Well, there's a word associated with Christmas that keeps popping up, and that's peace. You look at Christmas decorations, many of them have the word peace on them. Approximately half of the 5,000 decorative Christmas pillows and blankets I have around my house right now that my wife has put out has the word peace on it.
It's part of the Christmas story. The prophecy of Jesus in Isaiah 9, 6, for unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. The government shall be upon his shoulder and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. The angels, when they made the announcement of Jesus' birth in Luke 2, 14 says, they say, glory to God in the highest and on earth, what? Peace.
It's all over the Christmas story. And look, I'm preaching to myself today, I'm starting to rediscover in my own life the value of peace. Now, I may go a little longer than a lot of time today because this is so...this is very important.
This is actually changing my life. In the old days, I used to love conflict. I love to fight and let's duke it out and let it...I don't know, the older I get, I'm just appreciating this idea of peace more and more. And the concept of peace, it's just changing my life. Now, what do I mean by peace? You know, the Bible uses the word peace in several different ways. Peace between us and God, that's a vital concept. Peace on earth, no more wars. When Jesus Christ comes back, he'll put an end to all war. So peace can mean several different things. But I want to focus on turning your Bibles, if you would, to John 14, 27. Chad, what do you mean by peace?
You say this concept is changing your life and it is. What do you mean by peace? Well, Jesus was born and 30 something years later, he's about to die. And right before he dies, he says in John 14, 27, he's about to leave this earth. He says to his disciples, and this is important, he's not talking to everybody. He says to his disciples, peace, I leave with you. My peace, I give to you. Not as the world gives, do I give to you.
Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful. Let me point out a couple of things from this passage right here. Number one, there is a difference, watch this, between the world's peace, that's what he just said, and Jesus' peace.
Do you see that? Jesus, I'm going to give you peace. But it ain't like the world gives. What's the difference between Jesus' peace and the world's peace?
Well, number one, watch this. The world's peace is dependent upon external circumstances. If everything is good, I'm good. If everything is calm, I'm calm. If everything is worry-free, then I am worry-free.
The world's peace is dependent upon circumstances. In fact, I read out something a while back, it's a psychological scale, it's called the Holmes-Rajee scale. And what psychologists do is they assign things going on in your life, different stress points. Now, over 300 stress points in a short amount of time, you're in a lot of trouble, physically, emotionally, psychologically. You go over 300, and here's what they said, like, marital separation, that's 65 points. Pregnancy, 40 points. Change in your living conditions, you move to another house, that's 25 points. Change in sleep habits, that's 16 points. And if you go over 300 in a short amount of time, everything starts to break down.
Interestingly, as they study the story of Mary and Joseph that Christmas, Mary and Joseph had experienced 435 stress points. Now, that's your concept of peace, some of you. If I don't have too many stress points and everything's going good, I'm peaceful. Okay, that's fine.
But what happens when your stress points bump 300, 400, 500? You see what I'm saying? That's the world's concept of peace. A second trait of the world's peace, we're not talking about Jesus' peace, we're talking about the world's peace. If people do what I tell them to do, if they just get their act together and behave the way I think they ought to behave, then I'm going to have some peace. If the kids would stop being so whatever, if my wife would start being like this, my husband would start being like that, if people would just do what I tell them to do, I'd have peace. I'm going to tell you something. If you're going to wait on people to behave the way you think they ought to behave to have peace, you ain't never going to have peace.
Amen? And I actually talked to several counselors about this. I've asked them, what do most people come to you for counseling for? They said, you know, 80% of people come to me and pay me money to help them change somebody else.
My husband is acting like this, so I'm going to go to the counselor and the counselor is going to help me change my husband and the counselor says, it doesn't work, I can help you change you. But look, this is like the most profound thought you hear today, you're never going to change other people, you can't do it. That's the world's concept of peace. Circumstances are good, I have peace. People doing what I tell them to do, I have peace. Jesus said, that's the world's concept. Jesus' concept of peace is totally different. Jesus says, no, no, no. My peace, not the world's peace, my peace, I give to you.
Now, what is his peace? Now, I could break down that Greek word, the Greek word is Irenae. Incidentally, anybody know a lady named Irene? Okay.
Irene is the anglicized version of the Greek word, Irenae. I can give you all kinds of definitions, let's break down the Greek and say that. Let me give you some examples though. Here's what Jesus' peace looks like.
Let me give you an example. Thirteen men are in a boat on a lake. A lot of these men are expert professional fishermen, they've seen it all. And a hurricane hits out of nowhere that is so bad, they're screaming, they're crying, they're practically wetting themselves, they're afraid, and there's one man in the bow of that boat asleep. His name is Jesus, and he is sleeping so soundly, they have to wake him up. That's peace. He says, well, that's Jesus. He's the son of God.
Well, here's what it says. Verse 23 of Matthew 8, and when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him, and behold, there arose a great storm on the sea so that the boat was being covered with the waves, but Jesus himself was sleeping. I love that. All right, well, that's Jesus.
Let me give you another guy. Acts Chapter 12, Peter has just been told, tomorrow morning, you're going to be taken out of that courtyard, you're going to kneel down before that chopping block, Herod's going to take a sword and have his soldiers chop your head off tomorrow morning. Now, I'd like to think I'm changing because I'm discovering this concept of peace. In the old days, I've thought about this.
What if it's huge? Tomorrow morning, they've just been told, your head's going to get chopped off. The night before, you know how to be doing? Here's what I'd be doing.
Number one, I'd be repeating the sinner's prayer all night long just to make sure I'm born again and saved. Just make sure, okay? And secondly, I don't know why I think morbid things like this, but I remember reading about this when people got their heads chopped off the guillotine. I always wondered, when your head gets chopped off, are you conscious for just a few seconds? And isn't that kind of morbid or whatever? If I was Peter, I'd be like, okay, when my head is decapitated, how long will I be conscious? Those are the kind of things I'd be thinking.
I'd be all night long biting my fingernails to the quick, popping antacids. Here's what happens in Acts 12, 6. Now, on the very night when Herod was bound, about to bring him forward, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers bound with two chains. That's peace. If I live, I live. If I die, I go home to be with the Lord Jesus Christ. I can't change my circumstances.
The son's going to lay down and get a good night's sleep no matter what happens tomorrow. That's peace. Does that make sense to you all? See, I am wanting to live like that, where my peace, my calmness is not dependent upon circumstances.
It's dependent upon this thing that the Bible calls the peace that passes all understanding. So that's Jesus, that's Peter, that's the Bible. I shared with you this story a couple of months ago. You know, I don't listen to celebrity preachers that much. I like to listen to these old-time preachers online that none of y'all even know about. And this preacher was preaching a sermon. He said, my best friend growing up, his dad started a trucking company.
I don't know if y'all remember sharing this. His dad started a trucking company, and it grew, and grew, and grew, and grew here in North Carolina. And he said, he kind of turned the reins over to his son, and one night, the thing caught on fire, and the entire thing just burned to the ground.
Like, decades of hard work gone just like that. He said, the old man who started the company was down at the beach surf fishing. He said, the son said, it was now my job to call my dad and tell him everything burned down.
He said, so I call him out on the beach there, and he answers the phone. He said, something's going on. He said, daddy, it's all gone. He said, what's all gone? He said, everything. He said, the whole thing caught on fire, it's all gone. There's nothing left. And the old man paused for a second and said, was anybody hurt? He said, no, nobody's hurt. The old man said, well, praise God. He said, well, son, the fish are actually biting pretty good here.
I think I'll stay here a couple of days, and I'll come back home, and we'll figure out how to burn this or build this thing back up. The Lord giveth, the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
And hung up the phone and went back to fishing. Now, see, that's peace. So you've just been given the worst news in the world.
You've just lost everything. The Lord giveth, the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. He's in charge. He's in control. And, man, these blue fish are biting really good.
I'll get back home and fix it later on. That's peace. See, we can have that. You can have that kind of peace in the midst of a cancer diagnosis, a rebellious child, bankruptcy, because your peace is not dependent upon circumstances. Look, y'all just staring at me.
Are y'all with me on that thing? See, I'm wanting to live in that. I am a peace addict. How in the world do I get that peace? Well, Jesus tells us right here in that passage. He tells us very clearly how to have that peace.
Look at number one. He says this, look, you have to be born again. I'm now talking to my disciples.
I'm not talking to the rest of the world. Disciples, if you belong to me, look at this. I've already given you that peace. Do you see there? My peace, not I will one day give to you.
No, no. I've given you that peace right now. If you're a born-again believer, I want you to understand something. The peace of Jesus Christ is your possession. It is your birthright as a child of the most high God. If you belong to the Lord Jesus Christ, you don't have to ask him for the peace. It is yours already. Are you with me?
I wish you could see this. We keep asking for things we already got. We keep hoping God will give us one day something that's ours already. You can go through the biggest storm, the biggest nightmare, knowing that the peace of Jesus Christ is not something he's going to give you one day in the future.
That verse right there says, my peace I give to you. If you're a born-again believer, it's yours already. In fact, Christianity is the only religion that says that the founder of the religion actually lives inside of you.
Do you know that? The moment you get born again, Jesus' spirit comes to live inside of you. We call him the what? Holy Spirit, all right? You're born again, you got the Holy Spirit. I'm not a Pentecostal. I don't care. You're born again, you got the Holy Spirit. Yeah, but I'm an Episcopalian.
I don't care. If you're a born-again Episcopalian, there are some out there, if you're a born-again Episcopalian, the Holy Spirit lives inside of you, okay? The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy. It's yours already.
See, some of y'all begging God to give you something, you already got. I got a friend, years ago, he and I used to ride the seminary together. And this is years ago, he was so proud, he bought a pair of sunglasses. Y'all heard of these Ray-Ban sunglasses? I don't know, do they show them?
I don't know if they show them, make them or not. Ray-Ban sunglasses, he's so proud of his Ray-Ban sunglasses. And he got in the car one day, and he started driving off and looked for his sunglasses, so he realized that the sunglasses were not in his car. And he thought somebody had broken his car and taken them. He pulled over, searched the car, could not find the Ray-Bans.
So he says, I'm going to retrace my steps. He went back to the McDonald's, looked all over the McDonald's, could not find his Ray-Bans. Went to the gas station, to the very pump where he pumped the gas, could not find his Ray-Ban sunglasses. He went into the dentist's office, he'd just come from the dentist. He walks in, he's so flustered, he goes up to the receptionist, and he says, I hate to ask you this, I'm so aggravated, I spent all this money on my Ray-Ban sunglasses, I can't find my Ray-Bans. Has anyone turned in a pair of Ray-Ban sunglasses? And she pointed to his head and she said, you mean those things are on top of your head?
And he went, they're on his head the entire time. He was angry because he lost something that he had the entire time. You have the peace of the Lord Jesus Christ if you're born again, it's yours already. That's number one. How did I get this peace? We got to be born again. Number two, you have to pursue peace.
Do you see what he says to the disciples? He says, look at this, now, I've given you my peace, now this, do not let your hearts be troubled. I don't know if that tells you something, but it tells me you have a choice. You can either let your heart be troubled or let not your heart be troubled. You can either pursue the peace that you have or you can reject the peace that you have. In other words, you ought to put some effort in this thing. You can't just be a yoga master and just sit like this and let Jesus just fill you up with peace.
You're going to have to put forth some effort. They are Christians. Now, here's the title I've given them. They are crisis Christians. They're miserable if there's not some kind of crisis going on in their life. If there's not somebody to fuss at, fight at, if there's not a conflict going on, they are miserable. They love crisis. They go from crisis to crisis to crisis. They are crisis Christians.
If you want peace, you're going to have to pursue peace. I know of a family right now. It finally hit me.
It took me a long time, I realize. They're just a mean family. You ever been around people that are just mean? You know, some breeds of dogs are just mean.
This breed of family, they're just a mean family. They love crisis. They love getting in a fight. They love posting stuff about the church. They love this.
They love crisis. Now, again, I could judge them, but I used to be like that. I used to like the adrenaline rush of a conflict, the adrenaline rush of a fight.
I don't know if my testosterone is just dropping in my old age. I'm just not into that stuff anymore. I just want peace. Anybody here a peace addict? I just want peace. And Jesus is saying to his disciples, if you want this peace that's already yours, you're going to have to pursue it.
I'm not going to force this on you. Do not let your heart be troubled. I got some verses to back this up.
I want you to see this. Psalm 34, 14 says this, Seek peace and pursue it. How many of you all are saying, I'm tired of fussing, fighting on Facebook, I'm tired of all this. I'm just going to seek peace and I'm going to pursue it.
Hey, here's another one. David says in Psalm 131, 2, Surely I have soothed and quieted my soul. Who has soothed and quieted your soul?
I have soothed and quieted my soul. You know, one of the most popular verses in the Bible is Matthew 6, 33. It says this, But seek first the what?
Anybody know? Kingdom of God. Seek first the kingdom of God.
Okay. I'm supposed to seek the kingdom of God. What is the kingdom of God? Paul says in Romans 14, 17, The kingdom of God is righteousness, joy, and peace.
Now watch this. If I'm supposed to seek the kingdom of God, seek first the kingdom of God, and the kingdom of God is peace, I am supposed to seek peace. I don't want to fight.
I don't have a point to make. I just want to rest in the peace that is lying in the Lord Jesus Christ. How did I get that peace? You got to be born again.
You got to belong to Jesus. The moment you get saved, Jesus says, My peace, I get to...it's now yours. And then secondly, you got to seek that peace. You got to pursue that peace. I'm just...I'm going to ask you, are you seeking that peace of the Lord Jesus Christ? Are you ready to fight and get a conflict and give it?
Jesus says, No. This peace is yours. You got to seek it.
You got to pursue it. And here's what I'm finding. When you and I begin to seek the peace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and live in that peace, and all hell can be breaking loose around you, and the storms breaking out, and the tornadoes, and the hurricanes, and the anger people, and this, and that, and people cutting out... You remember in the old days when you'd accidentally cut somebody off in traffic? You remember in the old days, we would always cut out and just go, Sorry.
And everybody would go, That's okay. Now you get shot today, right? In the midst of this angry, violent world, as you say, I'm going to be different. Man, I'm going to be marked by this, here's the Bible calls it, the peace that passes all understanding. I just start living in that peace. What's going to happen? Several things are going to happen. Jot this down. Number one, an atmosphere of peace repels demonic entities.
An atmosphere of peace repels demonic entities. James 3, here's what James, you all know who James is? Half-brother of Jesus. James says this, I say half-brothers because James' mama was Mary, his daddy was Joseph. Jesus' mama was Mary, his daddy was God.
So there's half-brother of Jesus. James 3, 13 says this, who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good conduct, his works in the gentleness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy, selfish ambition in your heart, don't be arrogant and so lie against the truth. This wisdom, this bitter, angry, self-centered jealousy, look, it's not coming down from above.
It is earthly, it is natural, and it is, what's the next word, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder, there's chaos, and every evil practice. But the wisdom from above is first pure, and then what's the second word, peaceable, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruits without doubting, without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in what?
Peace by those who make peace. There were pieces all over this passage. See, James, look, James is contrasting two different atmospheres.
You see this? This atmosphere of, no, we're going to do it my way. This disorder is chaos where your house is a war zone, and the kids are fighting, and mom and dad are fighting, and there's that chaotic mess. He just said right there, the man just said it, it's demonic.
It's attracting demonic entities. But then he says this, I love this, the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace. Y'all want righteousness in your family, mom and dad who love each other, kids who get along with each other, this family that glorifies the Lord Jesus, you want that? No, I'm not asking a rhetorical question, I'm asking you, do you really want that?
Then pursue peace. Man, I think about a guy a little while back, you know, it's Christmas time and I have to answer this question every year at Christmas. Pastor Chad, don't you think Christmas trees, don't you think they're pagan? Every year I get it. Got a man that got in my face a couple years ago, doesn't go to our church, don't worry about it, got in my face, and he was frustrated and angry because we had Christmas trees across the assembly. And he said, you know, Christmas trees trace their origin, you know, back to the Roman God Dweezildorf and, you know, people would cut down the trees and put them in their house and worship this God, it's pagan.
And he got mad at me about this. Two things, number one, I did a deep dive this week on this because I keep getting all this stuff. I thought all these guys were true. You know they don't know what they're talking about?
They don't know what they're talking about. You can't find historic scholarly evidence that traces Christmas trees back to Roman paganism. Did you know it's not out there? But Pastor Chad, Pastor Chad, I saw this website. Oh, if you found it on the internet, it's probably true. I'm sorry, I take that back. No.
There's no evidence. That's number one. Number two, incidentally, this guy got in my face about this. He abuses his wife, he abuses alcohol, his kids are a bunch of hellions, but his home is an absolute nightmare. And I wanted to say to him, sir, you have opened a bigger door to the demonic by the atmosphere in this home that you refuse to lead than a Christmas tree will ever open.
There is something about this chaotic atmosphere that attracts this demonic stuff. That's what James is saying. I mean, church, you want good fruit in this church?
James says right there, been so in peace. We have a zero tolerance for arguing, fussing, fighting, division. We just don't put up with that. Why? Because we're trying to get mean with people?
No. I just don't want demons in my church. And I just want an atmosphere of peace because an atmosphere of chaos attracts to the demonic. This goes through in your own life. Have you noticed that when there's stress and chaos and all this mess going on in your life, the enemy seems to have an open road into your...to attack you?
Have you noticed that before? I know a pastor right now had a horrendous moral failing, horrendous a few years ago. If I were to ask him what happened, I know what he'd tell me. He said, Jeff, I was going through a season where my church was in a chaos. There was all kinds of stress. There was all kinds of mess going on. And in the midst of all this chaos and stress and anxiety, I made a bad moral decision.
That's what James is saying right there. And when you have this chaotic spirit, it attracts the demonic. But when you start having this peace and you're living in this peace and walking in this peace, it just kind of repels that, okay? Second benefit of peace. So number one, this atmosphere of peace, it's not dependent upon circumstances, it's not dependent upon people doing this, it's the peace of Jesus Christ. Number one, it repels the demonic.
Jot this down. Number two, peace makes us healthy, physically healthy. How many of you all understand God is not just interested in your spirit being healthy?
Did you know that? He wants you healthy, mind, body, soul, spirit. Peace makes you physically healthy. I want you to look at this in the NIV, Proverbs 14, 30 says this, a heart at peace, a heart at peace does what? It gives life to your body. The old living Bible put it this way, a relaxed attitude lengthens your life.
Like that. A heart at peace brings life to your physical body. Now, I want you to look at this word, peace. This isn't the normal Hebrew word for peace, shalom. This word for peace in Hebrew is marpe.
Marpe. You know, in Hebrew, they write right to left. It's interesting, if you look at all the different languages around the world, all languages write toward Jerusalem.
Did you know that? So here in the West, we write left to right toward Jerusalem, in the East, right to left toward Jerusalem. But anyway, marpe means... Here's a word for peace right there.
The word for peace is marpe. It means healing. The M makes this a noun. You take the M off, and it's a verb, and the verb is rafa. You ever heard of this word before? Jehovah-rafa, the God that heals? Marpe, the root of that word is rafa, healing, which is connected to another Hebrew word.
Look at this next one. It's rafa. Watch this, which means to settle down, to let go.
I want you to see this. When you settle down, when there's peace, it brings rafa. It brings healing to your body. God is saying to some of you here today, you are burning yourself out. You're stressed out about everything.
Scientists are now saying about 80% of our physical illness can be traced back to stress and anxiety. The Bible says when you start understanding the peace that is yours as a follower of Jesus Christ, and you start pursuing that peace, it brings healing to your body. Let me give you another bit.
I could give you a lot more. Let me give you one more benefit to healing. And that's number three, peace guides us. How many of you all... Now, I know we got the Word of God, we got the Spirit of God, we got all that, I get that. How many of you all would like to have some type of built-in GPS to point you in the right direction every time you need to make a decision?
Would you like that? Bible makes it very clear. Peace is that built-in GPS. Psalm 85 says this.
Now, watch this. I will listen carefully to what God the Lord is saying, for he speaks what? Peace to his people.
I want you to understand this. I know there's some subjectivity in this, but in my life, when I'm making decisions now, I get in the Word of God, get filled with the Spirit of God, and I'm guided by the peace of God. If I'm about to make a decision and I don't sense the peace of God, I start to back off a little bit. In fact, there's another great verse. Look at Colossians 3, verse 15. Colossians 3, 15.
And let the, what? Peace of Christ rule in your heart. That word, rule, is a very interesting word in the Greek.
It is actually a sports word. And it basically means an umpire, a mediator. The peace of Jesus Christ acts like an umpire in your life. So if I'm about to make a decision going this direction and the peace of Jesus Christ says, whoa, whoa, whoa, Chad, you can do what you want, but I don't know that I'd go that direction, I back off. When I'm about to make a decision and I've prayed about it, and I'm in the Word, and I've sought counsel, and I see, I sense this peace, I know that's the Spirit of God, the peace of God, given the green light saying, you can go that direction.
Are y'all with me? Does that make sense? I'm starting to be guided in my life by the peace of the Lord Jesus Christ. This preacher I was talking about, the friend of his that went fishing and everything burned down, he also said, he said, I know a Christian investor. He said, this Christian investor loves the Lord Jesus Christ, and he's made a lot of money. Y'all do understand not all rich people go into hell.
You do understand that, right? That you can serve the Lord Jesus Christ and be faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ blesses some of his people with a spiritual gift of giving, and so there's nothing wrong. He says, I know this Christian, very, very wealthy investor, and he said to this pastor, he said, I'm not bragging, but I have never made a wrong investment. He said, you never made a wrong investment.
He said, never. He said, because I am guided by the peace of Jesus Christ. When I'm about to make an investment, if there's this unsettled feeling in me, I back off. If I'm about to make an investment and I have the peace of Jesus says, go forward, I make that investment.
Do you know you can be guided in your life by the peace of the Lord Jesus Christ? I'm just going, y'all do what you want to do. You keep fussing and fighting and getting all riled up about the Democrats should be doing this and Trump shouldn't be putting this person in the cabinet.
You can get all riled up about all that kind of stuff. I'm done with that. I'm just going to walk in the peace of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm going to walk in the integrity of my heart. I'm going to enjoy this peace that passes all understanding.
I'm going to be guided and healthy and free from demons because I'm living in the peace of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the world so desperately wants this. There's a reason why we're popping anti-anxiety medications left and right because the world is desperate for what we already have as followers of Jesus Christ. Isn't that something? They want what we already got. That's the peace that passes all understanding.
The problem is we don't even know that we got it. In fact, I was reading this thing from Scott Stossel. Scott Stossel in the Atlantic Magazine talked about his lifelong attempts to deal with worry and stress. He said, I struggled for years with anxiety. He said, quote, here's what I've tried to deal with my anxiety, my lack of peace. Three decades of individual psychotherapy, family therapy, group therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, rational emotive behavioral therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy, hypnosis, meditation, role-playing, interceptive exposure therapy, in vivo exposure therapy, self-help workbooks, massage therapy, acupuncture, yoga, stoic philosophy, and a motivational program I ordered off a late-night TV infomercial. And he said, and medication, lots of medication, Thorazine, Nardil, Buspar, Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, Wellbutrin, Effaxor, Celexa, Lexapro, Cymbalta, Luvox, Trazadone, Levoxyl, Transene, Cirox, Centrax, St. John's Wort, Librium, Ativan, Xanax, Clonopin, also beer, wine, gin, bourbon, vodka, scotch. Do you know what helped me with my anxiety?
He said, absolutely nothing. That's the world. I was reading this past week about a phenomenon that's in South Korea now. In South Korea, because they're highly conscious about job performance and succeeding and all that kind of stuff, there's a lot of anxiety in South Korea. There's a new trend to deal with anxiety, and that's pet rocks. It's made a resurgence in South Korea. Pet rocks, a kooky and best-forgotten fad of the 1970s America, are resurfacing in South Korea.
South Koreans, who endure one of the industrial world's longest work weeks, have a tradition of unwinding in unusual ways. Pet rocks are the latest new thing. Lee, a 30-year-old researcher at a pharmaceutical company, made her pet rock during a turbulent time in her life. I had occasionally complained to my pet rock about how stressed I was at work. Of course, it's an inanimate object that can't understand you, but it's kind of like talking to your dog, and you feel relaxing just talking to your rock.
As I read that this past week, the thought hit me. Do you know what Jesus is called over and over and over again in the Bible? The rock. Instead of talking to the rock, why don't you talk to the rock? Hey, maybe we need a little less medicine and a little bit more of the great physician. Maybe we need to stop talking to rocks and start talking to the rock. Jesus is saying to this church today, it's Christmas season, let them go crazy out there.
Let them run over each other in the Crabtree Mall parking lot, let them honk at each other, let them get out. Y'all are supposed to be different. There's something different about you. Peter says this, always be prepared to answer. When somebody comes up and says, man, why are you so peaceful? You don't get torn up like everybody else. Peter says, always be prepared to give them an answer. Here's the problem.
We're not giving them an answer because they're not asking us that question, because we're just like everybody else. And in the midst of this turbulence, I want us to start embracing Jesus, the Prince of Peace. Ephesians 2, 14, I'm going to blow your mind with this. It doesn't say Jesus will give you peace.
It goes a step further. Ephesians 2, 14 says, he himself is our peace. When you got Jesus, you got peace. And may the peace of the Lord Jesus Christ guard your heart, guard your mind, guard your marriage, guard your home, the peace of Jesus Christ. He doesn't just give us peace.
He is our peace. In fact, would you stand with me right now, and can we just do this? Can we just start worshiping Jesus Christ right now? Just lift your hands and lift your voice. I want you to try to do this.
Try to zone out everybody else who's in this room right now. And for the next few moments, just let it be you and Jesus. Start worshiping him right now.
Would you do that? Thank him for dying on the cross for you. Thank him for rising from the dead. Thank him that he's not left you here alone. He sent his Holy Spirit to be with you. He said, I'm never going to leave you. I ain't never going to forsake you.
Thank him that he's going to come back and rescue you one day. Y'all ready for Jesus to come back? Maranatha, come quickly, Lord Jesus.
Raise your hands and raise your voices right now. Just start worshiping Jesus. Just worship him right now. Bless you.
Bless you. O come, let us adore him. O come, let us adore him.
O come, let us adore him. Christ the Lord. For he alone is worthy. For he alone is worthy. For he alone is worthy.
Christ the Lord. We'll praise his name forever. We'll praise his name forever. We'll praise his name forever. We'll praise his name forever.
Christ the Lord. Beloved, I love that the last word of this Hebrew blessing, I like to speak over you every week. You want to know what the last word is? Shalom. Peace. I want you to leave here with this peace that is so powerful.
I'm serious. People are going to start looking at you and say, man, I want what they've got. I believe in giving out tracts and sharing the gospel. Do you know your life is the greatest tract there is? When people see your peace in the midst of this crazy world, that draws people to the Lord Jesus Christ. So I say to the people of God, may the Lord bless you. May the Lord keep you. May the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. And the Lord turn his countenance to you and give you shalom. The peace that passes all understanding in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, we pray. Amen and amen. God bless you, beloved. Let's go change this world for Jesus Christ.
