Special Message: “Peace I Leave with You” | Dale Philips

Welcome to ECB's weekly sermon podcast. ECB is

an international church in Bangkok, Thailand,

with dozens of nationalities worshiping together.

We invite you to connect with us from wherever

you are through our website ecb .asia or our

mobile app. And now we pray that you are blessed

by this week's sermon. Good morning, ECB. It

is... Great to be here on this commissioning

day for commissioning Pastor Pablo and to his

new role as lead pastor at ECB. Pastor Pablo

and I actually share the same birth country of

Chile, and we grew up in the same city there

in Santiago. But more importantly, we share the

same eternal home. So it is an honor to share

God's word with you this morning. Today I hope

to leave you with an invitation. Transitions

are usually pretty challenging, and so I also

want to thank Pastor Rene for listening to the

Spirit and following God's leading and for your

desire to pass the baton well in this transition

here at ECB. So thank you. I'd like to start

out the journey, the sermon this morning, looking

at the transitions in John 14, 25 through 29.

But before we do that, let's pray. Lord, we come

before you with grateful hearts. Thank you for

the opportunity to commission Pablo today. We

pray that you would guide in all the details

of this leadership transition here at ECB. We

pray that as we look at your word, that you would

speak to our hearts today, to our hearts, and

that you would draw our hearts to you. In Jesus'

holy name, amen. John 14, verses 25 through 29.

John 14:25–29

These things I have spoken to you. While I am

still with you, but the Helper, the Holy Spirit,

whom the Father will send in my name, he will

teach you all things and bring to your remembrance

all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with

you. My peace I give you, not as the world gives

do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled,

neither let them be afraid. You heard me say

to you, I am going away and I will come to you.

If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because

I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater

than I. And now I have told you before it takes

place, so that when it does take place, you may

believe. We have the scene here in the upper

room just as the disciples and Jesus have finished

the Last Supper and they're about to leave when

Jesus announces that there will be a transition.

There will be a new way that the disciples will

experience the Trinity. They have had Jesus face

to face for a while, but now the Father is going

to send them the Holy Spirit who is going to

teach them and remind them of what Jesus has

told them. If you were to read a little bit further

in chapter 16, you would see that the disciples

are not fully understanding what is going on,

and their hearts are probably feeling some fear

and anxiety in this transition. ECB is an international

church, and so most likely all of you have experienced

transition and can relate to fear and anxiety.

Maybe even in the midst of this transition between

Pastor Rene and Pastor Pablo, you may experience

some anxiety, maybe even some fear. So I want

you to get a glimpse of Jesus' character in this

transition in John 14. He's about to go to the

cross, which we'll be celebrating soon. He's

about to go to the cross. And what is on his

mind in verse 27? That his disciples will experience

peace and that their hearts would not be troubled.

That they would not be afraid. In fact, in verse

28, he even longs for them to have joy. For as

he is going to his father's house, the eternal

perspective, he wants them to have joy. And in

verse 29, he invites them to have faith. And

now I have told you, before it takes place, so

that when it does take place, you may believe.

Have faith. The scene just before Jesus goes

to the Garden of Gethsemane, just before he is

about to be arrested, what does Jesus say to

the disciples? I am inviting you to trust me

with an unshakable faith. I want you to have

the kind of peace that I give, not the kind that

the world offers, that's a substitute that won't

last. The kind of joy that I give, not the type

that the world offers, that is a temporary high.

The kind of faith that I give. Not that the world

offers that will bring disappointment. This is

good news. In the midst of transition, Jesus

is offering peace, joy, and faith all through

his sacrificial love. Now, the invitation to

faith has always been a tough one for me. I like

to control outcomes much more than I like to

trust. Maybe you're with me on that. In fact,

most of my prayers are about praying not to have

to trust. Lord, if you would just solve this

problem, dot, dot, dot, then I wouldn't have

to trust you. Lord, if you would just provide

financially, dot, dot, dot, then I wouldn't have

to trust you. Lord, could you just make it so

I don't have to trust you? So my prayers are

always trying to not have to trust God. But the

invitation from the Father is always to trust.

to believe, to have faith. For that is what the

relationship with Him is built upon. Years ago,

in my early 30s, coming out of corporate America

where I worked for United Airlines, I transitioned

into ministry. I brought many corporate ideas

with me into ministry and even wrote a thesis

suggesting metrics for determining ministry success.

Talk about not wanting to trust. Mission organizations

were interested in being able to track and determine

success in ministry. And I was busy creating

systems, some of which simplified and some of

which complicated the very thing that God was

doing. I like efficiency and organizing. And

I've come to find out that God is just not as

interested in efficiency and organizing as I

would like him to be. Jesus, who on his way to

the cross with his disciples. In the midst of

transition is offering peace, joy, and faith

in an upside down and non -intuitive way. And

there it was in the middle of all my striving

and organizing ministry to make my life work

apart from God. Yes, you heard that right. I

was using ministry to make my life work apart

from God. But that's for a different message.

In the midst of my striving, God got a hold of

my life. in a way I'd never known. And he brought

me face to face with a gospel I knew but had

never lived. The gospel had become a system for

me of checks and balances and not a life of faith.

God invited me into some very tough years of

processing my own childhood wounding, my own

story of my childhood sexual abuse, which I had

buried deep into my heart for no one to touch.

And then God invited me to a more challenging

task, to process my own waywardness out of my

wounding and how I had created a life around

me to keep me safe and that my very strategies

for survival deeply hurt the people closest to

me. I was doing more for Jesus, but I was not

becoming more like Jesus. So as you, ECB, began

this year going through Treasures of the Journey

series, I would like to share three treasures

in my journey that I hope will encourage you

as a congregation and you, Pastor Pablo, as you

step into the role of lead pastor here at ECB.

Then I'll close with an invitation for each of

you. Treasure number one, learning to live from

my identity rather than for my identity. One

of the biggest shifts in my own heart as I began

to really grow in the gospel was learning to

live from God rather than for God. You see, because

of my wounding, I believed in the God that was

always disappointed in me. And I had learned

so much in my church life that I was to live

for God and that I must perform for his acceptance.

And in all my ministry leadership, I was performing,

trying to make God pleased with me so that my

life would work. Do you hear the exhaustion?

The issue is that living for God makes me the

initiator of life. And God is the only initiator

of life. He breathed life into Adam. And I am

designed to be a receiver of life, which requires

humility and surrender. And those are not words

that I'm accustomed to living out of. The invitation

from the Father is to live from God. Throughout

scripture, God has already given us many banners

of identity, such as loved, delighted in, significant,

adopted, chosen, righteous, and many more. These

are banners of identity who I already am as a

believer. Can I begin to trust God with who he

says I am? Most of us spend our lives living

for these things, chasing after these things,

not from these things. When I live for significance,

I will run around and prove my worth and I will

make you prove yours. When I live from significance

in Jesus, I can actually meet you where you are

and walk with you on this journey of faith. The

same holds true for if I live for being delighted

in. I'll run around seeking the eyes of people,

TikTok, Instagram. Whereas when I live from being

delighted in Jesus, I actually have the capacity

to delight in others. The incredible shift in

my heart changes the way I approach every day,

every conversation, every task. It makes me a

funnel for the work of God, for the Spirit of

God in and through me. It unblocks the channel

so He can do His work. Here's the issue. A simple

definition of ministry is holding these banners

of identity over someone else. The problem is

that you cannot hold the banner of identity over

someone else if you can't hold it over yourself.

If your banner is over you, don't say loved,

delighted in, adopted, righteous. then you have

no capacity to hold that over someone else. The

other problem is that the banners that you do

hold over yourself, which are usually banners

of contempt, hatred, that might say, I'm a disappointment,

I'm too much, I'm not enough, then I will hold

those banners over someone else. So now there

is a reason that we struggle to believe our identity

in Christ. Because our woundedness will always

lead to our waywardness. So the invitation for

today is can I begin to trust the Father with

whom he already says I am loved, delighted in,

child of God, justified? Can I begin to trust

the Father with who he already says I am as a

believer and begin to live from my identity?

instead of for my identity. Second treasure,

learning to trust God to write the impact stories

of my life rather than turning good desires into

required goals for more impact. Another shift

in my heart has been learning to actually desire,

learning to go after the dreams and hopes that

God has put in me. The issue is that as I begin

to engage with desire, I often feel pain. And

so subconsciously, I turn my desires into goals

so I can achieve success and feel better about

myself. While it may be a great desire, it may

be a terrible goal. For example, my wife loves

gifts. And 30 years ago, we had just been married.

We were celebrating her birthday for the first

time as a married couple. I had a great desire

to pick out just the right gift for her. What

I thought was a beautiful dress. Don't worry,

I didn't get her a blender. I thought a beautiful

dress would be the perfect gift. And I bought

this dress. It was plaid green and blue with

a bow on it. And my desire was for her to really

enjoy this dress. But once I purchased it and

spent the money on it, my desire quickly turned

into a goal. Now she has to enjoy the dress.

The issue is that my wife now becomes an obstacle

or an asset to my goal, and it places an unfair

demand on her to enjoy the dress. Let's just

say my goal was not achieved when she returned

the dress. When I turn desires into goals, the

people in between me and the goal suddenly become

assets or obstacles to the goal's success. People

are never meant to be assets or obstacles. This

happens all the time in ministry. Many years

ago, our family arrived in Romania and I began

working with a Romanian ministry. I had a desire

that God would raise up Romanian ministry leaders.

Then I turned it into a goal, not only a goal,

a ministry goal. And I was going to invest in

them and they would help me achieve my ministry

goals. Did you know that people are not always

interested in being an investment? but prefer

being in a relationship? Again, the issue is

now these Romanian leaders had to become obstacles

or assets to me achieving my ministry goals.

The very people I had desired for God to raise

up now became obstacles to my goals' success,

all because I wanted to write the impact story

instead of trusting God that He is the only one

that really gets to write the impact story. So

the invitation, can I trust the Father with my

desire without turning it into a goal, demanding

that I get to write the impact story, or even

discard desire, get rid of desire, because I'm

unwilling to sit with Jesus in the pain of unmet

desire. Which brings us to treasure number three,

learning to go to God and experience His presence.

rather than going through God to get the outcome

I want. Finally, I want to encourage all of you

as you dream of what God will do with ECB in

the years to come to see God as the answer and

not use God for the answer. We tend to add spiritual

language to our requests to go through God as

if he were a little genie and we had to get the

outcome that we want rather than going to God,

period. This past October, my wife and I were

in Nairobi, Kenya, when we received a call that

our 23 -year -old daughter, who is at the university,

Karina, was in the hospital ICU completely unable

to use her legs or move anything from the waist

down. You can imagine our distress and our longing

for God's work and healing in her body. We flew

to the U .S. where she was. It was devastating

to walk to that hospital room. She was paralyzed

from the waist down. We spent 30 days in the

hospital with her. We cried out to God to heal

our daughter, just fix her. We eventually had

to come face to face that we were more interested

in what God would do with our daughter than his

promised presence and comfort. In the situation.

So often we use God to get the outcomes we hope

for. But following Jesus means we get God. We

get his comfort and presence in the middle of

the worst circumstances or nightmares. But so

often we don't value the presence of God. We

just need him to fix our situation. Isaiah 43

says, Fear not, for I have redeemed you. I have

called you by name. You are mine. When you pass

through the waters, I will be with you. And through

the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you. When

you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned.

And the flame shall not consume you. For I am

the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your

Savior. And our response is, I don't need your

presence, God. How about you take some of that

water and put out the fire? God, I just need

you to get me out of pain or come through with

me when we are asking. Come through what I'm

asking you. Please make my daughter walk again.

So the invitation, can I trust the Father with

his presence even when the ground is shaking

beneath our feet as it did this week in Bangkok?

Can I experience his comfort, his presence in

the midst of my pain instead of demanding that

he fix my situation? So as we return to the upper

room in the midst of transition in John 14 verse

John 14:27

27, Jesus says, peace I leave you. My peace I

give to you, not as the world gives do I give

it to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither

let them be afraid. In the midst of transition,

fear and anxiety, can I trust the Father? Not

to fix or get the outcomes I want, but to experience

His peace, presence, and comfort. So as we close,

I just want to give a charge to Pastor Pablo

and to each of you. It has been a privilege to

Pastor Pablo. It has been a privilege to sit

under your teaching. Pastor Pablo, one of the

things I appreciate the most about you is your

compassion. I also appreciate not only your heart,

that people know about God, but that your heart,

that people actually know God. You create a space

for people to share their hearts as you share

your heart. And you set the stage for God to

do His work. One of the biggest things the enemy

could do to derail you, It's to attack your identity.

To attack your identity. To invite you to live

for significance rather than from significance.

To live for these banners rather than live from

these banners. These things that God has already

named you. My prayer for you, Pastor Pablo, will

be to stand under these banners, trusting the

Father with who he says you are as you lead ECB.

To Pastor Pablo, the elders and ministry leaders

at ECB, in just a few chapters after John 14,

we come to John 17, where Jesus is now in the

Garden of Gethsemane. In John 17, Jesus gives

us his prayer. And it says, this is right before

he goes to the cross, it says, to the glory that

you have given me, I have given to them that

they may be one even as you are one. I in them

and you in me that they may become perfectly

one so that the world may know that you sent

me and love them even as you loved me. One of

Jesus' greatest prayers for us is our ability

to relate to one another as the Trinity relates

to one another to put his love on display. What

God wants to transform in us is greater than

we've ever imagined. He wants to transform the

very way we relate. So for those of you on church

leadership working together and hoping for what

God will do here at ECB, I would encourage you

not to turn your desire for ECB into goals. As

soon as you start seeing each other as assets

or obstacles to the success of the mission, you

won't walk with each other and love each other

and relate to each other like the Father, Son,

and Holy Spirit relate. And just to clarify,

this is not about avoiding conflict or living

without rupture in relationship. There will be

rupture. The question is that can we trust the

Father and receive the gifts of repentance and

forgiveness to move towards that repair? How

things progress here at ECB matter and how you

care for each other and love each other in the

process says a lot about what God is doing in

your hearts and lives. May you never replace

what the Spirit is doing at ECB. with strategies

and goals. To the congregation, you are in a

season of transition. There will be a new season.

There will be new systems here at ECB. There

will be changes. When you experience pain in

those changes, may your heart not move to getting

stuck in statements about the way it used to

be, but may you surrender that space in your

heart to the Father and bow on your knee as a

receiver of life where the source of life comes

from, God himself. My prayer for you is that

you can trust what God says about you, that you

are his and that you will experience his presence

and love in the midst of transition, and that

you will actually have the capacity to be present

with each other and to love well. And finally,

to the children and teens at ECB on this Family

Sunday, do you know that you are not created

to be perfect? You don't have to perfectly play

the violin, piano, and be on the swim team by

the second grade. You will face struggle, but

in your struggle, you are created worthy of love

and belonging. My prayer for you is that while

you are here at ECB, you will have curiosity

and courage to explore the wonderful uniquenesses

of how God made you and be reminded of his great

love for you. And to those who don't know this

Jesus, the one who can offer such peace. Jesus,

the one who says in the midst of all your mess,

in the midst of all your dysfunction, I'm staying.

When everybody else leaves the room, I'm not

going anywhere. I am staying. I have come that

you may have life. My prayer for you is that

you will talk to someone today to get to know

the one named Jesus who knows how to love perfectly.

Let's pray. We thank you, Lord, for your gift

on the cross, that you took all of our sin and

gave us all of your righteousness. We thank you

that there is nothing that can separate us from

your love. We thank you for Pastor Rene's leadership

over these past years, and we thank you for Pastor

Pablo being willing to step into the role as

lead pastor at ECB. We pray that you will bless

him and his family in this role. We pray, most

importantly, that you will give him faith. And

all of us... who believe in you, faith to trust

you that with who you already say we are, deeply

loved, significant, delighted in, in your hands,

and on our worst day, we are wrapped in your

robe of righteousness. In the wonderful name

of Jesus, amen. Thank you for tuning in to the

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