Peace- Shalom, Part 1

Greetings, friends and new listeners, and welcome to this program of the Archie Hardy Ministries. I'm Sharon Otz, thanking you for tuning in today because we know faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.

Today's message by my father, Brother Hardy, is truly a beautiful word of comfort and encouragement. It is entitled simply, Peace Shalom. What actually does the Bible terminology for peace, shalom in Hebrew, mean?

It is more than just the absence of conflict or trouble. It is the wholeness of spirit, soul, and body, as we will hear in Peace Shalom. I feel like David this morning when he said I was glad. When they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord. How many can say amen? All right, I want to preach on the subject this morning, peace. Something that's fleeting in this world, the doctrine of peace. If you have your Bible, you want to read, I'm just going to read one verse in Romans 4, 17. Romans 4, 17. For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. What the kingdom of God is not, it's not meat and drink, but it's righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. What Paul's talking about here if you read the verses up ahead in the 14th and even in the 13th chapter of Romans, he's showing that the kingdom we're not in is not like the Old Testament kingdom, mainly in feast and holy days and convocations and in the letter, but our kingdom is a spiritual kingdom. Instead of having just cardinal ordinances and feast days that the old Jewish covenant had, we have righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. This is the condition of God's kingdom.

When He saved us, He reached down into the devil's kingdom where we were, we're slaves, picked us up, translated us out of that kingdom, and then put us in the kingdom of His dear Son. And the atmosphere and the condition of that kingdom is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. And that's the attitudes and the condition that you and I as a child of God should be living in. We shouldn't be afraid of anybody, we shouldn't be full of fear and apprehensions because the only people in the kingdom of God that we're in is righteous people. And I don't have to worry about them sneaking up on me and robbing me or murdering me because they're the only righteous ones. Like David said in the 23rd Psalm, only goodness and mercy follows me. And we're supposed to be living in this kingdom where there's only righteous ones, nothing to fear, therefore we ought to have the attitude of peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. And nothing on the outside can take this righteousness that we have, this peace that God has given us, or the joy of the Holy Ghost.

No outside circumstances. I believe before I go any further, I need to give to you the definition of peace. Now the English word peace doesn't quite translate and give us the meaning of the Greek word eirene, and we get our English word for the name Irene out of that, or the Hebrew word shalom. And we look at peace as a negative meaning. The English word peace gives us a negative understanding, it means no hostilities, the absence of war. But that's not the biblical meaning of the word peace, eirene or shalom. See, you could have absence of war and still not have peace. You take it in China, they're not having a war, but those people do not have Bible peace, they're oppressed.

I said they're beat down, they're oppressed. That's not the meaning of the Bible word peace. The Bible word peace means perfect well-being. In body, in soul, in spirit, perfect well-being.

In body, free of sickness and disease, to have healing and health. In my soul, freedom from inner conflict. You know, some people are at war with their self and tearing their self to pieces.

You know, they're trying to serve God on one hand and the self and the world on the other hand, and they're torn to pieces. They're always in an inner conflict. But when you have God's shalom, you have God's peace. You don't have any inner conflict. You've got tranquility.

All's at rest. In fact, like that song where it's sang, it is well with my soul. See, well-being. You're going to be well in your body, you're going to be well in your soul, and then you're going to be well in your spirit.

Your spirit mind. You're not going to be tormented. See, Jesus said, let not your hearts be troubled, neither let it be afraid. When you've got God's shalom, you're not troubled. You're not afraid. You're not fearful. You're in harmony.

How many say amen? And then peace also means perfect relationships. Perfect relationship with other men, in harmony with mankind, and also that you're working for their total well-being. It also means perfect relationship with yourself.

Like I said, you're not in war with yourself. And the third thing is, perfect relationship with God. Nothing between. Paul said, therefore being justified by faith, we have what? We have peace with God. No condemnation.

No discord. Perfect fellowship with Almighty God. And knowing that God is working for our perfect well-being. He's working to bring about healing and health in our body. Healing and health in our soul. Healing and health in our mind.

Healing and health in our pocketbook. You know, synonyms of peace or good would be tove in the Hebrew. And another synonym for good is Yeshua in the Hebrew, which means salvation. See, when you've got God's peace, everything's good. And remember the definition of good.

There's none good but who? Hallelujah. When you've got God's shalom, when you've got God's peace, you're in a condition like God. God's not afraid of anything. God's not shook up about anything.

God's not afraid of anyone. He's in perfect harmony with Himself. And everything is in perfect well-being. And that's what God has given to us.

You see, when Jesus went away, Paul said in the 2nd Corinthians and the 8th chapter, after He gave all of His goods, Paul said, don't you see the grace of God, brethren? That though He was rich, yet for our sake He became poor, that we through His poverty might become rich. See, that's perfect peace.

That's perfect well-being. And when Jesus gave everything away and then came and put on a robe of flesh and walk where we have to walk and experience the things that we have to experience to qualify to be our high priest, then when He was getting ready to go back to the Father by the way of the cross, to finish His earthly ministry of being the perfect lamb and sacrifice to take away our sins and the thing that kept us from not having peace with God and peace with ourself and peace with mankind, He said, I don't have nothing else to leave you. I've already became poor that you might become rich. He said, but I have one thing to leave you. And He said unto them, my peace I give unto you. Not as the world gives, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled and neither let it be afraid. Another definition of peace is the active presence for your good of God. God's active presence to work for your good.

And Jesus said I am going to be actively present with you working for your good. I'm not going to leave you comfortless. I'm not going to leave you bereaved of a parent like an orphan. That's what the Greek word we translated here, comfort. I'll not leave you comfortless. I know the other times in John's Gospel when he talks about the word comforter, it's paracletus and it means the name for the Holy Ghost to come be our helper.

But in this verse when he says, I'll not leave you comfortless, He's saying I'm not going to leave you by yourself alone and the Greek word is orphalos. We get a ringless word orphan, I'm not going to leave you as an orphan. What is an orphan? An orphan is someone that has lost the supplier of his need. I said an orphan is someone that has lost the supplier of his need. Who supplies the needs of the little children?

Their moms and their dads? Amen? And an orphan is someone that's been deprived of their father and their mother and they have no one to supply their needs and they might wind up in an orphanage or in a foster home of someone that don't love them and in fact will mistreat them. But Jesus said church and when He was speaking, He wasn't only speaking to that first century church, He's speaking to you and I. I'm going to go away, I have to leave, my earthly ministry is finished, but I am not going to leave you as an orphan. I am not going to leave you and cast you in an orphanage. I am not going to cast you in a foster home where not only they don't love you but they'll mistreat you and abuse you, but all the other meaning of the word comforter.

My active presence is going to be with you and it's going to be actively in operation to look about for all of your well-being. Well-being in your soul. Nothing between you and your God. Justified by grace. Justified by peace. Justified by faith. And that word justification means I'm going to bring you in a right standing with me.

I'm going to remove everything that causes you to be in a bad standing. You're going to be in a right standing with me and therefore you're going to enjoy my fellowship, my love, my mercy, my grace. You're going to have the joy of the Holy Ghost.

You're going to have shalom if you please. What was the first word that Jesus spoke after his resurrection? If you go to the story about Martha, she thought he was the gardener. When he met his disciples that didn't know who he was and more specifically when they were all hiding behind the doors for fear of the Jew, they didn't have shalom. They thought they lost the active presence of Jesus to do him good. And all of a sudden in their deepest and darkest moment, it couldn't have been any darker for the child of God than at that moment when they had locked the doors and they were hiding themselves from the rulers of the Jews that had just crucified Jesus and were looking for them.

It couldn't have been any darker. They were looking for a way to sneak out of Jerusalem back to Galilee to save their life. Everything that they built their hopes on for the last three and a half years crumbled, disintegrated, went up in smoke as it were. Their whole life was in the ruins at their feet and they were full of dread, uncertainty, and fear and Jesus appeared right in the midst of them and he said what? He said shalom because Jesus was a Jew. How many say amen? And he spoke Aramaic and Hebrew and when he said shalom, they knew what he meant.

My active presence is here working for your well-being, working for the well-being of your soul, working for the well-being of your body, working for the well-being of your mental state, working for the well-being of your financial state. How many say amen? And he showed them his hands and he showed them his sides and what did he do again? He again said shalom. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

I am actively present with you, working for your total well-being and if I am for you, who and what can be against us? He said my peace I give, not as the world give, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled and he said my sheep, no one will pluck out of my hand and he not only said and I give them eternal life and they shall never perish but he also said and I give them shalom. I give them perfect well-being and no one, not anything, not anybody can take my shalom from them.

You know, give him a good clap over if you're going to do it. Hallelujah. We sing a song, the world didn't give it to me and the world can't take it away. That's what Jesus meant, my shalom I give unto you. Not as the world, the world will give you shalom on one side and then pick your pocket and take it away on the other side. Just when you think you've got perfect well-being in the world, you've got a good job, you've got a good pension, you've got a good hospitalization plan and what happens? Just like we're seeing now, the company takes away your insurance plan, a lot of you your pensions cut off or corporate raiders have raided the corporation that you work under and your pension's gone and you have no shalom but one Jesus and one God gives you shalom.

There's no corporate raiders. Hallelujah. Nobody can take it away. Nobody but me can take my shalom with God. The only thing that's going to take my peace with God is sin and I am not going to sin. I am not going to let sin reign in my mortal body. Therefore, the world can't take away my peace. Demons can't take away my peace. The devil can't take away my peace. Nothing can take away my peace. I don't care what happens on the outside, I've got the active presence of Jesus on the inside and he's saying in me, greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world.

Oh, give him a clap often. Hallelujah. I'm talking about shalom. I'm talking about peace, not just absence of war. A lot of people in America weren't in a war but a lot of people don't have peace. They do not have God's shalom and sad to say a lot of God's people do not have peace. They ought to have it because we have been translated out of the kingdom of darkness, translated into the kingdom of God's dear son Jesus and his kingdom is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. But they are not obeying the command of the Lord because when the Lord said, let not your heart be troubled and neither let it be afraid, he was not asking or wishing you would do something, he was commanding in the Greek grammar that word means a command, let not your heart be troubled.

Neither let it be afraid. When we let our hearts get troubled and when we let our hearts be fearful then we are doing a disservice to Jesus and we're doing a disservice to God, the Father and the Holy Ghost because you know what we are saying in effect? You are not able to solve my problems. You are not powerful enough to meet my needs.

You don't have the ability to bring about my perfect well-being. Is there anything too hard for God? Is there anything God cannot do?

Is there any enemy that can defeat God? Is there any burden he cannot lift? Are there any cares he cannot carry?

Peter said, cast all care upon him for he care for you. Whenever we are fearful and troubled about the things of life, we are not believing God. We're not leaning upon the everlasting arm of the presence of God to work for our well-being. We're saying our circumstance is greater than God, our problems greater than God, our bills are greater than God, our needs are greater than God, my sickness is greater than God. Is there anything greater than God?

Is there anything that he cannot do? He has promised my peace I give unto you. He has promised my dynamic presence is with you and is in operation for your total well-being and as long as you keep your faith in me, I will work to bring about your perfect well-being. Perfect well-being in your soul that there is nothing between you and your Father. Perfect well-being amongst mankind that there is going to be nothing between. You're going to have harmony and love, not hate anymore.

If it's any hate, it's going to have to be on their part. But you're going to have perfect well-being towards all mankind and you're going to be working towards their well-being. He's going to be working for well-being for your physical mind's health and your body's health.

That's what Shalom is? Good. Everything that's good. James said every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of lights in whom is no bearableness nor shadow of changing. God is working for our good. I said the good God is working for our good and if we keep our faith in the good God, everything is going to be good. Everything is going to be well. We're going to say it is well. It is well in my mind. It is well. It is well in my body. It is well. It is well in my pocket book.

It is well. It is well in my soul because I'm going to have Yeshua. I'm going to have God's salvation and He's going to deliver me out of all of my fears and He's going to deliver me out of all of my bondages and He's going to deliver me out of all of my sickness and He's going to deliver me out of all of my diseases and He's going to deliver me out of all of my dilemmas because He is actively present with me working for my well-being. you Jesus hallelujah I mean that's something to shout about you want to know what a perfect definition of peace is read the 23rd Psalm that's the definition of peace you want to know another perfect biblical definition of Shalom read the 103rd Psalm I preached on that a few weeks ago bless the Lord O my soul and forget not all instead of benefits I will put in there his Shalom who forgives all of my iniquities he's actively present and forgives all of my sins as I repent and derive strength from him to not sin he heals me of all my diseases he's actively present and because he lives I shall live also you want another definition of Shalom it's Isaiah the 53rd chapter surely he has grown our griefs surely he has borne our sorrows and I did esteem him stricken smitten of God and afflicted wounded for my transgression perfect well-being for my soul wounded for my transgression bruised for my iniquity the chastisement of my Shalom my pieces of putting peaceful my mind peaceful my body peaceful my soul peace in my life good for me a salvation in every respect and aspect of my life and I have nothing to fear the Lord is my helper whom shall I be afraid the Lord is my life and my salvation who shall I be afraid who shall I fear oh thank you Jesus I feel the active presence of God actively moving in his presence for me this morning I'm not gonna let my heart be troubled the only way that I can be troubled is if I let it you know when we got saved this is one of my sayings I coined over the years of almost 40 years preaching that when I got saved I got the let's you see when we got saved we were no longer slaves anymore when we were in the old economy when we were in the reign of the devil we were slaves and some people stay so close to the line of demarcation they still keep the mind and a demeanor of a slave they still think that's a slave instead of a free man a lot of times preachers would like to give the illustration of what it means to be free is that a man's in prison and the governor pardons him and the doors open but he don't want to go he stays there and a warden tells him you're free but he still stays in prison and that's the way a lot of Saints are Jesus freedom but they still stay in prison the doors open no authority no rule and no power can legally keep them but they stay there they don't know they had the let's so instead of letting themselves be free they let themselves stay in bondage I refuse to be bound I've got that part of Shalom which is yes you are I got salvation you see everybody's got Yeshua that's the Hebrew word for Jesus if the Old Testament if the New Testament would have been written in the same Aramaic instead of him being called as an English Jesus to Christ he would have been Yeshua the Messiah how many say a man instead of Yeshua Christus he is Yeshua he's my salvation he's my savior he's my deliverer he's actively present working for my well-being and my good and I don't care what comes along my path if I love him he's actively present to work all things together for good amen what a truly uplifting word by God's servant brother Hardy peace Shalom the Hebrew meaning of Shalom is much richer and deeper than our English peace conveys it is a total well-being in wholeness of the whole person spirit soul and body God intends for his children to live by the promise and the principle of Shalom and Satan seeks to steal our peace but we have been commanded to let the peace of God rule in our hearts and minds by Christ Jesus and this term rule refers to an umpire or referee who makes the calls in a game and we are called to let God's peace ruin our lives God's kingdom is a kingdom of peace and we serve the Lord of peace who is the prince of peace the principle of God's Shalom is directly tied to our thought life what we think upon will either create peace or fear soundness of mind or trouble in turmoil but God will keep in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on him and Paul said we are to think on those things that are true honest just pure lovely of good report that are virtuous and praiseworthy and the peace of God will keep and guard our hearts and minds this message peace Shalom is one that every child of God needs to hear at some point or another in his life maybe that's you right now or someone you know if so you can order peace Shalom on Sadie for a love gift of ten dollars for the radio ministry request offer 183 mail to Archie Hardy ministries p.o. box one seven four four Baltimore Maryland two one two oh three or go online to Archie Hardy org once again to order the CD peace Shalom request offer one eight three send a minimum love gift of ten dollars to p.o. box one seven four four Baltimore Maryland two one two oh three until next time this is Sharon not saying Maranatha