PEACE IN A STORM
BÌNH AN TRONG BÃO TỐ
Kinh thánh: Giăng 14: 25-29
Câu gốc: 2CÔ-RINH-TÔ 1: 2 – Nguyền xin anh em được ân điển và sự bình an ban cho bởi Đức Chúa Trời, Cha chúng ta, và bởi Đức Chúa Jêsus Christ!
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PEACE IN A STORM
Bible: John 14: 25-29
Main verse: 1CORINTHIANS 1: 2 – Grace be to you and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
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Human life is hard with many problems, obstacles and hardship. Everyone wants a peaceful, safe and happy life, but even so, things don’t always go the way we want it.
For example, there are many people who try their best to drive safely but accidents still happen. It wasn’t their fault, but it was because of others who drive recklessly. Those cases cost safe drivers time, money, opportunities and sometimes their lives.
The main verse for today is usually Christians’ wish for daily life:
2CORINTHIANS 1: 2 – Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
In this verse, there are two things that Christians wish for in this life on Earth: Grace and peace that come from God.
The word GRACE means blessings in all aspects of human life. For Christians, we have received many blessings from God from the time we confessed our sins and believed in the salvation through Jesus Christ.
First, Christians have been forgiven for their past sins, whatever they were.
EPHESIANS 2: 8 – For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.
Secondly, Christians became God’s children. God, not only did He forgive our sins but He also accepted us as His children and promised a place for each of us in His heavenly Kingdom.
EPHESIANS 2: 19 – Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God.
Thirdly, Christians have been protected and took care of by the love of God. Christians around the world are a constant reminder of God’s love for us. We have more happiness than the rest of the world even when we face hardships.
PSALM 145: 20 – The LORD preserveth all them that love Him: but all the wicked will He destroy.
In the last two months, the world has been anxious and worried because of the corona virus. There are now more than 70,000 cases worldwide and more than 30 cases in America alone. It has killed more than 2,000 people and there may be more deaths in the future.
There are no vaccine for the time being and no way to kill the virus. The only way to defend it is to quarantine the sick.
We can see that the human life is always in danger. At home, people could be burnt by fire from cooking, be poisoned from food, or be electrocuted by faulty wires. Out in the streets, people could face car accidents, natural disasters, or by human crime. Even in the human body, we could suffer from some kind of diseases.
According to statistics, the flu season has infected more than 24 million people and killed almost 14,000 people. The virus is the smallest living thing that can kill humans. That’s why Christians need God’s blessings and protection every second in this life.
ISAIAH 48: 18 – O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea.
Peace is like a river. The peace that God gives into Christian’s heart is the special kind that nothing in this world can compare to and because of it, Christians can have peace that does not depend on outside circumstances.
JOHN 14: 27 – Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
For other people, peace only comes when the outside circumstances are right, but for Christians, the peace that we receive from God is so strong and powerful that outside circumstances cannot disturb it. That’s why humans are always anxious and worried while true children of God always have a peaceful mind and heart.
The peace that God blesses us with comes from the faith that Christians have in Jesus and in God. Christians know that God is in control and everything happens for a reason, especially for His children’s benefits (Romans 8: 28). Because of the faith that we have in God, we know for sure that everything happens to us, good or bad, all come from His eternal love for us. We know that because God took a human form and died for us on the cross.
We have peace in our hearts also because we know where we will be after passing this life. Other people worry because they are not sure where they will go after death, but Christians know where we will be after finishing our journey on Earth. Paul had that kind of peace when he wrote about his life and death:
PHILIPPIANS 1: 21-24 – For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour: yet what I shall choose I wot not. For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better. Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you.
The Lord Jesus Christ had foretold that some kinds of pandemic will happen on Earth at the end of time before He comes back to Earth. It had been recorded in the Gospel of Luke:
LUKE 21: 10-11 – Then said He unto them: Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven
The Bible also recorded that those disasters, especially the pestilences, will killed a quarter of Earth population
REVELATION 6: 8 – And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.
According to the Bible, the kind of storm that is going to happen to mankind on Earth will be so great that the suffering is unspeakable, but because Christians are in God’s hands, we will trust our lives with His love.
PSALM 91: 9-10 – Because thou hast made the LORD, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation. There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.
May God remembers His children around the world to bless and to protect us from any dangers at the end of times. May God bless us with a peaceful heart while we are in the eye of a storm of human life. May God grace and peace be with us always to the day He comes. Amen.