The Basics Of Peace

Satan loves to sow discord and disunity into the church. He's not creative, but he is effective. Today we'll discover the keys to peace-filled relationships within the church, given to us by Paul in the last chapter of Philippians. But first we have to get past the misapplication of some of the most well-known verses in the Bible, and we'll put them in the context in which they were given. From Chicago, welcome to The Moody Church Hour with Pastor Philip Miller.

Stay with us for a time of worship and teaching as we continue a series on Back to Basics. From Philippians chapter 4, we'll learn all about the basics of peace. We'll find that our conflicts can be traced to a common root, which is frustrated desires. Here now is Pastor Philip and worship leader Tim Stafford.

Well, good morning, everybody, and welcome to The Moody Church. We're so glad you're joining us today, whether you're right here in the room or listening online or by radio. We're honored that you have chosen to join us for our worship service today. We're talking about back to the basics in this series, and today we're talking about the basics of peace. how the gospel shapes all of our relationships and all of our lives.

We need to learn this because our world is full of conflict and strain.

So would you bow your heads and pray with me as we begin? Let's pray. Father, there's so much conflict and so much. Bitterness and anger and strife in this world. We pray that by the power of your Holy Spirit, you would lead us in the way of Jesus, that you would conform us.

to be more and more like your sons and daughters today. Father, we need to learn how to live in peace with one another. Help us. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Hero Israel, the people of the Lord. Peace Him and go that land is in the love the Lord your God with the fullness of your heart, with all your might, your strength, and sin be drawn in through us. Saves running to the throne of grace, right? The people of the Lord come in your voice and praise your grace. Complete king, put in.

Delight to bring Him praise. Come all into your hearts to sing to the morning song of praise. Through the shifting shadows of the earth, we will lift our eyes to Him where steady arms of mercy reach to gather children in rejoice, rejoice at every time rejoice. One heart, one voice, O church of Christ rejoice, Those who join his morning Son, and those weeping provides battles war, and those troubling of fight. For his perfect war will never change, and his mercy's never seen.

But Romo must do all our days with a search and hope of ease. Rejoice, rejoice, and every town rejoice. One heart, one voice, the church of Rand rejoice, remove. Come and gold from every land, men and women of the faith. Come close with full war empty nights, find the riches of his grace.

Now where all the world is we'll sing, sure to sure we hear them come. The true great Christ who ever hates, our God is only one. Rejoice, rejoice, and every time rejoice. One life, one voice, oh church of life, rejoice, rejoice, rejoice, belly time rejoice, one life, one voice, oh church of life, rejoice, rejoice, rejoice. Amen, amen, praise the Lord, praise the Lord.

Would you stand and sing with me? We're going to sing a song called Yes We All Agree. And I hope you do. I'm gonna ask you a question. If you agree, you sing, Yes, We All Agree, alright?

Goes like this. Do you agree that he's holy? That's an easy one. Yes, we all agree. Good.

How about this one? Do you agree that he's worthy? Another softball. Yes, we all agree. Good, reunify.

Do you agree that he's faithful and true? Faithful to you? Yes, we all agree. Yes, he is. Do you agree he's all-powerful and mighty?

Yes, we all agree. Oh, Lord, we agree. We agree in our hearts of humanity that you're worthy, worthy, worthy of praise. Oh Lord, we agree in our whole heart. We proclaim to me that you are the King, the only one, the only one whose glory we all agree that you're worthy of our praise.

Oh, we all agree that you're worthy of praise another question. Do you agree that He's shown us grace and mercy? Yes, we all agree. Oh, do you agree that we were bound, but by his blood we've been set free? We all agree.

Do you agree? There's no other name above the name of Jesus. We all agree. Amen. Do you agree that He's our soon-and-coming King?

Sing it, Yes, we all agree. Oh Lord, we agree with our power and strength and humanity that you're worthy, your worthy energy, worthy of our praise. Oh Lord, we agree with our own heart. We proclaim to be that you are the King. Holy, holy, Lord.

Who's holy? We all agree that you're worthy of the world. Oh, we all agree that you're worthy of all of your praise. Oh, we all agree that you're worthy of all of our praise. Praise Him, praise Him, thank Him.

Oh, Christ be magnified that His praise arise. Christ be magnified in me. Oh, Christ be magnified from the altar of my life. Christ be magnified. In me were creation suddenly articulate with a thousand tongues to lift one cry Then from north to south and east to west We'd hear Christ be magnified were the whole earth echoing his eminence his name would burst from sea and sky from rivers to the mountain touch we'd hear Christ Christ be magnified.

Oh, Christ be magnified that His grace arise. Christ be magnified in me. Oh, Christ be magnified, the altar of my life. Christ be magnified in me every creature finds its inmost melody, every human heart its native cry, and in one and pressured Him. Of praise, we'll sing Christ be magnified, let his praise arise, Christ be magnified in heaven, Christ be magnified, the altar of my life, Christ be magnified, in heaven help us, Lord, get out of the way.

I won't bow down to eyes, I'll stand strong and worship you. And if it puts me in the I'll rejoice because you're there too. I won't be falling by feelings. I'll hold fast to what is true. If the cross frees transformation, I'll be crucified with you.

Cause that is just the doorway into resurrection life. If I join you in your suffering, if I'll join you when you arise, and you return for me, all the angels and the saints, my heart will still be singing, my song will be the same. Christ be magnified, let his praise arise. Christ be magnified. Christ be magnified from the altar of my life, Christ be magnified in Christ be magnified from the altar of my life, Christ be magnified in me.

Lord, we join with all creatures everywhere, land and sea, heaven and earth, exalting. name of Christ. For he is worthy. Is worthy. Amen.

Today we come to the fourth and final chapter of the book of Philippians. It's a chapter that contains several well-known, popular, even famous versus uh what we could call coffee cup Verses, right? You know the ones. Coffee cup verses, these are verses that are on your Christian cards. They're on wall art or calendars, throw pillows, t-shirts.

your social media posts that you send around online, right? And there's a number of them right here in chapter 4. Uh for example, in chapter 4, verse 4. We see here it says, Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I say, rejoice.

Or chapter 4, verse 6. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. Or chapter 4, verse 8. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure. Whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there's anything of excellence, if anything worthy of praise, think about these.

Things. And next week we're going to see the coffee cup verse of all coffee cup verses. Philippians, you know the one I'm talking about, Philippians 4.13, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Now, the problem with coffee cup verses, of course, is that you have to fit them on a coffee cup. Right? There's not a lot of room on there. And so what you have to do is lift a verse out of context and slap it in isolation on the coffee cup, right? You have to divorce it from its settings.

You have to take it away from its train of thought. And this is a recipe for misunderstanding and misapplication. Take, for example, the passage we're looking at today. Open your Bibles, if you will, to Philippians chapter 4, verses 1 through 9. This is page 982 in the Pew Bible there.

And because so many of these verses are coffee cup verses, we tend to read sections of scripture like this as a collection of various unrelated life principles. But there's actually a cohesive train of thought here. Let me show you what I'm saying here. They seem so unrelated to our first reading. Chapter 4, verse 1.

Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord, my beloved. Verse 2, I entreat Yodia and Sintake to agree in the Lord. Yes, I ask you also, true companion, help these women who have labored side by side with me in the gospel, together with Clement and the rest of the my fellow workers whose names are written in the book of life. Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: rejoice.

Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything with prayer and supplication and thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think.

about these things. Whatever ye have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

Now at first glance, these might seem like disconnected and disjointed topics, you know, themes here, various advice on a various matter of topics. But there's actually a cohesive flow of thought here. And it's running through these verses. Once you see it, you won't be able to unsee it. It'll just...

pop out to you. But everything's thematically linked. The context is our guide, right? Verse two. Notice that right at the top here, Paul says, I entreat Iodia and I entreat Sintachi to agree.

in the Lord.

So there is a relational conflict. that is occurring between these two ladies. And Paul is writing to say, listen, you need to work it out. And then he writes all of these commands, which are clustered into two basic paragraphs, and they end, verses 4 to 7 and verses 8 to 9, they end with strikingly similar statements, don't they? Verse 7: the peace of God will guard your hearts and minds.

And verse 9, the God of peace will be with you.

So, this passage opens up with an entreaty for these women to find a way to make relational peace with one another. And then, with these two paragraphs of commandments, chased with the promise of God's peace that will be theirs if they obey these. Commands. Do you see the theme now? Do you see the theme that's actually connecting all of this?

It's peace, it's relational peace. Peace. in the family of God. And as a matter of fact, everything in this passage is actually pushing toward this one end, which is relational peace and harmony within the body of God. Christ.

There are three keys to peace-filled relationships we're going to see this morning. Paul's going to summarize them. I've just put captions on them for us. Remembering our family. This is the first key.

Remembering our family. Second key: requesting of our Father. Our third key here is refocusing our framework. remembering our family, requesting of our father, refocusing our framework. And friends, Satan loves to sow discord and disunity into the church, doesn't he?

That's just how he derails God's people. He's not creative. but he's effective. Right? He runs the same play over and over again.

And so these three keys to peace are essential. to the unity of the church and thwarting the efforts. Of Satan. We've got to learn this. Every one of us.

So let's pray and ask the Lord to be our teacher. Father, we come to you. with a part of our lives that is difficult. None of us are free. from Discord and relational brokenness.

We need your peace. Teach us, we pray. For Jesus' sake. Amen. Amen.

So the first key to piece here is remembering our family, remembering our family. Chapter 4, verse 1. Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved. Notice the deep affection and familial language here. He says, my brothers, which includes in the Greek sisters as well, my brothers and sisters.

My family in Christ. whom I love and long for. Such affection and yearning, isn't it? My joy and crown, you're my delight, my treasure. Stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved.

I'm about to say some tough things to you. But I want you to remember my heart. Remember my love. Remember how much I am for you, Paul's saying. Because you've got to stand firm.

Some of you are already losing your footing. It's disaster waiting to happen. Verse 2, I entreat Yodia and I entreat Sintake to agree in the Lord. Can you imagine being one of these two ladies? Your name's inscripturated forever like this?

Ah! Epaphroditus comes with this letter from Paul. He's going to read it on Sunday morning in front of all the church. Everything's going on so fine, you know, and then all of a sudden. Can you hear your name?

Just want to melt into the seat and disappear, you know?

Now we have no idea what this conflict is all about.

Somehow these ladies got sideways with each other. And there was hurt and anger and resentment and bitterness on both sides. They'd each enlisted their friends as allies in the fight, and they'd taken sides. You know the story. They're probably avoiding eye contact.

As they walked around talking about each other behind their backs, thinking ugly thoughts whenever their face came to mind. In other words, they were human. There are people just like us. They trusted in the saving work of Jesus Christ for their salvation, but there was still sin in their lives and their hearts.

Now, I don't know about you, but when I get in conflict, when I feel like I've been wounded, Almost without trying, I tend to become self-absorbed. in my pain. I get self-absorbed. Do you? I start focusing on my rights that were violated, my expectations that were unmet, my toes that were stepped on.

How my needs have been disregarded, my voice has been devalued, I become preoccupied with my wants, my needs, my interests, my views, my, my, me, me, me, me, me, me. Because when we're wounded, we tend to cave in on ourselves, don't we? We become self-absorbed. And notice how Paul is counteracting that sinful tendency here. That tendency towards self-absorption.

I entreat Yodi and I entreat Syndike to agree in the Lord, in the Lord. not agree on the issue. Not agree to disagree, just compromise, but agree in the. Lord. In the Lord, Eodia, Cyntike, I want you to remember who you are in the Lord.

You're beloved daughters of God. You're the ones that I love and long for. You're my joy and my crown. You're beloved daughters of God, sisters in the Lord. I want you to agree.

In the Lord, in the Lord who loves you and has drawn you both to Himself as sisters united together in His forever family, I entreat you, agree in the Lord. And then he enlists help here, verse 3: Yes, I ask you also, my true companion, help these women who have labored side by side with me in the gospel, together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers whose names are in the book of life.

Now we have no idea who this true companion is, okay? Although it would have been obvious to the Philippian believers who it was. This person probably knows both ladies and is there to serve in some capacity as a third-party mediator in this conflict. But notice again how Paul's descriptions remind these ladies of the gospel connections that bind them together to one another. He says, they have labored side by side with me in the gospel.

They are co-laborers in the work of the gospel. They've served side by side with Paul and Clement, who becomes one of the church fathers. All the rest of the workers in the work of the gospel. Remember, Paul says, you're on the same team. You're on the same team.

This is friendly fire. Your names are written in the book of life. We all, all of us here, belong to Jesus. We're in his forever family. We're gonna spend eternity together.

Do you see what Paul's doing here in these descriptions? He's setting their squabble. in the larger context of the saving work of Christ. which will echo into all eternity. He's not minimizing their conflict.

He's maximizing Christ. You see this. And he's saying, in light of the beauty of the gospel, And the glory of eternity, and the preciousness of your salvation, which has now knit you together as a forever family in the Lord Jesus Christ. What's this fight about any again? What are you fighting about?

You see, Paul is counteracting. There's sinful tendency to self-absorption. He says, remember, your family. In Christ we are bound together. as a forever family.

We have far more in common than what separates us. Christ has paid a great price to unify his body, and we dare not tear it apart. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, one gospel, one family, one body in Christ. Friends, we're going to spend eternity together. We might as well learn to get along here.

You see that.

So this is the first key. To peace. Remember. our family. Remember our family.

The second key Is requesting of our Father, requesting. of our father. Verse 4. Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say.

Rejoice. Notice he does not say, rejoice in your circumstances. He does not say rejoice in getting your own way or rejoice in coming out on top. What does he say? Rejoice in The Lord.

He said, agree in the Lord, now rejoice in the Lord. The Lord. I want you to remember that the Lord is your joy. He's your life. He's your everything.

I want you to look to him. For fulfillment, look to him for hope. Look to him for your identity. Look to him for your purpose and satisfaction. I want you to rejoice in.

The Lord. Yodia Sintiki. Do not let this conflict steal your joy. Your joy in the Lord. Do not let this make you bitter and angry and cynical.

Remember. Your joy comes from the Lord. Draw deeply. From your relationship in Christ and all the resources that are yours in Him, pursue Him every day of your lives because He is your life, He is your joy, He is your all.

So look to Him. Rejoice in Yeah. Verse 5, let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand. Reasonableness.

I love that word. It can also be translated gentleness. Let everyone see how gentle and reasonable you are. How fair-handed. even tempered.

Consider it. thoughtful. receptive. teachable. You are.

Listen, because friends, in conflict, Character matters, doesn't it? In conflict, character matters. The Lord is at hand. He's coming back at any minute. And he is right now with you.

In the room. Which means two things. Number one, accountability. Everything we think, say, and do is laid bare before the eyes of the Lord. There are no private actions.

There are no private conversations. There are no private. Thoughts. But it also means, secondly, availability. Availability, the Lord is with you.

And he can help you. You're not alone. He's with you in this conflict, providing resources and aid to help you navigate this in a Christ-like. Way. You can look to him.

You can ask him. For help. Verse 6. Do not be anxious about anything. But in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your request be made known.

To God. He says, Look, don't be anxious about anything right now in the middle of this conflict. How many of you get anxious in conflict? Come on, I know it's more than just me. Yeah.

We get anxious. Why would we be anxious? Remember, this is not a topic shift. Paul is still addressing relational conflict and peace within the body of Christ. What would Iodia and Syntiki be anxious about?

Well, they're anxious about not getting their way. What if this doesn't turn out the way I want? Whatever they were fighting about at a heart level, it always comes down to frustrated desires, doesn't it? and not getting what we want. James 4 verses 1 to 2 says, What causes quarrels?

What causes fights among you? Is it not this? That your passions are at war within you, you desire and you do not have? All of our conflict can be traced to a common root. which is frustrated desires.

We don't get what we want and so we get mad. We're toddlers like that. And in conflict, not only do we tend to be self-absorbed, we also tend to become self-reliant, self-reliant. We think it's our job to make sure we get what we want. No one else is going to look out for us, right?

We've got to look out. For us. Make sure our views are heard, make sure our plan is upheld, make sure our way is followed. Out. And friends, anxiety.

is symptomatic. of self-reliance. Anxiety is symptomatic of self-reliance. Because we're trying to control things and control people that we have no control over, and that makes us anxious. And do you see how Paul is counteracting?

Their sinful tendencies to Self-reliance here. He says, make your request known to your Father. Instead of trying to control everything to get what you want, What if you actually made your request known to the to the father What if you prayed? as if you have a good father. Who loves to give good gifts to his children and knows exactly what you need even before you ask it?

Instead of living in self-reliance, which leads inevitably to anxiety. Why don't you pray in God reliance? which will lead to Peace. And don't forget to pray with thanksgiving, Paul says, because God has already given you so many good gifts. He's already taking care of you in so many ways.

Don't forget what he's done. Thank him for it because he will not stop now. In verse 7, the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. This word guard. Remember where Paul is.

He's under house arrest. This is a Roman sentinel guarding, which guards him. This is the picture. The peace of God is like a sentinel, a guard. who is keeping you bound and at home.

In other words, our hearts tend to wander off on their own, don't they? Our hearts and minds wander off. Try to control outcomes. Try to argue our point. Try to look out for our own interests.

Make sure we get our way. We're wandering from home. But the peace of God stands guard. To make sure our hearts and minds stay home in Jesus Christ. tethered to him in every way.

The peace of God arrests our self-will. The peace of God binds our self-interest. The peace of God shackles our self-reliance. Do you see this? The peace of God reminds us.

that we're not orphans. left to fend for ourselves. We are beloved sons and daughters of a good Father who is looking out for our every need. Orphans have to run off and fend for themselves, don't they? But sons and daughters stay home and find rest in their father's care.

The peace of God, Paul says, stands guard. keeps us at home that we might live as sons and daughters, trusting in the provision of our good Father, instead of running off to live as orphans as if our only hope was fending for ourselves. Do you see how Paul is counteracting again the sinful tendency towards self-reliance? He says, make your request known. To your father.

Because in Christ we learn to entrust our hearts' desires to God. In Christ, we learn to entrust our hearts' desires. to God. When my heart's desires get frustrated, I have a choice. I can bring forcibly my heart's desires to bear on others.

Insisting that I get what I want. which will lead to conflict. Yes? Or I can bring my heart's desires before God. trusting him with what I most deeply want and need.

and relaxing in his care. which then leads to peace. It's a choice between running unrestrained as an anxious orphan through life. or resting tightly held as a peace-filled child in the arms. of his father.

This is the choice.

So, the first key to peace is remembering our family. The second key is requesting of our father the third. is refocusing our framework. Refocusing Our framework. Look at verse 8.

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there's any excellence, if there's anything worthy of praise, think about these. Things. Now growing up, I always heard this verse in connection with music and movies, you know. The sort of watch what you put in the system. Garbage in, garbage out, right?

This was how. I heard this verse. And that's a good principle, but it's not what this verse is actually about. Because remember, these verses are about peace-filled relationships within the family of God.

So how do these verses connect?

Well, when we're in conflict... We have a tendency to do something in our minds. which is villainize the other person. We tend to keep a list of all the things they've done wrong. They started it first.

And I only did what I did because they did what they did. And what they did was worse, and they're not very trustworthy. In fact, they're a bad person, and here's all the reasons why. And they're always like that. Is this just my brain that does this?

No. In other words, we tend to think about the things that then justify our poor behavior to them, don't we? Maybe I did yell, but they deserved it. Maybe I got angry, but they started it. Oh, I may have hurt them, but it's nothing to the wound they inflicted on me.

See, in conflict, it's way too easy to reduce the other person in our minds. to the sum total of their failures. That way we can look down on them and write them off. and justify ourselves. In other words, we start to live in self-justification.

Self-justification. We got self-absorption, self-reliance, now self-justification. This is a bad list, guys. Again, Paul is counteracting their sinful tendency to self-justification in these verses. He says, refocus your framework.

Refocus your mental framework. Instead of reducing the other person to the sum total of their failures, I want you to look for the glimpses of Christ. that are visible in their life. Whatever's true. Hmm?

Whatever's honorable. Just Pure. Lovely. Commendable, excellent, praiseworthy, you think about these things. You think about these things.

I want you to look at them. the way Christ looks at you. Because listen, we're all marbled beings, aren't we? We have great beauty and brokenness all at the same time, marbled together. And Christ sees it all.

And you can focus on any part of it. What does he focus on? Christ does not reduce us to the sum total of our failures, it dismisses us. No, he sees the potential of who we were created to be, who we are becoming in redemption, and who we will one day be conformed to be like in glory. He sees the glory breaking through.

He looks at us and he sees what is true and honorable and just and pure and lovely and commendable and excellent and praiseworthy. He sees us as sons and daughters of God. How very generous. How incredibly charitable. Yodia, I want you to extend the same generous charity to Sintake.

I want you to look for what is true and honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, and praiseworthy. And where you see the glorious image of God coming out of her life. And I want you to think about that. And center key. I want you to extend the same generous charity to Yodia.

Whatever's True, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, praiseworthy. Think about that. Focus on Christ in her, the hope of glory. And by the way, I'm modeling this for you all the way through. Verse 9: What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things.

and the God of peace will be with you. Paul says, Look, why do you think I opened this letter with thanksgiving to God for your partnership in the gospel and your abounding love for one another? Why do you think I reminded you that your beloved brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown before I said any of this? Why do you think I reminded you of your co-laboring in the gospel, your names written forever in the eternal book of life in Christ, Yodia and Sintake? I'd refuse to reduce you to the sum total of your failures in this moment of conflict.

I am fixing my heart and mind on the glories of Christ that are being formed in you.

So now follow my lead. As I follow Christ, follow me. Whatever you've learned or received or heard or seen in me, practice it. Model yourself after what I'm doing. Try on for size what I'm patterning for you.

Come and learn the way of Jesus. And the God of peace will be with you. You're not alone. Because as you begin to see what God sees, And value what God values, and attend to what God is attending to. in one another.

you will begin to live in peace. with peace-filled thinking and peace-filled intentions toward one another. Peace-filled wishes for each other, peace-filled tones as you speak, peace-filled actions as you. Interact. As you keep in step.

with the God of peace. you will learn to live. Yeah. Peace. And don't you see, Paul is again, he's counteracting their sinful tendencies.

towards self-justification. Refocus your framework, your mental map here. In Christ we attend to God's good work in one another. In Christ, we attend to God's good work. in one another.

So here's the question, guys and gals. Yeah. Where do we see Christ in those who are driving us nuts? Where do you see Christ? and those who are driving you nuts.

In Jesus Christ. No one is. is a lost cause. Where do you see The glory of God. leaking out of obnoxious people.

Where do you see the good work of God? On the job in people who actually hurt you from time to time. Christ is on the job. It's our job to pay attention. to what he's doing.

Because he who began a good work in them Will carry it on to completion at the day of Christ Jesus.

So Takeaway. Brothers and sisters. Let us agree in the Lord. Let us agree. In the Lord.

Three quick questions. Would you just write these down and think about this, pray about this? Let the Lord do work in your heart about this. I'm going to do this this week too. It's going to be profoundly uncomfortable, I promise you.

But it's worthwhile. First question. Who do I need to apologize to? Who do I need to apologize to? Second question: Who do I need to forgive?

Who do I need to forgive? And third question: with whom do I need to make peace? With whom do I need to make? Peace. Because remember, we're family.

And in Christ we're bound together. as the forever family of God. And even in the midst of all this conflict, we can request of our Father. Because in Christ, we're learning to entrust our hearts' desires to Him. And we can refocus our framework.

In Christ. We can learn to attend to God's good work. in one another. The God of peace will be with. Yeah.

He will be with me.

So just lean on him. Would you pray with me? Father, we long to live in peace-filled, joyous relationships. In Christ. Father, we confess that when we are operating in our own strength, in our own instincts, in our own Habits.

We make a royal mess of this. But we thank you that you are not finished. and that we are not alone. You have made peace with God. By sending Jesus Christ on our behalf.

You have made peace within the body. destroyed this hostility that Divides the world, but you are uniting people very different from one another. In Christ, help us to live in this peace. To metabolize your goodness and work in our lives. to trust you.

Father, help us to Forgive. Help us to humble ourselves to apologize. Teach us how to make peace. for the glory of your name. We pray this.

For Jesus' sake. Amen. Do not be anxious about anything. But in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts.

and your minds. In Christ Jesus. Amen. Amen. On today's Moody Church Hour, we heard Pastor Philip Miller teaching on The Basics of Peace, Sermon number seven in a series on Back to Basics.

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