Let Not Your Heart be Troubled R1701

God has encouragement for you. Encouragement from the Bible itself and the Bible teaching of Dr. Don Wilton. I don't know what your day is going like at this particular point in time, but I pray that you know God has arranged this meeting, a time for us to get together with you and Dr. Don Wilton and his Bible-based teaching from John 13 today.

A message called, Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled. If you find yourself heavy, God's word will lift you today and encourage you like nothing else. We'd also be thrilled to pray with you and encourage you on the phone at 866-899-WORD.

That's 866-899-9673 or connect with us on our website at www.tewonline.org. Now let's head to John 13 with Dr. Don Wilton. The Encouraging Word I'm in chapter 13 of John's Gospel and I'm just going to begin reading at verse 33. And Jesus looks at them.

He says, Little children, yet a little while I'm with you. You will seek Me, and just as I said to the Jews, and so now say also to you, Where I am going, you cannot come. A new commandment I give to you, little children, disciples, believers, the church, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.

You are also to love one another. By this will all people know that you are My disciples if you have love one for another. So Peter, here he comes, says, Lord, where are you going? Jesus answered him, Where I'm going, you cannot follow Me now, but you will follow afterward. Peter said to him, Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you. Jesus answered, Will you lay down your life for Me, Peter? Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow till you have denied Me three times.

Let not your heart be troubled. You believe God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you that I go and I am preparing a place for you. And I will come again. If I go, I will come again and I will take you to Myself, that where I am, there you will be also.

And you, you know the way to where I am going. What was the setting really involved two things. Number one, that Jesus was leaving this world. And secondly, that they were staying in this world. I think God wants us to see that. Jesus was leaving this world and these believers were left behind. They were staying in this world.

Now watch this. Jesus knew what they were about to face, just like He knows with you and me. Jesus knew that. He knew that they were going to have troubled hearts. And He knew that troubled hearts produce fear, produce guilt, produce shame, questions that can't be answered, produce torment. Tragedies produce torment, friends. What could I have done differently? How did this happen? Why did I not speak up?

What was I thinking when I sinned? Troubled hearts. And here's Jesus meeting with these men and He refers to them as little children. Isn't that tender? A father putting his arms around his children.

These little children gather here. And He just, in the middle of this, Peter walks up and says, obviously I'm not included in this because I've got all my bases covered. And Jesus just drops a bomb on him. No, Peter. So Jesus gave a command. This is a command. This is not a suggestion, folks. This is not try this if you want this. This is a command in the text.

And the command really carried a twofold emphasis. First of all, He says, you believe in God. Now if you go back and you study that, you believe in God. You do believe in God.

These were Jewish followers of Jesus. They believed in God, the God of the Old Testament, for sure. He said, you do. You already believe in God. You believe in God. I want you to really get this, folks. This is deep theology. He turns to them.

He says, that's not good enough. You must now believe in me. Yes, you believe in God.

It's like almost a picture of America today. And so the command that he gives is twofold. You already believe in God, but you must believe in me. Jesus knew.

They didn't quite get it. What Jesus was saying to Peter and to those disciples was, in just a minute, I'm going to leave you. I'm giving you gold here. I'm telling you where to go because you will live this life with a troubled heart. And unless you take your belief in every way into the heart of Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God, you're not going to know what to do with your trouble because your trouble, you are going to stumble. You are going to sin. You are going to hurt. You are going to suffer tragedy and suffer loss. You are going to suffer rejection. You're going to experience shame. You are going to carry guilt.

You're going to make bad and poor decisions. And what Jesus wanted to give to them, this unbelievable, undeserved gift, he wanted to give to them three things. He wanted to give to them assurance.

He wanted to give them confidence. And he wanted to give them peace. Troubled hearts will rob you of assurance and of confidence and of the peace that only God can give to you.

How do you ever get over these things? God's Word tells us in Micah chapter 7 and verse 18 that God delights in giving us mercy. Jesus knew us. That's why he came and took upon our flesh.

He experienced everything of our flesh. Even to the point of the cross, we're in the Garden of Gethsemane, he said, my heart is troubled. Oh God, take this cup away from me. Nevertheless, not my will but thine be done. Let not your heart be troubled.

You say you believe in God, you must believe in me. Perhaps Jesus knew that trouble when we experience perpetually this anguish, this trouble in our hearts, that the greatest thing we can do is to run to him. But Jesus understood that the worst thing we can do and trouble makes us want to do this is to run from him. Trouble, anguish, tragedy, these things that churn, that hurt, wrong decisions and issues with our families and failures and sin, that causes us to run from Jesus. And what Jesus was saying is wrong, run to me.

I'm the one. And as Jared Skinner got up and spoke, I don't know that I've ever been so deeply blessed. So Jesus comes to the disciples and he places everything that he says here on four bedrock truths. He says let me help you understand this and he gives them four bedrock truths.

Number one, you are anchored in him. He says in my father's house. Why did Jesus say that? Most of my life I've just simply considered he's talking about heaven.

He's telling us everything that God has done for us has been done. It is built. It is finished. I have built the house.

The foundation, the walls, the rooms, everything is taken care of. That's the first bedrock truth in your trouble. Base everything on the fact that you are anchored in him. What he has done is complete. This is the all sufficiency of Christ. Number two, you are secure in him.

Take your trouble, be absolutely certain you're not only anchored in him, but you are secure in him. Why? Because Jesus went to the cross. That's what he was saying to them.

Just a little while, I'm going to leave you. We know exactly what happened. Jesus took upon himself. He died to secure the anchor of his house that is built.

No wind can blow it over. No tragedy, no trouble, no perplexion, no deep sorrow. You come to him, you have an anchor, you have security. The third anchor truth that he was laying before them is you are never alone in him. You're never alone.

Why? Yes, he was there in person, and he was about to leave them, but he was telling them, I've reminded you, when I leave, you will have the indwelling power and presence of my Spirit in you. I'm sending the comforter.

I love that word today. When I go, my Spirit is going to come upon you, and he will fill you from head to toe. The comforter, the paraclete, he's going to come alongside you 100% in every dynamic of your trouble. And then to boot, he says, not only is my Spirit in you, you're never alone because you will have my Spirit, but you're never alone because you have the promise of my person. I am coming back personally to get you personally. So what's the fourth bedrock truth?

Let me just give them to you again. These are critical because Jesus tells us the bedrock truth of our troubled hearts. We are anchored in him. We are secure in him. We are never alone because of him. And fourth, we are eternally taken care in him.

Indeed, four bedrocks of God's truth. We'll be back in just a moment. Don't go away. Dr. Wilton will be completing his message, Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled, in just a moment. But Dr. Don insists I remind you that this is not just a presentation.

It's a conversation. And we're connecting both on our website, tewonline.org, where you can pick up wonderful resources like the Daily Encouraging Word Bible Guide. We even have an opportunity for you right now to sign up online and receive an email version of that Bible Guide every single day.

Now, both the handout version, the physical version, and the email version are absolutely free. You can sign up today and the email will be in your email box tomorrow or get the resource in your hand, the quarterly devotion, within about a week or less. Know that we'd love to connect with you and encourage you in many different ways, not just this broadcast, by connecting with us on our website, tewonline.org. And know that we'd also be thrilled to pray with you 24 hours a day. Our phone is available at 866-899-WORD.

That's 866-899-9673. The Encouraging Word So many of our people get sick. You know, even as I speak to you today, I know that there are loved ones of ours that are desperately ill. I just want you to know that I'm praying for you. I might not even know who you are, but I'm praying for you.

I'm praying for you because I believe God not only hears prayer, but he answers our prayer. And I'm praying for your healing. I believe you are healed not because God has to heal you. You are healed when God wants to heal you. I believe in divine healing, not faith healing, because God is the one who makes that decision. So I pray for you today. Lord Jesus, if there's someone listening today who needs to be healed, I pray that you would heal them in Jesus' name. The Encouraging Word I hope you were blessed by that like we were, just one of those unique opportunities where we could share that moment of encouragement from Dr. Wilton on sickness.

If you'd like to have someone pray with you, we're here to do that 24 hours a day at 866-899-9673. Now back to today's great teaching with Dr. Don Wilton. When you anchor yourself in the Lord Jesus Christ, what Jesus was saying to these disciples is he left them in this troubled, troubling world. He knew it. He knew what they were going to face.

He knew about the opposition. He knew about death. He knew about the tragedies. He knew about the struggles. He knew about all the issues, the pain, the headaches, the surgeries. He knew. He knew.

He knows. And he's saying to them, little children, when you're anchored in the Lord Jesus Christ, you will have everything needed to overcome all your troubles. And what Jesus was saying to them is I need you to know something. I am going to keep my word to you because I am the way, the truth, and the life. 2 Corinthians 5 verse 21. For our sake, for our sake, God made him to be sin for us who knew no sin so that we might be made the righteousness of God. For our sake, for me, for you in our trouble, in our tragedies, in our perplexions, in our questions.

What Jesus was saying, yes, you will be heartbroken, but you will still praise him and you will have peace. My wife Karen and precious little Drew Skinner, brother of Lydia Ann, talking, what precious boys, those four Skinner boys, just precious sweethearts, sweethearts. Karen had her arms wrapped around Drew one day and I heard her say, you know, Drew, Jesus is with you. You know, you're going through this. Now you're going to go through life with heaven's eyes.

I heard this family here, right here. I heard the brother who gave a tremendous word at the end, the message, brother Kevin, say is it possible that out of this tragedy one of these brothers might rise up and become a great influencer for the cause and the sake of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ? Is it possible that through this there are people who will come to know Jesus?

Is it possible that in a tragedy and the trouble like this that there's someone right now who's saying, I want to know this Jesus? You say, how do we do this? How do we not let our hearts be troubled? Let me give you some thoughts. Number one, wherever you are today, my friend, align your mind with Christ. Make that decision right now. Take your trouble and align your mind with Christ. That's what you're doing right now. Number two, ask the Holy Spirit to fill you.

Do it right now. Ask the Holy Spirit to fill you. Number three, release your opinion, your perspective to God. Like Peter, Jesus was saying to him, Peter, back off. Stand down. Stand down, Peter.

Stand down. Let me, number four, read and quote scripture. Every morning this week, and I hope many weeks prior to that, I've sat with her on my deck or with my beloved wife and I've just quoted scripture. Yesterday we went to visit her mother and I took them afterwards and I just walked around and around the nursing home and the entire time I walked I just quoted scripture. Number five, pray without ceasing.

I'm praying for you, but you pray. Number six, lean on spiritual friends. Friend, listen, in your trouble you are surrounded with spiritual people. God has placed spiritual people around you. That's who you listen to, not the non-spiritual. The non-spiritual are not doing what Jesus said.

The world does not have the answer. This church is filled with spiritual people. Lean on your spiritual friends. And then number seven, trust God to let you not be troubled. Trust God. Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God?

You must. Take me at my word because I am Jesus. Would you bow your heads with me for a minute? Lord Jesus, all across this room, all across Genesis, people listening everywhere today. Oh God, first and foremost there are people saying I need to give my heart to Jesus today. Lord, I pray right now that people would pick up phone lines, that people would talk just to you and say, Oh God, I'm a sinner and I'm in need of a Savior.

Today I give my life to Christ. Lord, today I feel in my heart because I know it in my heart that there are countless numbers of people that you're speaking to in the midst of their trouble, that disturbance, those questions, that guilt, that shame, that wrong decision, that perplexion, that circumstance, that financial problem. Lord Jesus, you've told us exactly what to do with this.

We're going to step back and we're going to step into. We're going to turn toward you and I pray now that the power of the Spirit of the Living God would come down upon someone, that people would be released in the name of Jesus from a troubled soul. Lord, as Jared Skinner reminded us here, so God grief, perplexion is so real. But oh God, we cost ourselves upon a good and loving and gracious and faithful Jesus, who is the author and the finisher, the one who has every solution to every issue, every problem, every trouble of this life. Thank you, Jesus. Especially from John 13 in this message, Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled, perhaps there are questions that you would like answers to.

Let us discover those together. You can call us anytime at 866-899-WORD. Jot the number down, store it in your cell, 866-899-9673. We'll always connect you with one of us, happy to talk and listen and pray and connect you with the answers that come in God's encouraging word. And before we get away, perhaps it's not the call to us you need to make, but a call to Jesus Christ. Dr. Don is closing us out now with perhaps the most important 60 seconds of our day.

Well, hello again, my friends. Are you ready to give your life to Christ? You know, you've been listening like this and God has been speaking like this, hasn't He?

And He's speaking to your heart. I'd love to help you give your life to Christ right now. Why don't you pray this prayer, make this your prayer, because you know that God not only hears our prayer, but He answers our prayer too. Pray this prayer with me. Dear God, I know that You love me very much.

I believe Jesus came and died on a cross just for me and that He gave His life for me. Right now, I confess my sin to You and by faith I receive You into my heart and into my life. In Jesus' name I pray. Well, if you've prayed that prayer right now, in just a moment we're going to send you some information.

I want you to listen real carefully because you can take note of that. We've got the means by which we can connect together and I want to connect with you because you're part of my family. You're part of the family of God. You are my brother, my sister in Christ. God bless you today. If you were praying along with Dr. Don Wilton moments ago to give your life to Christ or to rededicate your life to Jesus, you need to know how much Dr. Don Wilton wants to pray for you, to rejoice with you, and he wants to help you in some of the next steps.

As a matter of fact, he's prepared unique resources for you. If you just gave your life to Christ for the very first time or perhaps you're coming back into the faith and you need the resources to help you build a relationship with Christ that is so solid, so growing, so fruitful, these resources again are absolutely free and Dr. Don wants you to have them if you'll call us at 866-899-WORD and let us send them to you. Again, our number is 866-899-9673 and we'll meet you on the phone to get your information and send you these free resources and help you grow in your faith. The number again is 866-899-9673 but you can also meet us on our website and we'll connect keyboard to keyboard there at www.tewonline.org That's www.tewonline.org While you're there, you can hear today's broadcast and other great resources from Dr. Wilton but you can also sign up for the daily encouraging word. Just click on the devotion icon and you can have us send this to you absolutely free in an email every morning or of course absolutely free as well with a hard copy that will give you the quarterly devotions that we study every day. Just know that we're here to encourage you here at www.tewonline.org and the encouraging word.