Peace In His Presence (Nov 7, 2021) Greg Vanderleeuw

Hello and welcome to the Redemption Church Podcast.

We're a church in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada that exists to glorify God through the fulfillment of the Great Commission and the spirit of the Great Commandment.

Thanks for joining us today.

Well, good morning, uh church.

Uh my name is Greg, and uh it's a joy to be here today.

I serve on staff at uh Hope Oakville, and so it's great to be here in the body of Christ in a different location.

I was thinking this morning driving in.

Over the last number of weeks, you've had a few of uh the brothers that I get to serve with uh in Oakville with uh little hair.

And I thought driving this morning, there are people in Oakville that do have hair, just so you know that.

But uh, regardless, it's good to be here, and it's gonna be a joy to open up God's word with you today, and we're gonna do that in just a moment.

Um, I want to ask you a few questions as we begin today.

Uh, what does peace look like in your life?

What is peace?

Maybe some of you you've heard the word peace used in our world.

Uh sometimes it comes up at different times.

Sometimes peace comes up when we say things like, peace, bro, or maybe when we hear things uh like all I want is world peace, or maybe you remember Christmas songs that say, Let there be peace on earth?

Think of the hymn as well that says, When peace like a river attendeth my way.

But what do we mean when we talk or think about peace?

Maybe in your own life, maybe you're thinking right now, do I have peace?

Or what is peace in my life?

But maybe more helpfully, think of what the absence of peace looks like in your life.

Chaos?

Just running from one thing to the next.

Maybe it feels like discouragement.

Maybe it feels like wondering what exactly I'm living for.

Because peace, as we're gonna see today, the peace-filled life, peace in the presence of Jesus alone, is what carries us through difficult trials, difficult seasons.

Paul says in Galatians, peace is fruit that is marked in our lives, and so we should want and long and be hungry for and be searching for peace.

And so we're gonna see that in an incredible story today of what it looks like to have peace.

Right before we turn to Luke 8, I would love to just pray that God would move today as we open his word.

So pray with me.

Father, in this moment now we we open your word with reverence because we understand that you've given us your word as a written revelation of who you are.

God, you have given Jesus the Son, who is the Prince of Peace.

So, God, speak to us today.

Maybe as we've sung already, help us see how dependent we are for you for peace in our lives.

Maybe convict us of the things that we've been running to in our lives or this world that we thought had peace but isn't satisfying.

And really, God, we're just praying that you would do what only you can do in this moment.

Stir our love for you, open our eyes to see you, and allow us to worship you for how awesome you are.

Pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

All right, church, so if you haven't already, uh Luke chapter 8 is a story of incredible peace today.

Luke 8 · chapter mention

Luke chapter 8, and we're gonna look at a number of verses in a story from 26 to 39.

Luke 8 · chapter mention

There's some verses there of a man who is possessed by demons, and that in many ways has been the mark of his life.

It's what people know him as.

And we're gonna see today how Jesus comes, who's the Prince of Peace, and he entirely restores and redeems this man's life.

He brings peace to his life where maybe he thought he'd never be able to experience it.

And we're gonna see some people who observe what takes place today.

I want to show you on the screen uh three encounters that we see in this passage today.

Jesus uh shows up on the scene after crossing the Sea of Galilee, and there's three encounters he has.

You see in the first set of verses there, Jesus encounters a man possessed by demons, but we can see we're gonna see from his exchange and the dialogue that Jesus is encountering uh demons in our first encounter.

And then as the passage goes on, we see the response to that.

We see the city folk, those who live in the country and in the surrounding area, they hear about what Jesus is doing and they respond in a particular way.

We're gonna see that in a second encounter.

And then the third encounter we see at the end of this passage is so beautiful.

It's with the man himself who Jesus has freed and brought peace to.

And so that's what we're gonna see in our passage today.

I want to show you a picture as well on the screen for all of us.

Maybe you're a visual learner of what takes place in our story.

So look at the picture of the Sea of Galilee.

That's the setting of our story today, as we're gonna read.

And we're gonna hear about how Jesus got in a boat with his disciples and sails across the Sea of Galilee.

You can see in the background there this mountain range on the other side of the Sea of Galilee.

We'll call them the steep banks.

There's a visual for you to remember, but uh there's some steep banks where we're gonna hear about what happens to the pigs.

Um, maybe you know the story.

And and in the far region, as Jesus um enters the shore and gets out of the boat and encounters the man, and then these people see and watch, and then they go back to their homes.

It's the region of the decapolis, which is really the Greek word for saying ten cities.

There's a bunch of different regions, but we're gonna hear the important thing is this wasn't Jewish territory.

Jewish territory was on the other side, and Capernaum, where you can see there, where Jesus' earthly ministry had begun.

And so imagine with me uh the story here.

Jesus and his disciples get into a boat, and maybe you know that story more than the story we're gonna look at today.

In fact, in Luke chapter 8, I'd love for us to maybe just rewind and just take a look at verse 22 for a moment.

Luke 8 · chapter mention

It's in maybe in your Bible, there's a title that says Jesus Calms the Storm.

And in the story, we read how Jesus gets in a boat with his disciples, and if you know the story, they they set out sail across the Sea of Galilee.

And all of a sudden the wind and the waves begin to pick up, and the storm begins, and it's raining and probably thundering and lightning.

And we read in the story that Jesus' disciples are afraid.

Maybe they're afraid from the storm.

They feel like because there's water coming in the boat, you can see in the verses there, that maybe they're afraid our boat's gonna sink.

But maybe they're afraid because as we find out, Jesus is sleeping in the storm.

And so his disciples in the boat go to Jesus and they wake him and say, Jesus, master, we are perishing.

Please do something to save us.

And you know the story, the rebuke at the end in those few verses, 25 and 26.

Jesus says to them, Where's your faith?

Where's your faith in me?

Where's your faith that when you're in my presence, there's always peace?

And then in the last verse, as Jesus stands up and says, Be still in some of the gospel accounts, and then the wind and the waves cease, and the storm ends in that moment, Jesus' disciples are in that boat looking at him, and it says they say to each other, Who then is this that even the wind and the waves obey him?

Now, often that's the end of our reading of Luke chapter 8.

Luke 8 · chapter mention

But if we know from verse 22, look at what it says.

One day he got into a boat with his disciples, and he said to them, Let us go across to the other side of the lake.

So Jesus is on a mission to go somewhere.

What happens in the Sea of Galilee is just like an intermission within the story, because now we come to our passage today in verse 26, and we say, Well, what's gonna happen next?

Where were you going?

And so let's read our passage today in Luke chapter 8, 26, and following.

Luke 8 · chapter mention

Luke chapter 8, verse 26.

Luke 8:26

Jesus said, or the passage says, Then they sailed to the country of the Garosenes, or other gospels says the Gaterenes, which is opposite Galilee.

When Jesus had stepped out on the land, there met him a man from the city who had demons.

For a long time he had worn no clothes, he had not lived in a house, but among the tombs.

And when he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him, and said in a loud voice, What have you to do with me, Jesus, son of the most high God?

I beg you, do not torment me.

For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man.

For many a time it had ceased him, he was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the desert.

Jesus then asked him in verse thirty, What is your name?

And he said, Legion.

For many demons had entered him, and they begged him to command them to depart into the not into the abyss.

Now a large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and they begged him to let them enter these.

Look at that.

So he gave them permission.

Verse 33.

Then the demons came out of the man and the and entered the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and drowned.

Verse 34.

When the herdsmen saw what had happened, they fled, and they told it in the city and in the country.

Then people went out to see what had happened.

And they came to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had gone, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind.

And they were afraid.

And those who had seen it told them how the demon-possessed man had been healed.

And then all the people of the surrounding country, the Garrisons, asked him to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear.

So we got into the boat and returned.

The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, Return to your home and declare how much God has done for you.

And he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him.

So considering the context of our story, Jesus comes to the shore with his disciples.

You can imagine that in that moment, as they're approaching the shore, Jesus' disciples, they're still drying themselves from the wind and the waves.

They're still maybe wiping the nervous sweat off their foreheads, and maybe they're still even panting and breathing.

Their hearts are beating, remembering what had just taken place.

And then maybe in wondering, it's gonna feel good to go home.

They look at Jesus and they see his eyes looking on the distant shore.

The region of the garrisons.

And maybe they look at one another and think, oh no.

What is he looking at?

Where are we going?

This was a region that no one dared to go.

Rightly so.

We find out who's waiting for him, and maybe imagine as well that during the storm, visible by land, perhaps, they say the human eye can see upwards of 40 kilometers.

The Sea of Galilee was only about 11 by 15 kilometers, and so maybe this man, possessed by demons, loving the chaos, is waiting for this boat at the shore.

Maybe he's watching the storm and he's loving it, but then he sees the storm end and a figure of someone standing up in the boat, maybe with his arms up, and he he realizes in that moment that man has done something to the storm.

That man is coming towards me on this shore.

And maybe in that moment he's trying to figure out where this boat is coming because he is ready and he is waiting to confront who's coming.

And so then we come to our passage in verse 28, as Jesus comes to the shore and steps out on the sand, as the disciples follow him cautiously.

It says in this passage here in verse 28 that when this man sees Jesus, he cries out and he falls down before him, and he says in a loud voice, What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?

He begs Jesus, do not torment me.

This man who is naked and homeless, he's very powerful and dangerous, probably self-mutilating, he's lonely, he lives with no one.

He's experiencing in many ways a life filled with peace-lessness.

And then this Jesus comes to the shore and he runs and he falls down in his presence.

Because he knows that the Prince of Peace has come to a place where peace has not known.

And so, in many ways, we see in verse 28, as this man falls down, his posture is a reflection of who is in his presence.

So think in your own life right now what your posture in the presence of Jesus is.

Is your life marked by a posture that says, I recognize who is in my presence?

Or maybe in your life right now you're thinking, I don't really care for this Prince of Peace.

I don't desire or long to be in his presence.

Maybe you feel combatants and you're resisting and fighting the presence of God in your life, what he's trying to teach you or show you, or how he's moving in your life.

Or maybe you're like this man and you recognize that this is Jesus, Son of the Most High God.

And you recognize that, like his posture, you too submit and fall down before Jesus.

What's happening in this passage is Luke answering the question of the disciples.

Remember back to verse 25?

His disciples are wondering, well, who is who is this person that even the wind and the waves obey him?

And then in response, the demons in this first encounter, they are answering the question.

We'll tell you who this is.

This is Jesus, Son of the Most High God.

So it causes this man to fall down because the demons are in submission to Jesus.

In fact, if you like marking up your Bible or highlighting or making notes, look at look in the next few verses here in our story.

Look at all the verbs or some of the adjectives that describe how Jesus is in control.

Luke uses words like begging in our verses or asking for permission or about seizing.

There's control, there's a lack of peace.

What he wants us to see is Jesus is the only one who can bring peace amidst the chaos.

Jesus is the only one who all of the natural, the wind and the waves and the supernatural of the demons in this man.

He is the only one that the natural and supernatural bow down to.

And the Son of the Most High God bows down to none.

And so in verse 30, we have this interaction between Jesus now and this man.

The first encounter of the demons, Jesus continues, and he says in verse 30, What is your name?

And the demons respond, out of this man, legion, for many had entered him.

And then verse 31, they beg him, they beg him not to command them, see how Jesus is in control?

Not to command them to depart into the abyss.

And so even in this moment, even though a single Jesus is in the presence of a man possessed by a legion, armies of demons, it is the demons in this encounter who are bowed down before Jesus Christ.

And so the verses continue then and explain a little bit what happens in verses 32 and 33.

They're asking Jesus for mercy.

Please do not destroy us.

At least in your pity, allow us to go and enter into this herd of pigs on the countryside.

In our passage, Luke says it was just a large herd of pigs.

But it comes up in other gospel accounts.

Mark says there was perhaps 2,000 swine.

In Matthew, it says that there were many pigs.

Many scholars have wondered, well, why is this in this story?

Why doesn't Jesus just do away with them and then they're gone?

And some say, well, to the Jewish people, they would absolutely detest pork.

They had nothing to do with pigs.

They just saw this as an unclean situation.

And some scholars say, well, you're not in the Jewish region anymore.

Remember, Jesus had sailed to the land of the Garosenes, which was under the rule of the Romans.

And what better reason to have a large army of pigs than to feed the Roman army?

And some would suggest that Jesus here is just dealing the Romans a significant blow as his ministry is now growing beyond the region of the Jews into the Roman territory.

But I think what's taking place in this moment right here is Jesus is casting out the demons and sending them away.

Jesus is bringing peace to an unclean man with an unclean spirit by casting into unclean animals, living in an unclean region in an unclean vocation.

Look at what's taking place.

Jesus is up to something.

This man had never encountered the Prince of Peace.

He didn't know what that looked like in his life.

And here, in one moment, Jesus changes everything.

He encounters this man with demons, and the demons are begging not to be destroyed by this Jesus who is in control and has power in life and says, You are to leave this man now.

Yes, you are allowed.

Go into the pigs.

And it says in those verses, and then the herd of pigs rush down and destroy this herd.

And then we're left with this man in the presence of Jesus.

Bow down.

Verse 35.

He's sitting at the feet of Jesus.

He's closed.

He's in his right mind.

Just stop there and think about what in that moment had happened for this man?

Living all alone for all of these years, tormented in peace.

Maybe he had a family that wondered if he would ever return home again.

Maybe he had a wife that wondered, will my husband ever come back to me?

Maybe his children were left for years without a father to care for and provide for them because they wondered if their dad would ever return home.

And here in this moment, everything changes because of Jesus.

And like what look at what happens in this moment.

In the end of verse 35, he's sitting at the feet of Jesus.

He's clothed, he's in his right mind.

And here in this moment, we're transitioning to the second encounter.

Because the people watching what had just taken place between Jesus and the demons see this man sitting here.

And look what it says.

They were afraid.

They were afraid.

It says in those verses that uh the herdsmen saw what had happened, they fled.

They told it in the city, in the country, and then the people come out to see what had happened, and they find Jesus, and they find the man whose life is now filled with incredible peace.

And it says that they were filled with fear.

This isn't not the reaction that we thought we would find.

So why are they filled with fear?

Maybe they're filled with fear because of the man that they were about to expect to find in previous accounts.

Maybe they're filled with fear because they're coming and they see somehow the man who seems to be controlling this man.

Maybe they were afraid of what Jesus would do to their lives.

Turn them upside down.

Take all of their affections and stir them.

A kingdom they weren't expecting.

And so the people are marked with fear, and often when we read the story, we think, wow, that's a strange response.

But really, their reaction is not so different than our lives.

We fill our lives with all sorts of things that we think will bring us peace.

Or things in our lives we try to subdue or control, or we just want to have a Handle on, and yet we try and try and try, and we can never get a grasp on it.

And so maybe the people come in this situation and they see this Jesus and they think, We have tried everything.

How can you do it?

What have you done?

Or maybe perhaps how embarrassing for us.

So I want to stop in the story here and help us see two things that are taking place.

Today we're learning about peace in the presence of Jesus.

And our story reveals to us two things so far that peace in his presence is not.

So, number one, if you're taking notes, see this.

Peace in his presence is not marked by fear.

We've seen that in the demons, and we're seeing this in this group of people now in the second encounter.

If you want peace in the presence of Jesus, your life cannot be marked by fear.

Think about, for example, in the first account, the demons are filled with fear.

They're worried Jesus might torment them or destroy them, and they and they say, Jesus, just send us away from your presence.

We cannot be in your presence, we are afraid of you.

And then think about what we just looked at.

The people come and they see this man and Jesus, and they say, We need you to leave our presence.

We are afraid of you.

Is your life marked by fear?

It's easy to look at the story and think maybe perhaps, wow, it's not the response that they should have had in Jesus' presence.

They shouldn't be filled with fear if they realized it was the Prince of Peace.

What Jesus could do for them.

Fear in our lives looks like all sorts of things.

Looks like a fear of people.

Sometimes we're afraid of what people think of us or how we look or whether or not we can perform according to their expectations.

Sometimes our lives are filled with fear because we have maybe even a misunderstanding of who this Prince of Peace is.

Maybe we have a misunderstanding of God and we feel like God is all judgment or all wrath, and we don't know that God is loving as well.

Or maybe vice versa.

Or maybe there's a doctrine we've heard before that was not according to the word of God.

We've been misinformed with God, and therefore when we read the passive Jesus, we say, well, no wonder, no wonder they don't want to be in his presence, but it's because we don't quite understand who this Jesus is.

In our lives, we fear death.

We can fear our government.

We fear getting COVID.

We sometimes fear things in our lives of what can be taken away from us, like our jobs or our family or our friends.

This is a good reminder for us in our passage that it's only the perfect love of Jesus that casts out fear.

Jesus doesn't rebuke this man, he doesn't condemn him, he allows him to fall at his feet, and he brings peace to his life.

He does what no one else can do because only true peace, true lasting peace comes from Jesus.

And so peace in his presence is not marked by fear, but secondly, it's also not marked by distance.

See, in the first encounter, the distance was the demons saying, Send us away from your presence.

When the city folk come, they say, No, we're not leaving.

This is where we live.

You need to leave.

You need to leave our presence forever.

But we see in this moment that those who experience the true peace of Jesus in their lives are those who long to be with him.

Maybe you're wondering where we get this from.

We're gonna see that and how this man responds to Jesus.

Maybe another way to think about this is you cannot have true peace in your life and not be abiding in Jesus.

There's no peace found in being separated from God.

That's our current estate apart from faith in Jesus.

We are separated from God.

There's no peace in that.

That's why Paul writes and says that when we put faith in God, when we realize we are loved by God, nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.

But here's what we try and do sometimes: we we catch the mirage of peace.

Maybe in our lives we think we found peace, or we feel satisfied, or life is relatively stable, and then a trial comes, or something difficult comes in our lives, and we're oppressed or oppressed, and we realize I have nothing to stand on.

Why am I feeling this way?

It's like at the beach on that sunny day with the gentle breeze and the sun is shining, and you grab your beach floaty and you go out in the lake and you bask in the sun.

And then after a while, you look at your friends or your family on your shore and you're like, oh, they're right, oh, they're right there.

Wow.

I've been drifting.

I haven't realized how far I have missed the mark.

So if peace is not found apart from Jesus, if it's found in intimacy with him, here's the question for us today.

Are we intimate with Jesus?

Are you depending on him?

When's the last time you've been in God's word spending God's time with him or crying out in prayer to him?

When's the last time you've surrendered your work and your family and your marriage and your children or your education, saying, God, it's all yours.

I am depending on you because I need to be close to you in this time or in this season.

Maybe some of you here today need to get to the feet of Jesus to experience the true peace that he brings in his presence.

And so we've seen two markings of what the peace in his presence is not like, but in order to find out what it is like, we gotta finish our story today.

As we get to the final verses, remember Isaiah chapter 61, verse 10.

Isaiah 61:10

Think about this man sitting at the feet of Jesus.

Isaiah 61 says, I will greatly rejoice in the Lord.

My soul shall exalt in my God, for he has clothed me with garments of salvation.

He has covered me with the robe of righteousness.

That's what's taking place in this moment.

This man has been clothed because of Jesus.

He's been washed clean and salvation has come to his life.

That's the reality for you and me today.

When we think about Jesus Christ, God who has come down and lived a perfect life, who gave up himself by dying on a cross and being crucified.

And that by three days later he came back to life, conquering sin and death, proclaiming victory over all of these things.

He appeared to his apostles and disciples and followers and said, It's me, I've risen, but I'm going to heaven to prepare a place for all those who put their faith in me.

The reality for you and I today is believing the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ means that we too come before Jesus and fall down and we can be clothed in the garments of righteousness.

Just like this man.

Philippians 4 7 on the screen for you.

It also says that when this happens and you experience that peace at Jesus' feet, the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, it will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Feeling fearful today?

Run to the peace of Jesus.

See a healthy and accurate understanding of who Jesus is, what he can do, and maybe perhaps what he's done in you causes us to want to be dependent on him.

As we sang today, Lord, I need you.

Every hour I need you.

And so the characteristic we see about peace in his presence is this.

Thirdly, it is marked by dependence.

And we're going to see that in verse 38 in this man.

Peace in his presence is marked by dependence.

So let's look at verse 38.

It says, The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him, Jesus.

He wants to be in Jesus' presence.

Remember again, in the first encounter, the demons say, Send us away.

In the second encounter, the people say, We're sending you away.

And now in this third encounter with this man before Jesus, who's brought peace in his life, he's sitting and he's clothed and he's saying in his right mind, he's saying, Jesus, I have the perspective in my life now to know that what I need most is you.

I need to be in your presence.

And so here comes Jesus one day with the sole purpose.

Remember verse 22?

The sole purpose of crossing the lake to meet a man who needed peace in his life.

And then we read in this verse, Jesus is about to return because he's being sent away from their presence.

And this man says, No, no, no, no, no, you can't go.

I need to be with you.

And he begs Jesus to be in his presence.

But look at the verse and how it continues in verse 38.

But Jesus sent him away.

And he says, Return to your home.

So this man wants to be with Jesus, but Jesus sends him away.

We're going to get that in just a moment.

But this man's response, you know, this this reminds me of a story like Les Mes, if you know the story of Les Meserables by Victor Hugo.

Jean Valjean is a prisoner for 19 years, and in the opening scenes, he gets his freedom ticket.

The police inspector Javert says, You are now a free man under parole, but you may go, you're no longer a slave.

It's like in that story compared to this account that Jean Valjean, when given his yellow ticket of freedom, says, No, actually, I want to be in your presence.

I mean, this response is strange to us.

And so look what happens when he begs Jesus to be in his presence.

Jesus says, No, you must go home.

And you must, look at the end of verse 39, declare how much God has done for you.

That's what you must do.

Go and declare.

Tell people about the peace you have found in my presence.

That's what Jesus wants him to do.

And so fourth, peace in our lives, peace in his presence is marked by declaring.

Now notice what's different here in this passage.

Because what happens after this and in other parts of the Gospels is Jesus heals someone or performs a miracle, and then what does he say?

Don't tell anyone.

Don't let them know that it was me, Jesus.

But here in the story, Jesus says, No, I actually want you to go home, and I want you to declare that you have found peace in Jesus.

So what's happening here in this part of the story is Jesus' ministry is now growing beyond the Jews.

It's time for the Gentiles to hear.

It's time for disciples to be made of all nations, to be baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

It's Jesus' disciples in this moment watching Jesus' encounter with this man.

And they're seeing a pre-release of the Great Commission.

Imagine that.

Jesus' disciples return home and their friends come and they say, Hey, what'd you do this weekend?

It's like, oh, oh, we went and saw pre-release.

It was the show was amazing.

Oh, yeah, would you see?

Well, it's not out yet, but Jesus is making disciples of all nations.

And so, while in our account here in Luke, it doesn't really tell us what happens when this man returns home.

But in the other gospel accounts, this man goes home and he talks about peace that he found in Jesus' presence and says that the people marveled.

Wow.

I can't believe the person you used to be to the person you are today.

Maybe they would wonder more about who this Jesus is.

His encounter had changed his life.

Jesus has given this commission to this man and he's equipping him with the sandals of the gospel of peace, saying, Go, be ready to declare who I am.

So maybe today at the beginning of our time together when we opened God's word, when you were asked the question about what peace looks like in your life, I want you to think about peace now in this understanding.

Is the peace that you have in your life marked by declaring about Jesus?

Have what you have experienced in Jesus, is that compelling you to tell others?

To say, I need to tell you about the person I used to be, but but I found peace in my life.

I was searching, I was wandering, I was broken, I kept trying to satisfy myself, but when I found Jesus, everything at his feet made sense.

He welcomed me, he loved me, he took me in.

I found something that I've never found before.

Because if we don't have peace in our lives, what happens is we start to see fear breed and doubts and discouragement breed.

Because our lives are not marked by peace.

Psalm 26 says, You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you because he trusts in you.

You know, the man in our story is not much different than us.

Maybe some of you here today, you're hearing the story again of Luke chapter 8, and you remember back in your life that time when broken and distraught over your sin, you remember saying, Jesus, I need you.

Luke 8 · chapter mention

I need the Prince of Peace to come into my life.

I surrender it all to you.

No more trying, no more trying to do it on my own anymore.

No more trusting myself.

I trust in you.

I fall at your feet.

I want you to clothe me in your righteousness, in your garments of salvation.

But maybe some of you here today are looking into this man's story, and there is a very clear invitation for you to come and to sit at the feet of Jesus.

To stop being tormented by the things in your life, to stop struggling, to give up with the pride or the striving and to fall at Jesus and say, I believe that you are the Prince of Peace.

I believe you are the only one who brings peace into my life in my trials, in my troubles, in the struggle right now.

I give it to you.

Maybe some of you today need to be called to come and surrender at the feet of Jesus.

But wherever you're at today, there's a beautiful invitation in this passage as well.

For us to see Jesus for who he is.

Maybe like that man on the shore.

Maybe like that person who someone in your life has been telling you about over and over.

Let me tell you about this Jesus.

You gotta know this Jesus.

Or maybe the Jesus that many of you have believed in for years and years, and you're reminded again that only true peace is found in him.

As we close, I want to pray over you that Jesus would give peace in your life in this season.

And so join me as we pray together.

Jesus, we confess to you today as the Prince of Peace.

That the peace that you are and the peace that you bring is unlike peace that we will ever find in this world.

And so, Father, I thank you for Jesus, the Prince of Peace.

Thank you for giving your son for us.

Because God, our lives were marked by distance before Jesus.

And then, as it says in Hebrews, you sent the high priest, Jesus, to come and to reconcile us back to God.

Because you gave your son to pay for the price that our sin would never be paid for if we tried it in our own terms.

So thank you, Jesus, for your sacrifice.

Thank you, Jesus, that there's grace found in your presence and mercy.

It doesn't matter how broken our lives are or the experiences we've gone through in life, we can all fall at the feet of Jesus and surrender to you and you welcome us.

So, God, I pray for this church that you would cause them to abide in you and believe that dependence and the nearness of Jesus changes everything for them in their lives.

Pray for the families of this church and the marriages in this church.

Pray for the children and the youth in this church, God, that lives would be marked by peace, that the watching world would look in and say, Tell me about your Jesus, because how you live your life is different than anything I've ever seen.

My life is filled with fear, and yours is filled with peace.

My life is filled with hopelessness, but your life is filled with hope.

Show me the way to the feet of Jesus.

Show me what it looks like to have peace in his presence.

So, God, would you do this in this place amongst your people?

Would you cause them a desire to go and to declare how much God has done for them?

And would you do this for your glory and for your glory alone?

We pray this all in the name of the Prince of Peace, Jesus.

Amen.

Amen.

Well, church, I want to close our time together today with a benediction from the book of Numbers.

It's something that Aaron gave the people of God that also relates to peace for us.

Maybe it's a benediction you've heard before.

It says, the Lord be gracious to you and merciful.

The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you his peace.

And so until we see you again, we just want to say have a wonderful day, have a wonderful weekend, and God bless you are loved.