Peace Of God--God Of Peace Series

• Philippians 4:1

o So, brothers and sisters, I love you and miss you. you are my joy and my crown. Therefore, dear friends, keep your relationship with the Lord firm!

• Peace

o We all want peace

o When the ladies are interviewed for the Miss America Pageant

o It’s become a running joke that one of the answers given is that all the ladies wish for

? World peace

o Well, I think we all wish for world peace

o I think especially with all that’s going on in our world right now

o And the potential of what could be going on in our world right now

o We all should be praying for world peace

o But not just peace as we think of peace

o I think it should be the peace of God

o And yet there are many believers who don’t even know what the peace of God is

o We sing about it

? I’ve got the peace that passes understanding down in my heart

? Down in my heart

? Down in my heart

? I’ve got the peace that passes understanding down in my

? Down in my heart to stay

o Of course there’s a very familiar one if you’ve been around the church very long

? There will be peace in the valley for me, some day

? There will be peace in the valley for me, oh Lord I pray

? There’ll be no sadness, no sorrow

? No trouble, trouble I see

? There will be peace in the valley for me

o But do we really understand what peace is

o Do we really understand what God’s peace is all about

o We might even say

? You know I just have a peace about it

o Until we get into whatever “it” is

o Then we come back to God and say

? What happened to that peace I had

o As I was getting ready for this message today

• A lady was sharing about her Christmas shopping experience at the mall

o Maybe you can relate

o People had been

? Pushing,

? Elbowing and cutting in front of her all day

o During a 10 minute extra 10% off special

o One woman grabbed a lace table cloth from her hands

o Looked her in the eye and said,

? MINE!!

o She yanked it back and won

o By 4 p.m. her mood was belligerent.

o She met some friends at a mall restaurant and flagged down a server

o She barked

? I need hot tea now!

o The waitress snapped back

? I’m not your server. Wait your turn

o This woman responded

? Lady, I’ve been waiting my turn all day

? Bring me some tea!

o But the waitress ignored her

o A few moments later, a friendly young man came to their tables and said,

? I’m Rob, your waiter.

o After he took their order, this woman watched Rob as he helped the rude waitress with her tray

o He greeted the other customers and staff with a smile on his face

o In the midst of all the hurried customers and chaos of the season

o He had a polite and unhurried atmosphere of calm

o When he refilled her tea, this woman noticed a silver ring on his hand made of connected letters spelling out

? Jesus

o This woman then writes and records

? From that moment, my attitude changed.

? This young man’s example had reminded me of the peace that Christ came to bring

o For the rest of the day she enjoyed shopping

o She opened doors for others

o Let others in front of her in the checkout line

o All in an atmosphere of peace

• Did she have true peace?

• How did she get it

• This is where we’re headed over the next few weeks

• The Secret of Peace—the Peace of God Himself

• Let’s pray

• Through our journey through Philippians we’ve learned about growing up as believers

• The Marks of being Mature believers

• The Marks of being a Mature Church

• The Examples that are laid before us

• All of these studies are filled with being joyful

• Not the joy that the world gives

• But having the Joy of the Lord

• Now, the point of these first 9 verses is not just the Joy of the Lord

• But the Peace of God and the presence of the God of peace

• There are six steps that we’re going to talk about over the next several weeks

o We have to take these step if we’re going to maintain the peace of God

o You remember that we’ve said that the Word of God gives us instruction for all situations in life