WEBVTT 00:00:08.080 --> 00:00:14.400 We studied through books of the Bible here at the Village Chapel on uh the four Sundays of Advent leading up to Christmas. 00:00:14.640 --> 00:00:17.839 Take a little break and go to the Advent themes. 00:00:18.000 --> 00:00:20.320 But if you need a copy, we are going to look at a couple texts. 00:00:20.399 --> 00:00:27.199 Raise your hand up real high, and somebody'd be glad to drop a copy of the text by so that you can follow along in the scriptures. 00:00:27.359 --> 00:00:30.800 Up on the screen, you'll see the sermon notes and quotes. 00:00:30.960 --> 00:00:34.640 If you would like that, uh you can access those in advance. 00:00:34.799 --> 00:00:35.840 I think that's up there. 00:00:36.240 --> 00:00:38.320 It looks like we still have song lyrics. 00:00:38.399 --> 00:00:39.119 Let's try it here. 00:00:39.359 --> 00:00:39.840 There we go. 00:00:39.920 --> 00:00:40.640 Is that working? 00:00:41.039 --> 00:00:41.280 Okay. 00:00:41.439 --> 00:00:41.920 There we go. 00:00:42.079 --> 00:00:43.280 Sermon notes and quotes. 00:00:43.359 --> 00:00:43.759 There you go. 00:00:43.920 --> 00:00:48.799 So if you want to, uh, you're welcome to uh use your camera on your phone and jump to those. 00:00:48.880 --> 00:00:54.320 You'd have then the uh all the notes and quotes that we'll use here in our study today. 00:00:54.479 --> 00:00:57.039 During the advent season, we talk a lot about peace. 00:00:57.280 --> 00:01:04.480 And yet I wonder, looking around, maybe you do too, uh, why so many people are falling to pieces instead of being peaceful? 00:01:05.040 --> 00:01:09.920 Why so many people are outraged or fearful or anxious or nervous? 00:01:10.959 --> 00:01:15.920 And there are some things in the world indeed that could set us off in that direction. 00:01:16.079 --> 00:01:17.040 Uh, is there an answer? 00:01:17.200 --> 00:01:18.079 Is there an antidote? 00:01:18.159 --> 00:01:21.040 And yes, indeed, that's what we want to talk about today. 00:01:21.280 --> 00:01:28.079 First, I want to thank the folks from around the world that joined us online this past week, uh, either for Bible study or for worship. 00:01:28.159 --> 00:01:31.359 Uh from Brisbane, Australia, we had some folks, isn't that awesome? 00:01:31.439 --> 00:01:32.799 That's halfway around the world, isn't it? 00:01:32.959 --> 00:01:35.359 Uh Franklin, Tennessee, that's pretty close. 00:01:35.519 --> 00:01:36.480 But back to Australia. 00:01:36.640 --> 00:01:38.560 Melbourne, Australia, as well. 00:01:38.640 --> 00:01:40.400 So I don't know if your head is spinning. 00:01:40.480 --> 00:01:43.040 I feel like I've just, my time zones are all messed up. 00:01:43.359 --> 00:01:44.400 I'm not sure what to do. 00:01:44.560 --> 00:01:48.079 And then London over in the UK as well joined us. 00:01:48.159 --> 00:01:49.599 All of those great folks. 00:01:49.680 --> 00:01:50.560 I hope they're with us. 00:01:50.640 --> 00:01:51.920 And uh, I've done something wrong. 00:01:52.079 --> 00:01:53.120 Oh, oh, okay, good. 00:01:53.280 --> 00:01:56.480 When they when the elves come up, you know, onto the stage. 00:01:56.640 --> 00:02:01.280 My my good friend Ryan, who's always keeping our tech working. 00:02:01.439 --> 00:02:02.879 Let's give Ryan a hand, by the way. 00:02:03.359 --> 00:02:04.959 Because I do appreciate you, brother. 00:02:05.200 --> 00:02:05.840 Yeah. 00:02:06.079 --> 00:02:12.159 Um, and and with all of these people here, surely something is bound to be a little bit strange about some of our tech. 00:02:12.319 --> 00:02:16.479 But um, the Latin word for Advent is and Adventus. 00:02:16.639 --> 00:02:17.840 You uh will see this up on the screen. 00:02:17.919 --> 00:02:19.199 It means arrival or coming. 00:02:19.360 --> 00:02:34.080 And during the Advent season, we both look backward in time and we reflect on the first appearing or coming of Jesus Christ back in the first century to an uh insignificant country, to an impoverished couple. 00:02:34.159 --> 00:02:44.879 Uh, and the country itself was under great oppression, part of a sort of a pass-through nation that lots of empires had run over top of, if you know much about your ancient near-east history. 00:02:45.039 --> 00:02:51.039 Um, but Advent is about looking back to that time when Jesus chose to come there instead of somewhere else. 00:02:51.280 --> 00:02:53.680 Uh when he came to that darkness. 00:02:54.159 --> 00:03:06.240 And then we look forward, don't we, in the Advent season as Christians, Bible-believing Christians, to the time when we anticipate Jesus fulfilling his promise to return, to come back, and to set the world to rights. 00:03:06.319 --> 00:03:13.759 And so we're always inspired as we come to the Advent season to be able to reflect yet one more time on those things. 00:03:13.919 --> 00:03:17.840 Here are the four themes for the four Sundays of Advent this year. 00:03:18.080 --> 00:03:25.439 We talked uh last week about unquenchable hope of God in Christ, and Pastor Tommy led us through a couple passages in Isaiah as we looked at that. 00:03:25.599 --> 00:03:28.240 Today we'll be looking at the unwavering peace of God in Christ. 00:03:28.400 --> 00:03:38.080 Next week, the unshakable joy of God in Christ, and then on our fourth Sunday of Advent, right before our Christmas Eve service, uh, we'll look at the unconditional love of God in Christ. 00:03:38.240 --> 00:03:42.479 Each of these, uh, four foci are divine gifts. 00:03:42.560 --> 00:03:44.319 They're not human achievements. 00:03:44.800 --> 00:03:49.520 And I think that's really important for us to remind ourselves of from time to time. 00:03:49.759 --> 00:03:52.000 We aren't ginning this up. 00:03:52.639 --> 00:04:00.479 Um, and we're not we're not having to push the start of it all back further and further and further because it's so hard to actually get there. 00:04:00.719 --> 00:04:08.960 You know, we don't have to start putting stuff on the shelves in July or August here at the church because we're immersing ourselves in the Word of God all year round. 00:04:09.039 --> 00:04:19.199 And when we get to Advent Man, what a beautiful, wonderful time it is to be able to see what God has done in the past and continues to do uh among us. 00:04:19.360 --> 00:04:23.040 Today we'll look at two passages, Luke chapter two and Philippians chapter four. 00:04:23.199 --> 00:04:34.160 And in uh just a moment after I pray for us, before we open the scriptures, we have some special friends who are going to come and lead us in the reading of Luke chapter two, but let's pray first. 00:04:34.319 --> 00:04:36.000 Lord, thank you for your word. 00:04:36.399 --> 00:04:38.879 Steady our hearts with it, we pray. 00:04:39.120 --> 00:04:45.120 But also, please stir our minds and brighten our hope. 00:04:46.079 --> 00:04:52.560 Draw us into the wonders of the coming of Jesus in space-time history. 00:04:53.279 --> 00:05:05.120 And as we observe this Advent season, Lord, lead us to the reassurances that you offer as we reflect on his first appearance and as we anticipate his second coming. 00:05:05.360 --> 00:05:14.399 We study your word today, praying that you'll give us a clearer vision of your truth, a greater faith in your power, and a more confident assurance of your love for us. 00:05:14.639 --> 00:05:16.000 In Jesus' name. 00:05:16.319 --> 00:05:18.079 Amen and amen. 00:05:18.319 --> 00:05:22.560 Now, Luke chapter 2 is so well known by you, by me. 00:05:22.720 --> 00:05:25.360 We, I mean, I've been a pastor 25 years. 00:05:25.519 --> 00:05:27.839 We we we we come to it every single year. 00:05:28.079 --> 00:05:38.399 You hear it all the time, you see it in all the Christmas specials that still have some, you know, uh element of the uh biblical Christmas story in it. 00:05:38.720 --> 00:05:43.120 I like myself, I like to have it sort of, I want to hear it in different ways. 00:05:43.279 --> 00:05:51.360 And so I wonder this morning if you would welcome with great gusto a handful of those kids that were just up on this platform earlier. 00:05:51.519 --> 00:05:53.199 They're gonna give us the Luke chapter two. 00:05:53.439 --> 00:05:54.079 Let's welcome them. 00:05:54.160 --> 00:05:54.800 Come on, kids. 00:05:55.519 --> 00:05:57.680 Woo! Yeah. 00:05:58.639 --> 00:05:59.680 Awesome. 00:05:59.920 --> 00:06:00.879 Yeah, come on. 00:06:01.120 --> 00:06:01.759 All right. 00:06:02.079 --> 00:06:05.680 So these guys actually have committed this to memory, all right? 00:06:05.839 --> 00:06:23.920 So if you have uh you can you can probably watch up on the screen some of this, but Luke chapter 2, verses 8 through 14, and these are some of the TVZ kids, which I am so proud of, all of them, but this special group this morning because they have this memorized and they're going to remind us of the wonders of Luke chapter two. 00:06:24.240 --> 00:06:24.879 Ready? 00:07:44.160 --> 00:07:49.439 Yeah, we don't want to just be informed, we want to be inspired and encouraged, and they certainly have done that for us. 00:07:49.600 --> 00:07:51.199 You know the rest of the story, don't you? 00:07:51.279 --> 00:07:54.800 The kids portrayed it a little bit uh earlier as well. 00:07:55.120 --> 00:07:57.759 The angels disappeared back into the heavenly realm. 00:07:58.000 --> 00:08:01.839 The shepherds decided, let's run to Bethlehem and see if these things are true. 00:08:02.000 --> 00:08:04.079 They run there, they see that they're true. 00:08:04.319 --> 00:08:06.480 And it's amazing, astounding. 00:08:06.639 --> 00:08:11.360 They actually leave from there, we're told in Luke chapter 2, and they returned, it says. 00:08:11.680 --> 00:08:12.639 Returned to where? 00:08:12.959 --> 00:08:14.560 They returned to work. 00:08:15.120 --> 00:08:18.079 They returned to their everyday life. 00:08:18.240 --> 00:08:30.800 And for them, shepherds, socially marginalized, looked down upon, uh, poor, uneducated, not the cool, not the hip, not the, you know, no. 00:08:31.040 --> 00:08:42.960 And yet, we're told in Luke chapter 2, they returned glorifying God and praising God and telling literally everybody about the things they had seen and heard. 00:08:43.120 --> 00:08:46.000 What an amazing access point in their lives. 00:08:46.159 --> 00:08:52.080 What a pivot for them, as the ordinariness of their life became remarkable. 00:08:52.320 --> 00:08:54.000 And I heard that even in the play. 00:08:54.080 --> 00:08:55.360 I heard those words all the time. 00:08:55.519 --> 00:08:59.279 There was this extraordinary or remarkable ordinary that had happened. 00:08:59.440 --> 00:09:24.559 God comes into the world, one of a million gabillion planets in the universe, in a tiny little dustball-sized planet called Earth, and chooses that little country in that space-time history, sort of, you know, in the first century, not with all the devices, not, you know, just a simple little place in time, very ordinary time, for God to invade his own creation. 00:09:24.879 --> 00:09:31.600 A darkened world spoiled, ruined by sin and selfishness, by violence, by oppression. 00:09:32.000 --> 00:09:34.000 Um, and that's where he comes. 00:09:34.080 --> 00:09:36.639 Not to a palace, but to a stable. 00:09:38.000 --> 00:10:00.639 Not with a lot of fanfare, but with some really remarkable, kind of interesting angels that appear to some common people shepherds, blue-collar workers, if you and just the extra and the ordinary come together, and the remarkable and the normal are completely changed by what has gone, what has gone on with God at the helm and driving things. 00:10:00.799 --> 00:10:11.200 Now, some of you uh would agree with me as you look around the world that we live in and all of our sophistication and all of our science and knowledge and understanding, all that sort of thing in our day and time. 00:10:11.360 --> 00:10:16.399 And you might think, oh, that's a quaint story, that Christmas story, the shepherd story. 00:10:16.559 --> 00:10:17.279 That's quaint. 00:10:17.360 --> 00:10:21.840 That's, you know, they they didn't really understand much of anything back then. 00:10:22.080 --> 00:10:28.159 And we're much more knowledgeable, and we have all the science in all the world and have figured out so much. 00:10:28.320 --> 00:10:33.600 But yet we haven't figured out what's wrong with the world, and we haven't figured out why there isn't peace with men. 00:10:34.559 --> 00:10:47.440 And yet the Bible speaks very clearly about it, and we're gonna connect the dots between the coming of the Prince of Peace, Jesus, and the way that we now live our lives, even 2,000 years later, or 2,000 plus years later. 00:10:47.679 --> 00:10:50.639 And is there a way that that can all be connected? 00:10:50.799 --> 00:10:55.519 You've got to at least ask the first question, which is what is wrong with the world? 00:10:55.679 --> 00:10:57.039 And Tim Keller has done that. 00:10:57.120 --> 00:11:05.600 His wife uh Kathy, after he after Tim went home to be with the Lord, um she has taken some of his sermons and released another book which has got this title. 00:11:05.679 --> 00:11:09.919 You can see it up on the screen, What's Wrong with the World or What is Wrong with the World? 00:11:10.159 --> 00:11:15.840 The surprising subtitle I love is the surprising, hopeful answer to the question we cannot avoid. 00:11:15.919 --> 00:11:18.240 And I don't want you to avoid that question this morning. 00:11:18.480 --> 00:11:19.440 What's wrong with the world? 00:11:19.600 --> 00:11:35.519 Tim said this: if we stand any chance of answering the question of what's wrong with the world, much less of being saved from the answer to that question, we must begin with understanding the complexity and multifaceted nature of something the Bible calls sin. 00:11:35.679 --> 00:11:37.120 It's our rebellion against God. 00:11:37.200 --> 00:11:47.600 It's the darkness that we choose to prefer to live in instead of coming into the light of God's grace and the gospel of God's grace and his glory as well. 00:11:47.840 --> 00:11:52.480 And so Tim says we've got to understand the complexity of it, the multifaceted nature of that sin. 00:11:52.799 --> 00:11:59.759 But then we've got to end with understanding the unfailing love of a God who chooses to save us from it. 00:12:00.000 --> 00:12:02.639 The referring to it, the sin. 00:12:03.200 --> 00:12:07.360 He's come to save us from our sin, and that's why Jesus came. 00:12:07.440 --> 00:12:14.879 It's not just to be a sweet little story of a baby born to a little couple that's, you know, kind of impoverished and this. 00:12:15.279 --> 00:12:15.840 No, no, no. 00:12:16.080 --> 00:12:17.360 And that's lovely and it's wonderful. 00:12:17.440 --> 00:12:19.200 We do need to tell that story. 00:12:19.440 --> 00:12:21.440 But this isn't mere sentimentality. 00:12:21.600 --> 00:12:23.919 It's not just uh nostalgia. 00:12:24.000 --> 00:12:37.519 Uh it's not just a work holiday where we dress up in our ugly Christmas sweaters and drink uh way too much hot chocolate and eat way too much fudge or pie, or better combine the two and eat way too much fudge pie. 00:12:37.600 --> 00:12:38.960 I like fudge pie, actually. 00:12:39.120 --> 00:12:40.080 I'm from Tennessee. 00:12:40.159 --> 00:12:41.919 Uh we like fudge pie around here. 00:12:42.080 --> 00:12:46.639 But we don't want to just plop ourselves down in front of the TV, do we, for 10 or 20 hours of football? 00:12:46.799 --> 00:12:53.120 We certainly don't just want to immerse ourselves in, you know, an endless stream of Hallmark movies. 00:12:53.279 --> 00:12:54.240 I know you got how many. 00:12:54.720 --> 00:12:56.559 No, I'm not gonna ask you because it's embarrassing. 00:12:56.639 --> 00:12:57.039 Yeah. 00:12:57.279 --> 00:12:58.559 They all are the same, aren't they? 00:12:58.639 --> 00:13:00.960 They all take place in a small town called Evergreen. 00:13:01.120 --> 00:13:01.919 I've noticed it. 00:13:02.000 --> 00:13:04.080 I mean there's like this ongoing thing. 00:13:04.240 --> 00:13:16.080 If it's not Evergreen, then it's at least Hickory Ridge or Cedar Cove or and the and the place they all take place is this kind of bed and breakfast place called Holly Ridge or Holly Lodge or something like that. 00:13:16.159 --> 00:13:21.919 The lead actor always has perfect stubble throughout, right here on the face, throughout the movie. 00:13:22.159 --> 00:13:23.279 That's pretty amazing. 00:13:23.440 --> 00:13:29.600 And the lead actress has at least appeared in three other Hallmark movies that you've seen as well. 00:13:29.759 --> 00:13:31.279 That happens all of the time. 00:13:31.440 --> 00:13:33.919 The lead actor is usually named Chad or Blake. 00:13:34.159 --> 00:13:35.039 Did you notice this? 00:13:35.279 --> 00:13:36.960 Chad or Blake, that's it. 00:13:37.200 --> 00:13:43.039 Um the local airport closes due to snow, but it only affects the one flight. 00:13:43.200 --> 00:13:45.039 And that's always that's always powerful. 00:13:45.200 --> 00:13:50.080 There's a character who owns a shop, it's usually named something like Sprinkles of Joy. 00:13:50.559 --> 00:13:53.679 Or tinsel and twine or something like that. 00:13:53.919 --> 00:14:03.200 Someone invariably in all of the horror movies uses the phrase, the true meaning of yeah, that's right, always comes around. 00:14:03.279 --> 00:14:04.080 You can hear it coming. 00:14:04.159 --> 00:14:05.679 It's like a mile away, and you see it. 00:14:05.759 --> 00:14:24.320 Uh everyone gathers in one house on Christmas morning, um, and there is this landslide of a collision of flannel overload that happens when they all get together in their jammies in Christmas morning, and there's lots of fake snow that falls right on cue, and that's when we see the long-anticipated kiss. 00:14:24.399 --> 00:14:30.240 And somehow, even with all that snow, their makeup and hair stay perfectly in place, don't they? 00:14:30.320 --> 00:14:32.240 It's just amazing, it's remarkable. 00:14:32.399 --> 00:14:50.799 Um, in contrast to all of that, we have smelly shepherds on a hillside with smelly sheep, lots of mud, running down the hill in the mud, running into Bethlehem, where there's no holly lodge. 00:14:52.399 --> 00:15:00.879 There's not people standing around with wasail and apple cider and look-alike sweaters, but there's a couple there. 00:15:01.360 --> 00:15:17.200 And they got a newborn baby, and they uh they're out in a what looks like a little you know cattle stall, and they're impoverished, but this baby is there, just like the angels said the baby would be. 00:15:17.360 --> 00:15:20.080 And the birth of a baby was nothing remarkable. 00:15:20.399 --> 00:15:25.039 That happened in that day and time just as often as it happens here, maybe more, who knows? 00:15:26.000 --> 00:15:40.080 But God becomes remarkable in this song, telling this story in a very remarkable moment, and then invades a very ordinary situation, scenario, don't you know? 00:15:40.240 --> 00:15:41.440 Um, how does that work? 00:15:41.600 --> 00:15:53.360 Well, Advent and Christmas are holy day observances, annual reminders of what God has already done and still intends to do about what's wrong with the world, as Tim Keller's book says. 00:15:53.519 --> 00:15:54.639 What's wrong with the world? 00:15:54.799 --> 00:15:56.480 It's not very peaceful. 00:15:56.799 --> 00:15:58.639 It's filled with unrest. 00:15:58.960 --> 00:16:05.840 And we're not just talking about wars, by the way, although those are sad and terrible, a lot of what's going on there. 00:16:06.000 --> 00:16:06.559 Yeah. 00:16:06.799 --> 00:16:14.000 But there's unrest in your life, and there's anxiety in your life, and there's difficulty around the corner for some of us, and we don't even know it. 00:16:14.240 --> 00:16:15.919 How will we meet that? 00:16:16.399 --> 00:16:20.000 And when we meet that, will we become more anxious? 00:16:20.399 --> 00:16:30.240 Or will we have learned how to turn to the king, the prince of peace, Jesus Himself, who is offering us unwavering peace. 00:16:30.399 --> 00:16:41.120 Now, if you don't want the unwavering peace and you prefer a more anxious lifestyle, I have listed, I've come up with ten, the top ten ways to make you more anxious if you'd like to be more anxious. 00:16:41.360 --> 00:16:43.600 Ruminate on all your anxieties is the first one. 00:16:43.679 --> 00:16:50.720 Now, ruminate, if you look it up in the dictionary, it will say, in the dictionary, it will actually say, like a goat chewing its cud. 00:16:51.120 --> 00:16:53.039 That's what ruminate means. 00:16:53.360 --> 00:16:58.639 Now, you know somebody, don't you, who ruminates in their anxiety. 00:17:01.200 --> 00:17:07.680 They just chew it and turn it around in their mouth over and over and over. 00:17:08.480 --> 00:17:11.119 Again, their jaw hurts, but they keep doing it. 00:17:11.440 --> 00:17:14.880 They just can't let it go. 00:17:15.599 --> 00:17:23.119 And somehow they think that if they, in their imagination or in their mind, will write some narratives, perhaps that'll help. 00:17:23.279 --> 00:17:28.160 As they ruminate and write narratives, it never helps, does it? 00:17:28.319 --> 00:17:41.359 So if you want to become more anxious, ruminate on your anxieties, wallow in your guilt and shame, wallow if you look it up in the dictionary, it'll say something like this: like a pig in a mud, you know, bunch of mud. 00:17:41.680 --> 00:17:43.200 Just wallow in it, you know. 00:17:43.279 --> 00:17:50.799 And the pigs are usually trying to do something like get rid of a fly or an insect that's on their skin, or they just like the coolness of it, or whatever. 00:17:51.039 --> 00:17:55.279 But they're just just dirty, muddy, and some of us are like that. 00:17:55.519 --> 00:18:00.880 And we're like that, sadly, about our guilt and our shame. 00:18:01.440 --> 00:18:05.039 And then we become more anxious, and our life is not peaceful at all. 00:18:05.279 --> 00:18:09.279 Bang your head then in frustration over your repeated failure to control all the outcomes. 00:18:09.599 --> 00:18:13.279 Man, I love it that some people in the church have figured it out. 00:18:13.440 --> 00:18:19.920 That if you really want to make God laugh, you tell him what you are in charge of. 00:18:22.480 --> 00:18:25.279 Because we're not really in charge of much, are we? 00:18:25.759 --> 00:18:34.319 I mean, think every single day I depend on God for gravity, light, water, air. 00:18:34.960 --> 00:18:35.839 So do you. 00:18:36.160 --> 00:18:39.039 We take those things for granted all the time. 00:18:39.279 --> 00:18:59.680 Yet our little tiny dust ball-sized planet called Earth is precariously perched at just the right angle, just the right axis as it spins, so that we get to enjoy things like gravity, oxygen, and sunlight, and our world doesn't become a dust ball. 00:18:59.920 --> 00:19:07.839 Or if it were to go the other way, and it's off-kilter, off its axis, it would become an ice ball. 00:19:08.000 --> 00:19:10.960 And yet God has given us these gifts. 00:19:11.119 --> 00:19:12.960 We we forget about them all the time. 00:19:13.279 --> 00:19:21.119 Bang your head about what you're you think you wanted to be in control of and you're not in charge of the not in charge of these things at all. 00:19:21.279 --> 00:19:25.200 Number four, ignore your relational conflicts and bitternesses. 00:19:25.359 --> 00:19:29.680 You know, the folks that like to sweep stuff under the rug, they don't want to talk about it. 00:19:30.000 --> 00:19:30.640 Ever. 00:19:31.599 --> 00:19:33.920 You try to bring it up, they don't want to talk about it. 00:19:34.319 --> 00:19:36.799 You can bring it up later, they don't want to talk about it. 00:19:37.039 --> 00:19:39.359 And they really don't want to confront it. 00:19:39.440 --> 00:19:43.920 They don't want to deal with what it takes to make peace in their own lives. 00:19:44.000 --> 00:19:46.400 And it actually is something that has to be made. 00:19:46.480 --> 00:19:48.960 It's not just something that happens miraculously. 00:19:49.200 --> 00:19:53.279 Feeding your addictions to noise, hurry, busyness, or isolation. 00:19:53.440 --> 00:19:55.119 And this, we do this every single day. 00:19:55.279 --> 00:20:04.799 Most of us, on average, it says, you know, most of the statistics will tell us that on average, most of us are checking our phones near a hundred times a day. 00:20:05.119 --> 00:20:19.200 I love it, the irony of it that every Sunday morning, this may or may not happen to you on your service plan for your phone, but my service plan for my phone reminds me of how many hours I've been on my phone, how many hours each week, and it happens while we're at church. 00:20:19.440 --> 00:20:20.079 I love that. 00:20:20.160 --> 00:20:20.880 That's great. 00:20:21.039 --> 00:20:22.880 I think that's just so cool. 00:20:23.039 --> 00:20:25.359 Number six, worship false idols. 00:20:25.440 --> 00:20:26.160 That happens a lot. 00:20:26.240 --> 00:20:30.079 It's your job, and so you begin to worship it. 00:20:30.160 --> 00:20:38.240 It becomes, you know, and it's it's not much more than a couple decades ago that people were called workaholics, and that's a reason for that. 00:20:38.400 --> 00:20:41.200 Because they literally are addicted to work. 00:20:41.440 --> 00:20:45.279 And they find their identity there, they find their significance there, and there only. 00:20:45.839 --> 00:20:51.599 And anybody gets in the way of that, you know, they run them over and they're worshiping a false idol. 00:20:51.759 --> 00:20:56.319 It can be beauty, it can be looks, it can be talent, it can be any number. 00:20:56.559 --> 00:20:58.079 And some of these things are good things. 00:20:58.240 --> 00:20:59.759 They're just false idols. 00:20:59.920 --> 00:21:02.480 They're not really the thing that can save us. 00:21:02.720 --> 00:21:12.799 Indulge false identities and lean into those, demanding validation from everyone else, causes conflict, causes conflict within you, confusion within you. 00:21:12.960 --> 00:21:14.960 And again, makes you anxious. 00:21:15.119 --> 00:21:19.680 Uh surrender to spiritual oppression, acquiesce to moral or spiritual drift. 00:21:19.839 --> 00:21:21.680 Lastly, cultivate unbelief. 00:21:21.839 --> 00:21:25.839 This is really at the core of all my sin and all my anxiety, is my unbelief. 00:21:26.079 --> 00:21:30.000 I actually get to the place every now and then where I just don't think God's got it. 00:21:30.880 --> 00:21:33.680 So I can't I cultivate unbelief. 00:21:34.160 --> 00:21:39.119 So anxiety is me thinking, God is gonna get this wrong. 00:21:39.519 --> 00:21:44.480 Anger is usually me thinking, God got this wrong, whatever this is. 00:21:45.119 --> 00:21:46.559 Maybe you're the same way. 00:21:46.720 --> 00:21:48.400 So I've given you the prescription. 00:21:48.480 --> 00:21:50.319 If you want to become more anxious, there it is. 00:21:50.400 --> 00:21:51.359 It's all up there for you. 00:21:51.519 --> 00:21:52.480 What's unbelief? 00:21:52.559 --> 00:21:54.880 It's simply forgetting who God really is. 00:21:55.599 --> 00:21:57.279 Who has God revealed Himself to be. 00:21:57.359 --> 00:21:59.200 And this is not God as you imagine God to be. 00:21:59.279 --> 00:21:59.759 Please don't. 00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:01.759 Don't fall for that nonsense. 00:22:02.000 --> 00:22:09.039 Your imagination is not powerful enough to create who God really is. 00:22:09.440 --> 00:22:14.799 Our imaginations are so they fall so full short, so far short of that. 00:22:15.119 --> 00:22:24.480 He's higher, his thoughts are higher than our thoughts, and his ways are so much more brilliantly wise and effective than the ways that we might be able to think of. 00:22:24.559 --> 00:22:31.599 So if you, if your God in some way doesn't push, pull, stretch you a little bit, you probably don't have a real God. 00:22:32.319 --> 00:22:45.279 But if you're really believing in the God who is there, the infinite God, the all-wise God, the all-loving, kind, generous God who's done everything necessary for you to experience his salvation as a free gift. 00:22:45.599 --> 00:22:49.359 Man, that's the God we want to call you to believe in. 00:22:50.079 --> 00:22:52.960 Turn with me, if you will, to Philippians chapter 4. 00:22:53.039 --> 00:23:04.720 We're gonna look at just four verses there, which I think really speak to the way that we that we want to get from connecting the Prince of Peace having come, Jesus, the King of the Kingdom of God. 00:23:04.880 --> 00:23:11.039 He's come, and with his arrival here in the first century, we have the inauguration of the kingdom of heaven. 00:23:11.519 --> 00:23:12.480 It's begun. 00:23:12.720 --> 00:23:13.519 Because the why? 00:23:13.680 --> 00:23:15.119 Because the king has come. 00:23:15.599 --> 00:23:15.920 Okay? 00:23:16.400 --> 00:23:29.519 Now it's unfolding, and he has promised to return one day and consummate or bring to its fullness this kingdom that he began back in the first century when he came the first time. 00:23:29.759 --> 00:23:40.079 But when we when we want to link together the arrival of the Prince of Peace with New Testament church understanding of what peace is, it's gonna take a little bit of just connecting some dots. 00:23:40.160 --> 00:23:48.160 So while you're turning there, I want to throw up on the screen, if you don't mind, a couple of the biblical terms that are translated into English as peace in the Old Testament. 00:23:48.240 --> 00:23:49.839 We have the Hebrew word shalom. 00:23:50.079 --> 00:23:51.119 You've heard of that word before. 00:23:51.200 --> 00:23:52.319 Most of you, I would bet. 00:23:52.480 --> 00:23:55.359 It appears 237 times in the Old Testament. 00:23:55.519 --> 00:24:02.160 The New Testament work, Greek word is Irene, and it appears 92 times in the New Testament. 00:24:02.400 --> 00:24:07.440 Both of these ancient Bible terms mean more than just the absence of conflict. 00:24:07.599 --> 00:24:17.440 They refer to the wholeness, the completeness, the welfare, the prosperity and health and safety that God puts on offer in what we call peace. 00:24:17.519 --> 00:24:42.319 And so the New Testament word, Irene, does not seek to replace or in any way diminish shalom, actually wants to get us there in the fullest sense of shalom, because the New Testament word, as the New Testament writers write, they continue to speak about how Jesus is presented as the embodiment of God's peace on offer to you and to me in Ephesians chapter 2. 00:24:42.640 --> 00:24:45.200 He himself is our peace. 00:24:45.519 --> 00:24:49.680 The Apostle Paul would write to the church at Ephesus through his death and resurrection. 00:24:49.839 --> 00:24:59.039 Believers are told in the book of Romans, chapter 5, that we have peace with God because of Christ Jesus. 00:24:59.279 --> 00:25:09.279 And we can experience supernatural inner peace, even in the middle of life's tribulations, through the verse that Kim referred to in her prayer earlier. 00:25:09.599 --> 00:25:13.359 John 16, 33, in the world you will have tribulation, Jesus said. 00:25:13.519 --> 00:25:17.519 But be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world. 00:25:30.480 --> 00:25:35.039 Or do not be anxious, some of your translations might say. 00:25:35.279 --> 00:25:43.599 But, and that's in contrast to that, in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. 00:25:44.000 --> 00:25:55.920 And then it says right there in verse 7, and the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 00:25:56.160 --> 00:25:59.359 It will literally be, the word guard is like a garrison. 00:25:59.440 --> 00:26:06.319 It's like a, it's you've got an elite force around your heart and your mind in the peace of God. 00:26:06.640 --> 00:26:09.680 He's guarding your hearts and your minds. 00:26:09.839 --> 00:26:14.000 And then I love the little, the way that the end of that verse wraps up. 00:26:14.319 --> 00:26:15.519 In Christ Jesus. 00:26:15.680 --> 00:26:15.920 Why? 00:26:16.079 --> 00:26:22.400 Because Christians, if you're a Christian, and the word Christian, by the way, is only appears three times, I think, in the New Testament. 00:26:22.559 --> 00:26:28.720 Whereas this idea of you being in Christ is close to 200 times. 00:26:29.039 --> 00:26:31.359 So that's who you really are. 00:26:31.519 --> 00:26:33.920 You're Christians, yes, we use that term all the time. 00:26:34.079 --> 00:26:37.920 But you're actually living your life in Christ. 00:26:38.160 --> 00:26:45.039 And the Apostle Paul is saying to the church of Philippi, which he loves, by the way, he's running like a pastor to this ancient church. 00:26:45.279 --> 00:26:59.279 And he's telling them that the peace of God, which surpasses your understanding, in other words, which blows your mind, will garrison around your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 00:26:59.359 --> 00:27:16.400 Now, when you're fretting, when you're anxious, when you're nervous, it's because you need to be reminded that God and His peace need, you need to surrender to those at work in your life, as opposed to gin up or steal yourself. 00:27:16.559 --> 00:27:20.720 You know, the problem with stealing yourself as a human being is you end up becoming less human. 00:27:20.960 --> 00:27:23.839 You become more steel, more robotic. 00:27:24.079 --> 00:27:42.960 What you need to do, and what I need to do when we're going through times like that, is surrender to him and trust in him, the only one who can actually bring me the peace, that can handle the incursion of suffering, or that can that can repel the fearful thoughts that I might have. 00:27:43.119 --> 00:27:46.400 I need to trust him to do what I cannot do for myself. 00:27:46.559 --> 00:27:50.160 Finally, brother in verse 8, whatever is true, there are six whatevers. 00:27:50.400 --> 00:28:06.480 Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right or just, some of your translations will say, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, or if there's any excellence or anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. 00:28:06.640 --> 00:28:09.119 That's a direct imperative command. 00:28:10.319 --> 00:28:15.200 Believers, chew the cut of this. 00:28:17.359 --> 00:28:21.599 Just get that worked into your head, your heart, and your mind. 00:28:21.839 --> 00:28:24.559 Don't dwell on your anxieties. 00:28:25.839 --> 00:28:30.319 Dwell on the things, these six things, these whatevers, they're beautiful. 00:28:30.799 --> 00:28:31.680 What a great list. 00:28:32.079 --> 00:28:35.519 Whatever's true, whatever's honorable, whatever's right. 00:28:36.000 --> 00:28:37.119 Be thinking about that. 00:28:37.279 --> 00:28:39.519 In other words, redirect your thoughts. 00:28:39.759 --> 00:28:49.519 This is what you're supposed to chew on and to dwell on, the things you have learned, the Apostle Paul says, and received and heard and seen in me. 00:28:49.680 --> 00:28:50.480 Practice. 00:28:50.720 --> 00:28:51.839 Rehearse. 00:28:52.240 --> 00:28:55.039 Keep doing those things. 00:28:56.000 --> 00:29:03.920 And the God, here's the promise: the God of peace will be with you. 00:29:05.200 --> 00:29:14.319 So the antidote to anxiety, we learned in the beginning, verse 6, is you and I falling on our knees and beginning to pray. 00:29:15.279 --> 00:29:17.920 That's the antidote to anxiety. 00:29:18.799 --> 00:29:26.240 The way that we find ourselves immersed in the peace of God is to get before Him and then trust His promises. 00:29:26.400 --> 00:29:29.039 The peace of God will be with you. 00:29:29.200 --> 00:29:31.759 In his presence, he will actually be with you. 00:29:31.920 --> 00:29:32.960 So we see, don't we? 00:29:33.119 --> 00:29:37.519 Um, Ephesians 4, 6 through 9, we see the proscription for peace. 00:29:37.759 --> 00:29:42.880 A proscription is something that is barred or banned, something you're not supposed to do, okay? 00:29:43.039 --> 00:29:51.119 So we see the proscription, we see the prescription, we see the promise of peace, and we are, it's all wrapped up, isn't it, in the Prince of Peace. 00:29:51.279 --> 00:29:56.400 Back in the Old Testament, um, we have these kinds of promises made to us. 00:29:56.640 --> 00:30:09.440 Um the prophet Isaiah, again, in chapter 26, verses 3 and 4, you, in other words, Yahweh, you keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. 00:30:10.079 --> 00:30:18.240 And then, as if he turns away from God, who he's talking, he's talking to God in the second person, he turns away and he says to all of us, trust in the Lord. 00:30:18.400 --> 00:30:21.200 That's Yahweh, all four capital letters, L-O-R-D. 00:30:21.519 --> 00:30:26.319 Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock. 00:30:27.519 --> 00:30:38.400 When you're getting blown away by the storms of life, the winds of life, everything that's being tossed at you and being turned over, and you've got nothing solid to cling to. 00:30:38.640 --> 00:30:40.319 Here's your rock, man. 00:30:41.279 --> 00:30:43.680 Here's the rock you've been looking for, you know? 00:30:44.000 --> 00:30:51.279 What does it mean to find yourself stayed, your mind stayed on the Lord? 00:30:51.519 --> 00:30:54.880 Well, it doesn't mean chewing the cut of anxiety. 00:30:55.279 --> 00:30:59.680 It means getting your focus back on God, getting back in God's presence. 00:30:59.920 --> 00:31:13.440 Mindfulness of God and practicing the presence of Jesus are critical to experiencing God's peace as we ponder his greatness and his kindness to us, even in the midst of all the stuff that's going on, whether it's desirable or not. 00:31:13.599 --> 00:31:16.559 It builds trust and leads us to more and more peace. 00:31:16.640 --> 00:31:18.079 We belong to the King of Kings. 00:31:18.240 --> 00:31:21.359 We belong to the creator God of the entire universe. 00:31:21.680 --> 00:31:23.599 He's our Father. 00:31:23.839 --> 00:31:24.880 We just prayed it. 00:31:25.039 --> 00:31:26.000 Do we meet it? 00:31:26.240 --> 00:31:29.039 Our Father, who art in heaven. 00:31:29.279 --> 00:31:33.039 He's so transcendent that the earth can't contain him. 00:31:33.839 --> 00:31:38.400 He's throughout the entire universe, and even more than that, because he existed before the universe did. 00:31:38.720 --> 00:31:40.400 He spoke the universe into being. 00:31:40.559 --> 00:31:42.960 That's who we're praying to. 00:31:43.920 --> 00:31:47.200 He's that big, that massive, that huge. 00:31:47.680 --> 00:31:53.759 And that's why when Jesus came to earth, he could make promises like this: peace, I leave with you. 00:31:54.079 --> 00:31:56.880 My peace I give to you. 00:31:57.279 --> 00:32:01.039 You don't have to buy it, you don't have to behave for it, you don't have to bounce out the moral scales to get it. 00:32:01.359 --> 00:32:03.359 He gives it to you as a gift. 00:32:03.519 --> 00:32:04.720 Where are you turning to? 00:32:04.799 --> 00:32:06.240 Where are you looking for peace? 00:32:06.319 --> 00:32:08.240 Oh, I'm gonna solve this problem for you, God. 00:32:08.400 --> 00:32:11.200 I know infinite God of the universe who holds all the stars in place. 00:32:11.359 --> 00:32:14.000 You need my help with my little life. 00:32:15.200 --> 00:32:21.599 I had so many times on my knees in prayer where I've been all stewed up about something and crazy about what's going on in the world or whatever. 00:32:21.759 --> 00:32:25.759 And he just calms me by saying, You don't have this, Jim. 00:32:26.160 --> 00:32:27.440 I've got this. 00:32:28.240 --> 00:32:30.720 Trust me with the outcomes. 00:32:30.880 --> 00:32:33.039 And that's what we have to remind ourselves over and over again. 00:32:33.200 --> 00:32:35.519 Jesus says, Don't let your heart be troubled. 00:32:35.759 --> 00:32:38.000 Don't let them be afraid. 00:32:38.720 --> 00:32:43.680 And maybe you have noticed it or maybe you haven't noticed it, but the world can be a dangerous place. 00:32:44.079 --> 00:32:52.880 Um, we can walk out of here today, trip on the sidewalk, fall down, break your leg, land face first in a potent patch of poison ivy. 00:32:53.440 --> 00:32:57.680 And uh you can lose all your savings in the stock market crash if it if it were to crash tomorrow. 00:32:57.759 --> 00:33:05.200 You can slip on a banana peel, get bitten by a rare Himalayan spider, and have a satellite fall on your head all before you get to lunch. 00:33:05.920 --> 00:33:07.759 Aren't you glad you came to church today? 00:33:07.839 --> 00:33:08.400 Yeah. 00:33:08.640 --> 00:33:11.680 People in this world suffer from a host of phobias. 00:33:11.759 --> 00:33:13.119 There's decidophobia. 00:33:13.200 --> 00:33:14.640 Maybe you know somebody like that. 00:33:14.799 --> 00:33:16.880 They just don't like to make decisions. 00:33:17.200 --> 00:33:23.519 Decytophobia, uh, the fear of making decisions, nomophobia, the fear of being without mobile phone connectivity. 00:33:23.839 --> 00:33:25.359 There's a word for that now. 00:33:25.519 --> 00:33:26.799 Nomophobia. 00:33:26.960 --> 00:33:28.160 That's awesome. 00:33:28.400 --> 00:33:36.000 Um chronometrophobia, the fear of clocks, especially alarm clocks. 00:33:36.480 --> 00:33:38.480 Is anybody afraid of alarm clocks? 00:33:38.799 --> 00:33:40.079 Or you just don't like them. 00:33:40.240 --> 00:33:42.079 You just okay, I don't like them either. 00:33:42.160 --> 00:33:46.160 Uh selfie phobia is the fear of taking a bad selfie and having no backup. 00:33:46.880 --> 00:33:49.279 There's a that's a phobia. 00:33:49.920 --> 00:33:52.720 Terrophobia is a fear of cheese. 00:33:53.680 --> 00:33:56.640