be done speedily. “However for this reason I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all long-suffering, as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life. Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God alone who is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.” – 1 Timothy 1:16 -17

By Ray Prinzing

Daily Smile:

Three buddies die in a car crash, and they find themselves at the pearly gates.

They are all asked, "When you are in your casket and friends and family are mourning upon you, what would you like to hear them say about you?

The first guy says, "I would like to hear them say that I was the greatest doctor of my time, and a great family man." 



Today's Sponsors:
The StarLight News Reminding Everyone To Shop At Home FIRST!!!

Our Resurrected Bodies

by Herman Tranter, Preacher/Evanglist

John 11:13 "Howbeit Jesus spake of his death: but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep."

There are many scriptures where death is spoken of as sleep, however, the disciples thought Jesus was speaking of Lazarus simply resting. Jesus eventually clarifies their misunderstanding by using the word "death," but that was not His first choice. This is because God's perspective is different than ours. Death is final to natural man but not to God. There will be a resurrection.

In his second letter to the Corinthians Paul uses natural illustrations to explain the resurrection. He speaks of seeds that are buried in the ground and "die." Then they are resurrected as a plant. The plant and the seed bear no resemblance but they are actually the same. The plant is just in a resurrected state. Likewise, our physical bodies will die but they will be resurrected just as surely as seeds produce plants.

In the same way that a seed is different than the plant that it produces, likewise our resurrected bodies will be different. Our glorified bodies will be very similar to our physical bodies in appearance. This can be said because of what the scriptures reveal about Jesus' glorified body. He still looked human, He ate food, had the print of the nails in His hands and feet, and He said He had flesh and bones. Yet he could appear and disappear. Our resurrected bodies will be immortal (i.e. not subject to death). Our resurrected bodies will be like Jesus' resurrected body.

In the same way that our present physical bodies are a miraculous creation, so our glorified resurrected bodies will have their own glory. We can rest assured that God never serves dessert first. If this physical body is wonderful, our resurrected body will be even better.

Daily Smile:

Mr. White and his wife went for a gathering. At commencement of the program, the MC said the people were going to be grouped into two. He said "those whose wives' are the head of the family move to the left-hand side of the auditorium, while those whose husbands are the head of the family should move to the right". 

Mr. White asked his wife "Honey, which group should we move to?"

Today's Sponsors:

The StarLight News Reminding Everyone To Shop At Home FIRST!!!

JOY IN BELIEVING

by JOHN FREDERICKSEN, Pastor

Scripture Reading: "Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost"  

Romans I5:13 

Believers in the age of grace have perhaps more reason to rejoice in their salvation than believers of any previous time.

Very early in man's history, God revealed His plan to bring spiritual blessing to the entire world through Abraham. God promised him, "In thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed," (Genesis 12:3). Progressive revelation unfolded the details of Abraham's seed providing a specific Saviour as a sacrifice for sin. Then the remainder of the nation was to become a kingdom of priests ministering to the world. When Christ came the first time, it was "to confirm the promises made unto the fathers," (vs. 8). Had Israel responded in belief, the millennial kingdom would have been established and Gentiles would have at last enjoyed blessing. They would have glorified "God for His mercy," (vs. 9), rejoiced" (vs. 10), and praised the Lord because they too would trust in Him (vs. 11-12).

The problem is, Israel refused to believe and God's plan to bless the Gentiles could have been frustrated. But "the God of hope" found a solution. Romans 11:11-15 explains that God is now blessing Gentiles NOT through Israel's rise to prominence, but through her fall from God's unique favor. Today salvation is offered to all apart from Israel's promises or instrumentality, and solely on the basis of grace. No wonder then that Paul exhorted his readers to be filled with joy and peace in believing. He even exhorted them to abound in the confident expectations of eternal blessings. 

Ours is a salvation provided by the determined purpose of a merciful God. Let's truly rejoice in it today! 

Daily Smile:

This man in a Ford Granada pulls up next to a guy in a Rolls Royce at a stop sign. Their windows are open and he yells at the guy in the Rolls: "Hey, you got a telephone in there?" 
The guy in the Rolls says, "Yes, of course I do."
"I got one too... see?" 
"Uh, huh, yes, that's very nice." 
Then the man in the Granada says, "You got a fax machine?" 
"Why, actually, yes, I do." "I do too! See? It's right here!" 
"Uh-huh." 
The light is just about to turn green and the guy in the Granada says, "So, do YOU have a double bed in back there?" 
And the guy in the Rolls says, "NO! Do you?" 
"Yep, got my double bed right in back here — see?!" 
The light turns and the man in the Granada takes off. Well, the guy in the Rolls is not about to be one-upped, so he goes immediately to a customizing shop and orders them to put a double bed in back of his car. About two weeks later, the job is finally done and he picks up his car and drives all over town looking for the Granada. He finally finds it parked alongside the road so he pulls his Rolls up next to it. The windows on the Granada are all fogged up and he feels a little awkward about it, but he gets out of his newly modified Rolls and taps on the foggy window of the Granada. The man in the Granada finally opens the window a crack and peeks out. 
The guy in the Rolls says, "Hey. Remember me?" 
"Yeah, yeah, I remember you. What's up?" 
"Check this out — I got a double bed installed in my Rolls." 
And the man in the Granada says, "YOU GOT ME OUT OF THE SHOWER TO TELL ME THAT?!" 


Today's Sponsors:
The StarLight News Reminding Everyone To Shop At Home FIRST!!!

Living beyond your circumstances through the Resurrection

A little boy named Philip with Down Syndrome attended a third-grade Sunday school class with several eight-year-old boys and girls. Typical of that age, the children did not readily accept Philip with his differences.

The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.” — Matthew 28:5-6

On Easter Sunday, the teacher brought egg-shaped pantyhose containers for the students and told the children to go outside, find some symbol for new life, and put it in the egg-like container. Back in the classroom, they would share their new life symbols, opening the containers one by one. After running about the church property in wild confusion, the students returned to the classroom and placed the containers on the table.

Surrounded by the children, the teacher began to open them one by one. When one was opened, revealing nothing inside, the children exclaimed, “That’s not fair! Somebody didn’t do their assignment.”

Philip spoke up, “That’s mine.”

“Philip, you don’t ever do things right!” a student retorted. “There’s nothing there!”

“I did so do it,” Philip insisted. “It’s empty, just like Jesus’ tomb was empty!”

Silence followed. From then on, Philip became an accepted member of the class. He sadly died not long afterward from an infection most normal children would have shrugged off. At the funeral, this class of eight-year-olds marched up to the altar, not with flowers, but with their Sunday school teacher, each to lay on it an empty pantyhose egg.

Whatever challenges you face today, the resurrection of Jesus Christ can give your life hope, meaning, and purpose. So this Easter, rest in the goodness of God and the new life you’ve been given through Jesus’ resurrection! Prayer Challenge

Ask God to help you live beyond your circumstances and rest in the new life you’ve been given through the resurrection of Jesus Christ!

DAILY SMILE: 

Where Does the Easter Bunny Eat Breakfast? 

At IHOP...

Today's Sponsors:
The StarLight News Reminding Everyone To Shop At Home FIRST!!!