INTRODUCTION
• OCEAN WAVES VIDEO
• SLIDE #1
• Doesn’t that look inviting?
• Today we are going to dig into a word that I think we all (or most all) of us would love to enjoy.
• We live in chaotic world, we have crazy people running other countries who threat to lob bombs at us, we see places like Venezuela, a country with massive oil reserves, yet the people are starving.
• At times our lives and our families are in a state of chaos. Stresses at work, stresses at home!
• Back in the 1970’s and 1980’s there was a commercial for a product called Calgon. Calgon was a bath powder that was supposed to do something special for you.
• They would show some lady who has screaming kids, phone ringing, and finally she had enough!
• Calgon, TAKE ME AWAY! Then she would be a bath tube full of Calgon bath powder, all was calm, all was peaceful.
• Today we are going to look at a Hebrew word as we continue in our Seven Words series.
• The word for today is SHALOM, a word commonly translated in our Bibles as PEACE.
• The word is commonly used as a salutation by Jews at meeting and parting. It is one person wishing another peace.
• We are going to examine four verses today so that we can grasp the importance of the word Shalom.
• As we understand this word on a deeper level, we will have a better grasp as to why this word is important for us to incorporate into our lives.
• Let’s begin by turning to Psalm 34:14
• SLIDE #2
• Psalm 34:14 (CSB) Turn away from evil and do what is good; seek peace and pursue it.
• SLIDE #3
SERMON
??????? I. The call to seek shalom. Psalm 34:14
• The Psalmist encourages us to SEEK peace and PURSUE it!
• The question is why?
• When we know the full meaning of the word, the why is answered.
• The word SHALOM has a little deeper meaning than simply PEACE.
• The Hebrew word for peace, shalom, is derived from a root denoting wholeness or completeness, and its frame of reference throughout Jewish literature is bound up with the notion of perfection.
• SHALOM is not solely the absence of war, it goes much deeper!
• The word encompasses the idea of good health, both physically and spiritually, in the Old Testament, it expresses a profound wholeness and well-being.
• Shalom is not just a hope for one avoiding war, it deals with the inner peace, the idea of being a complete person.
• When one is complete, or whole, they will be able to experience SHALOM.
• When something is not complete, it is hard to be at peace, it is hard to experience SHALOM.
• When we are lacking in life, we are unsettled. When things are not in order, our spirits are not at peace or at rest.
• When I used to have a computer issue when I ran Windows machines, I could not sleep until I got the problem fixed.
• I would get up at 2 am to continue to work on troubleshooting the issue.
• As long as the problem existed, I could not be at peace, only when I completed the job was I able to lay down and be at peace.
• The Psalmist encourages us to make sure we are pursuing the correct things in life.
• We are called to turn away from evil, and to do what is good.
• Too many times we try to get as close to the edge of evil as possible, then we wonder why we fall into problems.
• Don’t wash your car by a big mud puddle and then get upset when someone drives by and splashes mud on your clean car.
• We need to act in such a way that is good for people. We are called to be role models of what it means to turn away from evil and do what is good.
• Verse 14 encourages us to seek and pursue peace. This implies putting in great effort into doing so.
• When confronted by evil, turn aside. Don’t do it. Doing evil makes the good life impossible, so evil must be shunned.
• At some point in life we must realize that being enamored by what is evil is incompatible with striving to live for the Lord.
• It is kind of like understanding the eating sugar all the time is incompatible with being healthy.
• SHALOM encapsulates perfection or completeness.
• When one is lacking in their relationship with God, they will never experience TRUE SHALOM.
• They will spend their life trying to fill the hole in their heart with everything under the sun to no avail.
• The best that the world has to offer is but nothing when we are not in a relationship with God.
• I believe we have when some call a God-shaped hole in us, that only a relationship with Jesus can fill.
• King Solomon figured that out at the end of Ecclesiastes, which we will touch on shortly.
• The next logical question concerning is Shalom, is answered in Psalm 119:165
• SLIDE #4
• Psalm 119:165 (CSB) Abundant peace belongs to those who love your instruction; nothing makes them stumble.
• SLIDE #5
??????? II. How to find shalom. Psalm 119:165
• True SHALOM is intertwined with our relationship to God.
• The Psalmist promises that ABUNDANT peace belongs to those who love God’s instruction.
• Why would that be the case?
• In God’s Word, we find His instruction and as we follow His instruction, we tend to make better decisions in life and we learn more about the character of God through His instruction and His word so we are able to grow closer to Him.
• As we grow closer to Him, that God-shaped hole within us gets filled and we feel complete.
• Many would tend to look at God’s instruction as restrictive and almost an enslavement to a life of boredom.
• What we need to realize is that the closer we are to God, the more complete we are.
• Have you ever put a large puzzle together only to get to the point of completion, and find you are missing a couple of pieces?
• I mean there is enough of the puzzle there that you know what the puzzle is supposed to be, but when you get done, there is a sense of failure, or a sense that you did not finish the puzzle.
• If you have had this happen, you know that the sense of accomplishment is missing because a couple pieces of the puzzle are gone.
• In life, when you are missing the God part of your puzzle of life, you will not feel complete, no matter what you do because you know something is missing.
• We have peace when we follow God’s instruction, even when we do not understand WHY God wants us to do something, because we know God will not lead us down a bad path.
• When I follow God’s instruction in ANT area of my life, I will feel a peace that surpasses all understanding because I know God is in control.
• When I take the reins of life into my own hands, I will not be at peace because I will allows be under pressure to control things I cannot control, thus building a lack of SHALOM in my life.
• How can I achieve SHALOM?
• SLIDE #6
• Psalm 37:4 (CSB) Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires.
• Let God’s Word be the lamp to your feet and a light for your path!
• SLIDE #7
??????? III. The blessings of shalom. Psalm 37:37; Proverbs 12:20
• I want to look at just two of the blessings of possessing SHALOM in one’s life.
• The fist is found in Psalm 37:37
• SLIDE #8
• Psalm 37:37 (CSB) Watch the blameless and observe the upright, for the person of peace will have a future.
• Psalm 37 contrasts the life of the wicked with the life of the righteous.
• In verse 37 “a man of shalom” indicates not merely one who is easy to get along with, but one whose character is determined by God’s greatest gift, shalom.
• When we are people of peace, we will have a future, not only now in this life, but we have a future with God!
• Verse 38 tells us that the wicked have no future, the future of the wicked will be destroyed.
• As you live life, you must ask yourself, where is my current path of life taking me?
• When we possess SHALOM, our future is bright.
• From a physical standpoint we all know what stress does to us, when you possess SHALOM, your stress levels go WAY down because you are following a God you trust, you are putting situations of which many times you cannot control, into His hands because He CAN control the situation and circumstances!
• A second benefit is found in Proverbs 12:20
• SLIDE #9
• Proverbs 12:20 (CSB) Deceit is in the hearts of those who plot evil, but those who promote peace have joy.
• Those with deceit in their hearts are always looking for a change to do harm to others to elevate themselves.
• The one who promotes peace possess JOY!
• Have you seen folks who are deceitful full of love and joy?
• How about the person who spreads deceit to others?
• Those who promote and exhibit SHALOM are JOYFUL people.
• The peace within them allows them to possess joy because joy transcends circumstances.
• When you possess SHALOM, you know who is in control and that takes the pressure off you!
CONCLUSION
• When you do not possess SHALOM, your life will be empty and joyless.
• You will always be looking to fill the void that you know is in your life, but you cannot put a finger on why the void is there.
• When you embrace SHALOM, you will be able to experience life like never before.
• Until one is in a relationship with God through Jesus Christ, you will never experience the peace He wants you to have because you will be an incomplete person, when you give your life to Jesus, you can be made whole again!
