The Way of Jesus 25.0

It is my pleasure to invite forward a good friend of mine, his name's

Andrew and Andrew, is the pastor down at a church that up to a couple

of weeks ago, was called Great Life Church, yet you're in that season, man.

We're gonna have to keep, but it's now called local church.

And, and it's just been a, a pleasure to get to know Andrew.

He grew up with the Burnes.

So, and so he is known to quite a few people here at the church, but he's

married to a beautiful woman, Meg.

And, and they, they just, just leave with such humility and passion

for Christ and for local church.

And, and why don't we just welcome him as he comes to give the word tonight.

Thank you, my man.

It's tricky because.

we chose a name local church and everyone's like, we love the

local church about every church.

That's called local church.

So we just claim it that they're praying for us serving the local church.

hello.

My name is Andrew.

Luke, do we call you Pastor Luke?

Nah.

So Pastor, the Bishop Luke has, introduced me already, Reverend.

my name is Andrew.

I have a beautiful wife, Meg.

She is a nurse and I have two boys, Charlie and Ollie.

They're six and eight, and it is a hectic age.

All the parents said, amen.

But it is a good age.

I just wanna give a few shout outs there.

Trudy.

Pauline, you sang so beautifully.

Not saying Michael didn't, but you guys just sang so, so beautifully

and it was, I was being a pastor visiting other churches, you look

forward to getting ministered to.

'cause so often you're in your own church and you're so

used to, oh, what's going on?

Where is everyone?

All this sort of stuff.

And then, then when you actually get to sit there and be mitered

to, it's the most beautiful thing.

So thank you worship team.

Sound lighting for Donovan, my man for Restream to us tonight.

Alright, turn to the person next to you and tell them what

is the best Christmas song out.

You got 30 seconds, go for it.

That is,

what is the best Christmas song?

And you're allowed to choose Mariah Carey.

You are allowed to, no one.

It doesn't have to be just Christian songs.

He can, he can't choose Mariah Carey,

who's who said, all I Want For Christmas is You.

Anyone say that?

Yes, my man.

What's some other songs?

What other songs?

Yell it out at me.

Joy to the world.

Was that silent?

Silent night?

Yeah.

Anyone else?

Thriller.

No, that's, sorry, that's not a Christmas song, my man.

It's, it's still a good song, like Die Hard's, a Christmas movie.

You know, it's, we can claim it.

I have lots of love for this church.

Like, like Luke said, there's been a connection to this church.

Adam and Dale have looked out for me and my wife for a long time.

Luke and I have talked a lot, a lot of theology, had a lot of coffees.

Call Kieran, I grew up with them.

So a lot of love for Red Dawson.

My heart tonight is to come and serve you, to minister to you to

bring some of that local church fire.

'cause we're Pentecostal down a local church and everyone said,

ah, I say this to people to make them feel a bit more comfortable.

I believe in the power of Pentecost.

Everyone said amen.

Amen.

Yes.

I like people talking back to me.

It makes, it fills my ego up and that's what today is all about.

An ego thing.

Alright, I love what you've been parked in and honestly I make

jokes, the way of what has just happened over the East coast.

I think the sermon today is actually quite apt.

It may, it is very amazing that I'm preaching this

after what we've just heard.

Uh.

We're talking about Shalom, say shalom sha now say it with, with a bit Jewish Shalom.

Shalom.

It's, it's the same, to be honest.

It is like.

But we're talking about Shalom today.

But first of all, I love the fact that you guys have been talking

about uncovering the way of Jesus.

I think you can park yourself in this for a long time.

I think 20, 25 weeks.

And by the time when I said to Luke, Hey, what have you spoken about Luke?

Like, what haven't we spoken about?

And so I said, okay, that it's, I have to kind of just listen

to Gordon, this one, you know?

And so it came to this place of God saying, just speak about

Shalom, speak about Shalom.

But before we get to Shalom, I wanna just touch on the way of Jesus and

John Sto, who's heard of John Sto before, one of my favorite theologians.

Nobody can call himself a Christian who does not worship Jesus.

Jesus is central.

Jesus is central and you cannot call yourself a disciple

if you do not follow Jesus.

You cannot call yourself a disciple if you do not follow the way of Jesus.

Acts 24 14 a says, however, I admit that I worship the God of our

ancestors as a follower of the way.

if I'm repeating something, just let me go.

I'm get trying to get some, some groove here.

The way of Jesus was how the church was originally referred to.

No one said, I go to red door, no one says I go to local church.

They said, we follow the way of Jesus.

So that tells me that there is the way of something else.

Yeah, there.

If there is the way of Jesus, there is the way of something else.

So Paul is saying, I follow the way of Jesus.

Who is the way, the truth, and the, come on.

We're all.

I think we're all Christians here.

If not, we will be by the end.

Come on.

Amen.

And if you want to experience the fullness that God promises to us,

then we need to be with Jesus, become like Jesus and do as Jesus did.

We need to follow his way.

But the thing about this is, and I'm not that old.

But I'm getting there.

It's harder to get off the floor than it used to be.

Yes.

Anyone?

Anyone?

Anyone dread getting on the floor now?

It's a terrible time.

The wave.

Jesus can be hard.

But it is the best way.

I was talking to someone today and he was talking about all these kind of different

theological possibilities, and I was just saying to him, you know, I don't

know if Hym is multiple gods or not.

But I subscribe to the best way, which is the Jesus way.

And so there's some things we have to take just at faith value because it says it in

the word of God and the way of Jesus is in the Word of God and it is the best way.

Do you know why?

I know it is the best way?

'cause there is.

A not best way.

It says in one Corinthians 10 23 Get this.

I have the right to do anything.

Yeah, you say, but not everything is beneficial.

What?

I have the right to do anything, but not everything is constructive.

Church.

Do not be surprised when you make a stupid decision that

leads to a stupid consequence.

It is like, I have drunk this milk that is five days over expiry.

Ugh.

And all the people, ugh, milk was a bad choice.

It's like anyone who knows that stupid decisions lead to stupid consequences.

I'm speaking in grace today.

The reason being is who's ever heard of the saying?

Oh, it's not very common, so I, I only heard it when I was over in England.

It's like, how do you avoid getting a broken leg?

No, sorry.

Sorry.

How do you fix a broken leg?

Don't get a broken leg.

How do you fix a broken leg?

Don't get a broken leg.

This is life changing stuff for you this morning, this afternoon.

Amen.

Hear me out.

God can redeem and restore.

God can redeem and restore, but he won't override your free

will and ability to choose.

Yes.

Who's heard of that saying We are the sum of, sum of our choices.

It's a philosophical one.

You know, philoso, philosophy's not evil, so there's some wisdom in this.

We are the sum of our choices just because we are Christian.

It does not mean that we are exempt from the consequences or results of

our actions and choices because your hand is gonna keep getting burnt

if you keep touching the hot stove.

So what?

What do we do?

We look to the Bible, we look to Jesus, we look to the way of Jesus,

and we say, Lord, your way better.

We obey quickly.

Who's heard that before?

Obedience is is an a partial thing.

Slow obedience isn't obedience at all.

We look to Jesus the way of Jesus because we know that he has our best in mind.

If you want to guarantee someone who's.

So for you, look to the Bible.

Look to Jesus.

Say Amen.

Amen.

Still with me?

Yes.

Alright.

The way of Jesus is not an intellectual exercise, all my theologians.

It is not an intellectual exercise, but it's transformation that leads

to application, that leads to good fruit transformation, that leads to

application, that leads to good fruit.

And so there's an invitation to Christlikeness through

surrender and obedience to the way of Jesus and to God's plan.

So what are you choosing today?

This is my question.

We are some of our choices.

Are you gonna obey quickly?

Are you gonna delay, delay, delay, delay, delay?

God, why weren't you there?

Delay, delay, delay.

Oh God, you're not faithful.

Nah.

You drank five day old milk.

You have to, we have to understand, and like I said, I'm to my old

people, Hey, I'm over 35, 36 is such a weird age, so naff, no one cares.

No one cares until you're 40.

Like, it's like, as I get older, I, I care less about.

Like making you feel good.

And I actually want, I want our church to say, Hey, we have obeyed

God and we've avoided pitfalls.

We have avoided these things because the way of God is a lightened to our feet.

Yeah.

He guides us into all truth.

You still with me?

I'm gonna pray for you 'cause you need it.

Father God, I just pray for every single person here.

Lord, I pray if there's anything hidden in our hearts that it'll come to light.

Lord, I pray where grace is needed, conviction is

needed, that you'll bring it.

You are not a God who condemns.

You're a God who convicts and brings change.

So we just open our hearts to you.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Alright, now I'm gonna start my sermon anyway.

Joking.

There's a,

there's no clock, so I'm just gonna go forever.

You know, it's, we're gonna talk about the, the concept

of biblical Shalom se Shalom.

Alright.

There's two things.

There's two kingdoms that's warring.

In the world.

If you want to hear a good podcast, BEMA, Beamer podcast, very, it goes into depth,

this sort of context, this understanding, two worlds going on to kingdoms.

The first one is called Empire.

Say Empire.

We've got Empire and then we have Shalom, empire versus Shalom.

We've got a battle.

We've got a derby.

Who's an Eagles fan in this place?

Hoorah.

It's terrible.

It's terrible being an Eagles fan.

But we have a derby on because the way of Jesus is shalom.

The way of the world is empire.

I'm gonna unpack this, but I want to build a PLA platform for us

first, going back into the Bible, the biblical narrative a little bit,

because in the Bible we see three empires, three empires that arise

again and again and again in the Bible.

The first one is Egypt.

Second one is Babylon.

Third one is Rome.

Yeah.

How often do you talk about Rome?

That was a meme that went around a while ago.

I talk about Rome way too much.

I realize this.

They stand for things like bondage slavery to the world, corrupt religion,

idolatry, spiritual confusion, pride, wealth and rebellion against God.

And Rome in particular is called the ultimate persecuting empire

that opposes God and his people.

So when you hear someone say, like, Babylon or, like, like Rome or

like Egypt, like that bringing me outta Egypt, it doesn't mean that

you are literally coming outta Egypt 'cause you're in Coburn right now.

You know, it means it's, it's a metaphorical thing.

We're talking about a spiritual empire here, ba, Egypt, Babylon, and Rome, and.

Throughout the biblical narrative, these three empires have opposed shalom.

And unfortunately we're in something called, the now and the not yet.

It's called the eschatological tension.

It means that we live anchored in heaven through Jesus Christ, but it, we're in

a world where sin still exists, and so we're seeing the beauty of heaven on earth

through the manifest presence of God.

We're also seeing sin.

Pain hurt the East Coast.

We're seeing these things happen.

We live in this tension right now, and it's hard because when

I became a Christian, I thought everything was gonna get better.

And I'm not saying it hasn't gotten better, I'm just saying it's not

as easy as I thought it would be.

Anyone say amen to that?

So what I, what I'm gonna do today is I'm gonna pick on one empire.

I'm gonna pick on Rome.

'cause I just feel like it.

Yeah.

I just feel like picking on Rome.

who's heard of something called Pax Romana?

Pax roa.

Pax Romana means Roman Peace.

Roman Peace and Pax Romana actually refers to two centuries from 27 BC to

mid-century, second century 80, when the Roman Empire enjoyed amazing stability,

expansion, trade and infrastructure growth, and the culturally flourished.

Who said of the term, all roads lead to Rome?

Yeah, so this is during that period.

This is where that got coined from.

Pax Romana is called Roman Peace.

But this Roman peace that was so expansive that took over,

they had way too many people.

They used to go around to different countries and whatnot,

and they'll call them mini Romes when they'll take them over.

They'd say, now this is a mini Rome.

Oh, we like this place.

This is a mini Rome.

They have a nice coffee shop where they go round and they expanded their

kingdom, their empire, the Roman Empire.

But the way that they did it wasn't very nice.

This piece, this Pax Romana came at a horrific cost.

Millions were enslaved, crucified, or taxed into poverty.

Rome's dominance was on a knife edge, so what they started to

do was rule with an eyeing fist.

Pax Roman Maner, Roman Peace.

Any threat to Caesar's rule was met with torture and execution.

So you know how nowadays you go online, it's like, elbow sucks.

You know?

It's like, it's Yeah.

Someone's like, oh, I hate the government.

Yes, we've all been there.

We've all wanted to do it.

Like literally, you would get chased down, tortured and executed

if you opposed the Roman Empire.

They did it through an iron fist and they had the audacity to call it peace.

Many people get this, okay, there's so much unemployment in Rome

because they had so many slaves.

It wasn't so you and I, the average person, if we weren't

a slave, we had no job.

And so what would happen, and I'm sadly this is how it played out,

was the women turned to prostitution and the men turned to crime.

If not both people doing those.

It's like, and so this was, this is what Rome, this great picture of Rome.

We talk about Rome of the aqueducts and all this jazz, and it was

built on this hollow, hollow piece.

Pax Romana, do you know what the craziest thing about this?

Jesus, the prince of peace.

Was born into Roman peace.

I'll say that again.

Jesus.

27 bc. BC means before Christ was, Jesus was born into Roman peace.

Why?

Why did Jesus take so long to come?

He came into a time when peace.

It was this picture of this ugly picture of what peace could be, should

was, as opposed to what it should be.

You still with me?

You're still with good.

We're going somewhere.

Who has their Bible here today?

Who is saved and reads The ESV.

All right, fantastic.

After Jesus was born about 30 years later.

Jesus was baptized and anointed for ministry, and

he just went into the desert.

He was led into the desert.

Should I say, read it with me.

It should be on the screen.

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

Note the word tempted.

After fasting, 40 days and 40 nights, he was hungry.

The tempter.

Note the word tempter came to him and said, if you are the son of God,

tell these stones to become bread.

Jesus answered.

It is written, man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word

that comes from the mouth of God.

Good answer, Jesus.

Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point

of the temple just to paint a picture.

This is where the temple, where all the people will go to do their worship.

So the inner courts, the inner temples, the outer courts,

thousands of people would be here.

It'll be a spectacle.

Everyone would see this.

And Satan, the devil, said, if you are the son of God, throw

yourself down for it is written.

He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in

their hands so that you will not strike your foot against a stone,

a k, a. They will catch you, jump off, and they're gonna catch you.

That's a cool trick.

Come on.

That's a cool trick.

If I did that, yeah, I would have a massive church as long as we recorded it.

Emphasis on that social media.

Sorry to all the under sixteens.

I'm not that sorry to be honest.

Jesus answered him.

It is also written, do not put the Lord your God to test again.

The devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the

kingdoms of the world and the slender.

All this I will give you.

You've seen Lion King.

You kinda get that picture.

I'll give you all this wherever you set your eye on the shadow.

He said, if you'll bow down and worship me.

Jesus said to him, away from me, Satan, for it is written, worship the

Lord your God, and serve him only.

Then the devil left Him and angels came and attended him.

That's a massive passage, a massive passage.

This is a picture of Empire and Shalom.

Two kingdoms, two choices.

And like I said, note the emphasis on temptation.

The tempter temptation means that there is an opportunity for you to say no.

Lemme say that again.

Temptation comes with a caveat that you are, you can say no to temptation.

Jesus.

The devil wasn't like, you can't say anything else.

Jesus said no three times temptation.

But if we dig deeper, and this is where it gets exciting, this

is where I geek out a little bit.

Pax Romana actually had a government scheme that became known as

something called Bread and Circus.

Say bread and circus is that parallels with this passage we find in Matthew four.

We see this scheme, this government scheme called Bread and circus.

Basically the Roman Empire would give out heavily subsidized or free

grain and wheat monthly to hundreds of thousands of citizens in Rome.

Why?

To prevent hunger riots, but also to make people dependent on the state.

So there's this government welfare that came out, not for the sake

of we wanna make sure that you're taken care of, so you do not revolt.

So you do not overthrow us.

And then they had something called circus, and this is what it's known as.

Bread and Circus.

The second one, circus.

Who's seen Gladiator here?

The movie that is legitimate, that is not fiction.

I know you know this, but you, 200,000 people a day would go to the coliseums,

these different ones and watch people get slaughtered free entertainment.

This happened 200 days of the year.

So what the Roman government did was it said.

To maintain the peace, we're gonna feed you and we're gonna entertain you.

Does that sound familiar in your own life?

I like food.

Who likes food?

Come on.

I love a donut.

Who knows?

Shoe Bakery.

I love Shoe Bakery.

Oh my man.

We'll talk afterwards.

There was this, this thing put in place where the government would keep the

people's stomachs full and their minds distracted with the spectacle, but

they would cheerfully surrender their freedom for food and entertainment.

Have you ever wondered or thought about how easy it is to pay away

your pain in the Western world?

Have you ever considered this?

I like shoes.

I have Jordans.

I have a problem.

I find it so easy that when I'm feeling down, when I'm feeling unrest,

that I can go have another coffee.

Or financially?

If, if I'm feeling good financially, I'm feeling good in my spirit, it's

so easy in the Western world for us to actually pay away our pain.

Do you wanna know why the, the third world countries are so hungry for God?

'cause they don't have the opportunity, the ability to

pay away, to pacify the unrest.

They don't have that opportunity like we do.

You know that it says, it says, the research said that once you get to

$75,000 in earnings, anything above that doesn't actually impact your happiness.

It's this interesting thing where we think, the more I have, the more

I get, the more I can pacify, the more, come on, give me that grain.

Give me that, that, entertainment.

The more we do that, the more we think I'm good.

But I honestly think, and I think there's people here tonight

where we're just pacifying.

We've got bandaid fixes.

We'll talk about paying a piece, but we talk about it in the, the,

the concept of Pax Romana Roman Peace, not in the concept of shalom.

In Matthew four, the devil tempts Jesus in the wilderness.

And basically says, give them, give to the people what, what

I offer, what Rome offers.

He's saying, bow your knee to the Roman peace of the world, the,

the peace structures of the world.

And Jesus says, no, I'm not gonna do that.

I'm not gonna bow my knee to the peace structures of the world.

I'm not going to walk away from Shalom.

And I'll explain what Shalom is in a bit.

But I'm not gonna give into this Roman peace

three times Jesus said no because he knew that the empire's peace was hollow.

Who's ever had a, if you drive, you start hear, hearing a rattling in your

engine, and so you just turn your radio up

or it's like.

You get a bill, it comes into the the mail and you just don't open it up.

That is the equivalent.

Roman peace.

Pseudo peace is the equivalent of turning your radio up to drown out.

The rattling in your engine

is a bandaid fix.

It actually doesn't fix anything.

It just distracts.

It distracts you.

Pax Romana is false peace, pseudo peace, and it's the

peace that Jesus was born into.

Let me remind, say that again.

Jesus was born into the time of Rome, the empire of Rome that he was born into.

Pax Romana, who came into PAXs, Romana, the prince of peace, who came

into false peace, the true peace.

Come on.

I'm getting excited.

Where are my Pentecost people are, come on.

Not Pentecostal.

Yeah, that's okay.

Power of Pentecost.

You answer Jah like, it's like Jesus came into false peace to show us the

way, the better way Your who knows That Forrest Frank song, it was playing just

before me and my young people know this.

Luke, you are way better.

No young people.

Yes, I pointed past you.

Sorry.

It's like young people.

It's, it's, it's deceptive.

It's deceptive.

You are always better.

Come on, I'm getting excited.

You are Always Better is not just a catchy song.

It's a, a reality.

It's a theological, foundational, fundamental truth that we have to get

into our heart and mind that you are not your way's, not just an option.

Your way is better, not only better, it is the best.

Jesus' way is not an option.

I'm doing this 'cause I'm tired.

Nah.

No, I'm good.

I'm good.

Come on.

When the world offers bread and circus, we need to choose Shalom.

When the world offers

physical.

Practical needs.

You know, it even says in the Bible, man shall not live on bread alone.

Hear me out.

I'm all for feeding the homeless.

I'm all for feeding the poor.

This is different.

There's a difference between practical and the, the Solomon's spiritual life.

We, we give, we care for the widows and the orphans, but we as

believers need to understand that the bread of life is not sourdough.

Come on the bread of life.

Is not something you get at Baker's Delight.

The bread of life is a person, and we talked about it before.

I love communion,

but we are the sum of our choices.

I said that earlier.

Yeah.

Don't expect to keep Shalom if you keep choosing Empire.

I say this in the nicest No, not nice at all actually.

You burn your hand if you choose to touch the hot stove?

You know, I, I had a, I had a guy I was talking to out for coffee the other day

and he told me, I'm struggling with this.

I said, don't say struggling.

That makes, makes you want me to feel bad for you.

You're choosing.

Hear me out.

Sometimes we do struggle, but I said, I love you, man.

I did.

I truly do love him.

But don't put that language in there.

Say, I'm struggling with this.

I'm struggling this.

No, you're choosing that.

You are choosing that.

You come to that pathway and you choose.

You choose.

You're not struggling, you are choosing.

If we take that mentality on, let's take some ownership, come on, struggling like.

I have a chronic heart disease.

I struggle.

I'm, I will be tired later because my body will literally get tired.

So there's a struggle there.

I'm not choosing to have a chronic heart disease.

It sucks.

Let's not, let's not boil down the way of Jesus to a struggle.

And I say that with as much empathy as I can.

There's some things, there's some things in our lives that, that

we will have inclinations towards or things have happened to us,

but God has called us higher.

We're talking about this with our leaders at church.

I'm not coming the, I'm not coming to the lowest common denominator.

Christ came to lift you outta the miy clay.

Now he says, now let's call higher.

Let's believe in the capacity of people.

Let's believe in the spirit inside of people.

You still with me?

Anyone convicted if you're condemned?

Sorry.

The Prince of Peace.

I love this Cath you mentioned Shalom.

Who's the prince of this?

Shalom means wholeness, completeness, wellbeing, harmony, prosperity,

and right relationships with God, self, others, and creation.

It is God's vision of flourishing life where everything is put

right, functioning joyfully, not merely the absence of conflict.

But the presence of total restoration that Jesus and the prophets came to bring.

Who likes the sound of that?

Come on.

Who wants to have right relationships.

I was saying to our church just recently, you know that whole the thing we say,

you forgive but you don't forget.

I'm like, nah, even Jesus.

Even God says, I've choose chosen to forget your sins.

As far Asus from the west.

He's called us higher.

He hasn't called us to like, I, I forgive.

Trust is different.

Building trust is different.

Hear me out.

But I want God, I want God to help me forget.

I want the standard to be higher, not lower.

Why?

'cause God has called us higher.

He's called us to be disciples.

He's called us to be, become like.

Jesus.

You know, this is the thing about it.

Jesus is the prince of peace, not the prince of absence of conflict.

You can do that if you just stop arguing with your wife.

You can have absence of conflict if you just choose not to

argue for a period of time.

That doesn't mean that the argument's done.

It just means that instead of driving to a fuel station, you've pulled over

to the side of the road and you've expected your car to fill up again.

That is just the absence of conflict.

God calls us to Shalom wholeness completeness.

He is the Prince of peace.

The name actually means Sa Shalom.

Sa Shalom means the Captain of Shalom.

The Keeper of Shalom.

The Lord of Shalom.

It is so much more than just Prince, charming Prince a piece.

We watched it with my kids the other day, struck two.

Mommy.

I want the medieval meal.

You know, it's like.

I wash this with my kids and I'm just like, that is not my Jesus

Prince Charming is not my Jesus.

He's the captain, the the chief of Shalom.

He rules the world with Shalom.

He says, if things are outta place, we bring it back into place.

I'm not going to lay the argument, that conversation,

because it leads to life when we.

Approach it and we pursue it.

Shalom is the active pursuit of wholeness, not the absence of conflict where we sit

there and we just say, when they're ready to talk to me, they can come talk to me.

No, Jesus says, go pursue.

Pursue wholeness.

Do you know one of the things about this message, I've preached this.

Similarly to this is, I've had complaints afterwards because people don't like to be

told that there is a higher standard, but that's what Grace empowers us to reach.

Grace is a two-sided coin, one coin that says, redeeming grace, that

I'm a sinner, but you have saved me.

You flip the coin over and it says, but are you empower me to reach this,

to do this, to become like this?

A two-sided coin.

As much as you are saved, you are empowered.

I think this is the thing about it.

We've, we've coddled, I hate it makes me sound old saying this, Luke, we

have coddled generations of churches by saying that you be broken forever.

Am at the point where I'm just like, yes, be broken, but God has

come to restore, renew, and redeem.

That is the hope.

That is the shalom that I wanna throw out there is actually, you are broken.

I'm broken.

I've done broken things today.

Hands up.

He's not a sinner here.

Hands up.

He's a sinner here.

Yes.

I'm tired.

I've done break.

Oh, that was broken.

Right there.

And go.

But Gore calls us higher.

Not 'cause he is a, not 'cause he is a a hard task master

because he is a loving father.

He knows that actually when you live in obedience the best way, the best

way that your life will be better.

And this is the thing about Shalom.

Shalom is like, we think it's this really nice oh shalom.

Shalom.

There's songs that have come out, sir. Shalom.

Shalom, my Peace.

It's nice, but I'm like, nah, it's Active man.

Shalom is active.

Shalom is writing that letter to that person who hurt you

or that person that you hurt.

Shalom is taking the front step.

Not, not letting the world start to push you down.

Shalom is nice.

Yes.

Prosperity, flourishing.

Not the prosperity gospel, but prosperity in God.

Yes, but it is not passive.

Peace is not passive.

True.

Biblical peace is not passive.

And I wanna challenge you all tonight 'cause I get to

leave here and you get him.

If you are making excuses for things in your life, I wanna call you to account.

Why?

Because it will be better if you lay it down.

Who's ever watched Bondi Rescue?

I need to start finishing up.

Who's ever watched Bondi Rescue?

I love it.

Went over to Sydney with my wife one time.

I was taller than Maxie.

Yeah, I was taller.

Yeah.

I was like, Hey, Maxie down there.

Yeah.

I was, I was taller than Maxie.

And anyway, and we got there, and what I love about Bondi Rescue is they, they

highlight the things you shouldn't do.

Yes, that's right.

And so what happens is this person, by the time they finally get rescued,

they've been swept out so far.

They've been fighting for five to 10 minutes.

And if you grew up in Australia, you know, swim to the side, like I, I

surfed grown up, just swim to the side.

Out of the current, these people don't know this, so they're fighting,

fighting the time they get picked up, they're like, and they're ripping these

lifeguards off the boards and they're on national TV immortalized forever.

One thing I learned in my Christian walk, and I've been

in church, you know Daryl here.

We grew up in church together.

one thing I've learned in my Christian walk is one of the best things you

can learn to do is to give up sooner.

What does that mean?

Husbands don't give up on the dishes.

Keep going.

I don't mean like that.

I mean, in your Christian walk, give up sooner to God.

Because what happens and when you know that song where the weary

world rejoices, that word weariness means that you've lost heart.

You've fought.

You've fought to the point of physical exertion, exhaustion,

sorry, you have nothing left.

A thrill of hope weary.

Well, rejoices weary.

We, some people were weary because they've been fighting so long and

they haven't put their hand up in the waves and said, just come save me.

I need shalom.

'cause you fight and you fight and you fight.

'cause you're afraid to get found out.

You're afraid that someone's gonna say, Hey, you're not a good Christian.

It's just so funny, like looking back on all the things I struggled with

when I was younger, giving up sooner.

It's just so much easier.

It's like not going to the dentist for eight years than being

surprised why you need 10 fillings.

It's like just go to the dentist sooner.

And this is the thing about it, Shalom, it's not complex.

It is not complicated.

It is give up, surrender.

One of the best words you'll learn in your Christian walk is surrender.

Surrender to him.

Can we just close our eyes?

We're coming to a time of reflection.

Michael, can you come and just strung the guitar?

Keep it jazzy.

Maybe just still the chords is still, I.

Philippians four, six to seven says, do not be anxious about anything,

but in every situation by prayer and petition with Thanksgiving.

Present your request to God and the peace of God, which transcends

all understanding, which guard your heart and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Shalom does not come from ignoring your chaos, turning up the radio louder.

Shalom comes from surrendering sooner to the one who can calm the storm.

The single word be still,

I.