Advent 2022 - The Advent of Peace

GREET AND INTRO

Good morning everyone!! Good morning on everyone worshiping this morning through live stream.

If I have not had a chance to meet you either in person or through live stream;  My name is Scott and I am a follower of Jesus and have the privilege of serving Him as the Lead Pastor among the people of Stonewater Fellowship. 

A COUPLE OF THINGS

ADVENT FAMILY GUIDES -

NEXT SUNDAY

FOOD BAGS

FELLOWSHIP PRAYER

KAIROS

CANDLE LIGHT WORSHIP 5:30

TEAM HIGHLIGHT

PRAYER

This morning as we through this of Advent the season of arrival - my prayer for all of us is that as we celebrate the arrival of Peace through teh Child in the manger we would truly know the peace of God that comes through Jesus. And as we anticipate the celebration of His arrival and the arrival of Hope, Peace, Love and Joy into the world some 2000 years ago, We would all be well prepared for His arriving again - which could happen at any moment or take another 2000 years.

LETS GRAB OUR BIBLES

either electronic version or the actual book kind -

Open it to Colossians 3:15-17 this morning and we will also be looking at Romans 5:1-2 we celebrate the second week of Advent - This week has traditionally been marked by the word Peace - Advent - Means the the coming being or use -

I believe that if we can look at this Advent season that we are in not only as a preparation or anticipation of Celebrating the Arrival of Jesus but If we were to look at this season as the season of coming into being - The season where Hope came into being, The season Where Peace came into being - The season where Love came into being - The Season where Joy Came into being and ultimately the season where Eternity comes to all people everywhere. Then I pray that December 25th will take on a whole new meaning for all of us.

TRUTH

Isaiah 9:6–7 (NASB95)

6 For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us;

And the government will rest on His shoulders;

And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.

7 There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace,

On the throne of David and over his kingdom,

To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness

From then on and forevermore.

The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this.

Luke 2:8–14 (NASB95)

8 In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night.

9 And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened.

10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people;

11 for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

12 “This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

13 And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

14 “Glory to God in the highest,

And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.”

John 14:27 NASB95

27 “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.

John 16:33 NASB95

33 “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”

Colossians 3:15–17 NASB95

15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.

Romans 5:1–2 NASB95

1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God.

ENGAGEMENT

When you hear the word “peace” what comes to your mind?

For some of us we think PIE - Pumpkin - Apple - pecan - Especially this time of year.

but that is not the Peace I am asking about.

What is Peace?

You know the thing that two countries have after the warfare has ended?

Its kind of interesting but I think that we kind of know what the definition of Peace is?

but not many of us have really looked it up. I think we assume what it means and more than likely were probably right.

Here is what Peace actually means from the Oxford dictionary of the english language.

Peace is defined as Freedom from disturbance -

Cultural Peace - This can be from Civil Disturbance -

Personal Peace - This can be from emotional disturbance - Oppressive thoughts or emotions.

Relational Peace - Harmony in personal relations - OR

Global peace - on a larger scale - A state or period of time of mutual concord between two governments or tribes.

I think that many people and probably many of us desire to have peace in our lives -

We strive and Strain and struggle and support things that we think can give us personal peace - and we hope that we can contribute in some way to cultural peace -

We really desire to have relational peace and life does not work out too well when there is not Global Peace. And cultural peace is alto gether a difficult thing to see happen out there.

TENSION

Here is what I think that most of us if not all of us actually experience in our lives - PEACE IS ELUSIVE - True and Lasting peace is really become something that we strive and strain for and is sometimes seemingly elusive -

And there is not a more severe time of the year that PEACE is elusive.

This season for most of us is filled with tension - Stress - Anxiety - Determination and a hyper focus on what we think is important. AND Peace becomes Elusive.

Then there is life in general - Kids troubles - Marriage difficulties - money issues - You get called from the electric company that your electric bill is past due - Your credit cards are maxed - You then find our she is pregnant with Kid number more than I thought I would have - Or the opposite - She gets the call that she can not have kids - Car accidents - You loose your job - Get behind on the house payments - Best friend betrays you - Your Spouse betrays you - Something is said in marriage that just cant be undone - The teenager looses his or her mind and does that exact same thing that you did when you were his or her age and you were lucky to make it through and your fear factor goes up by a factor of 10- Kid take off for the first time alone driving in a car an doesn't come home on time? Graduates high school and hits the town with friends and doesn't come home at all that night? or ever?

You get disrespected at home or at work - Dr calls and says blood test results are in an we need you to come in and have a visit and the news alters the rest of what you had planned for the rest of your life - Officer called and says there has been a car wreck and the rest of the conversation is one that you thought only other people have -

Yet this season and every Christmas Season we hear - His name shall be called wonderful counselor, mighty God, eternal father, Prince of Peace - and I think its possible that we might think - Prince of Peace some day but not today.

WE also read and hear that in that same region there were shepherds watching over their sheep and and Angel of God stood in front of them and the Glory of God was all around them and they were afraid -

Trust me - If an Angel of God ever stands in front of you and the Glory of God just peeks out a little you and I both will be afraid -

This angel that came said - Don’t be afraid for I bring you good news of great joy - That today in the city of David there a savior is born -

After this announcement a great multitude of angels came and said glory to God in the highest and On earth peace amon men with whom He is pleased.

BUT PEACE among men is elusive -

Peace in my life is Elusive -

Peace in our culture is Elusive

Peace in my relationships - Especially the hard ones - Is elusive.

So where is the effect of this prince of peace - Where is the Peace among men with whom God is pleased - Maybe he is not pleased with anyone?

Whats even more interesting - You read the story of Jesus’s life there is not a lot of peace -

He and the parental units have a little scuffle at 12 -

Religious and Governmental leaders multiple times try to kill him, discredit him or destroy Him -

Everybody wants something from Him -

People he serves forget to thank Him

His mom pushes him into something at a wedding -

A guy that hangs with Him for 3 years betrays him

His best friends leave him when He needs them the most -

God the father forsakes him and He is crushed for our iniquities he is pierced for our transgressions -

His followers after His Resurrection - Shipped wrecked - Myartered - Inpresioned - Discriminated against - Accused - And possessions taken from them -

I don know about you but that does not Sound like PEACE or a Peaceful life - and Each one of them Myrtered for their faith -

and YET - in John 14:27 Jesus Says:

John 14:27 NASB95

27 “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.

and In John 16:33 Jesus says again

John 16:33 NASB95

33 “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”

Jesus gives us peace as the prince of peace HE give us His peace and Tells us that in the world we will have tribulation but he gives us peace -

UNPACKING

This morning as we consider the elusiveness of Peace in our life and what appears in theirs lets look at a couple of verses from the Scirptures and discover How we can have true peace and have lasting peace. A peace that really changes our perspective on every moment of our life - The Peace that was ushered in when the Jesus arrived The the Advent of Peace occured.

Colossians 3:15–17 NASB95

15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.

BACKDROP

Paul writing to the Colossian Church - A church that was started and lead by a guy named Epaphrus. Epaphrus - was from Ephesus where Paul had come on on one of his church supporting church planting journies and showed up to support a church plant that was started, in Ephesus by A guy named Apollos - who was discipled by Pricila and Aquila -

Epaphraus - Leaves Ephesus after coming to faith in christ and spending some time being equipped for the work and goes back to his home town and begins to make disciples and a church was planted.

no Here is what is Interesting - When Paul writes this letter - He is in a Roman Prison in Rome - He is under House arrest - He is there as He has made an appeal to Cesar and He is awaiting trial.

Paul himself being in prison and he is writing to a church that He has never ben to and did not start and this church in Colossae is suffering from the encroach of bad teaching that denies the humanity of Jesus and that Jewish legalism was how one earned salvation along with these false teachers were teaching that there is something deeper to know and understand than scripture - A deeper and secret knowledge.

VS15

So Paul is in prison and there is false teaching coming into the church and Paul says “Let the peace of Christ RULE in your hearts.”

RULE - In the Language of the new testament it was originally referring to the idea of an Umpire of the Games - In other words this was the guy whose job it was to Direct the Games and arbitrate any dispute and to Decide the competition and who was the winner and who was not - back then they called winners Victors -

Paul says Let the Peace of Christ - Peace of the Anointed one - The Peace of the Chosen one of Israel - The Peace of the Holy one of God Direct you - Arbitrate any conflict with in you - Let the peace of Jesus Decide who is the victor of this game called life and Paul says - Let the peace of Christ Rule in your hearts -

The heart in the 1st centruy Palestine, when this was written was referred to as the seat of emotions - This is where your emotions were and today we think in those same terms -

We have a broken heart or a joy full heart.

Paul says Let the peace of Jesus Rule Your emotions - Let the peace of Jesus Direct and Arbitrate your thoughts and feeling and He says this with the emphasis that indicates an always, persistent ongoing way-

VS16

Paul, then rites as He sits in a roman prison, “To let the word of Christ richly dwell within you”

The Word - more directly meaning “the message” Let the Message of Christ Richly Dwell with in you”

One of the key aspects of the Message of Christ is that He Gives us His Peace - and in that part of Jesus’s message Jesus says NOT AS THE WORLD GIVE IT.

IN Other words - The peace that Jesus gives is not Peace as the world understands and sees peace -

So let the Message of Jesus that He has given us His peace, His kind of Peace, his type of Peace - Let that message “Richly Dwell” with in us.

Richly Dwell - Richly = Large Valuable Amounts -

Dwell = To remain in a defined place both psychologically and spiritually - in other words “to be in you both psychologically and spiritually”

Paul says let the message of Jesus that He has given us His peace remain in us as the defined place of habitation both psychologically and spiritual in large valuable amounts.

What is the result of that? what does that look like -

With Wisdom which means “understanding”

Teaching which means “to provide instruction in an informal or formal way”

Admonishing which means - “to advise by laying on the heart of someone the dangerous consequences of some happening or action”

SO with this peace of Christ Ruling and Directing our hearts and the Message of Christ Remaining in us in large and valuable amounts WHO do we take this instruction in a formal and informal way - about the dangerous consequences of Some happening or action - with understanding?

EACH OTHER -

We learn form each other - We walk and journey with each other - We do life together and in that learn with understanding from each other and we keep each other safe -

HOW? when the peace of Jesus directs and arbitrates our emotions and when the message of Jesus that we have His peace remains in our spiritual and psychological self we will keep each other safe with

Psalms = Songs of praise -

Hymns = Songs with adoration to God -

Spiritual Songs = Songs that are are powered by the Holy Spirit

with Thankfulness -

So what does our life with each other look like when The Peace of Jesus Directs and Arbitrates our emotions - When the message of Jesus that HE has left us and given us HIS peace - When that message remains in us at the psychological and spiritual level and it does so with Valuable large amount?

We worship! We worship God with each other - and in that worship that is power by the very spirit of God undergurded by thanks giving. We keep each other safe AND

VS17

We can now live that out in a more fuller and more complete way - Everything we then do in both what we say and what we do - we will do in the name of Jesus and we will do with thanksgiving.

WE NOW MUST ANSWER THE QUESTION - WHAT IS THE PEACE OF JESUS THAT HE LEFT US AND GAVE TO US?

It is the central effect of the Gospel - It is the central power of the Gospel -

The Peace that Jesus gives us is that we have peace with God-

Paul writes in Romans Chapter 5 that:

Romans 5:1 NASB95

1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

Peace with God -

This is the centrality of the Gospel - This is the centrality of the work of Jesus -

This is the central effect of the death of Jesus as God and as Man completely and entirely innocent of any wrong doing against God -

Through Faith we have been justified -

Justified - an act of clearing someone of transgression - to acquit in other words declare innocent of all charges - to be set free of any consequences or bondage becasue of accusations - TO remove guilt - this all according to a trial in front of a judge -

HOW have we bee Justified - How have we been set free - How Have we been released from all charges evern through we actually did what the accuser said about us -

FAITH - FAITH = Trust

WE trust that we have been reconciled to God by the declaration of our innocence becasue of the work Jesus did on that Cross

And there for - The Hostilities between us and God have ceased - WE have Peace with GOD - our relationship is no longer disturbed - We have Peace with GOD -

Romans 5:2 NASB95

2 through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God.

VS2

Through Jesus we have The text says OBTAINED our introduction by faith by TRUST into this grace

Grace - The Grace of God that is marked by us having peace with God - Achieved by the very work of God - facilitated by the Justivce of God - satisfying the wrath of God and powered by the love of GOD

This is the peace that Jesus gives us - This is the peace that Jesus leaves us - This is the peace that must direct and arbitrate our emotions -

This is the peace of God and this peace arrived - The advent of this peace occured when the Child was born -

IMAGINE WITH ME

What your life would be like if the primary source of your peace with others and with in your self was NOT them or NOT the circumstances of your life -

It was not whether there was money in the bank - Was not on whether you had your kids or adult children in the right place or they had them selves in the right place -

I want you to imagine with a peace so strong that the phone call form the doctor would not through you off - That the missing teenager that diesnt show up until 4 hours later does not disturbed your peace - That the phone call that there was an accident - has no change in your disposition - \

Imagine with me having a peace like that - A peace that goes so far beyond understand that the peace if immovable -

Here is the key -

Our source for our peace cannot be others or our circumstances or even ourselves.

The source of our immovable peace - the source of this kind of powerful peace MUST only be from the fact that we have peace with God through Jesus.

You see when we constantly and continually remember and keep in the forefront of our minds that we have peace with God - Everything else becomes what it is - Temporary -

When the kids miss behave and your feel that frustration rise - Remember I have peace with God -

When the Spouse does something that really gets you in the gut - Remember I have peace with God -

When the job is troublesome or the bill collectors calling or when Life just gets difficult -

Remember I have peace with GOD -

WHen the crowds this season are a little too rought and a little to loud and a little to rude and disrespectful -

Remember You have peace with GOD -

And let the peace of God Guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus - and you can be a peacemaker - and as Jesus said - Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the Children of GOD -

STEPS OF FAITH

as Emanuella and her team come to lead us in music before the table of Jesus - This kind of Peace - The kind that flows from God through you to others - is only available through FAITH - and Faith according to the bible is surrendering to God in Trust -

Trusting that Jesus did what he came to do and finished that work - So if you are hear and you have never surrendered your life to the lordship of Jesus, being declared innocent and set free - Justified by faith - God is calling you this morning to begin the journey of faith - TO take those first steps and surrender to God and let the peace of God through faith

COMMUNION

Acknowledgement of our need for Jesus to prepare for the table of Jesus–

The Scriptures tell us that when we come to the table of Jesus it is a time of remembrance – A time of thinking about what Jesus has done and accomplished on the cross – A time of remembering why Jesus did what He did. And So as the people who have been called out of darkness, we take time to contemplate and to repent –

Repentance is a turning to Jesus again and again and again – In the life of a follower of Jesus it is never a once and done thing. The Bible tells us that if we agree with God “we confess” in the ways we have rebelled against God “our sin” He is faithful and just to forgive our sin and clean us from all unrighteousness.

So, to prepare our hearts to come to the table of Jesus, as a community, we spend time in prayerful contemplation, agreeing with God trough confession, the areas of our life where we have rebelled against Him, where Jesus still needs to do some work and touch us and heal us.

When we do this we encourage you to take a posture of Humility, as we spend the next minute or so in silent contemplation.

A posture of humility to you might be to stay in your seat with your eyes closed and your head bowed, you might stand with your eyes lifted to heaven and your arms and hands raised as Solomon did when he prayed, you might come and kneel here at the front or there Where you are seated – whatever that is to you, let us take a posture of humility, agreeing with God through prayerful confession the way where we have rebelled against Him as we prepare our hearts to participate in the table of Jesus.

Pause for 60 seconds in prayerful contemplation

Assurance of our forgiveness through the table.

As we come to the table of Jesus together, we are reminded of the assurance of our forgiveness. Because we openly and actively declare the Gospel as we participate in communion together. The poured out blood of Jesus and the death of His body as he joyfully took upon Him self the wrath of God that was due us.

Unity of the Table

When we come to the table of Jesus, we are spiritually united together. Paul says in this letter to the Corinthians “that Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one bread.”

So as we come to the table of Jesus we are spiritually united together as brothers and sisters in Christ. We are also united with Jesus in his death and resurrection at His table.

Participation at the Table

BREAD: On the night He was betrayed, He gathered His disciples for a Passover meal. While they were eating Jesus took some bread; after He blessed it and gave thanks to the Father: He broke it, gave it to His disciples and said: “Take this all of you and eat of it, for This is My body, which is for you; when you do this, do this in remembrance of Me.”

Eat the Bread with Everyone

CUP: After the meal, in the same way He took the cup, again gave thanks to the Father. He took the Cup and gave it to His disciples saying, “Take this all of you and drink of this cup. This cup is the cup of my blood. The blood of the New and Everlasting covenant. My blood which will be poured out for the forgiveness of sins for many; when you do this, as often as you drink it, do this in remembrance of Me.”

Drink the Cup with Everyone

PRAYER TEAM

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