I've Got To Know - Peace

KEY POINT- If you want to experience spiritual growth in your life you have to get to know God more!

POINT- Understanding of who God is impacts your spiritual growth more than anything else.

ILLUSTRATION-

Knowing God will give you peace…

MAIN POINT- The more you know God the more peace you will have.

(NLT) — 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. 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. 8 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. 9 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.

Some of you are here in desperate need of peace… Let me tell you that the only way you will find peace is by coming to know who God is.

MAIN POINT- The more you know God the more peace you will have.

More than a feeling…

1. God’s peace is a covering - I know this when I know him.

(NLT) — 7 … His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

DEFINE- Paul uses the greek word Phroureo for guard, it means to confine, detain, to protect, to keep watch over.

ILLUSTRATION- Being in a tornado and feeling better when we got in the church basement.

The more I know who God is, the more I know he’s got this! The more I know who he is the more I know that no matter what comes my way he’s got me… Some of you have given more credit to the devil’s attacks than you have to the defense of peace that covers you…

I already know that I’m alright, because I KNOW GOD TO BE ABLE! If the nails couldn’t hold him, and the grave couldn’t trap him, and hell couldn’t stop him then I know my situation is beneath him! I already know whatever is thrown at me I have a covering of peace that protects me…

POINT- Your generation needs more than a feeling they need something real.

POINT- The more I know God the less I know peace as a feeling but peace as a defender.

2. God’s peace is his presence - I know this when I know him.

(NLT) — 9 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.

3. God’s peace is HIS peace - Know him and see what shakes him.

(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.

Scholars have looked at this verse for millennia to understand what exactly it means… It is the only place in the entire New Testament that speaks of the peace of God.

Here Paul is writing about us experiencing the peace that God has…

This is why he says it goes beyond our ability to understand…

I don’t need to take deep breaths I need HIS breath

All the way back in Genesis we read at how God creates people… And it says that God created us in his own image… I think about what it would have been like to walk in the garden to expereince complete connection with God… To expereince and live in the peace that God himself lives in…

But we were separated with this peace, this peace being God’s peace when sin came into the world, but now because of the cross we have assess to it again.

Conclusion…

I’m here to serve notice to fear… I’m here to serve notice to anxiety that they are about to be replaced with an overwhelming confidence that comes from knowing God.

I’m not just talking about something that feels peaceful - I’m talking about an invasion of the one who is called peace!

MAIN POINT- There is a peace that is more than a feeling, but comes from knowing God.

This is why it says Rejoice and I say it again rejoice… It was almost like Paul was writing Always rejoice, knowing they were about to say, what about when… and he cuts them off and says I say again rejoice…

How is it that I can ALWAYS rejoice? Because you have the ability to know God.

I’ve got to know him!