Grace and Truth

We're going to start in John 15 today.

So if you can, please turn there and if I can ask you to please

keep your Bible open today. We're going to be going back to

the Scripture quite a few times. So when I've read the first

part, please don't close your Bible.

And then I'm going to be using some other scriptures in

between. They'll come up on the screens.

But if you can just keep your Bible open by John 15, John 16,

we're going to be going back to that quite a few times.

So for those of you who've been coming here for a while, I'm

going to just quickly do this. So for maybe there's someone

who's here for the first time today.

But we've been preaching through the book of John and the series

has been called Encounters with Jesus.

And we've been looking at all of the different encounters that

people had with Jesus in the book of John and how that

actually changed them and how it changed their lives.

And a couple of weeks ago, Stephen preached out of John 9.

And you know, Stephen, he likes his statistics and he really,

have you not noticed? It's amazing.

But he he quoted this statistic that said that there's a

worldwide what they are calling a silent revival happening.

Hello. And this silent revival, they

call it a silent revival because it's people are flocking back to

the church all over the world. But it's not because of some big

preacher like a Billy Graham or some move of the Holy Spirit.

People actually just being drawn back to the church.

And that's why they call it a silent revival.

But then he went on to say that this same study found that only

27% of people who come to church on a Sunday will encounter

Jesus. Now this really messed with me.

This really messed with me. I must be honest.

I've been, I've been struggling with that for quite a few weeks

now. And I'm going, wow, God, what am

I doing to make sure that I don't come here on a Sunday and

listen to the preach and tick the box and go home.

And when someone says on Wednesday, how was church, you

go like it was great. I actually can't even remember

what they preached about. What am I doing to make sure

that when I come here on a Sunday, 27 percent is is is 1/4?

It's it's one out of four people.

If we do half and half, it means that part is going to encounter

Jesus and all of you are going to go home and and not encounter

him. Tick the box and your life will

be unchanged and there'll be no difference.

I think it's this part is that, sorry, this part, this part here

is going to encounter Jesus and you guys in that boat won't

encounter but but it's really messed with me.

And you know, I don't know if you've seen that thing on the

Internet where it says every family what's up group has

another what's up group where one of the family members is not

on it. And they say, they say that if

you sit here and you say, not my family, what's up group?

Guess what exactly, exactly. And so, you know, I've been

saying to God is, is that the same with this thing?

Maybe if you're sitting here today and you're saying, surely

that can't be me. I can't be 1 of the 73 percent

who come to church and not encounter Jesus.

Well, guess what? Maybe it is you.

And so as I've been mulling about this and thinking about

this and saying, God, what am I going to do to make sure that

I'm not one of the 73% that just come here and tick a box?

I got to John, John 16 in my Bible and, and as I read this,

God showed me in John 16 four things that we have access to

when we encounter Jesus. We don't work for them.

We don't have to earn them. We don't have to deserve them.

All we have to do is encounter Jesus and he gives us these four

things. It's so incredible.

And so I want to talk about those four things we have access

to today when we encounter Jesus.

We're going to start reading in the last verse of John 15, John

1526. And if you've heard me preach

before, you know, I've got a little like a little twitch and

I am an OT. So I really don't like screens.

Don't even say AI to me because then I, I start looking like my

husband used to look like. But if you, if you read your

sorry, I do have a dark sense of humour.

Apologize, if you read your Bible on your phone, you won't

actually realize that that this last little bit of John 15 is

actually part of John 16. So if you, if you open your

Bible, you'll see there's a heading that says the work of

the Holy Spirit and it's the last verse of John 15 and it

flows directly into John 16. And I'm saying if you're reading

your Bible on your phone, that's great.

Please keep doing it. But get a Bible because if you,

if you put John 16 in on your phone app, it'll just open to

John 16 and you'll actually miss that last little part of John

15. That's part of John 16.

So keep reading the Bible on your phone.

Don't stop reading your Bible, but get a Bible.

If you can't afford a Bible, get into a life group and tell them

you can't afford a Bible and they'll buy you one.

But if you're not in a life group, don't ask.

But OK, I'm going to stop now. But so let's read from John 15,

John 15:26

verse 26. When the Advocate, whom I will

send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who goes out

from the Father, He will testify about me.

And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the

beginning. Then in John 16, all this I've

told to you, that you will not fall away.

And we're going to skip to verse 7.

But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I'm going

away. Unless I go away, the advocates

will not come to you. But if I go, I will send Him to

you. When He comes, He will prove the

world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and

judgement about sin because people do not believe in Me,

about righteousness because I'm going to the Father where you

can see me no longer, and about judgment because the Prince of

this world now stands condemned. I have much more to say to you,

more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth

comes, he will guide you into all truth.

And so the first thing we have access to when we encounter

Jesus is we are filled with the Holy Spirit.

You know, in this passage, the Holy Spirit is actually called 2

names. It's called the Spirit of Truth

and it's called the Advocate. And so as I read this, I started

as I've been reading. So from November, I've been

reading the book of John and my Quiet Time.

I'm just reading it. When I get to the end, I just

start again. And I read it again and I start

again. And I started realizing how

often the word truth or true or truthful actually appears in the

book of John. And I just started jumping out

of the pages every time I would see it.

And then I started underlining it every time I see the word

truth or truthful or truly. And I actually found 66 times in

the book of John that that word in some form appears.

And in my Bible, the words of Jesus, direct words of Jesus are

in read 55 of those 66 times are actually in the direct words of

Jesus. Now, if Jesus says something

that much or that often, you better pay attention.

You know, you better pay attention.

And so as I'm like reading this and thinking about this and

Steven statistic in my mind, and I actually started realizing how

often in my own life do I tell half truths or little white lies

or just exaggerate something a little bit just to make me look

a little bit better, or just just tell my story in a way that

just just sort of promotes my side of the story a little bit

more. And then I started seeing how

how actually how the people around me do it.

And and then I started realizing how acceptable it's become even

amongst Christians to tell little half truths or or

exaggerate something in a way that just makes something look a

little bit better. And I'm so, so now I'm like,

you've got all this going on in my head and I'm dealing with all

of this. And then, then I got to John 8

John 8:32

verse 32 and where Jesus says, then you will know the truth and

the truth will set you free. Lovely verse.

Most of us will know it. You know, you'll know the truth

and the truth will set you free. And then I read a few verses

later in John 8, it says, so if the sun sets you free, you'll be

free indeed. We also love that one.

Hey, you know, make it a make it a bumper stick there.

If the sun sets you free, you'll be free indeed.

Hallelujah. But you know, as I thought about

this, I said, if if the Bible says that the sun sets you free,

you will be free indeed. Why are so many Christians not

living in freedom? Why are so many of us not living

in freedom in some aspects of our lives?

If the Bible says that the sun sets you free, you will be free

indeed. Why are we not living in that

freedom when Jesus has died and been risen again and and gone up

to heaven so that we can actually live in freedom?

And then as I'm milling all of this over, I'll go back and I

got to the end of John and I got to John 1 again.

And then I read this in John one verse 17 and it says, for the

law was given through Moses. Grace and truth came through

Jesus Christ. Grace and truth came through

Jesus Christ. So we all know if you've been in

this church for any length of time, you'll know salvation is

Jesus and Jesus alone, only Jesus.

You don't have to change your life.

You don't have to stop doing things.

We're hoping that you will. But when you get to heaven and

God says, why must I let you in you?

Yeah, the answer is Jesus because of what Jesus has done

on the cross. But the Bible actually says

grace and truth came through Jesus.

And so why do we have? Why do we need truth?

Because actually truth is so that we can walk in freedom.

The Bible says you will know the truth and the truth you will set

you free. So that truth is for while we're

here on earth, you know, if, if we got saved and we just went up

to heaven right away, boom, wouldn't that be amazing?

I mean, that would be great. It would be a lot easier, you

know, get saved, go to heaven, you know, but actually it

doesn't work that way. We get saved and then we walk it

out here on earth. But we've actually been given,

we've been given the spirit of truth so that we can walk in

freedom. But why aren't we walking in

freedom? Could it be that we're not

walking in freedom because we're still choosing to believe the

lies of the enemies of the enemy instead of what the word of God

says instead of the truth? Even though we have been saved

and Jesus has died for everything and he says that he

has come and whom he sets free is free indeed, and the truth

will set you free. We're still choosing to believe

the lies of the enemy instead of actually walking in that truth

that we have access to. You know, the other name that

the the Holy Spirit in this passage is called, is called the

Advocate. Now I think in pictures,

sometimes a good thing, sometimes not so much, but I see

this picture in heaven, you know, and, and it's the

courtroom and God is sitting there.

He's the judge and, and the Holy Spirit is there.

He's the advocate. And the devil comes and he says,

God, she's done it again. She's she's done this thing

again. And I see the Holy Spirit go,

OK, God, but Jesus died on the cross for that.

Jesus has died for that. And then I see God looking at

me. And what does the Bible say when

I'm saved? When God looks at me, what does

he see? He sees the righteousness of

Christ. So again, God look at me and he

says, OK, but I see the righteousness of Christ.

So I say she's not guilty. Now imagine if that happened and

I just went and said, OK, God, thank you so much.

That's amazing. I really appreciate it.

But will you please send me still send me to jail?

Thank you for saying not guilty and and I really appreciate that

Jesus died for me. But you know what?

I did do it. Can you please just still send

me to jail? I mean, how dumb would that be?

Like how dumb must you be and still breathe?

Isn't that what you normally say here?

How dumb must you be and still breathe?

But like, how dumb would that be?

If, if God says, if the advocate comes and says God, but the

spirit of truth and we say thank you, Jesus, but please, can you

still, can you still, can I still lie in bed at night and

think about that thing I did wrong, even though I've asked

you to forgive me and ask you to walk with me?

And can I still punish myself and live in that, in that, in

that captivity when actually I've been given freedom, when

the truth sets me free? You know, in John 12 verse 46,

John 12:46

Jesus says I've come into the world as a light so that no one

who believes in me should stay in darkness.

What area of your life are you still in darkness in?

It's not because you can't get out of it.

So you're still believing the lie of the enemy instead of

actually allowing the truth of God to set you free.

You know, are you are you here this morning and you're

struggling with pornography? Maybe you know that the lie you

may believe is that when you sit in front of that computer at

night by yourself that you're alone.

But actually in John 3 verse 21, it says, but whoever lives by

John 3:21

the truth comes into the light. So it may be seen plainly that

what they have done has been done in the sight of God.

So you're sitting there and you think you're by yourself, but

actually everything you're doing is in the sight of God.

That's the truth. That's the truth.

What's the grace part? The grace part is even if you do

it again, even if you do it again, you can go to God and

say, God, I failed again, will you forgive me?

Will you forgive me? And God says when you ask

forgiveness, when he looks at you, he sees the righteousness

of Christ, grace and truth, grace and truth.

And then you say, but God, will you help me not do it again?

And next time you find yourself there, you say, hey, actually

John verse 3, verse 21 says everything I do is in the sight

of God. So God, will you help me now not

to fall again, Grace and truth. Maybe the thing the area you

struggle to get free in is in anxiety.

Maybe you struggle with anxiety and you're struggling to

actually overcome that anxiety. You know that maybe you you have

anxiety because you think you're not good enough or you think you

can't do something. Well, Philippians 4 verse 13

Philippians 4:13

says I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Truth. So are you believe in the lie of

the enemy or you believe in the truth that's in God's word.

Maybe you maybe you struggle with anxiety because you don't

feel safe when you're by yourself.

Maybe we live in a country where things are not always easy to to

be free of that anxiety. But Joshua one verse 9 says be

strong and courageous. Do not be afraid, do not be

discouraged for the Lord your God will be with you everywhere

you go. Grace and truth, grace and

truth. I'm never alone.

I don't have to do this alone Truth I can do all things

through crisis strengthens me. That's what helps us walk into

in freedom. What is it for you?

Is it is it your marriage? What is the lie you believe in

your marriage? Do you believe your marriage

can't ever flourish because you're too different?

Do you believe your marriage marriage can't flourish because

you, you married the wrong person.

You knew when you married them, the Holy Spirit said to you,

it's not the right person, but you, you still married them.

What is the lie you believe? Or are you believing the word of

God that says he makes all things work together for the

good, for those who love him? What are you going to believe?

So. So next time you find yourself

struggling with an area in your life where you're not getting

freedom, ask yourself, what is the lie I'm believing?

Ask God to give you, give you the truth out of his word.

And every time that light comes back to you, speak God's word

over it. Believe the truth of what God is

saying and you will walk into freedom.

God, Jesus has come so that we can be free, Free indeed.

So the first thing that we have access to when we encounter

Jesus is the Spirit of truth. And that will actually lead us

into freedom. That's the first thing we have

access to. Let's go back to John 16.

We're going to read from verse 21, a woman giving birth to a

child as pain because their time has come.

But when that baby is born, she forgets her anguish because of

her joy that a child is born into the world.

So with you, now is your time of grief.

But I will see you again and you will rejoice, and not one will

take away your joy in that day. You will no longer ask me

anything. Very truly.

I tell you, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.

Until now, you have not asked for anything in my name.

Ask and you'll receive and your joy will be complete.

The second thing we have access to when we encounter Jesus is

complete joy. Complete joy.

You know, the example that Jesus uses in this passage is as

childbirth. I've had two kids and I had both

of them naturally with no epidural.

And I tell you when you of course, of course, Yeah, of

course. But I tell you when you when you

when you're busy having that baby, you just think like, OK,

that's fine. Jesus, come take me now.

I'm good to go. You know, it's all right.

You know, my, it's fine. Come and get me now.

But when that baby is born, I promise you when they put that

baby in your arms, if someone had to right there at that

moment say to you, will you do it again?

You say yes, you say yes, 2 minutes before that you thought

you were dying. But right there, right there, if

someone had to say to me, will you do it again?

I'll say yes. If it wasn't for my husband, I

would have been one of those with the 12, you know, but it's,

it's amazing how Jesus uses that example to talk about his death

and resurrection because he knew he was going to be crucified and

his disciples would be left here thinking, what the heck, We

missed the plot. We gave up everything for this

guy. Now he's dead, like where are we

at? But he says when he is, when he

rises again, when he, when he, when he came up out of that

grave, he's going to give them a joy that will be complete.

And that joy is actually based on the finished work of Christ.

It's not based on your circumstances.

It's not based on what you're facing today.

It's not based on what you're going through.

That joy that he's given us, that complete joy is based on

the finished work of Christ. It's based on the fact that no

matter what we face here on earth, when we encounter Jesus

and we invite them into our life, that is guaranteed.

Nobody can take that away from us.

And that's what that joy is based on.

In John 15 verse 11, Jesus says, I've told you this so that my

John 15:11

joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.

In John 17 verse 13, Jesus says I'm coming to you now, but I say

John 17:13

these things while I'm still in the world so that they may have

the full measure of my joy within Him.

We have access to the full measure of Jesus's joy within

us, the full measure of His joy. Why are you not smiling?

Smile. We have access to the full

measure of Christ's joy within us.

Not based on your circumstances, not when things are going well

in the midst of what you're facing.

You have because that joy is based on the finished work of

Christ, which no one can take from you.

So the second thing we have access to when we encounter

Jesus is complete joy, the full measure of the joy of Christ.

So can we go back to John 16? Are you with me?

John 16, verse 25, John 16, verse 25.

John 16:25 John 16:25

I'm just breathing so you guys can catch up.

I'm good, I've been told. John 16, verse 25.

John 16:25

Though I have been speaking figuratively, a time is coming

when I will no longer use this kind of language, but will tell

you plainly about my father. In that day you will ask him my

name. I am not saying that I will ask

the Father on your behalf. No, the Father himself loves you

because you have loved me and have believed that I am from

God. The third thing we have access

to when we encounter Jesus is direct access to the Father.

Jesus is saying not even he has to ask the Father on your

behalf. Not even Jesus has to ask the

Father on your behalf. You have direct access to the

Father. You know that maybe for some of

you, you haven't been in church for a long time and you haven't

read the whole Bible yet, but in the Old Testament, only the high

priest had access to the presence of God.

So there was the temple, and in the temple was the center court,

and there was a curtain around it.

And once a year the high priest could go into the presence of

God and he would make sacrifices for the sins of the people.

But you and I, the normal guy on the street, we didn't have

access to the presence of God. But when Jesus died on the

cross, that curtain around the inner court of the temple tore

from top to bottom, from top to bottom.

Now, I don't know about you, but if I decided to tear a curtain

right now, how would I tear it from the bottom up?

Because that's where I can reach.

But actually, when Jesus died on the cross, that curtain tore

from top to bottom. God tore that curtain from top

to bottom because he said because of the finished work of

Christ. Now you and I, every single

person sitting here today and watching online has direct

access to the Father. We don't need to go through the

high priest. We don't even need to go through

Jesus. We don't have to pray to Mother

Mary. We have direct access to the

Father. So you see, when when you need

someone to pray with you, am I saying there isn't a place for

other people to pray with us? I'm not saying that, but you

know what you don't need someone else to pray with you.

You don't need Rory to pray for your business.

He doesn't have a special line. He has exactly the same access

to the Father that you have exactly the same access.

God is not going to answer your answer your prayer because he

prayed for you. He's also a Sinner.

He's also at the foot of the cross.

He is also, just like I'm, also a Sinner.

We're all sinners at the foot of the cross.

We're all equal. We're all equal.

We don't. There's no special access to the

Father. You don't need Stephen and Kathy

to pray for your marriage. You have direct access to the

Father. You can ask him yourself, am I

saying there isn't a place for people to pray together?

That's not what I'm saying. That's not what I'm saying.

But I'm just saying if 20 of you come here after the preach in

the morning and we, we'll pray for you, we'll pray for you.

We don't mind praying for you. But you know what?

If you ask your friend to pray for you, guess what's going to

happen on Wednesday? Your friend's going to send you

a message to say, hey, how's it going now?

How you doing? How's it going?

You know what if you ask your friend to pray with you?

Maybe your friend's going to say to you, yes, I will pray with

you, But actually, do you remember the promise God gave

you last time we prayed about this?

Rory and Stephen is not going to know that.

Chad and Matt's not going to know that.

But your friend who's been walking with you is going to

know that. Maybe your friend will say to

you, listen, do you remember what God asked you to do last

time we prayed about this? Do you remember that last time

we prayed about your marriage, you felt God's saying to you,

you've got to treat your husband with more respect.

Are you doing that? Are you doing that?

That's why we get our friends to pray with us, because we all

have direct access to the Father.

But your friend that's walking with you knows you.

They know your life. They're walking it out with you,

you know, or you're in a life group.

Get your life group to pray with you.

They're going to walk this road with you every week when your

husband's in hospital, they're going to bring you meals.

I've had so much food. I don't know, I'm going to have

to go buy a second freezer if people don't stop bringing me

food. But that's what happens when

you're in community. Not only they're going to pray

with you, they are going to pray with you, but they're going to

love you and they're going to bring you meals and they're

going to look after you and they're going to challenge you

and they're going to say, but listen, last time God told you

to do this, why you're doing it. That's why we get our friends to

pray with us. You know, I have a friend, she's

an incredible friend. She'll often ask me what can I

pray for? And and then I know she'll pray.

And once she said to me on a Sunday, what can I pray for?

And I said, you know what? Jessie's writing pharmacology on

Thursday. She, she's really struggling

with it. Pray for her.

And so on winter week, Thursday, 8:00, I'm at work, I'm

operating, I'm doing what I need to do.

I get a message on my phone. I look at it, it's my friend

saying I'm praying for Jessie right now.

Guess what? I'd forgotten my own child was

writing. I'm not, I hadn't prayed for my

own child, but my friend, my friend who I said on Sunday,

Jessie is writing on Thursday, that friend, she sent me a

message Thursday morning to say I'm praying for Jessie right

now. And I could stop for a moment

and say God, Please remember Jessie.

And you know what, she passed. She got 50%.

And you know, you know what she said to me afterwards, She said,

mom, seriously, God takes your prayers serious.

Please, next time, don't just pray that I pass, pray that I do

Well. So yeah, when you pray, be

specific. But but you know, that's, that's

the place to pray together. We don't pray with someone

because they've got special access.

We all have direct access to the Father, the same direct access

to the Father. So if God challenges you on a

Sunday morning about something, don't run to the front, run

home, go and sit in your garden. Say to God, God, I felt you

speak to me out of this part of the priest this morning.

Show me. Show me what I must do.

Show me how to implement this in my life.

Show me what you want to change inside of me.

You have direct access to the Father.

That's the third thing we have access to when we encounter

Christ, direct access to the Father.

The last thing is in verse is in the last verse of John 16.

And that last verse says, I've told you these things so that in

me you may have peace. And then in the very next line,

not the next verse, not the next chapter, in the very next line,

Jesus says in this world you will have trouble.

Yeah, what I've come in this world so that you may have

peace. In this world you will have

trouble. Because you see, the peace that

Jesus gives us is not dependent on our circumstances.

The peace that Jesus gives us is in spite of the fact that in

this world we will have trouble. We have access to a peace in

spite of or in the midst of our trouble.

In Philippians 4, verse 7, it's one of my favourite verses in

Philippians 4:7

the Bible. It says that and the peace of

God that transcends all understanding will guard your

hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Do you know that you don't have to understand something to have

peace? You don't have to understand

something to have peace. You don't have to understand why

your brother died from cancer to have peace.

You don't have to understand why your sister lost her baby to

have peace. The Bible says that he gives us

a peace. That's that transcends

understanding. If you say, but I want to

understand before I have peace, you're never going to have peace

because there's some things we are never going to be able to

understand while we're here on earth.

We'll never be able to understand it.

Our minds are too small to understand it.

But actually you don't have your your peace is not dependent on

your ability to understand what you're going through.

We have been given when you encounter Jesus, you have been

given the peace that that transcends all understanding.

Do you know that, that often as Christians, we are pulled

forwards and back backwards by our emotions and our thoughts?

Do you, do you recognize that in your own life?

I recognize that my own life, I'm often being pulled forwards

and backwards by my emotions and my thoughts.

You know, that verse says that the peace of God will guard your

heart and your mind. So where do our emotions come

from? From our heart.

Where do our thoughts come from? From our mind.

Actually, when we have the peace of Christ, it'll guard your

heart and your mind. It should guard your thoughts

and your emotions. Your thoughts and your emotions

actually have something that can protect them when you actually

encounter Jesus and you have the peace of Christ in your life.

You know, my husband had an operation like Rory said two

weeks ago. And when you, when you go into a

situation like that, they, they push you into the pre operating

room and then the anaesthetist comes there and then she tells

you every little thing that can go wrong.

You can have an epileptic seizure, he can be deaf, he can

have a stroke, he can die. They can nick an artery.

They can, they tell you everything.

You can come out, incubate it. I have to tell you all of this.

They tell you all of that and then they walk away and they

leave you for another hour to wait.

And then they take him in and they tell you the operation is

going to be about 3 hours and it might take a bit longer.

And then you get to hour 5 and you still haven't heard a thing.

And you know what, in that moment before the operation,

they, they, they need this comes there and they tell you all

these things. And Eugene's looking at me and

I'm looking at him and I've got tears in my eyes and he, I'm

trying to be strong for him and he's trying to be strong for me.

And you're sitting there and Eugene looked at me and he said,

go, I've got peace. My life is in God's hands.

And I said to him, babe, I've got peace.

Am I, am I supernatural? Am I abnormal?

Did my heart not race at 180 beats a minute?

Did my mind not go, you know, what if this happens, what if of

course, yes, but I peace because you know, that peace wasn't

based on the outcome of the operation.

It wasn't based on the outcome of the operation.

My peace was based on the finished work of Christ.

My peace was based on the fact that even if my husband died in

that operation. So if you've been walking on

this earth any length of time, you'll know there's no

guarantees in life. My peace was based on the fact

that even if he died, number one, I knew where we'd be.

We'd be, he'd be with Christ. And if that happened, and I'm

saying, God, please don't let that happen, I knew I'd be OK.

Did I want that to happen? Absolutely not.

Was I begging God, going God, you know that guy in the Bible

that said, please just at least 15 years.

More like negotiating with God. Like, of course he is not

abnormal. But I had peace in the midst of

all of this. I had peace because my peace

wasn't based on the result of that operation.

My peace wasn't based on the skill of that doctor.

I didn't even pray for the doctor because my, my husband's,

I mean, it sounds bad, but my husband's hands, my husband's

life wasn't in the hands of that doctor.

The Bible says not one here falls from your head, that God

doesn't know about it. My confidence and my trust

wasn't God. And then the fact that he's

sovereign and that whatever happens, he is with me.

My peace was based on that, a peace that Gods, our hearts and

our minds, our hearts and our minds.

So the fourth thing we have access to when we encounter

Christ is the peace of God that transcends understanding that

will guard your heart and your mind.

So ask yourself today, what are you going to do today to make

sure that you encounter Jesus? What are you going to do today?

What am I going to do today to make sure that I'm part of the

27%, not the 73%? Because you know, when we

encounter Jesus, we have access to spirit of truth that leads us

into freedom here on earth while we're waiting to be with him in

eternity. Complete joy, the full joy of

Christ, direct access to the Father.

You don't need anybody else to ask.

You have direct access to Him and peace.

Even in the midst of your trouble, you can have peace.

Remember, you don't create these things.

We don't create them. You don't get up tomorrow

morning and go today I'm going to have joy.

Today I'm going to have peace. No matter how horrible my boss

is, I'm going to have peace today.

We don't create them. They've given to us.

They've given to us. When we encounter Christ, when

we walk with him, when we allow Him to speak into our life,

they've given to us. They've given to us when we

encounter Jesus we filled with his Holy Spirit give these

things to us. My prayer for us all, including

myself today is that we will actually learn how to walk into

fullness of what Jesus has done for us on the cross in the

fullness of what we have access to when we when we encounter him

in Jesus name and then.