REWIND
The podcast "REWIND" features a collection of past sermons from Organic Church. Each episode takes listeners on a journey through the teachings and messages delivered during previous worship services. The content is a retrospective look at the spiritual guidance and insights shared by Pastor Michael and visiting guests!
Listeners can expect to revisit powerful sermons, meaningful scriptures, and impactful messages that have been shared in the past. The podcast aims to provide a convenient and accessible way for the church community and new audiences to engage with the timeless wisdom and spiritual teachings presented during earlier sermons.
Whether it's a reflection on a particular theme, a series of teachings, or a selection of sermons covering various topics, "REWIND" offers an opportunity for individuals to deepen their understanding of the faith and find inspiration in the timeless messages.
The podcast may also include commentary or reflections on the historical context of each sermon and how it continues to resonate with the present-day congregation.
REWIND
Peace Be Still (February 16, 2025)
Can true peace be found amidst the storms of grief and uncertainty? Reflecting on personal experiences, we explore this profound question while sharing heartfelt stories and spiritual insights. Join us in a journey through scripture, where we confront the superficial expressions of condolence and strive to convey genuine comfort. By connecting with the biblical narrative of Jesus walking on water, we seek to understand the essence of peace and empathy in times of loss.
We challenge the misconception that financial security is the ultimate stress reliever. Through a personal anecdote involving a medical scare, we discover the profound truth that peace is not dependent on external circumstances. Anchored in Philippians 4:7, the conversation reveals how divine peace surpasses worldly understanding, providing solace and stability when life feels out of control. Our reflections encourage listeners to engage deeply with scripture, cultivating a spiritual foundation that can withstand life's trials.
Our episode concludes with a sincere prayer for spiritual growth and harmony within communities. Emphasizing a commitment to aligning with God's will, we invite you to join us in seeking divine guidance. This heartfelt plea underscores the importance of honoring God not from expectation, but from genuine reverence and gratitude. As we pursue a deeper connection with scripture, we aim to foster a sense of communal peace and steadfast faith, bringing comfort to those who are suffering.
it was funny. I was writing this message and it's really weird. Being out here it sounds different than when I'm like four steps back. That way, I was writing this message and I got to a point where I just stopped and I just said well, they're either going to get it or they're not. That was basically my thought. Right, they're either going to get it or they're not. And so I just stopped writing at that point. And then, while I was standing during praise and worship, I thought that I needed to share a passage of scripture with you that the tech team doesn't have, so you're just going to have to follow along.
Speaker 1:Let me make sure I'm going to change my translation real quick. I am not locked into a translation in life. I don't know about any of you, how many of you like one translation and that's it. No, I like to jump right. There's some value in that. Like sometimes, I love New Living Translations, which is what I typically preach from, but I'll occasionally jump into New King James King James Version. I think we have King James Version today, but we'll jump around a little bit. But I find that there's value in that. But I'm going to read to you from the New Living Translations. We're going to be in Matthew, chapter 14, and we're going to start at verse 22. And it says immediately after this Jesus insisted that his disciples get back in the boat and cross to the other side of the lake while he sent the people home.
Speaker 1:After sending them home, he went up into the hills by himself to pray. Night fell. He was there alone. Meanwhile the disciples were in trouble, far away from land, for a strong wind had risen and they were fighting heavy waves. About three o'clock in the morning, nothing good happens after midnight, folks, right, nothing good happens after midnight. At three, about three o'clock in the morning, jesus came towards them walking on water. When the disciples saw him walking on the water, they were terrified. In their fear they cried out it's a ghost. But Jesus spoke to them at once. Don't be afraid. He said, take courage, I am here. Then Peter called to him Lord, if it's really you, tell me to come to you walking on the water. Yes, come, jesus said. So Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water towards Jesus. But when he saw the strong wind and the waves, he was terrified and began to sink. Save me, lord, he shouted. Jesus immediately reached out and grabbed him. You have so little faith, jesus said. Why did you doubt me? That's not my message, but you're going to want to hold on to that. Put that under your hat, okay. If you're taking notes, write it down. It's going to be important.
Speaker 1:I recently spoke with a friend who had lost a good friend of his, and we were on the phone, we exchanged some text messages, and it was kind of a surreal experience, because every time I talk to this friend he talks about the friend that passed away. And I'm talking all the time Like just loved the man to death. He just was always talking about him and I'd found out that he had fallen ill. And then I found out that he had passed away, and so I had reached out to my friend and had offered condolences and told him that I was praying for him. And he said I knew the day would come, but I didn't know it would come this quick. Now we don't know what quick is right, but sometimes things happen and it's not really understandable, and one of the things that I sent to him was this it said may the peace of the Holy Spirit be with you. And at a glance that's a pretty solid statement, right, that's a good statement.
Speaker 1:The question is, what did it mean? Because if I say that to you, a lot of you are like, okay, those are words, but what does that mean to me? Amen, because so many of us don't really know peace. We know chaos, we know trouble, we know struggles, we know the world, we know the flesh, but we don't really know peace. Right, there's that fun little clever saying no God, no peace, no God, no peace, like K-N-O-W no God, k-n-o-w peace. If you know God, you will know peace. If you have no God, you will have no peace. Amen, we live that every day. The question is is do we really understand and know what that peace means?
Speaker 1:Because, see, after I said it, I felt like it was such a cop-out because it was an easy text to send, to express condolence, right To say oh, I'm thinking about you, I'm praying for you, I want you to be whole and complete, I want you to feel good. So I'm going to say this to you in hopes that you will just do something with it. Any of us ever done that to somebody, right? Somebody sends you a text and they just need somebody to listen, or they want somebody to give them some sort of confidence in whatever's happening in their life. And you say it sucks Guilty, right, it's hard to put yourself in their situation.
Speaker 1:Listen, I look at my life and I tell people this all the time I have never experienced death close to me other than Florence, and that was hard enough. I want to be honest with you. I have both of my paternal grandparents still alive. My parents are still alive, all of them in fairly good health, right? So I take that for granted. No, I'm the only one. Okay, that's fine. I'm okay with being the only one, because I'm willing to admit that I fall short of the glory of God.
Speaker 1:Okay, so I understand that sometimes I don't understand what somebody else is going through, so I try to process that. Whenever I'm helping somebody gr, somebody else is going through. So I try to process that. Whenever I'm helping somebody grieve, it's hard, right? When my mother-in-law passed away, I had only known her. For how long had we been married at that point? 10 years, and she didn't like me 10 of those 10 years. So it was I mean, it was my mother-in-law, we were close, but like I didn't spend my entire life with her, right, so there's a difference and so having to watch my wife through that grieving process and walk beside her in that. But sometimes I learned that the best thing to do when somebody else is grieving is just shut up, because I can't make it better. Right, I'm not going to take away the pain, but do you know who can? Jesus. But we have to understand it. Amen, all right.
Speaker 1:So grab your Bibles, turn to John 14, 26. I'm hoping that's on my slides because I didn't turn my Bible there. Is that John 14, 26? Okay, john 14, 26,. Write it down. We're in King James Version this time. I'm going John 14, 26,. Write it down. We're in King James Version this time. We're going to jump around a little bit today.
Speaker 1:It says but the Comforter, which is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance, whosoever or whatsoever I have said unto you. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, I love that. I love to say the Holy Ghost, right. Listen, the Holy Spirit's fine, we can say the Holy Spirit, but I like the Holy Ghost right, because there's something about that. Amen, it's exciting when I talk about the Holy See, we try to. We water down the gospel, sometimes because we don't want to scare people. Sometimes we need to scare people, right, because hell is real and sometimes people need to know hell is real, amen.
Speaker 1:Okay, but the comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever. I have said unto you that does not use the word peace specifically, but it says that the Holy Ghost will be the comforter, amen. Now, this is Jesus getting ready to ascend into heaven and he's telling the disciples that I'm going to leave bye, see you later, but the Holy Ghost is going to come and bring you comfort and remind you of all of the things. So I need to, just, we need to talk about peace because we need to understand that is an important promise directly from God that there will be comfort after Jesus is gone. Jesus is still gone, right? Amen.
Speaker 1:So what do we need Comfort? Because we live in a world that is broken. We live in relationships that are broken. We don't have. None of us have figured life out. None of us have gone to heaven and come back and told everybody else the secret formula, right? Nobody's gotten into Mr Crab Safe and gotten the secret formula. Those of us who are young enough to get a SpongeBob joke, that's okay. Not many of us.
Speaker 1:The point is, we will never have all of the answers and, frankly, the Bible can feel like it contradicts itself. But we find peace in the name of Jesus. We find peace in the word of God, amen. Okay, I'm going to be honest with you. I've got four more paragraphs and I'm done. This is scary.
Speaker 1:All right, what's next? Is it Philippians 4.7? Okay, give me Philippians 4.7. Is it just 4.7? Okay, give me Philippians 4.7. Is it just 4.7? Okay, it's 4.7 through. Like, oh, 4.4 through 4.8. All right, we're just going to run with it. Then Go for it, put it up there, always be full of joy in the Lord.
Speaker 1:I say it again rejoice, yes, amen. Let's rejoice in the Lord. Let everyone see that you are considerate in all that you do. Remember the Lord is coming soon. What does soon mean? I don't know, but I know that he's coming soon. Right, the Lord could come this afternoon. I don't know. I haven't done the math, I haven't figured it out. Many people who have done the math and thought they figured it out were wrong. I'm not interested in figuring it out. I'm interested. Can you go back a slide and letting everyone see that I am considerate in all that I do, to remember that the Lord is coming soon. That's what I'm worried about.
Speaker 1:Amen, okay, don't worry about anything. Instead, pray about everything. So what should we worry about? But what should we pray about? Well, there's the handbook to life. How many of us are doing that?
Speaker 1:How many of us are like, when I go to the gas station and I swipe my card, I'm like Lord, please let there be money, right? Oh, good point, I don't go to the gas. That's not true. That's not true. Listen, this fool. Where were we at? We're coming home.
Speaker 1:She's like will you stop at the gas station with me? I don't want to pump my gas. I'm driving a Tesla, pulling into a gas station to pump her gas. I park in the parking spot, run over, use my card, pump her gas, get back in my car and leave. That doesn't make any sense, does it? I was going to say? I was going to say but happy wife, happy life, right? No, I'm just kidding. I would do those things a million times over for her. I'll fight her on it every time and I'll argue the whole way to the gas station.
Speaker 1:But I'm going to pump that gas with joy, right, I'm going to pump that gas with joy. Pump that gas with joy, all right, then you will experience God's peace. You can go to the next one for me, thanks. Appreciate it, then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guide your hearts and your minds as you live in Christ Jesus. And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing Fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right and pure and lovely and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise, hallelujah. And now, dear brothers and sisters, fix your thoughts on what is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, admirable, and think about the things that are excellent and worthy of praise, hallelujah.
Speaker 1:How I have never, never, been able to praise stress and anxiety. Right, because? Because, when I pray, you know what this is? Just stress. I'm just anxious. What happens to me? I become more stressed and more anxious.
Speaker 1:Dave Ramsey said once in a video I watched. He said money does not make you happy. Money makes you more of what you already are. Right, so money fixes everything. So if I'm stressed out, I need more money. Most of us think that right. A lot of us think that right Because money fixes it. So if I have more money, I will be less stressed. I promise you, if a dump truck backed up to your house and dumped off a truckload of $100 bills, you are still going to be stressed. You're just going to be filthy, rich and stressed, right. But in six months you're going to be broke and stressed because you ain't going to change anything. You're just going to live in the stress, right, all right. Now we're going to do Philippians 4-7 again, but we're going to do this slowly.
Speaker 1:And I brought my Strong's Concordance and I brought this and I just wanted to share. I found this on the inside. I got this from a group of Amish ladies who I was driving to work every day for I can't remember how long and they order their books out of magazines. They don't go to the bookstore typically, they get a magazine and that's how they order all of their reading, and it said thanks for the rides to work. We appreciate it. And then there's some personal sentiments in here, and what I thought was sweet was that this was what they felt like I needed in my life. How many of you own one of these? Yes, how many of you use this regularly?
Speaker 1:I'm going to tell you if you aren't studying your Bible with some sort of strong concordance or some sort of helpful tool. Listen this if I look up the word peace which is what I did it will give me every passage of scripture that uses the word peace. It's a lot, it's like a whole page, okay, but this is fantastic. It's a great way to study your Bible. But what we're going to do is you're going to go on a journey with me this morning. You're going to go on the journey of how I broke down the passage of Scripture to figure out what peace actually means in my life and when I speak peace into somebody else's life, what it should mean to them and to me.
Speaker 1:All right, so we're going to do Philippians just four, seven again, and we're going to do it one at a time. Look at this. Isn't this fun? It's fancy. Nobody applauded or anything. That was pretty embarrassing. It says we're going to do New International Version and the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Now, on the surface it says the peace of God which transcends all understanding. We can break this down and kind of understand this just talking about it, but we're going to study it. Okay, we're going to break it down a little bit at a time. Give me my next one. Peace, but it says, and the peace of God. Not all peace is the peace of God Because Jesus is calling somebody, because the peace of God is different when you have peace on earth, when you have peace in a situation. You're depending on circumstance. Right, so you get a call from your listen.
Speaker 1:This happened to me. I was in a class it was called Leadership Tusk and we were having a two night something or other retreat at Salt Fork. Okay, bit of a drive. I get down there and while I'm there, I had fallen through a bunk bed. Does anybody remember that story? Me falling through the bunk bed it was awful, worst experience of my life.
Speaker 1:I was in the house by myself. It was like Wile E Coyote moment. I'm taking the bolts out of the top of this bunk bed it's an Ikea bunk bed, if that gives you any understanding and I take the bolt out. I'm standing on top of this there and then my head comes afterwards. I land on my shoulder, mess myself up something fierce.
Speaker 1:I didn't realize how bad it was in the moment I drug myself across the floor, called my wife and told her I was pretty sure I was going to die. Now, I mean, the drop was only what that high, but when you hit that hard like you don't really. My leg got all caught up in the crossbar and I was in pain. I thought for sure I was dead. I did. I felt like my arm had popped off and I left my friend's house that night and I drove home and I drove what 40 minutes out of the way. I probably had a wicked concussion, but I had no idea. I mean, I was lost. And when I realized I was lost, I was panicked. I didn't know where I was, I didn't know how I had gotten there, I didn't remember leaving my friend's house and driving to that point. That's scary to think about, right.
Speaker 1:So at that point then I realized a day or two, a couple of days later, I go to the store. I can't find my car in the parking lot. I'm sobbing uncontrollably because I don't know where my car is and I'm realizing, like I don't remember parking my car, I don't remember going into the store, like we've got a problem here, right? So the next thing I know they're making me an appointment to have a was it a CT scan? I don't remember. I know it was miserable, but they put my head in this cage and they laid me in this thing and I had to lay there for like ever. It was awful, wasn't allowed to move. You guys know me, that ain't happening. But I laid there and when they did the scan they call me.
Speaker 1:While I'm on this two-day retreat I can't leave. And they say, hey, we found some spots on your brain. We need to make you an appointment with a specialist. We're concerned. I can't call my wife because I can't go home, so I can't tell her, so I have to just deal with that. There's no peace in that moment. There is no peace in that moment. So I'm hyper fixated on this. I'm not getting anything from the classes. I'm so stressed about this. And we went to the specialist appointment and he looks at the MRI and he says or the CAT scan, whatever it was. And he said did you used to smoke? And I said, yeah, he goes. Oh well, then everything we're seeing is absolutely normal for somebody who has smoked in the past. So like two weeks, folks, I am stressed that like something's wrong with my head, like I've done some serious damage. Yeah, well, we know that there is some level of, but it's all normal at this point, right? So, listen, I find that that still bothers me.
Speaker 1:Alyssa and I went shopping one day. We left the store and she goes do you remember where we parked? And I realized I had no idea where we parked and it sent this raging anxiety through my body Because I'm thinking what if I can't find the car? The day that I couldn't find my car, I probably wandered for 20 minutes before I realized you can hit the panic button on your. I'm too Like. That was not in my mind. I'm starting to like, really freak out. So after that one, I skipped this part. After that one this was during wintertime, because they had the bell ringers out I went to Walmart. A few days later. I came in the door, shopped and I came back out and I realized I couldn't find my car again. Now, this time I was a little less panicked because at this time I'm probably getting used to it, starting to realize something's not right and the bell ringer goes. I think you're parked down there. Had it not been for him, I would have been in that panic again.
Speaker 1:So I'm telling you that because I need you to understand that peace in our bodies, peace in the world, is dependent on that circumstance. Right, I need to know where my car is and I need to know that I didn't mess up my brain when I fell, right, it was already messed up, I just happened to fall, all right. So the peace of God is not like the peace of man, because it does not depend on circumstance. Amen, give me my next one. It transcends all understanding. What that means is it goes beyond the range of limit, right?
Speaker 1:So when something transcends, when it transcends time, when a fashion idea transcends time, you guys, if I say Madonna, everybody thinks of the bra, right? Because, like, how do you not? I'm glad at least Pastor Holly's on the same page as me, right, there are some things that you can talk about. When you think of Elvis, you think of jumpsuit, right? Most of us, we think of things and those transcend time. Elvis has been dead for how long? People are still listening to his music? Young kids still know who Madonna is.
Speaker 1:Like these things, because it transcends time, it's beyond all of our single understanding and will live for just about ever, amen, okay, next, understanding. It transcends all understanding. Now, what that means is this is your faith, right? Not your physical understanding. Your brain cannot understand the peace of God because it transcends all understanding, right?
Speaker 1:So now we are living in faith for the peace of God. We're not trying to wrap our head around it, we're not trying to understand it, we're not trying to put it in a box and say, well, peace comes when I have this feeling. Peace comes when so-and-so does X. If I'm praying that God will give me peace, and Pastor Michael is going to say X this Sunday morning, that will give me peace, I'm telling you right now, that is not the peace of God. That is man-made peace and it's fleeting. It lasts for a moment and then it runs away again and you find yourself back where you were, all right.
Speaker 1:Next, we'll guard your hearts. We'll guard. It is going to keep you from the exposure of evil. Right, it's going to keep you from exposure of evil. What is evil? What A lot. It is a lot of things. Now you'll notice that when I wrote that I put too much evil, there's a reason that I put too much. I can't go to work without seeing some level of evil, right. You can't even turn on the TV anymore without seeing some level of evil. You can't read the news, you can't talk to a friend, sometimes, without seeing some level of evil, right, but the peace of God is going to keep you safe from those things, amen. Okay, next, now this is my favorite one. When I study this one out, this is my favorite Will guard your hearts, your love for him and his love for you. See, the peace of God is going to protect your love for him and his love for you. That's hard to understand, right? Because my love for God, I like to think, is unconditional. Amen. How many of us feel that way? I believe that I love god unconditionally until something bad happens in my life and then I just don't understand why god would allow that to happen.
Speaker 1:Alissa shared a post the other day of this uh little girl I mean she a baby who has neuroblastoma and it's causing all. I mean, she's not long for this world, unfortunately. But the worst part of the story is that her brother, four years earlier, had passed away from the same disease and these parents, for the second time, are living with a child with neuroblastoma. Can you imagine. And I was reading that post and I was looking at all of the comments and there was one comment that said and this is why I can't believe that God exists. Isn't that amazing?
Speaker 1:Rather than saying God is good all the time, and all the time God is good, I'm going to blame God for something bad that's happening in this world. Can I tell you something? That God is the author of all things good, but we live in a fallen world that will only allow us to comprehend God's goodness when we want to comprehend God's goodness Amen. We can say God is good, we can, it's easy, but we don't always believe it. When we see something bad happen in the world, we want to blame God, but God is not the author of all of those things. See, we live in a world of free will, right, and sometimes we make bad choices, sometimes people around us make bad choices, and we live in those choices every day. But see, that's why we have to guard our hearts, because we have to understand that the love of God is more important than anything that's happening in this world. Every attack that the enemy makes should be far below your feet, because the love of God should be the first thing at the top of your mind Every time the enemy makes action in your life. Listen, we can bless each other all day long, we can talk about how good God is, but until we understand what the peace of God means in our lives, we will never be able to fully understand God's promise to us. Amen, okay. Next, your hearts and your mind Ungodly thoughts will be replaced with praise, amen.
Speaker 1:So when you say something to me or you do something to me that I don't like, rather than go and telling everybody that you said or you did and I don't like, I'm going to say to God be the glory, because in all things he will work together for his good. And if you tell me that you don't like me, you know what that's okay. I still love you, whether you want me to or not. Right? You might not let me speak into your life, you might not let me lift you up in prayer, you might not want those things, but I'm still going to love you and pray for you daily, because I know that peace for myself comes from God and peace for you is only going to come from that place too, because if you think that hating me is going to take away my love for God. You're wrong, because when I focus on loving him first, it becomes much easier to love other people around me, and sometimes people are pretty hard to love. Right, I'm pretty hard to love sometimes. Don't ask my wife. She would tell you that's a lie and that I am the most lovable person in the world. I know that.
Speaker 1:I know that we wrap our heads around what peace looks like, based on what the world has promised us. Peace is going to look like Amen. Peace will only be known when Jesus Christ is the center of your life. Give me that next slide, One passage of scripture, and that's where we're at right. How many of us study our Bibles like this? Or when we say we study, what we mean is we read Right? Because that's what a lot of us do. We pick up our word, we read it and we go okay, god, there it is. I've put in my 10 minutes. See, when I want to know what peace is, I'm going to look for the passage of scripture that tells me what peace is and I'm going to break it down so that I can understand it. So now I know that the peace that I am seeking is not a peace from this world. It is a peace from God. That peace will be beyond anything that my mind can possibly understand. It will be transcended by all things and that it will guard my heart and my mind in Jesus Christ. That means that I don't have to worry about what the world has told me. I don't have to believe that the world is going to be my downfall. I believe that I am going to find peace in my Lord and Savior, right, amen. Okay, leave that up there.
Speaker 1:The peace of God is not like the peace that you will experience in situations. Sometimes you hear people say, oh, I just have a peace about this Right Christian cop out. It's like saying I'm in my season of rest, I'm in my season of listen. This is not true for everybody. I want to be clear. But there are some people who say those things and they say it because they've heard somebody else say it, and it's a great excuse to not do or act or say right when I say, oh well, I'm not in a season of X. Let me tell you something when you are called of God, you are always in season. Right, the people around you may not be in season, and Holly and I have learned that the hard way, that sometimes we come in hot and not everybody is in season with us. But some people will say, oh, it's not my season, no, you're defiant, you don't want to do what God has called you to do. You don't want to operate in what God has gifted you to operate in, and sometimes you don't want to operate in what God has not gifted you to operate in. Amen. You want to just focus on what it is that you want and allow god to work on that, and then what happens? He takes it away. And who's the bad guy? God, because we don't actually find peace in god. We find peace in the world. We find peace and what it is that we want, rather than what god would have in our lives. Amen, amen.
Speaker 1:All right, I've got one more passage of Scripture, and this is going to button it up. We are perfect on time. This is wonderful. Grab your Bibles. Open to Genesis 15, 15. Now, this is God speaking to Abraham. Abram, soon to be Abraham. This is God speaking to him. Go ahead. As for you, you will die in peace and be buried at a ripe old age. You will die in peace so long as you believe that he is God. How many of us die, suffering and miserable because we don't know who God is? If you look at the world around you, that's what you see Amen. You see people who God is. If you look at the world around you, that's what you see, amen. You see people who are struggling and listen.
Speaker 1:When I was talking to my friend and I was saying these things, I never once even thought about the peace of the person who had passed away. I was worried about the peace of the man who was living. But the guy who passed away is in glory. He is in real peace because he believed that Jesus Christ was his Lord and Savior. He knew that he was going to enter into heaven Amen. And so he died knowing that God is good and that his heart was protected and that his mind was protected from all of those things, because he read his word, he studied his word, he knew who God was in his life. He never allowed the world to tell him that God wasn't real. How many of us are willing to hear that today? When somebody says, well, god's not real and we just go, well, if you can't beat him, right, we all.
Speaker 1:When somebody says something to us, that's besides the word we argue, the word we. We try to. We try to get them to understand who jesus is. No, we don't. And if you say you do, you're a liar and you're going to hell, because there is no room in heaven for a liar, as the bible says it. I didn't make that up, the bible says it. I didn't make that up. The Bible says it. I do, fib. But let's be honest with each other too. No, you know what? There's a podcast episode about it. Go back and listen to it. We covered this in the podcast. It was a great episode. You guys should go back and listen to that one, because lying is a hard thing. It's a difficult conversation to have. Right.
Speaker 1:Some things we say to people aren't necessarily lies. Like if I'm going to have a surprise birthday party for my wife and I tell her I'm going to take her to dinner, but really we're going somewhere else because we're going to. That's a lie. What does that mean? How do you work that out? Here's what I'll tell you Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. I'm going to tell you the truth. I don't understand everything that the Bible says. I've never claimed to and I've never promised to. But when I have a question, I'm always going to dig into the Word, pull that slide back up for me, that one with all of the markings on it. I am always going to go back to the Word and I'm going to study and try to figure out what it is that God is saying to me.
Speaker 1:And when he said, when he had me say to my friend, may the peace of the Holy Spirit be with you. This is the peace he was referring to, not the peace of the world, that's the peace. Now, when I said it I didn't know that I meant it. Amen, I sent it. But then I had to understand what it meant and I prayed and I prayed that Lord, just allow him to have this peace. And I prayed and I prayed that Lord, just allow him to have this peace. This the real deal, not the peace that we like to make up. Amen.
Speaker 1:So I want to encourage you that if you're facing a challenge in life and you're looking to the word for understanding and somebody is giving you something, or you've read something that you don't quite understand and you're struggling to believe, maybe, in what it is that you're reading, I want to tell you that you should be looking for peace in Christ. When you get that peace, why'd you change it again? It is hard to find good help. It's really hard to find good help when you find that peace. When you find that peace, then you know that you've made it to where you need to be. But when you're just saying, well, I'm just going to let God take the wheel, you need to be still studying. You need to be understanding what it is that God is handling in your life. Because if you just say I'm letting God handle it, you still got to understand what he's handling. Is this my fault? Am I living in sin? Am I doing something I shouldn't be doing? Lord, reveal to me what it is that you would have me understand. And when you pray that and then he opens your eyes and he gets you in the word and you're finding this stuff, you're like holy smokes. The word of God really is alive.
Speaker 1:Right that this isn't just a book that I read for a hobby. How many of you read well besides, joe, how many of you read this as a hobby? It's hard to have this as a hobby. Good for you, man, because when I get to like first and second Kings Come on, man, we got to do this again. But I know that there is knowledge and there's revelation, knowledge that there is something that God needs me to understand Maybe not today, but having good understanding To be able to look at your Bible and go.
Speaker 1:You know where was it that Peter walked on water? You know where was it that Peter walked on water and that you're able to open your Bible and go there because you know that right, you don't have to be able to quote scripture forward and backward to me. I don't think that that's necessarily a sign of salvation, but I do think it's important Because the word lives in you. When you can do that right Now, there's a lot of scripture I can give you. But if you were to say to me hey, well, I don't even want to use that as an example because I can use it. I can't do it, but there are some that, like you, could ask me about a particular passage, I'm going to say you're going to have to give me a little bit and I'm going to have to go find it. But what I have learned is what I used to do was I'd go to Google. Hey, dr Google, where in the Bible did Peter walk on water Right Lazy, and I learned that in that laziness I wouldn't study, I would go and I would read and I would put it down.
Speaker 1:I wouldn't break it down, I wouldn't understand it. See, when I was reading about, when I read that passage of scripture this morning, I'm going to pull it back up real quick the particular part that jumped out at me that I wanted to share with you again was so Peter went over the side of the boat and started walking towards Jesus. He's confident at this point that that's Jesus right. And then, all of a sudden, he sees the wind and the waves and he becomes nervous. The peace that he had, that that is Jesus has been wiped away by his own fear of the world, and so he starts to sink. He took his eyes off the prize. He took his eyes off the prize Rather than just saying you know what Storms may come, but God is steadfast, he starts to sink in the water.
Speaker 1:Trials will come in your life every day, but the word of God, the presence of the Holy Spirit, it's not going to go anywhere. It's at your fingertips every day. You just have to choose to be invested. Amen, let's pray together. Father, I thank you and I praise you for an anointed word today, father. I just thank you for continuing to move in this place, for giving us revelation, knowledge.
Speaker 1:Father, allow us to find peace that passes all understanding. Allow us to find that peace that God would have us have in our heart. Father, we know that you are the author of all good things and that you would want that peace, but so many times we just get worked up in what the world would have for us. We get trapped in our own minds, in our own emotions, Father, and I pray that you just remove that from us today. Burn away all of that excess dross, father. Just burn it away. Allow it to be new and real every day inside of us. Father, just burn it away. Allow it to be new and real every day inside of us.
Speaker 1:Father, wake us up with a desire to be in your word, to study and understand who you are and what you want for us. Father, not that we would. Just we don't want to take advantage of who you are. We want to give you praise, honor and glory. We want you to be able to pour out blessings on your people because you want to Father God, not because we are expecting of who you are. We want to give you praise, honor and glory. We want you to be able to pour out blessings on your people because you want to, father God, not because we are expecting of who you are. Allow us to give you praise, honor and glory in all things. Father, I just thank you and I praise you. I pray that you continue to move in our lives, move in this house, father God, move in our community and just bring peace to all of those who are suffering today. We give you the praise, the honor and glory in Jesus' name, amen.