https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+14%3A25-27&version=NRSVCE (John 14:25-27) I have a riddle for you today. Can you name what I am describing? It is something a widower longs for and needs as he tries to go on without their beloved spouse. It is something parents need as they strive to raise their children correctly in a dangerous world of temptations and distractions. It is something the employee longs for who is being harassed at work on a daily basis and awakens each workday with a sense of dread and foreboding. It’s something a teenager desperately needs who is struggling to fit in, make the grade in school, and feel good about herself. It’s something a small child needs as he watches mom and dad argue. It is something the world has never had since the fall of Adam and Eve and, it never will on its own as hard as it may try. So what is it? If you guessed peace, you are right! We long for peace in our world as political parties and nations rage against one another. We pray for peace in the lives of our loved ones as they face hardships. I have friends who battle depression and anxiety, and I pray they would receive peace of mind. We also desire peace in our own lives. Sometimes we get so troubled and worried inside – even fearful – in our fight to raise children, battle health issues, wrestle with financial issues, or struggle with relational issues. I just read an article saying Americans are among the most anxious people on earth. As one teenager put it in this article, “We’re the first-generation who cannot escape our problems at all. We’re like little volcanoes. We’re getting this constant pressure from our phones, from our relationships, from the way things are in the world today.” More people yearn for one thing more than anything else: inner peace. Without it they have no lasting happiness or security. You have to agree with me, life has gotten more complicated, and we are all looking for peace within. In today’s passage, Jesus is promising peace to His disciples in a not-so-peaceful situation, in a not-so-peaceful world that hates Him. The anxiety and stress hung thick in the air that evening in the Upper Room when Jesus announced He would be leaving them to be arrested and crucified on a cross. Little did they understand the cross was all part of God’s plan to save His sin-sick world. As Jesus tells them He’s leaving them, He also tells them they can’t come along. Of course, this made them feel troubled and afraid. They were filled with anxiety and fear. They had to be thinking, Leaving us? No! We’ll be on our own, abandoned, and alone. What will we do without Jesus? Oh, no! The disciples had been with Jesus for three years, and they had a special bond of friendship they did not want to end. So they responded with their questions. Peter and Thomas both asked, Where are you going? Philip said, Lord, show us the Father, and that will satisfy us. Judas (not Iscariot) asked, How will you reveal yourself to us and not to the world. These men were very afraid and anxious about the present and the future without Jesus. Jesus responds to their troubled hearts and minds with words of assurance. You will see me again someday. I am going to prepare a place for you in my Father’s house. I will come back and take you to me that where I am, you may be also. Nothing will end their relationship. He went on to promise, I am giving you another Helper to be with you forever – the Holy Spirit. I won’t leave you orphaned. I’m coming to you. Those who love me and keep my word, my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Finally, Jesus said these words that we read earlier: I said these things to you while I’m still with you, but the helper, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not...