Revive Us - Part 7
Yahweh Shalom
Judges 6:24
Stress related illnesses and disorders are growing exponentially throughout the world. New drugs are invented every year to reduce hyper-tension and address blood pressure problems. Millions of people are searching in vain for that elusive peace of mind to calm their inner unrest.
One of the greatest desires, in a recent national pole, in the lives of Americans, is for inner peace. Everybody, it seems, is looking for peace . . .
Guys are looking for peace, girls are looking for peace, the old are looking for peace, the young are looking for peace. Why, it seems that even babies are looking for peace.
What comes to your mind when you hear the word ‘peace?’ Let’s do a quiz here - I am going to flash some scenes up on the screen behind me - and I want you to raise your hand if the picture makes you think of peace.
Peaceful Sunset
Peaceful Forest
Peaceful Rose
Peaceful Palms
Peaceful Baby
Peace Force
Peaceful Yoga
Piece Cake
Nah - cake had nothing to do with it - I just wanted to see who else had a sweet tooth.
Peace means different things to different people. Despite the fact that we even have a military arm known as the UN Peace Keeping Force, peace, I would suggest to you, simply cannot be accomplished or maintained through military engagement. World War I was the war to end all wars - a mere 25 years later World War II began. As it ended an arms race and military standoff between the world’s superpowers started - known as the Cold War. The war in Afghanistan did not bring peace. The punitive death of Saddam Hussein did not bring peace. The war in Iraq or Iran will not bring peace.
I did some chaplaincy work in the military, and am reminded of a notice on a chaplains desk I read about - it said, "My job is to bring peace and love to an organization that exists to blow things up and kill people."
Have you ever longed for peace? How would you like to have peace in this world of strife? What would you give to have a happy, peaceful home, a home without strife, envy, jealousy, and fighting? Blessed is that man whose home is a castle of peace!
What about personal, inward peace? Can you imagine that? John Lennon did. He wrote a song entitled ‘Imagine’; do you remember the first verse?
"Imagine there’s no countries, it isn’t hard to do.
Nothing to kill or die for, no religion too.
Imagine all the people living life in peace."
One of the primary needs expressed in a recent national poll was for peace. We all long for peace don’t we - peace in ourselves, peace in our homes, peace at our work, peace in Afghanistan, peace in Iraq, peace in our world!
This morning I want to share from the Word of God how you can have that peace.
The problem is not sociological, it is theological. And your cannot solve a theological problem with a sociological fix. I would suggest to you this morning that almost all of life’s problems and their solutions are theological.
Open your Bible with me, if you will, to the book of Judges, Judges and chapter 6. While you are turning there may I point out that in the Bible, the word ‘peace’ has many meanings – in fact, there are several words which are translated ‘peace,’ but the main one and the one we are going to focus on today is the word that comes from the Hebrew word ‘shalom.’ ‘Shalom’ is one of the most commonly used word in the Hebrew language even today. People still use it as a greeting and a farewell. They will ask ‘mah shlomka’ - literally ‘what is your peace?’
The situation in Judges 6 is curious. Israel is at war with the Midianites - has been for seven long years - and the Midianites have the upper hand. The Israelites are hiding in caves and strongholds in the mountain - and the Midianites were starving them out. Gideon is hiding in a wine press grinding wheat.
Now watch this - God does three thing - these are critical for you and me as well :-
Know who you are!
He give Gideon a glimpse of himself through the eyes of God.
Know why you’re here!
He commissions Gideon to deliver Israel by defeating their seven year enemy.
Know what you have!
He confirms His power available to Gideon.
Let’s pick it up from there - Judges 6:19-24
Read - Pray
One Saturday morning, a man woke up early to read the morning paper. Glad to have some time to himself, he brewed a fresh pot of coffee and began to read. Three sentences into the first article, he saw his five-year-old daughter descending the stairs. "Honey, go back to bed"
"But I’m not sleepy" she insisted.
Determined to read his paper, he again urged her to go back to bed. Again, she told him she was not tired. Looking at the newspaper, he conceived a plan. In the paper was a picture of the world, which he cut into pieces. Handing his daughter some scotch tape, he told her "Go sit at the dining room table and see if you can put the world back together."
He daughter accepted the challenge, and he went back to finish his coffee and paper. After only a few minutes, though, his daughter came bounding into the kitchen. "Here, Daddy, I’m finished!" she said , showing him the picture of the world put back together.
Amazed, he asked, "Sweetie, how did you do that so fast?"
She replied, "It was easy. On the back side of the page was a picture of a man. When you make the man right, you can make the world right"
Gideon found peace before anything in his situation had changed. When the man was right, the world was right. Mind you, when Gideon found peace, the seven year war was still being fought - the Midianites were still winning and the children of Israel were still hiding and hungry. But the man was right.
1. Determine to Get the Right Peace
False Peace - Deny It
False Peace - Drug It
False peace: "Real peace is a bottle of Jack Daniel’s or a six pack of Coore’s.
ER patient being drugged to kill pain - it doesn’t take away the pain, it’s still there.
False peace produces a false confidence and a vain hope in a fools paradise. What do you trust your peace to? That which numbs your heart to your true condition or the one who can control your every situation? John Lennon never found peace because he was looking in the wrong places. All he knew of was the world’s peace.
The second verse of ‘Imagine’ says . . .
Imagine there’s no heaven, it’s easy if you try,
No hell below us, above us only sky.
Imagine all the people living for today."
If you have no heaven you have no peace. Why? Because there is only One source of true peace.
He is the Prince of Peace promised in the Old Testament (Isaiah. 9:6).
Zacharias announced that He had come "to guide our feet into the way of peace" (Luke 1:78, 79)
At His birth a multitude of the heavenly host sang "peace on earth" (Luke 2:14).
Jesus also preached & promised peace. To a woman He had healed He said "Your faith has saved you; go in peace." (Luke 7:50)
To another "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace." (Luke 8:48)
His first words to His fearful disciples after rising from the dead are, "Peace be with you." (Jn20:19,21)
Jesus made this astounding promise, "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. Trust in God - trust also in Me." (John 14:27)
The right peace is the peace that comes from Him. Do you have it?
2. Determine to Get it in the Right Way
The only way to get that peace is, if you will allow the vernacular, to get Him.
YHWH-Shalom is Jesus Christ, who is our Peace. Christ procured peace, promised peace, proclaimed peace and provided peace. But here is something even greater and more blessed - Christ is our Peace! He’s name is Jehovah-Shalom, the Lord our Peace.
Israel lost their peace because they lost their trust in God.
Judges 6:1 "Then the sons of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord; and the Lord gave them into the hands of Midian seven years."
Little bird was trapped in our house about two days - was afraid if us as we trit to set him free. People run from God when they should run to God.
He Is Peace Between Man and God.
You cannot have the peace of God until you have peace with God
Peace is spelt T-R-U-S-T.
Peace between you and God does not come from hard work or
The issue was not the Israelites and the Midianites, the issue was the Israelites and God.
The issue is not the Church and the world, the issue is the Church and God.
The issue is not you and those circumstances, the issue is you and God.
He Is Peace Between Man and Man.
God can work peace through us only if He has worked peace in us.
He Is Peace Between Man and Himself.
You will never be at peace with who you are until you are at peace with who He is!
3. Determine to Keep It in the Right Way
Is see people giving up their peace for the most ridiculous reasons.
Remain in the Presence of God
Keep Your Trust in God
Trust in God - trust also in me.
Keep Your Mind On God
Isaiah 26:3-4, "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. Trust ye in the LORD for ever: for in the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength:"
Stayed Upon the Lord". That means that we like a nail fastened in a sure place spoken of in Isaiah 22:23.
Eph. 2:14 "He is our peace."
The Old Testament altar foreshadows the New Testament cross.
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