Life Hack: Peace

Philippians 4:4–7 ESV

4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:4-

4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

English Standard Version Chapter 4

4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. (, NLT)

Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice! 5 Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon. Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. (, NLT).

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. (, NLT).

Tyndale House Publishers. (2013). Holy Bible: New Living Translation ( NLT).

Philippians 4:1–4 NLT

1 Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stay true to the Lord. I love you and long to see you, dear friends, for you are my joy and the crown I receive for my work. 2 Now I appeal to Euodia and Syntyche. Please, because you belong to the Lord, settle your disagreement. 3 And I ask you, my true partner, to help these two women, for they worked hard with me in telling others the Good News. They worked along with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are written in the Book of Life. 4 Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice!

4 Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice! 5 Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon. *

Philippias 4:1-4

6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

Tyndale House Publishers. (2013). Holy Bible: New Living Translation (). Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers.

How much does PEACE cost?

The world would be better off and full of peace if we could just get rid of religion and just keep it secular.

Peace means many things to different people. To those in war, peace means the cessation of battle and enmity. To those living hectic lives, peace means calm. To those with troubled minds, peace means inner tranquillity.

There are around 790 verses in the Bible about peace and we are going to look at every single one of them…j/k.

We talk with people all the time and it’s like it’s their busiest, most intense, stressful time it’s ever been....all.the.time.

Here are a few signs that you might be trading your peace for something else:

You always talk about being busy

You can’t remember the last time you took a day off

You hardly see your family..they stopped asking for your time

You’ve lost your sense of purpose or meaning

Eating is always done with other things

Your only exercise is sprinting from one commitment to the next

Unable to be present

Your only exercise is sprinting from one commitment to the next

Your exhausted

Survival mode is your only mode

Philippians 4:7 NLT

7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice! 5 Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon. Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. (, NLT).

Paul describes peace in 3 different ways in Philippians:

John 14:27 NLT

“I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.

Romans 5:1 NLT

Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.

Divine gift--

Peace is not the absence of conflict but the very nature of God that invades the life of a Christian

Transcendant--

Surpasses the ordinary; Beyond mere social contracts or compromises

beyond mere social contracts or compromises

John

John 14:27 NLT

“I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.

Romans 5:1 NLT

Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.

Military term: on duty to keep anxiety out

‘…in christ.’ vs.7

What am I creating space for? What am I filling my life with? Am I pouring myself out in order to fill my life with more of God’s presence?

**If my life is full of myself..selfish..self focused…then the slightest conflict will throw me off and I lose my peace...

Illustration: Pouring out myself

I’ll tend to lose my peace....

When circumstances are uncontrollable, we often lose our peace. Much of life is beyond your control. You sit in gridlock traffic for hours and miss an important event. A couple keeps trying desperately for a baby, and it just isn’t happening. When these things — big or small — happen, we get frustrated and lose our peace of mind.

When people are unchangeable, we tend to lose our peace. People naturally resist change. And they resent it when we try to change them. The quickest way to lose our peace of mind is to try to change somebody else, because most people are just not going to change.

When circumstances are uncontrollable, we often lose our peace. Much of life is beyond your control. You sit in gridlock traffic for hours and miss an important event. A couple keeps trying desperately for a baby, and it just isn’t happening. When these things — big or small — happen, we get frustrated and lose our peace of mind. When people are unchangeable, we tend to lose our peace. People naturally resist change. And they resent it when we try to change them. The quickest way to lose our peace of mind is to try to change somebody else, because most people are just not going to change. When problems are unexplainable, it’s easy to lose our peace. We know that life is not fair. Not everybody has a happy ending. Things don’t always turn out right. What makes it more difficult is that we are not always going to know why. And when we don’t know why, we tend to get anxious, nervous, and stressed, and we lose our peace.

When problems are unexplainable, it’s easy to lose our peace. We know that life is not fair. Not everybody has a happy ending. Things don’t always turn out right. What makes it more difficult is that we are not always going to know why. And when we don’t know why, we tend to get anxious, nervous, and stressed, and we lose our peace.

And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you. (, NLT)

Practice Joy

vs.9 ‘put into practice’

Be Gentle

Don’t Worry

Worry has a tendency towards self focus. It communicates a low view of God and I high view of my own capacity or my circumstances. It reveals where we place our trust.

If we want to increase the presence of God in our lives and be more present in our lives then we must reject worry

Philippians 4:8–9 NLT

And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.

When we fill our lives with so many other things, distractions or busy tasks, we’re in danger of losing our rhythm, when we lose that we lose our rest in Christ, when we lose our rest we lose our peace with God and others and when we lose that, we lose capacity to care because we are just surviving from moment to moment and God wants to give us more than survival, He wants to give us abundance.

So how much does PEACE cost?

if peace with yourself cost you an honest season of self reflection and re-prioritizing

if peace with yourself cost you an honest season of self reflection

if peace with others cost you a much needed conversation

if wholeness and rest cost you your agenda, plan

We’re in danger of losing our rythym, when we lose that we lose our rest, when we lose our rest we lose our capacity to care because we are just surviving from moment to moment and God wants to give us

if peace with God cost you a decision to trust Jesus with your life

There are only a few things in life that actually matter. We get to decide what we actually care about.

Life Hack: Peace

Introduction

Introduction

Big Idea: God’s peace fills my heart when God’s presence fills my life

I will know peace if I create space for it.

I will know peace if I create space for it....Peace is not a Place but a PERSON.

Explain:

1. Divine gift--

2. Transcendant--

3. Active Guard-

How do I create space for peace in my life?

The most critical understanding we must have about peace is two little words…if we miss them we miss everything

Illustration: Pouring out myself

How do I create space for peace in my life? How do I empty my cup in order to fill it?

Conclusion:

God’s peace fills my heart when God’s presence fills my life