Christmas Lights Part 1 | No Peace? Know God. with Rudy

Welcome to Hub City Vineyard. To get connected

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connect or hcv .church slash give. If any point

during this message you feel called to make a

change in your life, text CHANGEME to 97000.

Now enjoy the message. To the Advent candles

and welcome Judy to the stage. Thank you. Good

morning, everyone. Before we light the second

candle, let's remember that the first candle

represents hope. And the second candle for this

week represents peace. Shalom. Shalom, shalom.

This peace is a gift from God to you and me,

from his son, Jesus Christ. Peace that transcends

all understanding. Peace that reconciles us and

restores us back to God through Jesus. And if

any of you have had the week I've had, are experiencing

the flurry that comes with the holidays. This

is a very timely message for peace. But we have

some promises. In John 14, 27, peace I leave

with you, my peace I give to you. I do not give

to you as the world gives. Your heart must not

be troubled or fearful. And in Luke 2, 14, he

promises us glory to God in the highest and on

earth peace. to those on whom his favor rests.

So now let's pray and take this to the altar.

Holy Father, Abba God, God, I thank you so much

for the promise of peace that you have given

us, of Jesus coming and what that has brought

to restore to us. I pray now that we can all

lay our burdens, lay the chaos, lay the stressors

at your feet on the altar. and that the hearts

and the minds of the people may be able to receive

all that you have for us. And I pray for your

servant, Rudy, this morning, God. I pray that

he will be your mouthpiece and your vessel to

pour forth from your heart what you have for

us to receive this morning. Thank you for what

you have done in the mighty name of our risen

Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth. Amen. Amen. Thank

you, Judy. Listen, her name is Judy. Poe. So

my apologies. Good morning. How are you today?

I am not the lead pastor, Chris. I'm the assistant

pastor, Chris. Or as most of you know me, Rudy.

If this is your first time, man, welcome to the

family. We're happy to have you. If you're joining

us online, welcome back. We haven't seen you

for over a month. It's good to have you in our

midst. If you would, turn to your neighbor, give

them a high five, and say peace to you. Turn

to your other neighbor and say shalom and do

the same thing. Two real quick announcements.

You heard these in... One of these announcements,

we want to give you a six -pack when you leave.

Everyone who walks out of here will get our Christmas

cards, six of them, in a pack, a six -pack of

Christmas cards. Hand these out. Invite. Get

people here next week, the next week, and in

for Christmas. These are a great tool for you

to invite people. Everyone comes to Christmas

services or Easter services, so get them here

so they can learn about hope and peace. Okay?

The other thing. And man, this thing is special

to me. I love it. Every year, we do a memorial

tree here at Hub City Vineyard where we ask you

to bring in an ornament in memory of somebody

that you have lost. That way, their memory can

live on with us here inside the building. This

year, instead of just a Christmas tree, we're

going to do a living Christmas tree. Which means

it will be a planted tree at the end of the season.

We'll go outside and we will plant the tree somewhere

on the property so that their memory continues

to stay with us here at Hub City Vineyard. So

we've seen anywhere from Michelob Ultra can ornaments

to angels and everything in between. So come

as you are, as long as it doesn't go against

Jesus, bring it. Advent. We're in the midst of

Advent. The definition of Advent is the arrival

or looking forward to the arrival of a notable

person or event. As a believer, as a Jesus follower,

the Advent season is a time to prepare for the

celebration of Christ's birth. We reflect on

hope, peace, joy, and love. Focusing on preparing

ourselves spiritually. understanding our salvation

through Jesus, and then anticipating the return

of Jesus in the second coming. Last week, Chris

lit the first candle and introduced us to hope.

Hope is the foundation of our faith, and it is

actually found in the hope of Jesus. It's our

understanding that the light of Christ will overcome

darkness. Ladies and gentlemen, the world gives

us peace. And while the enemy intends to steal

and kill and destroy, Jesus is the Prince of

Peace. As Judy read, the second candle represents

that exactly. Peace. Inner peace. A peace that

comes from God. That actually is present in the

resurrection and the reconciliation between God

and humanity. And that all happened, through

the sacrifice that Christ made on the cross.

And it also means peace with others. We are called

to set aside our differences, to be peacemakers,

and to live in unity. This candle is sometimes

referred to as the Bethlehem candle, reminding

people of the journey to Bethlehem and the birth

of Jesus. And that's where we will go today.

So, unlike Many of you. Scrooges. Ball humbugs.

I love Christmas music. So I sing a favorite

Christmas carol. Grandma got run over by a reindeer.

No, that's not the one that I want to sing. But

that one was my favorite as a kid. This one is

more of a hymn, and I love it. Oh, little town

of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie. Above

thy deep and dreamless sleep, the silent stars

go by. Listen, Brett. I will be on the stage

soon. Somewhere hidden in the back with no microphone.

The vision for our Christmas series this year

comes from the next line. Yet in the dark streets

shineth the everlasting light. The series poster.

The decor, the lights behind me come from this

line. Jesus is the everlasting light. But it's

the next line, maybe my favorite line in all

of the Christmas songs that sums up the entire

life of Jesus. The hopes and fears of... All

the years are met in thee tonight. Clap as soon

as you can to get me off the stage and stop me

from singing. No encores today. If you want an

encore, come to third service. Christmas is best

known. as a festive time of joy and hope. But

for many, the season brings anxiety, fear, and

loneliness. The good news is that through Jesus,

our hopes and fears are met with unconditional

love and forgiveness if we'll just open our hearts

to hear the good news. Whatever you're going

through, whether it's a time of hope, or a time

of fear, or both, Jesus will meet you right there

if you just call his name. John 1, verses 9 and

John 1:9

10. The true light, which gives peace, sorry,

light to everyone, was coming into the world.

He was in the world, and the world was made through

him, yet the world did not know him. Let us pray.

Come Holy Spirit. God, I come to you today full

of thankfulness that I have been given words

and authority to speak light and peace to the

people around me. And I also thank you that you

have given that same authority to each and every

person sitting in these seats that they, this

week, can spread peace and love. And be the light

in the world around them. When the world offers

us no peace, God, we come to you for our peace.

I ask that you open our hearts, open our minds

to truly hear, feel, and absorb the peace of

Jesus. Because it's in his name we pray. Amen.

Let's get started with point one. The world offers

no peace. You will not find peace anywhere in

the world. Here's a couple headlines that I found

this week online. Investors in Central American

nation discover massive fraud. Widespread business

failures expected across England and Wales. Horrific

hailstorm kills 17 in Ohio. Unruly student behavior

leads to riots at University of Virginia. Attack

on professors. Crazy, huh? These headlines are

from 1825. Let's fast forward 100 years. Let

me give you two little fun tidbits that happened

in 1925. Ready? In Italy, fascist leader Benito

Mussolini. dissolved Parliament, and declared

himself dictator. Also that same year, Adolf

Hitler released his memoir and political manifesto,

Mein Kampf, which would later be associated with

his Nazi Party's rise to power. Folks, the world

is no different now than it was 100 years ago,

200 years ago. The world is dire. It's full of

strife, conflict, and chaos. You know this scripture,

John 10 .10. The thief comes only to steal. Folks,

this didn't start in the 1800s. And listen, it's

not worse than 2025. Can't tell you how many

times people are like, oh, it's worse now than

ever. No, it is not. The chaos started when Adam

and Eve got hungry. And decided to eat the forbidden

fruit, basically handing over dominion of the

world to Satan. Of course, that lasted, I don't

know, one whole generation until we see Cain

and Abel. If you think things are bad in 2025,

Let me put the word strife into context for you.

The third person on earth killed the fourth person

on earth. One man single -handedly took out 25

% of the world's population. If you lived then,

you had like a one in three chance to be killed

by king. But what was going on? That was internal

conflict rooted in, sorry, that was external

conflict rooted in internal, I keep saying it

backwards. Let me pause. Somebody wants me to

turn my microphone off. One more time. External

chaos rooted in internal conflict. That was going

on in the mind of this young man when he killed

his brother. External conflict started an internal

chaos. Then, of course, if you read through the

Old Testament, we see these cycles over and over

again where we fall away from God, and he has

to call us back. Part of that is because of what

we read in 2 Corinthians 4, starting in verse

3. If the good news we preach is hidden behind

a veil, it is hidden only from people who are

perishing. Satan, who is the God of this world,

has blinded the minds of those who don't believe.

They are unable to see the glorious light of

the good news. They don't understand this message

about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness

of God. peace, just chaos. Which leads us to

our next point. True peace comes from God. The

only peace that you're ever really going to know

comes from your maker, God. While Satan has given

dominion over the world, absolute authority is

God's. When Satan encourages our sinful nature,

As he repeatedly tries to deceive us, understand

that his power is limited. Remember, when it

came to Job, he couldn't do just anything he

wanted without God's say -so. John 16, 33. I

have told you these things so that in me you

may have peace. In this world you will have trouble,

but take heart. I have overcome the world. God's

peace is a feeling inside, an inner feeling of

tranquility and stillness, even in the face of

difficulty. How many of you know that the difficulties

don't go away? The obstacles are still there.

We can have peace in God. I want to read you

One of my favorite verses, my mom's favorite

psalm, the 23rd Psalm. It's not going to be on

the screen. Just close your eyes and listen to

the words. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not

want. He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside still waters. He restores

my soul. He leads me in the paths of his righteousness

for his name's sake. Folks, he doesn't. suggest

we lie down in green pastures. He makes us lie

down. He makes the waters still. Allow him this

morning to restore your soul. So all through

the Old Testament, we just see these cycles over

and over again of the Israelites falling away

from and then coming back to God. In fact, they

lived in 400 years of slavery and oppression.

Can you imagine living with a leader, with a

ruler that was oppressing you for 400 years?

Some of you can't make it through four years

with a president you don't like. If God can deliver

the Israelites from 400 years of oppression,

Can you trust him to deliver you? Can you trust

him to restore your soul? The sad thing is, even

after they entered the promised land, the Israelites

knew chaos. They created conflict. They couldn't

keep the 613 Levitical laws. They couldn't even

keep the 10 commandments. And you guys laugh

because most of us can't even keep the one commandment,

the most important commandment to love your neighbor.

Which leads us to our third point. Jesus restores

our peace. Our peace can only be restored by

Jesus. Now, I've been reading through this book.

I highly suggest if you want to find peace and

joy in your life, read through Leviticus this

holiday season. Leviticus 16. It's the law. Like

literally, these are the 613 laws, Leviticus.

In chapter 16, this is what we read. It sounds

fun. Just wait. Then he, Aaron, is to take the

two goats and present them before the Lord at

the entrance to the tent of meeting, the tabernacle,

the temple. He is to cast lots for the two goats.

Basically, flip a coin, see which one gets which

one. One lot for the Lord and the other for the

scapegoat. Aaron shall bring the goat whose lot

falls to the Lord and sacrifice it for a sin

offering. But the goat chosen by lot. As the

scapegoat will be presented alive before the

Lord, used to make atonement for your sins by

sending into the wilderness as a scapegoat. Now,

fun little tidbit, this is literally where we

get the word scapegoat. The goal of the goat

was to symbolically carry All of your sins into

the wilderness. Now, the scapegoat is unfairly

blamed for the sin of others. This deflected

your blame, my blame, onto something else. Scapegoat.

Now, let's fast forward to a little more fun

story. The court proceedings at the end of Jesus'

life. You guys have heard this, you know it,

you hear it every year. Mark 15, starting in

verse 6 and 7. Now it was the custom at the festival

to release a prisoner whom the people requested.

A man called Barnabas was in prison with the

insurrectionists who had committed murder in

the uprising. Of course, you all know this story.

You all know that Pilate... was supposed to let

the crowd, intended to let the crowd choose between

Jesus and Pilate to keep his hands clean. And

what did the crowd say? Free Barabbas! Free Barabbas!

They chanted over and over again. Of course,

what did Pilate do? Let's look down in verse

15. Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released

Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged. and handed

him over to be crucified. Barabbas is set free

as our scapegoat. Many times when I read this

story, I find myself looking down on this treacherous

man, Barabbas. In all actuality, he is just a

scapegoat for all of my sins. And, dare I say,

all of your sins. John 10 .10. The thief comes

only to steal and kill and destroy, but this

is why I encourage you over and over again to

not just read parts of the Bible, not just read

parts of verses, read the whole verse. Because

the best part of this verse is that Jesus, Jesus

has come so that you may have life. How much

life? All of it. Life to the full. Jesus. returns

our peace back to us. Jesus has your back. Let's

go back to the 23rd Psalm. Close your eyes again

if you want. Think about laying next to that

still streaming brook. Yea, though I walk through

the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear

no evil, because you are with me. Your rod and

thy staff, they comfort me. You, Jesus, prepare

a table for me in the presence of my enemies.

You anoint my head with oil. My cup runneth over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all

the days of my life. And I will dwell in the

house of the Lord forever. Yes, you will oftentimes

in your life walk through the shadow of death.

But it's just a shadow. It's not death. It's

not hell. It's just the shadow of death. What

do you need to cast a shadow? You need an obstacle

and a light source. Our source of light has a

name. And his name is Jesus. Listen. The world

is chaos, and that chaos casts a huge shadow.

And if you're walking in that shadow, just keep

walking. Because on the other side of that chaos,

on the other side of that obstacle, is the light.

Reach out to him. He's there for you. It is in

that light that we know peace, that we know comfort.

Jesus restores our peace, goodness, and mercy.

are ours. His law is love and his gospel is peace.

Sorry, I'm not going to sing that one. The only

true peace we have is all due to Jesus. It was

paid in full. Our peace is restored through Jesus.

Of course, You say, Rudy, I understand Jesus

gives us peace, but how do I walk in that? How

do I make that a reality in my life with the

chaos in the world? How do I balance the chaos

of the world that I live in with the Prince of

Peace who lives in my heart? Now, if you read

my email, did anyone read the email on Thursday?

It said it was from Chris, but it was really

from Rudy. If you knew, you know. Please, if

you see my son, do not call him out. He told

me I needed to say that it was only for illustrative

purposes. If you know, you know. But I also did

something else. I said, hey, how do you walk

through love and peace and hope? I don't remember

the exact words that I said. And I asked you

to respond to me. I got exactly four emails of

people and how they live in peace. You may know

that I'm a numbers guy, I teach math, and I do

percentages. Four out of, that's a very low,

it's not a passing grade. I digress. But I want

to read an email that I received from Michelle.

Michelle's email says this, and I think it's

a beautiful picture of how we can live in this

crazy world. How? Knowing I belong to the most

high God, the one and only. Being secure and

knowing that I call him Abba, Father, and I am

his daughter. Seeking out his promises in scripture,

believing, and then speaking it forth. Intentionally

sitting in the quiet, remembering how he has

already blessed and taken care of me and our

family in so many ways. Knowing Jesus is my King,

He is praying and interceding for me. He has

given me all the authority of His name. I am

covered under His blood. Wrapping it all together

in worship, always. Worship doesn't leave room

for fear, worry, or anxiety to operate. It accentuates

peace and hope in Abba, Father, the Most High

God, for whom nothing is greater, And nothing

is impossible for. Such a beautiful, beautiful

email. And it just, there's no way I couldn't

say it. In fact, next time I need to give a message,

I'll just email you guys and you can write the

message for me. This also reminds me of a prayer,

a prayer that many of you recite. Some of you

must recite this prayer daily. I have it hanging

on my wall at home because it is true whether

you are in recovery or not in recovery. All of

us are in some kind of recovery. You know it.

If you want to say it with me, you can say it

with me. God, grant me the serenity to accept

the things I cannot change, the courage to change

the things I can, and the wisdom to know the

difference. Living in peace, I could stop there

and walk away. But I want to use the serenity

prayer to help walk us through how to live in

peace. The first point, a point that I've used

before, but a point that God said, Rudy, you

need to say it again because everyone is like

you and they need to hear it again to get it

through their thick skulls. Point number one,

turn off the world news and pick up the good

news. There is no good news. It's not the Olympics

where they give you that cool little back story.

That's not what they do on the news. Turn off

the world news. Pick up the Bible, that leather

-bound book full of wisdom, guidance, and direction.

Colossians 3 .2. Set your mind on things that

are above, not on things that are here on earth.

Turn off your TV. Set down your phones. I guess

I should say turn off your live streaming news

cycle. I said this line the last time I used

this, and it's so good. Once you've read the

fifth article, the 10th article, the 15th, the

20th, it's not going to tell you anything new.

It's not going to all of a sudden turn chaos

into peace. Keep focused on world events, and

it's just going to remind you that the enemy

is still alive, trying to steal, kill, and destroy.

Now, yes, be informed. Yes, don't put your head

in the sand. Know what's going on. Here's my

suggestion. Learn enough, read enough about the

world, just enough about what's going on in the

world so that you can pray for your brothers

and your sisters as we do this thing together.

Put down the world news and pick up the good

news. And you're going to do something with that

good news. In 2 Timothy 3, we read this. All

Scripture is God -breathed and useful for teaching,

rebuking, correcting, and training. and righteousness,

so that the servant of God may be thoroughly

equipped for every good work. You're going to

need that scripture. You're going to need that

good news to speak life into the people around

you. We are meant to be peacemakers. Which leads

us to our second step, which comes at the first

line of the serenity prayer. If you know that

serenity prayer, if you quote that serenity prayer,

please know that that is the first line and it

is actually longer. I thought about reading it,

but I already talked too much. I will post the

rest of the prayer on Facebook for you because

there's other good stuff in that prayer. God,

grant me the serenity to accept the things I

cannot change. But God, give me the courage to

change the things I can. The second action step.

Tend to what you can tend to. Tend to what you

can tend to. There is so much in the world that

is out of our control. Focus on the things you

can change. Psalm 34, 14. Turn from evil and

do good. Seek peace and pursue it. Now, I'm not

going to quote another huge Levitical law. But

I will tell you that Leviticus 20 tells us that

if we see wrong in the world and we ignore it,

we will be held accountable for letting it go.

That doesn't mean you have to do all of the things,

just the ones that you can tend to. It's one

of my favorite quotes. The author's name is James

Keller. A candle loses nothing by lighting another

candle. Your candle will lose nothing if you

reach out and light a candle. The only thing

that's lost is more darkness. We are called to

be the peacemaker. We're not called to sit in

our house and sit in inaction. So I want to tell

you a story. And I'm going to get close to halfway

through the story. And some of you that have

known me for a long time are going to be like,

seriously, Rudy? Seriously? Because I thought

the same thing, and so did my wife, and so did

my son. For Thanksgiving, we drove to Indianapolis

to see my father. We drove out Tuesday night.

We drove home Saturday morning. It was a great

trip. It was relaxing. We didn't go to any stores.

Well, I'm lying, and you'll hear why we went

to this store in this story. We just relaxed

with my father all week. So Tuesday, we get off

of work, off of school. Everyone's home. We get

settled in. I was going to take the one car,

but the stupid dog crate wouldn't fit in the

trunk, so we had to take the other car. If you

want chaos on a trip, take your two -year -old

boxer with you. So we start driving. We drive

about two hours until we needed to stop for gas,

and we stopped for gas, and then Carrie took

over. Walked the dog, and, you know. What happens

when you, how many of you have a dog that as

soon as you let it out, it does its business

right away and then you're good to go? Not our

dog. So, of course, what does that do to the

time? How many of you like to beat the GPS to

where you're going? Okay. So we stop. And every

time we stop, what's happening? For goodness

sakes, dog, let's do this. Okay. Of course, we

only had to stop and fill up the gas because

we took the wrong car. Okay. So a couple years

ago, we started taking a new route to Dad's.

We used to do 70, then we used to do 68, 79.

Now the GPS takes us through these winding hills

up Route 43. If you know anything about western

Pennsylvania, western Maryland, it's not flat.

It's, right? Also, the Tuesday before Thanksgiving,

it had rained. It was raining the whole way out.

If you're 50 years or older, you might be able

to relate to this. I can't, nor can my wife,

see the white lines on the road when the rain

is coming down. So, she gets on an exit. It's

one of those double exits. Take the first exit,

not the second exit. And she took the second

exit. And as soon as she took it, there's nowhere

to turn around. So, recalculating. So, instead

of now 1215, it's 1230 a .m. that we're estimated

to pull in. Right? Now, my wife has a lead foot.

She made some of that time up. We go on down

the road. Still, same reroute. We're on this

back road, two lanes. Hey, take this left, whatever

the GPS says. And she's like, Christopher, do

you? I don't see a left. I saw the left. I saw

it. Back there as we passed it. So now what's

happening to the GPS? 1230 turns to 1245, right?

So we settle in. We're having a good conversation.

We're having a great conversation with our son

who has his headphones on the back and can't

hear anything we ask him. We drive on out through

Ohio. If you've ever driven through Ohio, I highly

suggest going around Ohio. This is supposed to

be an eight -hour drive. We should have been

there around a little after midnight. Of course,

construction through Columbus, thank you, Columbus.

If you've ever been through Columbus, it is the

worst city to drive through. I've often thought

about stopping, but the roads make me so mad

I'm not. Carrie, once you get through Columbus,

we'll pull over and we'll switch. Because she

should have been driving four. She had to drive

almost five hours now. So I needed to be the

man and drive again. Although I didn't drive

home at all. So now we're driving. We're past

Columbus. And it says, hey, would you like to

take this detour to avoid this traffic? Yes.

Of course, does that add time or take away time?

Who knows? So we get off. I'm like, well, just

go ahead and get gas when we pull off. And there

was no gas station anywhere on the detour. So

she gets back on. Finally, we pull over. And

we're both watching the GPS just tick, tick,

tick, tick, tick, tick, tick. Like, I just want

to get to my dad's house. I just want to relax.

So she pulls over, 10 minutes to 11 to get gas.

Now, for some reason, nothing in the world has

ever opened past 11 o 'clock. Like, Walmart used

to be 24 hours. The gas station closes at 11.

It's 10 off. We get out. Of course, my credit

card was breached the week before. So who's pumping

the gas? Her with her credit card while I'm quickly

getting the dog to do his business again. And

I really have to pee, but it closes at 11 o 'clock.

So I run in literally at 11 o 'clock. And then

as I run in to use the restroom, apologizing

to the girl, I see this kid walk up to my wife.

And I'm like, hmm. But I trust God's got it.

There's people around, right? I go to do my business.

I did it quickly. And I walk back out and Carrie

asked me, hey, Christopher, do we have a jack

in the trunk? Now, this is where some of you

are going to be like, seriously, Rudy? Seriously?

My hydraulic jack is not in the trunk because

we're traveling. So it's out. So the stupid crappy

scissor jack is in the trunk. And if you've ever

used a scissor jack, they, I don't want to use

bad words. So I use it. I jack it, I jack his

car up. I have a midsize sedan. This kid had

a full size sedan. This crappy little scissor

jack, the jack just went whoop. Like, okay, let's

do it again. Let's do it slowly. So I jack it

up again. The second time. The jack bends. So

I throw the spare tire underneath, and then I

go around looking. We're at another gas station

across the street now, and it's open all night.

So I go in. They got to have tools, right? Roadside

tools. The only thing they had was jumper cables.

He didn't need jumped. So I asked, do you guys

have pliers? Like, you're a gas station. No,

we don't have pliers. And then, of course, I'm

like. But if you know, this kid's tire is going

to change before I leave this parking lot. It's

after 11 o 'clock, Walmart, literally right there,

not open, closed. So I'm like, if I could just,

well, and the reason I'm looking for the pliers,

side story, he did have this janky cylinder jack.

And if you know anything about hydraulics, there's

this little button that you turn back and forth.

But he didn't have the tool that turns it back

and forth. The pliers would have done the trick.

So I start asking everyone in the parking lot.

No one wants to help. No, I don't have pliers.

Like, raise your hand if you have pliers in your

car. I needed you guys. I can tell this story

all day, so let me speed it up. One guy, well,

this girl was like, I think I have pliers. And

this other guy says, I definitely have pliers.

I go to his car, and I explain the story. Like,

all I need is to jack this guy's car up. He reaches

in his back seat and pulls out a hydraulic jack.

I'm not leaving until this thing's done. I can't

do it by myself. I took the scissor jack and

threw it in the dumpster. This car, have you

ever used a hydraulic jack? Pump, pump, pump,

it's up in the air. We finally changed the guy's

tire. I did it in front of my son so he can see

what it looks like to be a peacemaker. We changed

this guy's tire. He says, what can I do? There's

nothing you can do. Not at midnight. Do I care

that it took me till 2 o 'clock to get to my

dad's house? In retrospect, what the enemy meant

for evil, those detours were on purpose. The

only thing that I asked him to do, because he

was a student at Miami of Ohio University. The

only thing that I asked him to do when he got

home from that short trip was to give his mom

a kiss and enjoy the Thanksgiving weekend. Matthew

5, 10. Blessed are the peacemakers, because they

will be called sons. Peacemakers don't just sit

in the house and pray. They don't just sit in

the house and read their Bible. They get up and

do stuff. Your Bible is made from the same leather

as your shoes. Shoes are made for movement. The

Bible is made for action. When he calls you to

action, tie on the leather, get moving. Change

the things you can. But then the other part of

the serenity prayer, God grant me the serenity

to accept the things I cannot change. Our last

action step, and I'll do this quickly because

we're running behind. Be still and let God work.

Sometimes you just need to do nothing and let

him do the work. John 5, 16. Jesus was doing

all this on the Sabbath. He was healing people

and they hated it. So Jews began trying to make

him stop. But he said to them, my father never

stops working. So I work too. See, after a week

of struggling to find the right words to explain

this action step, like I couldn't hear the words

from God on how to articulate it. And then I

found this video that I'm about to show you.

And God said, Rudy. If the action step is let

God work, then that's all you need to do. What

is there to say? Be still and watch the video.

So Katie, if you will, will you show this video?

The only way it would have been better if it

was Steelers, Ravens. Romans 8, 28. We know that

all things work together for the good of those

who love God, those who are called according

to his purpose. Sometimes you need to say no

words. Just call on God. He'll send someone else.

There's nothing for you to do. Be still. Pray

and let him work. So with that said, I want to

take communion now. And I want you to stay seated

today. And I want you to quietly reflect and

pray for the peace of God. While we're passing

out the elements, I want you to quietly sit still

and ask God for peace. If you need an element,

raise your hand high in the air. If you need

gluten -free, put both hands up, please. And

just ask God, this morning, God, can you just

handle the things I can't? Right after communion,

when Paul's doing it, he says these words. So

whoever eats the bread and drinks the cup in

an unworthy manner will be... an unworthy manner

will be guilty of sinning against the body and

blood of the Lord. Everyone ought to examine

themselves before they eat and drink. For those

who eat and drink without discerning the body

of Christ, eat and drink judgment on themselves.

So sit for a moment, reflecting on that passage.

God, what do I know? What do I need to do? What

do I need to give up? And replace that with peace.

Maybe you're here this morning and you don't

know Jesus. But you say, Rudy, it's time for

me to make that decision. I want to provide you

an opportunity before we take communion to just

ask Jesus into your heart. Ask Jesus to guide

you. You're just going to say these simple words,

repeat after me. And the beauty is you're not

alone because everyone in here is going to say

them with you. Church, are you ready? Jesus,

without you I am lost. I am broken. With you

I am found. I am whole. I believe you are the

Son of God. I believe you died for my sins. I

open the door of my heart. Come into my heart.

Transform me. Make me new. Give me your peace.

Give me your Holy Spirit. Allow me to be a peacemaker.

In Jesus' name, amen.