Fruit Of The Spirit # 3

She was all smiles as she wore her crown. But when we read of her in the newspaper again, she no longer had a smile on her face because she was in some serious trouble with the law.

Her boy friend had dumped her and married another woman.

She drove 250 miles to seek revenge. She took along a pistol, a hammer, lighter fluid and matches.

When she arrived at his house and rang the doorbell, it was answered by his new father-in-law. She faked having car trouble, and asked if she could use the telephone. Once inside the house, she took out her hammer and hit the father-in-law on the head. She stunned him, but didn’t knock him out. What she didn’t realize was that he was an ex-secret service agent. He grabbed her and as they struggled, she pulled the pistol from her purse and tried to shoot him. That’s when the mother-in-law jumped in to assist in the apprehension and the two of them wrestled her to the floor, holding her until the police arrived.

When questioned, she said that she was driven to seek revenge because she needed "INNER PEACE."

Today, I want to talk to you about a fruit of the Spirit that God wants every Christian to bear, that is, THE FRUIT OF PEACE. This is the third fruit of the Spirit.

The Bible teaches that there is a peace that the lost world provides. That is, the world in which we live provides a certain kind of peace.

Illus: We can see that in the face of Bill Gates, Ted Turner, and Donald Trump. These men are not Christians, but everything is going well in their lives and they are experiencing a peace that the world provides.

It is no mystery why these men can walk around experiencing the peace that the world provides. However, it is a great mystery how some can have PEACE when things are not going well with them.

Illus: A man by the name of Horatio Gates Spafford, was a Christian attorney that lived in Chicago and went through some very difficult times in his life.

He was in the Chicago fire of 1871 where over a hundred thousand were left homeless, and over 300 died. Spafford, for two years, unselfishly helped to assist the needs of the homeless, impoverished, and those grief-stricken by the fire. Horatio G. Spafford was known throughout Chicago as a sincere, devout Christian.

After two years of such work, in November 1873, Spafford and his family decided to take a vacation. He wanted to do two things on this particular vacation:

• Join his good friend Dwight L. Moody in one of his evangelistic campaigns in England.

• From there Mr. Spafford planned on traveling on to Europe.

However, just as the Spafford’s were preparing to leave, Horatio was unexpectedly detained by urgent business concerns in Chicago.

The decision was made that his wife Anna and their daughters – Anna (Annie), Maggie, Bessie, and Tanetta would continue on as scheduled to England.

Once Spafford had resolved the business concern, he would then catch up with them on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.

The ship, the S.S. Ville du Harve, which his wife and daughters were traveling on, never reached England. Off Newfoundland, the ship collided with an English sailing vessel, the Loch Earn. The ship sank rapidly, approximately within 20 minutes after it was struck.

Mrs. Spafford was one of the 47 to survive; tragically all four of their daughters were part of the 226 who perished in the aftermath.

Anna Spafford’s heartbreaking telegram to her husband simply read: “Saved alone.”

Horatio immediately set sail for England to join his grief-stricken wife. As the ship that he was traveling on passed the approximate location where his daughters had drowned, it is reported that due to his deep sorrow mingled with his unwavering faith in God’s goodness, he penned the words of his now famous hymn - “It Is Well with My Soul.”

I hope none of you ever have to face the tragedies that Mr. Spafford had to face. But we can rest assure of this, if we live long enough, some type of tragedy will find its way into our lives.

• For some it will be declining health and no doctor or drug can help them.

• For some it will be a great financial loss that will force them into bankruptcy.

• For some it will be the death of a loved one – such as a child, parent, or our spouse.

• For some it will be a devastating divorce.

But no matter what STORM in life we face, God gives us a PEACE that is not based on OUTWARD CIRCUMSTANCES.

We can have PEACE in the midst of the storms of life.