WEBVTT 00:00:26.692 --> 00:00:28.638 into existence on the earth. 00:00:28.638 --> 00:00:35.557 Before Jesus is born, the prophet Isaiah prophesied that he would come, and he says this, for a child is born to us. 00:00:35.557 --> 00:00:39.320 In Isaiah 9-7, a son is given to us. 00:00:39.320 --> 00:00:42.298 The government will rest on his shoulders. 00:00:42.298 --> 00:00:45.399 How many of you are glad that the government rests on his shoulders? 00:00:45.399 --> 00:00:56.719 We can trust him and he will be called Wonderful Counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, and this is where we're going to camp out a little bit today. 00:00:56.719 --> 00:01:00.280 And it says he is the Prince of Peace. 00:01:00.280 --> 00:01:04.015 He's in charge of peace. 00:01:04.015 --> 00:01:08.521 It's his job to bring peace, to control peace, to rule over peace. 00:01:08.521 --> 00:01:14.973 His government and its peace again we see that word peace will never end. 00:01:15.914 --> 00:01:21.900 So I just want you to know this and carry this with you today as we get ready to leave this moment and go into the red light. 00:01:21.900 --> 00:01:24.131 I know that you have all kinds of things planned for today. 00:01:24.131 --> 00:01:26.798 Tomorrow probably, your schedule may be packed. 00:01:26.798 --> 00:01:33.694 I've talked to some of you that you just have the next family event after work events, and it's a snowball. 00:01:33.694 --> 00:01:34.917 You still got to buy some gifts. 00:01:35.838 --> 00:01:42.846 But here's what I want you to carry with you that his peace will never end and that we should be walking in peace. 00:01:42.846 --> 00:01:48.778 We should be a people of peace, and that peace on earth you know where it starts. 00:01:48.778 --> 00:01:53.304 It starts with Jesus, but then we should carry it in our hearts. 00:01:53.304 --> 00:01:59.302 We should be people who have peace in our hearts, peace in our minds, peace inside of us. 00:01:59.302 --> 00:02:15.423 I know it's a really new, agey thing to say inner peace, but I want you to understand that whenever Jesus is called the Prince of Peace, it's not just so that we can have a world that is not at war. 00:02:15.423 --> 00:02:18.679 That's not a great definition of what peace is. 00:02:18.679 --> 00:02:30.862 In fact, we call the Christmas season, we think of it as the season of hope and light, and yet so often what's the one thing that is missing, what's the one thing? 00:02:30.862 --> 00:02:34.639 When I have conversations with people and say, how is your Christmas, are you ready for Christmas? 00:02:34.639 --> 00:02:41.199 They're like oh, you just can feel the tension, you can feel the anxiety, you can feel the lack of peace so often. 00:02:41.199 --> 00:02:47.201 And so this two-week series I want you to carry with you, not just hey, everybody. 00:02:47.201 --> 00:02:49.230 It's the reason Jesus is the reason for the season. 00:02:49.230 --> 00:02:50.812 I want it to be more than that. 00:02:51.012 --> 00:03:01.838 I need you to walk away from this with a real sense of mental health, and I think that's last week we sat up on the stage with a mental health panel. 00:03:01.838 --> 00:03:16.286 We have a lot of mental health professionals in the building in the community of Relate and that's so powerful to me because I value the pursuit of mental health and us being healthy, not just quote unquote. 00:03:16.286 --> 00:03:22.353 Spiritually right, I go to church 52 Sundays out of the year. 00:03:22.353 --> 00:03:23.434 We need to be healthy. 00:03:23.434 --> 00:03:30.963 We need to be able to take an assessment of ourselves and decide am I mentally healthy? 00:03:30.963 --> 00:03:32.245 Am I emotionally healthy? 00:03:32.245 --> 00:03:33.867 Am I emotionally healthy? 00:03:33.867 --> 00:03:41.411 Am I physically and spiritually? 00:03:41.411 --> 00:03:51.225 We should be walking in health so that we can be emissaries of the Prince of Peace, helping bind the wounds andal the brokenhearted. 00:03:51.225 --> 00:03:53.156 That's what he said he came to do. 00:03:53.350 --> 00:03:54.516 So we look around the world. 00:03:54.516 --> 00:04:03.923 It's very easy to open up social media, it's very easy to open up the news and you do not see peace, you see war, you see politics, people fighting, conflict. 00:04:03.923 --> 00:04:07.396 So often we wake up. 00:04:07.396 --> 00:04:15.422 We face the day, we face the week, we face a season where things are not what I expected. 00:04:15.422 --> 00:04:27.437 I can't tell you how many conversations I've had with you, with those of you in the room, those who are watching online, people who just say Pastor John, this is not what I thought this season would look like in my life. 00:04:27.437 --> 00:04:28.934 At this age. 00:04:28.934 --> 00:04:37.300 I had an expectation for my family, for my kids, for my marriage, for all these things right, for my career, my education. 00:04:37.300 --> 00:04:43.197 It's just not what I envisioned. 00:04:43.197 --> 00:04:54.752 That has the ability to break hearts, that has that unmet expectation, has the ability to just make us feel broken, and then the onset of depression, anxiety. 00:04:54.752 --> 00:04:59.951 In fact, many people polled have said that they would just prefer to skip Christmas. 00:04:59.951 --> 00:05:04.131 In fact, I talked to people in this room that said it would be better if we just skip Christmas. 00:05:04.131 --> 00:05:12.201 How often do we feel that way? 00:05:12.201 --> 00:05:14.283 And not just this overwhelming sense of peace. 00:05:14.304 --> 00:05:15.264 So here let's look at peace. 00:05:15.264 --> 00:05:15.865 What is peace? 00:05:15.865 --> 00:05:22.507 Peace is not just the absence of war, or hey, there's no wars going on. 00:05:22.507 --> 00:05:30.179 I think I heard someone say one study showed that there are, at the moment, like 50 different wars going on in the world. 00:05:30.179 --> 00:05:34.174 There are, at the moment, like 50 different wars going on in the world. 00:05:34.174 --> 00:05:37.336 Peace is not the absence of war. 00:05:37.336 --> 00:05:42.102 It's not the absence of chaos, like hey, everything's going good in my life, I'm just at peace. 00:05:42.102 --> 00:05:43.443 No, that's usually not. 00:05:43.443 --> 00:05:58.699 Sometimes we can be in a peaceful season where everything's going good, but we can still have this inner turmoil and this inner strife and this inner conflict. 00:05:59.080 --> 00:06:00.663 Here let me give you a better biblical definition of peace. 00:06:00.663 --> 00:06:02.086 It's the presence of inner peace and harmony, even in chaos. 00:06:02.086 --> 00:06:03.689 In fact, the Bible describes has a word shalom. 00:06:03.689 --> 00:06:10.776 The Jewish people still say shalom, which means wholeness, nothing missing, nothing broken. 00:06:10.776 --> 00:06:12.198 Say shalom, which means wholeness, nothing missing, nothing broken. 00:06:12.198 --> 00:06:13.598 What if that was our daily? 00:06:13.598 --> 00:06:14.780 What was that? 00:06:14.780 --> 00:06:16.021 What if that was our normal? 00:06:16.021 --> 00:06:17.703 What if that was what? 00:06:17.703 --> 00:06:18.884 We wake up? 00:06:18.884 --> 00:06:26.651 And nothing's broken, nothing's missing. 00:06:26.651 --> 00:06:26.951 I'm whole. 00:06:26.951 --> 00:06:27.211 That then. 00:06:27.211 --> 00:06:38.151 No matter what's happening around the world, no matter what chaos I'm living in, no matter what strife is going on around me or who's fighting with who, no matter what I see on social media or the news or politics, I have nothing missing and nothing broken. 00:06:38.151 --> 00:06:39.673 I'm walking with shalom. 00:06:39.673 --> 00:06:41.376 John, chapter 16, verse 33,. 00:06:41.456 --> 00:06:52.161 Jesus gives us just that concept when he says this I have told you all this so that you may have peace. 00:06:52.161 --> 00:06:57.076 Everybody say peace in me, you may have peace. 00:06:57.076 --> 00:06:58.720 Jesus said that you may have peace in me. 00:06:58.720 --> 00:07:07.874 Here on earth, you will have many trials and sorrows, but take heart, and I tell you this morning take heart because I have overcome the world. 00:07:07.874 --> 00:07:15.859 What does that look like that means as a believer, as a child of God, I'm walking around with the Spirit of God in me, giving me peace. 00:07:15.859 --> 00:07:17.903 It's a fruit that comes out in my life. 00:07:17.903 --> 00:07:26.008 It's a fruit that my emotions feed on and that feeds me and carries me. 00:07:26.008 --> 00:07:31.641 It's not something that comes from the outside in, and, no matter what the world throws at me, I have peace. 00:07:31.641 --> 00:07:40.817 But how many of you guys know that, even though it's Christmas, there's a devil out there and he'd like to steal your peace? 00:07:42.571 --> 00:07:45.266 So today I was really torn between the title of this message. 00:07:45.266 --> 00:07:57.161 If you're taking notes, we don't typically have our pass-out notes on holidays, but if you're writing down your notes, I got two titles for you, which is unusual, but I couldn't decide between the two. 00:07:57.161 --> 00:08:11.681 So it's either called the Missing Piece or the Christmas Shoes, or you can just title it the missing piece of christmas shoes. 00:08:11.681 --> 00:08:14.354 That might too long, too long. 00:08:14.354 --> 00:08:15.355 Ephesians 6 12. 00:08:16.318 --> 00:08:21.294 I have never used this verse on a christmas message before and I'm just going to warn you again. 00:08:21.294 --> 00:08:25.872 This is not going to feel like a christmas message, but it is a message that I want you to walk away. 00:08:25.872 --> 00:08:31.562 Listen when I, when I pray and I'm asking God what do our people need? 00:08:31.562 --> 00:08:32.284 What do we need? 00:08:32.284 --> 00:08:33.672 What does our community? 00:08:33.672 --> 00:08:34.274 We need peace. 00:08:34.274 --> 00:08:46.620 And so, more than you walking away with a warm feeling of oh, it's Christmas, let me get my hot chocolate on the way out, I want you to do that, but more than that, I want you to have peace, and I want you to know how to reach for peace. 00:08:46.620 --> 00:08:52.852 I want you to know how to walk in it. 00:08:52.852 --> 00:08:53.616 So here we go Ephesians 6, 12. 00:08:53.636 --> 00:09:01.842 For we are not fighting against flesh and blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world and against evil spirits in heavenly places. 00:09:01.842 --> 00:09:10.652 You can see this verse, this concept, this idea If you read through the first few chapters of the Gospels. 00:09:10.652 --> 00:09:26.451 You see this verse coming to life, as Jesus is born into the world and there are things coming against him, and those things are not just, you know, herod and soldiers, and it's not flesh and blood that we fight against. 00:09:26.451 --> 00:09:31.356 And so often, when we have stress and we feel like we're in chaos, we want to put someone's name on it. 00:09:31.356 --> 00:09:37.744 If not for so-and-so, then my life would be so good If it wasn't for her. 00:09:37.744 --> 00:09:43.654 Uh-oh, I shouldn't have looked right here. 00:09:43.654 --> 00:09:44.137 That was so. 00:09:44.137 --> 00:09:50.139 She brings me more peace. 00:09:50.139 --> 00:09:53.225 I should just stop right here and talk about how much peace you give me. 00:09:55.630 --> 00:09:57.836 So listen, the battle is not against flesh and blood. 00:09:57.836 --> 00:09:59.422 It really happens right here in your mind. 00:09:59.422 --> 00:10:07.255 So when we talk about mental health and we talk about emotional health and we talk about the fight that you and I have, it happens right here. 00:10:07.255 --> 00:10:17.523 And what better time to talk about it than at Christmas, because I can't think of a season where we struggle more with the fight that goes on in our own minds. 00:10:17.523 --> 00:10:22.820 You can't have peace in your life without peace in your mind. 00:10:22.820 --> 00:10:29.081 You can't have peace on earth without having peace in your own life. 00:10:29.081 --> 00:10:39.859 What kind of an achievement would it be if there was no war going on in the world and yet our personal emotional life was falling apart? 00:10:39.859 --> 00:10:41.774 What good is that? 00:10:42.950 --> 00:10:46.818 So, when the battle comes, how do I find that missing piece? 00:10:46.818 --> 00:10:50.375 I'll give you a clue it's Christmas shoes. 00:10:50.375 --> 00:10:54.272 I'm gonna give you three points. 00:10:54.272 --> 00:11:02.399 This will be a semi-short message today, but I promise you, if you'll walk in it, if you'll grab a hold of it, it'll be very powerful for walking in peace. 00:11:02.418 --> 00:11:14.685 Number one you have to put on peace as we continue reading in Ephesians, chapter 6, you get this picture that Paul gives us of the armor of God. 00:11:14.685 --> 00:11:25.609 A few months back we did a whole series on the armor of God and of course we start with the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness, the belt of truth. 00:11:25.609 --> 00:11:32.874 All these things are working together to help us to fight off and to defend and to we carry the shield of faith, the sword of the Spirit. 00:11:32.874 --> 00:11:39.270 And if all that wasn't enough, we couldn't put all of that on without one thing. 00:11:39.270 --> 00:11:39.991 I've missed one. 00:11:39.991 --> 00:11:45.119 The missing piece is the shoes. 00:11:45.119 --> 00:11:47.241 Of what Peace? 00:11:47.241 --> 00:11:52.358 It says that, the shoes, and we'll read in Ephesians, chapter 6, verse 15,. 00:11:52.398 --> 00:11:57.682 I don't want to unpack all of the pieces of the armor, but I want us to talk about this one in particular today. 00:11:57.682 --> 00:12:09.417 It says having strapped on your feet the gospel of peace, in preparation to face the enemy with firm-footed stability and readiness produced by the good news. 00:12:09.417 --> 00:12:32.841 That's the amplified version, but it really unpacks and gives us this bigger picture of why we need to have peace on our feet, why it matters if I'm trying to go into war or defend myself from someone stealing my peace or all the things that the world throws at me and I'm not sure-footed, I can lay on the ground. 00:12:32.841 --> 00:12:34.978 What good am I to fight the fight? 00:12:34.978 --> 00:12:38.937 I have no ability to fight from the ground. 00:12:44.610 --> 00:12:59.491 The Roman soldiers that I'm sure that the Jewish people and Paul in prison at this point would have seen every day walking in and out of the jail, maybe escorting him to different places, that the Jewish people and Paul in prison at this point would have seen every day walking in and out of the jail, maybe escorting him to different places, the kind of shoes that they would have worn on their feet. 00:12:59.491 --> 00:13:16.161 The Roman soldiers actually wore a sandal, not so much a piece of metal armor, but a sandal, a leather sandal called a calagay, and on the bottom of this sandal they would put metal studs studded nails. 00:13:16.161 --> 00:13:20.235 Can you imagine that? 00:13:20.235 --> 00:13:28.382 That's almost like modern day cleats, but it would keep them sure-footed when they're in muddy, miry war zones. 00:13:28.382 --> 00:13:31.653 Because who knows what you're going to have to fight on, who knows what you're going to have to walk into? 00:13:32.075 --> 00:13:38.875 But as you're swinging your weapon and defending and standing next to other soldiers, your feet grip into the ground. 00:13:38.875 --> 00:13:41.039 And what do we get? 00:13:41.039 --> 00:13:43.664 Why does that matter to us? 00:13:43.664 --> 00:14:04.260 Because we are in a fight, we are in a struggle in our lives and that struggle is not against flesh and blood, but when those challenges come, when we're pushed, how often do we feel like we just get face first into the mud because our feet slip, because a financial issue pushes us in here. 00:14:04.260 --> 00:14:05.442 How do we get here? 00:14:05.442 --> 00:14:06.230 How did I get here? 00:14:08.514 --> 00:14:11.519 So what Paul's trying to give us is spiritual cleats. 00:14:11.519 --> 00:14:21.653 He's saying put on peace so that your feet stay sure-footed, so that whenever life pushes, whenever the enemy comes at you and pushes, your feet don't slip. 00:14:21.653 --> 00:14:25.462 It gives a whole new meaning to get a grip. 00:14:25.462 --> 00:14:28.096 It gives a whole. 00:14:28.096 --> 00:14:29.661 Why don't you just tell your neighbor get a grip? 00:14:29.661 --> 00:14:32.096 That sounds insensitive. 00:14:32.096 --> 00:14:38.475 When we're talking about mental, the answer is not get a grip, I think. 00:14:38.475 --> 00:14:47.374 But it does bring to mind this idea that emotionally there is grip to be had, that we don't just end up face first. 00:14:47.374 --> 00:15:12.764 In fact, whenever you think about it a little bit more, that grip would have helped a Roman soldier to hold the line shoulder to shoulder with other soldiers, and on top of that I'm not going to get into this too much but it also gives us this idea, and historians would write that because of the metal studs on their feet, 10 or 50 soldiers would sound like a thousand soldiers coming down a stone path. 00:15:15.911 --> 00:15:30.796 There should be some confidence as we come together, shoulder to shoulder with brothers and sisters, and it shouldn't matter if a doctor report hits us the wrong way I'm pushed a little bit, my feet stay firm. 00:15:30.796 --> 00:15:32.216 Hits us the wrong way, I'm pushed a little, but my feet stay firm. 00:15:32.216 --> 00:15:36.980 That's why Ephesians 6 says stand firm, stand firm. 00:15:36.980 --> 00:15:48.890 And so often if we're hit with grief, if we're hit with financial hardship, we should be able to. 00:15:48.890 --> 00:15:49.853 We have a tool to stand firm. 00:15:49.873 --> 00:15:52.137 The difference between defeat and victory so often is our ability to hang on to the peace. 00:15:52.137 --> 00:15:53.300 So the first thing you need to know is put on peace. 00:15:53.300 --> 00:16:05.858 It's something you have to put on that tells me that, as any piece of clothing or armor or an outfit I've got to physically, mentally, emotionally I have to take an action to put it on. 00:16:05.858 --> 00:16:07.791 It's not something that it's not. 00:16:07.791 --> 00:16:11.322 If I could just get my life right, I could have some peace and quiet. 00:16:11.322 --> 00:16:16.359 If I could just put everything in order, then I could have some peace. 00:16:16.359 --> 00:16:20.033 Wait, he says, put on the shoes of peace. 00:16:20.033 --> 00:16:37.211 That means it's something I can do, something I can take hold of, even in a series in a season, in a even in a series in a season in a holiday time. 00:16:37.211 --> 00:16:38.072 That feels like I'm overwhelmed. 00:16:38.072 --> 00:17:04.553 I'm going to share a quick story with you, but for me this is one of those things that Not too long ago I was driving and it was at night and Angela was with me in the car, and this was about probably three weeks ago, and you expect it to be cold and all the mosquitoes are gone and you can't have mosquitoes and bugs, but I feel like in the city of Houston you can. 00:17:05.341 --> 00:17:17.412 So, if those of you who are from somewhere else just know, we still got mosquitoes Christmas time and I hate mosquitoes, just so you know. 00:17:17.412 --> 00:17:21.047 And of course I'm wearing shorts and it's cool out. 00:17:21.047 --> 00:17:22.385 I think there's no big deal. 00:17:22.385 --> 00:17:36.245 And all of a sudden we're driving, it's dark in the truck and it's at night and I can see a mosquito kind of go across the front of my vision and I want to pull over to slam on the brakes and kill it right then, but I couldn't catch it. 00:17:36.245 --> 00:17:44.346 I tried to catch it and then realized I didn't catch it and then it, just from that moment forward it was like in my mind I just had this image. 00:17:44.346 --> 00:17:45.986 I kept telling Angela can you see it? 00:17:45.986 --> 00:17:56.102 I turned off the radio, tried to listen for it Because you can hear it buzzing around, and I just had. 00:17:56.302 --> 00:17:57.524 I'm sure you've had this experience. 00:17:57.524 --> 00:18:11.308 I just have this thing in my mind where he is feasting on me right now, somewhere later I'll know, because I'll be scratching and itching and it'll probably be my neck or my face, or he's probably right here. 00:18:11.308 --> 00:18:20.164 So the whole time I'm just like, is it on me and we roll down the windows and then I roll the windows back up and then again I see him come across the window. 00:18:20.164 --> 00:18:28.150 He's still inside and you might think that for an ordinary person, a mosquito is not that big a deal. 00:18:28.150 --> 00:18:29.461 Pastor Sean, you're over-exaggerating. 00:18:29.461 --> 00:18:30.903 Well, let's go a little bit deeper. 00:18:30.903 --> 00:18:37.214 Let me tell you why I have, when a mosquito or any bug is, buzzing around my head. 00:18:37.214 --> 00:18:39.713 It's not just because I don't like bugs. 00:18:39.713 --> 00:18:40.579 I'm okay with bugs. 00:18:40.579 --> 00:18:42.567 I don't like bugs, but I want to kill them. 00:18:42.567 --> 00:18:44.984 I'm not afraid of them. 00:18:44.984 --> 00:18:46.402 Just so you know. 00:18:46.402 --> 00:18:47.467 I'm going to put that out there. 00:18:55.759 --> 00:18:58.163 I had, at four years old I had a traumatic experience where a June bug went in my ear. 00:18:58.163 --> 00:19:06.583 I had to go to the emergency room and have it out, because I was frantic, and you can imagine they said they tell me. 00:19:06.583 --> 00:19:12.303 I don't remember this because I remember the moment and being in the doctor's office and the lights and the doctor trying to. 00:19:12.303 --> 00:19:24.825 I remember that it was in my head and it was flipped over and its wings were against my eardrum Perfect Christmas story. 00:19:24.825 --> 00:19:34.435 What better heartwarming story to tell you than just something disgusting? 00:19:34.435 --> 00:19:41.452 Right, obviously, got that worked out, but I still just hold a vengeance for all bugs. 00:19:41.452 --> 00:19:45.788 I've made my peace with June bugs, though. 00:19:45.788 --> 00:19:48.544 So this is I have attended freedom. 00:19:48.544 --> 00:19:55.786 For those of you who know what freedom is, I've had to work through it, right, and I've forgiven all the June bugs and all the. 00:19:55.786 --> 00:19:57.290 It's not that, it's just. 00:19:57.290 --> 00:20:00.264 I'm telling you that because of this. 00:20:01.288 --> 00:20:06.368 How often do we have this thing that's just buzzing in our head and we have this thing that we just can't let go of. 00:20:06.368 --> 00:20:13.931 And you could be sitting in the service today and there's just something that's just something that's buzzing in your head. 00:20:13.931 --> 00:20:15.064 You have bugs in your head. 00:20:15.064 --> 00:20:16.725 That's the name of the Christmas sermon. 00:20:16.725 --> 00:20:27.250 Right now, you got something that's just bothering you, something that's bugging you, something that you can't let go of, something that seems insignificant and so small that it shouldn't even bother you. 00:20:27.250 --> 00:20:38.209 And yet, here on Christmas, three days before Christmas, four days before Christmas, you're here and you've got something that you cannot let go of, something that's got control. 00:20:38.209 --> 00:20:44.943 It has you and I can say put on peace. 00:20:44.943 --> 00:20:48.896 And I can tell you that God wants you to walk in peace and God wants you to live in peace. 00:20:48.896 --> 00:20:54.702 But you have this little bug that's buzzing around in your head to walk in peace and God wants you to live in peace. 00:20:54.702 --> 00:20:56.766 But you have this little bug that's buzzing around in your head. 00:20:56.826 --> 00:21:06.680 Maybe it's that uncomfortable little comment that someone made to you at work this week, or one of the kids said something, or you were watching the news and you just can't get it out of your head. 00:21:06.680 --> 00:21:17.365 It keeps coming back, it keeps bubbling to the top of all of your thoughts and then you think you get away from it and then it's right there with you. 00:21:17.365 --> 00:21:25.321 Maybe it's something CNN or Fox News or Netflix it could just be. 00:21:25.321 --> 00:21:26.846 Man, I have to finish that series. 00:21:26.846 --> 00:21:28.471 I have to finish that thing I was watching. 00:21:28.471 --> 00:21:28.820 I can't. 00:21:28.820 --> 00:21:30.684 I have to go, finish that conversation. 00:21:30.684 --> 00:21:32.128 I have to make that bill payment. 00:21:32.128 --> 00:21:38.122 I have to go, and it's in my backyard or down the street, or my neighbor or my co worker, it's that thing. 00:21:38.122 --> 00:21:39.586 Right, it's my kids. 00:21:39.586 --> 00:21:40.747 I got to have that gift. 00:21:42.050 --> 00:21:46.363 We all have those things that we just can't put down and then it steals our peace. 00:21:46.363 --> 00:21:57.375 So, beyond putting on peace, we have to wake up in the morning deciding I'm going to put on peace, but then I'm not going to let anyone take them off. 00:21:57.375 --> 00:22:01.530 I'm not going to let anyone remove the shoes of peace that I've already put on. 00:22:01.530 --> 00:22:04.267 I'm going to number two protect my peace. 00:22:04.267 --> 00:22:22.632 You have to decide and be mentally engaged that this season, this holiday, this Christmas, I'm going to go visit my family, but I'm not going to let that little buzzing, bothering little thing at the back of my head that tells me that we're just going to have a complete family breakdown. 00:22:22.632 --> 00:22:23.944 I'm just not going to let that. 00:22:23.944 --> 00:22:25.685 I'm not going to let that bother me. 00:22:25.685 --> 00:22:29.869 I'm not going to let that be the thing that controls my day. 00:22:29.869 --> 00:22:31.589 I'm going to protect my peace. 00:22:31.589 --> 00:22:32.278 I'm going to protect my peace. 00:22:32.278 --> 00:22:35.027 I'm going to protect my peace. 00:22:38.279 --> 00:22:51.372 Proverbs, chapter 4, 23, says it this way Be careful how you think, for your life is shaped by your thoughts, your thoughts and your ability to protect your thoughts and kick out. 00:22:51.372 --> 00:23:03.106 That one thought is so valuable because if you don't have peace in your mind and you allow negative thoughts, this is not just a message to tell you hey, think positive. 00:23:03.106 --> 00:23:05.084 This is more than that. 00:23:05.084 --> 00:23:22.064 And this is also not just a thought thing, because I think that, just like the scripture we just read says that your life is shaped by your thoughts, your thought life, it can affect you emotionally, it can affect your physical body, and there's scientific proof. 00:23:22.064 --> 00:23:45.789 I'll give you real quick that if you focus on anger and focus on resentment and we allow stress, that little buzzing bug of stress, to stay in your mind, it's like this constant stream of toxic chemicals that get dropped into your system, into your body, and it not only attacks your immune system. 00:23:45.789 --> 00:23:52.913 One study showed that 75% of all illnesses can be attributed to our thought life. 00:23:52.913 --> 00:24:01.388 That's scary to think that 75% three out of four illnesses can be attributed to what goes on right here in your own mind. 00:24:01.388 --> 00:24:05.925 I can prove it to you. 00:24:07.500 --> 00:24:09.928 Most people know what the placebo effect is. 00:24:09.928 --> 00:24:18.525 It's when you take a sugar pill thinking that it's the cure for whatever illness you have, and somehow you miraculously get healed. 00:24:18.525 --> 00:24:30.099 Wow, people have been cured from all kinds of diseases and all kinds of physical effects because they think that they're taking a real medicine. 00:24:30.099 --> 00:24:40.083 But just the thought of thinking, oh, I'm taking this, this is a cure, their mind, their thoughts change, and now, all of a sudden, it's affecting them physically. 00:24:40.083 --> 00:24:57.423 In fact, I found one list a study showed that the placebo effect has shown to cure depression, anxiety, pain, even coughing, ibs, parkinson's disease, epilepsy, just because we think it's a solution. 00:24:57.423 --> 00:24:59.887 That works both ways, though. 00:24:59.887 --> 00:25:08.484 Sometimes we think there's a problem and now, all of a sudden, we start coming down with physical effects and physical symptoms because our thoughts are going in the wrong way. 00:25:10.288 --> 00:25:16.670 How powerful would it be if we could give our thoughts to the Lord and allow him to set the tone for where our peace should be. 00:25:16.670 --> 00:25:25.041 Craig Groeschel, pastor Craig Groeschel, one of the pastors that I love to watch he said that our lives move in the direction of our strongest thoughts. 00:25:25.041 --> 00:25:37.804 So we have to fight those bugs in our thought life, we have to find where the Word of God is, and I think that we can fix our thoughts with the Word of God. 00:25:37.804 --> 00:25:46.748 So here's number three and my final point, and that is not only do we have to put on peace and then protect your peace. 00:25:46.748 --> 00:25:52.647 But number three, you have to take the peace that you're carrying and put it on the problem. 00:25:52.647 --> 00:25:59.541 Take the piece and put it wherever the problem is, and I'm going to show you how to do that in the practical part of this. 00:26:00.382 --> 00:26:08.789 Philippians, chapter four, verse six and I think this verse gives us, like this, perfect picture of what it means to exterminate those bugs in our thoughts. 00:26:08.789 --> 00:26:12.527 Philippians, chapter four, verse six, says do not worry about anything. 00:26:12.527 --> 00:26:14.322 Instead, pray about everything. 00:26:14.322 --> 00:26:16.526 What does that mean? 00:26:16.526 --> 00:26:19.573 That means turn worry into prayer. 00:26:19.573 --> 00:26:24.266 I don't care how bad your thought process is. 00:26:24.266 --> 00:26:26.190 If you decide to do this, you can. 00:26:26.190 --> 00:26:28.564 This is not something that well, I'm just not strong enough. 00:26:28.564 --> 00:26:30.550 No, you are strong enough if you decide to do it. 00:26:30.550 --> 00:26:35.842 I have this worry, I have this struggle, I have this little bug that keeps buzzing me around in my thoughts. 00:26:35.842 --> 00:26:39.511 What if you take that worry and say okay, lord, I need your help. 00:26:39.511 --> 00:26:41.240 Turn it into a prayer. 00:26:41.240 --> 00:26:44.484 It goes on. 00:26:44.484 --> 00:26:47.168 It says tell God what you need and thank him for all he's done. 00:26:47.168 --> 00:26:50.952 So now we take a second step, and now we've prayed and now we're thanking him. 00:26:50.952 --> 00:26:53.215 God, I thank you for healing me. 00:26:53.215 --> 00:27:10.299 I thank you, god, that this problem, that this situation, that you are my solution, that you are my provider, thanksgiving activates peace. 00:27:13.779 --> 00:27:18.872 Thanksgiving is kind of hard to continue to worry and continue to be under the weight of a situation and a problem whenever you're actually thanking God and becoming thankful. 00:27:18.872 --> 00:27:28.003 It says then and this is what we want to start with, but this is where we arrive, then you will experience God's peace. 00:27:28.003 --> 00:27:34.574 I wonder if we could go into Christmas day with peace in our hearts, because we've been. 00:27:34.574 --> 00:27:39.049 Every time that little bug comes around, boom, I'm praying, I'm giving God thanks. 00:27:39.049 --> 00:27:43.185 Here comes the peace which exceeds anything we can understand. 00:27:43.185 --> 00:27:46.532 Peace that surpasses all understanding. 00:27:46.532 --> 00:27:52.192 Like peace that doesn't make sense, peace that's not because of what's going on around me. 00:27:52.192 --> 00:27:59.550 If anyone was to look at me and write down all the issues in my life, they might say this guy must be crazy for being peaceful right now. 00:27:59.550 --> 00:28:02.366 This doesn't make any sense. 00:28:02.366 --> 00:28:10.313 And then it says his peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. 00:28:10.313 --> 00:28:19.102 I don't know about you, but I need some peace that will guard my heart and my mind, dr Caroline Leaf. 00:28:19.102 --> 00:28:23.452 This is another bit of scientific proof, dr Caroline Leaf. 00:28:23.579 --> 00:28:25.665 She wrote a book called Switch on your Brain. 00:28:25.665 --> 00:28:36.273 She's a neuropsychologist and she said this it has been found that 12 minutes a day of focused prayer can change the brain to such an extent that it can be measured on a brain scan. 00:28:36.273 --> 00:28:44.792 12 minutes a day and you can see that your brain has changed because of prayer. 00:28:44.792 --> 00:28:52.452 So look, we're talking about something that happens inside that physically changes you. 00:28:52.452 --> 00:28:54.747 We know that prayer moves the heart of God. 00:28:54.747 --> 00:28:57.167 I'm not just praying to move the heart of God. 00:28:57.167 --> 00:29:00.930 Prayer is changing me physically and changing my brain chemistry. 00:29:00.930 --> 00:29:02.742 It's not just changing. 00:29:02.742 --> 00:29:06.551 Oh well, I have a better attitude now because I prayed for a little while. 00:29:06.551 --> 00:29:19.349 I used to tell my kids you guys need to go pray some, you need to go spend some time with the Lord, because you have a terrible attitude, turns out we're getting a lot more out of that. 00:29:19.349 --> 00:29:21.785 We're moving the heart of God. 00:29:21.785 --> 00:29:23.086 We're changing brain chemistry. 00:29:23.086 --> 00:29:24.987 I am walking away with a better attitude. 00:29:26.920 --> 00:29:34.171 Romans, chapter 12 tells us this Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. 00:29:34.171 --> 00:29:35.365 There's so much in this verse. 00:29:35.365 --> 00:29:47.859 I think we could preach on this verse and discuss this verse for the next year every Sunday, and it would still be powerful to us, do not conform to the pattern of this world. 00:29:47.859 --> 00:29:56.288 So we have to pay attention to the patterns that are around us and realize which pattern we're being conformed, in which pattern. 00:29:56.288 --> 00:30:07.846 If we're looking for the pattern and the thought process and the thought patterns that are going to transform us and transform our thoughts and our mind into peace, it's not the pattern of this world. 00:30:07.846 --> 00:30:10.431 We have to renew our mind. 00:30:10.431 --> 00:30:11.802 What does that look like? 00:30:12.509 --> 00:30:19.906 Instead of allowing the pattern of fear and the pattern of stress and the pattern of doubt to rule my mind and buzz around in my head, I have to put a new pattern down. 00:30:19.906 --> 00:30:36.389 I have to start grabbing a hold of the scriptures that tell me God has not forgotten me, instead of God doesn't care about me, I don't matter, I'm insignificant. 00:30:36.389 --> 00:30:43.227 Then I need to double down on the truth of the Word of God and start to speak to my own life. 00:30:43.227 --> 00:31:14.252 And nothing can separate me from God's love, and he loves me more than anything that I'm His workmanship, his craftsmanship, and a thought comes into my mind that I'm not good enough or I'll never get over this, and I need to be able to remind myself and stop that pattern in his tracks and put something else in his place, almost like coming in with bug spray and saying, no way, you don't live here anymore. 00:31:14.252 --> 00:31:16.426 Bad thoughts buzzing around in my head. 00:31:16.426 --> 00:31:16.968 You're gone. 00:31:16.968 --> 00:31:23.320 The thoughts that I'm going to allow to stay in my head are going to be God's thoughts, he says. 00:31:23.320 --> 00:31:26.390 Greater is he that is in me than he that's in the world. 00:31:26.390 --> 00:31:29.008 I can push out all the negative thoughts. 00:31:33.120 --> 00:31:41.654 So I had a thought in my head a few years back when I first went through our freedom class. 00:31:41.654 --> 00:31:51.313 I started realizing that, just in my own insecurity, in my own thought, I had this feeling of something in me is missing. 00:31:51.313 --> 00:31:52.034 I'm not good enough, I'll never be good enough, I don't measure up. 00:31:52.034 --> 00:31:55.311 I had this feeling of something in me is missing, something I'm not good enough, I'll never be good enough, I don't measure up. 00:31:55.311 --> 00:31:59.323 I'm comparing myself to other people, to other pastors, to other leaders, to other. 00:31:59.323 --> 00:32:08.304 I had a part in me that I thought why am I not good enough? 00:32:08.304 --> 00:32:13.033 As I began to dig in it and ask the Lord, show me why. 00:32:13.033 --> 00:32:15.688 Why can't I give this thought to you, god? 00:32:15.688 --> 00:32:19.688 Why can't I stand on the identity that I know that? 00:32:19.688 --> 00:32:20.911 I know that I know who I am. 00:32:20.911 --> 00:32:22.965 Why can't I do that? 00:32:23.479 --> 00:32:46.828 And then I remembered when I was in the third grade, or maybe, yeah, third grade I got y'all won't believe this, but I would get in trouble all the time for talking, for acting up, for fooling around, horsing around, throwing things at other students, games, playing games, just doing. 00:32:46.828 --> 00:32:49.053 In my mind that's what boys do, right? 00:32:49.053 --> 00:32:58.711 So when you come to me and tell me I can't get control of this kid, I just tell you look, boys will be boys. 00:32:58.711 --> 00:33:00.903 Kids are going to act up and goof off. 00:33:00.903 --> 00:33:02.567 But I was that kid that got in trouble. 00:33:02.567 --> 00:33:12.898 Every day we had demerits at my school and I would get pops after so many demerits. 00:33:12.898 --> 00:33:15.188 And I remember I got pops so many times in a row that the principal brought me in. 00:33:15.208 --> 00:33:19.423 I sat in the principal's office in third grade and I got a lecture and I thought here comes another lecture. 00:33:19.423 --> 00:33:27.863 He sat me down and he began to tell me look, he pulled out from his desk. 00:33:27.863 --> 00:33:32.173 He pulled out a piece of paper and he said look, this paper is strong. 00:33:32.173 --> 00:33:41.192 And he said but when you fold it it's got a crease in it now. 00:33:41.192 --> 00:33:44.908 And he said no matter what, you're never going to get this crease out. 00:33:44.908 --> 00:33:45.831 He said you can open it. 00:33:45.831 --> 00:33:50.648 I think he was trying to help me, but it stuck in my head. 00:33:50.648 --> 00:34:01.089 He said look, from now on, when this paper gets under pressure, it's going to fold right there in that spot, it's going to have a flaw. 00:34:02.040 --> 00:34:14.269 And then he told me at a third grader that you have a crease and you get in trouble in the same place every day. 00:34:14.269 --> 00:34:17.184 You're goofing off, you're talking to other people, you're breaking rules. 00:34:17.184 --> 00:34:26.603 He says you have to know that you have this problem, and when somebody has something wrong with them, when they get under pressure, they're going to do the same thing. 00:34:26.603 --> 00:34:28.951 And so we have to work together to overcome this issue. 00:34:28.951 --> 00:34:34.242 What I walked away with was hey, I got this problem, something's wrong with me. 00:34:34.242 --> 00:34:36.791 No matter what I do, I'm always going to have this fold. 00:34:36.791 --> 00:34:38.062 I'm always going to have this problem. 00:34:38.062 --> 00:34:43.394 And when he told me that it just stuck in my mind I am broken. 00:34:43.394 --> 00:34:45.541 I'm missing something. 00:34:45.541 --> 00:34:47.603 I'll never be whole. 00:34:47.603 --> 00:34:50.006 I just have to deal with this. 00:34:50.006 --> 00:34:50.887 For the rest of my life. 00:34:50.887 --> 00:34:52.929 I'm going to be the kid that causes problems. 00:34:52.949 --> 00:35:10.916 I know he was trying to help me, but it wasn't until I realized I've been carrying around this thing and I have to let God heal me. 00:35:10.916 --> 00:35:14.113 And so I started saying, god, this is not what you want me to be. 00:35:14.113 --> 00:35:33.012 And so I started reading the Bible and grabbing a hold of the scriptures that I could put on that problem, to bring peace into that area, and realizing that he makes all things new and that when someone is in Christ, they are a new creation and I don't have to walk around. 00:35:33.012 --> 00:35:43.570 So I began to heal on the inside and then the thing that was causing me that was stealing my peace, making me feel like I wasn't good enough and that I wasn't ever going to be whole it started to heal. 00:35:43.570 --> 00:35:49.432 He makes all things new. 00:35:49.432 --> 00:35:57.595 I began to use the biblical affirmations and declaring over myself that I am who God made me to be. 00:35:58.506 --> 00:36:12.338 The reason I'm telling you that story is because I need you to know that so often we just, well, this is who I am, this is what I am, and when I talk about having that little thought buzzing around in your head, you think, well, that's just who I am, pastor Sean, I can. 00:36:12.338 --> 00:36:17.670 I talk about having that little thought buzzing around in your head, you think, well, that's just who I am, pastor Sean. 00:36:17.670 --> 00:36:18.914 I can't get rid of that it's like I can't. 00:36:18.914 --> 00:36:20.559 I can't change the things that bother me. 00:36:20.559 --> 00:36:20.901 Yes, you can. 00:36:20.901 --> 00:36:21.461 You can address it. 00:36:21.461 --> 00:36:22.966 You can hand it over to the Lord, you can. 00:36:22.966 --> 00:36:27.671 You can pray and turn the worry into prayer and then begin walking in thanksgiving. 00:36:27.671 --> 00:36:37.242 And then, every time that thing comes up, you put the word of God on it Exterminate the thoughts, take control of the thoughts, take captive every thought. 00:36:37.242 --> 00:36:40.449 That's what the scripture says. 00:36:40.449 --> 00:36:41.891 This is not a hard thing to do. 00:36:41.891 --> 00:36:42.211 You think. 00:36:42.211 --> 00:36:43.313 Well, I'm not a Bible scholar. 00:36:43.313 --> 00:36:43.774 This is not. 00:36:44.015 --> 00:36:46.739 I don't know how to take the scripture and turn it into a declaration. 00:36:46.739 --> 00:36:48.966 Can I show you how easy it is? 00:36:48.966 --> 00:36:51.490 And then we're going to close, because I want this to be so practical for you. 00:36:51.490 --> 00:37:07.889 I want this to be something that you walk away knowing that, if you, if you right now, you can probably and I'm not talking about someone's name, because we don't battle against flesh and blood I'm talking about something that you're wrestling with today, something that's buzzing around in your head. 00:37:07.889 --> 00:37:11.017 If you can put a name on it, it's just as easy. 00:37:11.017 --> 00:37:12.088 Something that's buzzing around in your head. 00:37:12.088 --> 00:37:15.396 If you can put a name on it, it's just as easy as getting on your phone or getting on your computer. 00:37:15.396 --> 00:37:18.832 You don't need to be a biblical scholar and you can just Google. 00:37:18.832 --> 00:37:35.315 You can Google this and just Google the words Scripture for anger, scripture for financial freedom, scripture for that seems oversimplified. 00:37:35.315 --> 00:37:37.713 But watch, if you'll take the scripture, the scripture is powerful. 00:37:37.713 --> 00:37:43.774 It's not Google that's healing you or that's solving that problem and helping you to overcome and bringing back peace. 00:37:43.774 --> 00:37:45.091 It's not Google, it's the scripture. 00:37:45.385 --> 00:37:53.314 If you can find the scripture, if I were you and you're struggling against and with something that's just weighing on you, you need to make a list of scriptures. 00:37:53.314 --> 00:37:55.673 I first heard about this concept when I was much younger. 00:37:55.673 --> 00:38:00.135 Maybe you know who Dodie Osteen is. 00:38:00.135 --> 00:38:11.510 She was battling against cancer and she found a list of 40 healing scriptures and she read them to herself every day and proclaimed them and just read them and prayed them over herself every day until she overcame cancer. 00:38:11.510 --> 00:38:27.615 That seems simple, but if I'm fighting fear, if I'm fighting anxiety, if I'm fighting worry, all I got to do is just begin to work to overcome it, exterminate it, kick it out, and repetition is the answer. 00:38:27.615 --> 00:38:29.923 Repetition makes something hard very easy. 00:38:29.923 --> 00:38:30.425 Repetition is the answer. 00:38:30.425 --> 00:38:32.806 Repetition makes something hard very easy. 00:38:32.847 --> 00:38:33.827 So I want to pray over you. 00:38:33.827 --> 00:38:48.341 I want to pray with you and I want us to just ask the Lord to handle that buzzing in our thoughts, that issue, because I want you to walk through this holiday season and through this Christmas stronger and more emotionally healthy and having answers in your hand. 00:38:48.341 --> 00:38:51.577 So would you let me pray for you. 00:38:51.577 --> 00:38:54.430 Would you just put your hand over your heart and ask God to bring peace? 00:38:54.430 --> 00:39:03.918 Lord, we thank you that you are working in the midst of those who are struggling with strife in our marriages, financial hardships. 00:39:03.978 --> 00:39:09.717 God, the little buzzing noise that continues to just bite at the back of our mind. 00:39:09.717 --> 00:39:22.434 I thank you, god, that you promised us peace, that you are the Prince of Peace and that there is nothing too hard or too overwhelming or too powerful that it can prevail against us. 00:39:22.434 --> 00:39:33.336 Lord, I thank you that you are bringing peace into the hearts and the minds of every person in this room, those watching online, that you are giving us peace in our hearts, god. 00:39:33.336 --> 00:39:41.773 Thank you, jesus, for bringing us emotional strength to overcome every issue. 00:39:41.773 --> 00:39:45.710 In Jesus' name, amen, would you stand up on your feet? 00:39:45.710 --> 00:39:47.084 We're going to worship for just a moment. 00:39:48.027 --> 00:39:49.411 I sought the Lord. 00:39:49.411 --> 00:39:51.916