WEBVTT 00:00:06.639 --> 00:00:18.399 Welcome to Life Series, a podcast from King Garden Bay Baptist Church, where we gather together to experience God's love, grow in God's love, and give that love back to each other. 00:00:35.039 --> 00:00:37.039 Matthew chapter 5, verses 9. 00:00:37.119 --> 00:00:45.119 It says, Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God. 00:00:45.200 --> 00:00:52.320 Let's say one more time: Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. 00:00:52.880 --> 00:00:57.200 God, in this moment, whatever you're working on, please let me be a vessel. 00:00:57.359 --> 00:01:00.320 Let this word go forward and let peace reign. 00:01:00.560 --> 00:01:02.960 Not just any peace, but divine peace. 00:01:03.200 --> 00:01:11.599 God, we're so grateful for what you are doing in this moment that you still look down upon us and look beyond our faults and see our needs. 00:01:11.760 --> 00:01:14.799 God, we avail ourselves to God for this moment. 00:01:15.359 --> 00:01:17.120 In the name we pray. 00:01:17.439 --> 00:01:18.079 Amen. 00:01:20.239 --> 00:01:22.640 You may be seated no matter where you are. 00:01:47.680 --> 00:01:54.480 Some people are mourning the death of our sister who passed on Tuesday as she was just finished preparing to serve. 00:01:54.640 --> 00:01:59.840 A sister that has served and has and hugged me every Sunday, one of the kindest souls. 00:02:00.000 --> 00:02:05.840 We have not had a death in our church in over 15 years, primarily to our members who are gathered here. 00:02:05.920 --> 00:02:07.680 So this is a new place for us. 00:02:07.920 --> 00:02:21.680 However, we find ourselves now not just dealing with deaths, but outside of this, we are dealing with things in our church, in our community, in our lives, that at some point in time we need peace. 00:02:22.000 --> 00:02:23.199 We need peace. 00:02:23.439 --> 00:02:25.520 We need to have peace where we are. 00:02:25.680 --> 00:02:32.719 And no matter what's going on throughout the world, that we need to understand that whatever goes on, Jesus is still there for us. 00:02:33.280 --> 00:02:34.800 Jesus is still there for us. 00:02:34.879 --> 00:02:38.719 And no matter what's happening in our life, that God is still on the throne. 00:02:38.879 --> 00:02:42.719 I know that right now you may come to church and expecting a different program. 00:02:42.800 --> 00:02:46.960 And right now we're supposed to be in the middle of our announcements and offering. 00:02:47.120 --> 00:02:51.840 But sometimes God introducts what's happening so you can get what you need right now. 00:02:52.000 --> 00:02:53.520 Somebody say peace. 00:02:54.319 --> 00:03:07.680 Right now, all of us, no matter what you go, no matter how far and how wide you travel, at some point in time, you're gonna want God to instruct and download peace in your heart, peace in your mind. 00:03:07.840 --> 00:03:11.520 And throughout the world, there's a continued need for peace. 00:03:11.680 --> 00:03:16.960 And a great writer, Bob Marley, says, Everyone is crying out for peace. 00:03:19.120 --> 00:03:24.800 But no one is crying out for justice. 00:03:25.360 --> 00:03:35.280 No matter where we go, as Jesus sits in the mouse, the brokenhearted on a sermon on the mount, he's sitting down close to the people who are now victims of violence. 00:03:35.599 --> 00:03:43.840 He sits down with the widows, the hurt, the broken, the marginalized, the poor, and he says, You are suffering violence. 00:03:44.400 --> 00:03:59.520 At this point in time, the Roman Empire was reigning just so they could continue to inhabit territory, but they did it through domination, through word, through war, through suppression and oppression, through taxation and bullying. 00:03:59.680 --> 00:04:06.400 They had something called Pax Romana, which is Roman peace, and this was rule with the iron fist. 00:04:06.960 --> 00:04:15.520 These people now, when Jesus is now saying, Blessed are the peacemakers, he's challenging what they have known as political peace. 00:04:15.680 --> 00:04:21.360 Look at your neighbor, if someone is peaceful because they're quiet, that's not peace, that's control. 00:04:21.839 --> 00:04:32.959 And you have to know that right now, these children now sitting, listening, and these people sitting around listening to Jesus says, Blessed are the peacemakers, because they will be called the children of God. 00:04:33.439 --> 00:04:46.160 People who are now using their peace, just like the Roman Empire, were achieving peace through domination, through intimidation, through injustice, and they reign with pain and slavery and suppression. 00:04:46.319 --> 00:04:53.519 They use all their propaganda to control the masses, to maintain peace, but it costs war. 00:04:54.079 --> 00:04:57.680 God says, When I give divine peace, no blood has to be shed. 00:04:57.839 --> 00:05:02.079 Nobody has to be hurt because he imparts peace in your heart. 00:05:02.319 --> 00:05:03.600 Now you have to think about it. 00:05:03.759 --> 00:05:09.360 The Roman Empire, if we think about it, the Roman Empire is not much different from what's happening now in our world. 00:05:09.600 --> 00:05:15.839 Now in our world, there are people who are claiming themselves to be peacekeepers, but they're not peacemakers. 00:05:16.399 --> 00:05:18.800 Jesus didn't say, Blessed are the peacekeepers. 00:05:18.959 --> 00:05:21.680 He said, Blessed are the peacemakers. 00:05:21.920 --> 00:05:25.279 Because it's a difference for keeping peace and making peace. 00:05:25.439 --> 00:05:29.439 One says that you just come in, make, keep peace, and you leave. 00:05:29.600 --> 00:05:39.360 One says that you're committed to the process of not only keeping peace, but making peace, but surviving and making sure peace endures long after you're gone. 00:05:39.680 --> 00:05:47.600 But some people need to understand not everyone says that they want peace, means that they're acting in a peaceful way. 00:05:47.839 --> 00:05:53.839 The Roman Empire killed thousands of thousands of people in the name of power. 00:05:55.040 --> 00:05:58.079 But they clouded in the name of peace. 00:05:58.319 --> 00:06:05.680 If you think about it all over the world, we are having wars and rumors of wars in the name of peace. 00:06:06.079 --> 00:06:18.000 Political peace, where people are wars, and men, women, and children are being separated from each other, and children are growing up with our mothers and fathers in the name of peace. 00:06:18.319 --> 00:06:25.600 That you have bombs being dropped on Palestine and all over the world in Lebanon in the name of peace. 00:06:26.000 --> 00:06:31.920 You have children in Sudan being separated and being killed in the name of peace. 00:06:32.319 --> 00:06:39.279 If you think about it, in the last 10 years, there have been several wars in the name of peace. 00:06:39.839 --> 00:06:46.800 The most recent wars that have started in the Russian-Ukraine war that started in 2014 in the name of peace. 00:06:46.959 --> 00:06:49.600 Hundreds of thousands of people have now died. 00:06:49.839 --> 00:06:53.839 Israel and Hamas have started, restarted their war in 2023. 00:06:54.000 --> 00:06:57.040 The Sudan Civil War started in 2023. 00:06:57.199 --> 00:07:03.519 The Syrian Civil War, the Yemen Civil War, the Mayan Civil War, the Ethiopian Civil War. 00:07:03.600 --> 00:07:12.399 And right now, DR Congo and others to be named are happening, but even the US have started so many wars in the name of peace. 00:07:12.639 --> 00:07:18.959 They have literally bombed Venezuela in the name of peace and kidnapped their president for peace. 00:07:19.920 --> 00:07:26.399 And they've started a war in Iran that all of us are feeling the effects even on our shores. 00:07:26.639 --> 00:07:33.759 The reason that you are paying so much for gas is because of the name of peace. 00:07:34.800 --> 00:07:54.000 If you ever think about it, this peace that we're seeming to go over, and that it's estimated since 9-11, associated deaths since 9-11 with associated wars have almost reached to one million souls in the name of peace. 00:07:55.040 --> 00:08:08.879 When the indirect consequences of war is calculated, including hunger, disease, displacement, destruction, long-time cancers, and the trauma psychologically that you don't see. 00:08:09.279 --> 00:08:16.319 How can we have peace when women and children are afraid to go to sleep because they think that bombs are gonna fall on their head? 00:08:16.480 --> 00:08:21.439 I know we're in the Virgin Islands, but the wars are causing us to pay. 00:08:22.240 --> 00:08:32.879 Our groceries are higher, electricity is higher, the price of gas is higher, the cost of living has gone up because there is no peace. 00:08:35.200 --> 00:08:41.279 But if we think about it, peace is not just a utilitarian thing, it's something that we should all be invested in. 00:08:41.519 --> 00:08:45.759 But we have to know that this political peace is not the peace that we need. 00:08:45.840 --> 00:08:55.200 What we really need is peace that allows all of us to live equally, peace that recognizes you as my brother and sister, regardless of race, class, or creed. 00:08:55.600 --> 00:08:59.600 Peace that says that I'm not gonna be in reign with injustice. 00:08:59.840 --> 00:09:06.240 Peace is not the absence of war, peace means that it might be conflict, but my intention is right. 00:09:06.399 --> 00:09:11.279 Peace means that I care about you, peace means I look at your heart and see your value. 00:09:11.519 --> 00:09:16.240 Peace means that there can't be injustice and people who are treated less than. 00:09:16.799 --> 00:09:19.919 Now, Jesus looks at these people and he talks about peace. 00:09:20.000 --> 00:09:24.799 And I want to break it down for you real quick that there's three types of peace that we must achieve. 00:09:24.960 --> 00:09:25.679 Look at your neighbor. 00:09:25.840 --> 00:09:27.200 Say there's three types. 00:09:28.720 --> 00:09:30.480 The first is inner peace. 00:09:30.559 --> 00:09:32.639 Look at your neighbor, say inner peace. 00:09:33.200 --> 00:09:36.480 That's a peace that comes from within. 00:09:36.639 --> 00:09:38.159 That's a peace that happens within. 00:09:38.240 --> 00:09:43.759 Now, some of you right now really ain't know when last you had peace in your heart and in your mind. 00:09:44.000 --> 00:09:49.279 You're living right now in life, and you're saying, Pastor, well, you don't know what I have to deal with on a daily basis. 00:09:49.440 --> 00:09:55.200 If you understand the kind of things that I have to deal with on a daily basis, you will understand why I'm not peaceful. 00:09:55.440 --> 00:09:58.399 Every day I wake up and my family is torn apart. 00:09:58.559 --> 00:10:00.960 Every day I go into a job where people don't like me. 00:10:01.120 --> 00:10:07.039 Every day I'm in a community where people are talking about I don't know peace because peace don't know me. 00:10:07.360 --> 00:10:13.519 You're like saying, Pastor, well, I'm trying to achieve peace, but my inner life seems to be torment. 00:10:13.840 --> 00:10:22.559 You're walking around wanting to be peaceful, but the trauma of what they did to you when you were eight and nine years old still racks your mind in your 30s and your 40s. 00:10:22.639 --> 00:10:26.240 And you're saying, you're talking about peace, but you don't know my trauma. 00:10:26.399 --> 00:10:27.600 You don't know my pain. 00:10:27.759 --> 00:10:30.960 How can I have peace when I'm in poverty? 00:10:31.519 --> 00:10:36.960 Not just poverty financially, poverty of my soul, poverty of my mind, poverty of my health. 00:10:37.120 --> 00:10:40.480 I want peace, but I can't seem to get it. 00:10:40.639 --> 00:10:44.799 And some of us are feeling that peace is meaning how much money you have. 00:10:45.039 --> 00:10:50.639 Can I tell you you can have all the money in the world and don't have inner peace? 00:10:51.519 --> 00:10:55.440 Some of you are saying, Well, well, if you got it, you don't know what I'm talking about. 00:10:55.600 --> 00:10:59.840 I'm telling you, the more money you get, the more problems you're gonna get. 00:10:59.919 --> 00:11:04.000 And the the peace that you're trying to achieve cannot be done externally. 00:11:04.159 --> 00:11:05.840 It has to start on the inside. 00:11:06.000 --> 00:11:11.600 Some of us need to say, God, what I really need is for you to do a heart check on me. 00:11:13.039 --> 00:11:22.639 See, that's why this scripture is so important that before he says, Blessed are the peacemakers, he he was checking your blessed are those who are pure in heart. 00:11:22.879 --> 00:11:26.960 Some of you want to have peace, you need to check your heart. 00:11:27.440 --> 00:11:30.799 You have a bad heart, you can't obtain peace. 00:11:31.039 --> 00:11:42.399 Meaning that if your heart is filled with regret and unforgiveness and hate and all these things, how are you gonna have peace when you don't even like the people around you? 00:11:43.279 --> 00:11:48.159 How are you gonna have peace when your intention, your desire for others are not well? 00:11:48.320 --> 00:11:54.960 How are you gonna have peace where you can't say, God, I really want have some stuff going on, and I want you to examine my heart? 00:11:55.120 --> 00:11:56.559 How are you gonna have peace? 00:11:56.799 --> 00:11:58.799 Somebody needs a heart check. 00:11:59.679 --> 00:12:04.240 If you really want peace, not not Instagram peace, not not Facebook peace. 00:12:04.559 --> 00:12:19.519 I'm talking about real peace, not the little peace that you say, take five minutes and you think, no, that's I'm talking about peace that's long term, peace that that surpasses all understanding, peace that gives you when things are going hell and haywire in your life, you still have peace. 00:12:20.960 --> 00:12:29.840 That inner peace that you need, that that peace that when people are wondering why your world seems to be falling apart, and you say, Because I got inner peace. 00:12:32.159 --> 00:12:34.879 That peace from the purity of heart, the second thing. 00:12:34.960 --> 00:12:36.799 Look at neighbor, say the second thing. 00:12:37.279 --> 00:12:40.159 The second thing, look at your neighbor, say the second thing. 00:12:40.639 --> 00:12:43.120 The second thing is communal peace. 00:12:44.399 --> 00:12:45.519 The communal peace. 00:12:45.600 --> 00:12:48.159 That's the peace between you and everybody else. 00:12:48.480 --> 00:12:51.519 Now you're saying, Pastor, you got me, you had me an inner peace. 00:12:51.600 --> 00:12:53.600 I I know I need to get my heart right. 00:12:53.679 --> 00:12:54.720 I understand that. 00:12:54.879 --> 00:13:04.320 But you asking me to get along and have peace with people that you know, God, you sit up high and look down low. 00:13:04.639 --> 00:13:06.480 You are omnipresent. 00:13:06.799 --> 00:13:10.960 Even when I wasn't there, you know those people don't like me. 00:13:13.200 --> 00:13:16.720 And now you have this young pastor here preaching about peace. 00:13:16.879 --> 00:13:21.200 I got it with inner peace, but you not want me to get along with people around me? 00:13:21.440 --> 00:13:22.000 Really? 00:13:22.159 --> 00:13:23.919 You just start talking about wars. 00:13:24.080 --> 00:13:25.679 They can't get along as big countries. 00:13:25.759 --> 00:13:27.519 How am I supposed to get along with these people? 00:13:27.840 --> 00:13:31.600 Pastor, you know my heart, you're working on my heart, but I'm not, I'm not that well. 00:13:31.679 --> 00:13:33.279 I'm not, I'm not it all together. 00:13:33.440 --> 00:13:36.000 We need peace amongst each other. 00:13:38.720 --> 00:13:44.480 See, the thing is, why we don't have good peace talks because our intentions are wrong. 00:13:46.399 --> 00:13:51.759 You go, somebody's coming to you to make peace, and you're going to prove you're right. 00:13:53.759 --> 00:13:57.279 You can wing an argument and still have no peace. 00:13:58.000 --> 00:14:04.480 It's not about right and wrong, it's about making sure that you are living well with the brother and sister next to you. 00:14:04.639 --> 00:14:06.080 I want to sell this to somebody. 00:14:06.240 --> 00:14:13.360 If you have somebody in your life that you can make peace with, I will tell you today and tomorrow is not promised. 00:14:13.519 --> 00:14:16.720 You should stop what you're doing and make peace. 00:14:19.840 --> 00:14:28.080 You think about it, we say that one day that all of us will pass away, and you're still being comfortable day after day, living with hate and hurting your heart. 00:14:28.240 --> 00:14:30.000 I just want to have peace. 00:14:30.320 --> 00:14:33.360 You're saying, Well, Pastor, these people don't even want to talk to me. 00:14:33.519 --> 00:14:36.320 Peace doesn't mean that you have to confront the person. 00:14:36.480 --> 00:14:39.840 Sometimes you need to make peace with others in silence. 00:14:40.879 --> 00:14:48.399 Sometimes wisdom says, Don't go back to that place trying to make peace with that person because they're not safe for you. 00:14:48.480 --> 00:14:53.039 But in your heart of hearts, you can say, God, I want you to look at my heart internally. 00:14:53.200 --> 00:14:55.519 I want you to examine all the people in my life. 00:14:55.679 --> 00:15:01.519 I know that this person is talking bad about me, but I pray for peace over their life. 00:15:01.759 --> 00:15:08.720 You see why that's why Jesus asked you to pray for your enemies because it sets you apart and it gives you peace. 00:15:10.720 --> 00:15:15.759 It's not making you weak, it's giving you strength in the midst of a confrontation. 00:15:16.000 --> 00:15:19.679 Sometimes you have to say, Why are you smiling in the midst of a battle? 00:15:19.840 --> 00:15:27.120 Because God gave me a peace and I worked so hard on it, and I'm not gonna allow you, you or you, to disturb it. 00:15:27.679 --> 00:15:42.320 Some of us need to become very, very protective of our peace in our space because you've worked so hard to get to where God has gotten you, and you're gonna allow somebody to come into your life and start war against you, tell somebody. 00:15:42.559 --> 00:15:45.919 When they're about to start an argument, peace, please. 00:15:48.480 --> 00:15:54.639 When somebody's coming up to you with some some some something negative that they're about to say, tell them peace, please. 00:15:55.600 --> 00:15:58.720 If you want a hashtag, tell them I'm working on my peace. 00:15:59.120 --> 00:16:00.480 I'm working on my peace. 00:16:00.639 --> 00:16:04.639 And some of you who who are not even saved, you could say, you know what? 00:16:04.799 --> 00:16:06.080 I'm not even that saved. 00:16:06.159 --> 00:16:09.360 I'm just trying to practice what God told Pastor to say on Sunday. 00:16:09.519 --> 00:16:10.559 So you got away. 00:16:10.639 --> 00:16:12.399 But next week the sermon might change. 00:16:12.480 --> 00:16:15.279 So don't come back next week thinking I'm gonna be on that peace thing. 00:16:15.440 --> 00:16:19.679 But for right now, I show peace. 00:16:20.240 --> 00:16:29.600 Some of us need to be able to take back authority over our life and be able to say, I'm gonna be peaceful, even though when my world seems to be falling apart. 00:16:29.759 --> 00:16:32.799 Peace is not weakness, peace is wisdom. 00:16:34.000 --> 00:16:39.600 I wanna tell somebody, if you're in a relationship, anybody in a relationship, anybody in a relationship, real quick? 00:16:39.759 --> 00:17:06.400 Anybody in a relationship, if you're in a relationship and and and and and you have peace in your relationship, you don't argue, you don't fight, you don't fuss, whether it's a romantic relationship, work relationship, family relationship, whatever relationship it is, wherever your ship is going, whatever kind of ship you have, a big ship, small ship, a broken ship, a leaky ship, whatever type, a ship with other, a ship with tenders. 00:17:06.480 --> 00:17:08.559 Some of you are on other people's ship. 00:17:08.640 --> 00:17:09.920 Get back on your own ship. 00:17:10.559 --> 00:17:12.400 Please get on your own ship. 00:17:12.480 --> 00:17:16.480 Don't be sneaking off on other people's ship late at night just for peace. 00:17:26.720 --> 00:17:28.400 The band ain't the band ain't right. 00:17:28.480 --> 00:17:29.759 I know they would have gotten it. 00:17:30.720 --> 00:17:32.559 The band was like, whoop, Pastor. 00:17:34.720 --> 00:17:39.039 The reason why you ain't had peace in a long time, because you don't have no real peace. 00:17:39.119 --> 00:17:43.920 And ain't nobody want to come into your life and be sharing your dysfunction. 00:17:44.319 --> 00:17:50.960 No matter what ship you're on, everybody needs peace. 00:17:52.240 --> 00:17:58.400 But that relationship that you're in, remember, whatever ship you're in, big or small. 00:18:00.720 --> 00:18:05.359 Don't mistake silence for peace. 00:18:06.640 --> 00:18:11.119 Don't mistake the lack of conflict for peace. 00:18:11.920 --> 00:18:20.000 Oh, you see, uh, see, you're like, well, here's the thing: you could have a conflict and not have war. 00:18:20.880 --> 00:18:28.960 See, war means that I am gonna be forcefully intimidate you and break you in every part of who you are. 00:18:29.200 --> 00:18:32.720 War means I'm gonna be critical to who you are as a person. 00:18:32.960 --> 00:18:35.359 War is gonna break every aspect. 00:18:35.519 --> 00:18:38.319 You know when people are anybody ever had an argument with somebody? 00:18:38.480 --> 00:18:38.960 Anybody? 00:18:39.119 --> 00:18:40.160 Anybody you can raise their hand. 00:18:40.240 --> 00:18:41.440 Anybody ever had an argument? 00:18:41.599 --> 00:18:42.799 Ah, you are lying. 00:18:42.960 --> 00:18:46.000 Look at y'all a bunch of everybody at the altar right now. 00:18:46.160 --> 00:18:49.359 Anybody ever are anybody have an argument this morning? 00:18:50.000 --> 00:18:52.880 Yeah, anybody, y'all got kids, y'all got kids, y'all. 00:18:53.119 --> 00:18:54.400 We argue every morning. 00:18:54.799 --> 00:18:56.400 He you had an argument this morning. 00:18:56.559 --> 00:19:01.519 Anybody ever had the type of argument that you forgot that you were Christian? 00:19:07.680 --> 00:19:08.559 Come on now. 00:19:08.960 --> 00:19:10.000 Let's be honest. 00:19:10.880 --> 00:19:13.920 Midway through the argument, you'd be like, oh Lord, have mercy. 00:19:17.839 --> 00:19:22.559 You've been cussing for 15 minutes, and at the 16 minutes, oh I'm oh my god. 00:19:23.680 --> 00:19:25.519 Okay, you felt a quickening in your spirit. 00:19:25.599 --> 00:19:29.680 No, you just saw somebody that reminded you, ain't you such and such? 00:19:33.680 --> 00:19:34.160 Sister. 00:19:35.440 --> 00:19:36.720 She had just moved to the island. 00:19:36.799 --> 00:19:41.680 She was driving here, and she was getting accustomed to the roads, and the people were not as nice. 00:19:41.759 --> 00:19:42.400 So what happened? 00:19:42.480 --> 00:19:43.759 She got in a little fender bender. 00:19:44.079 --> 00:19:48.079 And what happened is the road was blocked partially, and she was trying to tell people to move. 00:19:48.160 --> 00:19:49.839 She's very safe, she's very anointed. 00:19:49.920 --> 00:19:51.680 She was telling people directing traffic. 00:19:51.839 --> 00:19:53.200 She is already in a peaceful city. 00:19:53.279 --> 00:19:57.039 She said she's directing traffic, and she told people to come past, come past, come past. 00:19:57.200 --> 00:19:59.920 However, there came to a point that was one lady, one lady. 00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:02.400 Look at there's all look at your neighbor, there's always one. 00:20:03.279 --> 00:20:04.960 There's always one. 00:20:05.599 --> 00:20:14.960 Everybody passed, they ain't say nothing, but there's always that one lady come past, and this person is holy, they just got on the island. 00:20:15.119 --> 00:20:15.519 Uh-uh. 00:20:15.680 --> 00:20:22.880 This person, you know, they're really dignified, they have titles and whatnot, degrees and whatnot, and so they had to be all good, quiet, and careful. 00:20:23.039 --> 00:20:29.839 Ah, but the lady told her, the lady, the lady looked at her and started fussing at her. 00:20:32.079 --> 00:20:35.519 And at that moment, there was a conflict. 00:20:36.559 --> 00:20:38.400 And she was like, This is already happening. 00:20:38.480 --> 00:20:40.559 I know this person is gonna disturb my peace. 00:20:40.640 --> 00:20:43.920 And I could imagine that the degrees of shifts that happened in her mind. 00:20:44.319 --> 00:20:48.160 This person, if I don't give too much details, this person is a doctor, right? 00:20:48.240 --> 00:20:51.839 This person is a doctor and this person is now from Jamaica. 00:20:51.920 --> 00:20:53.759 This person is a doctor and Jamaican. 00:20:53.839 --> 00:20:57.200 Uh, this person may have on orange and may have on a hat right now. 00:20:57.359 --> 00:21:02.720 This person is a doctor and is Jamaican and is wearing orange with a little bit of tan. 00:21:02.960 --> 00:21:06.240 And at that moment, uh, when I when I met her, she talks really well. 00:21:06.400 --> 00:21:07.599 She she says, Well, Dr. 00:21:07.759 --> 00:21:11.200 Mike, I want you to be able to know such and such and this and another. 00:21:11.359 --> 00:21:14.480 And as I got to know her, uh, I realized that she has an accent. 00:21:14.640 --> 00:21:17.839 And at the accent comes out at very times of conflict. 00:21:17.920 --> 00:21:21.759 And at that moment on the hill with the accident, I went that oh, I'm here. 00:21:21.839 --> 00:21:26.400 The first person, the first couple words I could imagine, and the person started to be very aggressive to her. 00:21:26.480 --> 00:21:30.720 She's like, Nope, I can't answer back because I am here on with Dr. 00:21:30.799 --> 00:21:31.119 Mike. 00:21:31.279 --> 00:21:32.720 Everybody knows I'm working for Dr. 00:21:32.799 --> 00:21:35.039 Mike, so I have to act like I have some sense. 00:21:35.440 --> 00:21:38.319 And then, and then, and then after they said I had to act some sense. 00:21:38.480 --> 00:21:40.160 After a while, the person kept with the conflict. 00:21:40.240 --> 00:21:41.359 She's like, you know what? 00:21:41.519 --> 00:21:42.640 This is getting out of hand. 00:21:42.799 --> 00:21:44.559 She says, All right, I'm gonna blade Dr. 00:21:44.640 --> 00:21:47.200 Mike on the side because he ain't here right now. 00:21:47.359 --> 00:21:48.640 And then nobody really knows me. 00:21:48.720 --> 00:21:51.599 I've only been here a week, and so this lady's just kept being up. 00:21:51.839 --> 00:21:53.440 She says it started to degrade. 00:21:53.519 --> 00:21:59.759 What happened is I she went from being a doctor to being working for. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:00.400 Dr. 00:22:00.559 --> 00:22:04.799 Mike to being a human to be in Jamaican. 00:22:04.880 --> 00:22:14.160 See, when it got to be in Jamaican, that that at that at that moment, when she became Jamaican, at that moment, she says, The Lord bless you and go part of your way. 00:22:14.319 --> 00:22:15.519 Now, this is what I'm saying. 00:22:15.599 --> 00:22:25.440 When she said the Lord bless you and go part of your way, I was like, Sometimes you keep your peace and don't let people change who you are. 00:22:25.599 --> 00:22:30.720 You don't have to stoop to that level, but peace doesn't mean that you allow people to walk over you. 00:22:32.079 --> 00:22:34.559 You can say, you can use your voice. 00:22:36.079 --> 00:22:37.920 But peace is not silence. 00:22:38.079 --> 00:22:40.400 Peace is not allowing people to take advantage of you. 00:22:40.559 --> 00:22:45.599 Peace just means I'm not gonna let you change me to become nasty like you. 00:22:46.880 --> 00:22:48.400 You wanna curse me out? 00:22:49.119 --> 00:22:53.200 That's not a part of who I'm becoming because I'm a peacemaker. 00:22:54.319 --> 00:22:58.400 When you show up, peace should be on your side. 00:22:59.039 --> 00:23:00.960 Peace is not silence, not oppression. 00:23:01.200 --> 00:23:11.119 If you're in a relationship and this dictator, he says, Oh, we all quiet, we get along, we're fine, we're good, and it's because somebody else is being controlled. 00:23:11.279 --> 00:23:14.640 Some of you are in relationship with narcissists and don't know it. 00:23:14.799 --> 00:23:19.440 These people are controlling how you think, how you act, how you dress, how you breathe. 00:23:19.519 --> 00:23:21.680 And you say in my relationship is peaceful. 00:23:21.839 --> 00:23:26.240 That's not peaceful, that's control, that's abuse and that's oppression. 00:23:26.400 --> 00:23:28.640 That ain't love, that's control. 00:23:29.119 --> 00:23:38.880 Don't mistake silence for peace because I love my wife, and you, if you're married, all of us who are married, all of you in married, married people, what do you want? 00:23:39.039 --> 00:23:39.839 Peace, right? 00:23:40.160 --> 00:23:43.680 However, sometimes it's gonna take a little bit of yelling. 00:23:47.119 --> 00:24:02.160 But when peace turns into war, when you're having a conflict with someone, and then you start to pick apart their weaknesses and start to talk about how bad they are and start to talk about their character, that ain't peace or conflict. 00:24:02.319 --> 00:24:07.039 You are declaring war and you are assassinating someone's character just to win. 00:24:07.200 --> 00:24:12.160 In a conflict, you can have disagreements, but you don't have to break each other down. 00:24:19.519 --> 00:24:20.799 The divine peace. 00:24:21.440 --> 00:24:23.200 That's the peace that we want. 00:24:23.759 --> 00:24:29.920 And although I shared inner peace, a community peace, it all goes back to what? 00:24:30.240 --> 00:24:31.119 Basics. 00:24:31.440 --> 00:24:39.039 Because God has always called us to have a relationship with Him, ourselves, and others. 00:24:39.440 --> 00:24:40.880 See where the peace comes back? 00:24:41.279 --> 00:24:46.640 To love God with all your heart, mind, and soul, and to love your neighbor like yourself. 00:24:46.799 --> 00:24:52.960 And these are the foundations which our faith is built on, and that defined peace is what we're needing. 00:24:53.359 --> 00:24:53.680 Right? 00:24:53.839 --> 00:25:02.640 Well, if you if you don't have none of these first two, ask God first for divine peace because everything else will follow. 00:25:02.880 --> 00:25:07.119 Some of you are trying to achieve peace in your life, but leaving God out of the picture. 00:25:07.200 --> 00:25:11.200 I want to tell somebody, don't leave God when you're trying to achieve peace. 00:25:11.359 --> 00:25:17.359 So Jesus looks around and he says, Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. 00:25:17.519 --> 00:25:21.200 I want to tell somebody, divine peace surpasses all understanding. 00:25:21.359 --> 00:25:27.839 Divine peace is that thing that when things get worried in your life, divine peace shows up and says, Don't worry, my child. 00:25:28.079 --> 00:25:35.039 Divine peace looks like when the storms are raging in your life, that you are able to sleep at night when all hell is breaking loose. 00:25:35.200 --> 00:25:45.920 A divine peace says that you don't worry about what's happening on the external because you know that the God who's operating supernaturally concerns and controls the external and the internal. 00:25:46.079 --> 00:25:47.920 Look at your neighbor and say, Divine peace. 00:25:48.079 --> 00:25:48.480 I don't know. 00:25:48.799 --> 00:25:49.759 This is what I mean. 00:25:50.160 --> 00:25:56.480 What it means when you show up with divine peace is that are you in your life representing God's peace? 00:25:56.640 --> 00:26:02.720 Meaning, when you show up in any situation, are you called the children of God? 00:26:03.599 --> 00:26:11.039 When you come to your job, when you come to your family, when you come into relationships, are they calling you the children of God? 00:26:11.200 --> 00:26:13.680 I'm trying to say, are you a peacemaker? 00:26:15.440 --> 00:26:15.680 No? 00:26:16.160 --> 00:26:17.599 Some of you, no, none of you in here. 00:26:17.680 --> 00:26:19.279 I'm sorry, I want you to come back next week. 00:26:19.519 --> 00:26:21.519 None of you in here, here's what happens. 00:26:21.759 --> 00:26:23.359 You ever seen somebody coming? 00:26:24.400 --> 00:26:26.240 Don't look at nobody, just look at me. 00:26:27.839 --> 00:26:29.519 You ever see somebody coming? 00:26:30.400 --> 00:26:34.240 And everybody in the room be like, oh, here comes trouble. 00:26:35.680 --> 00:26:40.559 Oh, who invite who invited them to the who invited them to the happy hour? 00:26:40.720 --> 00:26:42.319 Who invited them to the breakfast? 00:26:43.119 --> 00:26:51.599 You created a separate right now, some of you right now sitting over here, have a separate group chat, excluding people that you don't want to be in. 00:26:51.680 --> 00:26:55.920 You have a big group chat and you have a smaller one that you leave out the troublemakers. 00:26:59.519 --> 00:27:05.839 Because ain't nobody want to be cozy with people who always cause trouble. 00:27:07.680 --> 00:27:12.079 Are you seen as a children of God when you walk in the church? 00:27:12.160 --> 00:27:14.319 Or are they saying, Lord, have mercy? 00:27:14.480 --> 00:27:16.240 It's gonna be a day to day. 00:27:17.519 --> 00:27:20.799 Are you representing God's peace when you show up? 00:27:20.960 --> 00:27:24.559 I want you to know that you have to possess that divine peace. 00:27:24.799 --> 00:27:28.880 I want to tell you, I want to preach from my heart. 00:28:06.640 --> 00:28:08.799 It was in the morning. 00:28:10.240 --> 00:28:14.480 I was like, Well, okay, we get some questions. 00:28:14.960 --> 00:28:25.279 I was like, Well, question I said, I said, I said, Well, I came to church and you pass him because I know God called me to do it. 00:28:26.240 --> 00:28:28.160 I was just being obedient. 00:28:28.799 --> 00:28:39.519 But now I realize over these last couple months, especially when we came off a break, that the most important job I have is to be a shepherd. 00:28:40.640 --> 00:28:44.720 Is to be able to navigate you all through life. 00:28:46.319 --> 00:28:53.599 To be able to say something, guide something, instruct something, create an environment where I can shepherd you through God. 00:28:54.720 --> 00:28:56.000 I can control you. 00:28:56.640 --> 00:29:00.880 When I'm telling you, that peace is important. 00:29:05.920 --> 00:29:08.799 Mourning the death of our sister, Sister Clemencia right now. 00:29:09.039 --> 00:29:10.160 I want to tell you. 00:29:10.880 --> 00:29:12.559 That peace looks different. 00:29:12.880 --> 00:29:13.920 When you're mourning. 00:29:15.839 --> 00:29:17.680 I'm choosing when I got the call. 00:29:18.000 --> 00:29:19.440 I could not believe it. 00:29:19.759 --> 00:29:22.000 When my wife said, I'm going to the house. 00:29:26.319 --> 00:29:29.599 At that moment, my mom reached out to me as well. 00:29:30.079 --> 00:29:39.599 And sent the picture later on and said, This is the pot of rice that she made for the CS program right before she passed. 00:29:40.720 --> 00:29:44.640 Her last act of service wasn't notoriety. 00:29:45.279 --> 00:29:47.279 It wasn't to be celebrated. 00:29:48.000 --> 00:29:53.599 It's that she was making sure that the people she was serving were okay. 00:29:54.160 --> 00:30:04.400 But last Sunday, as in every Sunday that she's here, every Sunday, she will wait around no matter what's going on, and wait around and gave me a hug. 00:30:04.559 --> 00:30:07.920 Last Sunday, I almost missed her. 00:30:08.720 --> 00:30:12.559 And she tapped me on the shoulder and said, Pastor, I'm right here. 00:30:13.039 --> 00:30:17.599 And she gave me a hug, and whenever she hugged me, I just felt the peace of God. 00:30:18.079 --> 00:30:20.960 I felt divine presence and I felt calm. 00:30:21.200 --> 00:30:32.559 I want to remind somebody today that you and all of us should be hoping to have divine peace inhibited in us, living in us, abiding in us. 00:30:32.799 --> 00:30:45.359 That when you touch the life of someone else, when you hug someone else, when you interact with someone else, what they feel is peace, not confusion, not disruption, is peace. 00:30:45.599 --> 00:30:50.400 I want to tell you, somebody, King Garden Baptist Church, we may not be here forever. 00:30:50.720 --> 00:30:57.200 But while we're here, I want to tell you, I wish that the peace of God would help you to surpass your whole understanding. 00:30:57.440 --> 00:31:01.359 I want to let you know that there are gonna be uptimes and downtimes in your life. 00:31:01.519 --> 00:31:03.759 But I pray that God's peace would abide. 00:31:03.920 --> 00:31:08.960 Peace does not mean that there's not gonna be conflict, peace means that you're not without lack. 00:31:09.039 --> 00:31:12.160 That means that God has given you everything that you need. 00:31:12.319 --> 00:31:13.839 He's blessing you with peace. 00:31:13.920 --> 00:31:19.200 Now I want to tell you, Jesus now preaches this message to people who are brokenhearted. 00:31:19.359 --> 00:31:23.279 And he says, if you want to be called my children, just have peace. 00:31:23.440 --> 00:31:29.680 I want to tell somebody make peace in your family, make peace in your life, make peace in this world. 00:31:29.839 --> 00:31:32.880 So God can look down and say, That's my child. 00:31:33.039 --> 00:31:47.119 Because there's a guarantee when he looks down and sees children acting on his behalf, there's a blessing attached to it, there's an anointing attached to it, there's a covering attached to it, because God looks down and says, That's my child. 00:31:47.279 --> 00:31:48.640 He's trying to make peace. 00:31:48.799 --> 00:31:56.079 So although the world seems to be crumbling against them because they're acting in a peaceful manner, but angels assigned to them. 00:31:56.240 --> 00:32:02.319 And no matter what devil or hell, their weapons are forming, but they will not prosper because that's my child. 00:32:02.480 --> 00:32:10.319 They've always been peaceful, they've always been the one to show up and be able to take the world and say, no matter what's going on, it's gonna be okay. 00:32:10.480 --> 00:32:14.240 I wanna be able to tell somebody today, peace happens. 00:32:14.400 --> 00:32:15.680 You have to declare peace. 00:32:15.839 --> 00:32:26.079 There's something you can have it on the inside, you can have it in your community, but divine peace means that it shut up so much inside your heart that you start to proclaim peace from your mouth. 00:32:26.240 --> 00:32:33.759 Some of you right now are saying, Well, Pastor, I don't have peace in my home, I don't have peace in my finances, I don't have peace in my job. 00:32:34.000 --> 00:32:38.640 Because you haven't opened up your mouth and declared peace over the storm. 00:32:38.799 --> 00:32:40.480 You're saying, Well, Pastor, I don't know. 00:32:40.640 --> 00:32:42.640 Shouldn't we just wait for the storm to pass? 00:32:42.799 --> 00:32:44.799 For the peace to be able to descend upon us? 00:32:44.960 --> 00:32:46.079 I'm so happy you asked. 00:32:46.720 --> 00:32:52.079 Before I take my seat, it said that there was a storm and there was some man on a boat. 00:32:52.240 --> 00:32:58.640 These men were in the middle of the ocean, and they said a storm started to rage, and they had a secret passenger. 00:32:58.799 --> 00:33:03.680 But this secret passenger was asleep peacefully in the bottom of the boat. 00:33:03.839 --> 00:33:07.039 And they can't, they came down because the storm was raging. 00:33:07.119 --> 00:33:11.519 And the disciples now at this point are saying, Master, don't you care about us? 00:33:11.680 --> 00:33:16.559 And they looked at him and they went down and woke him up and said, Don't you care about us? 00:33:16.720 --> 00:33:18.079 And he came up bored. 00:33:18.160 --> 00:33:19.039 He came upstairs. 00:33:19.200 --> 00:33:31.599 I'm sure he was walking upstairs, trying to get his balance because the waves are now rocking and rolling, and people are screaming and people are yelling, and the noise of the wind and the wave seems to be overwhelming. 00:33:31.759 --> 00:33:35.359 You don't know if it's Jesus, if it's a ghost, or what's happening. 00:33:35.519 --> 00:33:37.440 He came up in the midst of the storm. 00:33:37.599 --> 00:33:38.720 In the midst of the storm. 00:33:38.799 --> 00:33:40.720 And I think somebody you're missing this. 00:33:40.960 --> 00:33:43.680 Jesus came up in the midst of the storm. 00:33:43.839 --> 00:33:47.839 He didn't wait for the storm to finish, and he said, He looked at the storm. 00:33:48.000 --> 00:33:52.720 Some of you, right now, need to get some holy boldness for some stuff that's happening in your life. 00:33:52.880 --> 00:33:59.519 If you have some stuff in your life, I need you to stand to your feet and be able to declare I won't speak peace over this thing. 00:33:59.680 --> 00:34:03.920 He said he looked to the storm, he looked at the winds and the waves, and guess what he said? 00:34:04.079 --> 00:34:11.039 He didn't start cursing the winds and the waves, he didn't start picking a fight, he didn't get anxious, get depressed, and get angry. 00:34:11.199 --> 00:34:18.000 Here's what he did: he opened his mouth and said, Peace be still. 00:34:18.239 --> 00:34:22.400 And at that moment, the winds and the waves obey him. 00:34:22.559 --> 00:34:28.800 Now, God says, I've given you power over hell and the grave, I'll give you power over your situation. 00:34:28.960 --> 00:34:30.400 So, who less than you? 00:34:30.559 --> 00:34:38.000