Do Not Let Your Heart Be Troubled

The message begins with thanks for the previous week's joint worship service, which drew more than a hundred new believers and volunteers. It then turns to the world the congregation is living in: a turning point in history, rising prices, social change, and a generation of young people who feel they have no hope and no dreams for the future.

Against this backdrop of anxiety — and even the Bible's warnings about the end times — the message centers on the words of Jesus in John 14:1: "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me." Troubles are a given in this world; no one is without them, not even a pastor.

Worry feeds fear, and fear is described as a hidden enemy: it makes our thinking negative, steals our peace and hope, and clouds our judgment. Through the words attributed to Mother Teresa — watch your thoughts, for they become words, and words become actions, habits, character, and finally destiny — the message shows why the devil attacks our thoughts first, through what we see, say, and hear.

Four practical answers are given: choose good friends, for bad company corrupts good character (1 Corinthians 15:33); watch your words (Proverbs 18:21); choose the music you listen to, for praise brings peace (Psalm 22:3); and read God's Word every day, trusting his promise in Jeremiah 29:11 that his plans are to give hope and a future.

Every day, the news and the worries of life — health, pensions, work, relationships — sow seeds of anxiety in our thoughts. Left unattended, a small seed fills the whole mind with darkness. That is why God says, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me."

From Matthew 14, the message retells the night the disciples saw Jesus walking on the lake. Peter asked for the word — "Lord, if it is you, tell me to come to you on the water" — and walked; but when he saw the wind and the waves, fear took his eyes off Jesus and he began to sink. Fear and worry rob us of faith; those who keep their eyes on Jesus are the ones who overcome the world.

The devil prowls like a roaring lion (1 Peter 5:8), working on our weaknesses; but perfect love drives out fear. The one way out of fear and anxiety is our relationship with Jesus: the evidence that we are loved is the cross, where he gave his life for us. The pastor shares honestly how he himself must "change the channel" when discouragement comes, and how, as a high school student, a missionary first showed him Jeremiah 29:11 — the promise he has held onto ever since.

The message closes by looking at churches rising up across Japan, even in depopulating regions of Tohoku, and at the congregation's mission: to bless others, to trust God's promises and plans, and to shine like light — like jewels — in the darkness, so that anxious people will come asking how they can have such peace. (The video recording ends as the closing prayer begins.)