“Guard Your Peace” by Pastor Daniel Floyd

Welcome to Gateway Churches Podcast.

Wherever you're tuning in from, we hope you're encouraged by today's message.

Come on, put your hands together for Jesus.

One more time.

You can do better than that.

How I'm good with worship today.

So glad you're in church.

Want to say hello to all of our locations and everybody joining us, either online or on demand later in the week, of course, our gateway gatherings and our prison campuses.

God's doing wonderful things all across the life of the church, and you picked a great day to be in church, everybody.

And uh had a great night at Men's Night Friday night.

Have live recordings coming up in May.

You do not want to miss those.

Um, two live recordings you saw, so make sure that you're in the house for that.

It's going to be a powerful night.

Can I just tell you, God is using the worship coming out of this house all across the body of Christ in really powerful ways.

And uh so I always, my pastor always tells us said this, you follow the favor.

Wherever you see God favoring, then you keep following that.

And uh the favor of God is really on uh the songs that are coming out of this house.

So a whole set of brand new songs coming out in May, y'all.

And uh so make sure you're in for that.

And uh this week we were actually at a conference, me and a couple of our team, and uh they're the very first song set, like song number four, was Who Else?

And I was like, it's a good song right there.

I know where that came from.

Um and uh wanted to let you know we the conference we were a part of is um an organization that Gateway's been sponsoring for years and years, I don't know how many years, but for a long time, a church planning organization called the Association of Related Churches.

Now, if you don't know much about church planning, we need more in the U.S.

Lifeway research showed that last year, 2024, or year before last in 2024, 4,000 Protestant churches closed their doors.

Shut down, no longer around.

And we only opened 3,800 new churches.

So we're running at a deficit every year.

And we need more young couples that feel the call of God on their life to go to a city and plant a life-giving, spirit-filled, Bible-believing, Great Commission declaring church.

How many of you believe that to be true?

That that's what our nation needs.

We need more life-giving churches.

And and this was the 25th anniversary, and we celebrated planting just over 1,200 churches, and you've been a part of that, but here's what's amazing is on launch Sunday alone of those 1,200 churches represents over 16,000 decisions for Jesus just on Sunday number one.

And those 1,200 churches have invested into global missions.

Listen to this, everybody.

Just over one with a B, billion dollars.

I don't know about you, but that's a good return.

That's a good return on investment, right?

How many of you have you invested in something and got a billion-dollar return?

Well, we're investing into the kingdom and seeing global missions flourish around the world.

And so I just want to say to everybody that gives, your generosity is building to church in America and around the world.

And then we're seeing great return on it.

So thank you for how you give and how you're faithful in that.

Such an incredibly generous church, and uh couldn't be more grateful and more proud.

At the conference, everybody's like, How's Gateway?

How's Gateway?

How's Gateway?

I was like, best days ahead.

God is moving.

So just know so many people praying for us and standing alongside us.

So it's it was great.

We're in the third week of a series called Between Sundays.

If you're new to church, a series is simply a collection of talks around one common theme.

And the common theme we've been talking about is what do we need to do between Sundays to have a faith that doesn't fade?

How do we make sure that our faith stays strong throughout the week?

And we've been looking at this verse in Ephesians chapter four.

It's kind of a theme verse, and the idea is this is we don't want to be immature because when we're mature, we're tossed and we're blown around.

In other words, we're just unstable.

And so we want to do something to help with that.

And the Bible tells us this that we need to grow.

We need to keep growing.

In other words, you've never arrived.

Uh just newsflash, no matter how long you've been walking with Jesus, you're not there yet.

Welcome to church, everybody.

Aren't you encouraged?

Um, and if you're just starting out, there's a there's a whole wonderful journey of growing.

And what do we want to grow?

To be more and more like Christ.

That's the goal, that you look more like Jesus and less like you.

And he's the head of the church, and uh and he makes it all work together.

So what?

So that we can grow because he wants us healthy and growing and full of love.

Do you get the point?

That God wants us, everybody say it with me, he wants us to grow, everybody.

That's what he wants us to do.

And so we're talking about how do we grow today.

I want to talk to you about this that you need to be growing in this area.

And this is the title of the message is to guard your peace.

If you're gonna be thriving during the week, then you have got to guard your peace.

Let's pray together.

Father, we love you.

Our hearts and minds are open to you, so speak to us today.

May we never be the same because of it.

We pray this in Jesus' name, and everybody said a big amen.

Amen.

So uh in my late teens, early twenties, I got to be a camp counselor at a summer camp, and this was old school camp, everybody.

This was cabins, this was bathhouses.

I don't even know why we called them that.

Um, but like you had to have flip-flops and you walked in the woods to where you could get a shower.

I know some of you, this is breaking your mind right now.

You're like, you had to do what?

And so we went to this camp, and uh, and all the boy cabins were in one section of the camp, all the girl cabins were in another section of the camp, and um, and then kind of the chapel and the the you know place where you ate, the caf, if you could call it a cafeteria, the place that served what they called food was kind of in the middle of it all.

And so we go to this camp.

Well, us guy counselors and and junior counselors, that's what we were called, junior counselors, we decide one night that we're gonna pull a prank on all the boy cabins.

And so we get all the guy cabins, and we're like, listen, you just need to know this that in the woods here, and this was in Southwest Virginia, there's bears.

There's black bears and grizzly bears.

I don't even know if they exist in Southwest Virginia, everybody, but we had these high school boys believing this, and we said, we all need to get in one cabin for safety.

So we got them all into one cabin for safety, and uh, and they were all a little nervous.

We were like, don't worry.

Uh but you know, we've heard bears, we've seen sightings of bears, and we just want to make sure you don't get eaten and that you're okay.

And so I don't know if you know this, but um, back in the day, Folgers coffee would come in a big metal container like this.

It's big and round.

Folgers is what we drank before Starbucks, everybody, and Summer Moon and all the wonderful things we have now, but this big Folger.

So you would dump it all out.

Well, if you dump it out, you know, try this if you got some time one day.

You'd poke a hole in it and put a string out the bottom of it.

And then if you take sap from a tree, some of you are like, I have no idea what you're saying right now.

You take sap from a tree and you um and you run it down that string, it sounds like a bear.

So I got behind the cabin where all the boys were in, about a hundred yards out, and I started pulling the string.

And then I'd walk a little closer and pull the string, and I just pulled it louder and louder and more frequent as I got right up on the cabin, and then I knocked down the front door.

All the other guy counselors were in on it, and they said the closer I got, the more they were like, Y'all hear that?

Did y'all hear that back in the woods?

Did you hear that?

Did you hear that?

And by the time I got up to the front door and I was really making it loud and to knock the door open, these high school boys screamed like high school girls.

And uh then we sent them back and said, All right, time to go to bed.

We gotta worship Jesus tomorrow.

But I definitely robbed their peace.

Come on, can I get a better amen, right?

And it may not be uh a fake bear in the woods in a cabin, but how many of you know there's a lot of things that rob our peace.

There's a lot of things that steal our joy and steal the peace of God.

Um, and it may be worries about the future, maybe what am I gonna do when I graduate?

How am I gonna afford to live where I want to live?

Uh am I gonna get married?

What about kids?

It may be the worries or the stressors, the anxiety of school and classes and finals coming up.

And it may be the stressors of parenting.

Man, how are how are these kids gonna turn out?

Am I doing okay?

You know, parenting is the one thing you don't really know until they get old.

But how many of you know there are a lot of things in life that want to rob our peace?

And if you're ever gonna thrive in your Christian life, then you have got to learn.

You've got to learn how to guard the peace of God in your everyday life.

How many of you know that you can come into church on the weekend and worship can be great, and the team can be crushing it like they did today?

And man, you feel the peace of God, and then you get in your car.

And everything comes back to your memory of all the stuff and the work and the pressure and the issue you got to deal with and the thing you got to address on Monday and the thing that you walk, but just like for this few moments, it feels like, all right, the peace of God comes.

Can I tell you something?

That doesn't have to be a Sunday morning thing when the atmosphere's set and the lights are right and the team is singing.

It can be an everyday thing for you.

It is a promise of God to his children that we would walk with peace.

And there's kind of two really distinct but connected things about peace in the scriptures.

And number one is this the Bible talks about having peace with God.

Peace with God.

The Bible says this in Romans chapter 5, verse 1.

Romans 5:1

It says, Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, or through faith, we have peace, there it is, with God.

And it's through our Lord Jesus Christ.

This is talking about salvation.

This is talking about the position we have before God.

We now have peace with God.

News flash, hope I don't disappoint you or discourage you, but prior to you placing your faith in Jesus, if you've taken that step, the Bible says that when we are disconnected from God, we are actually at enmity with God.

In other words, when we were walking in sin and apart from God, we were actually opposing God and everything that God is about.

And so we did not have peace with God.

A stronger way to say it is that we were enemies of God by our own choosing.

But the Bible says that when we place our faith in Jesus, we are justified.

That's an easy way to think about justification is just as if I never sinned.

That's how God sees you.

How powerful is that?

That because of the blood of Jesus we sang about has washed away all of our sins and cleansed us and purified us, God looks at us through the gift of his son and sees us positionally just as if I'd never sinned.

And because of that, I now have peace with God.

Not because I've done good works, not because I show up at church, not because I did three Hail Marys, not just making sure you're awake, not because I read my Bible, not because I, you know, came to men's, not because I'm in a not because of any of that.

I am justified by faith.

Paul said it this way I'm justified by faith so that I don't get the credit.

I can't boast about it.

It's the gift of God.

So that is peace with God.

And if you have peace with God, then you get a correlating thing called this.

It's called the peace of God.

This is what most people are talking about when they talk about, I just don't have peace about that situation.

They're not talking about the peace they have with God because of faith.

They're talking about this calmness, this inner stillness, this tranquility, this the Hebrew word, the shalom of God.

That I'm not anxious, I'm not worked up, I'm not, I'm not nervous.

There's not a continual low-grade anxiety on the inside of me, but I have the peace of God.

Paul talks about this in Romans chapter 4, verse 6 and 7.

Romans 4:6

He says, Don't be anxious about anything.

And at face value, it'd be like, well, that's easy for you to say, Paul.

You're the Apostle Paul.

Well, I mean, he was shipwrecked and he was beaten and he was bit by a snake and he was put in jail.

He had a little bit of things going on, everybody.

And he says, Don't be anxious about anything.

But here's the counterbalance in every situation.

Somebody shout every.

Come on, every situation, not some situation, not the big ones, not just the life-changing ones, but in every situation, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your request to God, and what will happen.

And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding.

Time out for a moment.

He'll give you a peace that doesn't make sense based on what you're going through.

This is the peace of God.

It's like it, I should not have peace, I should be anxious.

The thing I'm facing, the diagnosis, the stress of school, the job situation, the thing with my wife, the thing with my.

I shouldn't, but I have peace.

I have the peace of God, and it transcends understanding.

It doesn't make sense logically that I have this.

And he goes on to say, what will it do?

It will guard your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus.

Think about it this way: He's saying the peace of God acts like a security system on your house.

It's guarding the house.

It's letting you know if there's movement.

It's letting you know if something is off.

And here's the deal: he says that happens through prayer, petition, thanksgiving.

I'm gonna talk to God, I'm gonna put my request, petition before God, and I'm gonna do it with gratitude.

And he says, whenever that happens in your life, so prayer is like this guard over your life.

It's the pathway to peace.

And how many of you know that if you go a day without prayer, two days, a week, sometimes we think, oh, that's not that big of a deal.

Like they prayed at church on Sunday and I was there and I was kind of osmosis through it, and kind of it doesn't work that way, everybody.

And I'm not talking about, like, you know, bless my food, thank you, Lord.

Help me have a good time.

I'm talking about some time with God.

And I'm not talking about hours either.

I'm just talking about I'm I'm gonna have some time.

What does the Bible say?

It acts, it invokes peace, and peace works like a guard.

I don't think any of us would leave our house unguarded.

And you can't leave your soul unguarded.

You've got to guard the peace of God in your life.

John chapter 14, Jesus said this: peace I leave with you, my peace I give you.

John 14 · chapter mention

And he says, But I don't give it the way the world gives.

The way the world gives peace is this everything is working out in my favor, so I have peace.

Jesus says, No, I can give you something better.

He says, Don't let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

I'm gonna give you a peace that when your heart should be troubled and you should be afraid will sustain you.

It's supernatural, it's spirit-given, it's divine.

It's not like what the world gives.

And so he tells us how to think about peace in Colossians chapter 3, verse 15.

Colossians 3:15

If you're with me, say amen.

All right, Colossians chapter 3, verse 15, he says this so let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace.

Colossians 3:15

So this is part of the divine inheritance we have as children of God, and be thankful.

I want us to focus on this idea of rule.

Paul could have used so many different words to translate into this word rule.

He could have used the word that that means guide.

He could have used the word that means to be led by peace.

But he uses this real interesting Greek word to talk about rule, and it has this idea of an umpire.

And so, in other words, he says, let peace act like an umpire in your life.

Now, I don't know if you're really into baseball.

I enjoy watching baseball, but here's what you need to know about an umpire.

They have the final say.

Whatever ball, if they call a ball, it's a ball to everybody.

It doesn't matter if the manager likes it, it doesn't matter if he gets out of the dugout and kicks dirt on the, you know, on the umpire, it doesn't matter.

If he calls it a ball, it's a ball.

If he calls it a strike, it's a strike.

Are y'all tracking with me?

And this is what Paul is trying to teach us about peace in our life, that the peace of God should act like an umpire in our life.

So if it's about this decision or that decision, let peace decide.

If it's about should I take this job, not take this job, let peace be the umpire and let peace decide.

And how many of you know that if you've lived a little bit of life in this Christian faith and you have not followed the peace of God, it does not lead to a good place.

You don't have to raise your hand, but I'm sure many of us have taken a step where we did not, we knew it wasn't the peace of God, and it ended up in trouble for us.

Because the peace of God acts like an umpire.

Now, let me do say this on the other side of this thought is that the peace of God isn't an excuse to do hard things.

And I think some of us resist the uncomfortable thing that we're God is wanting us to do because we're like, oh, that's hard.

There's a difference between it's hard and I don't have the peace of God.

Moving across the country is hard.

But when you have the peace of God, you pack the truck and you get in the car.

Are you with me?

So it's not an excuse to not do hard things.

God will often call us.

I would I would propose that faith always calls you out of the uncomfortable, out of the comfortable, into the uncomfortable.

But there is a knowing, a stillness, a calmness, a peace that is supernatural, that passes understanding, that God wants to give you.

And it should be the umpire of your life.

He said it should call the shots.

Do I take the job or not take the job?

I don't know.

What does the peace of God say?

He's the umpire.

Should I date that person, not date that person?

I don't know.

What does the umpire say?

Are y'all following me?

This is why it's so important you stay connected to the Father so that you can clearly discern the peace of God in your life.

And so if this is so important, then we've got to guard it.

Wouldn't you agree?

And if we're gonna guard it, then we gotta know what would rob us or what would steal the peace of God in our life.

So in the next few moments, I'm gonna give you five things.

I'm sure you could make a whole list, and maybe you should, make a list of other things.

But I'm gonna give you five things I'm confident will rob you of the peace of God.

Are you getting this so far?

Okay, great.

A few of you.

Number one is living an overloaded life.

Living an overloaded life will rob you of the peace of God.

Look what Ecclesiastes says.

Better is one handful with tranquility than two handfuls with toils and chasing after the wind.

Man, nothing will rob you of the peace of God like overloading your life.

And you may not notice on day one, you may not notice it on week two, you may not notice it on month three, but eventually it will catch up with you.

The Song of Solomon who wrote Song of Solomon and Ecclesiastes, what he is saying is that is that if we're so chasing after life, trying to fill both hands, but we have no peace in our heart, it's better only to have one handful.

He's not saying it's wrong to have drive or to have ambition.

He's just saying you don't live your life.

Running after so much that it robs you and costs you your peace.

Are y'all tracking with me?

And some of us, we we some of us the most godly thing we could do is sit down with our calendar and put some margin in it.

Because our peace is being robbed because of the pace that we're trying to run at and the early mornings and the late nights and going after, and I've got to, but I gotta get this.

And it's just, it's, I'm preaching to myself right now, okay?

I'm just telling Daniel, just remember, you know, 5 a.m.

to 10 p.m.

doesn't work forever, right?

Like, but we just overload our lives and we say yes to everything, and we can't say no to things.

We feel like I say yes to them, and yes to them.

Some of you just need to learn this phrase right here.

This will return the peace of God into your life.

Thank you so much, but no thanks.

Thanks for the invitation, but I'm unable to come.

Just may just like free your spirit up, right?

Are you following me?

But some of us like to be busy because we know when it gets quiet, then when we have to deal with the things inside of us.

We have to deal with the thoughts.

And the more busy we can stay, the more we.

Can avoid the reality that we lack peace.

So an overloaded life.

Have a full life.

But man, don't have an overloaded life.

Don't have a life where you get to the end of the day and you go, I don't even know what I did and I'm exhausted.

Have a purpose-filled life.

Have a mission-driven life.

Man, nothing like an overloaded life will rob the peace of God.

Number two is ruminating on negative thoughts.

Will rob you of the peace of God in your life.

Just letting letting negative thoughts just play unaband unrestrained in your mind.

Some of us we we think we have to think everything we think.

Think about that.

You don't have to think every thought you think, and you don't let have to let it run free in your mind.

And some of us we we get a negative thought, and man, we just stew on that over and over and over.

We like chew the cut on it like a cow.

Like we just chew it and chew it and chew it and let it run and run, and soon we begin to believe a lie is truth because we're muminating on negative thoughts.

Do you know that you are the most influential person in your life?

Because you talk to yourself more than anybody else.

So let me ask you, what are you saying?

What are you saying to yourself about yourself, about God, about life, about your circumstance that is robbing your peace?

What are you ruminating on?

And is it truth?

Or is it a lie that you've turned into truth in your mind because you've ruminated on it so many times?

There is nothing like ruminating that will rob you of the peace of God in your life.

Several years ago, I remember a time in my life where I just I felt that low grade.

I felt it from the moment I got up in the morning.

I would just, all the negative thoughts, all the anxiousness, and you would have never known it if you'd have met me.

You'd have seen a smile on my face, and you'd seen a full calendar, and you'd because if you got a full calendar, then you don't have moments of quiet, and if you don't have moments of quiet, you don't have to think about.

I'm just preaching from experience.

And I just begin to ruminate on lies.

I mean, I had nights where I'd go to bed and I would be like, all right, I've got everything in order in case I don't wake up in the morning.

Because I'm sure I'll have a heart attack in the night.

Are y'all following me?

Like the enemy will take you in your thought life to places that are very dark if you just continue to ruminate on it.

So, what does the Bible tell us?

Paul says in Philippians, he gives us another way.

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable.

If anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things.

And the God of peace will be with you.

This takes work, everybody.

It takes some effort.

I went old school.

I made flashcards.

Come on, y'all know nothing about flashcards.

I made flashcards.

I wrote scripture out on flashcards.

I still have them in my journal to this day.

And I would just read those flashcards every morning.

Whatever's true and whatever's noble and whatever's praiseworthy.

That's what I'm gonna thank of.

God has good plans for me that are prosper me and not to harm me.

I just begin to let that ruminate and that begin to what dominate the thoughts in my mind.

And then what happened?

The promise of God is true, and the God of peace will be with you.

So there's nothing like ruminating on negative thoughts that will rob you of your peace.

Number three, unconfessed sin.

Listen to what the psalmist said in Psalms 32.

Man, this not described when we are weighted down by unconfessed sin and shame.

Says this, it says, When I kept silent, and he and he's talking about a sinful moment in his life.

He said, When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day.

For day and night your hand was heavy on me.

My strength was sapped as in the heat of summer.

Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity.

And I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord, and you forgave me the guilt of my sin.

You know what happens is the enemy wants to entice you in with temptation, saying, This will be fun, this will be good for you, and then you give in to temptation, and then what does he do?

He heaps you with guilt.

And then guilt ends up happening with the psalmist said.

It's heavy on me.

My bones are groaning within me.

It wears you out on the inside.

But here's the great promise of God in 1 John 1:9 that if I'll confess my sin, God is faithful.

1 John 1:9

Even when I'm not faithful, God is faithful and he'll forgive me and he'll purify me of all unrighteousness in my life.

So he's not expecting you to come to him and jump through all these hoops.

He's just saying, hey, if you'll ask for forgiveness, I'll give it.

But man, when you're holding on to things and unconfessed sin in your life, thinking that God doesn't already know, newsflash, he knows.

He's God, he saw it.

He knows where you were last night.

You're not meant to carry that.

You're not meant to have the peace of God robbed in your life because of that.

He says, Hey, you just confess it.

I'm faithful and I'll forgive it.

But you don't need just unconfessed sin between you and God.

Another thing that'll rob you is disconnection from community.

So we need each other.

Do you know the first thing that was wrong in the Garden of Eden was not the sin of Eve?

It's not what the Bible says.

That wasn't the first thing that was not good in the garden.

Genesis tells us in chapter 2, verse 18, the Lord God said, It is not good for what?

For the man to be alone.

Sin wasn't the first problem, isolation was.

Not good for man to be alone.

Can I tell you something?

If it wasn't good for Adam to be alone, it's not good for any of us to be alone.

And man, the enemy loves to pull you away and isolate you and get you out of godly community and get you away from the local church.

And just like one Sunday isn't too bad, and two, you know, it's just a couple of Sundays I wasn't in church together.

No, why are we?

This isn't, we're not trying to get you in small groups.

God, we don't make commission if you get in a small group.

It's in a sales job.

Are y'all with me?

Why do we want you in community?

Why?

Because when you're disconnected from it, the enemy can rob the peace of God.

It's dangerous when you're isolated.

It's dangerous when you're not with the pack.

It's dangerous in every area of your life when you're not with people that you can go, hey, I'm having, I'm I'm worried about this.

You need some people that'll pray with you so that the peace of God that passes understanding will fill your heart and mind in Christ.

You need some people in your life that'll go, hey man, those choices you're making, it's not healthy for you.

It's not good for you that can hold you accountable.

Are y'all with me?

So that you're not robbed of the peace of God.

The Bible says that we belong to each other.

Romans 12, 5 says this, that so it is with Christ's body.

We are many parts, but we all belong to each other.

So whether you like it or not, you need the person on your left, and they need you.

The person behind you needs you, and the one in front of you needs you.

We need each other.

This life was not meant to be lived alone.

I would say it's almost impossible to live the Christian life without one another.

Matter of fact, there are some things you can't obey in the Bible unless you have somebody with you.

So you can only partially obey the Bible by yourself.

Because how can you bear one another's burdens if you're not with someone?

How can you pray for one another if you're not with someone?

How can you love one another if you're not with someone?

Because if not, you're just gonna be loving yourself, praying yourself, and bearing your own burden.

And that's half obedience, not full obedience.

Are y'all with me today?

You need each other.

We need to guard our peace.

Finally, number five is ignoring the Holy Spirit's leading.

It's ignoring the Holy Spirit's leading.

Can I tell you this?

The Holy Spirit isn't given to us for fun, it's given to us for function.

It's not that you can feel good in worship.

That's great.

But the Bible says you'll receive power when the Spirit comes upon you so that you can be my witness.

The Holy Spirit's given so you can function as a believer in the way that God calls you to.

So He empowers you to witness.

He guides you, guides you into truth, guides you into serving others, guides you into making a difference in your everyday life.

And it'll rob you of your peace.

If you go day after day after day and you feel that nudge, that man, I need to pray for them.

I don't have time right now.

Hey, they they really need an encouraging word.

I think you should just go over and just give them an encouragement.

Just let them know they're doing better than they think they are, and you're like, ah, I'm too busy for that.

Just kind of ignoring his leading, ignoring his prompting.

Because the Spirit comes, according to Galatians 5.22, the Spirit comes to give us what?

You know, these love, joy, peace.

And when we ignore his leading, when we ignore his prompting in the little things, then man, it'll it'll begin to rob us of our peace.

Maybe not the first time, maybe not the second time.

God's full of grace.

Comes back around.

But eventually, if we keep giving the Heisman trophy to him, stiff arming, right?

It begins to rob our peace.

John chapter 14 says this.

John 14 · chapter mention

It says, But the advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things.

So he's gonna guide you into truth.

He'll remind you of everything I've said to you.

And then he says this peace I leave with you.

My peace I give you.

We read this a minute ago.

I don't give it as the world gives it.

And so don't be troubled and don't be afraid.

I think it's very interesting.

How Jesus connects the advocate, the Holy Spirit, and him giving that and guiding us into truth with the peace that he's gonna leave us.

And the more we ignore, the more we resist, the more unguarded our peace becomes.

Are you with me?

All right.

In 2024, there was a movie, a remake of an old movie from the 90s called Twister.

The remake was horrible.

The original is the best.

I'm just telling you, okay?

Just take me at my word.

The original is the best.

And so what they do is they chase tornadoes.

And uh they chase these tornadoes around, and they have this new like technology they're trying to use called Dorothy.

Dorothy is these little sensors that they want to get up in the tornado so they can read it and learn more about the tornado.

And so they're trying to get Dorothy into the eye of the tornado.

So they chase tornadoes and they try to get Dorothy into the eye, and then there's this one scene, and in the scene, they're in the middle, they're in the eye of the storm, and it's completely calm.

Now, meteorologist, I read on this, they debate on whether or not there's really calm in the middle of a tornado, but there is in the middle of a hurricane.

There's a real calm.

But actually, the sun can come out if you're in the middle of a if you're in the eye.

It's called being in the eye.

And so whether or not you're experiencing chaos or peace in a tornado or a hurricane has nothing to do with the storm, has everything to do in your position in relation to the storm.

Because if you're on the outside of it, then you're chaos and you're storm and you're being blown around.

But if you're in the eye of it, then you feel calm and you feel peace.

And this is the peace that Jesus offers to us.

That he does not say, in this world, I will remove every storm.

No, he says, I have a way of getting you into the eye.

That if you'll keep your eyes on me, that if you'll keep connected to me, if you'll keep your heart pure before me, I can give you a supernatural, a divine enablement, a peace that passes even the most logic of anybody in the world.

I offer you this peace.

Isaiah 26, 3 says it this way: you will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast because they trust in you.

This is the peace.

I don't know what is going on in your life.

I don't know the anxiousness.

I don't know if you barely got into church today.

I don't know if all you can do is club in online.

I'm not sure what is happening in your life, but I do know this.

The chaos around you doesn't have to become chaos inside of you.

That there is the peace and the stillness and the tranquility and the calmness that comes by the divine enamel of the Holy Spirit in our lives that gives us peace.

You don't have to live like the rest of the world.

There's gonna be a difference in us.

You may get the diagnosis, and I believe God will heal you been in the middle of it.

You can be in the eye and experience the peace.

You may have got a phone call this week that overwhelms you, but you don't have to live overwhelming to me, church.

You don't have to live overwhelmed today, you don't have to feel your schedule going, I'll ignore it, I'll get away from it.

No peace, stepfast on Jesus, and the Prince of Peace will give you peace that passes all understanding.

The power of the Spirit of God will give you love, joy, and the peace of God.

So I don't know if it's a bear that is robbing your peace, that doesn't even exist, or if it's a real heavy circumstance in your life that is attempting to rob your peace.

Here's my encouragement: guard it with everything you got.

Because it's the umpire.

Let it call, ball or strike, go or don't go, accept or don't accept.

Send the text, don't send the text.

Let the peace of Christ rule in your heart.

Maybe you're here today and you're like, Pastor, it sounds good, but man, I'm just I'm feeling it overwhelmed.

I have these moments in this where I sense the peace of God.

But I don't know how to have it in the everyday of my life.

You do it by a lot of work, everybody.

Every day, capturing the thought, every day, laying it back at the feet of Christ, every minute, every moment, it may take every 30 minutes, but you know what you'll find is as you journey, as you journey, as you keep journeying, more and more, more and more, the peace of God will fill.

Like pouring it into a glass, the peace of God begin to fill your heart and your mind in Christ.

You receive the word of God today?

You receive it?

Will you pray with me?

Every head bowed, every eye closed.

I want to pray for two different groups of people.

First, maybe you're here today and you would say, Pastor, I need to guard the peace of God in my heart.

Maybe you're here and you say, I relate.

I wake up anxious when I lay my head on the pillow at night and my mind is racing, and my heart begins to race.

I just I need the peace of God in a greater and a greater way in my life.

I want to pray for you if that's you.

Would you just slip your hand up high?

Yeah.

You're not alone.

All over the room, so many of us.

You just say that's me.

I need the peace of God.

I'm feeling it, feeling the anxiousness, the overwhelmness.

A lot of us are walking through that.

Let me pray for you.

Father, in the name of Jesus, we thank you that peace is available.

It's part of our inheritance as children of the Most High God.

So I speak the peace of God over every troubled heart today.

You see the hands lifted, the ones that didn't lift.

And I just pray right now, in the name of Jesus, by your spirit, with the peace, the shalom of God come over every individual from the top of their head to the sole of their feet.

But not just in this moment, but in every moment of every day.

And would we have eyes to see and ears to hear and discernment to know when things are trying to rob us?

They're trying to distract us from hearing the umpire of our life.

With every head bowed out closed, if you're here and you say, Pastor, I don't have peace with God.

You can't have the peace of God until you've gotten peace with God.

Maybe you're here today and you've never surrendered your life to Jesus.

The greatest decision you'll ever make.

Or maybe you're here today and there was a time where you were walking with the Lord, but you've really strayed away and you'd say, I need a fresh start today.

I want to know that my sins are forgiven, want to know that heaven's my home.

And I want to have peace with God.

The Bible says the way you do that is you simply confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord.

In other words, He's calling the shots, and that you believe by faith that God raised Jesus from the dead, you will be saved.

And so if you need to take that step today, all over the room, no one's looking around.

We wouldn't embarrass you for the world, but I'm gonna count to three when I do.

You just say, Pastor, that's me.

I need a fresh start today.

When I count to three, you shoot your hand up high enough, long enough for me to see, and then we're gonna pray together on three.

One, two, three.

Just shoot it up high.

God bless you.

God bless you.

I see in the very back, all over the room.

God bless you and you and you and you.

Beautiful.

You can put them down.

Church, let's pray this out loud for the benefit of those who just slip their hand up.

Just say, Jesus, I need you.

I ask you to forgive me of all my sin.

I believe you died for me.

I believe God raised you from the dead.

Today I'll make you my Lord and Savior.

Thank you for a brand new beginning.

In Jesus' name.

Everyone said a big amen.

Come on, let's celebrate those who made that decision.

Thanks for joining us today.

If you'd like to connect with us, text Connect to 71010 or visit gatewaypeople.com.

We hope you have a great week.