Make Peace Personal - Pastor Otis Amey | Midtown Church Elk Grove

We've been in this sermon series called, who knows what the sermon series is called?

God is.

God, what is God?

God is anything we need him to be.

Right?

If you look back on your life, he's been all those things.

He's been the most famous one, or the most common one you hear is Jehovah Jireh, right?

The Lord who the God who provides, the Lord who provides.

You hear Jehovah Rapha, Jehovah Nisi, the Lord our banner.

And so this morning in Sacramento, both me and Susie, I have no idea what direction she's going in.

I know she's gonna be talking about Gideon, but in our God in a sermon series, the title this morning this morning is Make Peace Personal.

So we're gonna talk about Jehovah Shalom, Lord our peace.

Have you ever needed some peace?

If you have kids, sometimes you need some peace.

Right?

But on a much deeper uh spiritual level, let's let's dive in.

So one thing that I had to learn at a younger age is that God got it.

God, I know that's not proper grammatical English.

God got it, though.

And you know what I'm saying.

So it's not hard to be grateful when we open up so many secrets, or rather, so many presents before we even leave the house.

So I often talk about things that I take for granted.

We open up so many gifts from God and so many presents before you ever even get in your car and back out, the garage.

Right?

The moment we wake up is an immediate reminder that God has given us another chance with new mercies.

That's what the scripture says.

New mercies every single day.

The first breath that you breathe, the first breath that you take is a reminder that the Lord has placed his breath in our lungs.

We sing it when we say, Great are you, Lord.

Like it gets to me every single time I sing that song because it's a reminder that I'm only able to breathe right now because God is allowing me to.

So my response should be, God, what do you want me to do with this breath that you've given me and these talents and these gifts that you've given me?

The breakfast that we eat, the lunch that we make or bought, uh, or the business that we go to, or the job that we go to, are all reminders, like we said, that He is Jehovah Jireh, the Lord who provides.

Sometimes we take those things for granted.

Uh, for me, oftentimes now, there's this prompting, and even that prompting that I get in the garage to not listen to any music or podcast, but to ride in silence and just talk to God and pray for people, is a prompting.

It's a reminder that the Holy Spirit has been placed inside of me.

And that peace we feel and experience throughout the entire day, regardless sometimes of how the day may go, is a supernatural present from God that sometimes even surpasses our ability to even comprehend it.

There's been times where I thought I was going crazy, but as I focused on him, he gave me this peace that I couldn't understand, and that's what we're talking about.

God is peace.

So you're all getting to hear this sermon, and I I don't know if I've ever said this, but for me right now in this season of life, this is maybe one of the most important sermons that I've preached.

Well, not necessarily that I've preached, that I've uh the scripture, as I've meditated on it, what God revealed to me was one of the most important things.

That's not just like, okay, this is cool for a Sunday.

Like, no, this needs to be your lifestyle.

And you'll understand what I'm talking about as we navigate through our brief time together.

So, again, like I said, you're getting to hear this sermon, but I literally constructed this as a message to my younger self.

On times where I'm like, man, there's so many times when I was younger that I just did not represent God well.

Even after I gave my life to Christ.

And so I want to give you just uh an example.

Oftentimes, we in our limited, our finite thinking and the wisdom and strength that we have, we try to make moves and finagle things and and uh make things happen on our own.

For for me, when I was playing football, it was obviously the goal was to go and play professionally for the Niners, and I thought all that happened, and then the next year I'm out of the NFL.

So I'm gonna give you a snapshot of just one brief year of my life and all the things that happened from the perspective of this.

I was trying to control and make all these things happen to get back.

So I'm now out of the NFL, and I go and play in this league that I never thought I was gonna play in called the Arena Football League.

That season ends.

So this is where the year begins.

And here's me trying to control all of that.

I gotta get back, I gotta get back.

So what happens is I'm playing for a team in in Austin.

Um my coach gets the head coaching job in Cleveland.

I'm now in Cleveland, and this is the first time I've ever experienced cold like that.

Like we there is a black ice, and I remember the first night I was there, uh, this is when back when LeBron was playing, and so my hotel was across from the queue, that's the name of the arena, and I had on a hoodie, I had on a t-shirt, and I walked across the street, and I was like, I've never felt, and I was slipping and thought, I've never experienced anything like this in my life.

And so that season, but well, right before that season, I get picked up by the Atlanta Falcons.

So this is the start of the year.

This is all in one year's time.

I get picked up by the Falcons, I go to camp with the Falcons, I'm excited because I'm back in the league, or I'm trying to get back in the league.

During that whole time is the Michael Vick dog scandal, right?

The very first day of practice, this is the first time I've ever experienced southern humidity.

And I'm like, I don't need lotion, I need to take like 15 showers.

Like, what is going on?

So the very first practice, the humidity bothers me so much, I feel like I'm running in slow motion.

I get cut after the first day of practice.

They send me back home.

This is the start of the year.

Send me back home about two weeks later, they bring me back.

I do so well the final two weeks of camp that all the uh veterans are like, you should live here, you should stay there.

I have my playbook, I'm getting ready to leave my dorm to walk to the first day of uh the first official team meeting.

I get a call, and you know, they say, Hey, bring your playbook.

If they say that, you know it's a wrap for you.

And I'm like, why are you telling me to bring my playbook?

I know I made the team.

What happened was because the whole Michael Vick dog scandal, they had to keep an extra quarterback, which meant they had to get rid of one receiver.

I was the final receiver that made it, they sent me home.

I go back home.

Then I end up playing in Cleveland, playing arena football.

And I took out my vengeance on everybody.

I end up breaking all kinds of records for Arena, and then uh we're in the playoffs, and during the playoffs, uh our first playoff game is in Atlanta, and a bunch of those players that are on the team and coaches they're there, and they're like, bro, we should have kept.

I'm like, I know, but anyways, uh that game ends.

I end up being the number one receiver in the entire league.

I broke every single record.

I'm about to get a big contract, the league folds.

I get nothing, I go back home.

But here's here's the point.

This entire time, I'm trying to do me, I'm trying to control it and figure out how I can get back.

Not knowing the whole time that God was with me and covering me this entire journey.

Here's what I learned, what I believe.

If I would have been back in the NFL and got that contract, it would have been detrimental for what God wanted to teach me.

He needed me to be in a humbled state where I was in Cleveland, cold weather, uh, no notoriety, no big time checks, where I had a lot of time to reflect and ask who I was, just as a son, as a man.

And what it ended up making me do, the light bulb went off, and I ended up making the second greatest decision I ever made while I was in Cleveland.

What do you think that decision was?

To stop playing with this woman you've been with since high school and go home and marry her.

So when I came home that year, praise God, I proposed to her, and we've been married now for 16 years.

So praise God.

But like I said, all this happened in just one year.

I had surrendered my life to Christ two years prior to this, but there were so many times that I did not represent Christ well because I desperately wanted to control my life and my career, not realizing that this entire time God had it all under control.

But during most of that period, I didn't have peace because I thought I had to do it.

I had to figure something out.

Let me call this coach.

Let me put together this highlight tape.

What I didn't realize is that every single setback was a setup, every single failure was God propelling me forward, and every single denial was God discipling me and teaching me how to be a man, how to persevere under trial, how to have difficult and courageous conversations and how to pray more.

A lot of that season he just drew me to my knees, and I was crying out to God, and he said, even if you're successful, you're bald in a broke, whatever, that's what Philippians 4.13 is really about.

We'll get back to that at the end.

It's about being content in all things because you have Christ.

Around that time is when I fully understood that God got it.

So oftentimes you hear Pastor Susie talk about breath prayers, but I have like breath sayings.

There's things that I'll say all the time.

Sometimes under my breath.

One of them is God got it.

Uh, God, God, you got it.

Uh, the one that I say the most often is your way is better.

I say it under my breath all the time.

Your way is better.

Often when I can feel my flesh wanted to do something I probably shouldn't do.

Your way is better.

Your way is better.

Your way is better.

God, you got it.

God, you good.

So a little bit of background before we dive into these points.

Want to encourage us all to live free.

The first community of believers, the first church that Paul started in Eastern Europe was in Philippi.

So this is a place that housed a lot of uh retired soldiers.

So the Roman body of believers there was known for their patriotic nationalism, something that we experience uh here a little bit.

Um so naturally, Paul faced strong opposition, dealing with these people that were so patriotic, less focused on Christ, that when he declared that Jesus Christ was a true king of the world, he experienced a lot of pushback and even persecution.

But once Paul moved on from there, as Paul's apostolic, he would go plant a church, spend some time there, and then he would leave, and then you would hope that he didn't have to write a letter back to you about how y'all was tripping.

Um, but oftentimes that's what we read is Paul's letters back to the churches.

Sometimes rebuking, sometimes challenging, sometimes encouraging.

So as Paul moves on from there, those followers of Jesus experienced resistance and persecution, but praise God, they remained faithful to the way of Jesus.

In the beginning, they were called people of the way.

So Paul is writing, and this is what's powerful.

If you take time, there's different things, I want to always give you guys some practical things.

If you don't already do this, uh you can go to YouTube and just type in the Bible project.

They do Tim Mackey and the crew, they do an amazing job of giving breakdowns uh for different books of the Bible.

And so it's good before you start reading.

Whenever you read, you shouldn't just read the Bible to read.

You should ask the Holy Spirit to illuminate scripture, reveal things to you.

This is your, I'm your son, I'm your daughter.

Show me what you need me to see.

And then you can get context.

Who is writing it?

Who are they writing it to?

Uh, what period of time was this?

Is this uh an eternal truth?

Like Proverbs aren't all eternal truths, these are certain things, and there's a lot of uh context.

If you do this, then you'll get this.

Some blessings are yes and amen, some blessings are dependent upon you responding properly to them.

So these are all things that matter as you read scripture.

But context, the reason why I said that, where is Paul writing this from?

He is writing it bound in chains in prison, which has to be, it's crazy when I think about it because let's just be honest, if you're bound in chains in prison, I'm not gonna be thinking about y'all.

I'm not gonna be like, let me write them letters of hope and joy.

So you have to be asking yourself, how is this man that is bound more free than most of us who are free but living bound?

How a man bound by chains could be so free.

There's peace that surpasses all understanding.

And so a good question to ask ourselves is how could we be so free but bound by so many things?

Do whatever we want, which is Satanist teaching.

Do whatever you want.

So day to day, Paul has no idea if he's gonna die.

He does not know when.

Eventually, he does end up end up being killed.

Even while bound in chains in prison, he stays faithful to his call and he shows us how to live with the peace that we can't even comprehend.

So here's the first point always rejoice.

And even just saying that is like a couple of these points are like okay, that sounds good, but when you think about things you've dealt with in your life, or a diagnosis, or some news you got, you probably didn't just rejoice.

You probably didn't do what Job did when he lost everything.

His children, his cattle.

Job was bawling, and his response was to tear his clothes and praise the Lord and say, naked, I was born, naked, I'll return.

Praise the Lord.

Like, no, that would not be my response right now if I found out that my entire family was gone.

But how do we get to this point to where we can rejoice always?

The prefix re means to do it again.

So it's saying, again have joy.

Let me read the scripture first.

Philippians 4 is where we'll be.

Philippians 4, verses 4 through 9 is where we'll be today.

Philippians 4:4–9

But let me read verses 4 through 5.

It says, Rejoice in the Lord always.

I will say it again.

Rejoice.

Let your gentleness be evident to all.

The Lord is near, or he's at hand.

So the prefix, like I said, re means to do it again.

So it's saying, again have joy in the Lord always.

And again I say, again have joy.

So this is not only a challenge, it's a mandate.

It's a command for us to live in a state of perpetual joyfulness.

Now you probably can think of a few people that operate like that.

One is my brother Sam, right?

If I'm walking across the street, he'll stop putting signs.

Hey, brother, and he'll give me this big old hug, and I feel awkward for like three seconds.

Hey, good morning, Sam.

A state of perpetual joy.

Every now and then he sends me a devo in the morning, and I'm grateful for it.

A state of perpetual joyfulness.

What it's saying is don't be full of anxious care.

And if I if I want to give you like a solid definition of anxiety, it's wasting present energy on a future outcome that you assume will be undesirable.

Wasting your present energy on a future outcome that you're completely assuming will be undesirable.

Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount, he says, do not worry about tomorrow.

And he gives you, he says, tomorrow will have enough trouble of its own.

You need to focus on today.

He says, each day has enough trouble, enough trouble of its own.

So stop wasting today's energy worrying about tomorrow's problems.

The Huffington Post, they did a they did a study.

Of the things we worry about that never happen, what percentage do you think of the time?

What percentage of the time do you worry about things that never actually happen?

85% of the time, we are all defrosted.

This is from the movie.

We are all messed up about something that never happens.

And even now, the worries in here are like there's still 15%.

No, no.

The study goes on to say 97% of what we worry about is a fearful, is our fearful mind punishing us with drastic exaggerations and wild misconceptions.

One of the things oftentimes some younger younger dudes they wanna they want to preach, and oftentimes it's the wrong reason.

They want to be up on stage and want people to tell them that they did a good word.

I'm like, I don't think you know what you're asking for.

Oftentimes when I'm preparing to preach, God will allow me to go through some things that will strengthen what I'm saying so that what I'm saying is real.

And literally, just yesterday, me and my wife are talking about it.

I go to the sister, uh go up to where I was going yesterday, and the very first conversation tested my peace.

And it was like, okay, what are you gonna do?

Because the nature of that conversation, how I navigated it, could have changed the relationship, could have changed money, different stuff.

And so I had to say, what am I gonna do?

How am I gonna respond to this situation?

What does scripture say?

If you have an issue with a brother or sister, do what?

Go directly to them.

I said, Hey, can we meet as soon as you get an opportunity?

And I did that, and guess what?

It wasn't even as big as I thought it was.

We're able to hash it out, we're able to agree on some things and move forward.

So I promise you, I need this message so much right now.

I'm planning on going back and looking at my my notes several times a week.

Why?

Because Paul's words and his instructions, again, from prison, are so powerful and life-changing, but I know for sure that I don't, I can only speak for myself, I do not rejoice in the Lord always.

That is not my knee-jerk reaction.

The always, it made me question if Paul really meant it.

Like when Andre 3000 said, Forever, ever?

Forever, ever?

Paul's response would have been yes, forever, always.

So out of his love for the church and Philippi, he orders them to rejoice.

They're experiencing persecution, setbacks, right?

They were facing opposition both uh externally and internally, yet Paul writes them this letter about joy, rejoicing, and finding peace, which lets us know that joy is a choice.

Happiness depends on what happens.

Joy is a choice.

Yes, all of us can make the choice to rejoice.

Why?

Because it's a decision, not a feeling.

It's a decision that you made.

You can wake up every single day and make the choice to rejoice in the Lord.

A lot of it will come from, like what I said in the beginning of this sermon.

Stop taking things for granted.

Again, talking to myself.

The very fact that you just woke up, we take that for granted.

Like, yeah, I'm supposed to wake it up.

No, you did not have to wake up.

A lot of people did not wake up today.

It is a gift.

The breath in your lungs is a gift.

The fact that you probably can go in your fridge right now and make a sandwich or whatever.

I said sandwich, sorry.

Uh, is a is a in my head says sandwich, but I said sandwich.

Is all a gift.

There are so many gifts that we had, that we have.

Our kids, they get along.

That's a gift.

There's so many things that I'm just like, God, I need to slow down long enough to realize how amazing that you are.

Some of you walked in here this this morning, not necessarily feeling like worshiping, but as Tori was leading worship, I saw you pressed into the presence of God.

I saw you as life is probably trying to weigh you down, you lifted your hands.

As the enemy, as the devil, try to get you to push you out of the presence of God, you pressed in.

And when you do it individually, you can feel a shift.

The spirit coming alive in you, agreeing with you, right?

When you push against what your flesh tells you not to do, your flesh says, Don't engage, it's okay, you'll be alright.

But I love it.

And when we do it corporately, you feel the shift in the move of God.

See, uh, Pastor Skip Heitzig, he's in Albuquerque.

He says that joy is a personal choice to react to life's uncertainties with faith.

Joy is a personal choice to react to life's uncertainties with faith.

So you may be wondering why I'm focused on the word joy when the sermon is about peace.

The reason why is because a huge part of having peace is our ability to rejoice no matter what.

There's a story in Acts 16 where Paul and Silas, they drive out this spirit.

This lady's following them around, and eventually Paul gets fed up with it after a couple days, and he drives out this unclean spirit.

So her, can I just say the word?

Her pimps, her handlers, that's what the Bible says.

The people that were making money off of her got mad because they can't make any money now because they drove out the spirit.

So what do they do?

They're mad at Paul and Cyrus, and they take them before everyone, and eventually everyone's in agreement.

They throw them in jail.

So they're now in prison.

They're actually in the scripture says they're in the inner cell.

So they're bound, they're in prison.

But what happens in this story?

It says, late in the midnight hour, they are calling out to God.

They are praying and they are worshiping.

Again, this messes with my excuses because late in the midnight hour, if I was thrown in prison tonight, I don't know if my response would be, hey, bro, let's pray and let's worship God.

So it says, at midnight, late in the midnight hour, they're praying and they are calling on God.

All of a sudden, what happens next?

A violent earthquake shakes the foundation of the jail.

Every cell door opens, and all their shackles come loose.

So, of course, the one jailer, as scripture says, is panicking.

Right?

He's panicking, but the whole night, here's what it says: it says that everyone was listening, everyone could hear them.

The jailer and everyone, all the other inmates could hear them praising and worshiping God.

Sometimes, no matter what, we need to do that because there's people that we may not know, they're listening, they're seeing how you're responding during your adversity.

And it could end up changing their family tree, just like it does in this story.

So, what happens?

The jailer panics, and during that time, if you failed, uh, his response was to kill himself.

He doesn't do it, he's planning on doing it.

He draws his own sword.

Paul says, No, no, don't do it.

And so he runs and falls at the feet of Paul, he runs and falls at the feet of Paul and Silas.

And he says, What must I do to be saved?

Repent and call on the name of the Lord.

You will be saved, both you and your family.

Or actually, it says you and your household.

So understand this how we respond in adversity.

If we get this, this is why this is so powerful to me.

If I can show up, there's so many people I'm around on a daily basis that I don't even know are watching.

And it happens now.

Now, because there's certain coaches and people that come to me and say, Hey, can I talk to you?

I see how you're around and this happens, and I watch how you respond.

It can change your family tree.

This dude now surrenders this jailer who doesn't believe what they believe, sees how they respond with supernatural peace.

They surrender their lives to Christ.

He surrenders his life to Christ and He says, This is not only for you, go home.

This is for your household as well.

See, we don't know what's on the other side of our decision to always rejoice.

We don't know whose family tree will be changed when we decide to get out of our feelings and praise him in the midst of the trial.

Think about it.

God has come through for you more times than you can even count.

If you went home the rest of the day and tried to count, you wouldn't be able to do it.

But you can't name one time that he failed you.

So why not always rejoice?

Because at the end of the day, even if you die, you win.

Point number two is this always pray.

Philippians 4, verse 6 through 7 says, Do not be another one that's just like, okay, this sounds good, but this is challenging.

Philippians 4:6–7

Do not be anxious about anything.

But in every situation, by prayer and petition, give thanksgiving.

Present your request to God, and the peace of God, whose peace?

God's peace, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

So here's the deal.

I know this verse and I recite this verse pretty regularly to myself, but still feel anxiety try to overtake me at times.

I again I can only speak for myself, but usually like anger, fear, it doesn't just appear like I can, it's like Spider-Man when venom tries to overtake.

I feel like it tries to slowly overtake me and I try to fight it off.

I'm gonna give you guys some practical things that you can do.

This is a part of our human condition, but Paul has some solutions for us.

So before we go there, let's look at the two words behind peace.

The first one you've heard regularly, shalom.

Even just saying it is peace, shalom.

I need to start saying that's one of my breaths, shalom.

I'm gonna, instead of saying wusa, how is it shalom?

Shalom.

Shalom to my dome.

All right.

So the first word shalom, it means wholeness, completeness, soundness, well-being, everything in right relationship and functioning as it should.

Shalom is what the world was when in the Garden of Eden.

And eventually, if you read Revelation, it's what God is restoring in Christ.

It appears more than 200 times across the Old Testament.

Then we go to another word, uh Irene, which is Greek, and that's in the New Testament.

In classical Greek, Irene means uh the absence of war.

But in the New Testament, it means peace comes chiefly, it becomes chiefly a right relationship with God that flows from being justified and adopted.

And so I'm not saying that the move from Old Testament, from the Old Testament to the New Testament means that peace changes, but rather that peace gets a name and a face.

Why?

Because Jesus shows up.

Jesus Christ is peace.

He is the what?

He's the Prince of Peace.

So in verse 6, it makes a U-turn the moment that the word but is used.

Why?

Because but is a coordinating conjunction and a contrast word.

It's used to connect two opposite sides.

So after the but in verse 6, Paul tells us what to do if we need peace.

And so if you haven't written anything else down, this is life-changing.

Paul tells us what to do.

This is mental health, this is a mental health class right here in and of itself.

He says, Do not be anxious about anything, but this is where it changes.

In every situation, what are the four things we're told to do?

First one is to pray.

What's the second one?

Petition, which is a stronger.

This reminds me of Jesus being in the Garden of Gethsemane when he says, Abba, Daddy, help.

It's a strong plea, it's a strong petition, right?

The third one is thanksgiving.

And when I think about that, it's remembering who you're talking to, who you're praying and asking.

Father God, thank you for the breath of my thank you that I'm able to even talk to you, that you want to talk to me, that you hear me.

And then the fourth one is requests.

We got to be specific with our requests.

You're specific when you go through the drive-thru, right?

You don't just say, hey, welcome to In and Out.

Give me some meat.

No, you some meat, cheese, and a patty.

Like, no, you're specific.

We need to be reverential awe and fear the Lord, but be specific.

What is it that you are asking of him?

He gives us this.

So here's some things that I do.

Maybe this will make it more plain for you.

I'm sorry that I don't have this on the slide.

When you feel pressure, pray.

When you feel pressure, pray.

Oftentimes we panic.

We feel pressure and we panic.

Or we feel pressure and we post.

When you feel pressure, pray.

When you feel worried, worship.

I can't say this is biblical, but I can say this is practical.

In my life, I've never complained while I'm worshiping.

Whenever I'm worshiping, I'm in the presence of God, I've never been like, man, the kids are tripping.

It takes away everything else when I press into his presence.

So when you feel pressure, pray.

When you feel worried, worship.

When you feel angry, abide.

And you should just have a lifestyle of abiding, but when you feel it, just start abiding in the presence of God.

Go to scripture.

This is a practical process that guarantees a supernatural outcome.

This is not my opinion.

This is what Scripture says.

And what outcome is that?

A peace that our finite minds cannot understand will literally set up shop around our hearts and minds to guard them.

And because this is God's peace, this means that no one, no person can take it away.

So when we do these things, we're guaranteed a supernatural outcome that God will literally set up shop and guard two of our vital organs, our heart and our mind.

And it doesn't matter who tries to come take it away, they cannot.

Because this is God.

This is the peace that we need.

We need this.

This is the type of believer that we should want to be.

Where people come to us and say, Why are you so calm?

Why are you not crashing out on everybody?

I saw what you went through.

I saw how they just tried to destroy you.

I saw how they left you and thought you were going to be broken.

Because you run the plane.

Prayer.

My initial response is prayer.

And maybe sometimes it goes deeper into a petition, a strong plea, a crying out to God.

Then it's a thanksgiving, realizing, God, you hear me.

You answer my prayers.

And then the fourth thing is being specific with those requests.

I was talking to a young man after Thursday night service and I preached this message, and he was crying, and he said, I don't know how to pray.

I feel like when I'm talking to God, he doesn't hear me.

And I told him, I said, Man, how we're talking right now is how I talk to God.

I said, When I was younger, I used to think because all these mighty prayer warriors and had all this lofty and eloquent language.

And I said, the Bible actually speaks against that.

I talk to God and say, God, I'm I'm tripping today.

I need you.

I'm exhausted.

Can you renew my strength?

This is where it's important to know scripture, so you can be specific about what you're asking of God.

And so I'm graced, we're graced with the supernatural peace that's protecting us.

In uh Daniel chapter 3, you guys know this story.

Daniel 3 · chapter mention

Nebuchadnezzar sets up a nine-story foot-tall golden image or statue and tells everybody they must bow down.

They name all these instruments and say, when all these instruments play, y'all better bow down.

And I love it because we know that Daniel, we know that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, or Hanani, Azariah, and Meshah, they're actual God-given names.

They don't bow down.

Which is powerful because a lot of us today, we will bow down.

Not, maybe not physically, mentally, or we'll we'll compromise to make sure that we continue getting the check.

We don't want to mess up the relationship.

I love this story because it eliminates excuses.

I want to read a little, I want to read a little bit of it.

In verse 13 through 18, it says, so at this point they had already decided to not bow down.

And so they're so valuable, even as exiles.

You see, Nebuchadnezzar gives them another chance.

Because it says they're supposed to die immediately if you don't bow down.

So this is after they already don't bow down.

Now Nebuchadnezzar, come to the principal's office.

And so in verse 13 it says, furious with rage, Nebuchadnezzar summoned Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

So these men were brought before the king, and Nebuchadnezzar said to them, Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods, little G, or worship the image of gold I have set up?

Now when you hear, now he gives them the instructions again.

Maybe you missed it the first time.

If you hear, now when you hear the sound of the horn, the flute, the zitter, the lyre, the harp, the pipe, and all kinds of music, if you are ready to fall down and worship the image I made, very good.

But if you do not worship it, you will be thrown immediately into a blazing furnace.

Then what God will be able to rescue you from my hand?

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied to him, and this is powerful, King Little K, Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter.

If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from your majesty's hand.

But even if he does not, we want you to know respectfully, your majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold that you have set up.

Then Nebuchadnezzar was furious.

See, when you stand ten toes down for the Lord, things might change, but you have to continue to trust him.

In verse 19, things change for them.

He gives them another opportunity, another chance.

He said, Hey, maybe you didn't understand.

Here's the instructions.

Here's your opportunity again.

Then Nebuchadnezzar was furious with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and his attitude toward them changed.

He ordered the furnace heated seven times hotter.

He gets some of his strongest soldiers, and you guys know what happens next.

The soldiers that threw them into the fiery furnace that was seven times hotter, they didn't even make it.

They all burned up.

And then the king looks in and says, Wait, I thought I threw in three.

There's a fourth person in there, looks like the son of the gods.

Right?

We know that it is the Lord, Jehovah Nisi in that moment.

The Lord, the banner, the Lord who protects.

And what happens at the end of that?

See, God gives us a peace that promotes.

The story ends, if you fast forward, the story ends with all three of them being promoted.

The king that tried to kill them ends up promoting them.

And if you go, that's the end of chapter three.

If you go back to the end of chapter two, Daniel interprets a dream that no one else could, and they all end up dying.

And Daniel says, Hey, uh, can you can my boys get promoted too?

So, based on Daniel's recommendation of him standing ten toes down for the Lord, he gets Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego promoted.

Next chapter, they get promoted.

So you're telling me these four brothers who are exiles, essentially slaves in a foreign land, right, refuse to eat like the rest of them eat, and they keep getting promoted.

This is so powerful.

Why?

Because they know who the Lord is and they have a supernatural peace.

You have to to be in that situation.

Daniel was uh uh second in charge through all these different kings who weren't from where he was from, and he kept getting promoted.

He did not compromise.

These stories eliminate so many excuses for us.

Paul is riding from prison.

Daniel and the three Hebrew boys are exiles in a foreign land that worships fake idols and false gods.

No complaining, just praying.

No backing down, just believing.

They not only believed in the power of God, but also in the sovereignty of God.

That's why they say, even if, even if you kill us, we still win.

This is a supernatural peace.

There's an old hymn that uh I'm not a singer, but I'm gonna sing it.

There's an old hymn we used to sing uh when we grew up.

And I I can't remember the name of the of the of the song, but as I sing it, you'll know.

Uh it says, Oh, what peace we often, I'm just gonna, I'm not gonna sing it.

Oh, what peace we often forfeit.

Oh no, this is the second part.

So this is the part that tripped me out because we used to sing it so joyfully.

Oh, what peace we often forfeit.

I'm like, hold on, time out.

What wait, forfeit?

You give up, you're giving up peace, and we're singing joyfully?

So, oh what peace we often forfeit, oh what needless pain we bear.

And for me, I'm a music head.

You can't you can't finesse me with nice beats.

I'm listening to the lyrics, right?

And so I'm listening to it even as a kid.

And I'm like, wait, we're giving up our peace and we're going through needless pain.

Why?

And why are we so joyful, like Bob?

Oh, needless.

And then it gives us this, oh, what peace we often forfeit.

Oh, what needless pain we bear.

All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.

Like, wow, this is why the enemy wants to distract us and not allow us to make time in the morning and throughout the entire day to pray to God, right?

To allow heaven to come down and intervene in our situation and circumstances.

All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.

Prayer, petition, thanksgiving, making our requests known, supernatural response, a peace that surpasses all understanding.

Of course, the enemy wants to get you so distracted, right?

Watching TV all day.

Uh all the other things that we do, being on social media all day, so you don't make time to be in his presence.

Every time I open up scripture, every single time, I'm like, man, I just want to stay here.

I need to do this more often.

Every time I just ride in the car and pray.

I did this the other day on the way to work, and it was just so sweet, and it was just like this joy came over me, and it was like, I just, I just I don't even want to get to work.

I just want to keep driving and talking to God and praying for others.

Here's the final point.

Always course correct.

Philippians 4, verse 8 through 9.

Philippians 4:8–9

It says, Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things.

Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me or seen in me, put it into practice, and the God of peace will be with you.

When I read that, my mind immediately went to Romans 12 and 2, and how it reminds us not to be conformed by the pattern of this world, but to be transformed.

So we're either being conformed or transformed by the renewing of our minds, the renewing of the shalom, peace, renewing of our minds.

So as it pertains to peace, here's a few verses.

Um Judges 6 24.

Gideon builds an altar and calls it the Lord is peace, or Yahweh Shalom.

Isaiah 9 and 6, the Messiah is titled the Prince of Peace.

In 2 Thessalonians 3.16, it says, Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way.

And first, and there's the challenge with this message, there's so much about peace in the Bible.

I'm just giving you guys just a couple nuggets.

1 Corinthians 14 and 33, it says, For God is not a God of disorder, but of peace.

Psalm 29 and 11 says, The Lord gives strength to his people.

The Lord blesses his people with peace.

I know you love this one.

Psalm 4 and 8 says, In peace I will lie down and sleep.

For you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety.

And then the last one, you will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast because they trust in you.

So here's my closing thought.

Always be aware.

Scripture ties peace directly to God's identity, not just his gifts.

Peace is literally who he, when he shows up, peace.

He don't gotta pull it out of his pocket.

Like, hold on, let me get it, let me cash out.

No, no.

When he shows up, it's peace.

Peace is God's character, peace is Christ's achievement at the cross, and peace is the Spirit's ongoing gift to those who believe.

Until peace becomes the final condition of the whole renewed creation.

And so, yes, we can live in a state of perpetual joyfulness and peace by reminding ourselves that we are always in the presence of the Lord who saved us.

Psalm 16 and 11 says, In your presence there is fullness of joy.

So to make it plain, when we're aware, when we're aware of his presence and abiding in his presence, we'll notice the fruit that his presence brings.

Love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, self-control, kindness.

Right?

So catch this.

God is omnipresent, meaning he's everywhere.

But it's not that fact that changes things for us.

It's us being aware that He's here.

Right?

A scripture, my my verse for last year is Proverbs 5 and 21, which says, our ways are in full view of the Lord.

It was a game changer for me because I know God's everywhere, but having that on the forefront of my mind, living with the God consciousness, that right now, in this meeting I'm about to have, this courageous conversation, God, you're with me.

As I'm driving, God, you're with me.

As I'm hanging out with my family, God, you're you're with me.

And so it disarms and it strengthens and it empowers me to know, like, yeah, you're with me.

This is the nature of Philippians 4.13.

A lot of us, we uh that's one of the most taken out of context scriptures in all of the Bible.

Uh, no, you can't just go do whatever you want.

But Paul gives this laundry list of, yeah, I've been shipwrecked, I've been bitten by snakes, I've had money, I've been without, I've been starving, I've been full.

All these things.

And he says, you know what?

I've come to realize I have this supernatural peace.

Or, as it says, uh talks about contentment, because I can do all things through Christ.

Christ lives in me, so I don't have anything to worry about.

Again, what did I say?

You can't, if you spent the rest of the day trying to write down what God did for you, you wouldn't be able to do it, but you cannot name one time that he failed you.

So just remembering simple things, simple truths like that, remind us that we can always rejoice because we always win.

Even when I've failed, I win because when I have the right perspective, God teaches me something how to persevere.

Put me in situations where, man, I'm crying out to him and praying all the time.

In Psalm 46, verse 1 through 2, it says, God is our refuge and strength in ever-present help in trouble, ever-present help in trouble.

Psalms 46:1–2

And then the last scripture in Luke 19 and 42, it says, He weeps over Jerusalem, talking about Jesus precisely because it did not recognize what would bring them peace.

He is the peace that the nation of Israel often missed out on.

A lot of the scribes and Pharisees, they knew the Torah, the first five books of the Bible, they can recite it, but when the Prince of Peace was in their face, they didn't even recognize him.

And that's our challenge today is to recognize that God is, for those of you that have given your life to Christ, He indwells you.

You should, and we can rejoice always.