Peace

Riches of his grace God has more than enough of the righteousness of Christ to pay your debt and my debt of sin in full we read in Romans chapter 5 and verse one therefore being justified by faith and that word Justified it literally means just as if I'd never sinned when I trust Jesus Christ as my savior he pays all my debt of sin and it's just as if I had never sinned and it's not what we earn it's a gift of God in Ephesians 289 for by grace are you saved through faith then not of yourselves it's the gift of God not of Works let's sayen should boast so it's not something we earn it's not something that we deserve it is it is what God gave us as a gift through his son Jesus Christ and we

can have peace with God because he died for our sins he died to pay our debt and by trusting as our savior we we can have eternal life we can have peace with God you see in 2 Timothy CH 1 and verse number 12 it says for I for the which cause also suffer these things nevertheless I'm not ashamed for I know whom I have believed and persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed onto him against that day you know this week I went down to my bank we do business with Central Pacific Bank and I went in there and I deposited my check and uh when I walked out that door uh I had peace uh I I'm not worried about that money I didn't spend the rest of the week saying I hope it's going to

be there when I need it I hope they're not going to lose it I I hope it's going to you know I have peace because I trust the bank now I know banks have failed us and if they fail us then we have something called FDIC where the federal government says we will take care of you if your bank fails we're going to ensure your money now I'm not so sure about our government either but uh it does give me peace to know my bank's got the money and they're going to take care of and they've got a few billion dollars to take care of that and I to know my government is going to do that but you know when I deposited my soul in the Bank of heaven when I deposited my soul with Jesus Christ and trusted in him

God gave me FDIC Insurance FDIC forever depending in Christ you see I know that I'm going to heaven not because of what I've done but because I can forever depend in Jesus Christ I have peace with God because I know that I'm going to heaven in 1 John 5 and: 12 and 13 it says he that hath the son hath life he that hath not the Son of God hath not life these things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the son of God that you may know that you have eternal life and that you may believe on the name of the son of God you see you can know for sure that you're going to heaven because God has given you that Assurance of your salvation you see if you ask me is my money my money safe in

the bank I can say yes because cpb has got all kinds of billions of dollars of assets and I I know the government is insured it as well and I have a confidence now that can fail but God cannot fail us and so we can know for sure that we have peace with God when we trust in him with our soul and not in ourselves not in our works or our religion our own righteousness you see there's a a a commercial you may see in sometimes for a company called presedential and they say you need invest with a credential and you'll get a piece of The Rock and they they got the rock of jalter as their symbol in 1 Corinthians 3:11 the Bible says for other Foundation can no man lay than that which is laid which is

Jesus Christ you see you can have peace with God because you're he has given you the foundation of Jesus Christ as your savior in Psalms chapter 40 and verse number two it says he brought me up also out of a horrible pit out of the myy clay and set my feet upon a rock and established my goings when I got saved God took me out of the that my pit of sin and he set my feet on the foundation of Jesus Christ as my personal Savior and I can have confidence I can have peace with God because I have deposited my soul with him see in Romans chap 10: 9 and 10 it says that if thou shal confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and Shall Believe in thine heart that God has raised the dead Thou shalt be saved

for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation in Romans 10:3 it says for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved and you know if you've never opened your account with the bank of Heaven if you've never opened your account with God if you want peace with God you can have that peace not through your religion not through your rituals not through your own righteousness but in a relationship with Jesus Christ it is saying God here is my soul I deposit it with you and trust you for my salvation not in myself and so you have peace with God now back in Philippians 4: 7 it tells us and the peace of God which passes all

understand shall keep your hearts and Minds through Christ Jesus the word keep there means to guard your hearts and minds and sometimes as Christians we don't have the peace that God wants to have is because we're not keeping our hearts and Minds we're not guarding our heart and our mind you've got to guard your mind in Isaiah CH 26 and verse number three it says I will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee because he trusteth in thee you see I I don't worry about my money after I deposit because I trust in the bank now we live in a world today that there's not a lot of peace out there is there and and we're hearing about all this financial insecurity how we you know how we

got inflation and we got recession we got our our money is all uh not worth as much as it was just even a couple years ago and and and you know if you're if you're one of those peop on the internet lot you don't have a lot of Peace I'd recommend just don't bother with all that stuff cuz it just just it seems like every articles there to make you worried and look at this is going to happen and that's going to happen and next going to happen now that doesn't mean we shouldn't pay attention to what's going on in the world and it doesn't mean we shouldn't do our best to prepare financially for what may come next but listen folks when my wife points those things out to me you know what I always

say I say but we have a God in heaven that we can trust and and no matter what the Securities are insecurities this world we can we don't have to worry about it because we've deposited with Jesus Christ we deposit our soul and our life with him in Philippians chapter 6 and verse 7 I'm sorry Phil Philippians 4 and verse 6 it says be careful for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving let your request be made known unto God and the peace of God which passes on our say shall keep your hearts and Minds through Christ Jesus you see when you're facing the insecurities of the world around you whether it's Financial insecurity or whether it's insecurity in your

relationships or wherever else it might be when you see all these things you're going on the world around us and you get afraid that's the time to trust in him that's the time to look to him for the peace that can only come from God and that's the time to keep our minds and and guard them against listening to all the the the world what the world has to say because the world doesn't know what's going on uh the politicians don't have this figured out but God knows and we can trust in him not only do you need to guard your heart but you also need mind you need to guard your heart also in Proverbs 4:23 it says keep thy heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life and we've got

to keep our heart right with God is is is important that if we want the peace of God we've got to have a heart that is right with God and then we've got to guard our lips in proverbs 4 and: 24 it says put away from thee a forward mouth and preserves preserve perverse lips put far from thee in Psalms 34: 13- 14 it says keep thy tongue from evil and thy lips from speaking Gile depart from Evil and do good seek peace and pursue it and the word pursue it lit means to chase after it you see go turn over to First Peter chapter 3 one of the things that I've observed over the years is a lot of people that lack peace in their life is because they don't guard their lips uh they don't they're not

careful what they say you know our lips are often what takes away the peace in our lives is because we gossip and We complain and we whine and we're negative about everything and when you have lips that are constantly complaining and whining and negative you're not going to have peace in in 1 Peter chapter 3 and veres 10 and 11 the Bible says but the day the Lord will come as a thief in the night and this is not the I got second Peter 1 Peter chapter 3 verses 10: 11 for he that will love life and see good days let him refrain his tongue from evil and his lips that they speak no gu let him asse evil and do good let him seek peace and ensue it if if you're struggling with no peace in your life

maybe you need to stop and take a look at what you're saying all the time if you're somebody in your marriage is constantly complaining about your spouse and you're constantly putting them down uh there's going to be no peace in that relationship if you are uh constantly complaining about your children there's going to be no peace in that relationship uh you you you you're complaining and whining about your job and and I realize that some jobs are really difficult and challenging but the more you the more it comes out of here the less peace you're going to have in here and and and to be careful of that because we've got to guard our lips and when we gossip and complain and whine and are

negative all the time we're not going to have the peace that God wants us to have now what does bring peace is when there's prayers coming out of your lips when there's scripture quotes coming out when when you take time to apologize and say I'm sorry or to compliment somebody I I'll tell you what when you learn to have those things coming out of your M mouth you're going to find more peace in your relationships and more peace in your life you've got to guard your lips in in doing that there's there's a quote about peace I want to put up on the screen if they could that quote quote there so if you guys can put that on the screen I think I think they have it here there there it is giving

someone a piece of your mind doesn't give you peace of mind have you figured that out some of you have given so many pieces of your mind you have no mind left and when you say when you start telling somebody how terrible they are and how bad they are and all the rest of these things that's not going to bring peace in your life I'm sorry it doesn't work that way and God says if you want peace you've got to control your mind you got to control your heart and you got to control your lips as well in having peace there in your life second Timothy Chapter 2 and verse 22 says flee also youthful lust and follow righteousness Faith charity peace with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart

when there's no peace in your life then start chasing after it start pursuing it and and you start by the things that you say and the things that you think and the things that you allow into your heart as well you see we need peace with God and peace with God comes from having Jesus Christ as your savior knowing that when I die I'm going to heaven and then we need to guard that peace but also in Philippians chapter 1 and verse number two take a look at that Philippians chapter 1 and verse number two Philippians 1 in verse two the Bible says Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ so you can have peace with God but you can also have peace from God now

the this this phrase peace from God is used 14 times in the Bible and in every one of those it's always part of a greeting it's always at the beginning of the letter when Paul or one of the other Apostles writing he said listen I want you to have peace from God and I you know and it's kind of a greeting that he uses over and over again you know we as Christians need to learn to greet one another with the peace of God and I I think there's a good thing when you meet somebody to say you know I I'm praying for the peace from God in your life you see how would you how would you define peace going back to Philippians chapter 4 look at verse 7 it says the peace of God which passes all

understanding shall keep your hearts and Minds through Christ Jesus do you understand what peace is we've got we really don't we have to Define peace if we want to have peace in John chapter 14 turn over there if you would John chapter 14 and verse number one John chap 14 and verse number one Jesus says this in John 14:1 let not your heart be troubled you believe in God believe also in me and then skip down to verse number 27 peace I leave with you peace my peace I give unto you not as the world giveth give I unto you let not your heart be troubled neither Let It Be Afraid so if we want to understand peace Jesus said listen you got to understand understand that it's my peace it's not the

Peace of the world you see you can have peace even though everything is falling to pieces in your life let me say it again you can have peace even when everything is falling to pieces in your life because peace is believing or trusting in God no matter what's going on I believe God is still on the throne and I believe that God is still in control and I'm going to trust in him in Isaiah 26 verses 3 and 4 it says Thou will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee because he trusteth in thee trusting in the Lord forever for the Lord Jehovah is Everlasting strength you see you need the peace of God when everything's falling to pieces that's when you need to pray for the peace of

God When I visit somebody in the hospital is sick or I I I go to somebody's lost a loved one or whatever else it might be when I pray for them I always pray for three things and that is I pray for first of all for the peace of God that passes all understanding I I pray Lord no we don't understand why this is happening we don't understand even sometimes what is happening but we pray for the peace of God that passes understanding and then I pray for also the the presence of God Lord help this person right now to feel the very presence of God in their life because they need to feel that you are there with them no matter what they're going through and then thirdly I pray for the power of God

they need your power to get through this situation and so we're praying for three things from them in that process you see peace is believing what God Said go over to Mark chap 4 the book of gospel of Mark 4 and verses 35 through 31 41 Mark 4 and beginning with verse number 35 down through verse number 41 and the same day when the even was come he sayth to them let us pass over onto the other side and when they had went away the multitude sent away the multitude they took him even as he was in the ship and there was also with him other little ships and there arose a a storm of wind and the waves beat the ship so that it was it was now full and it was in the hinder part of the ship asleep on

a pillar and they awake wake him and say unto him Master carest thou not that we perish and he rose and rebuked the wind and sail uh and said unto the sea peace be still and the wind ceased and there was a great calm and he said unto them why are you fearful how is it you have no faith and they feared exceedingly and said one to another what manner of man is this that even the wind and the Sea obey him see why he said he rebuked us so how come you have no faith what were they supposed to have faith in they were supposed to have faith that Jesus told them we're going to go to the other side and faith is trusting that God is going to take you to the other side see salvation is trusting that

God will take me to heaven when I die he will take me to the other side as a Christian faith is trusting that God will take me to the other side of this problem to the other side of this situation no matter what it is it's it's having peace in believing or trusting in God in my life and so we need that peace in verse number 35 he promised to take him to the other side there's a story about someone who uh had a contest he he he uh commissioned a bunch of painters and he said uh uh he wanted them to to paint a picture a painting a piece and so there was many beautiful paintings that were submitted one of a sun setting another one of palm trees and lust Green Hills and and another one of a calm

ocean and as great as all these paintings were there was one that stood out it was a painting by a painter named Jack Dawson and they're going to put it up on the screen there and in his canvas he showed a a a ra raging storm and and the waters raging dark clouds and lightning and and and people looked and said well how is this a picture of peace and if you look at that look that up on Google look at that that um painting very closely you'll see that down there in the corner right about here I'll show you on this screen right here but right down over here there's a little bird with a little nest in there and despite the waves crashing despite the lightning and the Thunder and all of the the

rain coming down that those birds are there at peace in that protected area and we need to realize that peace is not that there's no storms in our lives but peace is that God is the calm in the storm and that when he is In Your Vessel we can trust in him and we can believe his promise that he is going to take us to the other side of whatever is going on in our lives see peace is also having rules and a ruler go over to Colossians chapter 3 Colossians chapter 3 and look at verses 15 and 16 Colossians 3 and: 15 and 16 Colossians 3 and verse1 15 the Bible says and let the peace of God rule in your hearts to which also you are called in one body and be thankful let the word of Christ dwell in

you richly in all wisdom teaching admonishing one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs singing with Grace in your hearts to the Lord let the peace of God rule that word rule comes from the word we get our word umpire you know if you've ever try to play a a a pickup game and and somebody says well what are the rules and they say don't worry about no rules and uh you that's chaos uh everybody's getting hurt everybody's getting knocked out everybody's uh saying that wasn't right this wasn't right you see for to have peace you've got to have rules and you got to have a ruler you got to have an Umpire and we need to realize we want peace in our lives then God needs to rule in our lives

and he needs to be the Umpire in our lives in Isaiah 48 ver number8 18 it says oh that thou had us hearkened to my Commandments then had thy peace been as a river and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea and then verse 22 there is no peace sayith the Lord unto the wicked there's a hymn that we've sung many times before and I'm going to ask Brother JD to come and to lead us in that song and and the S the hymn is it Is Well with My Soul and one of the verses in that hymn is uh it talks about peace like a river and we need to learn and realize that not always is it going to be well in our situation sometimes we're going to go through financial upheaval we're going to go through sickness

and and disasters and we're going to go through problems and in our family or whatever else it might be but we need to remember that God's peace is like a river and we and it's always flowing in our lives and it never stops so let's go ahead and sing that together JD if you'll come up here let's stand and we're going to sing this song together at this time real quick so we can all sing all right sing it out when peace like a river attend my way when Sorrows like sea Billows roll whatever my L thou has Tau me to save It is Well it Is Well with My Soul It Is Well with My Soul my soul It is Well it Is Well with My Soul those S and should that the trial should come let this bless Assurance

control that Christ have regarded my heles s and has hed his own blood for my soul it is wor with my soul my soul It is Well it Is Well with My Soul we'll go ahead and stop it there thank you you may be seated you see peace with God is knowing that I'm going to heaven that my sins are forgiven that I have eternal life through what Jesus Christ did but peace from God is what we find as we go through the trials and tribulations of life and even though everything is tossing around us and turning around us we don't know what's going to happen next that peace of God can flow through our lives like a river and we can say it is well it Is Well with My Soul but back in Philippians chapter 4 talks

about the peace of God in verse number seven the peace of God which passes all understanding verse number nth the end of the verse the Peace of the God of Peace shall be with you is your life missing peace you may have noticed when you came in today we have a puzzle set up on the welcome center and I'm going to ask you if you can help put that puzzle together but you ever put a puzzle together we we like Puzzles but they're expensive so we go to Goodwill and places like that buy the puzzles but every once in a while you get a puzzle from Goodwill and not all the pieces are there there's a piece missing and sometimes what's happening in our life is that that we're missing a piece of Peace in

Romans 15 verse number 13 says now the god of Hope fill you with with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in Hope through the power of the Holy Ghost on Wednesday night in our Bible study we're teaching about the Holy Spirit right now for a lot of Christians if you're saved you have the spirit of God but the problem is he doesn't have all of you and there are pieces of your life where you kept him out of and say I don't want you in control of this part of my life and until you let the Holy Spirit have control there is no peace you know Gans chapter 5 the fruit of the spirit is love joy peace see when you're filled with the spirit he's controlling your life then he's going to

bring that peace in your life we're talking about on Wednesday night right now the gifts of the Spirit in 1 Peter 4:10 as every man hath received the gift even so ministers saying one to another as good stewards of manifold grace of God you know what the sad truth is most Christians don't know what their gift of the spirit is they don't know what God has gifted them so you're missing a piece of who God Made You and saved you to be in Ephesians CH 5: 18 it says be not drunk with wine where's an exus but be filled with the spirit we need to make sure that the holy spirit is filling in every area of our life our marriage our family our work our entertainment when he's not filling every every

life there's something missing in 1 Corinthians chap 13:2 it says for now we see through a glass Darkly but then face to face now I know in part but then I shall know even as I also known you know you look at one little piece of the puzzle you can't see the whole picture there's a lot of times I'll pick up that piece of puzzle I got what is this no clue but then you take that puzzle and put it all together and then you see the full picture maybe there's a piece of your life that you're looking at and say God what are you doing and you you you don't understand what's happening in that area of your life because it's just one piece of the puzzle and that's where you're missing the peace of God

and you got to step back and say God I I want you to show me the bigger picture see the thing about puzzles is this they get harder as you get older when you're a little child like my four-year-old granddaughter she loves puzzles but they look kind of like this one up here that they're going to put on the screen and that is they're like 10 pieces and they're really easy to put together even a marine could do this kind of puzzle and and so they're very simple but then you get a little bit older and the puzzles get a little bit harder in the next picture here uh they get to be like a 100 pieces and that's a little bit more complicated and my four-year-old she can't do it but my my

nine-year-old grandson he can put those together and then as you get a little bit older you get a little harder puzzle and now it's like 500 pieces and then you get older and it gets up to a thousand pieces and it gets tougher and tougher to put together the picture gets harder as well in 1 Corinthians 13:1 11 it says when I was a child I spake as a child I understood as a child I thought as a child but when I became man I put away childish things and some of us need to realize that the puzzles getting a little bit harder and the pieces is a little harder to put together I was out there before the service today and I was trying to figure out some of the pieces of the puzzle there and I like

is this a fence or is this a window or is this a tree you know it gets hard and again in your life maybe you're going through something where you're looking at and saying I just don't understand what this is where is God's peace in this piece and it's learning to put that together in your life then I want to close with Ephesians chapter 4 Ephesians chap 4: 11-16 Ephesians chapter 4 and beginning with verse number 11 says he gave some Apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers for the per ing of the Saints for the work of the ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ till we all come in the unity of the of the faith uh and of the knowledge of the Son

of God unto a perfect man unto the me measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ that we has must be more no more children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of Doctrine by the slight of men and cunning crafts whereby the lying weight deceive but speaking the truth and love may grow up in Him in all things which is the head even Christ from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint Supply according to the effectual working in the measure of every part maketh increase the body unto the Ed find of s in love see a church is like that puzzle out in the Welcome Center every piece has a place and if some pieces are missing the picture

is not complete and God has a place for you in the local church he has a place for you to fit in and when you fit yourself when you find that place that brings peace in your life as well and so do you have peace with God do you know if you're to die right now you go to heaven guard that peace keep your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus be careful what words and what things come out of your mouth because that takes away your peace but you have peace from God the peace that can only come from him whatever you're going through in your life and have the peace of God that passes all understanding