Perfect Peace
Notes
Transcript
Opening Prayer (Adoration & Gratitude)
According to some research groups, there have been around 10,624 battles in human history since the year 2,500 B.C.
Other research groups estimate that there are roughly 150 conflicts reported world-wide every year.
The Council on Criminal Justice reported that as of 12/3/25, 13,540 homicides have taken place in the U.S. this year.
The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence estimates 10 million people experience domestic violence every year.
Another study finds that 20 people experience abuse by their partner every minute of every day (That is over 10.5 million people per year)
If peace is the ideal humanity searches for through morality, ethics, human polity, law, and social structuring; it seems plausible that we do not know how to maintain or keep peace, even after we find it.
YET, God offers us the promise and fulfillment of peace beyond our wildest dreams. In order for us to attain it we must get a few things right.
Peace is a blessing from God.
Peace is a blessing from God.
A. For humanity to receive peace we must understand it as more than an ideal that falls through our hards when we grasp for it.
B. Because peace comes from God we understand that it is a gift of His grace and mercy that cannot be fully received or appreciated, without Him.
6 ‘I shall also give you peace in the land so that you may lie down, with no one making you tremble. I shall also eliminate wild beasts from the land, and no sword will pass through your land.
33 “So shall their blood return on the head of Joab and on the head of his seed forever; but to David and his seed and his house and his throne, may there be peace from Yahweh forever.”
C. When God promises and gives peace it is the result of His very presence with us. Even the tranquil state of the wicked, and their presumed state of safety is nothing compared to the peace God gives His children in the middle of the storms of life.
Like a river, glorious
Is God’s perfect peace,
Over all victorious
In its bright increase;
Perfect, yet it floweth
Fuller every day,
Perfect, yet it groweth
Deeper all the way.
“Like a River Glorious” #516
When God blesses us it is fore a completeness of all that He designed us to be in Him.
Peace is all-encompassing for the true believer.
Peace is all-encompassing for the true believer.
A. God intended for humanity to enjoy peace in more than just a calmness or stillness in the course of life.
B. If peace is meant to grow deeper all the way, then it must reach every aspect of our lives.
Peace is Personal
37 Observe the blameless man, and behold the upright; For the man of peace will have a posterity.
17 And the work of righteousness will be peace, And the service of righteousness, quietness and security forever.
Peace is Relational
With each other
21 “These men are peaceful with us; therefore let them live in the land and trade in it, for behold, the land is large enough for them. Let us take their daughters for us as wives and give our daughters to them.
Among Nations
21 that all the people returned to the camp to Joshua at Makkedah in peace. No one so much as lifted his tongue against any of the sons of Israel.
6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: “May they prosper who love you.
7 “May peace be within your walls, And tranquility within your palaces.”
Peace is Transcendental
8 Let me hear what the God, Yahweh, will speak; For He will speak peace to His people, to His holy ones; But let them not turn back to folly.
5 For thus says Yahweh, “Do not enter the house of the funeral meal, or go to lament or to console them; for I have withdrawn My peace from this people,” declares Yahweh, “My lovingkindness and compassion.
To experience this all-encompassing peace is to fully enjoy God’s Grace, Mercy, and All-sufficient love to its fullest meaning and expression.
Peace is the result of a covenant relationship with God.
Peace is the result of a covenant relationship with God.
A. If we are going to be in a devoted relationship that is entrusting the faithfulness of God, we find that peace is far more precious that anything else we could even obtain in the world.
B. Peace, for the believer, is the direct result of God’s lovingkindness resting in our souls, reigning in our hearts, and overtaking every aspect of our being.
5 “My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave them to him as something to be feared; so he feared Me and stood in awe of My name.
12 “Therefore say, ‘Behold, I give him My covenant of peace;
Galatians 5:22–23 (LSB)
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23 gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law.
C. this is where the world, our culture, and society outside of God’s redemption, work so hard to obtain, and yet always falls a buck and a quarter short off the prize.
Without Him I could do nothing
Without Him I’d surely fail
Oh, Without Him I would be drifting
Like a ship without a sail
“Without Him” #470
Advent promises more than a secure today, or a comfortable tomorrow. God promises a future that is secure in His arms.
Peace that endures forever.
Peace that endures forever.
A. Peace is forever because it reconciles us to God through a person that can be known and loved.
B. through Jesus, the King we celebrate this Christmas season, we have access to God and peace that surpasses the schemes of mankind.
1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
20 And through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross—through Him—whether things on earth or things in heaven.
17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruits, without doubting, without hypocrisy.
18 And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.
C. Our peace is one that was sown by God’s own hand into His world, for the rejoicing of those who trust in Him. Advent points to this great peace once promised and now delivered to and for us.
2 to whom also Abraham apportioned a tenth part of all, was first of all, by the translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then also king of Salem, which is king of peace.
7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is dignified, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, consider these things.
9 The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.
Listen to the words recorded in Luke 1:
26 Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth,
27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary.
28 And coming in, he said to her, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.”
29 But she was very perplexed at this statement, and was pondering what kind of greeting this was.
30 And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.
31 “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus.
32 “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David,
33 and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and there will be no end of His kingdom.”
We have peace like none other because the Once and Future King was given to us.
We have peace like none other because the Once and Future King was given to us.
Peace with God—Confess Your Sin; Repent and Declare your allegiance to King Jesus.
Peace with One Another—Repent of your pride, and be unified in Christ’s love once more.
Peace as a Community—Join yourself to a faith family that rests upon the peace delivered to us through the cross and the empty tomb.
