God Of Peace Series

Christmas 2024 God of Peace

Selective Scriptures

Good morning everyone…Christmas is a great time of year for most and a great time of stress for a lot of people.

Christmas gives us a chance to be with people we love and being with people we love can sometimes get stressful.

Kids are kept up late and ran to exhaustion and they put the parents on their last nerve and if we are not careful, we can say or do things that cause us stress and tension.

We try to take several families and lives and blend them into a time of celebration.

We began the Advent season last week looking at Jesus being the Hope for mankind.

That hope had to be more than wishful thinking, but someone who we could put our trust in and someone who would not let us down.

Christ coming to mankind allows us to hope in the God of the universe, the creator of all things, Instead of hoping in ourselves and being lost in our sins, or looking to other people who often let us down and don’t meet expectations we put to them.

Romans 15:13-

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may be filled with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Instead of chasing joy and peace and most of the time feeling empty when we do not find it, God instructs us that He desires to fill us with Joy and peace.

Godly Joy and peace are a gift from God to the people of God.

He desires to do that in the life of every believer.

Today we look at God’s peace. He says that He offers to fill us with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may be filled with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

That will preach every time!

Phil. 4:7-

“And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ.”

The peace of God that is offered, we will not be able to understand fully in our normal

Because He is God and we are not.

He promises to keeps our hearts, and our minds centered on Christ, who is our supplier of joy and peace.

Isaiah 9:6-

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

The Christmas story is the story of God.

When I was in Bible college years ago, professor Lodaul who wrote the course the story of God made it abundantly clear that the story of God was all about Jesus and Him coming to redeem mankind.

From the very beginning, we see a God that had compassion for a fallen world and provided a plan of redemption that would involve His coming.

It would involve His miraculous birth and His persecution, his prophetic announcement ahead of time that was recorded in God’s Word to God’s people, all the way to the cross with His death and then His glorious resurrection.

His plan and His story. In His story, we also get to have a happy eternal ending. Those that accept His plan of redemption can not only enjoy eternal life with Him, but can enjoy the benefit of joy and peace now.

Our text this morning is two verses both from the gospel of John.

John 14:27-

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”

John 16:33-

“I have told you these things, so that in me you will have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

The first thing we need to do is define God’s peace.

Question: "What does the Bible say about peace?"

Peace is something everyone wants, yet few seem to find.

What is peace? It can be defined as “tranquility, harmony, or security.” Depending on the situation, it could mean “prosperity” or “well-being.”

Various forms of the word peace are found 429 times in the King James Version of the Bible.

There are different types of peace…inner peace from God, a peace that we can have with God and peace with man, including a false peace that come from the enemy of our soul that will pull us away from the Lord.

"What is the peace of God, and how can you and I experience it?"

Philippians 4:7 refers to “the peace of God which transcends all understanding.

Most of Paul’s letters began with the words