Speaker 1: The following resource is brought to you by Real Life Community Church in Richmond, Kentucky.
Speaker 1: We hope you're both challenged and encouraged by this message from Pastor Chris May.
Speaker 2: Take your Bible and go to Luke, chapter 2, beginning in verse 8.
Speaker 2: We're going to read, I think, the text that you read as well.
Speaker 2: It doesn't hurt to read a passage twice, does it?
Speaker 2: I want to preach today in light of the advent theme of peace.
Speaker 2: I want to preach a message entitled Finding Peace in an Anxiety-Ridden World.
Speaker 2: Finding Peace in an Anxiety-Ridden World Luke, chapter 2, beginning in verse 8.
Speaker 2: And in the same region, there were shepherds out in the field keeping watch over their flock by night, and an angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them and they were filled with great fear.
Speaker 2: And the angel said to them Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people, for unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Savior who is Christ, the Lord, and this will be a sign for you.
Speaker 2: You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.
Speaker 2: And suddenly there was, with the angel, a great multitude of heavenly hosts praising God and saying Glory to God in the highest and on earth.
Speaker 2: Peace Among those with whom he is well pleased.
Speaker 2: Father, I am quite aware of so many situations.
Speaker 2: They're going on with people just in this, building Situations that could cause their hearts to melt with fear and anxiety.
Speaker 2: Lord, we do live in an anxiety ridden world, but through the worst of tragedies, the most chaotic times, remind us today, because Jesus came, because of that first advent, because of the arrival of the Prince of Peace, that we all, through him, can have peace that surpasses all understanding.
Speaker 2: So we have peace now that's available to us in the midst of trials and sickness and death and all of the things that we go through.
Speaker 2: But we look ahead also to the day of Christ's return, when every tear shall be wiped from our eyes and we will know perfect peace.
Speaker 2: Touch our hearts today with your word.
Speaker 2: We ask In Jesus name amen, you can be seated.
Speaker 2: It is no secret that there is and has always been this quest for peace.
Speaker 2: It's universal, it's ubiquitous.
Speaker 2: I did a Google search yesterday.
Speaker 2: I typed in how to find peace.
Speaker 2: 2.85 billion results came up.
Speaker 2: The world is hungry for peace.
Speaker 2: The world is full of chaos, darkness, confusion.
Speaker 2: People long for peace.
Speaker 2: Forbes magazine recently published some statistics stating that over 40 million adults in the US suffer from diagnosed anxiety disorders.
Speaker 2: That number does not include all the everyday people who are undiagnosed with anxiety disorders but just struggle from day to day, moment to moment, with crippling anxiety fear.
Speaker 2: I've got good news this morning.
Speaker 2: In all of this, I'll remind you that the Lord does not want His people to be anxiety-ridden.
Speaker 2: The Prince of Peace this is one of the things we celebrate at Christmas.
Speaker 2: The Prince of Peace has come.
Speaker 2: Peace through Christ has broken into this chaotic world and through Jesus, you and I can have peace again, as I prayed.
Speaker 2: That surpasses all understanding.
Speaker 2: The quest for peace.
Speaker 2: It's a common theme in the Bible, the most common Hebrew word for peace.
Speaker 2: What is it?
Speaker 2: Shalom.
Speaker 2: As a matter of fact, even in modern-day Israel, shalom is the typical greeting.
Speaker 2: It's the way that Jews often say goodbye.
Speaker 2: Shalom the word is found over 230 times in the Hebrew Old Testament.
Speaker 2: I want to unpack the word quickly before moving on, because our English word peace, which is what we translate, the word shalom, our English word peace, is defined as tranquility or the absence of war or disturbance.
Speaker 2: And that definition, that word peace in our English language, it doesn't convey the weight of what shalom means.
Speaker 2: The word shalom could be summarized as wholeness, completeness, to be put back together.
Speaker 2: So, in addition to peace from war.
Speaker 2: Shalom does include that.
Speaker 2: It includes connotations of spiritual peace, or you could say peace with God.
Speaker 2: It includes safety and welfare, health, prosperity, contentment, tranquility and peace in our relationships.
Speaker 2: And it's also closely connected shalom is with this idea of justice.
Speaker 2: So, in a world full of violence, in a world full of anxiety, injustice, don't we all long for shalom, god's peace?
Speaker 2: Well, in our familiar text, the angel appears to the shepherds, bringing them the announcement of Jesus' birth, which they declare to be good news of great joy.
Speaker 2: In this declaration you have this heavenly choir that begins praising God, declaring glory to God in the highest and peace among those with whom he is well pleased.
Speaker 2: The angels rejoiced in part because peace had come, as God's kingdom was inaugurated by Jesus.
Speaker 2: So the Prince of peace had come.
Speaker 2: You remember the familiar text, and I say a nine and who's prophesies about this Messiah who would be born Jesus and the Prophet said he shall be called.
Speaker 2: One of the titles is Prince of peace, prince of Shalom, the one who would bring wholeness.
Speaker 2: Now, as a reminder, the word advent, it means arrival, and During advent we, yes, we look back to the first arrival or first advent of Jesus Christ, namely the, the Christmas story and we look back in great Celebration.
Speaker 2: But then we we do something else during advent.
Speaker 2: We look ahead with great anticipation To the second coming, or the second arrival, or the second advent of Jesus.
Speaker 2: And so, as I often talk about, this is a word that Matthew and I are going to Fight to be put in the the next edition of our our dictionary, but at least in the Scrabble dictionary.
Speaker 2: But but it has.
Speaker 2: It concerns the king, the kingdom, the current state of the kingdom.
Speaker 2: You could say we are in a and already, but not yet this State of the kingdom.
Speaker 2: All right, already, but not yet this.
Speaker 2: Now you use that word, this week you get a gold star.
Speaker 2: What do I mean by that?
Speaker 2: Well, in his first advent, jesus inaugurated the peace of God upon the earth Shalom.
Speaker 2: But remember, shalom means more than just tranquility.
Speaker 2: It means Freedom from war and violence.
Speaker 2: Do we have violence in the world?
Speaker 2: It means health and prosperity.
Speaker 2: Are there still poor people in the world?
Speaker 2: Is there still sickness in the world?
Speaker 2: Now, to be sure, I believe that, that the Lord can heal.
Speaker 2: I believe that the Lord can deliver us from wars and in violence and protect us in those Situations.
Speaker 2: I believe that he is our provider.
Speaker 2: But my point is this we don't know yet.
Speaker 2: We have a foretaste of Shalom, but when he returns, only then will we know the fullness of Shalom and we shall enjoy it forever.
Speaker 2: But today, here's what I want to focus on.
Speaker 2: I want to focus on the present Aspects of God's Shalom peace available to us.
Speaker 2: So we're gonna look at the, the present facets of the peace of Jesus.
Speaker 2: Secondly, we're gonna look at who are the recipients of that peace and finally, how do we appropriate, appropriate that peace to our life.
Speaker 2: So, number one, the, the present facets of Jesus peace.
Speaker 2: Number one, and at the top of the list, the most important, is this Through Jesus, we can have Shalom peace with God Beloved.
Speaker 2: More than material possessions, more than relation, healing in our relationships, more than financial blessings Within any other thing, we need peace with God.
Speaker 2: The good news is we can have it through Jesus.
Speaker 2: Romans 5 1.
Speaker 2: Think we might have this on the screen, I'm not sure.
Speaker 2: But Therefore Paul writes since we have been justified.
Speaker 2: To be justified means to have Right standing before God.
Speaker 2: Because we've been justified through faith, we have peace with God.
Speaker 2: We can't overstate the glory and the wonder and the beauty of that statement, that truth, because we've been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, Through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we stand and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
Speaker 2: That begs the question why do we need peace with God?
Speaker 2: Well, paul tells us just a few verses later, in Romans 5, verse 10.
Speaker 2: For if, while we were Enemies Wait what?
Speaker 2: Well, we were enemies we were reconciled of God by the death of his son.
Speaker 2: Much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life?
Speaker 2: Did you catch that Before coming to Christ, you and I, we weren't indifferent towards God.
Speaker 2: God was not indifferent towards us.
Speaker 2: We were enemies of his rebels.
Speaker 2: But while we were enemies, while we were yet sinners, christ died for us.
Speaker 2: Hallelujah, apart from Jesus, there is enmity, you could say, between us and between God.
Speaker 2: Was this great chasm?
Speaker 2: And so the the greatest need of every human being since the time of Adam and Eve?
Speaker 2: It is.
Speaker 2: It is to be made right, to be brought back to our Creator.
Speaker 2: This is what Christ has done for us.
Speaker 2: So that's what the angels are rejoicing over.
Speaker 2: Glory to God in the highest and peace.
Speaker 2: Peace on earth.
Speaker 2: Secondly, peace with God.
Speaker 2: It leads to peace with self.
Speaker 2: We could say inner peace.
Speaker 2: People today are on a quest for inner peace.
Speaker 2: Bunch of new age folk, right, I've got to find the peace within, right, I Just picture, but you know, in his backyard doing you know, legs crossed in the install, doing you know, and, jan, you'd be running around doing a rain dance or something I don't know.
Speaker 2: Listen, here's what the mantra of our culture is if you want peace, you've got to look where.
Speaker 2: No, within I'm talking about the secular world You've got to look within.
Speaker 2: Now, I'm not necessarily anti yoga, but I Don't care how much yoga you do, how much deep breathing you do, how much meditation you employ.
Speaker 2: What did I say?
Speaker 2: It's all good, all right, listen, you can go to a monastery for an entire year, but if you don't have Jesus, you will not find peace.
Speaker 2: You can look, you can find your ways into the death or the depths of your soul and subconscious, but you will not find peace there.
Speaker 2: There's one way you find peace and that is through the Lord Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2: Psalm 4-8, in peace, I will both lie down and sleep For you alone, lord.
Speaker 2: Make me dwell in safety.
Speaker 2: Why do we need inner peace?
Speaker 2: Why this quest?
Speaker 2: Well, I think we all, every human being, we sense deep within that we're not good enough.
Speaker 2: We want to be more.
Speaker 2: We feel, you could say, inadequate.
Speaker 2: So every human being, whether they believe in God or not, I think every one of us feel that we're missing some mark.
Speaker 2: Not everybody knows what that mark is, but they just sense I should be more, I should do more.
Speaker 2: So they spend their entire lives trying to prove themselves and working to be seen, and this causes great anxiety.
Speaker 2: So they look within and they try to make peace with themselves.
Speaker 2: They don't find it.
Speaker 2: For those of us who are in Christ, the quest is over.
Speaker 2: You know why.
Speaker 2: You know why we can have peace through Jesus as Christians because our identity is in Him.
Speaker 2: Now I've been crucified with Christ.
Speaker 2: It's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.
Speaker 2: I have nothing to prove anymore.
Speaker 2: I have rights standing with God.
Speaker 2: I have nothing to prove to Him because I have the righteousness of Christ.
Speaker 2: I have nothing to prove through my good works.
Speaker 2: I do good works because I love God, not because I need to prove myself or earn something, because I'm not saved by works, I'm saved by grace.
Speaker 2: So inner turmoil is in part because people have this idea that they aren't enough and we aren't enough.
Speaker 2: We all fall short of the glory of God.
Speaker 2: But Christ can fill that void.
Speaker 2: And then there's this inner turmoil because of the threats of this world.
Speaker 2: You know All kinds of things that could melt our hearts with fear natural disasters, violence, economic woes, inflation, sickness, the threats of war, you name it.
Speaker 2: The list could go on and on.
Speaker 2: How you doing, but through Jesus, you know, even in the midst of the worst of trials and tragedies, we can have peace.
Speaker 2: Calm Philippians, four, seven, and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding.
Speaker 2: It will guard your hearts and minds in Jesus.
Speaker 2: The word guard there it's a military word and it it's used to describe a city.
Speaker 2: In the Greek language it's used to describe a city that would be surrounded by an army.
Speaker 2: You sleep a little better at night if you have an army protecting your city, right.
Speaker 2: So there are.
Speaker 2: There are dangers in every city, every neighborhood, right.
Speaker 2: But it helps to sleep when we have some protection, like locked doors.
Speaker 2: That helps security systems.
Speaker 2: Many of you have an arsenal and bud.
Speaker 2: You and I have German shepherds.
Speaker 2: We just dare people to come in right.
Speaker 2: You know, this is the flesh, you know the fleshly side of me.
Speaker 2: But something like when I first got my dog, I thought, you know, I kind of want somebody just to try to break in.
Speaker 2: I just kind of want to see what happens.
Speaker 2: But forgive me, lord Jesus, the world is full of dangers, violence, disease, disasters, but through it all, jesus will guard our hearts and minds.
Speaker 2: So the peace of God, it gives us this inner calm and equilibrium.
Speaker 2: It's amazing.
Speaker 2: It's amazing is what the world is searching for.
Speaker 2: So through him, we get peace with God.
Speaker 2: We get inner peace, which then, number three, leads to peace with others.
Speaker 2: John 13, 34, new commandment I give to you that you love one another, just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.
Speaker 2: Listen, when we lack inner peace, think about this we always feel that we are not enough.
Speaker 2: That spills over into other relationships, because we can't celebrate other people's victories.
Speaker 2: We've always got to prove ourselves to others.
Speaker 2: We rarely can have pure motives in relationships, and so in the fall of man, it's not only our relationship with God that was crushed, it's our relationships with one another.
Speaker 2: See, became a factor in Adam and Eve's marriage.
Speaker 2: But you know what, through Jesus, it's not just our relationship with God that's restored.
Speaker 2: He gives us, by his spirit, the power to have our relationships restored.
Speaker 2: I'm not being funny here, but even your marriage can be a blessing.
Speaker 2: Even your marriage can have peace, even the most challenging of marriages, because God, by his spirit, he has forgiven us, which means we can forgive others.
Speaker 2: And I realized that peace and relationships it does take two people.
Speaker 2: Right, you can only give so much, and Paul says as long as it, as much as it depends on you.
Speaker 2: Live peacefully with other people.
Speaker 2: It takes two people, but you know what.
Speaker 2: Your heart can even be calm and love your enemies.
Speaker 2: You can even love your enemies and so on your side you can have peace.
Speaker 2: They might not have peace, but that's their issue.
Speaker 2: So through Jesus we get peace with others.
Speaker 2: There it is.
Speaker 2: So who are the we, who are the recipients of the peace with God, the peace with self and the peace with others?
Speaker 2: Look at Luke two, nine and 10.
Speaker 2: Go back to our text.
Speaker 2: So an angel of the Lord appeared to them, the shepherds and the glory of the Lord shown around them, and they were all filled with great fear.
Speaker 2: But the angel said to them.
Speaker 2: Fear not, for behold, I bring you Good news of great joy.
Speaker 2: Watch this.
Speaker 2: That will be for who?
Speaker 2: All the people.
Speaker 2: So you, we read that and we go oh, god's peace is for all people.
Speaker 2: Everybody gets this.
Speaker 2: Well, not so fast.
Speaker 2: Look at verse 14 and that will bring clarity to what I'm about to say.
Speaker 2: There are various translations of this verse.
Speaker 2: We're most familiar with the King James glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace, goodwill toward men.
Speaker 2: That's not the best translation, because God's gift of peace will not come to all of humanity.
Speaker 2: So the the the CSB translates the verse glory to God in the highest and peace on earth to people.
Speaker 2: He favors the new American standard, the most literal translation glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace among men with whom he's well pleased.
Speaker 2: The NIV glory to God in the highest heaven and on earth, peace to those in whom his favor rests.
Speaker 2: And finally, our translation ESV glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace among those with whom he is well pleased.
Speaker 2: In John 16, 33, jesus says this he says he doesn't say you will have peace, he says you may have peace.
Speaker 2: Who is it that can have the peace of God is.
Speaker 2: It's not, it's offered.
Speaker 2: Let's say it like this it's offered to all people's, everyone, it's available to everyone.
Speaker 2: But who actually gets it?
Speaker 2: Those who receive Jesus.
Speaker 2: That's why we still, even after Jesus came, that's why we still have such chaos in the world, because many rejected him.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so the arrival of Jesus, it's good news for all people, because all people are offered peace, but only those who receive the Prince of Shalom will receive Shalom, god's peace.
Speaker 2: So, finally, how do we appropriate the peace of God in our lives?
Speaker 2: Because we, as Christians, we have complete access to that peace.
Speaker 2: But are any Christians anxious at all?
Speaker 2: Boy, this is convicting to me.
Speaker 2: This is hilarious.
Speaker 2: Yesterday I'm I'm working through, I planned to preach from Matthew this morning and it's just not coming together yesterday.
Speaker 2: And so I am just overcome with anxiety and frustration, frustrated blood pressure up shaking, the norm for me.
Speaker 2: That's not funny.
Speaker 2: And all of a sudden, I realized that Matthew and I are about to record podcasts on the subject of peace, which helps us be free from anxiety.
Speaker 2: That's the whole point of our podcast.
Speaker 2: And I go, I just stop, I pause and I'm like bulb, you know.
Speaker 2: And I go, I just stop and I prayed.
Speaker 2: I said, lord, this isn't coming together and I'm freaking out because you are going to give me a hard time if I don't finish Matthew, or you know, on the week after Easter, like I have a deadline and I'm thinking so.
Speaker 2: I feel the Lord encouraging me and imploring me to talk about peace, how to have peace in an anxiety ridden world.
Speaker 2: But, but I'm anxious.
Speaker 2: I got to preach Matthew, jesus, and then I realized what Matthew and I were about to record, that the peace of God has come and it's available to me.
Speaker 2: And I just took a breath and I bowed my head and I began to pray and I wrote this with the peace of God in my heart and in my heart.
Speaker 2: How do we appropriate the peace of God?
Speaker 2: Number one I know this, by the way, is not an exhaustive list.
Speaker 2: Number one we have to obey God's word.
Speaker 2: Isaiah 48, 18.
Speaker 2: Oh, that you had paid attention to my commandments, then you would have peace.
Speaker 2: It would be like a river and your righteousness like the waves of the sea.
Speaker 2: Did you get it?
Speaker 2: Oh, that you had paid attention, the Lord says, to my commandments, then your peace would have been like a river.
Speaker 2: When we disobey God's word, god's peace becomes veiled.
Speaker 2: You know this is true with your children.
Speaker 2: Like you love them, but when they disobey they forfeit a bit of peace in the home.
Speaker 2: Come on somebody.
Speaker 2: But when we repent, that's how it is with God.
Speaker 2: But when we repent, peace is restored.
Speaker 2: So if you're walking in disobedience today, and I plead with you and beg you, repent so that the peace of God will feel your heart, that's number one.
Speaker 2: Number two forgive, which is part of obedience Colossians 3, 12 through 15,.
Speaker 2: Put on them as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meat and this patience.
Speaker 2: How are you doing the whole, this Bearing one another, with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other.
Speaker 2: As the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive and, above all this, put on love with God's and, above all this, put on love which binds everything together in perfect harmony, and let the peace of Christ rule your hearts, to which, indeed, you were called in one body, and be thankful.
Speaker 2: So do you see what's tied to peace here?
Speaker 2: Compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, forgiveness.
Speaker 2: How you doing?
Speaker 2: There's a connection with peace and forgiveness, one of the surest ways you know this to be true, one of the surest ways to forfeit peace in your life is to hold a grudge, to lose your cool on somebody, to be bitter at a situation or a person.
Speaker 2: You will feel in that moment and in that season, a million miles from God and you will have nothing but chaos in your life and in your heart.
Speaker 2: But you forgive and a weight will be lifted from your shoulders.
Speaker 2: Well, chris, you don't know what that other person did to me.
Speaker 2: Why don't want to diminish or downplay that?
Speaker 2: Can I just remind you?
Speaker 2: You don't even realize what you've done to Christ and yet he gave his life for you.
Speaker 2: Forgive if you want the peace of God, obey, if you want the peace of God.
Speaker 2: Number three pray, and pray with Thanksgiving.
Speaker 2: Philippians 4 6.
Speaker 2: Do not be anxious about anything.
Speaker 2: Gulp, everybody just pointed me.
Speaker 2: But in everything, by what?
Speaker 2: Prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving.
Speaker 2: Let your request be made known to God.
Speaker 2: What's the antidote to anxiety?
Speaker 2: Prayer.
Speaker 2: It's prayer, and one of the main reasons that we in this church have anxiety is because we don't pray like we should.
Speaker 2: I have a potluck.
Speaker 2: We're real good at eating here.
Speaker 2: Have a potluck, buddy.
Speaker 2: It's packed out.
Speaker 2: Sorry, that was a little harsh.
Speaker 2: The truth hurts, but you have a prayer meeting.
Speaker 2: You have a potluck, I can have any.
Speaker 2: Maybe I just need to serve food at our prayer meetings.
Speaker 2: But listen, there's a line.
Speaker 2: It's standing roof only.
Speaker 2: But you have a prayer meeting.
Speaker 2: Well, I can just pray at home.
Speaker 2: You can eat at home too.
Speaker 2: Come on somebody, I'm preaching.
Speaker 2: It wouldn't hurt us to eat a little less and pray a little more, because when I have a prayer meeting, I'm lucky if I get five people here.
Speaker 2: Well, I'm busy, pastor.
Speaker 2: Well, you're not too busy to come to these other events.
Speaker 2: We forget that this is to be a house of prayer, and when we fail to pray and pray without ceasing, we become overwhelmed with anxiety.
Speaker 2: And when we pray, paul says we're to pray with grateful hearts.
Speaker 2: When you pray and you don't just ask for things, there's nothing wrong.
Speaker 2: We're to take our request before God.
Speaker 2: Paul says this here, but when, with your request, you began to thank God, here's what you're doing.
Speaker 2: You're recounting the blessings he's already given you.
Speaker 2: It's just.
Speaker 2: It helps you see the beauty in life.
Speaker 2: And so, because here's another thing that will help you experience peace, it is to meditate on the good.
Speaker 2: He goes on to say if there's anything, I'll paraphrase pure, noble, good, praiseworthy.
Speaker 2: What's he say Meditate on these things.
Speaker 2: And the way that we do that is we pray and we recount the blessings of God.
Speaker 2: Jordan Peterson in his book 12 rules for life Dina, you're going to love this, you're going to buy this book today.
Speaker 2: One of his rules is this when you see a cat, take time and pet it.
Speaker 2: And here's this point when, when his wife was very, very ill and on I mean they thought she was going to die Tragedy had struck the family.
Speaker 2: Many other things were going on that were very tragic.
Speaker 2: He said when she was at home, she would come outside and, overwhelmed by sickness and despair it's little Siamese cat from across the street.
Speaker 2: It was like most cats are a little persnickety, but in its time like cats, you know, do like it would come over and let you pet it.
Speaker 2: And in the midst of the turmoil and the chaos in her life, just petting a cat gave her a glimmer of beauty.
Speaker 2: And what Peterson is saying is when darkness surrounds you, look for something beautiful.
Speaker 2: There's always something.
Speaker 2: And he says here's what you'll do.
Speaker 2: In that moment, he said, when you can see a glimmer of hope, a glimmer of beauty in the midst of tragedy, he says, you can experience, perhaps joy and peace, but he said, at the very least, he said you will make your situation just a tragedy and not hell.
Speaker 2: And he says there's a big difference in tragedy and hell.
Speaker 2: And so the way that we do this, when we pray and we thank God, if you have nothing else going right for you, you've got Jesus, you've got salvation, you've got right standing with God.
Speaker 2: And if you just, in addition to that, I promise you there's some beauty right now in your life that you can just go Jesus, thank you, and the peace of God that surpasses all understanding in that moment will guard your hearts and mind in Christ Jesus, your Lord.
Speaker 2: Finally, dina, you can go ahead and come to the keys.
Speaker 2: Finally, if we want to appropriate the peace of Jesus in our lives, we must trust him.
Speaker 2: Trust him.
Speaker 2: John 14, 27,.
Speaker 2: Peace I leave with you.
Speaker 2: Jesus says my peace I give to you, not as the world gives, do I give it to you.
Speaker 2: Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.
Speaker 2: When Jesus, before Jesus ascended, after his resurrection, before he ascended into heaven, he said don't be afraid, I'm with you, always with you, always, over and over.
Speaker 2: We find this phrase in the Bible Fear not, believe, fear not.
Speaker 2: You and I are to walk in faith over fear.
Speaker 2: But if we're going to walk in faith and not fear, we've got to trust Jesus.
Speaker 2: If we're going to have peace, the peace of Jesus, we've got to trust Him.
Speaker 2: Watch this, even when we don't understand, because even in the moments of confusion in your life, here's what you can know.
Speaker 2: He's working all things together for my good and His glory.
Speaker 2: He's walking with me.
Speaker 2: He's with me in this tragedy.
Speaker 2: There's a famous, perhaps the best ever tightrope walker Charles Bloeding.
Speaker 2: Have you heard of him?
Speaker 2: French guy 19th century, in 1859, charles decided that he would tightrope across the raging waters of the Niagara Gorge.
Speaker 2: No safety harness, no safety net, crowd of people, thousands of people gathered as he, step by step, made his way across the raging waters.
Speaker 2: The crowd roared as he made those final steps back on to safe ground and he thought wow, that was a rush, I want to do that again.
Speaker 2: So he came back, time after time.
Speaker 2: As a matter of fact, he walked in his lifetime thousands of miles across that same tightrope Literally thousands of miles.
Speaker 2: But each time he came back he wanted to up the ante.
Speaker 2: So one time, each time, more and more people would gather and cheer him on.
Speaker 2: And one time he midway he stood on his head on the tightrope.
Speaker 2: Yeah, one time he walked backwards.
Speaker 2: One time he went blind-photos he had a sack over his head.
Speaker 2: One time he pushed a wheelbarrow and according to Ripley's website, he actually one time pushed a lion across in that wheelbarrow.
Speaker 2: This guy was crazy.
Speaker 2: Here's my favorite one One time he made it across to the halfway point and he pulled out some eggs.
Speaker 2: There was a stove in the middle, like on these rafters that went across.
Speaker 2: He made an omelet and ate it on the tightrope True story.
Speaker 2: So every time he was kind of that, he'd return.
Speaker 2: He'd kind of up the ante.
Speaker 2: When he ran out of ideas that would supersede the last.
Speaker 2: He finally says I know what I've got to do.
Speaker 2: Hundreds of people were gathered around and he said to the crowds let me ask you something.
Speaker 2: Who believes that I could carry another human being on my back across the Niagara?
Speaker 2: The crowd roared with affirmation Woo, we know you can do it.
Speaker 2: And then he said this I need a volunteer.
Speaker 2: Hush Silence.
Speaker 2: You could hear a pin drop.
Speaker 2: Nobody volunteered.
Speaker 2: So there's a big thing.
Speaker 2: There's a big difference in saying that we trust someone or something.
Speaker 2: It's a whole different thing to get on the back of that person and then trust them with your life to cross, as it were, the Niagara.
Speaker 2: Not wanting to give into defeat, charles turned to his manager I think his name was Harry Coven.
Speaker 2: He turns to his manager and he says to Harry he says, listen, we've got to do this.
Speaker 2: Do you think I can do it?
Speaker 2: And he says, yeah, I do.
Speaker 2: And he said I'll get on your back.
Speaker 2: Charles and Harry, step by step, made their way successfully across the waters.
Speaker 2: Before they made that trip, charles honestly looked at here and he said I want you to know that this is dangerous, that we could both plunge to our death.
Speaker 2: There's great risk.
Speaker 2: But he said here's the way we avoid that.
Speaker 2: Here's what you must do.
Speaker 2: He said when you're on my back, your natural tendency is going to be to try to counterbalance, to balance yourself.
Speaker 2: But he said we'll plunge if you do that, if you and I want to arrive safely.
Speaker 2: He said here's what you've got to do.
Speaker 2: You've got to trust me and you've got to flow with me.
Speaker 2: Where I move, you move.
Speaker 2: But when we walk with Jesus, there is this pressure.
Speaker 2: At times we feel this need that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, jesus, we're walking with you, but, man, I feel like I'm on shaky ground, I feel like I'm on the tightrope, and so I know you're turning this way.
Speaker 2: But this makes more sense to me.
Speaker 2: I'm going to turn this way, but Jesus says no, trust me, I'll bring you safely across the waters, but you've got to move where I move, even when you don't understand.
Speaker 2: Let me take the analogy one step further.
Speaker 2: There's no risk of Jesus falling into the waters.
Speaker 2: You're safe with him.
Speaker 2: But here's what I want you to know.
Speaker 2: Here is a you can have peace going across the waters with Jesus, the raging waters of the Niagara, but with Jesus, with Jesus, you can have perfect, perfect peace across perfect peace.
Speaker 2: But let me tell you why there's no risk of you plunging to your death in the waters, because Jesus jumped off that tightrope for you to his death and he plunged himself into the raging waters of the burden of our sin and the judgment that was due to us.
Speaker 2: He sweat drops of blood because of the anxiety of what he was about to do.
Speaker 2: As he prayed in the garden, he faced and bore anxiety so that you and I didn't have to.
Speaker 2: My plea to you today, in the midst of the chaos is to get on his back and move with him and even over the waters of chaos and disaster, you can have peace that surpasses all understanding.
Speaker 2: So, father, we thank you for that.
Speaker 2: The price of peace is more than we could ever imagine.
Speaker 2: It's free to us, but it costs you greatly.
Speaker 2: Thank you that you sent your son and Jesus we say thank you for plunging freely, of your own will, into the waters to a horrible death.
Speaker 2: Oh, how we love you.
Speaker 2: To the one here today, probably the many who are overcome with anxiety, let them know your peace today.
Speaker 2: If there's one here or listening online that don't know you as Lord and Savior, let them come to you in faith, but assuming that the majority of us are Christians.
Speaker 2: Lord, let us learn to walk in the peace that you offer.
Speaker 2: Let me learn that, oh God, in Jesus' name, amen.
Speaker 1: Thank you for listening.
Speaker 1: If you'd like to know more about how you can have a relationship with Jesus Christ, or if you have questions about our church, you can email us at info at myrealchurchorg.
Speaker 1: Real Life Community Church is located at 335 Glendon Avenue in Richmond, Kentucky.
Speaker 1: We invite you to join us for worship Sunday at 10.45 am or Wednesday at 7 pm.
Speaker 1: Visit us online at myrealchurchorg.