Life on the Vine: Peace

Marcel Hall: Good morning, brothers and sisters.

Good morning.

It is good to be together.

My name is Marcelle Hall, and, uh, I have the honor and privilege to

be a minister here in the church.

Uh, I serve with my wife, Karina.

We've been married almost 21 years.

We have three kids.

And, um, and it's summertime, so it's, uh, an active household for sure.

Uh, definitely grateful to be able to speak God's word this morning.

Um, I, I need your prayers.

Can, can you, can you pray for me silently right now?

Or, uh, we'll pray here in a second.

But, uh, I was getting over a little bit of a cold, uh, this,

uh, this week, and then I watched the championship game yesterday.

Some of y'all, I guess, are not happy with the results.

And, uh, I'm a, I'm a big basketball fan, a huge sports fan, and I get really into

sports, and I get really into the games.

And I didn't really care too much who won, but, uh, there was some plays at the end

of the game, uh, that were just pretty mind-boggling for me, as a basketball fan.

And I, I, I jumped up literally, and I'm standing and I'm yelling at the TV.

And then I, I yelled so much that I felt a little something in my voice, and I

said, "Oh, I should not have done that."

And, uh, those who know, I've had a, uh, history of a, a vocal nodule, which

is a benign tumor on the vocal cords.

I have to be very careful with my voice and not yell, because

then I can aggravate it.

So I feel it in my voice a little bit, so I feel like I'll be a

little more subdued today, okay?

All right.

And so, but we need the Spirit to still speak this morning.

Amen?

Amen.

So we are going to continue a sermon series that we started a couple of

weeks ago, called Life on the Vine.

We're walking through, uh, Galatians 5:22-23, seeing the fruit of the Holy

Galatians 5:22–23

Spirit's work and presence in our lives.

And so let's go ahead and, uh, give you the topic for today.

Today, we will be hitting on peace.

Amen.

Let's go to God in prayer.

Father in heaven, I thank you so much for your presence.

Father, as we were singing earlier, the Holy Spirit, you are welcome here.

May we be more aware of your presence.

May we experience more of your glory and goodness.

Amen.

And Father, I pray right now for that.

I pray that, uh, you will use me, and that I can just be an instrument, that, uh, you

move me to the side and speak your word.

Father, bless my, my voice for being able to make it, and God, again,

communicate your message for us today.

In the name of Jesus, amen.

Amen.

Again, we are talking about peace.

And you know, what's funny about peace is peace can be

overrated until we don't have it.

Yeah.

Right?

You know, you'll s- you're willing to sacrifice certain things,

and people say, "Hey, well you know, that might affect you."

And you're like, "But that's okay."

But then once you lose peace, you go, "Whoa, you know what?

I really need that peace in my life."

And then when we have a time to reflect and think about it, we

all want and need more peace.

Do you need any less peace in your life?

No.

Of course not.

You're like, "That's a foolish question.

I want more and more peace."

And so we're going to see how God has a big plan and works in our lives

so that we can not only experience peace, but also bring peace.

Let's get into the scriptures.

Brothers, sisters, are you with me this morning?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Galatians 5:22, the Apostle Paul has just talked about what it's like

Galatians 5:22

to have life, freedom in Christ.

And then he talks about how sin, the acts of the flesh, can

actually separate us from God.

He says, "But the fruit of the Spirit," verse 22, "is

love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

gentleness, and self-control.

Against such things there is no law."

Now, what comes to mind when you think of peace?

Let's get a couple answers here.

What comes to mind when you think of peace?

Quiet.

Okay, someone said quiet, right?

Yes, we usually think quiet when we think of peace.

What are some other things?

You can raise your hand here.

Yes.

The ocean is peace.

You go out there, you see the nice Pacific Ocean.

Okay.

Yeah, all right.

That's good.

Uh, yes?

No anxiety.

No anxiety, right?

The absence of things here.

Yes?

Contentment.

Contentment.

We think, man, when I'm content, therefore I am peaceful.

We'll go one more.

Secure in Christ.

Secure in Christ.

All right, so a number of things come to mind when we think of peace, and

often we can think of situational peace.

No clutter, no qui- you know, no, no noise, and stuff like that.

I know when I come home and the place is clean, that brings some

serious peace to a brother's soul.

'Cause I've noticed when it's not like that, I'm li- I'm disturbed.

Something's not right in me, and peace has evacuated my soul.

But you know, the Spirit of God produces peace that's independent of

situations, and can make us peaceful, and therefore become peacemakers.

Yeah.

Let's look at this word real quickly of peace.

And so then the old, in the, the Hebrew, in the Old Testament, the word is shalom.

In the New Testament, it, it's, uh, eirene.

Forgive me on my pronunciation of my Greek.

I failed that class.

I never took it, but there you go.

But there's this idea here of peace n- not just being the absence

of conflict, but being more.

It means to be whole, this idea of being whole.

When things are together, when things are in order, or your

wellbeing, therefore you have peace or harmony, harmony with others.

And so this idea of peace, biblically speaking, is more than just the

absence of chaos- Yeah … but it's to be spiritually whole.

It's to be also to have a wellbeing in your life, and to

have harmony in your relationships.

And so this applied politically, whether it was the nation of Israel.

This applied to the individual, but it also applied to our relationships

with one another, and most of all, our relationship to God.

And so this is the biblical peace that is mentioned in scripture.

And so it's this peace that is upward, me and God.

It's a peace that's inward.

There's a peace from within, a peace of mind, a tranquility.

And then there's a peace that's outward, that's harmony with others.

And so this is the fruit of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

And if you think about it, it makes sense because when you don't have

these things, you don't have peace.

When things are out of order in your life, do you experience peace?

No.

When your wellbeing is not where it could or should be, do you experience peace?

No.

When there's conflict in your life, do you have a sense of peace?

No.

In fact, what does that produce?

Anxiety.

It produces everything but peace.

Yeah.

And so we see here, we have to be reminded that this is the fruit of

the Holy Spirit's work in our lives.

Now, we're gonna break this down some more, but we have to understand something

very fundamental as we understand the Holy Spirit's work of peace in our lives.

And first of all, it is this, that our God is the God of peace.

God is the god of peace, and we see this explicitly stated in a number of passages.

Romans 15:33 talks about, "The God of peace be with you all."

Romans 15:33

Romans 16:20 says, "The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet."

Romans 16:20

Philippians 4:9 says, "And whatever you have learned or received or heard

Philippians 4:9

from me, and put into practice, and the God of peace will be with you."

1 Thessalonians 5:23, "May God himself, the God of peace,

1 Thessalonians 5:23

sanctify you through and through."

And in Hebrews 13:20, "Now may the God of peace who through the blood

Hebrews 13:20

of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus."

You see, our God is the God of peace.

Yes.

That's who he is, that's his character, and that's his nature,

and that's also what he produces.

Now, here's what's really cool.

Think about this.

So if God is the God of peace, and we know because we are taught in

scripture that we actually receive the gift of the Holy Spirit in our

lives when we repent and get baptized.

So now the God of peace now dwells within us, and what is the, the Spirit doing?

Producing more peace in our lives.

Yes.

And it makes sense because if the God of peace is within me, then he's going

to bring his peace in my life, and he's gonna work peace through my life.

And so we're reminded again here, Galatians 5:22, is that the

Galatians 5:22

Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, and so on.

It is the fruits of the Holy Spirit.

The…

We cannot physically, we cannot, uh, strategically manufacture the godly

peace in our lives with self-efforts.

Yeah.

It is a product of the Spirit in our lives and the Spirit working in our lives.

Do you hear what I'm saying?

So this peace is a gift, however, we know that we also need to cultivate the

conditions for the Spirit to produce more and more peace in our lives.

Yeah.

Yeah.

There's always this divine relationship with God, that God

works, but then includes us to participate in His good work.

Amen.

We see this with the Holy Spirit, and we can understand this when we

look at a lot of things in life.

Again, we have to cultivate the conditions where the Spirit's peace will grow in us.

I wanna show you something here real quickly.

This is, uh, my son Dominique's, uh, little plant that he just

brought home the other day.

Right.

You see his name on there, Dominique.

And so he ju- they went to a farm for, uh, uh, one of his,

um, we call them field trips.

And he brought back this little plant.

And he's like, "Man, I- I'm putting this up," and he, he starts watering the plant.

And the other day I said, "Hey, so what, what, what kind of,

uh, what kind of plant is this?"

He says, "I don't know."

I say, "You, you don't know the plant that you just got?"

"I don't know."

And he just goes on and keeps playing.

I said, "Okay, well are you, uh, are you still watering that thing?"

"Yeah."

"Every day?"

He didn't really answer the question.

And so we understand how this works, right?

We understand, what does Dominique need to do?

He needs to put that thing in the sun, and it's outside.

And actually, when I told him, he rem- he reminded himself, "Oh, I better go outside

and grab this and put this in the sun."

And so he knows, and we all know, if we're trying to grow a plant, what do we do?

We gotta go ahead and get some soil, we gotta get some water,

we gotta go ahead and what?

We gotta get in the sun.

And we know as time goes by, what will happen?

It will grow.

It will grow.

And so we understand this.

We're like gardening, right?

We put effort, but we aren't the ones who actually make it grow.

But we do need to do our parts.

Yeah.

We do have a responsibility.

And so whether it's preparing the soil, planting, watering, weeding, pruning,

protecting, we do all of that, but the fruit of the Spirit comes from God's work

in our lives, but our responsibility is to cultivate the conditions where the Spirit

grows more and more peace in our lives.

Yes.

So again, we don't manufacture it, but we need to cultivate so that the

conditions can be ready so that God will produce more and more peace in your life.

And we see this in the scripture.

And so we're gonna look here.

We're looking at f- Galatians 5:22-23.

Galatians 5:22–23

But right before and right afterwards, we see this divine partnership at play here.

Look at these scriptures.

Galatians 5, over in verse 16, it says, "Walk by the Spirit."

Yeah.

He also says, "But if you are led by the Spirit, you are

not under the law," verse 18.

"Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit."

Right.

And that is sandwiched in between what?

The fruit of the Spirit.

Right.

So we see this beautiful, divine combination take place, which we

understand with this metaphor of gardening and life on the vine.

And so the growth of the s- of fruit of the Holy Spirit, we have to make sure

we are obeying the Spirit in our lives.

That's right.

Right.

You know, we have to make decisions to live by the Spirit of God.

Not the flesh, but to live by the Spirit of God, 'cause then God's

going to make the fruit of His Spirit grow more and more in our lives.

Amen.

You know, I wanna bring up my friend Kyle.

Kyle, can you come on stage here?

Kyle's gonna go ahead and, uh, we're, we're, we're gonna try to do, uh, show

what this looks like here, all right?

So Kyle, come on up stage.

Gi- give some love for my main man Kyle right here.

All right.

This kind of look a little bit like Wembanyama and Jalen Brunson, doesn't it?

There you go.

But Jalen Brunson won, so you know it was- all right, anyway, sorry

That wasn't a burn.

I don't know what the "oh" was about, you know what I'm saying?

We just having some fun, y'all.

Okay.

All right.

So here's how it works here, so we can understand how all of this works.

Okay, so Kyle is going to be a representation of the Holy Spirit.

I am representing us.

And so what the scripture tells us to do is to do what?

We need to follow the Holy Spirit.

So come on over here, Kyle.

Let's go ahead.

And these are our lives, this is our lives.

And so as the Holy Spirit leads us, go ahead and walk.

We are called to do what?

Follow.

Follow the Spirit.

Let's go ahead and stop right there.

We get into some trouble, let me just say this right now, when we

try to get ahead of the Spirit.

Yeah.

You ever tried that?

Yeah.

We get in trouble when we do that or when we say, "Hey, you know what, Spirit?

I know you wanna go this way, but can we go this way?"

Yeah.

No, we are called to follow the Holy Spirit.

And so as we walk with the Holy Spirit, go ahead and walk, Kyle, the, He also

gives us the fruit of the Spirit.

So this is the peace of God.

And so as we walk, go ahead, Kyle.

G- I, man, I need some more of that Spirit.

Can you give me some of that?

He gives us the Holy Spirit.

Yeah.

You with me here?

Yeah.

And so let's go ahead, let's go this way, Kyle.

Kyle, you, He's walking and He wants to take me down different places.

Now, life doesn't always have a straight line.

It's a little bit of twisting and turning, right?

So Kyle, can we have some twisting and turning through this?

We gotta make sure that we do go ahead and do this, right?

Yeah.

We have to make sure we do that.

Now, here's the thing.

At these times in our lives when we have twists and turns, we can go ahead and

draw near to God and receive more of His Spirit because He wants to give us.

So it, during this twist and turns, He's giving more and more of the

Spirit, and I'm saying hallelujah.

Hallelujah.

The Spirit wants to make it rain with some, with some,

with some peace in my life.

And so again, as we go in there, there's times where I'm

like, "God, I need your help.

Can you give me some more of that spirit?"

He does and he gives it.

But here's the problem.

Sometimes we do this.

Go ahead, come on back, Holy Spirit.

Here we go.

I don't tell the Spirit to tell me, but you, you-

But sometimes, here's what I can do.

God, I need the Holy Spirit.

I need it bad.

Oh, I wish you would just give it to me.

No, keep your hand down.

Give me some more Holy Spirit.

Oh, if you would just give me more.

I'm struggling, it's hard.

And the whole time he's offering, but I'm not receiving.

Yeah.

Sometimes I get distracted.

Oh, yes, and the Spirit's walking, and he wants to, he's got it available,

but then I'm going, "Oh, man."

But I want this peace.

God, give me this peace.

Holy Spirit, keep walking.

I want this peace.

I want this peace.

Why are you not giving me peace?

There's a problem, isn't there?

Yes.

Is it the Spirit's fault?

No.

"Man, God, he doesn't give me what I want when I ask him."

Maybe I'm not in step with the Spirit.

Right.

Maybe I decided to walk outside of His will.

Maybe I'm not even realizing that He's available, He's right there, and if

I was close to Him, I could have that peace, but for some reason, I have some

stinky thinking, and I, and I avoid it.

I don't receive it

Sometimes, and this is what I do, "Can you give me spirit?

Thank you, Lord.

But you know what?

I'm still praying, a- a- a- a- and I'm gonna give that back to you."

Amen.

I don't consciously do that.

But subconsciously I do this.

I keep praying, but then all I do is I get more and more anxious as I'm praying.

Has that ever happened to you?

Yes.

I'll be honest with you, that was happening to me about 15 minutes ago.

Come on.

No, I'm dead serious.

I was sitting down, and I'm like, "Man, God, you know what?

I, I thought my voice was gonna be a little better," and I started

feeling more and more anxious.

I'm going, "I'm about to preach about this.

Why am I going through this right now?"

And I said, "Man, I got, I gotta, I gotta draw nearer to you.

I gotta draw nearer to you.

God, you're gonna work this out," but I'm, I'm wrestling- Yeah … right

there in that seat next to Karina.

I'm wrestling with it.

So it was available, it's there, but I gotta draw near- Right … to the Spirit.

Because why?

This is the God of peace, and my peace is gonna grow when

I'm close to the God of peace.

That's right.

Yeah.

But when I'm distant, I may have peace that's temporary,

but it won't be godly peace.

Yeah.

And we also get into trouble as the Spirit wants to lead again,

when we get in the front or we try to direct, or when we have,

again, some stinking thinking and we think we can get peace from other places.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Let me turn to food.

Let me turn.

Let me turn to shopping.

Yeah.

Let me turn to vegging out.

Let me turn to social media.

Let me turn to TV and film.

Let me turn to drugs.

Let me turn to some form of sexual immorality or sexual impurity.

Because then I will feel secure, I will feel peace, but then it is fleeting, and

we realize we didn't have peace at all.

That's right.

We had a temporary fulfillment, but we didn't have the peace we were needing.

That's right.

And so we see here, we need to do what?

We need to draw near to the God of peace.

And as the Spirit walks, we need to make sure we're keeping

in step with the peace of God.

Go ahead.

Thank you, Kyle.

Appreciate that.

There's some peace for your life right there.

And so what should we do in response?

I think it's pretty obvious.

The scrip- the scriptures articulate this very well.

We need to keep in step with the Spirit.

Amen.

When we keep in step with the Spirit, we will therefore cultivate the

conditions where the Spirit of God will produce peace in our lives.

And how can we do this?

Well, through God's presence.

Let's see here.

Through the presence of God.

You know, again, peace grows when we stay close to the God of peace.

We will get reminded that God is present.

He's not distant.

He's not far off.

He's not just above.

God is present in my life.

That's right.

He's right there.

Now, when I'm standing next to Kyle, we're walking down the

street, I feel a lot more secure.

'Cause I'm like, "They're not gonna mess with me when I got

this tall dude right here."

Yeah.

I know I feel better.

When we stand and we're close, and I'm not talking about knowledge close,

I'm talking about intimacy close.

Right.

Yeah.

I'm not talking about just proximity close, I'm talking about intimacy close.

I'm talking about relationally close.

When we have that presence of God, what does it produce in your life?

Think about it.

When you feel close to God, what do you experience?

Peace.

Peace.

Yeah.

When you don't have a close relationship with God, how do you feel?

Amen.

You don't feel that peace of God that he provides.

That's right.

And so, and again, we need to make sure we draw near to the God of peace.

He's present.

And then we can be confident in who he is, his character, his plans, and his deeds.

And so again, what does this come back to?

We need to pray.

We need to be praying a lot.

We need to have devotional time.

We need to be in God's word.

We need to meet up with God's people, 'cause I see the, the, the

elements and components of God in different ways, and I get a chance

to experience God in a different way than when it's just me and God.

We need to go ahead and draw closer to him, being vulnerable.

Being vulnerable with god.

God, here's who I am, here's what I'm feeling, here's what I'm thinking.

We're vulnerable, and that produces more confidence in our relationship with God

We also do this through truth of god.

You know, when God's truth is understood and trusted, it brings peace.

Again, we can have some stinking thinking in our situations and in our

relationships, and we start to believe a narrative that is actually false.

And when we believe a false narrative, we no longer can enjoy and experience the

peace of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

So we have to get centered and reminded of the truth of God.

You know, there's times, and there's been min- number of times in my

relationship with Karina, we've been married, I said almost 21 years, where

I'm like, man, there, there, some, some insecurity, some doubt comes

into my mind in the relationship.

And then I get smacked in the face spiritually, emotionally, or somehow,

I'm like, "This woman loves me."

Yeah.

You tripping, Marcel.

You think she would've put up with you all these years and all this

nonsense if she didn't love you?

You right.

You right.

For real.

I'm over here doubting that this woman is loving me right now.

Now we might have something we need to work through, but did

she ever really stop loving me?

No.

She might be mad at me, but she didn't stop loving me.

That's right.

Come on.

You guys get what I'm saying?

Yes.

I need to be centered.

And the same thing spiritually with God.

We got some stinking thinking.

God, I don't know if you're there.

I don't know if this.

What is the truth about God?

He's there.

He's good.

He's true, and he's faithful.

Yes.

Yes.

Come on.

So do I need to be anxious about this?

Do I need to fear about this?

No, things are actually in place.

I actually am whole spiritually.

Amen.

And again, what happens?

Peace grows in our lives.

When you are close to God, when you know God's truth, what have you experienced?

Peace.

Appreciate Christian and his reminder earlier, even in communion, we have what?

Yes, we might have weaknesses, but God is gracious.

Yeah.

That was a truth.

We come to communion, what?

Reminding ourselves and centering ourselves on what?

Truth.

God is good.

God loves me.

God is faithful.

We also cultivate this through remembrance of god.

Recalling past experience with God and God's provision produces peace.

We can say, "You know what?

I've been here before, and he will get me out again."

Same thing in my relationship with Karina.

There's times when we have conflict, and I'm able to be reminded by God's

grace and mercy, "You know, we've had conflict before, and we got through it."

Amen.

We're gonna be able to get through this conflict.

Right.

And so I have to recall experiences, and the same with God.

We need to recall when God's faithfulness has been proven

and experienced in our lives.

Amen.

Again, all these things are interlinked because now we get reminded of this truth,

but then we also can recall experiences.

God, you've been good.

Yeah.

You are good this moment.

Yeah.

And we are going to be okay.

I am going to be whole.

I'm gonna have wellbeing, and there's gonna be harmony, whether it's with me

and you, within myself, or with others.

Remember past times of victory.

When you think of your victory and the times you had, what

does that produce for you?

Peace.

The shoulders are no longer as what?

Clenched up and tense.

You do this

And you start to have what?

Confidence.

Security in Christ.

Look at this in Philippians 4, I believe it articulate, articulates it very well.

"Do not be anxious about anything."

What does that imply?

You and I are going to be anxious.

Some of us can read this like, "Well, that's impossible."

No, it's saying, when you are anxious, here's what you need to do.

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer

and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

And the God of peace, which transcends all understanding, will guard your

hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

Amen.

He says, "Bring your requests.

Remember God's faithfulness, and experience God's peace."

Yeah.

You know, I believe that God has a bigger aim and has more possibility with this

idea of peace than you and I realize.

'Cause we can think, "Yes, I want to have peace in my life.

I need peace in my life right now.

There are some things going on that it's really hard."

And I believe that the Spirit wants to minister and provide peace in

those situations, but I believe it's a lot bigger than that.

Here's what I think is clear from our knowledge of God and also through the

scriptures, is that this idea of peace is not just for us, but it's for us to

also become peaceful disciples of Jesus.

Wow.

When we receive this peace on a consistent basis, what does that

produce in our character and our nature?

We become peaceful.

That becomes our character, our nature.

Why?

'Cause He's the God of peace, and God is making and forming you and me

more into His image, so therefore, we will be people of peace.

Amen.

But then check this out.

This isn't, this scripture and all the scriptures, it's

not just for the individual.

It's for the whole community.

It's a communal command and directive.

Yeah.

It's for us to have peace within each other, within the church family.

Yeah.

It is for us to be peaceful people.

And when you get peaceful people coming together, what does that produce?

More peace.

Yeah.

And so you don't have a group that gets together and is fighting and str- and…

No, you have a group that is bonding, gelling, getting closer together.

So this leads to communal peace within the church.

And then as peaceful disciples of Jesus, what, what happens?

We become what?

Peacemakers.

Amen.

We bring peace, not just individually, but collectively.

If all of us here collectively went out these four walls, and we brought the

peace that we are receiving from God to our work, to our school, to our families,

to our neighborhoods, what would happen?

We'd be bringing peace in those areas, in those situations.

Right.

It would have a domino effect.

It would have a ripple effect upon those around us, and they get a

chance to see and witness, and even experience and taste the glory of

the Spirit of God in your life.

Amen.

And so we can see this again, peacemakers.

In our families, we can be instruments to break generational cycles of

anger, bitterness, and dysfunction by helping with reconciliation.

Amen.

Our jobs and our schools, we can refuse to engage in gossip, slander,

bullying, by being calm, fair, and being a unifying presence.

I'm not here to divide.

Let's figure out how we can be unified.

Right.

In our neighborhoods, in our communities, us collectively and individually serving

and bridging cultural and social divides.

Does our country need that at this moment?

You see, again, this peace isn't just for you to walk out and go, "Woo!

I, I, I'm able to deal with the drama in my life"

No, the peace is to transform you- That's right … more into the

character and nature of God Almighty.

It's for us to collectively reflect and experience the peace of God together,

and then together to bring that peace to those that we live and work with.

Amen.

God has a bigger aim, and there's a greater possibility

than just individual peace.

We get a chance to join in that participation or in that, in that

partnership with God Almighty.

Wow.

So let's get real practical.

You know me.

I gotta have some action steps for the week here, okay?

So pull out your phones, your notebooks, whatever it is that you do here, and

let's go ahead and let's talk about some action steps for the week here.

First up, find a peace verse of the week.

Find a verse.

Maybe it's a verse that we already looked at.

Maybe it's another verse.

Whatever it is, but find a verse this week.

Go ahead and Google it.

Put it in ChatGPT, Claude, whatever it is, your flavor.

Go ahead and find a verse, and go ahead, read that verse every day this week.

Yes.

Remember that verse when you're going through something.

Try to go ahead and memorize the verse.

Philippians 4:6 and 7, those have been my verses of late.

Philippians 4:6

'Cause again, I've shared where, where my failure's in this,

and I have to constantly go back, and God is constantly…

He's been working on me, and I'm so grateful for the Spirit's work in my

life, but it's been rough, but I'm so grateful for the scriptures that

are centering me, reminding me of His faithfulness, His goodness, and His truth.

And so I would encourage you, find a verse.

Read it.

Recite it.

Memorize it, and share it with others.

"Hey, here's my peace verse for the week."

And second, let's pray.

Let's pray for the church, for all of us, to cultivate, experience,

and bring peace this week.

Amen.

God, may you bless us.

May we do our part in cultivating the Spirit's work in our lives.

May we all experience peace today, and God, may you use us to

bring peace to those around us.

Again, not individually, but collectively.

I believe, brothers and sisters, when we do this, we will see and testify

to the Spirit's work in our lives.

As we close, we're reminded our God is the God of peace.

Amen.

The Holy Spirit of God produces the fruit of peace in our lives,

and this peace grows when we stay close to the God of peace.

And so we keep in step with the Spirit through His presence, through His truth,

and through remembering His faithfulness.

That's peace upward, that's peace inward, and that's peace outward.

Amen.

Galatians 5:22, we close out here.

Galatians 5:22

It says, "But the fruit of the Spirit- is love, joy, peace, forbearance,

kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Against such things there is no law.

Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh

with his passions and desires.

Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

Brothers and sisters, may we have peace from living a life on the vine.

Amen