Missing Peace: Is Peace Even Possible?

MESSAGE TRANSCRIPTION: 

Now I want to begin this morning as we launch into a new sermon series called:

“Missing Peace.”

And as we launch into this sermon series, I want to begin by asking you a question. And the question is very simple: If you had one wish that you can make and the one wish would come true, what would be your wish? Now, here’s what some of you are already thinking. “I need more money.” Your wish would be for money. How many of you would say that’s your wish? Now everybody’s like: “I’m too embarrassed to raise my hand.” I’ll raised my hand to that, right? I mean, money can solve a lot of problems. Money can do a lot of good. I mean, just think about what we could do if we had more money here at Eastside. We could help more people with their electric bills.

We could add a third or fourth campus. I mean, money can do a lot of good, but money is not the ultimate source of happiness. Now, some of you, you’re here and your wish would be that God would provide you with a spouse. Now, if that is you, raise your hand, seriously. If that is you, raise your hand. Because here’s the reason why: there might be a divine connection in the room right now. So raise your hand. Okay? Yeah, raise your hand. Yeah, you never know, right? Some of you’re like: “Well, I’m looking for beauty, I’m looking for happiness. I’m looking for health or healing.” And the old standard wish would be what? That’s not allowed. That would be the wish. If I can have some more wishes? Right? And you remember that on that very first Christmas when the angel came to announce the birth of Christ, who remembers what the angel said? Remember the angel said:

“Glory to God in the highs and peace on earth.”

Say that with me. Peace on earth. And I would contend with you this morning that peace is a prevalent theme all throughout scripture. Jesus, when he would encounter someone, oftentimes he would say: “Peace be with you.” And when there was a traumatic event in someone’s life and Jesus was there, he would say: “Now go in peace.” And the apostle Paul, when he wrote his letters, he began with the salutation or greedy. And how did he start his letters? He would go: “Grace and peace be to you all,” right? Just think about that. Paul could have chosen any type of salutation that he wanted. He could have put grace and popularity. He could have put grace and power or grace in riches, or he could have said grace in TikTok, right? Fame, because everybody’s looking for fame.

But Paul says: “Grace and peace be with you.” And my contention today is that the wish that everybody is wishing for, but no one is speaking about is peace. I believe that what is in the hearts of every human being today is peace. Not just any peace, but real peace, divine peace, peace that comes from heaven, peace that can only come from God because we understand that you can have a lot of money in the bank, but you can have an empty heart. We understand that you can be successful on the outside, successful in the eyes of the world, but you can be bankrupt internally. We also know that you can be married but not have any peace in your home. Please do not say amen or nod your head really obnoxiously because if you do, you will not have peace in your home for a long, long time.

But just think about it, when we think about our relationships, what are we looking for? We’re looking for peace. We’re looking for agreement. We’re looking for us to be in alignment with one another. But when we look at our relationships, it’s not in alignment. It’s not peace, it’s not prosperity. But most of the time when we look at relationships, it’s the exact opposite. We’ve got tension, we’ve got anger, we’ve got anxiety, we’ve got misunderstandings, disagreements, we’ve got bitterness. We’ve got unforgiveness in our hearts. And I would submit to you that this morning that the real wish of our world today is for peace and we’re wishing for peace this Christmas season. And the question is:

“Is peace even possible in 2023?”

And that’s the title of my sermon. I even thought about titling it: “Is peace even possible in 2024?” And then I thought: “Well, maybe is peace even possible in life?”

And the answer is: absolutely 100% it can happen.

And I want to take you to Isaiah chapter 26, an ancient book in the Bible back in the Old Testament. And I want to give you kind of the context for what we’re about to read. And just like it is today in our time, is where there’s fear and unsettledness, the prophet Isaiah prophesied of a day of unbridled worship, Andrew, where there would be praise, where there would be peace, where there would be passion, and we’re all celebrating the goodness of God. Now, notice what he says here:

“In that day, everyone in the land of Judah was sing this song: Our city is strong! We’re surrounded by the walls of God’s salvation. Open the gates to all who are righteous; Allow the faithful to enter. You’ll keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you! Trust in the Lord always for the Lord God is the eternal Rock.”

Isaiah 26:1-4

The perfect peace of God. I need that promise. I want that promise. I love this promise; that you’ll keep us in perfect peace, the peace that can only come from God. Now, I don’t know about you, but I don’t really experience perfect peace quite often. Most of the time, the peace that I experience is imperfect peace, inconsistent peace. Anybody else with me on that? I mean, it’s not like perfect peace. Now, I may have perfect peace, Andrew for a second. And what I mean by that is that I’ll have a spiritual moment. See if anybody else has this with me or not. Maybe I’m the only odd duck in the place, I don’t know.

But I can be in a spiritual moment. I can feel connected to God. I can take whatever anxiety, the weight that I’m dealing with, I can lay it down at the foot of Jesus, lay at the foot of the cross and go: “I’ve got peace. I feel a little bit lighter.” You know what I’m talking about? And three minutes later I’m going: “God, where are you? I mean, I’ve laid it at your feet. I’ve given it to you. Why aren’t you answering my prayer?” Does anybody else know what I’m talking about? I deal with that a lot and I flip back and forth and there’s a lot of reasons for my inconsistent peace, my imperfect peace. But the Bible says that peace that you and I can have is perfect peace. Now what is perfect peace? Now the Hebrew word for peace is the word, shalom.

Shalom was a greeting that you gave to one another in the Jewish time as you went and as you entered someones life; or as you was leaving them, you would go: “Shalom.” Now what does the word shalom mean? Well, here’s what it means. Wholeness, completeness, fullness of peace. It’s peace in every way possible. It’s complete and perfect peace. But what does it mean to have perfect peace? Well, number one, it means that you have peace with God. Now folks, it is my hope, it is my prayer that if you’re here today that you know have made peace with God. Whenever I’m at the bedside with someone, like they’re dying, they’re in the last moments. Always ask ’em the question: “Have you made peace with God?” They’re the only one who knows if they’ve made peace with God or not. And have you made peace? Do you know that your sins have been forgiven?

Do you know that your name is written in the book of heaven? Do you know that when you take your last breath here on earth, that the next breath will be in heaven with God? Do you know that? And folks, here’s the reality is that if you’re ever going to have perfect peace in this world, it has to begin with God, but it also is peace with other people. It’s knowing that other people are valuable, that other people are worthy just like you are. And I don’t know about you, but here’s what happens to me a lot of times. When I get around certain people, I feel superior. And when I get around other people, I feel inferior. And you know what? When you have peace with God, you just see everybody as worthy and that they have dignity and that they’re created in the image of God.

But then it’s also peace with yourself. And how many of you are here today and you have that dark, deep closet in your life that you have these secrets that you committed long time ago that you don’t want anyone to know? You would be ashamed of them if they ever got out. You would be embarrassed, you’d be humiliated. Lemme just say something to you friends. When you understand that God is the center of your life, you realize that God doesn’t hold any of that against you, that you’ve been forgiven and you can be at peace with yourself, but it also means peace with your circumstances, peace with whatever is going on around you. It is shalom. It is complete whole peace from God. Now, the interesting thing is that the word shalom in the Hebrew text in Isaiah 26 that we just mentioned is mentioned twice. It’s an emphatic statement. It means that really it’s shalom, shalom. It’s not only just the shalom that God gives you, but God will give you even more shalom if you need it. He’ll give you whatever you need because why? It’s perfect peace that comes from God. Now, some of you’re saying: “Well pastor, if we got perfect peace from God, then does that mean that I’ll never have any problems?”

What did Jesus tell us in John 16:33? Let’s read it together:

“In this world you’ll have trouble.”

John 16:33

Is that what it says? In this world you will have, what? Trouble. Folks, the perfect piece of God doesn’t mean that all troubles are eliminated. Will you still be annoyed and aggravated with your spouse? Absolutely, 100%. Does it mean that your children will never fight on the way to church? Absolutely not. They will continue to fight even when they get 30 and 33. I can give testimony to that. Okay? And so it just never is. Does it mean that you’ll never have financial troubles? No. It means that you’ll experience all of the difficult circumstances, but the reality is, is that you’ll have peace in those circumstances. Because notice what the next slide says:

Peace isn’t found in the absence of problems, but peace is found from the presence of God.”

it’s the presence of God in your life. It’s his perspective, it’s his assurance, it’s his promises in your life. Now, some of you are right now saying: “Pastor, you don’t understand my situation. Pastor, your life is perfect, you and Rose and your family, you’ve got it all together. But what about me and my marriage right now? My marriage absolutely sucks.” Where’s the peace in that? Some of you’re saying: “Well, my body is wrecked.” Where’s the peace in that Some of you’re saying: “Well, I just can’t hold it together financially right now. Bills are stacking up, Christmas is coming…” Where’s peace in all of that? Some of you’re saying: “Pastor, you know what? My child is addicted to drugs or alcohol.” Where’s the peace in that? “There’s porn in my home, pastor.” Where’s the peace in that? “Is that right now I’ve received some bad news from the doctor?” Where’s the peace in that?

And folks, listen to me. Peace is not found in your circumstances being perfect. Peace is found in the presence of God. And I don’t know if you know this or not, but:

The battle for peace always starts and ends in the mind.

Peace that we’re fighting for. The battle that we’re fighting is a spiritual battle that’s taking place in our minds. And folks, peace begins with our minds. Now, I want to illustrate to you what I’m talking about. I want to go back to Isaiah chapter 26. Now I want us to look at two verses, and they’re the exact same verses from two different translations. Isaiah 26:3:

“You’ll keep in perfect peace…all whose thoughts are fixed on you!”

Isaiah 26:3 (NLT)

Now look at the NIV version. It says:

“You’ll keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast.”

Isaiah 26:3 (NIV)

Now, notice what it says is that: You will experience peace when your minds are fixed on CNN. Now to cover all bases, your minds are experienced peace when you watch Fox News. You see what I did there? Cover both sides of the equation, right? Yeah, I don’t watch either one of ’em. But anyway, that’s another story. You’ll have perfect peace when you focus on your future, you’ll have perfect peace when you focus on your finances. You’ll have perfect peace when your mind is focused on the bad news that you’ve received from the doctor. Is that what it says? Absolutely not. It is when you fix your mind on God. And the word, fix, in the Hebrew is the word, samak, and it means to lean on completely to fully rest oneself on. In other words, if this was God, and we know God’s much bigger than all of this, but it means literally just leaning into, resting, putting all of your weight on him and just letting him carry the weight.

And my question for you this morning is: What is your mind fixed on? Now, some of you’re saying: “Well, that cute little girl at the gym.” Now, that’s not what I’m talking about. That’s the lust sermon that I have to preach in the days I had. It’s something completely different. What I’m talking about, when your mind is at ease, when you have nothing on your mind and it begins to drift, where does your mind begin to drift? Where does it focus? What consumes you? Some of you, you would say: “Well, it’s my finances that consumes me.” Others of you would say: “It’s the political division in our country.” Others of you would say: “Well, my mind is focused on the international conflict that’s happening around the world.” Maybe your mind is consumed by the annoying person on social media. Let me set you free this morning.

Click unfollow them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and experience peace this holiday season. Amen. Yeah, just unclick unfollow them. But look what it says. You’ll be kept in perfect peace for those who minds are focused on Jesus. Look at this next verse. Philippians four, eight and nine:

“And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing.Fix your thoughts…” not on your fears, not on your anxiety, not on your financial situation, but fix your thoughts on what? Read it with me. “…what is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely and admirable.” And what do you do when you do these things? “Think about these things that are excellent and worthy of praise…” And then what will happen? “The God of peace will be with you.”

Philippians 4: 8-9 (NLT)

When is the peace of God with you? The peace of God is with you when you focus on Him, when your thoughts are set on him. And this morning, my good friend, Amanda Smith is going to come and share with you her testimony about the peace of God. Would you welcome Amanda?

Amanda Smith

Good morning, Eastside. My name is Amanda Smith and I’ve been attending here for almost 23 years. I’ve developed some of my greatest friendships here. I’m a mother to beautiful daughters. My oldest is Kayla. She is 24 years old. My youngest are Carly and Casey who are turning 20 this month on December the 24th. When you mention the date, the 24th of December, people automatically say: “Oh wow, Christmas babies, you must have been excited. Such good news.” And they are a gift from God. They truly are. But December the 24th of 2003 changed my life forever. My due date was February 26th. However, I was placed in the hospital due to some complications in the middle of December.

During this pregnancy, my husband at the time, or my mom would attend all the doctor’s appointments with me. I was only by myself two times. The first time was when we found out we were having triplets, and the second time was when we found out that we had lost Baby B. Callie Grace. That day, almost 20 years ago, Rose and Virgil were making hospital rounds for the holiday season. Little did they know that they were walking into my whirl-wind of emotions and the unknown. The girl’s dad was having to find family and friends to take care of her oldest daughter on a holiday, and my parents had to come from Elizabethtown. Both Rose and Virgil stayed right by my side until family arrived, and I’m pretty sure that they stayed until after I delivered. I’m forever grateful for them. Kayla was getting ready to turn five and I wanted Christmas to be perfect for her.

It wasn’t. I was in the hospital with two babies in the NICU fighting for their lives and having to plan funeral arrangements for their sister. I desperately wanted my family of six to be together at home. I don’t recall ever being mad. I think I was more avoidant. I’m not even sure if I ever properly grieved. I was concerned about life as normal as possible for Kayla and then going to the hospital to help Casey and Carly fight for their lives. Each day went by; many complications that first year of the girls’ lives. However, as most of us parents know, we blink and our babies get older. So now it’s time to celebrate the girls turning one. Wow, that hit me hard. How am I supposed to celebrate their first birthday? But wondering every single day what it would be like if Cally was here celebrating her first birthday and Christmas with us.

I just wanted my family to stay in our own little bubble and not face the world that week or the Birthdays and Christmas. I took off this week from work every year for the first seven years, seven years. That was the turning point for me. I remember thinking: “Let’s give this work thing a try this week. Other people deserve this time off also.” I did, and I did okay. I was breathing. I was able to smile that week and I survived. Carly and Casey were always called the babies. To me, they were not twins and they still are not twins. When I would say they were triplets, I would always have to explain the story and I didn’t want to always explain the story. I continued to blink and they continued to get older. So once they went to middle school, they said they could no longer be called the babies.

Again, the days and years have gone by, senior year arrived. It hit me harder than I thought it would. Wondering what you would be like, what college tours would we be doing? Who would be your friends? Any boyfriends? Would you be more like Carly? Would you be more like Casey? Would you have your own personality altogether? Missing out on watching you walk across the stage and able to cheer and scream for you? I’ve missed out as your mama. We have missed out as your family, but I know you are healthy and happy. You aren’t having to deal with the craziness of this world. You are walking with Jesus. And for that, I’m extremely thankful you’re with your namesake, Grace Bain. I’m excited for the day to hold you again while walking with Jesus by our sides. This brings me peace and comfort. Healing only comes from God.

He can handle all our emotions good and bad. He hears our cries. He knows our heart. He has never said that we will go through life without troubles. In fact, he says that we will face trials and troubles. Why? So we can lean on him, we can depend on him. He loves us more than anyone else. He uses our challenges to help others. As an example, I’ve been a grief counselor at work for several years and my coworkers would come to me asking me to talk with families who had just miscarried or lost children. I was able to relate to others and they respected our difficult conversations during that time. I will close out with my favorite Bible verse, Exodus 14:14:

“The Lord himself will fight for you. Just stay calm when we struggle. He is fighting for us. He is our cheerleader. He is our friend. He is our Father.”

Exodus 14:14

Peace is not found in the absence of problems.

Peace is found in the presence of God.

Virgil Grant

There’s a story in the New Testament that I want to close with, and it’s the disciples and Jesus going on a boat ride, going across the sea, and Jesus, tired from doing ministry, he decides to take a nap and he lays down and the experienced fishermen who are now disciples there on the voyage across the sea to the other side, and all of a sudden there’s a raging storm that begins to occur. And the storm is full of lightening and thunder and there’s the waves and there’s the wind and they are terrified. So it had to be a pretty big storm for these experienced fishermen to begin to be filled with anxiety. And Jesus was just asleep doing his own thing. They’re terrified. They begin to shout: “Jesus, what are you doing? Wake up. We’re going to drown. Don’t you even care here?”

And on that day, there were really two storms. There was the visible storm of the wind and the lightening and the rain and the waves. That was terrifying. The experienced fishermen who are now disciples. But there’s also another storm, and it was the internal storm that no one could see. There’s anxiety and fear. There’s an anxious spirit about dying there on the ocean, the sea. And you remember that as these two storms are raging, I dunno about you, but a lot of people, the biggest storms that they face in their life is the internal storms. How do you calm the fears that’s on the inside? Everything on the outside looks great; on the inside, it’s just turmoil. And they woke Jesus up. And you remember what Jesus did? Jesus got up. He stood on the boat, probably did a big yawn. And he said:

“Peace be still.”

And see folks, you can only give what you have. And Jesus gave to the disciples that moment there on the boat, on the sea. He gave them what the world couldn’t give them and that was peace. So you can’t speak what you don’t have. Jesus, who is peace, gives you peace. And whatever you’re going through this morning, whatever you’re focused on, whatever is consuming your mind, I hope these words from Philippians four, six through seven will minister to your heart and it says:

“Do not be anxious about anything, anything. Do not be anxious. But in every situation, what are we to do by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Philippians 4: 6-7 (NIV)

Did you see that? God gives you his peace, he gives you his presence. He gives you what the world cannot give to you. And this morning I just want to ask everyone to bow their head, no one to move, no one to leave. Just stay right where you’re at just for a second. And I want to talk to the Christians who is in the room first. And I just want to ask you as Christians, is there anyone here today that is a Christ follower whose lost peace in some area of their life? It could be your marriage, your family, it could be your work, it could be your personal life. It could be maybe your relationship with God. Where are you at this morning? Where have you lost your peace? Where do you need peace?

And if you’re here this morning, and you need peace in some area of your life, here’s what I’m going to ask you to do. I’m just going to ask you to lift your hand and then just raise your hand up. Yep. Everyone, thank you. Hands going up all over the room. And what I want to do for you that raise your hand, that you need peace in some area of your life, I want to pray for you right now. So I’ve just got my hands up and I’m just praying over you.

Lord, right now, I pray for my church family; that they would experience from you what only comes from you. And that is peace in the middle of fear. Peace in the middle of doubt, peace in the middle of anxiety, peace in the middle of the storm, peace in the middle of the loss or peace in the middle of sickness. God, because you’re good, we trust you. We thank you that even though Jesus said: “In this world we will have trouble,” that we can rejoice and take heart because you have overcome the world. This world is not all we have. We know, God, with you in heaven, one day there will be no more crying, no more tears, no more brokenness, no more pain, no more sickness. There will just be shalom. Shalom, the peace of God. Now God, may your peace guard our hearts and our minds. Now as we continue in prayer this morning, and with your head bowed, perfect peace means peace. Not only with yourself, with the world, with your circumstances, but the most important peace that some of you need this morning is peace with God. And what I mean by peace with God is that you know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that your relationship with God is right.

I mean, what I mean by that, I know that God lives within me. I know that he’s forgiven me of my sins. He’s given me a fresh start. He’s actually written my name in the book of heaven with his blood. No one can erase it. No one can take it out of the book of heaven. I know that the moment that I take my last breath on this earth, my next breath will be in the presence of God in heaven. And if you’re here this morning and you don’t have peace with God, you can’t have peace anywhere else in your life until you make peace with God. And here’s the good news. Jesus tells us how you can have peace with God. And here’s what Jesus said in John three, three. He said:

“No one could see the kingdom of God. No one can see the kingdom of heaven. No one can experience the peace of God without being born again.”

John 3:3

And here’s my question for you:

Have you been born again?

It’s the most important question that you have to answer in this life. Have you been born again? I hope that you understand and that you make no mistake about it, that there’s not a church here on earth that can get you to heaven. Your denomination, your religion cannot get you to heaven. There’s not a cathedral, there’s not a mosque, there’s not a synagogue. There’s not a church that can get you there. Only one person can get you there and his name is Jesus. But you have to be born again. And some of you’ll go: “Well, pastor, how can I be born again?” And we say it right here all the time. It as easy as A, B and C. You have to admit that you are sinner.

The letter “A” is admit.

Admit that you’re sinner. Admit that you’re broken on the inside. Admit that you have a condition called sin, and you have to admit that you cannot fix your sin problem. You have to admit that there’s not a priest. There’s not a pastor, there’s not a parent, there’s not a pill, there’s not a program. There’s not a prescription that can fix your brokenness that exists on the inside. And that’s the reason why:

The letter “B” is to believe.

We believe that Jesus left heaven, came to the earth, died on the cross so that he could take care of your brokenness and my brokenness by dying on the cross and taking all of our sins with him. And then on the third day, he rose from the grave.

The letter “C,” you have to confess that he’s your Lord.

So you have to admit that you’re broken, that you can’t save yourself, that you can’t fix yourself. Believe that Jesus came to the earth and “C” is confess him. And the good news is that you can do that right now this morning. And here’s what I’m going to ask you to do in a moment. If you want to have peace with God, if you want to make peace with God in a moment, here’s what I’m going to ask you to do. I’m going to ask you to raise your hand. I’m not going to ask you to stand. I’m not going to ask you to fill anything out. I’m not going to ask you to meet me in the Atrium. What I’m going to ask you to do, if you’re here today and you want to settle once and for all, that you have peace with God, I’m going to ask you in a moment to raise your hand. And then I want you to keep your hands up because I’m going to go around the room and I want to count the number of hands that are raised this morning in the first service. Listen to this; 13 people raised their hands to make peace with God.

If you want to make peace with God this morning, would you just raise your hand, keep ’em up. I’m just going to go around the room, count the hands. I see one, two, three, four, five, six, seven. See seven hands this morning. And the way that you seal the deal is that you pray a prayer. See, Jesus didn’t die so that you have to go to church. Jesus died on the cross and died for your sins so that you can make it to heaven and be with him forever.

And you have sealed the deal by saying this prayer, you’ve admitted you have a need. You admit that you cannot save yourself. You believe that Jesus has taken your place on the cross. Now you’re ready to confess him to be born again. And the way that you confess them is by saying this prayer out loud. We call it the born again prayer. And I want you, everyone to look at the screen and especially those seven people who raised their hands. I want everyone to read this out loud with me.

“Dear Lord Jesus, I believe you’re the son of God. I believe that on the cross, you took my sin, my shame, my guilt, and you died for it. You face hell for me so I wouldn’t have to go. You rose from the dead to give me a place in heaven, a purpose on earth, and a relationship with your Father. Today, Lord Jesus, I turn for my sin to be born again. God is my Father. Jesus is my Savior. The Holy Spirit is my helper, and heaven is now my home. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”

Welcome these seven people; 20 people this morning receive Jesus and made peace with Jesus. That’s something worth celebrating. 20 people, yeah.