Today's Word Radio

Brett Meador: My peace I give to you, not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Why? Cuz I'm going to give you a peace not like the world gives.

Guest (Male): On Today's Word, Pastor Brett Meador says God stands ready with a promise of peace that can be ours just for the asking.

Brett Meador: But in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God, and the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Guest (Male): After what turned into a dramatic evening, the disciples are left feeling despaired over the events unfolded during the Last Supper. Thankfully, Jesus gave the remedy to combat their troubled hearts in John 14:1. And in Today's Word, Pastor Brett Meador offers the same assurance that as we follow the Lord's commands, we can find peace, hope, and comfort in any situation.

Brett Meador: You might call John chapter 13 One Dark Night in Jerusalem. I probably can't do justice to how dismal this scene is for the disciples. You know, we think of the Last Supper as, oh, Jesus and his disciples, they're having a wonderful time. Well, then later, Jesus says, one of you is going to betray me. Here's the disciples. They gave up all their occupations. They've been following Jesus for 3 years. You know, they're all thinking, okay, we're pretty tight. But then all of a sudden, Jesus, one of you's going to betray me. And then the disciples start wondering which one it is.

Then Jesus says this, guys, I'm about to go somewhere where you cannot go with me. And we know Jesus was talking about the cross and ultimately death, burial, resurrection, and ascension into heaven. All of that is what Jesus said, you you guys can't go with me anymore. You been following me for 3 years. I'm out. Peter says, no, Lord, where you go, I'm going to go. And Jesus says to Peter, Peter, eventually you'll go where I'm going, but not right now. Man, by this time you can only imagine the disciples, what, you're leaving us? You already told us you're going to die and be crucified and man, what in the world's happening?

And at this point, I I would suspect that the disciples are deeply troubled. And so there's no chapter break. This is the same discussion, the same story in John chapter 14 verse 1. Jesus says this, John 14:1. This is our text for today, John 14:1. He says, let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. That verse right there is Jesus not just suggesting, he's giving them a command. He's saying, don't let your heart be troubled. Are you one whose heart tends to be troubled for various reasons? Jesus says, let not your heart be troubled, which is a command.

And remember, Jesus's commandments are his enablements. When he tells you as a believer to do something, he's going to give you the tools and what you need to do it. He tells the disciples, don't let your hearts be troubled. And then he's going to give us a bunch of reasons or methods on how to not let your heart be troubled. And the first thing that he shared is this. He gives them the hope of heaven. Number one, if you're taking notes, out of five things I want to show you, Jesus says, let not your heart be troubled.

And the first reason he says that they don't have to be troubled is the hope of heaven. He goes right in from let not your heart be troubled to verse two where he says, in my Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am, there you may be also. Jesus is talking about his Father's house, which is heaven. And he says, man, I'm going to remind you of how not to let your heart be troubled.

It's not about here. It's not about now. Keep your mind on things above on on heaven. The Bible teaches you and me, us as Christians, to be heavenly minded like Colossians 3 verses 1 through 4. If you then be risen with Christ, which means you're a Christian, a believer in Christ saved, if you then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above and not on things of the earth. Well, Brett, how do we know we're going to heaven? Well, that brings us to point number two, and Jesus goes right there.

And number two on the list, not only the heavenly mindset, the hope of heaven, but number two, the simplicity of salvation. Jesus is like, I'm going the way, the truth, the life, you know, and this powerful stuff, you know, I'm going to go to heaven and prepare a place for you. And all I'm pretty sure all the disciples are like, what are you talking about? Let's look at verse five. Thomas said to him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest, and how can we know the way? Jesus just said, I think Jesus said this to promote this question.

Jesus said, you guys know the way and how to get there? And Thomas was like, no. Tell us how do we get there and we don't know the way. Jesus said unto them, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. To get to heaven is so simple. You don't have to be better. You don't have to be holy, suddenly become, you know, Billy Graham or Mother Teresa. There's only one thing that saves you, and Jesus spells it out. He says, I am the way. Jesus is the way, simple, single solution to being a sinner doomed for hell is to believe in and accept Jesus.

Now, the next time you're bummed and blue and upset, just remember, yeah, but I'm saved by the grace of God through Jesus Christ. You're saved by grace through faith, not of yourselves. It's a gift from God, not of works lest any man should boast, Ephesians 2:8 says. So so far, this should be already encouraging y'all. Don't let your hearts be troubled. Remember, we got heaven to look forward to. Yeah, but how do you know to get to heaven? The simplicity of salvation. Jesus paid your price to get you in. So you got the simplicity of salvation.

And then the next thing, tool that Jesus gives us if your heart's troubled, is he then starts to talk about the power of prayer and how important that is if your heart is troubled. And we pick it up in verse 12. Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me, the works that I shall do, he shall do also, and greater works than these shall he do because I go to my Father. And whatsoever you shall ask in my name, that will I do that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you shall ask anything in my name, I will do it.

Now, before we talk about what this means, let's talk about what it does not mean. Because there's people that think that Jesus, if you just say in Jesus's name, cuz it says here, whatever you ask in my name, I will do it. So it's a magical incantation. And if you say in Jesus's name, then you're going to get what you want. That's a wrong understanding of this scripture. When it says in the name of Jesus you pray these things, what you're doing is you're praying something in the nature of Jesus. His name equals his nature.

And people make this mistake all the time. If you're praying in Jesus's name, but it doesn't line up with his nature, then that's not going to work out. Let's think of an example. You're at work, sea of cubicles, you go to the little break room, and there's the water cooler, and that guy is there that you just, man, you just don't like him. He leaves the copy machine empty from paper all the time. He leaves his messes around all the time, and he you have to do the work he doesn't do, and but he gets paid to do, and and you're just bitter, and you're just thinking, man, what a jerk.

And so there you are, and you say, Lord, please kill him. Yes, Lord, death. May his brain splatter on the wall. And then you say, piously, in Jesus's name. Amen. What's wrong with this? Well, first of all, does that feel right to say in Jesus's name on something as horrifying as that? The answer is no. What is the nature of Jesus toward that guy that you hate? Well, first of all, one thing we do know, Jesus died on the cross for his sins, too. In fact, Jesus loves that guy even though he's a sinner just like you.

And God sent his son not to kill the world, but instead Jesus came to die for the sins of the world. So Jesus would not only kill him, but Jesus died for him. And that prayer is not in line with the name of Jesus. I'm giving you a ridiculous level because it can be more subtle than that, too. And and you can ask for things, Lord, I want a Ferrari in Jesus's name. Well, maybe the Lord, that's not his nature for you to go 120 miles an hour on the way to work. Maybe that's not God's will.

So you can't pray in Jesus's name cuz that that may not be in his nature. So the the thing that Jesus is saying here when he says, whatever you ask in my name, it's got to be in line with his nature. Let's talk about what that does look like. There you are at work, same guy, same situation. And instead you pray, Lord, give me a heart of compassion for that guy. Help me to die to myself and learn how to love him the way that you love him. Forgive me for my bitterness. Help me to be in line with your heart and your nature in Jesus's name.

Can I just say, that's the prayer that how do you know it lines up with Jesus? We have the word that tells us the nature of Jesus. And you'll know when you're praying something that's not in his nature, it just feels wrong. But when you're praying something that's biblically sound, that is compassion, mercy, and love, and like Jesus loved, and you're praying that, and you say in Jesus's name, that's the prayer that he will do. It's a guarantee. The Lord will give you The problem is because we're asking too much for the Ferrari and brains on the wall, we think prayer doesn't work.

But when we go to do those prayers that are actually in line with the nature of Jesus, we forget, oh wow, the Lord really does answer those prayers and gives you the blessing of fulfilling those prayers. You know, Debbie and I have had years of things to watch and sort of we even think about this often, but one of the big ones, someone moved in right next door to us. It was eight 20 somethings, and they were all in this radio program called PK's Playhouse. I 'm sure none of you know what that is because it was so horrifyingly ungodly, but it was on the hip hop station here locally, but it was a syndicated program all over the country, all over the United States.

And they were super popular, but they were vile. They made Howard Stern blush. Like that's how bad this program was. And they all lived next door to our house. It was just kind of not your best neighbor situation. But where I started getting troubled, my heart was being troubled was when the neighbors were saying, Brett, have you listened to the program? They talk about our neighborhood. They got names for everybody. And that's when I just kind of started to feel blood boiling just a little. I was talking to Debbie about it. We were like And Debbie said, honey, shouldn't we just pray about this?

I hate it when my wife's more holy than me, which is every day. But I'm like, okay, honey, let's pray it. And I'll never forget, Debbie and I committed to praying from that moment on. Um my troubled heart was starting to settle down the more we prayed. One month later, we see the moving van come and they're all hauling out and leaving. One month later, their rental van was canceled. They got out of the house and moved, and Debbie and I were rejoicing. I think if you just let your heart be troubled and you don't deal with it with the power of prayer, with the hope of heaven and the simplicity of salvation, you set yourself up for doing something really bad.

But the key is to do it the way Jesus says. And prayer is powerful. Don't forget that. It's in line with what God wants you to do. So this idea of asking wrong in the name of Jesus, James echoes that. Remember in James chapter 4 verse 3, he says, you ask and you receive not because you ask amiss. You're you're off the line of what Jesus would want you to do, that you may consume it upon your own lust, the Ferrari. That's not the heart of the Lord. So you don't get it when you ask amiss.

But when you ask in the name of Jesus, that is the nature of Jesus, that's where you get the the answer to that prayer. Love that. So let not your heart be troubled. You have the hope of heaven. You have the simplicity of salvation, and you have the power of prayer. Those are the first three tools. Number four on the list, then you have the solace that comes from the Holy Spirit. The solace of the spirit, we see that in verse 16. There in verse 16, you know, after Jesus said, I want you to pray, then he says, and I pray, verse 16, question, if Jesus is praying, do you think that's a pretty good prayer?

Yeah. Do you think it's going to be answered in the affirmative? Yeah, when Jesus is praying. So Jesus said, and I will pray the Father and he shall give you another comforter, capital C, that he may abide with you forever. Even the spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it sees him not, neither knows him. The world can't see the comforter, the spirit. If you're a non-Christian, you don't know what this is all about. You'll You'll never know the the comfort that comes from the Holy Spirit if you're not a Christian. You got to see that cuz that's what Jesus is saying when he says, the world can't receive the spirit cuz it sees him not, doesn't know him.

But you know him for he dwells with you and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless. I will come to you. They're troubled because he said, I am leaving you guys. But he's saying, guess what, disciples, I'm not leaving you alone. I 'm going to send after I ascend into heaven, I'm going to send my Holy Spirit to be with you, and the Holy Spirit's going to comfort you. What else will the Spirit do? Look at verse 26. But the comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you.

Have you ever been a person that's like receiving too much information and you're trying to write it down so you can remember, but it's coming too fast? And it's like, I'm not going to remember all this. Maybe you're helping your grandma with her iPad, and you're like, grandma, here's how you do it. It's really easy. And your grandma's hold on. And she gets her little notepad and starts writing. And you're like, grandma, that's not Don't worry about it. Just forget about the the list on the paper cuz that If you know how it works, it just doesn't work that way.

But grandma's like, no, okay, first you have to push the the thumbprint uh or whatever. Uh The son was like, you've told us all this stuff for 3 years and we don't have a clue. And she says, chill out. I'm going to send my comforter, the spirit. And guess what he's going to do? He's going to remind you of all the stuff I've told you about. And that happened. If you know the narrative after Jesus ascended into heaven, there's the disciples, and suddenly they're filled with the Holy Spirit, and they remember everything Jesus talked about, and they're they're articulating it and sharing it with everybody else.

It's really a powerful thing. That's what the Holy Spirit will do for you. See, if you're in this life and you're troubled, one of the things that's most comforting is when you have the Holy Spirit in you as a Christian. If you're not a Christian, you don't have that. You won't ever have that. But when you become uh a Christian, the comforter, the spirit will come and give you that solace. Solace meaning peace and comfort. Jesus is going to leave them, but he's going to leave them with the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit's going to comfort you.

He's going to teach you and he's going to remind you of that which you need to get through the troubling times. And that's why I think um you you need to make sure and um make that a constant request. How do you get the Holy Spirit in your life? First of all, you got to become a Christian. But then there's a daily thing that I like to pray. I pray daily, Lord, would you fill me afresh with your spirit today? Um give me your comforter. Give me the one who give me a reminder of truth.

I'm reminded of Luke chapter 11 verse 13 where um Jesus said, if you then, parents, being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him? It's there for the asking. If your heart is troubled, one of the things you can pray for is, Lord, will you fill me afresh with your spirit, the comforter? And then you'll have comfort and reminder of what's important, the truth. And then number five on the list of the things that Jesus gives us is the promise of peace.

In verse 27 he says, peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you, not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. So there he says it again, let your heart be troubled. Don't be afraid. Why? Cuz I'm going to give you a peace not like the world gives. What's the worldly peace that they give? The world gives you a fake peace. What what does that look like? After a long day of work, you're going to go home, but you're so troubled by what happened at work and what's going on in the world, you decide to get the world's peace by going to the bar and swinging down a couple bottles of peace.

Well, Brett, it sort of numbs me and I don't feel the trouble as much when I, you know, I'm able to have a few drinks, calms me down. The problem with that is it's a pseudo peace. It's a fake, short-lasting kind of fake peace that's not real. In fact, that kind of peace often brings about more trouble in your life later. That's the world's peace. The world peace, you know, will say, hey, we'll give you some peace. And they might just for a second, but it's it's not real. It's not lasting. If you want the true peace, Jesus, peace give I unto you not like the world gives, I'm going to give you a real peace that passes understanding.

We learned that in Philippians. Paul the apostle says to the Philippian church, in Philippians 4:6 he says, be careful, or newer translations say, be anxious for nothing. But in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God, and the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Keeping your heart and mind is what we're talking about. Your heart and mind is troubled. How does the Lord keep that in a safe place? Instead of being anxious, give everything to the Lord in prayer.

It goes back to our last point, pray. And when you pray, the Lord says, I will give you When you pray the prayer of supplication, that's your requests. And with thanksgiving, then when you do that, the the Lord says, I will give you the peace the peace that passes understanding. It's a great Greek word. The Greek word is And it means to transcend, to rise above. Paul says the same thing Jesus was when he says, I'm going to give you a peace that supersedes or is transcends above all the other kind of peace that the world offers.

It's better than the world's peace. One thing I love about Paul in the context of Philippians 4:7 is he was writing it You know, if you read it, you think, man, where is he sitting on some, you know, beach in Hawaii is sipping a lemonade and just having a nice old time. That's what it sounds like. But you actually realize Paul is writing from a dungeon in Rome. And 16 times he uses the word joy or rejoicing. If I were sitting in a jail cell in Rome, I'd write 101 ways to escape prison. Number one, cake and a hacksaw, or whatever.

I like How do you get out of this stinking prison? But Paul writes a whole book about rejoicing and peace and goodness, peace that passes understanding. How is it that Paul does that? Well, he's practicing what he's preaching. He's preaching this peace message from a jail cell in Rome. And this is what it teaches you and me. Paul's peace wasn't dictated by his circumstances. Paul's peace was dictated by a person, by the Lord himself. That's that peace that passes understanding. So when he's sitting in a jail cell, that's how Paul You know that it's true.

It's that person with cancer stage four. Maybe some of you visited someone. You know, as a pastor I visit people in the hospital, and and we go bring our Bible, our anointing oil, we go to pray, and we're going to do what we do. But how many times have I gone to that hospital thinking I had to encourage someone when they're the ones who encouraged me? I have to admit as a pastor that's one of the hardest things. I I feel like I get too heartbroken for people that are going through hard times, and I don't even know how to be compassionate, I think.

It's really hard for me. I'm just not being honest. So I go there with fear and trepidation. Okay, I'm going to pray for this person. I hope I can encourage them. But how many times have I walked out just being encouraged because they have this strange peace that seems to surpass, transcend, superior to the anything else in the world can offer. We see it all the time. I just think we forget. Some of you think, man, if I got stage four cancer, I'd be really depressed. If you're a Christian, you might be shocked with what the Lord will do for you.

And that brings us, you know, to that that really that final point is again the promise of peace. Peace give I to you, not as the world gives. Question, the disciples were troubled. Jesus said, let not your heart be troubled. He gave them the reasons why they didn't have to and the how to. Did the disciples ultimately employ these practices in their ministry? Sure did. And just in a few chapters after the Gospel of John, you get in the book of Acts, and pretty soon you got these bold disciples who are not necessarily Their lives didn't improve.

They're in more trouble than they were when Jesus said this. But they have this boldness and this peace and this joy, and you just see it in them um because they're putting to practice what Jesus said. What did Jesus say? Let not your heart be troubled. And he listed those five things. First of all, just remember you have the hope of heaven, the big picture of eternal life in heaven. Now, number two, you got the simplicity of salvation. It's not rocket science. If you want to become a Christian, repent of your sins, confess your faith in Christ that he died on the cross for you, and accept that, that he rose from the grave and believe that.

And when you confess that and believe it, you're saved. It's so simple. And then the power of prayer, that's what they did. They would employ prayer and let their requests be made known to God and the peace that passed understanding. And because of that, the whole solace of the Holy Spirit comforter was with them and filled them. Acts chapter two where the Holy Spirit came upon them. And then because of that, Jesus promised peace give I to you, not as the world gives. This is what you and I need living in these days. We can say as Christians, we're going to have that peace that passes all the circumstances in our lives.

Man, I pray that you and I would be not just hearers of the word, but doers of the word.

Guest (Male): Pastor Brett Meador reminding us how the peace we seek isn't a result of our circumstance, but as a result of the promise of the Lord to those who seek him. More great encouragement from the Gospel of John and our study of Today's Word. And I trust you can stay right there as Pastor Brett will be closing in prayer in just a moment. But first, Today's Word is the radio ministry of Athey Creek Church just south of Portland, Oregon where Pastor Brett Meador is the senior pastor. Our vision is to proclaim the hope of salvation and help people know Jesus, their savior, through careful study of the Bible.

We invite you to find out more by going to todayswordradio.com. If you've missed any portion of this message, you'll find all of Pastor Brett's messages online at todayswordradio.com. We'll now to offer a closing word of prayer. Here again is Pastor Brett Meador.

Brett Meador: Lord, how we do thank you so much for just the clear guidance you give us here, gave the disciples. I pray that we would put to practice these five things. Lord, give us that eternal perspective, the hope of heaven. Lord, the older we get, the more we do know life is but a vapor. I do pray for people that are lost and don't have that, family members and friends and people that we know that don't have any real hope of life after death. I pray that they would see and hear and know the good news.

And the simplicity of salvation, that all we have to do is accept and believe Jesus. And Lord, I pray that we wouldn't sell short the power of prayer and that we would pray in the name of Jesus, not just in name only, but in the nature of Jesus. And then the solace and the comfort, the peace that comes by your spirit. That peace that you promise that passes understanding, the peace not as the world gives. Lord, we need that today. I pray that our lights would shine before all men, that people would see that we operate differently because of these things, and that they'd be drawn to you because of it.

So, Lord, as we make this prayer, I pray that you'd only confirm in the hearts and minds of these who have confessed just that their sins are forgiven and that you love them. Lord, no matter how rough their lives may be, I pray that they'd sense that peace that comes from knowing you and that comfort that comes by your spirit. May that happen even today. Help us to remember these truths. This we pray in Jesus's name. Amen.

Guest (Male): Amen. Pastor Brett Meador on Today's Word. Well, that's all the time we have. I hope you can be back as Pastor Brett shares another verse by verse study in God's Word. Today's Word with Pastor Brett Meador is an outreach of Athey Creek Church in West Linn, Oregon.