True Peace

Fellow whose bleeps he speaks blasphemy, who can forgive sins?

But God alone.

Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, why are

you thinking these things in your hearts? Which is easier

to say your sins are forgiven, or to say get

up and walk, But I want you to know that

the son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.

So he said to the paralyzed man, I tell you,

get up, take your mat, and go home. Immediately he

stood up in front of them, took what he had

been lying on, and went home, praising God.

I believe that the Lord is saying.

Firstly, the obstruction or obstacle to coming before Jesus was physical.

It was practical, It was a crowd. It wasn't demonic.

The challenge is that you're creating the space and opportunity

to come before me, to spend quality time with me,

and not demonic in origin. It can be easy to

attribute all difficulties to Satan, but he's not always at

the root of them. It's important to correctly discern the

route of difficulties you may face, both in this instance

and generally, because it will help you to understand what

is the best approach to dealing with them. Secondly, the

solution was also practical, although not without its challenges.

On first or so on seeing the crowd.

First, they had to decide and agree on the best

way forward. Secondly, they had to risk annoying someone. It

meant making a hole in somebody's roof, which they may

have fixed later. That's not recorded, but it's likely that

not everyone was going to love their plan. And Thirdly,

they had to implement the plan. Whilst it's likely that

there were external stairs to a flat roof which would

have helped, certainly lowing the man on a stretcher wouldn't

have been easy. Nonetheless, these guys did this for the

sake of this man. I believe that the Lord is saying,

I've been prompting you to do something that's inconvenient, and

it's going to cost you in different ways, and it

would be very easy to reason your way out of it,

and you're in the process of mulling it over. I'm

saying to you, please do it for the sake of

my beloved child. I will surprise you how I bless

you as a result of this. Moving on to today's message,

as they've mentioned already. The theme this month is peace

in the Storm, and the title that the Lord gave

me is true Peace. I realized there'll be a little

overlap between what's been shared already over the past couple

of weeks, but this is what I believe the Lord

gave me. Also, let's face it, we all have to

deal with storms in life at times. That's so reiterating

a few points will hopefully help us to get them

anchored in our souls for when we need them. Have

you ever had a time when it's been raining heavily outside,

maybe there's been thunder and lightning, but you've been all

warm and cozy indoors, maybe with a nice cup of

coffee and a good.

Book, and you can just enjoy it.

I have, And one time was when we went to

Wales on holiday and not surprisingly, it rained.

Why did I enjoy it? I felt safe in.

The storm and it was a good excuse to sit

indoors with coffee and a book. But ultimately it was

the contrast between the weather outside and the fact that

I felt safe and warm and dry. I mean, I'm

talking about physical safety and comfort in a storm here,

But from the Bible, we know that we can experience

inner peace in all kinds of storms, including turmoil in

our circumstances. I'm going to start by briefly looking at peace.

It's great to think about peace, isn't it. When we

spend time studying and reading God's word and thinking about peace,

it changes us. God has many names which reflect different

aspects of his character and relationship with us his family.

Yahweh Shalam means the Lord's Peace. It's first mentioned in

Judges six, when Gideon had the revelation of it when

he was hiding in fear of severe oppression. We won't

turn to it now, but to briefly summarize it, the

Angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon and said to him,

the Lord is with you.

Judge Is six point twelve.

Gideon politely said, if God is with us, why has

all this bad stuff happened? I think that's a question

that we've all asked at some point. God doesn't answer

the question directly here, but says, go in the strength

that you have, am I not sending you judge Is

six fourteen. We have a natural instinct to ask why.

In my opinion, there's no harm in asking why, but

it's important not to get stuck there. We know the

one who has the answers, and if he chooses to

tell us, it's because it will help us in some way.

If he doesn't, then we need to trust in his character,

which is perfect love and wisdom, and ask him to

show us the next step. Once Gideon was convinced that

the Lord was indeed with him, that's when he got

the revelation in Judges six twenty four, The Lord is Peace.

It's worth remembering that he'd had no victories or even

battles at this point. First he had the revelation. I

find this definition of peace helpful. The shalam of God

is total well being in spirit, soul, and body. It's

a place where you're at peace with God, with yourself

and with others. I might add, God's peace doesn't depend

on others being at peace with us, thankfully. This is

about our attitudes towards God, ourselves, and others. And the

source of this peace is God alone. Jesus, who came

in his father's name, is the prince of peace. In

fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy in Isaiah nine six, Jesus came

as Sar Shalom, Sar In the Hebrews, it's a head

person of any rank or class, such as chief or captain.

In here it means prince of peace. Jesus is our peace.

He is your peace. As we learn to live continually

in his presence, his shalam will be released in our lives.

In John fourteen twenty seven and the New American Standard Bible,

John fourteen twenty seven.

Jesus said, 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. The Living Bible puts it this way. I

am leaving you with a gift peace of mind and heart.

And the peace I give isn't fragile like the peace

the world gives. So don't be troubled or afraid. Notice

it's a gift, but it's up to us to use it.

The Lord put it to me this way, he said,

if someone gave me a pressure cooker, it would be mine.

I'd be unlikely to benefit from it because the chances

of me actually taking it out of the box would

be pretty slim. Cooking is not my favorite thing, but

it would still be mine. It would still belong to me.

If I actually took it out of the box and

read the instructions, I would then have an understanding of

how it worked, which is an essential first step to

using it. Similarly, if I study peace and gain an

understanding of what it is and what it's not, that

would be a very helpful first step to applying it

by faith and living in it.

The caveat here that would put in is.

We can pray for people that God will bless them

with a special gift of faith. So excuse me of peace,

and I've seen it happen, which is great. Such is

the Lord's grace, and there's nothing wrong with that. But

long term, we're not designed to wait for someone to

pray for us. We need to learn to live in

it ourselves. Yes, there are times when we need that

extra support, if you like, of someone praying for us,

but long term we need to learn to live in it.

That's a bit like Simon working out how to use

the pressure cooker and then making us a meal. I

get the benefit of it, but it's not the same

as being able to use it myself.

And I have to say we.

Do have a pressure cooker, and he does use it

and I don't. The fact that Jesus spoke peace to

his disciples, as recorded in John fourteen twenty seven at

the point when he did not long before his arrest

and crucifixion, tells us his peace will work in all

circumstances and at all times. It's a powerful force. After

Jesus had died and risen again, he first appeared to

the disciples when they were in a room with the

doors locked in fear of the Jewish, presumably because of

what they've done to Jesus. Jesus' first words to them

were peace be with you. John twenty, verse nineteen, Peace

be with ye. The New Testament is written in Greek,

but shalam alachem is still a Hebrew expression of blessing

and greeting. But I suspect that Jesus was saying a

bit more than just hi.

He knew what they needed.

Peace is so fundamental to our well being, to our

ability to do what we need to do and what

we're called to do, and Jesus is the only true

source of it. Let's make this declaration of faith together.

Lord Jesus, you are my peace. I face my circumstances

in the peace that only you can give. I face

my circumstance in peace that only you can give. I

receive the shalam of God. I receive the Shalam of God.

So how do we learn to live in peace? There

are lots of different ways to answer this, and I'm

just going to give one simple one. Isaiah twenty six,

verse three, in the New King James version that's Isaiah

twenty six to three says, you will keep him in

perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you because he

trusts in you. You will keep him in perfect peace

whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.

I like this translation because it's a reminder to think

about whether your mind stays or strays. Does it stay

on the Lord or stray from the Lord? Trust will

help it to stay, Worry will cause it to stray.

As a model of prayer that Jesus taught us in

Matthew six says give us today our daily bread. We

know this, but it's a reminder that the Lord won't

give us tomorrow's bread today. However much we may like bread,

we won't need it until tomorrow. The word translated mind

here in Isaiah twenty six three can also be translated imagination.

You will keep him in perfect peace, whose imagination is

stayed on you because he trusts in you. How often

do we lose peace because we've allowed our minds to

wander to different scenarios, most of which will never happen.

I believe that the Lord's given me a word for

several people. The scripture is entitled The Parable of the

Wandering Sheep in the Bible eye I was reading whilst

I was preparing. So I'm going to read from Matthew

eighteen verses twelve to fourteen. That's Matthew eighteen, twelve to fourteen,

And this is Jesus speaking. What do you think if

a man owns a hundred sheep and one of them

wanders away? Will he not leave the ninety nine on

the hills and go to look for the one that

wandered off? And if he finds it, Truly, I tell you,

he is happier about that one sheep than about the

ninety nine that didn't wander off. In the same way,

your father in heaven is not willing that any of

these little ones should perish. Whilst this is an illustration

of how important children are, so a heavenly Father, I

believe that the Lord wants to speak to a few

people who feel like they're part of the ninety nine.

You haven't wandered off doing everything right as best you

know how, but you're feeling like God cares more about

others than he does about you, and it's subconsciously chipping

away not only at your sense of self worth, but

also your faith.

God sees you. I'm going to read a few.

Verses from Psalm one hundred and thirty nine, starting with

verses one to tea. That's Psalm one hundred and thirty nine.

You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You

know when I sit and when I rise. You perceive my.

Thoughts from Afar verse four, before a word is on

my tongue. You Lord know it completely.

You hem me in behind and before, and you lay

your hand upon me verse nine. If I rise on

the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the

side of the sea, even there, your hand will guide me.

Your right hand will hold me fast. You are engraved

on the palms of the Lord's hands, as it says

in Isaiah forty nine, verse six. Excuse me sixteen, You

are chosen Ephesians one verse four, You are loved. Sometimes

the persevering in the mundane is necessary to get to

where you need to go, and it's building spiritual muscle

to sustain you in the long term. But I see you,

I want I want you to hear it with that

excuse me, I see you. I haven't forgotten you or

the dreams that I gave you all those years ago.

Pray that my peace, my schalam, that sense of well

being will infuse your soul with new hope and divine

energy to fulfill your purposes in me. Whilst Jeremiah twenty

nine eleven to thirteen is I have very familiar verses,

I want you to hear it with fresh excuse me,

fresh ears, and receive it in your heart. That's Jeremiah

twenty nine eleven to thirteen. For I know the plans

I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper

you and not to harm ye, plans to give you

hope and a future. Then you will call on me

and come and pray to me, and I will listen

to you. You will seek me and find me when

you seek me with all your heart. Moving on to

the main passage for today, let's read Luke eight verses

twenty two to twenty five. That's Luke eight twenty two

to twenty five, and I'm reading from the Christian Standard Bible.

One day Jesus and his disciples got into a boat,

and he told them, let's cross over to the other

side of the lake. So they set out, and as

they were sailing, he fell asleep. Then a fierce windstorm

came down on the lake. They were being swamped and

were in danger. They came and woke him up, saying, Master, Master,

we're going to die. Then he got up and rebuked

the wind and the raging waves. So they ceased, and

there was a calm. He said to them, where is

your faith? They were fearful and amazed, asking one another,

who can this be?

Literally? Who then is this?

He commands even the winds and the waves, and they

obey him well. In lane fishing boats were usually fairly small.

According to the NIV Cultural Background Study Bible. The surviving

example is twenty seven foot by seven and a half

foot by possibly four point three foot deep. For the

metric amongst us, that's eight point two meters by two

point three meters by possibly one point three meters deep.

Bearing in mind I'm literally just over one and a

half meters, it clearly wasn't a big boat. The geography

of the area, the hills surrounding the Sea of Galilee,

can funnel storms onto the lake, which can be sudden

and devastating to small boats. But notice the size of

the boat was not an issue for Jesus. Our natural

resources at hand to deal with the storms of life,

no matter how inadequate they may feel given the circumstances,

are clearly not a limiting factor for Jesus. It's right

that we use what we've got to the best of

our ability, and or as the.

Holy Spirit leads.

If we get specific direction, that's been good stewards of

what the Lord has given us. However, we don't need

to look at our resources are limited resources in fear.

We need to look to the Living God, with whom

nothing is impossible Luke one thirty seven. The word used

here for storm is seismos, the root word of seismology,

the study of earthquakes. Matthew only uses this word on

two other occasions, once at Jesus' death when there was

an earthquake in Matthew twenty seven, and again in the

graveyard at his resurrection in Matthew twenty eight. So the

store on the Sea of Galilee was given equal billing

with these earthquakes. It was violent lou Kate twenty four.

They came and woke him up, saying, Master, we're going

to die. Then he got up and rebuked the wind

and the raging waves. So they ceased and there was

a calm. Jesus internal peace was more powerful than the

external storm. This is evidence in that he was sleeping

through it. I don't believe it was because he was

so exhausted, simply because common sense tells us that it

would take more than exhaustion to sleep through a storm

so violent that professional fishermen believe they're going to die.

I said that to say this.

For me, this illustrates the importance of dealing with our

internal issues. For example, those wrong thought patterns, attitudes, and

behaviors that we've all picked up for different reasons over time,

because we've learned them for others, from others excuse me,

or in response to circumstances. It's really important that we

deal with issues such as fear, hatred, bitterness, unforgiveness, low

self worth, anxiety, etc. As God points them out to

us because the absence of internal peace has such potential

to impact the world around us, including our relationships, etc.

Jesus internal peace was such a source of great power

that not only was he sleeping through a violent storm,

but after being woken unexpectedly, he was immediately ready to

apply his faith to a life threatening situation. I don't

know what you're like when you've literally just woken up,

especially from a deep sleep, but Jesus is our example

in all things, as well as our ever ready source

of strength and help. How do we need to go

to sleep in order to be ready to apply our

faith in a serious situation or any situation as soon

as we're woken up unexpectedly or otherwise? What are we

filling our heads with before we sleep? This example of

the need to be able to deal with the unexpected,

especially unexpected storms, shows that it matters if, for example,

we're filling our heads with the news, how will that

help us to be ready to apply our faith as

soon as we're woken up. There's nothing wrong with being

aware of the news, which I've obviously just given us

an example, but the amount of time time we spend

in it and importantly, when is something to consider If

you're not sure what to read last thing at night?

One's suggestion is Proverbs. There are thirty one chapters in

the Book of Proverbs, so you can read the chapter

that coincides with the date.

What will it do?

It will put wisdom in there to feed your spirit

whilst you sleep. Your spirit doesn't need to sleep, but

your body does. What do our bedtime routines look like?

Do we need to review them with the Lord? This

isn't to shame us if we've got into bad habits,

but to prompt us to be honest and open before

the Lord and ready to change if we need to.

We all need corrections at times, correction at times. It's

part of our spiritual growth. Verse twenty four. They came

and woke him up, saying, Master, Master, we're going to die.

Then he got up and rebuke the wind and the

raging waves. So they ceased and there was a calm.

Notice Jesus rebut the storm. This implies that it was

demonic in origin. Frequently disasters are blamed on God. But

if this one had been divinely initiated God, Jesus.

Wouldn't have rebuked it.

I'm kind of reiterating what I said at the beginning

in that word that the Lord gave me. It's important

to know what you're dealing with so you can understand

from God's perspective how to address it. Verse twenty five,

He said to them, where is your faith? They were

fearful and amazed, asking one another.

Who can this be?

He com even the winds and the wind and the waves,

and they obey him. It's interesting because the disciples who

would have seen Jesus heal the sick forgive sins, which

was clearly understood to be the remit of God from

that passage I read at the beginning. But with this

new revelation of controlling the elements, this new revelation of

the power of God at work through the man Jesus,

came both fear and wonder. But they didn't get stuck there.

They continued living alongside Jesus, learning, making mistakes, and learning

from them, just.

Like we can.

Years ago, I had to deal with some very difficult

personal circumstances, a proper storm with potential very serious impact

on my home life. It's not appropriate to say more,

but I had super natural peace. I remember thinking that

the situation had arisen because I'd surrendered my life to Jesus,

so my life was in his hands. Whatever happened next,

I would be in his hands, which was the safest

place to be. I also knew who was praying for me,

which gave me great comfort as well as confidence in

terms of what subsequently happened. It wasn't plain sailing, but

neither was it as bad as it might have been.

I'm not pretending I always get it right, but believe

the Lord wants me to ask this question from verse

twenty five, where is your faith? Our Father in Heaven

is the one perfect parent. When we surrender our lives

to him, we put ourselves in the safest, most loving

pair of hands that exists in the universe. So if

he are asks us where is your faith, we are

in a safe place to answer honestly. In some areas,

our faith may be firmly placed in God and his

word and we have peace, and in others it may

not be the case, and we probably lack peace. This

is an opportunity to sit before the Lord and consider

the different situations in our lives and ask him to

show us where we've placed our faith in these different

areas of our lives. If it's in him, great, If

it's not, there's no condemnation. This is an opportunity to

ask God to help us to change this, to remember

that no problem or situation is beyond the love, power,

or remit of Almighty God, and ask him to help

us to place our faith firmly in Him and his

word and to receive his peace. I also want to say,

our heavenly Father loves us so much that he gave

his precious beloved son, Jesus to die in our place

as punishment for our sin, and then raised him from

the dead. He did it so that we can live

forever in Him here on earth and then afterwards in heaven.

If you've never surrendered your life to God, now is

a great time to do it. You don't need specific words,

just an honest heart that says you're sorry for all

the wrong things you've done and for trying to live

life your own way. You believe Jesus is the son

of God who died for you and rose again, and

now you want to live in him and with him forever.

So where is your face? That's the question I'm going

to leave with us. I'm going to just pray, and

then let's sit for a few minutes and listen to

the Lord whilst we ponder that where is your faith? Lord,

Please help each one of us to hear your heart

and to respond in faith in Jesus' name.

Thank you, Lord,