Speaker 1: Hey, what up?
Speaker 1: It's Mark Carter on, the Pastor of Fierce Church.
Speaker 1: Welcome to our podcast.
Speaker 1: I'm so pumped that you're able to join us today.
Speaker 1: I hope this encourages you, inspires you, strengthens you, gives you hope to keep pressing on, and it's my prayer that this sermon gives you a more expansive view of God's love for you.
Speaker 1: Enjoy the message.
Speaker 2: Full disclosure.
Speaker 2: I'm a hypocrite.
Speaker 2: Hi, I'm Erica and I'm a hypocrite and I'm going to be speaking to you about peace today.
Speaker 2: But if I will be totally honest with you, I just asked Mr Steve to pray for me because I was like I don't feel any peace internally right now and, truthfully, like if you were to look at my journals I'm a journaler, I love every morning to write and I don't.
Speaker 2: It's not like today I woke up and had breakfast.
Speaker 2: It's like Jesus, this is hard and it's a litany of all the things that I'm going through and I just pour out my heart before the Lord and that's probably how you would find most, if not all, of my journal entries beginning, because I'm just laying it out before the Lord and I do that and his peace floods in.
Speaker 2: But I want you to hear me say that I'm a little bit of a hypocrite, because that's not my first thing.
Speaker 2: That's not where I go instantly.
Speaker 2: I don't instantly turn to Jesus in my moments of anxiety and concern and what in the world, god?
Speaker 2: But that's going to be my challenge to you.
Speaker 2: So can we learn together, as the Lord has been pushing this?
Speaker 2: Truthfully, this is not the first time I've preached this message.
Speaker 2: I wrote it for a high school retreat and the Lord has been continually convicting me since August of this very message.
Speaker 2: And when Pastor Carter was like we're going to preach about the Nine Fruits of the Spirit, I was like, can I preach on peace?
Speaker 2: Because the Lord's been working on it in my heart.
Speaker 2: He's like, yeah, I can't go for it.
Speaker 2: So that's where we're going today.
Speaker 2: Sometimes life just feels like we're out at sea, where it feels like the ocean is tumultuous, our life.
Speaker 2: There's so much going on.
Speaker 2: I know of people who are like waiting on a diagnosis.
Speaker 2: I know of people who are in the middle of like their dog is sick and now we got to figure that out.
Speaker 2: And, oh my goodness, the tire like we just ran over a nail and now we got to get tires.
Speaker 2: And you can't just get one, you got to get all four, because otherwise the tread and whatever.
Speaker 2: And oh my gosh, and that's money.
Speaker 2: And my kid wants to play basketball, but oh my goodness, basketball costs money and my husband and I haven't had a date in months.
Speaker 2: And there's just like the litany of the things right to where life just sometimes feels like an ocean that's out of control and you feel like you're out there in the water.
Speaker 2: And not only are you out there in the water, just trying to, like, keep your head above the water, but then you've got all these circumstances that you're trying to also keep up above the water and you're trying to keep them close to you, and it just feels like, are you kidding me?
Speaker 2: Right now I can't do this, I cannot do this.
Speaker 2: Sometimes it feels like we're out in the middle of the ocean and it's all on us.
Speaker 2: We feel like nobody else is coming.
Speaker 2: I've got to figure it out.
Speaker 2: But here's the thing we forget or perhaps, like me, we ignore all together that we have access to peace because of Jesus.
Speaker 2: We have access to peace because of Jesus.
Speaker 2: We quickly forget that we're not actually out to sea without a savior.
Speaker 2: We don't have to figure it all out on our own, because we serve a sovereign God who is fully in control of every circumstance that we are in and he knows what he's doing.
Speaker 2: Sometimes our circumstances don't change at all, but because of Jesus, we get this internal, everlasting peace.
Speaker 2: So here's our bottom line Say peace comes when we're tethered to Jesus.
Speaker 2: Why does this matter?
Speaker 2: Well, because, like I explained, I know many of us are in many different situations where it feels like either we're juggling all these balls or we're out to sea and we're just trying to figure all this out and we can't handle it all.
Speaker 2: We can't hold it all up and our internal peace cannot be dependent on our circumstances.
Speaker 2: Because our circumstances, well, life is just full right, like, if we want our internal peace to be dependent on our circumstances, well, I think we might have a little problem on our hands, right, but we need something or someone who is wholly other than our circumstances, who can insert peace into us and our situations.
Speaker 2: That's good right, all right.
Speaker 2: So let's dive in.
Speaker 2: We're going to take a look at a promise from Jesus, and it comes from John, chapter 14.
Speaker 2: Now context of John, chapter 14.
Speaker 2: Jesus and all his disciples they're hanging out, they're reclining at the dinner table, they're enjoying a meal together, and this is the last supper, except that Jesus.
Speaker 2: He starts out by this really great thing, he's washing their feet, great right.
Speaker 2: They're sitting around this table, great right.
Speaker 2: But then he starts to say hey, by the way, I'm going to die pretty soon.
Speaker 2: And then you know, judas, your buddy right here, he's going to betray, yeah, he's going to betray me.
Speaker 2: And then, peter, you're going to deny me and the disciples POV right here.
Speaker 2: It's what in the world Like.
Speaker 2: I thought this was going to be a really nice dinner, except now we're all sitting and you're telling me you're going to die, he's going to betray you and he's going to deny you.
Speaker 2: Like, wait, hold on.
Speaker 2: That is not what I thought should happen at this dinner.
Speaker 2: But Jesus starts talking and he starts out with hey, listen up, listen up, sweet ones.
Speaker 2: All of this is coming.
Speaker 2: It is going to be hard, it is probably going to be scary, it is going to be a what, the what moment.
Speaker 2: But verse one, chapter 14, says do not let your hearts be troubled.
Speaker 2: Trust in God, trust also in me.
Speaker 2: I'm going to read that again Do not let your hearts be troubled.
Speaker 2: Trust in God, trust also in me.
Speaker 2: He's telling them listen, I have to go somewhere else.
Speaker 2: This other shady stuff is going to go down, but I need you to hear me.
Speaker 2: Do not let your hearts be troubled.
Speaker 2: And he tells them BT dubs, I'm sending a guy to come after me.
Speaker 2: He's called the counselor, he's the spirit of truth and he's going to tell you what to do next.
Speaker 2: He's going to counsel you and lead you.
Speaker 2: And he's coming with you.
Speaker 2: He says he's going to be with you, he's going to teach you and he's going to remind you of what you've already learned.
Speaker 2: So, hey, hey, don't be troubled, because he's coming.
Speaker 2: And then he says the counselor comes with a gift.
Speaker 2: And at verse 27,.
Speaker 2: So we started at verse one of chapter 14, we're at the end now, verse 27,.
Speaker 2: He says peace.
Speaker 2: Somebody say peace, peace, peace.
Speaker 2: I leave with you.
Speaker 2: My peace I give to you.
Speaker 2: I do not give to you as the world gives.
Speaker 2: Do not let your hearts be troubled, do not be afraid.
Speaker 2: He's saying listen, everything.
Speaker 2: It may be topsy turvy, it may be upside down.
Speaker 2: I may be leaving.
Speaker 2: All this shady stuff's going to go down.
Speaker 2: Yet you get my peace through the presence of the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 2: Peace, I'm leaving it to you and I don't give it to you as the world gives.
Speaker 2: Because, listen, the world is going to tell you listen, if you just need some peace, go on a shopping spree.
Speaker 2: If you need some peace, go sit at the bar a little longer and have a little bender.
Speaker 2: If you need some peace, shut out the world and just keep scrolling.
Speaker 2: Mom, can I have mega cheese?
Speaker 2: I'm not right now.
Speaker 2: Listen, I did this this week.
Speaker 2: I'm just telling you I'm hypocrite.
Speaker 2: I did this exact thing this week.
Speaker 2: I'm just going to keep scrolling.
Speaker 2: I need some peace.
Speaker 2: I'm going to watch Gilmore Girls for the 3,828th time yeah, maybe something that's not as bad as it seems but I'm just going to read this book and shut out the world.
Speaker 2: Sometimes we try and escape, to try and grasp for peace, but it's actually not going to last at all.
Speaker 2: And Jesus says I don't give to you as the world gives.
Speaker 2: Don't be troubled, don't be afraid.
Speaker 2: Now, don't want you to miss something.
Speaker 2: Let me take a sip of water really fast.
Speaker 2: Sorry, do you notice?
Speaker 2: The book ends Verse one do not let your heart be troubled, verse 27,.
Speaker 2: Do not let your heart be troubled and do not be afraid.
Speaker 2: The trouble word is to take away a calmness of mind, to disquiet, to be restless, to render anxious or distressed.
Speaker 2: How many of you have been some anxious and distressed this week?
Speaker 2: But that do not let is an absolute denial, a forbearance, a God forbid like.
Speaker 2: Not even so much as and it sounds a little bit caveman for me to say it this way, but the literal translation is trouble, not your heart Trouble, not your heart.
Speaker 2: And if I were to put that in Iroca terms, I would say don't let the trouble of this world penetrate your heart.
Speaker 2: Don't let it penetrate your heart.
Speaker 2: Don't allow that trouble or fear to get in you and make you start questioning everything about who God is or about life in general, because he is enough.
Speaker 2: I kind of get this image that Jesus would come up to you and hold your hand, your head and his hands.
Speaker 2: You would go, sweet one.
Speaker 2: I know this is hard, I know you've got a lot going on for you, but you can trust me.
Speaker 2: You can trust me and I'm telling you not to be troubled or afraid, because I'm leaving with you something far greater, and it's peace.
Speaker 2: And it's the Greek word irene and it means it's a concept distinctly particular to Christianity, but it is a tranquil state of soul, assured of its salvation through Christ and therefore fearing nothing from God, and content, say content, content with its earthly lot, whatever that may be.
Speaker 2: Jesus says listen, I'm confident that I can tell you don't be troubled or be afraid, because, listen, I wasn't.
Speaker 2: I knew what was coming next for me.
Speaker 2: This is Jesus talking.
Speaker 2: I knew what was coming next for me was I was about to get beaten, I was about to get betrayed, I was about to get crucified, I was about to die a horrific death and, yeah, was I a little bit worried about it and I prayed and talked to my father and said, god, if you would take this cup, take it from me, let it pass for me.
Speaker 2: But I did it and I could endure that hardship because I knew my God was in control and he had a much better plan for me.
Speaker 2: That's the peace that you get, that assurance that Jesus had, that his God was fully in control, that he knew what he was doing.
Speaker 2: That's the peace that you and I get.
Speaker 2: We get this steadfast, immovable in our soul God is in control and he will accomplish his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Speaker 2: That's what he says.
Speaker 2: Now, I'm a Bible word nerd and I love to look at commentaries and one of my favorite commentarians is Matthew Henry.
Speaker 2: He's from like the 1600s y'all.
Speaker 2: I just love him.
Speaker 2: But one of the things that he said and I love this idea he's saying in John 14, what's happening is Jesus is actually giving his like last will and testament.
Speaker 2: He's saying, okay, and I'm leaving to you this, and I'm leaving to you this and I'm leaving to you this, and he ends with but what should he leave?
Speaker 2: His poor disciples that he had left that, had left all for him.
Speaker 2: Well, silver and gold he had none, but he left them that which was infinitely better His peace.
Speaker 2: His peace, he says I may leave you, but I leave my peace with you.
Speaker 2: I not only give you a title to it, but I'm gonna put you in full possession of it.
Speaker 2: You get to use it.
Speaker 2: Peace is your inheritance, y'all.
Speaker 2: This is not just like a nice chachki up on the shelf, like that your grandma gives you.
Speaker 2: That you're like do I really have to keep this thing?
Speaker 2: No, it is something that you get to not only own, but you get to use.
Speaker 2: It is beautiful.
Speaker 2: It's not a one time thing.
Speaker 2: Here's what Jesus is saying.
Speaker 2: Listen, his peace is ours to have.
Speaker 2: It gives us full access to God.
Speaker 2: It links us to each other and it changes who we are from the inside out.
Speaker 2: It's different than it is in the world attempts to give.
Speaker 2: It is not just a one time thing and then we gotta go do it again.
Speaker 2: No, it is a lasting tranquility of soul, knowing that God is in control.
Speaker 2: And why does Jesus get to make this statement.
Speaker 2: Well, ephesians two, 13 and 14 say but now, in Christ Jesus, you who were once far away, have been brought nearer.
Speaker 2: You might have had distance, but no, you are brought near now by the blood of Christ.
Speaker 2: For what, for he himself, is our peace?
Speaker 2: He's our peace.
Speaker 2: He has made the two groups one and he has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility.
Speaker 2: Paul is pretty stinking bold to remind us y'all, jesus bought us, we are his, we are free and by his blood we are now a part of his family.
Speaker 2: So you're not even doing this life thing alone, y'all.
Speaker 2: You have a family.
Speaker 2: You have the other people in this church, and not only the people in his church.
Speaker 2: You have the people all over the world who call Christ their savior.
Speaker 2: They are part of your life, with you and they are wanting to bear your burdens with you and remind you.
Speaker 2: God is in control and he is steadfast and immovable and he is enough.
Speaker 2: He is enough, yeah.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 2: This word it's the same word it renais again.
Speaker 2: He himself is our peace.
Speaker 2: Now it has a different definition.
Speaker 2: This time it's to tie, to join, to fasten, to string together, to tether.
Speaker 2: In order for us to understand this.
Speaker 2: I invite Martin and Andrew up, and then my girl Morgan, and Mr Steve.
Speaker 2: Can y'all come up here with me?
Speaker 2: All right, martin here is going to represent God for us.
Speaker 2: Martin is not God.
Speaker 2: I am not making that very, very, very bold, heretical statement.
Speaker 2: He is representing God for us and I should have untied oh, here we go, shoof.
Speaker 2: Oh, please, buffering, here we go.
Speaker 2: All right, so he is God and he is the steadfast, immovable one.
Speaker 2: He's sufficient, he's enough.
Speaker 2: But God, by his wisdom, chose to give us Jesus, and Jesus is tethered to God, who is steadfast and immovable.
Speaker 2: And Jesus, if he's floating in the round in the ocean here, move around back and forth a little bit.
Speaker 2: He's fully, always connected to God.
Speaker 2: Yes, yes, then this is Morgan.
Speaker 2: Say hi, morgan.
Speaker 2: All right, here we go.
Speaker 2: Here's Morgan.
Speaker 2: Morgan is now.
Speaker 2: She's calling Jesus the leader of her life and the forgiver of her sins.
Speaker 2: Morgan, if you were to move around this stage, could you go anywhere that Jesus and God are not with you?
Speaker 2: Nope, okay, morgan, back up again Now, because Morgan is tethered to Jesus.
Speaker 2: He's sufficient for all of her needs, and now, not only here.
Speaker 2: Come here, mr Steve, come on in the middle, but then I'm too short for that, steve.
Speaker 2: Okay, now here's Mr Steve.
Speaker 2: Mr Steve can move, but he's always connected to Jesus.
Speaker 2: Yes, okay.
Speaker 2: And now, is Mr Steve also connected to Morgan?
Speaker 2: Yes, he sure is, because when they both make Jesus the leader of their life and the forgiver of their sins, they're connected fully to Jesus, who's connected fully to God, steadfast and immovable, knowing what he's gonna do.
Speaker 2: And they are now connected to each other.
Speaker 2: When they need something, they can lean on each other and they can remember oh yeah, you're connected to God too, you're in a he is enough, and so we're gonna figure this out.
Speaker 2: Yeah, all right, drop the you just.
Speaker 2: Yeah, sorry, you're a little tight there, jesus, sorry, here we go.
Speaker 2: I hope I can.
Speaker 2: You got it All right.
Speaker 2: Let's give our assistants a round of applause.
Speaker 2: So we're tethered to God through Jesus by the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 2: He himself is our peace.
Speaker 2: So, erica, how do we access this peace?
Speaker 2: I'm so glad that you asked.
Speaker 2: Jesus outlines it for us in chapter 14 of John, so let's dive in.
Speaker 2: How are we gonna access Jesus peace?
Speaker 2: Well, number one we're going to obey his commands.
Speaker 2: We're gonna obey his commands.
Speaker 2: Here's what he says John 14, 23,.
Speaker 2: Jesus replied if anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching.
Speaker 2: My father will love him and will come to him and make our home with him.
Speaker 2: Y'all just think about home for a minute.
Speaker 2: In like the most perfect sense, home is where you're safe.
Speaker 2: Home is where you rest.
Speaker 2: Home is where you get all your sustenance.
Speaker 2: Home is peace.
Speaker 2: Now, maybe some of you maybe have not had a home that does that to you in your minds.
Speaker 2: But if you were to think of an ideal home, listen.
Speaker 2: Jesus says if you obey my commands, god will make his home with you.
Speaker 2: He will make his home with you.
Speaker 2: You will have your sustenance and your rest and your peace and you will be with him connected.
Speaker 2: I know, I know, I know when you hear the word obey, obey my commands it does something in you like no, I wanna push again.
Speaker 2: I don't wanna obey.
Speaker 2: I got enough directions that I gotta follow.
Speaker 2: I don't need more.
Speaker 2: But here's the thing I just substituted in a sixth grade classroom when we were talking about like the foundational truths, and the first is like God is truth, god is who he says he is.
Speaker 2: And then the second, like sub foundation, is that when we know God, we begin to love God and then we go out and we obey him, and it's just the natural progression.
Speaker 2: When you know who God is, you begin to love him for who he is.
Speaker 2: When you love someone like, you wanna just do whatever it takes because you love them.
Speaker 2: It's an outpouring of your heart.
Speaker 2: So Jesus is saying listen, if you want my peace, like, you gotta obey my commands.
Speaker 2: Because here's what's true when you obey my commands, you get blessed.
Speaker 2: There is just an automatic blessing that comes with being obedient.
Speaker 2: Okay, well, how can we obey his commands?
Speaker 2: Well, maybe, for some of you, you honestly don't know his commands.
Speaker 2: Maybe you know some of the first, like the 10 commandments, or you know the big ones of like don't kill and don't adultery and steal.
Speaker 2: That's in there, right, like you maybe know those, but if you really wanna know His commands, you gotta get in his word right.
Speaker 2: In order to know him, you gotta be in his word, yup.
Speaker 2: And so, sometimes, though, we are not at peace because God says he can't bless that which he's actually cursed.
Speaker 2: Maybe we are sitting in a sin pattern and Jesus is like oh, sweet one, I wanna give you my peace, but, man, you are just choosing to sit in the muck of your sin right now.
Speaker 2: My brother, pastor Carter, was over here and he was like touching the dead thing and he was like you're gonna bring that dead thing back to life.
Speaker 2: Like leave the sin where it is, be rid of it.
Speaker 2: Right, that's what we like to do, we're like, but Jesus, this is fun and Jesus is like I can't bless you, I can't give you my peace, because you are deliberately going against what I've said.
Speaker 2: My kids, sometimes y'all I will come home from the grocery store with a special treat and I will get sassed up and down and I'm like I have a treat for you and you sass me.
Speaker 2: They don't even know the treat is waiting, but I wanna bless them.
Speaker 2: I came prepared to bless them but I can't bless them, which is cursed, right?
Speaker 2: Sometimes we're missing out on some peace because we're holding on to sin.
Speaker 2: We're holding on to sneaky, icky things.
Speaker 2: So question is what's the thing in your life that you're actually in direct disobedience to God and you're just holding on to it?
Speaker 2: I don't know what that is and I'm not the Holy Spirit, but I trust that he'll bring something to mind, and maybe there's not something like obvious right now, but here's a few sneaky ones.
Speaker 2: Slow your pace.
Speaker 2: Slow your pace down.
Speaker 2: Ecclesiastes four, verse six, says it's better to have one handful of quietness than two handfuls of hard work and chasing after the wind Y'all.
Speaker 2: If you're pushing 60 hours a week and you're not at home with your family and you're not in the Word and you're not devoting time to the Lord, maybe you need to slow your pace.
Speaker 2: Maybe you need to slow your pace.
Speaker 2: Slow your pace.
Speaker 2: What about one of the 10 commandments, one of the big ones?
Speaker 2: Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.
Speaker 2: Are you taking a day off a week to just rest, to just remember that God is sovereign enough to get done in a week, what needs to get done?
Speaker 2: And if God is sovereign enough to get done in a week, what needs to get done?
Speaker 2: Then you can rest a little bit too.
Speaker 2: Another sneaky one guard your heart.
Speaker 2: Guard your heart about your comrades, the people that you surround yourself with.
Speaker 2: Psalm one says bless is the man who does not sit in the council of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers, but his delight is in the law of the Lord and he meditates on it day and night.
Speaker 2: Do you have people around you, who are just wicked and that's kind of rubbing off on you.
Speaker 2: Do you have people who are around you, who are just mockers, who are just like, oh, it's just always so hard, or they're just always nitpicking about somebody else or scoffing?
Speaker 2: Maybe you need to guard your heart and ask the Lord to help you figure out a way to put some distance between you and them, because if we want access to his peace, number one, we've got to obey his commands and number two, gotta lean into the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 2: We just gotta lean.
Speaker 2: In John 14, 16 says I will ask the Father and he will give you another counselor to be with you forever, a counselor.
Speaker 2: A counselor, he's gonna help you understand what you need to do.
Speaker 2: He's the spirit of truth.
Speaker 2: And then verse 26 says the counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things, say all things, all things, and will remind you of everything I have said to you.
Speaker 2: This word counselor is the word pericletos.
Speaker 2: It's somebody who's at your side.
Speaker 2: They are an intercessor.
Speaker 2: They're going before you, in between you, helping you.
Speaker 2: They're consoling you, advocating for you.
Speaker 2: They're comforting.
Speaker 2: Now it's comfort-er, not comfort-or, but you get the idea.
Speaker 2: This is a comforter, and if I were to lean in to the Holy Spirit and I would remember who he is, I would be fully engulfed in his presence.
Speaker 2: How many of you, when you are just having a hard day, you run to your bed and you just wrap up in those blankets and something about it.
Speaker 2: Life just seems okay.
Speaker 2: Or when you were sick, what did your mama do?
Speaker 2: She made you soup and she put a big blanket over you.
Speaker 2: Or sometimes, if you are mad as a hornet, or your little kid is mad as a hornet, what do you do?
Speaker 2: Go to your bed, right, because here's what's true.
Speaker 2: We need to get away for a moment.
Speaker 2: We need to get some different perspective.
Speaker 2: We need to listen to our counselor and we need to allow him to wrap himself around us and remind us oh, sweet one, it might be hard, god's got a plan in this, god's got a plan in this.
Speaker 2: Do not give up right now.
Speaker 2: Remember, listen, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.
Speaker 2: I'm holding you, I am steadfast around you, I am immovable and I am enough for every situation in your life.
Speaker 2: The Holy Spirit, he is our comforter, our counselor.
Speaker 2: It says that he teaches us things, things that we couldn't have known.
Speaker 2: He teaches us how to walk in things, and then he reminds us of things that we already know y'all.
Speaker 2: This is why it's so important to memorize scripture.
Speaker 2: This is why it's so important to be singing songs that have scripture in them, because when we hide God's word in our heart, you know what he could do.
Speaker 2: He could pull it back up for us.
Speaker 2: The Holy Spirit can remind us of what we've already known, and it gives us fresh power, it gives us fresh peace and it reminds us.
Speaker 2: God is in it.
Speaker 2: So how do we lean in when we run to our comforter?
Speaker 2: We run to the Holy Spirit and we say I need you, I want to know and be aware of your presence.
Speaker 2: I want you to teach me things, to reveal things to me that there's no way I could have known.
Speaker 2: But by your power you can do it.
Speaker 2: God help me in this moment.
Speaker 2: So if we want access to God's peace, to Jesus' peace through the Holy Spirit, we've gotta obey his commands, we gotta lean into the counselor.
Speaker 2: And, number three, we've gotta remain in Christ.
Speaker 2: John 15, four says remain in me and I in you.
Speaker 2: Just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself Sorry, I forgot to put the different version up there Unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, neither can you, unless you remain in me, y'all, we are wholly unable to produce peace, wholly unable.
Speaker 2: It's the gifts of the Holy Spirit, it's the fruit of the Holy Spirit, because it is the things that God produces and then just pushes through us if we are remaining connected to him.
Speaker 2: Peace isn't something you can produce, it's what Jesus produces in you and get it.
Speaker 2: Listen John 15.
Speaker 2: In the first eight verses he says the phrase remain in me eight times.
Speaker 2: In the first 11 verses he says the word remain 11 times and I timed it out.
Speaker 2: It took me a minute and 20 seconds to read all of those verses.
Speaker 2: In a minute and 20 seconds he said the word remain 11 times.
Speaker 2: Do you think it's a big deal?
Speaker 2: It's a big deal If someone says the same thing over and over and over to you.
Speaker 2: It's probably something that you gotta get down in you, right?
Speaker 2: Okay, so remain in me.
Speaker 2: How do we remain in the Lord?
Speaker 2: Well, we meditate on God's word.
Speaker 2: Meditate, it's not the Eastern version of meditating, where it's like the om and you're just trying to get everything out of your head.
Speaker 2: No, meditating is more like a cow chewing cud.
Speaker 2: He just keeps on chewing and keeps on chewing and keeps on chewing and keeps on chewing and he's getting all of the nutrients he can out of it.
Speaker 2: He just keeps going and chewing, and chewing, and chewing.
Speaker 2: That's what God is wanting us to do Meditate on his word, think about it, think about it, think about it, think about it, memorize it, get it down deep in your soul.
Speaker 2: Meditate on God's word, that's how we remain in him.
Speaker 2: We also remain in him by keeping prayer on our tongue.
Speaker 2: Jesus, I can't do this.
Speaker 2: Oh Jesus, you are enough.
Speaker 2: Oh Jesus, I see that flock of birds.
Speaker 2: Thank you for reminding me that you take care of even the sparrows.
Speaker 2: Oh Jesus, thank you for that beautiful sunset.
Speaker 2: My goodness, you are magnificent.
Speaker 2: Oh Jesus, I don't want to change this diaper again.
Speaker 2: Oh Jesus, please make my kids stay in bed tonight.
Speaker 2: Jesus, my boss is getting on my last nerve.
Speaker 2: Control my tongue for me.
Speaker 2: Lord, lord, right, it is keeping prayer on our tongue.
Speaker 2: It's remembering if he's our counselor, if he's our pericle.
Speaker 2: He's surrounding us at all times and he is hearing us and with us and he's sustaining us, not ourselves.
Speaker 2: We've got to guard our hearts, our minds, our tongues.
Speaker 2: Remember that trouble, not your heart.
Speaker 2: Don't allow that trouble to penetrate deep into you.
Speaker 2: And, just like Pastor Carter challenged last week, we've got to take that challenge seriously of getting into the Word, even if it's just for a few minutes a day.
Speaker 2: Start small, read a few verses, growing it, growing it, growing it, because we need to know who God is by His Word.
Speaker 2: Romans 12, 2 says do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Speaker 2: Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is His good, pleasing and perfect will.
Speaker 2: So what could it look like, y'all, if we actually lived like we believe that God's peace was not only accessible but it was there for us and he could produce it through us?
Speaker 2: Well, I believe fully that anxiety and depression and our hurried nature would greatly decrease.
Speaker 2: Notice, I didn't say it would go away, because we're human and I think we like to turn toward trying to hold all those things together with us in the water.
Speaker 2: But I think if we would really tap into Jesus peace, we would really be transformed.
Speaker 2: And I believe that fully because, like I said, I've been chewing on this message since August and meditating on the things that God's been teaching me through it.
Speaker 2: And a few weeks ago I helped out a friend at their wedding and I was their wedding coordinator for the day and I made all the bouquets and the flowers and centerpieces and all that stuff.
Speaker 2: And if you think about a wedding, are they peace filled events?
Speaker 2: No, no, they are.
Speaker 2: There's so many details, there's so many emotions, there's so many family members that just get honked off at the littlest thing and you're trying to just please Aunt Mary because she wants her mac and cheese a certain way, no, and so like.
Speaker 2: Right, they're generally an anxious thing, but I wanted to be peace filled and a peace bringer at this wedding, because these people didn't really know and love the Lord and I wanted them to see something different.
Speaker 2: And so, meditated on God's word.
Speaker 2: I went slow.
Speaker 2: It forced me to get up extra early, it forced me to take longer drives.
Speaker 2: I actually didn't turn the radio on at all the entire weekend because I just wanted my mind to be still and, y'all, I think that was the most peace filled weekend I've ever had in my entire life.
Speaker 2: And I don't say that because I think I did anything right.
Speaker 2: I say it because I was depending on the Lord for every moment of that weekend.
Speaker 2: I was looking to him to be my sustainer.
Speaker 2: I was looking to him to make sure that I hit every one of my deadlines.
Speaker 2: So I got everything done in time.
Speaker 2: So the wedding would go off without a hitch, and it did, and it was beautiful.
Speaker 2: What Jesus is saying is his peace is ours to have.
Speaker 2: Remember, it gives us access to God and it links us to each other and it changes who we are from the inside out.
Speaker 2: You want that, do you want his peace?
Speaker 2: Do you wanna look a little bit different?
Speaker 2: Do you want access to God, to his closeness with each other and an internal stillness that's indescribable?
Speaker 2: Oh, peace is not something that we get just in heaven.
Speaker 2: It's our inheritance now.
Speaker 2: It's available to you and me now, and the effect of peace is free access now to God himself.
Speaker 2: No longer the separation made by sin, but a oneness with God now, because peace comes when we're tethered to Jesus.
Speaker 2: Remember that ocean imagery.
Speaker 2: We're not just floating out there by ourselves.
Speaker 2: If we call Jesus the leader of our life and the forgiver of our sins, we'll then, by the Holy Spirit, we're tethered to Jesus and we're tethered to God.
Speaker 2: We are connected and we are sustained by his power and his peace.
Speaker 2: It may feel sometimes like we're just floating around, but we're not.
Speaker 2: If we reach out and take hold of that which Christ has taken hold of us, well then we get God, we get his blueprint for our next steps, we get his stability and his sovereignty and we get his enoughness, his beauty, his strength, his peace, y'all.
Speaker 2: It's like a full access pass to God now.
Speaker 2: It's like, instead of going to a Taylor Swift concert and getting those nosebleeds seats.
Speaker 2: You are on stage with her, but it's gone.
Speaker 2: And he's way cooler than Taylor Swift I mean, she's cool too, no shade.
Speaker 2: But we have an opportunity and I want to give an opportunity.
Speaker 2: If any of you are feeling like I don't think I've ever actually tethered my life to Jesus, I want to give you an opportunity right now to kind of draw a line in the sand.
Speaker 2: Jesus, I'm done trying to float out at sea, trying to figure this all out.
Speaker 2: I see that you are enough.
Speaker 2: I want to lean into your enoughness.
Speaker 2: So let's go ahead and pray for a minute, and if that's you, I don't even need you to raise your hand.
Speaker 2: This is a you and God thing.
Speaker 2: But I want you to just pray, kind of in your soul, just quietly with me.
Speaker 2: These same things.
Speaker 2: God, I think that you're awesome.
Speaker 2: I've heard about how good you are and I want your peace, I want your blueprint.
Speaker 2: I want my life to look different.
Speaker 2: I want to give up anxiety and depression and worried about all the things.
Speaker 2: God, I want to tether myself to you.
Speaker 2: I want to tether myself to Jesus.
Speaker 2: I want to have a whole bunch of brothers and sisters there to remind me that you're enough.
Speaker 2: So, jesus, come into my heart, tether me to you, help me walk with you and learn from you and become more and more dependent on you and walk in peace.
Speaker 1: In Jesus' name, amen.
Speaker 1: Hey, thank you so much for joining us today.
Speaker 1: If you don't have a home church and you're looking for a Bible preaching community that has its heart set on passionately knowing Jesus and being his witness in our generation, check out Fears Thought Church.
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