Peace in the midst of chaos

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Fall has arrived and is quickly moving on.  Fall with all of its beauty in the changing leaves and foggy mornings and the crispness of the early morning air is my favorite season of the year.  It is also a reminder to me that life is tenuous.  I turned 61 on October 7 and that means that I have more behind me than I do ahead of me.  At least in this world because I will spend an eternity(forevermore) in Heaven with my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in the world to come.  John 3:16 is God's promise to all who believe in His son Jesus Christ.  Now it is important to understand what it means to believe. 

In order to believe in anything you must first have faith in that thing, whatever it may be.  And until you have experienced something for yourself you can't really claim it as your own. Oh, you can take someone at their word and experience something vicariously through the person you believe in, but that isn't quite the same and it still requires faith.  So it takes faith to believe in Jesus especially since we do not have empirical data to support that belief or do we?  Although Jesus can't be seen(and we believe that He is alive) we, nonetheless, have seen the effects of His presence in our lives and the lives of those around us.  Most of us know someone who has gone through a very difficult time and yet remainded stedfast in their faith.  I know people that exhibit such a loving demeanor that you would never suspect that they were having difficult times.  That to me is a powerful witness about the power of God at work in someone's life, including my own, when someone is so cheerful, loving, helpful, caring, Christian when there is nothing but chaos around them.  Where does this ability come from?

In John 14:26, 27 Jesus says, "But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid."  If you have faith in Jesus then you too can have this peace in the midst of chaos.  Then you can experience for yourself the presence of the Holy Spirit who will teach you all things and remind you of what Jesus has said to you.  Do you want that kind of peace?

All it takes is faith in Jesus.  Faith is a gift from God. Ephesians 2:8, "for it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this is not from yourself, it is the gift of God", and it says in Luke 11:9, "So I say to you: ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you." So my dear brothers and sisters in Christ, please "work our your salvation with fear and trembling" as it says in the Scriptures and seek Jesus.  Ask Jesus into your heart as your Lord and Savior.  Believe in Him and read the Word of God so you can be reminded of all that Jesus said and did and then you will go to Heaven as God promised in John 3:16.  I want to hang out with you in Heaven and praise the Lord together.

God loves you and so do I,

Pastor Bruce