The Ceasefire

Ceasefire is more than a headline word. It’s the aching thing many of us want with God, especially when our inner world feels like a constant low-grade war of guilt, fear, and trying to stay in control. We start with a simple question that won’t let go: how many ceasefires do we need, not just across nations, but inside the human heart?

We follow the Bible’s storyline from rebellion in Genesis to God’s surprising pursuit, then land on the center of the Christian gospel: Jesus Christ makes peace through His blood and proves it through the resurrection. That means the biggest fight isn’t you versus your circumstances, or even you versus other people, it’s the deep conflict of humanity against God, and the invitation is to stop playing the villain and accept reconciliation. Using Hebrews 13:20-21, we unpack why Scripture calls Him the God of peace, why the cross settles judgment without “double jeopardy,” and why “God is not mad at you” is not a motivational line but a theological conclusion.

We also talk about what happens after you sign the terms of the ceasefire: full forgiveness, full acceptance, and the Holy Spirit actually living in you, reshaping desires and producing real change by grace. Instead of religious striving and rulebook Christianity, we’re invited into daily surrender where Jesus lives His life through us as the Great Shepherd. If you’ve been trying to pry blessings out of God’s hands, this is your reset. Subscribe, share this with a friend who needs peace with God, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway or question.

Transcript

Ceasefire And A World At War

SPEAKER_00 0:27

Our sermon today is called The Cease Fire. The ceasefire. And it's it's interesting because I've been praying for a ceasefire for like a couple weeks right now. And so it's just been on my mind because you know we're going, uh, Tom and I, and and I got a group of people going on this mission trip in May to Nepal. But our flights have been going are have been connecting through Doha in Qatar. And um I got news this week that all my flights were canceled. And so we're we're working on that. We're working on getting that fixed. We're gonna go the other way around the world, maybe uh on a different airline. But needless to say, uh all this time I knew that we have this war with Iran going on, and so I've been praying for a ceasefire, that there would be an actual ceasefire. But it got me thinking, how many ceasefires do we need in this world? And did you know that right now on this planet there are 130 armed conflicts and wars happening today? 130 people getting killed, right? Homes being destroyed, peace shattered. Can you imagine if we were at war right now in South Padre Island? North Padre was like, down to the south. Is there people in North Padre? Is it North Padre? Okay, yeah. They're our enemies, right? They're they're the North siders. And just imagine they come down with their spear guns from fishing. It just it would be our peace would be shattered. We'd be like, this is not a paradise anymore, it's a war zone. And and we'd all be hiding at Nate's house. Because I know it's protected. We already have a plan, Nate. Okay. The best news report I could have heard over the last two weeks was pe uh ceasefire on the news. Uh I never heard that. I heard more bombs, but yeah, I was hoping for peace. It didn't happen. And in this room, there are approximately 130 conflicts in each one of our hearts. I'm just throwing numbers out there. But we have all kinds of conflicts, wars going on in our hearts. And we're not we're gonna talk about one of those conflicts today, not the one with your wife. We're not gonna talk about that one today, not the one with your kids, not the one with your kids' stepmom, not that one, not the one with your boss. We're not gonna talk about those conflicts. We're gonna talk about the one conflict that all humans have with God. And I know that when we watch movies or the stories we read, there's always a very clear good guy and a bad guy, right? And and the bad guy is like a supremely sinister bad guy. And in this battle between divine love and human corruption, we humans assume the mantle of being the bad guys in our story. And you're like, wait a second, I didn't know I was the bad guy. We were, we have been the bad guys. We didn't personally choose that role in 2026. You see, we inherited the role. We were born into this epic war that's been raging since Adam, our great Genesis father, who who is the ancestor of all of every single one of us, he chose the side of self-will and rebellion for us. He chose it for us because we all descended from him. And so, because he fell into sin, we fell into sin, we we took, you know, we rode over this waterfall of self-sufficiency and independence from God. We just got in this little boat and rode over the waterfall in Adam. And that's that's what happened. So it's been a war ever since Adam. Every human being who has lived has been at war in their heart against God, the righteous, holy, perfect God. We've been the rebels who've been trying to stop at nothing to wrench control away from him in every single area of our little lives. It's like we think we have this ring around us where we truly believe we should be the Lord and master of everything inside this ring, everything I touch. We are playing a game of Lord of the Ring. And we believe we are the Lord of this ring. This is mine. I'm in control. Yet every step of the way, God has been reaching out this hand of love and reconciliation to man. I mean, Adam and Eve are fresh out of the first sin, rejecting God's rule over them. And what does God do? He kills a lamb and makes clothing for them. He doesn't give them words of condemnation. I mean, he tells them what they've done. He explains what it that the situation they're in, but his first job is to provide for them. And how does he do it? He kills a lamb to make clothes for them. God did this himself. He literally did it himself. And he would go on to make promises that consistently pointed to a deliverer, a hero who would come and make peace between God and man. He's been constantly pursuing us, going back and back and back. And every time we're like, talk to the hand, because the face ain't listening. You remember that from the 80s, 90s. Of course, this Messiah and deliverer is none other than our Lord Jesus Christ, right? Who left his throne in heaven to become one of us, to take our burdens upon himself. He was crucified on the cross, he was buried in a tomb, he rose from the dead to prove that he was God, and then to share his new resurrection life with each and every human being who would accept the ceasefire. And God has sent us, us who believe this, God has sent us throughout the whole world to proclaim that that war is over, that there is peace, there's nothing left that has to be done. Jesus has done it all. It's like a king who has accepted the terms of the ceasefire. God the King has accepted what Jesus has laid before him. God, here's what I bring. I will offer myself in exchange for all these rebels. And God's like, God the Father says, Absolutely, I accept it because Jesus, you are that valuable, you are that holy. Your life is worth that much to me that it can pay for every single person. Isn't that a beautiful story? And all people, no matter who you are and what you've done, are invited to come back to God. We have a chance to stop playing the villain and be redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. And how does that happen? All we have to do is simply accept the terms of the ceasefire. Just sign your name to it. My sin was the cause of all this. But Jesus takes away my sin on the cross. So God no longer has any reason to keep me away, and I have no reason to keep fighting him. That is what happens when we believe in Jesus and ask him to save us. We are accepted. We are washed, and we are then filled with something that we not we do not deserve, and honestly, we didn't even expect. We are filled with a new heart and a new spirit that's given to us. It's called the Holy Spirit, and that's the very presence of Jesus Himself living in these dirt bags we call bodies. He chooses to live in us. And it's mind-blowing, it's beautiful. And then he begins this transformation work inside our lives that we could never imagine, we could never do ourselves. He changes us from the inside out, not with religious rules or expectations, but by changing who we actually are from the on the inside, our our very heart and spirit. I was reading a book this week, and there was a quote, the guy said, Um, uh you uh you someone said, I have a soul, right? He was arguing with someone, he says, I have a soul. And the guy corrected him, he said, No, you are a soul, you have a body. You are a soul, but you have a body. Your body is something that's been given to you, that you that it's just your tent, and it will be transformed eventually. But who you are, your soul, your spirit, is eternal and it will always exist. And that's where God changes us first. And then it all works out through your body. So what you say, what you think, what you desire, what you do, it actually all gets worked out to start to glorify God, but he starts everything by changing the heart through his love. So we're gonna look at one text today, one verse, that's just gonna kind of explain this entire thing we just talked about for us. And it's Hebrews, the book of Hebrews, chapter 13, verses 20 and 21. Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant make you complete. In every good work to do his will, he's working in you that which is pleasing, well pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen. So let's back up to that first verse and we're gonna look at, we're just gonna break it down phrase by phrase. He's a God of peace, right? He's not, God is not relating to you based on wrath. He's not angry, he's not upset with you. Because of Jesus, there is no condemnation for any believer. What does that mean in our simple language? God is not mad at you. Yeah, but did you see what I just did? I mean, if I was God, I would be mad at me. But God is not mad at you. God cannot ever be angry at you. That sounds false. It sounds weird, it sounds crazy. Because this the enemy has built such a foundation in our lives of convincing you that God is mad at you, that when you hear the truth that God is not mad at you, it sounds weird. It sounds false, but that is the truth. It is the truth because Jesus proclaims it to be true. There is peace. He is a God of peace and he offers peace to you. How can God never be mad at you because God already got mad at your sin on Jesus on the cross? God got mad at Jesus for you. And he does no such thing as double jeopardy in heaven. So once it's been paid for, once it's been punished, the sin is gone. You he doesn't punish it twice. If Jesus took the penalty, you will not. And that's why God is never angry at you. This is where we should be saying, hallelujah, praise the Lord. This is great news. This is a beautiful resurrection Sunday truth. Because he did this for us, God is not He is a God of peace to us, He is never mad at you. It is leaking on my right there. Okay. Watch out. Alright, so He's a God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead. Hey, that's resurrection. That's why we're here today, right? That's why, you know, it changed the entire world. This one event. Never before has anyone promised that they would die, rise again, multiple times, and then did it. You know why? Because it's crazy. You can't break the one rule no one can break. You can't you can't do that. Everyone who has ever died, let me check, is still dead. Every single person except one. He said, I'm gonna die, I'm gonna rise from the dead, and then when you do it, I want you simply to believe it. And here's some overwhelming evidence that's gonna help you believe it. Just read the Bible, read all the accounts, read the actual history of what happened. You will be absolutely convinced that Jesus died and rose from the dead for you. No one else would be so crazy or brazen to promise something completely impossible, but Jesus had the power to do it. But not just that. I want you to know this. He had the love to do it. He knew he could write, he knew he could do it. He's God, right? He's got all power. The craziest part is that he looked at you and said, dude, I love you. I love you so much, and I'm going to do the thing that you can't do for you because I love you. He cared enough to take all our burdens upon himself, even our most wicked sins, because he's a good shepherd. Which is the next thing that he says here in this verse. The great shepherd of the sheep. He's not just good, he's great. You know, Jesus, he when he was alive, he said, I am the good shepherd who gives his life for the sheep. We, what does that mean? It means we can trust him. You can trust him, you are safe to trust him. And he does demand that you trust him. That's our entire role in this whole agreement. He dies, he rises from the dead, he promises save. He says, You must trust me. How much? Just give me what you got. Just trust me with what you got. Whatever trust you got, just give it to him. Jesus isn't some distant judge that's that's just pronouncing guilty and innocent. He is personally, he cares for you, he leads you, and he protects his people like a shepherd. You are safe and secure in him. Then the next little phrase says, Through the blood of the everlasting covenant. What was the price he paid to give us this? It's his very blood, the new covenant in his blood, he told us the night before he died when he gave us the uh the wine to drink and celebrate him. It cost Jesus the very life that he had. He had to offer it all to pay for this covenant for us. And what is this? Well, just briefly, he takes our sin. That's his side. We get all full forgiveness of everything we've ever done or ever will do. We get full acceptance as one of God's children. He will never cast you out, he'll never be angry with you. And we get then, in addition, we get the Holy Spirit to live inside us. He literally comes to inside us to transform us and live our lives for us if we surrender to him, if we submit to him. He says, I, but he will never take your life from you, but he will live it for you if you say, Jesus, live my life through me today. And that is our daily act of worship, is we daily say, Jesus, live through me. I believe you're in me, but I want you, I'm asking you, live through me. And guess what he does? He says yes every time. Yes and amen. The cross established a once-for-all, unbreakable contract with us. Your forgiveness, your union with God are permanent, and they're not renewed daily by confession or by rituals, but you do get to dive into your relationship with God daily, and that's where we grow when we dive into Him. But look what it says in our in verse uh 21. He makes you complete in every good work to do his will, working in you what that which is well pleasing in his sight. Through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen. God does not hand you a rule book and say, Good luck. That's not his strategy. Even though, as many of us have gone to church for many years, that's what it feels like we're told, right? He actually equips you and actively works in you to want to do what pleases him. He takes responsibility for your life. He says, that's my child, and I will, if they need their heart transformed, I will do it. And yes, if we stubbornly try to keep back control of different areas of life, he may discipline us out of love, but it's never out of anger. And it's always so that we can see the blessing of obedience. He wants us to be well-pleasing in everything that we do to him, to love others, forgive, and represent his character to this world. And that is grace in action. That's not law-based striving to become something new, it's grace in action. It's and it says here it's through Jesus Christ. It's not through you, it's through Jesus Christ. Every truly spiritual blessing flows through our union with Jesus. He lives through you, and we live through him living through us. It's a shared life, and that's the whole purpose of the resurrection. He wanted his life to be transferable to you. That's why he rose from the dead. You see, if Jesus died for our sin, yeah, we could be forgiven of our sin, but if he just stayed in heaven, that doesn't change anything for us here. But if he rose again, he could send the spirit to us and he can share that resurrection life with you, and he can literally live. He said to his disciples, it's better that I go away, because I'll send the spirit to live with you, to be with you. He called him the helper. So it's like we're like an army of people who are filled with the life of Christ. Because Jesus shed his blood and rose again, you are in an eternal covenant of peace with God. There has been a ceasefire. And you've already been forgiven and united with Jesus. Now God Himself is the one who is empowering you every day in all of your living. He's shaping your desires, and he's he's in charge of what you actually do when you give control over to him. So what comes out of you is what delights him. And guys, this is not difficult. You don't have to make it, you don't have to produce it. This is not a like an impossible thing. This is just normal life with Jesus. He promises to, and he says, just give it to me. Give me control. This is why our focus is through Jesus Christ, not through our law-keeping efforts, our religious efforts. How many times have we thought, you know what, I really got to get down to business serving God, so I'm gonna make sure I go to church more, read the Bible more, pray more. That is the wrong strategy. Those are good things, all very good things. But we don't do them to try to make our way with God. We do them to celebrate that everything has already been done. We do them to celebrate and receive his life and let it flow through us. God didn't make you passive. Grace doesn't make you passive, it makes you fruitful because God is working in you. And that's grace. He's working in you. When you guys think of resurrection, and we're done here, we're gonna sing another song, and you guys are gonna be able to go live with Jesus the rest of this day. Enjoy the rain. But when you think of resurrection, and when you think of Easter, and we're supposed to think of our new shared life with Christ, not eggs, not brunch, not even church. Your shared life with Christ. You could go to church a million times. And if it's just information, it's not helping you at all. You already long for this life that we're talking about. The life resurrection brings is already your greatest desire. I know that for every single one of you who believes. That's already the truth about your spirit because you already have been given his spirit. But I think maybe we've been focused on this non-existent conflict with God where we're trying to earn his blessings. We're trying to pry blessings out of his hands that he's like holding blessings away from us, trying to earn blessings or favor instead of just putting our hope and our trust in this true ceasefire that's been declared by the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. God is not angry with you. His blood proves that. And if you need to have your sins forgiven today and begin a relationship with Jesus as your Lord and He'll be your Lord, He'll be your Savior, all you have to do is call out to Him right now. You say something like, Jesus, I have sinned greatly, but I accept that your death forgives me. And I ask you to come and take control of my life. Give me a new heart and a new spirit. And it is done. It's done the moment you ask. It's done in your heart, maybe even the moment before you ask. I don't know when. It's above my pay grade. I'm just supposed to give you the invitation. If you still believe you have sin, call upon Jesus and it's gone. But if you've been distracted by trying to be a better version of yourself, come back to your good shepherd today. And I want you to hear the glorious news that he whispers in your ear that there is no conflict. We are a family. I'm your father and I love you. Come to me and drink the heavenly waters that will satisfy your soul. And I think the vast majority of us, we need to come to those waters every day and drink. And guess what? Jesus never gets tired of pouring out his life into you. It is the greatest thrill of his existence, is being able to live through a willing, loving vessel. And that's what you are. Your response to him of love and gratitude and openness is the greatest act of worship, and it stirs the heart of Jesus so powerfully. So everyone, let's stand and let's respond personally to Jesus today. Whether it's asking for forgiveness or returning to our good shepherd or just praising him with every single fiber of your being, all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Father, we worship you. Jesus, we trust in your sacrifice. We believe in your resurrection. In Jesus' name, we worship our Heavenly Father, and we pray that you would help us to live lives of love for you and love for others. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Let's sing a song.