Christmas Brings...peace

Advent week two

Christmas brings… Peace

Introduction-

This morning we continue with the Advent series and we look at the “Peace of God”.

Peace is an elusive thing- if we find it, we are at peace, if we do not have it, the lack of peace is unsettling and disturbing. The search for peace is as scary as the fear of not finding it.

Advent by definition means “the arrival of a notable person, thing or event.”

We are preparing ourselves for the return of Christ.

Our whole life at times seems to be preparing to be prepared- Right? Amen.

This week we watched former President George H. W. Bush’s funeral on national television. Forget about political views, it was refreshing to me to watch a born-again Christian who made his faith known and lived out be honored for a life well lived and to have people from both sides say that he was prepared to die because he lived for Christ. To say of a believer that they lived to serve others and were at peace to be going home to their Lord is to me the biblical example of the peace of God.

We are past Thanksgiving, Black Friday craziness in the stores is nothing compared to the Black Friday of Christ being thrown in a tomb and left for dead. But that was just Christ preparing for His second arrival- His birth Christmas, His resurrection, Easter, His ascension, the Holy Spirit power to transform lives.

Nothing is impossible with God!

Advent is about ordinary people being introduced to a super natural God and being transformed by His loving work.

Out on the sign- “For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given”-

Unto you is given a choice.

Isaiah 9:6-7 Read from Bible

Prayer-

Father, this morning may we find peace in knowing Jesus Christ as Lord who first came as a child in a manger. May we experience His love and see Him as wonderful counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of peace. Amen.

Did you know that there are over 300 prophecies in the OT about the coming messiah? Fulfilled prophecy is proof of the deity of Jesus Christ, along with the eyewitness accounts, stories, traditions, and the written word of Almighty God by many different writers. Our text is recorded 700 years before the birth of Christ who was promised.

Behind the text is a nation of people who were oppressed and in darkness. Hearing of a savior coming that He would be their light.

One that would shatter the yoke of bondage

One that would change eternity

One that would set them free.

Jesus is the same, yesterday, today, forever… He is the answer to the brokenness felt, the yoke that restricts, the captor being set free. No longer in the manger, but a savior that offers peace in a world that steals our peace.

In our sinful state, the reason Jesus came was to restore us to a relationship of peace with God.

It is not till we acknowledge that we have sinned and have separated ourselves from God that we understand that Jesus has come to restore that relationship.

Romans 5:1-

“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into the grace in which we now stand.”

You can take classes, read all kinds of books, listen to motivational speakers… no one can give you the peace of God except God. Repeat.

You cannot earn it.

You are not born into it. There is only one savior and you and I are not Him.

Phil 4:7

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

Apostle Paul writes to the church at Philippi,

“Finally, brothers, sisters, whatever is true, whatever is notable, 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.”

You can’t buy it but you can live it. You can share it. You can experience God’s peace.

The longer I pastor and see people when they are hurting, the more I realize the importance of the peace of God.

C.S. Lewis

“We lash out at God and everyone around us. The peace of God can only come from God- there is no shortcut and there is no second option. You want the peace of God, look to God to get it.”

I watch as they attempt to find peace without God.

You wonder how a believer can go through the things they do, I tell you it is not in their strength, their wisdom, their talents. It is because they trust and rely on the peace of God which passes all our understanding and moves it into a God moment!