Jesus, The Source Of Peace Series

Jesus, The Source of Peace

(Philippians 4:4-7)

1. The most infamous young lady to win the Miss Williamsburg, VA beauty pageant has to be Tracey Lippard. She was crowned Miss Williamsburg 1993. She served her year well representing the City of Williamsburg in many activities. As her reign came to an end in February 1994 she crowned her successor and then drove 250 miles to kill her boyfriend’s new lover and that girl’s parents.

Tracey had taken with her on this trip a 9mm pistol, a butcher knife, lighter fluid, matches and a hammer. When she arrived at the house of her rival, she rang the door and the girl’s father answered it. Tracey said she was having car trouble and that she needed to use the telephone. Once in the house she took the hammer out of her purse and hit the father in the back of the head as he was walking her to the phone. She stunned him, but didn’t know him out.

He grabbed her and she struggled but pulled the pistol out of the purse and tried to shot him. His wife hearing the struggle ran to help her husband and both of them were able to wrestle her to the ground and held her down until the police arrived.

When asked why she did what she did, she said that she was just looking for “inner peace”.

(source: sermoncentral)

2. Life can be just too much. And the Lord knows that.

3. The pursuit of peace will never be completely over until we get to heaven. But we can borrow some peace today from tomorrow’s endless supply.

Main Idea: The Source of Peace and Strength to cope with life is found in Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace.

TS----------->> The Christian finds this peace and strength in Jesus Christ by heeding Paul’s commands, commands which are meant to become habits.

I. Rejoice in Him

A. Rejoice IN the Lord

1. In the SPHERE of the Lord. We should rejoice because we are IN the Lord and saved (the primary meaning because this makes sense in light of 3:1-3, where rejoicing is a safeguard against false teaching)

• We rejoice that our names are written in the book of life (3)

• Luke 10:20, "However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven."

2. Rejoice in the SIGHT of the Lord; sing His praises and worship Him, a theme seen throughout Scripture. We must make a point of regularly praising and celebrating Him, for God is pleased when we do so.

• You will often heard it said that Joy is not dependent upon cirucumstances, but Happiness is. We can make that distinction if we wish, but if we said, "find happiness in the Lord always," the meaning would be the same. It is the "in the Lord" phrase that adds the anchor to joy/happiness. There is only one Greek word, Xairo, and it is translated either "I am joyful" or "I am happy."

3. FIND JOY in the Lord during both good and bad times, and find joy in Him even if we cannot find joy in our circumstances; rehearse your relationship to Him, your destiny, the exciting things He will have for you to do, His faithfulness in the past, how your life is different because of Him

• When you are a child, everything is new and exciting; you think you can climb to the moon, the seasonal changes are unfamiliar, snow is the best toy ever created, and life is an adventure. We used to burn coal…one year, my dad bought scrap wood from a contractor; my dad was a printer…sheets of cereal boxes… But familiarity breeds boredom, unless you get more deeply into things….

• Same in spiritual realm: the Lord will becoming boring if you do not get more deeply into the things of God…or new angles in the spiritual realm…it is hard to be joyful if you are not discovering more about God…

B. Always ???????

1. Does this mean every second of every day?

2. Let’s let the Bible answer this: same Greek word, ???????

John 18:20 "I have spoken openly to the world," Jesus replied. "I always taught in synagogues or at the temple, where all the Jews come together. I said nothing in secret.

Does this mean Jesus spent every waking moment in the Synagogue? No, it means he frequently taught there.

Colossians 4:12, "Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured."

"Epaphras, come and get your dinner…" "I can’t; I’m wrestling in prayer…. "Ephrasas, hold the baby while I step out, "I can’t, I’m wrestling in prayer." Go to work…witness