In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of finding security in the Lord Jesus Christ. He highlights the need to recognize that our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the unseen world of satanic forces and demons. The speaker encourages total surrender to the Lord and trusting Him with our future, despite the confusion and imaginations created by the devil. He also reminds listeners that bad things may happen to good people, but it is part of God's plan for our good. Finally, the speaker warns against being lured away from following the Lord by convenient and pleasant offers, using examples from the Bible to illustrate this point.

The Apostle who is known as the first Pope, the chief of the Apostles, stood up and preached along with the eleven, and thousands of people from the Jewish faith placed their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, acknowledging he is the promised Messiah, the end of all sacrifice, not only for the covering of their sin, but the removal of their sin, and finally salvation is theirs, freely given. But then, something so good and wonderful happened. Normally we as humans expect, if I, you shook my hand, let me see your pen, you see, you shook my hand when I gave my hand, and he didn't do this. That's what we expect. But that didn't happen here. For all the good things, and all what they were waiting for, and now they got it, instead they were not very happy. But, those few who decided to follow the Lord, and among these multitudes, hearing St. Peter speaking, they are their husbands, they are their wives, they were dads and moms, the rest of their family, they were not with them, as normally it happens. When you go to market to buy vegetables, do you take your husband, wife, and 25 children with you? No. But then what would have happened when Jacob came home and said, I found the Messiah, and his wife Mary said, you need to go to Ulaanbaatar, something wrong with your head. What Messiah? But then she found out he was dead serious about it, that the Lord Jesus Christ, Peter talked about, happened to be the answer they were waiting for. But then you can imagine the opposition, and the alienation, and the rejection from their own families, yet they decided they will follow the Lord Jesus Christ. A lesson for us to learn here, even from the beginning of the church, forget about the opposition and difficulties we face now, and the enemies of the gospel. But right after multitude witnessed the living God on earth, all of a sudden they are faced with severe persecution. So let us understand the meaning of what the Bible says, our battle is not against flesh and blood. That which we see, these buildings and people sitting here, all these things, these are visible things we can see with our naked eyes. But then there is a parallel world, unseen world, the world occupied by satanic forces and demons, and their job is only one, continually, perpetually, always oppose the work of God, that this need to sink in, this cannot be just a doctrine. See, I mean he got a nice set of hair, he is looking at me finally, but also he is nervous, I'm going to ask him something, now I am not. If I did that, if you really believe I was going to hit him, I am sure you close your eyes, right? He says, my proponent does that, I will not. Well, what about if some enemy does that? There is a natural reflex of self-defense, but you need to understand, the sickness you face, the emails you get, the horrible response that you receive from your parents or people you love, please don't misunderstand, it is not all somebody telling you to do wrong things. No, if you read C.S. Lewis writings, the book, Screw Tape Letters, you will be surprised to find how Satan, who is the most powerful being next to God, he devised a million ways to get us away from the person, the Lord Jesus Christ. And he does that through offering plenty of money, job, career, degrees, possibilities, and everything in the world. As a matter of fact, in my own personal experience and journey with a lot of people, more people have left following God, more people stopped reading their Bible and having family prayer meetings, more people have stopped telling somebody about the Lord Jesus Christ, more people stopped following the Lord, not by some horrible sin that they embraced, no, it was the most convenient and pleasant offers that were given and they followed that. The Bible is filled with such examples. You will find that in the life of Balaam, you will find that in the life of Solomon, you will find that in the life of Demas that Paul talked about, who was tutored by Paul, next to Christ is no one greater than him, I imagine. But after all the years of knowing everything, seeing everything, finally, Paul says, oh Timothy, what can I do? Having loved this present world, it was an offer to go to America, it was an offer to go to Europe, it was an offer for five times your salary and titles. He left me and he walked away. So, being Christ and his people, never underestimate, you are always the target of the enemy, not to be afraid, not to be paranoid, not to fear, but to recognize your enemy, if not, you will get shot with real bullets. And that's what happened here. But this passage tells us something, what is that? When they lost their security of relationship and friends and families, and their career and their jobs and whatever else, their security became the Lord. So what is our theme today? Secured in the Savior. So, all of a sudden they realized the only thing that matters is the Lord Jesus Christ. But then not one person, but a whole lot of them had the same conviction. They came together and you read there what all they did. Their focus was one thing, the Lord. And it's interesting, this morning I had a unique conversation with someone, and this person said, it is strange, we don't take any vacations and we don't do these things and we don't buy these things and we don't have any of these stuff that the world thinks is normal. But even if they end up in a hospital or on a journey or on a train, they are preoccupied with Jesus and His kingdom and His work and what a privilege that we live on earth as though we are not living on earth. It's a whole wonderful world that we have in Christ. So what is our security? It is Christ and the people that understand Him and we are the family. And then the passage Psalm 23, we read, it's very easy to understand. I don't need to teach much on that. The Lord is my shepherd and I want nothing. That's what one translation says. And the reasons are given there and it's easy for you to study that. One thing for sure, you, you, you will never come to a place where you can say, I am free. I am the captain of my soul. I know what to do. I have all the discernment. No, no, our security comes from being His sheep and the total surrender and dependence on the shepherd. And He never leads you to situations where you say, Oh my goodness, I'm going to die. For when you read that, although, even though I had to walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. I have seen in our hospital, people who are on ventilator and tell you just the body language they express. A few years ago, they were mighty men. They can be anything in the world. I especially heard about one individual, but now he's laying there like a piece of withered vegetable and the stuff on his nose and the look in his eyes just send such terrible fear. And he cannot talk. No sound comes up. But inside of him, he must be in hell and horrible turmoil. Finally, he's alone and no one with him. You have to imagine this. Now question, does God allow that to happen to good people? Someone like you who study Bible and know Jesus? Obviously the answer is yes. You'll find in the life of Job. You'll find in the life of Abraham. You'll find in the life of David. You'll find in the life of Apostle Paul. You'll find in the life of Apostle John. The greatest saints walked on earth. And then you read Hebrews 11. They were not worthy for this world. They were beheaded. And they were beaten, butchered. Their rights were taken away. Their abuse, scandals were all over the world on them. And they were living in literal torment. Who were these people? They were the most loved people by God. So he says, though I walk in this terrible valley and the shadow cast on me of death and fear and threat, everything is over. But deep inside he says, I don't fear no evil, for you are with me. And remember the story of this mother, which you may have heard before. This little girl must go to the hospital for a terrible, unusual surgery, which is very dangerous and life threatening. And the doctors warned the parents, anyone go to this surgery, when they come out, usually they lose their normal mind. They behave completely strange and different. And you will be prepared for it. And they signed off for the surgery. And when the surgery was done and the girl recovered, the mother asked, when they took you to the operation theater and put the gas on you and all this thing was going on, what was going through your head? She said, I began to say continually, nonstop, when I'm afraid, I will trust in you, which is the Bible verse her mother taught her, which is in the scripture. So she said, while all these people around me, everybody's doing everything else, I kept saying, when I'm afraid, I will trust in you. When they were doing all those things to me, I don't know what they were doing. But for me, I was keep saying, when I'm afraid, the day I am afraid, I will trust in you. And she came out perfect, without any consequence. That's what we need to keep in mind. The pure orthodox teaching never is, never was, never will be. Like the charismatic people say, if you have faith, you will have all blessings and no problems. No, that is not in the Bible. Bible is filled with problems for people, those who know God. But the key is, the Lord is with us. Why? Time and space is taken out from the plan of God for our life. That is, everything he allows, he has a purpose. Sometimes it is to break us, sometimes we fail miserably to show us how hard and how dangerous our pride and arrogance is. And only when we know, we can find answer to that. This is how God does it. And so, where is the security? In the shepherd. Latch onto him. Number three, in 1 Peter chapter 2, verse 19 to 21, 25, it is to the people who were facing tremendous persecution. Today, in India and neighboring countries, it is not getting easier for anyone. Living for Christ, who does no harm. You ask the question, what are the Christians doing to hurt any nation? The answer is, it is impossible to find Christians. They just suffer. And this is exactly what is happening here. And it says, if unjustly you are being tormented and persecuted, don't worry, your reward in heaven is great. I rejoice over that. It is a choice we must make. But, remember the Lord will be there. You approve? Look at Acts chapter 7. Oh, time runs. Finally, John 10, 1 to 10, he is the good shepherd. Who, if he is a good shepherd, he gives his life for you. And he gave his life. What more do you want? So, you are no more his. You are his. So, with that in mind, we have plenty of stories in the Bible which our time will no way permit us to go through all this. But, I will just want to recite maybe the lessons we can learn from this today. One, total surrender to him in humility as a lamb guarantees you have all the security you ever need throughout your entire life. Good time, bad time, all times. Number two, trust him with your future. The devil is a master to create confusion for us by imaginations of what if, what if, what if. Your answer is the Lord Jesus Christ. Trust him and he is our security. Number three, bad things happens to good people. But, that is in the plan of God for your good and for my good. And, trust him. Number four, we do have legitimate enemies who will cause hurt and damage. But, leave it in God's hands. He will use them for our good, but he will be the one to do the revenge or do whatever needs to be done and let that be. And, finally, God is a good God. Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. And so, in a passage like this, for our journey in this Christian life, keep in mind, if you belong to the Lord Jesus Christ, there is a stamp placed on you which is invisible by the Holy Spirit. And, the stamp declares to the billions of demons, angels and everyone that this property belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ and he is the owner and we can trust him.