Not Sinners, Than Who? (2)
Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 3 viewsNotes
Transcript
Receiving God’s Peace
Receiving God’s Peace
We are in the series Not Sinners, Than who? And we are looking at wha it is to live in our Newness that we recieved when we recieved Jesus Christ As Lord and Savior into our lives.
We started with Romans 5 verse
1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,
4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,
5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
We talked about God’s Love and God’s Hope. This morning I want to discuss God’s Peace and what that means in our lives.
In order to do this we must look at
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.
So really I want to look at the end of V5, V6, and V7.
V5 starts the sentence The Lord is at Hand. Tell you not to be anxious but to be in prayer Then we get to V7.
The first word AND. Normally sentences don’t start with and but this one does. So what does the word and do
And: Connects words, phrases, and clauses that are of equal importance
The term is Kai in the Greek language and does the same thing as the English language.
Paul, The writer of Philippians is telling us to the way to receive Peace. We are not naturally inclind to be peaceful people. We war all the time with whoever. Stress, worry, and anxiety sum up a large chunk of people’s problems in this world.
In V7 the peace of God is directly connected to Prayer, supplication, and thanksgiving that is directed to and derived from God.
We must pray for Peace
Since Peace doesn’t come naturally to us we must prayer for peace in our lives. God is the source of peace. Just like God is love, God is hope…God is peace.
Paul is telling us to cast all our cares onto God, but it’s not as simple as giving your cares over. You’re peace is directly linked to your faith that God can and will care for you and your situations.
Some of you may know that right now there is a lot going on in my life.
As a Husband I am standing in faith that my wife is cancer free. I am truly believing God for a miracle. While providing financially, emotionally, and phsyically for the entirety of the family
As a Father, we are navigating a journey into the teenage years with various other obstacles that have been laid in our path. While helping the other children grow and mature into who Christ has called them to be.
As a Pastor, I am navigating leading a church and leading people too Jesus as some people walk away and others are trying to pick up the pieces. While growing numerically, spiritually and financially. And attempting to teach and disciple people into a closer relationship with Christ.
As a business owner. I am trying to navigate the financial stresses that comes with having other people and families rely on me financially. Trying to navigate the building of homes and the difficulties that brings and navigate the economic hard times that have come upon us.
AS an employee I am trying to assist John in expanding his business when the spending of the middle class have drastically declined and meet the growing demands of the employer.
As a Son I am trying to navigate my step mother having cancer and being there for my father in tough time as well.
I would be lying if I said that maintaining all of this is easy and I would be lying if I said I don’t fail at any or all of these on the daily basis.
However, most of the time I can say I am peaceful and I struggle to remain peaceful mainly because peace isn’t just a decision it must be actively persued.
14 Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.
Point 2) Pursue Peace
The biggest theft of our peace is sin. Teh real question you have to ask yourself is this:
What is your vice? AND what does it steal.
When things aren’t peaceful what do you chase after? For a long time in my life my vise was sex/porn. In my late teen years and early adulthood every time life got too stressful I would find myself returning to it. And every time I left me empty and filled with shame. Some of us our vise might be anger. Some of us it might be TV. Some of us it might be alchohol.
When things get to be too much where do we turn?
I have found through the years that turning to God and talking with God is the only way I find true peace and it isn’t easy because in times of trouble my flesh wants to blame God and turn away from God and if we are honest most of us could state that our initial reaction to stress is first to turn away from God.
Turn to god bible
7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.
22 “Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.
59 When I think on my ways, I turn my feet to your testimonies;
I turn my feet to your word.
3) Guided by Peace
15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.
I am a big proponent to the idea that feelings aren’t truth. We cannot be guided by our feelings. But I have found this statement to be true:
If I am not Peaceful than I am not in the presence of God.
Things happen. This week my basement in my factoryville place became a swimming pool. For a day or two I broke. I wasn’t peaceful, but in the end I found my way back and began to go after peace. I know I am in the will of God when I am peaceful no matter the situation.
33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”