When Your Heart Needs Peace

Welcome to Gateway Churches Podcast.

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

It's so easy to love this wonderful church.

And one of the many reasons that it is easy to love Gateway is your passion for the nations.

How you care and always have cared about people around the world.

As testimony to that, if you'll allow me to give a welcome to what is a hefty delegation of Brazilians in this room.

Could all the Brazilians please stand up?

I don't know if you knew this, but my precious wife Dean Lin and I served as uh missionaries in Rio de Janeiro from 1983 to 1988.

So we still left uh part of our hearts in Brazil.

So sejam bem-vindos todos vocês, que Deus é bem soi.

Somos weak feliz, até vocês aqui conosco.

And we send a blessing to all the campuses, wherever you are, to all people wherever you are who may be tuning in.

In just a moment, my wife Deanlin is going to offer a prayer blessing for our message, but I have to reflect back on an event that took place the last time that I was here, and the farm alarm went off.

I'm trying to process it still.

Were you here?

The lights flamished.

The alarm went off.

And maybe I was preaching a good sermon.

I mean, I was I was about to lemon the pumming.

I was only two or three minutes from from ping-bum b-bum, and then all of a sudden the lemons flemished, the alarm went off, and and out of nowhere comes his voice.

If I make a way to building, if I make a way to building, have I make your way to building, and and you lemon.

Those of you on other campuses uh consider yourselves blemist.

We were under attack.

I didn't know how to interpret.

Is this gateway's hint?

You didn't like my jokes?

I preached too long.

You disagreed with something I said, maybe you thought I was on fire.

I didn't know how to interpret it, so I'm I'm still kind of processing it.

And the next day, uh the following day, I'm I preached at our church in San Antonio, and I I was still kind of shook up because someone's cell phone went off in the middle of my sermon, and I nearly came out of my shoes.

So if you could please make sure your devices are turned off because I have PTSD and I'm still working it through.

I'm so thankful that my wife Deanlin could be here, and I've asked her to offer a prayer blessing.

Poor Max.

It's good to be with you tonight.

And as I was asking the Lord uh for you this week, he gave me several verses that I'll be praying over you, into you, for you, over me, into me, for me, because his word is alive and active, and we want that in us, and we want protected by his word.

But uh a verse came to me that I just want to remind you, you probably all know it, but I want you I want to remind you that it's true.

And it seemed like worship just like really spoke it out, but there's no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, for the law of the spirit of life has set you free from the law of sin and death.

And so that's your filter, that's your filter in your head when a thought comes into your head.

If it leads you to condemnation, that is not of Jesus, that is of the enemy.

So you can tell it to go to the foot of the cross and be judged by Jesus.

So that's how it, that's how we move, that's how we think with Jesus and and uh receive his blessing.

But can I just on just a small note ask?

I don't know if you've been asked, but I want you to pray for your elders and their wives.

And I want you to pray for the staff, any staff member you know, would you just take their name into your heart and they be your person that you pray for every day or at least every week, because they carry a big burden right now, and they need you to come alongside and help carry that burden, right?

That's what Jesus said we do for one another.

That's why we're in here.

So I wanna I want to encourage you to do that.

And if you don't know names, go online and find names of staff members or or ministry leaders, and I know you'll do that, and I know the church will be blessed.

So let's talk to Jesus.

And Jesus, we bow before you in this moment.

You truly are the name above all names, and we know Jesus, that much in this world breaks your heart.

And we know that you are near to the brokenhearted, that you don't turn your back away, that you draw near, that you have provision, you have your presence, you have your word, God.

So we just ask that you fill us with your mercy and grace and understanding as our hearts prepare to hear your alive word today.

We want to walk in your authority and not our own.

We want to have your understanding and not our own.

We want your will to be done on earth as it is in heaven in our lives, in our relationships, in our neighborhoods, and in our thinking.

That we would keep our thoughts continually fixed on all that is authentic and real, honorable and admirable, beautiful and respectful, pure and holy, merciful and kind, that we would fasten our thoughts on every glorious work of God, praising him always.

And as we praised you, King Jesus, all the lies we have believed, all the offenses we have taken on, all the fear we have absorbed will lose power over our hearts in your mighty name Jesus.

Let us say his name together, Church.

Jesus.

Jesus.

You are King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Almighty God, wonderful counselor, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Lord, we recommit our affections to you and confess that we have leaned on our own understanding.

But we thank you for your blood that cleanses us 24-7, so that we walk in total and complete forgiveness.

And the God of peace will swiftly crush Satan under your feet.

And the wonderful favor of our Lord Jesus Christ will surround you, church at Gateway.

Thank you, Lord.

In your name, Jesus, we pray.

Amen.

So the title of this weekend's message, When Your Heart Needs Peace.

You'll remember that Pharaoh fumed behind him, and the waves of the Red Sea foamed in front of him, and two million ex-slaves surrounded him.

And we do not know if Moses raised his staff out of frustration with the moment or inspiration at the moment, but he did raise his staff, and when he did, the Red Sea opened, and the Israelites crossed over on dry land and put Egypt in the rearview mirror.

Sometimes God calms the storm.

He did for Daniel.

The prophet was invited to the lion's den for dinner.

Except in this case, he was the e-tee, not the eater.

But he prayed before his meal, and God answered the prayer in the form of lion lockjaw.

Sometimes God calms the storm.

He did for Paul and Silas.

How are they to know that it was against the law to preach in the region of Philippi?

Officials took them into a dungeon.

The execution was scheduled.

And as far as they knew, it was just a matter of moments before they would go from singing to God in prison to singing to God in person.

But God had other plans.

And he opened the cell door and he opened the jailer's heart, and the duo walked out, and the jailer was baptized, and the storm passed.

Sometimes God calms the storm.

Sometimes he excises the malignant cancer.

Sometimes he transfers the cranky boss.

Sometimes he replenishes the diminishing fun.

Sometimes the breath of heaven blows.

And the dark sky becomes in an instant a radiant blue.

Sometimes he calms the storm.

But other times he chooses to calm the child.

And rather than quiet the tempest, he stills the sailor.

And rather than remove the disease, he removes the fear.

And rather than lift the debt, he lifts the doubt.

The storm still brews.

But the child no longer fears.

The child trusts.

He may even snooze.

That's what Jesus did, remember?

Then Jesus got into the boat and started across the lake with his disciples.

And suddenly a fierce storm struck the lake with waves breaking into the boat.

But Jesus was sleeping.

The disciples went and woke him up, shouting, Lord, save us.

We're going to drown.

And Jesus responded, Why are you afraid?

You have so little faith.

And he got up and rebuked the wind and the waves, and suddenly there was a great calm.

What you find more amazing that Jesus calmed the storm or that he slept through it.

How does one sleep through a storm?

The boat bounced like a ping-pong ball, waves washed across the fishing boat.

The disciples screamed and thunder, roared, and Jesus snored.

The boat became his bassinet.

Could you use such a piece?

Odds are you could.

Wild weather patterns, hurricanes, eruption in the Mideast.

Putin is on the prowl.

AI is going to eat our brains.

Iran is going to destroy the world.

And then there's something about an election around the corner.

Gen Z is especially troubled.

One-third of college students report feeling anxious always, or most of the time.

One third report feeling anxious at least half of the time.

That leaves only 33% of our college-aged students who live with a prevailing sense of peace.

Anxiety's everywhere.

He said, Some nights I dream I'm a pup tent.

Some nights I dream I'm a teepee.

What does that mean?

The doctor said, That's easy.

You're too tense.

Rough crowd.

Rough crowd.

Maybe you're too tense.

Thanks to our angst, we sleep less.

We argue more.

We digest poorly.

And we ache everywhere.

Peace, it seems.

Got the last train out of Dodge.

And it's hard to find.

We could use some.

Maybe you could use some.

Perhaps that explains why this passage, this weekend's passage, is so treasured.

The Apostle Paul wrote, Be full of joy in the Lord always.

Again, I will say, be full of joy.

Let everyone see that you're gentle and kind.

The Lord is coming soon.

Do not worry about anything, but pray and ask God for everything you need, always giving thanks.

And God's peace, which is so great we cannot understand it, will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4, 4 through 7.

According to Kendall, the reading device, this is the most underlined scripture in the Bible.

Apparently the whole world could use a little more peace.

Chances are you or or someone you know is battling with an undertow, a threat.

God will help you.

God will help you.

Now his help may include some targeted assistance through the help of a counselor or a therapist or medication.

And if so, that's okay.

It most certainly includes Paul's prescription for the troubled heart.

I find at least three admonitions.

First of all, Paul urges us to trust God.

Trust God.

He says, be full of joy in the Lord always.

Again, or I will say again, be full of joy.

Easier said than done, right?

I mean, how can you be full of joy when you got bills to pay and kids to raise and deadlines to meet?

Well, the answer is found in three words.

In the Lord.

Be full of joy in the Lord.

If you believe that you face your problems alone, dear friend, you will never discover a deep and lasting peace.

If you think it's up to you to face and solve all your problems, you will never know a deep and lasting peace.

On the other hand, if you believe that you face your challenges in the Lord, in the presence of the Lord, in the name of the Lord, in the power of the Lord, in the protection of the Lord, you can be full of joy because you live in the Lord.

In the late 1970s, Steven Spielberg produced a movie called Jaws.

It related a fictional story of a monster shark that made meal out of swimmers on the New England coast.

And they set off on the boat captain's fishing boat in search of the shark.

No one had ever seen the shark before.

And when these three men did, they nearly fell over in fright.

The police chief delivered one of the most famous lines in cinema history.

He turned to the captain and said, You're gonna need a bigger boat.

The vessel was no match for the threat.

Suppose these three men had been riding on a larger ship.

Suppose they were standing on the deck of the seawise giant.

It's the largest oil taker tanker ever built.

Eight stories tall, over four football fields in length.

It weighs five hundred and sixty-four thousand tons.

Now, if these three men had seen that same shark from the deck of the Seawise, do you suppose their reaction would have been different?

They would have noticed the shark, they would have talked about the shark, they might have taken pictures of the shark, but would they have feared the shark?

No.

Because they were safe in a large vessel.

Life is full of sharks.

The sea of our lives is full of fear.

But if you're in the Lord, if you're in the Lord, they cannot get you.

They cannot have you.

They might try to frighten you, but they cannot consume you.

Please hear me, dear friend.

If you are in Christ, then you are on the USS Jesus Christ.

And you are safe.

You are safe because you are in his plan.

You are in his grace.

You are in his heart.

You are in his family.

You are in the Lord.

So if peace has slipped, revisit your vessel.

Remind yourself and remind the evil one.

No, no, no.

I am in the Lord.

Are you in need of peace?

Just trust God.

And tell God.

God.

This is Paul's next big point.

He says, pray and ask God for everything you need, always giving thanks.

Satan hates to see you pray.

Satan hates to see you pray.

He does not scatter when you listen to a sermon.

And demons do not backpedal when you perform acts of benevolence.

The principalities of hell are not flustered when you open a Christian book, unless it's a locato book.

But the walls of hell shake with you when you, with sincere heart and humble spirit, bow yourself before the King of Kings and say, Our Father who art in heaven.

Satan knows the power of prayer.

And he's aware of these promises.

Come near to God, and God will come near to you.

Or when a believing person prays, great things happen.

Or the Lord is close to everyone who prays to him, to all who truly pray to him.

Do you long for peace?

Well, tell God.

Tell him what's on your heart, what's on your mind, what's on your calendar.

Talk to God.

Tell him.

My first anxiety attack occurred when I was five years old.

The memory is surprisingly sharp.

I was riding up and down on the sidewalk in front of our house when I realized I had lost the keys to my tricycle.

My older sister, who was college age at the time, had made keys for me to use.

She took a rubber band and she hung a few bobby pins and handed the rubber band and the bobby pins to me and said, Here are keys to your tricycle.

I thought it was great.

But then I lost them.

I searched with such furor.

I cried with such volume that she heard me from inside the house and she came outside to help me.

And when I saw her, I did the most wonderful thing.

I told her.

I said, Jackie, I've lost the keys.

Shouldn't I tell her she made them?

She created them.

She gave them to me.

Didn't it make sense that I tell her what had happened?

And when I cried out to her, she did the most wonderful thing.

She reached down to me.

She said, Max, it's okay.

It's gonna be all right.

I'll make you some more.

And I trusted her.

Why?

Well, because she was in charge of the keys.

Your heavenly father is in charge of this world.

He is.

Your heavenly father runs this universe.

God raised Christ from death and set him on a throne in deep heaven in charge of running the universe, everything, from galaxies to governments, no name and no power exempt from his rule.

And not just for the time being, but forever.

He is in charge of it all, has the final word on everything.

Christ runs the show.

A meteor just streaked through a distant galaxy, and Christ caused it to do so.

A giraffe just took its first breath in the Congo, and Jesus knows exactly how many she will take in her life.

The migration of beluga's to the oceans, Jesus dictates their itinerary.

He has authority over the world, and he has authority over your life.

Your date of birth, that was his idea.

Your date of death, he already knows it.

Your mood swings, your sleep patterns, your eating habits, your salary, your traffic commute, that arthritis in your joint.

Christ is in charge.

He's never surprised.

He's even in charge of presidential elections.

And the woman who sits on the throne now will still be sitting on the throne then, regardless of who occupies the Oval Office.

He has never, ever, ever uttered the phrase, now how did that happen?

Jesus is the command center of the universe.

Not even a sparrow worth only half a penny can fall to the ground without your father knowing it.

He called a coin out of the mouth of a fish.

He stopped the waves with one word.

He spoke, and a tree became barren.

He spoke again, and a basket became a banquet.

Economy, meteorology, biology.

All things have been handed over to me by my Father.

Your greatest problem, dear friend, is nothing but a rubber band and some bobby pins to him.

And what is impossible for man is possible with God.

Now, Satan does not want you to believe this.

Satan does not want you to believe this.

He wants you to think that the world is spinning out of control.

He wants you to think that your life is spinning out of control.

And you have to interrupt those thoughts the moment they appear.

You've got to pluck them up, throw them out, and replant thoughts of faith.

You uproot and replant.

You uproot those thoughts of fear and you replant them with words of faith.

You've got to talk to yourself.

You have to.

You've got to take every thought captive.

Do not let those anxious thoughts have a moment inside your mind.

You dismiss them quickly.

This is how Christ brings peace.

You uproot thoughts of fear, replant them with thoughts of faith.

You can do this.

Just tell God.

Tell God.

Be quick to pray.

Be slow to worry.

Take your fretful thoughts to Jesus.

And the sooner you pray, the sooner peace will come.

So trust God.

Tell God.

And one more, thank God.

Thank God.

Again, the apostle says, do this always giving thanks.

Always give thanks, really?

Even when the babies make a mess and the boss makes demands and the and the spouse makes no sense?

Even when it's manna for breakfast, lunch, and dinner?

That was the question of the Israelites.

Did you know that the most famous grumblers in history were the Jews who wandered in the wilderness?

Look up the word complain in the Hebrew dictionary, and there you will see a picture of an Israelite waving a manna wafer at Moses, saying, manna again?

They were experts in worry and grumbling.

Listen to this sour chorus.

The people grumbled against Moses.

The whole community grumbled against Moses.

They grumbled against Moses.

The Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron.

The whole Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron.

The Israelites were world-class grumblers.

They had a PhD in complaining.

They were like the husband who always complained about his breakfast.

The eggs were never right.

The toast was always too crisp or the coffee was too cold.

One morning his wife determined to do her very best.

He wanted one egg scrambled and one egg fried.

She served him the eggs, one fried and one scrambled.

Still he grumbled, You fried the wrong egg.

The Israelites did the same.

They bellyached about the heat of the desert, the monotony of the manna, and the scarcity of the water.

Send us back to Egypt, they once said.

Now we read of this complaining, we shake our heads.

Let me get this straight.

You were slaves in Egypt, and God set you free.

He toppled the dynasty like a kid topples tinker toys.

He opened the Red Sea as casually as opening a book.

You witnessed miracle after miracle, fed by God, led by God.

You left Egypt with all the loot and headed toward the promised land, and still you grumble?

How could they grumble so much?

Well, apparently they're thinking the same about us.

Now, I'm not sure you're gonna believe this, but Moses contacted me.

Yeah.

I heard from him this week as I was working on this sermon.

A curious email came my way from Moses at mountsinai.com.

I thought I would read it to you.

Dear Max, I've been watching you prepare your lesson.

You're not the first preacher to discuss the grumbling Israelites.

But let me point out they weren't the last to grumble.

I've heard a bit from your folks as well.

Traffic is slow, you grumble.

Speed limit is slow, you grumble.

You have too many taxes, too few flights, too many classes, and too few places to eat.

Why, you even grumble at the way the Israelites grumbled.

So let me get this straight.

You were slaves to sin, but God set you free.

He toppled the dynasty of the devil like a kid topples tinker toys.

He opened the grave of Jesus as casually as you'd open a book.

You witness miracle after miracle.

You're fed by the manna of God's word, led by the fire of the Holy Spirit.

You're loaded with spiritual gifts.

On your way to the promised land, you grumble.

I don't think you would have survived the desert.

Patriarchally, Moses.

P.S.

I'm requesting an expansion of the Ten Commandments to eleven.

The new one would read, Thou shalt not grumble.

I don't know if the motion will pass the first ten after all were written in stone.

You know, we cannot.

Can you believe I got that email?

We cannot, dear friend, we cannot at once be anxious and thankful.

We cannot.

It just doesn't work.

Your heart refuses to allow anxiety and gratitude to enter at the same time.

And gratitude will always win the day.

If you want the surest way to deal with anxiety, just make a list of your blessings.

Choose gratitude.

Sometimes God calms the storm, but sometimes he just calms the child.

He's calming our friend Bill Loveless.

Bill is a beloved parachurch minister who lives in the San Antonio area and serves worldwide.

He was recently diagnosed with cancer, both of the pancreas as well as the liver.

The news has not taken him down.

Just the opposite.

In a letter to friends of his ministry that went out just less than 10 days ago, he stated, immediately upon hearing this diagnosis, I walked into a new realm of God's presence.

His love and his grace, the things I have been teaching, have become a living, breathing, 3D reality like I have never experienced.

The Lord and I have been in nonstop communion, and every day his presence, love, mercy, and comfort continue to fill my soul.

I truly can't put into words what the Lord is revealing, but I have never experienced such a deep awareness of his presence.

Will God take Bill's storm?

We don't know.

But we know he has calmed this child.

She buried her husband just a few weeks ago.

She's already sent me two messages of gratitude.

One for the scripture I texted her, the other for the flowers that we sent.

She's a widow at 40 with two middle schoolers.

And yet she is thankful.

Not so long, the future is uncertain.

But she writes, I can already see good come out of this.

God didn't keep her out of the storm, but he calmed her inside it.

No storm ever hit harder than the one that raged through Gethsemane's garden.

And no prayer was ever prayed with more passion than the one prayed by Jesus on the eve of his crucifixion.

Can you calm this storm?

He asked.

God did for Moses.

God did for Daniel.

God would do for Paul and Silas.

Could he not do for his own son?

Of course he could, but he chose not to.

Because the cross was part of God's plan.

God did not calm the storm, but our precious Father calmed his son.

And Jesus marched to Calvary in peace.

A heaven-sent, illogical stare death in the face with a smile of peace.

You can find peace.

Enough peace to cause a carpenter to snooze in a typhoon.

So just trust God.

Tell God.

Thank God, and you will find a peace that passes all understanding.

Amen.

Thank you, Lord, for this promise, for the blessing, for the goodness, and let peace settle upon this wonderful church, all campuses, all people.

And let peace settle upon this fragile planet.

We offer this prayer in Jesus' name, the Prince of Peace, and all God's people said.

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.