Christ Victorious - Victory Youths

05/01/2026

Psalm 4:1–8
The source of joy and peace
So often we seek joy and peace in the wrong places: ‘How long will you love delusions and seek false gods?’ (v.2). We think that money, possessions or success will be the answer. But these are delusions and false gods. True joy and peace, as David tells us, are to be found in a relationship with God (v.3).

We are not promised a problem-free life – the psalm starts with a cry: ‘Give me relief from my distress; be merciful to me and hear my prayer’ (v.1b). David is confident that God will hear: ‘He listens the split second I call to him’ (v.3b, MSG).

God alone is the true source of joy and peace: ‘Let the light of your face shine upon us, O LORD. You have filled my heart with greater joy than when their grain and new wine abound. I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, LORD, make me dwell in safety’ (vv.6b–8).

There is greater joy in the presence of God than there is in material prosperity and luxury. Prosperity, despite the apparent security it brings, does not necessarily lead to peaceful sleep. Only in God’s will can we truly ‘dwell in safety’ (v.8)

16/07/2025

PHOBIAPHOBIA.

What are you afraid of? Some people act like they're not afraid of anything. Some act like they're afraid of everything. In fact, there seems to be a name for almost every kind of fear imaginable. The list below contains just a few:

Acrophobia: the fear of heights

Agoraphobia: the fear of open spaces

Arachnophobia: the fear of spiders

Claustrophobia: the fear of small, closed-in spaces

Hydrophobia: the fear of water

Mysophobia: the fear of dirt or germs

Nyctophobia: the fear of darkness

Ochlophobia: the fear of crowds

Schoolphobia: fear of school

Triskaidekaphobia: the fear of the number 13 (oh no, there it is!)

You probably never knew there were so many things to be afraid of, did you? There's even phobiaphobia, the fear of fear itself!

Everybody's afraid sometimes. But being self-controlled means learning to control your worries and fears instead of letting them control you. That's easier said than done, of course, but that's what God desires for us. And that's what he's able to do for us.

Jesus can calm your heart and mind, just as he was able to calm the raging Sea of Galilee (see Mark 4:35-41). He is able to quiet your fears and relieve your worries, just as he soothed the disciples fears that night long ago. The psalmist knew the secret of controlling worry and fear, which is why he wrote, "When I am afraid, I will trust in you" (Psalm 56:3, NIV).

That's the secret. Let the presence of God control your fear ... instead of letting your fear control you.

REFLECT: How did Jesus' disciples (in today's Bible reading) respond to their fears? How did they respond after Jesus calmed the sea? Are you ever afraid? If so, when are you most afraid? Which do you think is better: to control your fears or be controlled by your fears? Why? How do you think you can control your fears?

PRAY: "Lord, sometimes I'm afraid or worried, especially when...

Please teach me to let your presence and power control my fears instead of letting them control me."

16/12/2024

Jesus said, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62). In context, Jesus is talking about people who want to follow Him but are hindered by their concern for other things. It is not just that they look back, but they have divided loyalties

03/06/2024

Imagine the heavenly prayer meeting. It goes on for you and me and the whole church of God continually.

The exalted Son, seated at his Father’s right hand, powerfully pleads our case, bringing forth his blood and righteousness (indeed, his very person) on our behalf (Romans 8:34). He defends us from all the accusations and condemnation of the evil one. And because the Father loves his Son, every promise is “Yes and Amen” in Christ (2 Corinthians 1:20)

20/04/2023

The death of a dear loved one in the Lord may present one of the greatest tests of our faith. But can we trust that our loved one is better off with the Beloved? Will we believe that the Son of God is reaping the fruit of his work for sinners? If we do, then our grief is godly grief, and Jesus will turn our sorrow into great joy (John 16:20).

“Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints” (Psalm 116:15), and it can be for us too when we cling to the hope that death will never win (1 Corinthians 15:54–55). Jesus grieved himself so that we will never have to endure hopeless grief in the face of death.

In the end, death is just an answer to Jesus’s prayer, John 17:24

20/04/2023

John 7:38
“Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” Literally, it says, out of his belly. But the point is our inner being, call it belly, heart, soul, spirit. What does this mean?

It means that when you come to Jesus to drink, you don’t just get a single drink, but you get a spring, a fountain, a well. You get Jesus. Rivers of water will flow because a River-Maker is in you. That’s the point. You will never have to search again for a source of satisfaction for your soul. Every river that needs to flow for the joy of your soul will flow from Jesus. When you come to him, you get him. And he never leaves.

04/08/2022

The difference between a pig and a sheep, both can fall into the mud, the pig will squel with joy, the sheep will be miserable.

31/07/2022

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
–Ecclesiastes 12:13

The bible says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom ...” (Proverbs 9:10). Solomon’s wisdom began on this note — he had the fear of God. A time came when he drifted from that pattern, and acted as though he feared neither God nor man. He experienced the repercussions, and related it to how he was when he was led by the fear of God. Indeed, that birthed his conclusion. He said, “Fear God... that’s the whole duty of man.”

I agree absolutely with Him. Fearing God is the whole duty of man. Your purpose and assignment are in total alliance with the fear of God. There is nothing you ever do outside the fear of God that is successful.

A man who has got the fear of God will despise sin; he will be careful to walk in the commandment of the Lord; he will ensure he acknowledges the Lord in all his steps. There is no better way to walk, than to walk in the fear of God. If Solomon, the wise, could boldly declare that the introduction and conclusion of everything is to fear God, then that’s indeed the key thing.

The bible says, “Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.” (Proverbs 4:7). If wisdom is the principal thing, then it’s really important we get wisdom, and here is a simple key — Fear God!

04/07/2022

23/06/2022

2 Corinthians 4:16-18

Second Corinthians 4:17 says our “light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory.” It doesn’t say, “will be followed by an eternal weight of glory”
Every millisecond of your pain — from fallen nature or fallen man — every millisecond of your misery in the path of obedience is producing a peculiar glory you will get because of that suffering. It will feel meaningless. That is why verse 18 says don’t look at what is seen.
Don’t look to what is seen. When your mom dies, when your kid dies, when you got cancer at 40, when a car careens onto the sidewalk and takes her out, don’t say that this is meaningless. It’s not. It’s working for you an eternal weight of glory. Therefore — therefore — do not lose heart, but take these truths, all the ones you’ve heard in every message, and day by day, focus on them. Preach them to yourself every morning. Get alone with God and preach his word into your mind until your heart sings with confidence that you are new and cared for.

Pastor John Piper.

19/06/2022

Rejoicing in the Lord means knowing Jesus Christ as our Lord, Savior, and Treasure. It means he gives us deeper, purer, sweeter, more lasting pleasure and gladness than anything this world has to offer. As Paul says in Philippians 3:8, “I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” Rejoicing in the Lord means that there is a new song in our hearts — the song of the redeemed — that the din and distresses of life cannot drown out. He is the chief object of our joy.
Paul calls us to rejoice in the Lord always, which includes painful trials. The New Testament teaches that Jesus endured the cross for the joy set before him and that believers’ weeping will one day turn into joy (Hebrews 12:2; John 16:20). Jesus’s pattern of suffering-then-glory is in some sense the script for our lives as well.
We rejoice because Jesus has decisively delivered us from sin’s penalty and one day will completely deliver us from its reality.

We rejoice because of the good news of what Christ has done already for us. But Philippians stresses the future, not-yet reality of salvation on the day of Christ (Philippians 1:10, 19). We take heart that God will one day vanquish all opponents of the gospel and save his people (Philippians 1:28). We eagerly await a Savior who will transform our lowly bodies to be like his glorious body (Philippians 3:20).

08/06/2022

Lamentations 3:27

Ver. 27. It is good for a man that he bear the yoke from his youth. ] The yoke of God’s law, and the discipline of afflictions: it is good to be betime in God’s nurturing house, and remain a good while there, that he be trained up in the school of afflictions, that he be a well-beaten soldier to the cross.

Quietly and patiently to bear what afflictions God will please to lay upon us. And if God tame us when young, by his word or by his rod, it is an unspeakable advantage.