Protect your peace

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Can y'all hear me?

Can y'all hear me out there?

How y'all doing?

How y'all doing?

Hey, I love you, love you, love you.

All right, all right.

Um couple things that Pastor Rick asked me to say before I get started.

Um, last week we had our Jesus offering and we had$44,000 come in.

Let's give Jesus a praise.

We're so thankful for all that you guys have given, small or big.

Um God is going to use that for his glory.

Um, also, I would ask that you guys would be praying for Miss Elizabeth and Gary Wilkins.

Um, she has chemo that she has to start doing, and that's gonna be hard on her body.

Um so if you guys could please pray for them, uh keep them in your prayers.

Um it's gonna be a long road, but we know that God is good and he is a healer, and he can do things that we can't even imagine.

So um let's get into it.

Um first I want to say I have some of my family here, uh, Mama B and Papa Tim, and uh my aunt, uncle, my brother.

Um if y'all hear me say Papa Tim or Mama B, it's sending it back.

Can y'all raise y'all's hand, let everybody see you?

Listen, listen.

Um I have a biological mom and I have a biological dad, um, but they're the next thing.

Right.

Uh all that you see in me, they had a huge part in.

Um, you know, I was homeless for about 30 minutes, and then they took me in, right?

Um so I I owe them a lot, and uh I'm thankful for all that they are.

They literally drove here through the night last night just to come hear me preach.

So I'm thankful for them.

Um and yeah, yeah, give them a round of applause.

And I am most thankful for my wife.

Um yeah, I mean look, look, she's just a good woman, man.

You know, behind every great man is a greater woman, right?

So I'm thankful for my wife.

Um, but today we're gonna be talking about peace.

I mean maybe you're like me, and sometimes you feel like you lack peace in your life.

Uh when I was, I think I was a sophomore in college playing basketball, and one morning um I woke up and I was kind of late for practice.

And I know most of y'all know I'm late to a lot of things, right?

Not a surprise, but I woke up and I'm freaking out, and I get my stuff and I run and I make it to practice, and I get there and I'm I'm panting and I'm tired, whatever.

And we used to do this thing where we would huddle up and one player would share their testimony or share a scripture.

And so I remember standing in the circle and I just couldn't catch my breath.

I was like, man, like something's not right.

And I stumbled back.

I was like, oh no, and like I started freaking out, and so I walked over to uh the bleachers and I sit down and my coach is like, Joe, like what's wrong with you?

I'm like, coach, I think I'm dying.

He's like, What?

I thought I think I'm dying.

He's like, Okay, so they got a rag and they put it on my head and I'm I'm drenching sweat.

And he's like, Listen, just forget about practice, go home and lay down or go to your room.

So one of my teammates walked me to my room and I get there and I turn on my worship music and I get in bed and I just start confessing all the sin I ever did.

Right?

I'm just like, Lord, please forgive me for when I did this, when I said that, when I thought this, because I was thinking the moment I lay my head down to go to sleep, I'm not gonna wake up.

Right?

I was freaking out on the inside.

So I took a nap and I woke up 15 minutes later, and I'm looking around in my room, I'm like, is this purgatory?

Like, what is this?

Like I didn't know that yeah, I'm like, I'm still alive, like what is going on?

And and what it started was like a whole lot of anxiety and panic attacks.

Like I just I couldn't go to places without having this fear that I'm gonna die.

And so I would take off.

Um, I would go to work, and then as soon as people start coming in, I would go, I would leave.

And um, I had a lot of anxiety and panic attacks, and maybe, just maybe, you know, you you know what I'm talking about.

Uh, Christmas is supposed to be fun and joyful, but maybe this Christmas is rough for you.

Maybe this Christmas, you you don't feel like you have peace, or maybe you've lost sight on what Christmas is really about.

Um, and and and maybe you're running around trying to get all these presents and last second things, and and you just feel like you have no peace.

Um I want you guys to turn to Isaiah 9, verse 6, and it says this for unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon his shoulders, and his name will be called wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 9:6

Verse 7 says this, and of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end.

Let's take a moment and pray.

Um Devonly Father, God, my my prayer is God, that we would walk in peace.

Um God, that we would come into contact with the Prince of Peace.

Um, Lord, that that we would be focused on you.

Um God, that that we would keep our eyes lifted up towards you, God, that we would not forget what Christmas is really about.

And God, that as we come into contact with you, God, that you would change our lives.

God, not just for a Christmas season, but God for a whole lifetime.

Lord, I pray for your word.

Um God, you say that it will never return void.

And so, Lord, as I um try to commit myself to preach your word, Lord, hide me behind the shadow of your cross.

I'm God, I pray that people would not hear me and see me, but they would hear and see you.

And God, that you would have your way in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

I want to read that verse again.

I love that verse.

Um, and it is powerful.

For unto us a child is born.

Unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon his shoulders, and his name will be called wonderful, counselor, mighty God, everlasting father, Prince of Peace.

I want to give y'all a spoiler alert.

Jesus is the Prince of Peace.

Okay?

If you didn't know that, you learned something today, right?

Jesus is the Prince of Peace.

And Isaiah, as he's writing this, Jesus wasn't even born, but he's talking about a coming Messiah.

Right?

He's speaking about this child who would come, and the government would be on his shoulders.

And he would bring peace.

And his peace would have no end.

And Israel was looking for this man, and his name is Jesus.

His name is Emmanuel God with us.

So if you're you're writing in your notes, it's Jesus is the Prince of Peace.

And so if he's the Prince of Peace, then it only makes sense for this next point.

That peace is found in Jesus.

Peace is found in Jesus.

So I want you guys to go to John 14 and verse 27.

When you get there, hit me with an Amen.

Only two of you.

It's in the New Testament, if you didn't know.

All right, verse 27 says this.

This is Jesus talking.

It says, Peace I leave with you.

My peace I give to you.

Not as the world gives, do I give to you.

Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

What I want you guys to know is this.

That there's two types of peace, right?

There is a peace that you can get from the world.

Okay?

For the little kids, whenever they feel like there's a boogie monster in their room, who do they call?

Right?

Not the Ghostbusters, they call their parents, right?

Mom, Dad, there's something under my bed.

And then what do you do?

You come in there and you look under the bed.

There's nothing in there.

It's all right, go to sleep, right?

They have peace from their parents, right?

There's uh peace from finances, right?

When your bank account is just fat, right?

And you're not having any worries, there's a peace in that.

If somebody's trying to break into your house and you call the cops and the cops show up, there is peace in that, right?

If you're driving and you have your pistol on the side, there is a type of peace that you have, right?

Some of y'all know what I'm talking about.

Look, I moved to Alabama, and the first thing that I did was I got a gun.

I'm like, hey, I'm here.

I have some cowboy boots already, so I tried to fit in, you know?

But there is a type of peace that we get from things in this world, but there's a type of peace also that only comes from Jesus.

Said this peace that I give to you, not like the world gives.

Right?

And what is he talking about?

Let's go to Genesis chapter 3.

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

Come on, we gotta go to the beginning.

Everybody say beginning?

In the beginning.

Liberty boot.

Sorry, I every time I get on a mic, I have to say liberty boot.

I don't know.

I like that.

Um let's go to verse 8.

And it says this, and they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day.

And Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

Then the Lord God called to Adam and he said to him, Where are you?

I don't know if y'all understand this, but in the beginning, God and man walked together.

There was no separation.

They had true communion, community, God and man together, but then something happened.

Adam and Eve ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

And what the result was is God had to kill something, right?

So he killed an animal and he covered their flesh, but then he cursed them and he sent them out of the garden.

And I believe he did this because if they would have eaten from the tree of life in their current state, right, uh apart from God, they would have been separated from him forever because God is so holy and so just that nothing with sin can be in his presence.

Right?

We just we can't.

And so in the beginning, there was peace with God and man, there was communion, but because of sin, there was a separation.

Right?

Man couldn't just walk in the cool of a garden with God anymore.

In our lives, if we don't know Jesus, we don't know peace.

When Jesus came, he came to break that wall, that division, that sin that separated us from God.

He came as a as a baby, right?

Peace came in a manger.

And he rose up, he he was living a perfect life, right?

Jesus was tempted with sin just as we have been, yet was without sin.

Perfect and spotless.

He fulfilled all of the law.

He who knew no sin became sin so that we might become his righteousness.

And he humbled himself and he carried the cross.

Jesus went and fulfilled what we couldn't do.

Jesus did what man couldn't do to make us right with God.

This piece that I'm talking about is a relationship with God the Father.

Right?

No more being at odds with him because guess what?

If you're not on his team, you're against him.

If you're not with him, you are against him.

And so in the garden, God had a plan from the beginning.

The moment that man sinned, God had a plan.

And his name is Jesus.

I want you guys to go to Romans 8 and verse 1.

Got a whole lot of scripture for y'all.

So Romans 8, 1 says this there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.

For what the law could not do, and that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh.

On account of sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

Jesus did that for you and me.

Jesus fulfilled all of the law and he took on God's wrath.

Right?

They hung them high and wide on account for us.

Listen, what I want you guys to understand is this that God wants you to have peace.

Right?

Jesus didn't just go to the cross because the Father said so.

He went because he loved you and he loved me.

He loved us so much that he was willing to pay the penalty so that we could have peace with God.

But I want you guys to see something.

Israel missed it.

A lot of people in Israel were waiting on this coming Messiah, this prince of peace.

And when Jesus came, they were living life with him and yet didn't know him.

They were literally with Jesus and rejected him.

They were saying, crucify him.

And I used to think to myself, man, if if I had seen Jesus and all that he'd done, I wouldn't have done that.

I wouldn't have rejected him, but I probably would have.

It was my sin that put him on the cross.

It was my sin.

People missed out on Jesus because they were looking for the wrong things.

They wanted Jesus to come back and take Rome out and to set up this kingdom.

They weren't looking for the Jesus of the Bible.

They were looking for this political leader.

And listen, I want you guys to know something.

That peace isn't in who the president is.

It isn't in the government.

Peace is in Jesus.

And Israel missed it.

I have a friend of mine who she had recently gotten saved, and she had knew this one guy.

I'm not going to say his name, but because of their relationship, this guy brought her to this thing called Winter Jam.

Has anybody ever heard of Winter Jam?

It's this big old concert, like 15 bands, and she got to go with him, and he brought her backstage.

And while she's back there, she was playing ping pong with some random guy with the with crazy hair and a long beard, right?

And she gets done and she walks away, and uh her friend's like, Do you know who you were just playing with?

And she's like, No.

It's like that was David Crowder.

She's like, What?

Like, who is that guy, right?

Like, they missed Jesus because they didn't recognize him.

Some of us in here are missing out on peace because we're not recognized where peace comes from.

Some of us could have peace if we looked where peace is found, right?

We could have peace if we looked for Jesus.

Israel missed peace in many ways because they missed out on Jesus.

And I want to know what are you putting in that place of Jesus?

Like what things are taking up room in your life that is pushing out Jesus?

Right?

Because some of us here, we don't have peace.

And guess what?

The one blocking peace might be you.

Sorry if I stepped on your toe.

But I know sometimes when I don't have peace in my life, it's because of myself.

Listen, I know there's an enemy, but sometimes the enemy is the inner me.

Listen, in my life with my wife, there are times that I could have peace.

But I choose to do something else and I don't have peace.

I look, look, look.

I had a PS4 and I played all the time.

And I had some type of peace, right?

Till my wife got home.

Hey, baby, like you just gonna play that game?

She didn't sound like that.

She was a little more delicate.

Hey baby, you gonna play that game or you gonna hang with me?

Alright, man, I'll be there in a second, right?

Guess where I was sleeping?

On the couch.

Look, sometimes it's us that are blocking the peace that we can have in our lives.

Can I get an amen man?

Sometimes we be the worst enemy.

So peace is found in Jesus.

But but it doesn't stop there, right?

We have to be in relationship with Jesus.

That's point B.

Peace is found in relationship.

I spoke a couple weeks or months, months, maybe, months ago, and I talked about the woman with the issue of blood.

And I talked about when Jesus was passing by.

Some of y'all might remember this.

If she would have just said, oh hey, there's Jesus, and not reach out for him, she would have never got healed.

But the moment she saw him, she said, If I can just touch the hem of his garment, right?

She reached out for him in faith.

The same goes for us.

Some of us acknowledge that Jesus is God.

Some of us acknowledge that he is the Prince of Peace, but we have not acknowledged the relationship side.

I like my wife for a little bit of time.

But if I just kept liking her from a distance, guess what?

She wouldn't be my wife today.

She'd be somebody else's wife.

But I saw her and I said, baby, you're gonna be mine.

I didn't say it like that, but I reached for her.

I reached and she reached back.

Listen, when when we look for Jesus, he's not just saying, hey, here I am.

He's saying, Listen, come into fellowship with me.

Come into relationship.

Commune with me.

Sometimes we don't have peace because we're not spending time with the peacemaker.

Listen, in my life, I have felt the most peace when I'm in my quiet time and I'm reading the word.

And I and especially when I wake up and I don't just grab my phone to see who's texting me or reading work emails.

When I grab my phone and I turn on my Bible app and he reminds me of who I am.

And I start my day with Jesus.

It changes how my day goes.

Some of us don't have peace because we're not looking to the one who brings peace.

And listen, I want y'all to know this that peace comes from Jesus, but it's on his terms.

Right?

It is on his terms.

I had a guy that I was trying to witness to one time, and I was telling him about Jesus, and he's an atheist, and he's like, yeah, like I think God is just unfair that I have to believe in Jesus to be saved.

I'm like, dude, do you understand that you have sinned against a holy God?

That your sin separates you.

Yet God loved you so much that He went to the cross and he died the death that you deserved.

And he said, All you have to do is believe in me.

You can be saved.

Like, how is that?

How is that a hard thing?

And he just sat back.

He's like, well, it really isn't.

Like, that's the God that loves you.

That that that is calling out to you out for you.

He's not this God up in the sky that's just ready for you to mess up so he can yell at you.

He's the God that went into flesh and died on the cross, the death that we deserve, so that we can have peace with God.

But it comes through a relationship.

There are privileges that we get with being a child of God.

And one of those is peace that can't be taken away.

Listen, my mom is my mom.

Y'all can't do the things I can do at my house because she's not your mom, okay?

You'll get a left hook, right?

But there's things I can do at my house because of my mom being my mom.

I have privilege in her house because of who I belong to, right?

Because I share her blood.

We get to have peace that nobody can take from us because we're in a relationship with Jesus.

Not because we know the name of Jesus.

Not because we've been to church once or twice.

Not because we've gone to a Bible study or Sunday school, but because we know Jesus as our Lord and Savior.

We get to have this peace that nobody can take from us.

But it doesn't stop there.

There's things that we can do to continue in that peace.

Right?

Jesus was the one that made it possible for us to have peace with God, but there's something that you and I can do to keep peace going in our lives.

Right?

And that is this.

Point two is this peace is kept in our mind.

Isaiah 26, 3 says this you will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you.

Because he trusts in you.

Listen, sometimes we don't have peace, even though we know Jesus because of this.

Because of our mind.

You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you.

Listen, I want to know this.

You don't have to raise your hand, but is there something taking up residence in your mind that's blocking you from peace?

Are there things that that you're thinking about that are keeping you from having this peace of mind that Jesus offers?

Is it relationships?

Is it money?

Like what like when you wake up and if your mind is directly on all the problems you have in your life, you're not going to have peace.

If your mind is always on everything that is going wrong in your life, you're not going to have peace.

My professor used to say this to me all the time in college.

That what I know impacts what I do, which impacts who I become.

I'm going to say that again, what I know impacts what I do, which impacts what I become.

So how is your thought life?

What things consume your mind?

There's a song from Jimmy Needham, and in it he says, anything that I think about more than God is an idol.

Anything that I want with all of my heart is an idol.

What idols are living in your mind rent-free that are blocking you from the peace that God has for you?

Paul says in Philippians 4, 8 and 9, this he says, Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue, if there is anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things.

Verse 9 is so important.

The things which you have learned and received and heard in me and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.

How is your thought life?

A lot of the times that we battle with depression and anxiety, guess where it starts?

It doesn't start out in the body, it starts in the mind.

The things that I fixate on and I focus on.

Listen, and I've learned in my life that if I think about something long enough, guess what?

I'm gonna start doing it.

Can I just be real with y'all for a second?

When I started to overcome pornography, guess what happened?

I stopped thinking about it all the time.

I started trading my thoughts with God's word.

And so then, whenever that temptation would come up, guess what?

I'm thinking about what Jesus said.

Right?

I'm thinking about what the Bible said.

He said, to take captive every thought that exalts itself against Christ.

You'll begin to have more peace in your life when this is focused on Jesus.

When the moment you wake up, he's the first thing.

Everything else can wait, right?

Jesus is the most important thing that we could ever have.

And so when I wake up, my mind's got to be on him.

Maybe you grab your phone, but as soon as you realize, man, I haven't read the word yet, flip to that Bible app and get in the word and make that the first thing.

And then when you're going to bed, make that the last thing.

And meditate on scripture.

When's the last time you memorized Bible verses?

What happened when Jesus was tempted?

What did he do?

He quoted scripture back to the enemy.

How can you quote something you don't know?

You can't.

You can't give what you don't have.

And so if I'm constantly in God's word and I'm constantly got it on my mind, it's going to flow out of me.

You cannot talk to Pastor Danny without the word of God coming out.

You can't talk to Darren Hyde without the word of God coming out.

You can't talk to Pastor Rick without the word of God coming out because it's in them.

It's on their mind.

And so I challenge you, if you want to have peace, not just for Christmas, but for a lifetime, take captive thoughts.

Right?

And it's not just that we say, okay, I'm not going to think about that.

Right?

Because what happens?

You say, I'm not going to think about something, then what do you start thinking about?

That thing.

But instead, we replace thoughts with scripture.

When Satan says you're not good enough, you replace it with scripture.

When he says nobody loves you, you replace it with scripture.

When he says you're not worthy, you replace it with scripture.

When he says, oh, you deserve that, no, no, no, no.

Replace it with scripture.

Right?

We're taking captive thoughts and replacing them with God's word.

Right?

Because it's useful for every area of our lives.

The enemy wants to steal your peace, and guess what?

He's going to attack your thought life.

He's going to attack the things that you know to be true here.

Because what's going to happen?

You're going to get into a church and you know what you know about God, and that member's going to say something.

They're going to hurt your feelings.

And you're going to, maybe I don't believe in Jesus.

Maybe I don't want to go to church.

Maybe church isn't for me.

That's what Satan wants to do.

He wants to attack your peace by attacking your mind because what I think about contributes to what I do.

Contributes to what I become.

But it's not enough just to think good thoughts, right?

But thinking scriptural thoughts leads to scriptural living.

Point A is this spiritual minds lead to spiritual living.

Let's go to verse 5.

And it says this for those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the flesh.

But those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.

Verse 6 is important.

For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

Because the carnal mind is amenity against God.

For it is not subject to the law of God, nor can it be.

So then those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

So peace is not just thinking about scripture.

It's also living scripture.

Right?

Obedience and peace are tied together.

As we're obeying God, we're able to please God.

And as I'm pleasing God, I feel this peace with God.

Right?

For a lot of times as a youth pastor, when I talk to kids and they say, Yeah, I don't feel close to God.

I feel like he's far away.

Then I start looking at their life.

Like, yeah, you're not living for the Lord.

So if you're not living for the Lord, you're not going to feel close to him.

When we're living in the flesh, like I said in that verse, when we're living in the flesh, we cannot please God.

But when we're living in the spirit, we can.

And so I start to think about spiritual things, but then I have to act out those spiritual things.

And because of my obedience to God, I feel this peace.

I feel this closeness with God.

It's like when you're with your kids, right?

When they're being obedient, guess what?

You love them a little bit more than usual.

But when they ain't acting right, boy, you read it up.

Smack them up.

Right?

I know my mom, she's always loved me, but I think she loves me a little bit more because I'm following the Lord.

Right?

There is something to that, right?

And so in my life, as I walk close to God, I feel closer to God.

As I'm thinking about God in my mind, I feel closer to him.

And as I'm living out my life for him, I feel closer to God.

Because I'm walking in my purpose.

Right?

When we're obedient to God, we're walking in our purpose, and it ties in to that peace that we have with him.

Listen, there is no peace in the flesh.

Listen, listen.

I've seen testimonies of women who were in sex trafficking in pornography, all these things that they're in, they had never had peace.

Flesh does not lead to peace.

Sin does not lead to peace.

It leads to the opposite.

It leads to war against God.

Right?

When I'm sinning against God, listen, he does not stop loving us.

But there is that separation in relationship.

Right?

When I hurt my wife's feelings, she doesn't stop loving me.

But there is that separation in relationship for a while until I come and I ask for forgiveness.

Right?

And then I feel a little bit closer to her.

But in the same with God, as we're walking in disobedience, we're not going to feel close to him.

We're going to be grieved.

And so if I'm grieved, I'm not feeling peace.

I can have a lot of money and not have peace.

I can have a lot of things and not have peace.

But if I have Jesus and I'm feeling close to him, you can't take that from nobody.

When I think about all the missionaries who lost their lives for Jesus, when I think about the missionaries who were praising him as they're getting gunned down, when I think about the disciples and all them who lost their life for Jesus, they had more peace than we'll ever know.

Because of their relationship with God, because of being close to God.

If you're not feeling like you have peace in your life, I just want to ask: do you feel like you're walking with the Lord?

Do you feel like you've been trying to serve Him and live for Him?

Because if you say you have no peace and then you tell me that you're not living for God, it's going to make sense.

God in Scripture says that He desires obedience over sacrifice.

There is something that happens when we're pleasing God, right?

There is a peace and a connection that we feel towards Him.

And it happens for me with my family.

Like when I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing, I feel like I'm closer to them.

Y'all ever had somebody that you just hurt them and like when they come around, like they don't even want to look at you?

Like that hurts, right?

There's no peace in that.

Whenever my wife and I are arguing, I can't even eat.

Like I just feel sick to my like there's been times where we got an argument and I have this nice sandwich and I'm looking at it like, oh, you just don't even look good no more.

Right?

Like there is like this discomfort in my heart because I know that my wife and I are not close.

There's not peace with us.

In the same sense, when I'm following God, if I'm constantly sinning, I don't feel close to Him and I don't feel like I have peace.

Are you walking with the Lord?

I want to read verse 6 again.

For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

Jesus said, I want you to have peace.

Not the peace the world gives, but the peace that I give that comes through a relationship.

And as you're in relationship with me, think about me.

Do what I ask you to do.

Right?

Jesus said in John 15 that if you love me, you're what?

Keep my commandments.

We get a sense of peace when we're following God.

So a couple things that I want to give you guys for application and getting this peace and keeping it is this.

One, you must have the spirit.

Right?

It's through relationship.

The moment you get saved, God gives you his Holy Spirit as a seal on your life.

Right?

That is a deposit, and he's saying that you are mine and the world can't have you.

You belong to me, right?

We must have the Spirit through the Son.

Next thing is this that we must hear the Spirit.

Right?

Jesus said when He said it, talked about giving the helper, the Holy Spirit, he said he will take what is mine and give to you.

When you have the Holy Spirit in your life, if you hear something that doesn't match with Scripture, question that.

Right?

The next thing is this that it's not enough just to hear what the Spirit says, right?

James 1.22, right?

Don't just be hearers of the word and deceive yourself.

Be doers of the word.

He says we must heed what the Holy Spirit says.

So I hear what he says, he tells me what to do, and then I obey it.

And the last thing is this that we must give thanks in all things.

Right?

If you want to have peace, have praise in your life.

Like praise the Lord a lot.

Because I bet you this if you're focused on worshiping God, you're not going to be focused on all your trials.

If you're focused on lifting up his name, you're not going to be focused on all the things that didn't go right last week.

I've seen it in my own life.

My wife can tell you, I have worship music on 24-7 because I need to be reminded of who God is and who I am.

When I struggle with all these things that I'm not good at, I just remind myself, God, you are good.

God, you are worthy to be praised.

Holy, holy, holy.

And I begin to forget all those things that were causing me worry and harm.

We need to wake up and get in God's word.

We need to get our mind fixed on Him first thing in the morning.

And I want to challenge you on this.

I want to challenge you to commit yourself to memorizing Scripture.

Instead of in 2023, in all your New Year's resolution, instead of thinking about, oh, I'm going to work out, I'm going to do this, I'm going to walk all these months.

What about if we say, hey, I'm going to memorize a verse a week?

I wonder what that would do for your life.

I wonder what that would do for your peace.

And then I want to challenge you to worship God as often as you breathe.

Take a moment.

Every time something happens.

Thank you, Lord.

Bless His name.

And then I want to challenge you in 2023, find ways to talk about Jesus to people.

Right?

Because Jesus wants us to have peace, right?

The scripture says he's not willing that anyone should perish.

And so if that be true, he doesn't want you just to have peace and to covet it, right?

He wants you to give what you have been given.

He wants you to give Jesus to other people so that they can have peace too.

And I want to close with this.

I shared about how in college I had this debilitating anxiety and panic attacks in my life.

And I want to tell you how God allowed me to overcome.

So, like I said, I was dealing with this at college, and Pastor Rick had asked me to come to a summer camp and to be a leader there.

And mind you, when I say that I was freaking out about people coming around me and I was getting scared, I'm talking about at a school where there's like 50 students, okay?

He's asked me to go to a church camp with about a thousand.

And so I'm trying to figure out, like, God, what do I do?

What do I do?

I'm scared.

I don't want to be around people, but I just decided to go.

I want to tell you that every single message that week was about anxiety and depression and all these things.

And I'm like, man, God, what are you doing?

Right?

So I remember uh the first session, the worship's going, and I'm feeling okay.

I'm still kind of scared, but I'm feeling okay.

And then they say, all right, we're gonna transition to the message.

And like everything is firing off.

I'm like scared, like, oh snap.

And I'm sitting in my seat, and this woman starts singing this song.

And she quotes this scripture in Psalm 139 about how God, there's no place that we can go that God doesn't see.

That if we we try to hide in the shadow, it's all light to him.

Where we try to run from God, he sees us.

And I remember in that moment the Holy Spirit speaking to me, and he said, This there's nothing that happens to you that I don't see.

There's nothing that happens to you that I don't see.

He reminded me of the story of the sparrow, right?

And so as I continued, it it like I said, the anxiety and all that stuff.

Didn't stop right there.

Right?

I was still freaking out, but I had a little more peace.

And so at the end of the summer, uh, Pastor John, who was here a couple weeks ago, he asked me to preach.

And I'm sitting in my chair, and this all this stuff is still going on.

And I'm sitting there and the worship ends, and he's introducing me.

And literally, like two seconds, I'm thinking, I'm about to run.

I literally was like, I was like, oh about I almost took off, but I said, you know what?

I'm just gonna try it out.

I'm gonna get up here and I'm gonna preach.

And I'm telling you, God delivered me from anxiety that day.

He delivered me.

And I want to tell you, listen, listen.

It wasn't because I did anything crazy.

You know what I did?

I put a scripture in my word, in my mind.

I literally reminded myself every time I would be literally crying, like, I feel like I'm about to die.

And I said, you know what?

But God knows me.

He knows what's going on in my life.

He is not blind, he sees me.

I have nothing to fear because He controls everything.

And then I would be able to breathe.

And then it would happen again.

God knows me.

God sees me.

I don't have to be afraid.

I don't have to fear.

God, you see everything.

And then eventually that anxiety left me.

Listen, God doesn't want you to live in fear.

He says he has a peace for you.

But church, it starts in a relationship and it continues in our mind and how we walk out his word.

And I want to challenge you, man.

Maybe if if you're here today and you feel like, man, I just don't have peace, check your life.

Do you really know Jesus?

Or did you just say a prayer?

Because if you just said a prayer to get into heaven and there was nothing attached, like you're not going to have the peace that he's talking about.

He's saying, This peace that I give, nobody else can give.

I don't, it's not like the world has.

But maybe you accepted Christ and you still feel like you don't have a sense of peace.

But I want to bring it back.

How's your thought life?

Are you thinking about Jesus?

Are you thinking about his scripture?

Because if you're not, I'm it makes sense if you don't have peace.

And so I just want to challenge y'all, man, to get in God's word.

Keep it on your mind.

Keep him on your mind.

If things are fighting for your attention, man, they're not worth it.

Nothing compares to knowing Jesus.

Nothing compares.

Let's pray.

God.

God, I pray that you were seen and heard.

God, that I pray people were reminded that peace is a work of God.

God, that the peace that we can have in our lives, it's your doing.

And God, you want us to be thinking about you, God.

You want us to love you.

Because when we're doing those things, we can experience more peace in our lives.

And so, Lord, for the ones that are here, God, that are just struggling.

God, maybe it's depression, maybe it's anxiety, maybe it's panic attacks, maybe they're just not being fulfilled in life.

Maybe they feel like you left them.

God, I just pray right now that you remind them that you love them, that you have plans for them.

And God, that there is a peace that doesn't change.

That there's a peace that's eternal because it's based off the Prince of Peace who never changes.

And so, God, as we we get into a time of altar call, God, speak to our hearts.

So that we can say, peace be still.

You are here, so it is well.

God, so that in all areas of our life we can say, It is well with my soul.

God, and I just pray against all the attacks of the enemy, against our peace.

God, that you would just wipe out those those negative thoughts.

God, that you would just wipe them out and replace them with your word.

God, all the scriptures that we've we've heard and read, God, that you would bring them to our memory in every circumstance where we need them.

God, we love you and we praise you in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Um, can I have our prayer team come up and we're gonna have a time of altar um call?

You guys can stand up.

I'm the band, if you guys can play lightly behind me.

I I don't want to miss this opportunity.

Maybe you came here and you don't have a relationship with Jesus.

Right?

You never accepted Christ into your lives.

You never asked him to come into your heart.

If that is you, can we have everybody's eyes closed and heads bowed?

I don't want anybody looking around.

If that is you, um, Jesus is here and he wants to save you.

He wants you to know true peace.

Peace with God.

And maybe you're here and something resonated with you, you you feel like there is something missing.

And it's probably a relationship with Jesus.

If you're here today and you don't know Jesus as your Lord and Savior, nobody's looking around, nobody's gonna embarrass you.

I said you just simply raise your hand.

Nobody's gonna come and grab you.

We don't want to miss an opportunity.

I see you.

We don't want to miss an opportunity.

Listen, Jesus is here and he wants to save your life.

I see you, I see you.

This is what we're gonna do.

I'm gonna pray this prayer.

And it's the prayer doesn't save you, it's your belief in Jesus that saves you through grace, by faith.

But you can pray this prayer and you can ask him to forgive you.

The scripture says that if we confess Jesus is Lord and believe in our hearts, it says that we will be saved.

So if you want to pray in your heart, you can pray this.

Dearly Father, forgive me of my sins.

I'm sorry for all the sin that I've done against you.

And I ask that you would come into my heart and save me.

I confess that you are God's son.

And that you came and you lived a perfect life, and that you died and that you rose.

Save me.

Show me what it means to have true peace.

In Jesus' name.

The second part is this that if you feel like you don't have peace in your life, maybe it's in your marriage, maybe you know it could be your finances, it could be a whole lot of things, but you just don't feel like you have peace.

I'm gonna challenge you to come up to the altar and lay it down before God.

To come bring those things that have uh worried you for so long.

Maybe it's your health, and I just I challenge you to come and bring it before God and lay it down and keep it there.

And listen, I believe this that God will give you peace in your storm.

That He may not change what you're going through, but He'll give you peace in the midst of what you're going through.

So right now, I just want you to come.

If that's you, you need peace, just come.

We have uh prayer warriors here that'll pray with you.

If you are struggling and there's things that you you just don't feel like you have peace in your life, maybe it's the direction of your job and where you're working.

Come here, come to the altar and let God speak to you.

Come to the altar and lay it down before Him and take on His peace that cannot be taken away from you.

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