Well, good morning, church. Thank you guys for being here today. I know today would have been one of those Sundays that it was just easy to go, eh, we're going later this week. We're not worried about it, but you came to church. Come on. I love it. I love it. I love it. Hey, this past Thursday, um, we had an opportunity to jump off a campus as a staff and have our annual Christmas party. And I thought, since you guys are the congregation, I thought I would bring a couple observations for that. Number one, we have one of the most amazing staff teams on the planet here at Bern Hickory. And would you guys just appreciate them for a moment? Man, man, oh man. Um, you know, a ton of those people are behind the scenes. They would be mortified if I pointed at them or even said their name, but man, they are godly.
They love Jesus and they love you. Um, and I just want you to hear that from me. And then my second observation is this. I'm not sure any of them have ever bowled before. Uh, I just need to say that maybe because they're working so hard, uh, that they have no hobbies, I'm not sure, but no, it was a great day. Off campus, so much joy, uh, in the season. Speaking of joy, uh, one of the things that just brings me, uh, so much joy in the season is just seeing you guys. Um, a lot of you guys are involved with small groups and life groups and prayer groups and hangout groups and craft groups and mission groups and all that. And it seems like that this time of year is one of those seasons that you are here a lot at the church. And, uh, since we're here a lot, it has been such a great December to watch you guys come and hang out and have parties and be together.
And it really has been a really joyous time of year to have your groups here. And then, if I'm not mistaken, this has been one of the busiest Decembers hosting outside groups in the house here over these last couple of weeks to which facilities would say amen. It has been, right? Um, but it's just been great watching all those groups use this place and we have been able just to speak the name of Jesus into them. So church, thank you for all that you do for making all that happen and really thank you for all you do to just jump in to this joyous time of year. It really is. But here's what I know. After all of me talking about joy on this end, the reality in, I also know, the reality is, is that I also know that for some of you, that this season isn't necessarily a joyous season for you.
And, and I just wanna recognize that because for, for some of you, the reality is, is that this should be one of the marries times of the year, but because of some circumstance in your life, maybe over this last year, maybe over the last couple of years, this season actually ushers in one of the hardest times of the year for you. Th- this isn't what you were necessarily planning for Christmas. For some of you, you're facing some pretty big things right now. For some of you with some health things that we've been walking along this journey with you. Or, or even worse, for some of you, it's a, it's a spouse or somebody in your family facing some health things. For some of you, you've got some, you've got some family issues going on right now. And, and there's so many different angles to those things.
And what's supposed to be the merriest time of year is actually become like a reality show in your family. For some of you, maybe it's financial right now for you. Wh- wh- when, when most of the family's gonna be around the tree, opening up gifts and, and being joyous this season, for you, all you're thinking about is January is coming. Amen. And you gotta pay for it. And it's a heavy deal for you. For some of you, you're walking through the first season of loss of that person that was in your life that brought you so much joy. For some of you, it's just a tension or an anxiety and, and a, and a, and a heaviness about you. So, so for some of us, we're on the merry and joyful end. For some of us, we're on the heavy end. And so the question that I wanna enter this moment this morning is what do we do in these moments of extremes?
Who can we look to? Who can we hang our lives on to which Isaiah, our prophet buddy that we've been walking with over these last couple of weeks would just simply say in the wonder, in the joy or in the heartache, here's what Isaiah would tell us. You can look to Jesus and you can grab onto Jesus and you can rest in who Jesus is and you can rest on what Jesus wants to do in you, especially ... Listen to me, church, especially in the hard moments of life. Actually, that's what we've been looking at over these last couple weeks, right? This prophecy of Isaiah that he was given, this king named Ahas and this hard moment, in this moment where it doesn't seem like anything's gonna work out. This moment, it doesn't seem like he doesn't know where to go. Isaiah is looking at him and he's looking at us and all of our situations of non-joy merry Christmas Inc. And he's saying, "Listen, you have a wonderful counselor.
You have a wonderful counselor that has a plan and that wants to walk out a plan and he is above any description that you put on him, but he wants to come beside you. You have a wonderful counselor, but you also have a mighty God, and that's important because a counselor without the power to do anything is great, but it is not who we serve. We have a mighty God. And that means that he has not only a plan for our life, but he has the power to move in that plan and to walk out that plan. And he has a power about him that is eternal and he stands above all. But we also have an everlasting Father. And that simply just means that we have a God. We have a, we have a savior named Jesus that has and is and will be a heavenly figure in us, a fatherly, eternal figure that wants to stand from an outside perspective and give us counsel and give us wisdom and give us power.
And here's the deal, and he wants to move in you.
But then also this week, and this is where our joy comes in this week from Isaiah chapter nine, on top of all of those other things, and on top of all of those other truths, our focus today as we finish this Isaiah nine passage is that we also have the prince of peace. We also have the prince of peace, and his name is Jesus. In our turmoil, in our shame, in our joy or in between, we have ... Listen to me, we have the deep solution to a soul longing craving that every single one of us has, and that is peace. In fact, I want you to look at Isaiah nine with me again, and I want to show you how Jesus is linked to peace and really how he is the only peace. Here's what it says in Isaiah nine: six. This, this is the, this is our theme verse for the whole series.
It says," For unto us, a child is born. "A son is given and the government will be upon his shoulders and he will be called wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father. And here it is, and prince of peace. To, to which if you're reading this, you're like, " Well, Matt, that is the Old Testament. I mean, and what does that have to do with Jesus? "We've answered that question every single week. So what I want you to do this week, because I want you to flip with me over to the birth story of Jesus, to Luke chapter two, and I want to show you how the incarnation or how the birth story of Jesus, the mirror text of this, this text where the angels were telling the shepherds who Jesus was gonna be. I want you to see what it says about peace. Luke chapter two, verse 10.
It says," But the angel said to them, Do not be afraid. "I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people today in the town of David, a savior has been born to you. He is the Messiah, the Lord, and this will be assigned to you. You'll find the babe wrapped and clothed and lying in a manger. And suddenly, here it is. Suddenly, a great company of heavenly hosts appeared with the angel praising God and saying," Glory to God in the highest heaven and on earth. "Here's the relation, peace, to those on whom his favor rests. Now, when you look at both of these passages, really and truly, when you read these two passages just from an earthly perspective or just from an earthly context or an earthly view, when you look at these and the situations that all of the people are in, it is really hard to believe.
It's actually really hard to follow this idea of peace. When you think about it here, I mean, what do we see from just these two passages? First of all, that Jesus is actually called the name the prince of peace, right? But how is it? Have you ever thought about this? How is it that it seems like every time you read the New Testament, when Jesus entered into the scene, when Jesus was around a group of people, it seemed like everywhere he went, he was either being kicked out of a town, stoned or crucified. Have you ever noticed that? I mean, actually he tells us in Matthew chapter five, blessed are the peacemakers, but then he follows it up in Matthew chapter 10 when he's talking about evangelism that actually he is the one that is gonna divide those that know him and don't know him.
It's kinda crazy to think that if your name is peace, how on earth did you stir things up so much that they took you to the cross? From an earthly point of view, it really doesn't make sense, does it? Hold that intention because secondly, what we just read, we said that, we, we said that when, when Jesus was born, the angels us literally told us that he would bring peace. We saw that. But when Jesus was born, when you really think about it, it was anything but a silent night. If you know the story and if you know the context of the story, it was an incredibly chaotic time. It was an incredibly oppressive time. Rome had stomped all over everybody involved from a holistic view, but then even when you dive into the major cast of the Christmas story, it just seems like from the outside looking in, there was no peace.
So man, what are you talking about? Well, let's walk through a couple of them. Remember the old priest named Zachariah? Remember what happened to him? He talked back to God and God literally made him a mute for 10 months. Do you think there's peace in that moment? Well, yeah, Matt, if he did that to my husband, it would be very peaceful. That's not what I'm talking about, right? There's no peace in that. Well, what about young Mary? Have you ever thought about the, the gospel story from her perspective, just looking at it from the outside looking in? That's a tough one to explain to your life group at prayer moment, right? "Hey, I'm pregnant. Would you guys pray for me, right? There was no guy that did this. There's no peace in that. What about Joseph? Have you ever thought about Joseph and his peace?
There was no peace in Joseph's mind. He wasn't sipping on cider and singing joy to the world. He's trying to figure out how in the world his girl is gone and got him pregnant. There's no peace in that moment. What about Mary and Joseph together, right? They jump on a donkey. They've been called. They got a ride to Bethlehem. Matthew chapter one tells us that she is great with child, right? In other words, she is in the ninth month at this point. They ride across the country. There's no peace in that being on a donkey at nine months pregnant. I mean, come on, ladies, right? I rode to Kennestone with Melissa, and that wasn't peaceful, much less like this. You ever thought about when they pulled into Bethlehem? You think, " Well, Matt, that's when the peace started. "No, it didn't. You know Mary is not having a good day on that donkey.
She's thinking she's riding into the four seasons to have this baby, right? And now, not only is she not going to that one, the Motel six is sold out, right? She got nowhere to go, so Joseph brokers the deal, right? And ends up in the back barn of somebody's house or homestead. You think that's the Pinterest birth that she had circled or penned? No, there's no peace in that. Ladies, can you say no epidural? No peace there, right? Well, man, man, man, man, peace came after Jesus was born. Okay. Well, let's go down that route just for a minute. You remember this guy named King Harrod in the story? You remember what he did? He heard the news of his coming savior. He heard the news of this person that was probably gonna overthrow him. He sent out a search party to look for Jesus and then just declared that all the males under two years old be killed.
There's no peace. Listen to me. From the outside looking in, it is hard to see peace in the bird story of Jesus and from the outside looking in. It is hard to see peace in most of our stories. I mean, when you think about it, the same is true for most of our lives. It's hard to see peace sometimes, isn't it? I mean, I dealt with people just this week in this church that in my office, man, there was no peace. I, I walk with people in some marriages this week. I mean, Christian marriage should be a peaceful person coming in with a peaceful person and creating peace, but we know that's not always the case. I mean, what about, what about this relational peace or what about financial peace? What about relational pain and financial pain? What about Barrett Parkway on Fridays? Amen. There's one for you.
What about what the news does to us every single day trying to divide us? There's no peace in that one, is there? What about our nation's leadership? Whichever animal you're riding on are crazy, right? There's no peace in that one. What about school shootings or countries at war with all of that? Let me ask you this question, because here's what the world is asking, and here's really what we're asking, but we probably don't do it out loud. When you put all this stuff together and you say, "Well, Matt, you're telling me is, if Jesus is the prince of peace, did he fail?" You ever thought about that? If he's the one that the Bible calls prince of peace and there is never peace, did Jesus fail? And let me teach you something this morning. No, he did not. He did not. So how did he not?
Here's why. You see, earthly peace. Let me, let me do, let me differentiate for you. Earthly peace only consists of the absence of conflict. That's earthly peace. But let me teach you about biblical peace for a minute. Biblical peace or eternal peace you could call it is so much more. And this is this blessing that we can have peace through the prince of peace. And his name is Jesus. In fact, let me start with the name again. Let me read it to you. This is the last time I'm gonna read this text. We've read it 47 times in this series. Let me read it to you one more time and then we're gonna talk about it. It says this in Isaiah nine again. Look at the promise. "For unto us, a child is born, a son is given, the government will be upon his shoulders and he will be called wonderful counselor.
It's building. He will be called the mighty God. It's building. He will be called the everlasting Father. It's building. And then it's interesting that the last one on the list is that he will be called, here it is, the prince of peace. Have you ever thought about the fact that that's the last one? Have you ever thought about the fact that that's the last one that Isaiah mentions? I'm not really sure. Let me set the Bible over here, but let me just tell you why Matt thinks it's the last one right here. Matt thinks it's the last one because every single one of us at some season of our life will cry out for peace to be put into our hearts because it's a longing that we have. And it's a pain that we walk in and it's an ideal and a gift that only God gives us through Jesus.
And that's why I use this idea of prince of peace. I- in fact, every single week we've kind of done this, but let's look at this actual phrase, prince of peace, because what Isaiah is telling us is that peace is not an ideal. Peace is a person. And his name is Jesus. Look at the name right here. The name Prince of Peace is actually the Hebrew phrase Sar Shalom. Sar Shalom. It is two words in the Hebrew. Sar literally means the one that is in charge. That's where this word sar means. It means the captain. It means the Lord. It means the chief. It means the general. It means the Lord of the manner in that in which gives life and gives hope to all who are underneath him. That's what Sar means in the Hebrew. Now, in the Greek, the actual Romans took that word sar into Greek and they translated as secar, all right?
Like Julia sees our and lots of the other rulers if that kind of helps you understand what this means. It means the one that rules. So when Isaiah leans in at this moment and when he begins to talk about peace, Isaiah says that Jesus Christ is the captain, that Jesus is the Lord and Jesus is the one that is in charge of, here's the second word, shalom. Shalom. Now, shalom is a word that we don't have a mirror word for in English, all right? It takes us like a sentence to describe it. Shalom literally means, or carries this idea of wholeness, tranquility, rest, and contentment. All right? I want you to grab hold of those words, all right? Because literally this idea of shalom brings this idea of wholeness, tranquility, rest and contentment. You need to keep all of those in the same char- paragraph, all right?
And here's what happens. When you put these two things together, the promise that, that God is giving us, the promise that Jesus is giving us and that Jesus has described is, is this, is that Jesus is the Lord of wholeness and contentment. That's what it means when Jesus is described as the prince of peace. Now, when we get that, when we get that, we're able to see that peace, we're able to see that tranquility is our shalom is way more than just this tranquil feeling. We're able to see that it's way more than just this absence of conflict. We see that peace is way more than just the, the, the absence of chaos in our lives. What we begin to see from a biblical perspective is that peace is shalom. It is a wholeness, it is a tranquilness, it is a rest, and it is a pursuit of the one Jesus that has given us life.
So listen to me, peace is not just the absence of conflict. Peace is the presence of something that is way greater than the conflict and his name is Jesus. You see, that's a total different perspective. And the bottom line is, is that peace, here it is, here it is. We might not believe this, but it's true. Peace is only found in resting with Jesus. Listen, you can try to fill your life with every other item that this world has to offer. But here's what Jesus tells us, and here's what the Bible tells us, and here's what history tells us. And if you are honest with yourself, this is what your soul will tell you. You can fill your life with anything else this world has to offer, but ultimately, it will not bring you lasting peace. It just won't do it. Only Jesus will. Only Jesus will why?
Because he's the Lord of it. Why? Because he's the creator of it. Why? Because he is the one that puts it in our lives. He is the one that brings so much meaning to whatever life is hitting me with. I know that I can look at the Soror Shalom, the giver, the Lord, the maker of peace, and he is peace. Say, man, I, I, I'm not, I'm not following you. I'm not kind of grabbing hold of that. What does that really even mean when you tell me that Jesus is the one that brings peace? Let me give you four ways this morning that Jesus brings peace. Number one, the prince of peace brings us. Here it is. Number one, he brings us peace with God. He brings us peace with God. So man, okay, I get that. Here's church, you're supposed to say that. No, no, no.
I need you to lean into it for a minute because this is actually the primary thing that Jesus does in our life. He brings us peace with God. You say, Matt, what does that mean? That means this. From the moment sin entered the earth, from the moment shame entered the earth, we have been in chaos. We've been in chaos. We have been in a pursuit to drift away from God. And what Jesus has done is he has brought us away back into peace with God. If you remember right, when God created Adam, when he created Eve, he created them whole. He created them in harmonious life with him. He created them sinless. He created them to have fellowship walking and talking and being with him. But in Genesis chapter three, at the moment sin entered the earth, there was a divide that happened at that point because a holy God cannot be in the presence of sinful man.
If you remember right, there was a chasm. There was a divide. There was a, a crevice between us and God. And in Genesis chapter three, the first thing that God shows us in scripture that happens after we sin is he actually began to describe the chaos that sin brought into our life. The lack of peace between us and God, the lack of peace between us and other people, the lack of peace between us and Satan and the lack of peace between us and life. That's actually when death entered the world. And then if you remember right, right after God describes the chaos that happens, he actually described the first prophecy of who Jesus was going to be. And it began to look towards a savior that would one day come to bring us back into relationship with God. The Bible tells us that our sin separated us from God, but it was Jesus and Jesus alone that gets us back to God.
That is what this whole season is about. In fact, if you go back to first century Bethlehem, the incarnation of Jesus, it is Jesus and Jesus alone that is the lamb of God. It is Jesus and Jesus alone, the one that can come and can take our sin and take our shame and reunite us with God as purified sons and daughters of the king. Jesus brings us peace with God. In fact, Romans five one tells us like this. He says, "Therefore, since we've been justified through faith, we have peace with God through what? Through our Lord Jesus Christ." Listen, try what you want, but the world offers no peace like the one that is the Lord of peace. We actually see this all through the birth story. We see it actually first when the angel Gabriel visits Mary, he sends Gabriel with this message of peace to Mary.
Listen to what Mary, he says to Mary, Luke chapter one verse 28. It says, "The angel went to her and said, Greetings, you who were highly favored, the Lord is with you. Mary was greatly troubled. Are you feeling the chaos in this moment at his words and wonder what kind of greeting this might be? But the angel said to her, listen to the message of peace. Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Do you see that church? The reality is that the only thing that can bring us peace is Emmanuel in us and through us. I mean, Zachariah knew this piece as well. Zechariah was the father of John the Baptist. John the Baptist was the forerunner of Jesus. He was the one that was proclaiming who Jesus was going to be. Listen to what Zachariah says about his son, Luke chapter one, verse 76.
In the birth story of Jesus, it says, "In you, my child, speaking of John the Baptist, will be called a great prophet of the most high. You will go on before the Lord, preparing the way for him to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins." Look at the last part of verse 79. It says this, "To guide our feet into the path of peace." Listen to me, believer, the path of peace is the person of peace and his name is Jesus. The path of peace is the person of peace. And only Jesus alone can fill that hole in your heart that life has taken from it. The Soar Shalom, the prince of peace, he died on the cross. He rose from the grave. Listen to me. Peace, Jesus was born into the world to die on the cross of chaos to bring us peace.
It's the Easter verse, right? Isaiah 53: five. It says, "For he was pierced, for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities, the punishment, what it is that say that has brought us peace was laid upon him and it was by his wounds. We are healed." Let me pause just right there for a second and ask you an honest question. I'm gonna be really honest with you here and just ask this. Could your lack of soul level peace be coming from the fact that you have never trusted the one that gives peace? 'Cause your lack of soul level peace, because some of you, you have been plagued with a life of it. Could your lack of soul level peace be coming from the fact that you have never trusted Jesus with your heart, trusted Jesus with your soul and literally said to him, Lord Jesus, be my Lord, be mine.
Number one, the prince of peace brings peace with God. Number two, though, watch this. Number two, the prince of peace also brings peace within ourselves. He brings peace within ourselves. You say, "Amen. What, what does that mean? It sounds a little bit new aging to me. " No, it doesn't. Here, here, let me prove it. Isn't it true that many times we are our worst enemies? Can I get an amen on that one? We are. Can I tell you why? It's because sin not only separates us from God, but sin also brings separation within our own being. It also couses chaos within our own soul on top of our own soul, and it really makes us into being conflicted beings. That's why we're constantly fighting anxiety, constantly stressed, constantly fighting this inner turmoil, and we desperately need peace. We not only need peace of God, but we need peace with God.
We need peace within ourselves. This is the peace that even in the midst of the craziness of the situation in Bethlehem that Mary has. When she says in Luke chapter one, verse 46, watch what she says to show this peace. She says that, "My soul glorifies the Lord. And my spirit rejoices in God my savior." Oh, what does he say? For he is mindful of me. Listen, church, that's what Jesus wants to bring you. He wants to bring you this idea where you are totally made right with him, peace with God, but you're also totally made right in your own souls. Oh, some of you got some demons that have just been dragging you down for years and years and years and years, and you need to invite Jesus to step on them and give you peace. To give you peace, to give you the peace, oh, for some of you, you know what I'm about to say?
To give you the peace that passes all understanding. In fact, Philippians four: six, Paul says it like this. He says, "Don't be anxious about anything. But in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, what does he say? Present your request to God." Well, you say all the time, talking about prayer, right? It's on the bottom of my prayer list every single morning. But watch the rest of the verse though, and the peace of God. Oh, here it is. Which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Listen to me, church, not only does Jesus bring peace with God, he also brings peace within ourselves, but we've got to ask him. And we gotta trust him, and we've gotta let him live out his Lordship in us. He brings peace for God. He brings peace with others. Here's the third one though.
I mean, with ourselves, but here's the third one. He also brings peace with others. He also brings peace with others. Here's what that means. He brings peace in the midst of situations that there really should be no peace. Listen, for some of you, this is the one that sticks. Maybe there's an inner peace about you, but it just seems like your life is plagued with tension with other people. What does Jesus offer? He offers peace Peace with other people. But, but how does he do it? Have you ever thought about that? How does Jesus really and truly offer peace with other people? Let me tell you, he changes two things in our lives. He changes our focus and he changes our affections. And here's how Jesus brings peace with other people. Let me, let me teach you something because this can help some of you.
It, here's what Jesus does. He begins to change who we are and he tends to change what we love and he begins to change where our focus is by taking the attention off of me and putting it on he. Does that make sense? Let me flesh that out by saying like this. For, for most of us, the number one tension point in a lot of our lives, I'll say, is this conflict with other people. And here's why most conflict with other people happens. It happens because I think that I'm not getting what I think I deserve. Can I get an amen on that one? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, it is. Somebody's like, no, I'll never say it. That's why you're internal, right? That's it, right? <laugh> But, but here's what Jesus does in us. When Jesus gives us peace with God, when Jesus gives us peace within ourselves, and when Jesus gives us peace with others, he begins to take our gaze off of me and the fact that I've put myself on the throne and he begins to change my focus to him and putting him on the throne, and then here's what happens in our life.
Then at that point, it really doesn't matter what you think about me. And it really doesn't matter that I think that you're giving me what I deserve, because I've gotten what I need from the one that can really give me life. You see, some of us are so stuck on what other people think that we miss the fact that they're not the sarcolom in our lives. The one that gives me hope is the one that died for my sins. The one that gives me promise is the one that gives me peace for my life. And the one's name is Jesus, is the one that I need to put onto the throne and take myself off of the throne. And then I'm not as snippy as I used to be because I know where I find my hope. And his name is Jesus. I, I love this in the, in the bird story.
In, in a way, Joseph in the bird story actually shows us what happens when we take our attention off of me and we put it on Emanuel. Remember Joseph in the birth story? I mean, he kind of has a bad rap in the birth story because it initially tells us that he wanted to put Mary away, right? It initially tells us that he was thinking about divorce and Mary. I mean, rightfully so. I mean, if you're engaged and your lady comes to you and, and tells you that you're kind of done, uh, or that, that she has been impregnated, I mean, it's gonna take a minute to figure out that's from God, right? But then in Matthew chapter one, watch what happens to Joseph verse 20. It says, "After he had cons- considered this, that was putting Mary away, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
Do you see what happens in Joseph's lives? Instead of him looking at me and me and me and me, God steps into his life and begins to say, Hey, listen, God has done this and this is God moving in you. You see, church, once Jesus settles our soul with God and saves us, once Jesus settles our soul and gives us peace within ourselves, then God begins to move in our life and show us how we can be at peace in all other relationships. I got news for you. Christians should be some of the most peaceful people on the planet, but it seems like sometimes we're the biggest jerks. Do you know why? Because our attention and our affection is on me and not on he. Oh, church, what would it look like if we began to pray for God to change our focus off of myself and put it on Emmanuel?
I love in Ephesians 2:14 where Paul says it like this. He himself, speaking of Jesus, is our peace who has made the two: one and has destroyed the barrier dividing the wall of hostility.
I love in Colossians 3:15 where it just says, let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts. As members of one body, you were called to one peace. The bottom line is this. When Jesus is our focus and not ourself, we live at peace. So there's peace with God, there's peace within ourself, there's peace with others. And here's my favorite one. Number four, Jesus, the Sar Shalom also brings peace that exists. Here it is. For eternity. Freternity. You, you know what that means? This is my favorite one. This is why. This is why it's my favorite one because of this. No matter what else you try to put peace in your life with. Will it work? Oh, it might work. It might work for a minute. It might work for an hour. It might work for a season. But here's what the scripture is telling us.
It is Jesus and Jesus alone that can bring you peace that is always there and is eternal. You know what happens with earthly peace? I just thought about this this morning. Earthly peace is kind of like us filling up our lives into a bucket that has a bunch of holes in it, right? And we're carrying it. And for a minute, it might be full. It might be full, but what is it doing? It's always leaking out. It's always leaking out. It's always going away, right? It's always leaving us. But here's the promise from Jesus. Here's the promise from the Soar Shalom is when He fills us, when He moves in us, He fills the bucket, He fills the holes, He plugs them all up, and He's moving us towards a day that all of us will stand in front of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.
And there will be no more shame. There will be no more pain. There will be no more hurt. There will be no more sorrow. And all of us will live at full peace with Him. That, that is why. No matter what else you're putting in your life, we'll never fill you like He will. That's Jesus. And that's the offer and that's what He wants to give you. I love in Luke chapter two, verse 13. It says, "Suddenly a great company of heavenly host appeared with the angel praising God and saying glory to God and the highest and on earth, peace to men on whom his favor rests." Listen to me once that favor moves into our life and we submit our heart to him, it is eternal. Man, I'm not gonna lie to you. There are some things in this world that feel right, but just don't last.
But Jesus does. And Jesus gives us hope and only through his blood on the cross for those of us who love him, for those of us who serve him, for those of us that take ourselves off the throne and put him on it, can we stand amazed at his presence and say, "Yes, Lord Jesus, move in me. " Let me give you four walkaways to close the message that'll help close all this out. Number one, remember this, peace is not the absence of pain. It's not. Peace, here's number two, is not the absence of problems. Listen, I got news for you. If you're breathing, you got problems. Jesus promised us this, right? John 16:33, "In this world, you will have troubles," he says. "But take heart. I've overcome the world. "What does that mean? That means number three, peace is a person. Peace is a person.
And here's number four. Peace is only found and abiding with Jesus. Listen to church, I'm super passionate about this. Why? Because we live in a community that seems to have everything it needs. We live in a community that seems to have every earthly blessing that needs to be put in our lives. We live in a community that seems to have it all together, that, that looking from a, from a social media or even from a walking the halls of the church seems to have all the joy that is ever needed. Bless you, brother. Great Merry Christmas. But at the end of the day, here's what I know about our community. We live in a community that has tried to find peace in so many things that has just watered through or leaked out the bucket and we've been left dry. Let me give you the alternative for the season.
Trust in the one who is the Lord of peace. Trust in the one that is the captain of peace, of wholeness, of tranquility, of rightness. He is the king of kings and the Lord of Lords. He is the one that can fill you and keep filling you and keep filling you until one day he delivers you from this world and places you in his heavenly kingdom to where all we will ever do is live in the fullness of his peace. But here's the question. Will you let him? Will you let him? Will you let him? Or will you just keep trying to chase all these earthly little temptations, all these earthly little things that will ultimately just keep leaving you try? Let me ask you something today. Have you ever trusted Jesus as your savior? Have you ever laid your life down in front of him and said," Lord Jesus, move in me and be my.
Come into my life and save me. I know that I'm separated from you, but you have just promised me that you want to make peace between me and God. Or Jesus be mine. "Do you need to do that today?
I can't think of a better season than this one right here to step out of your sins and step into the holiness and the saving grace and knowledge of Lord Jesus Christ. But it's on you. Just a minute, we're gonna have an imitation. I'm gonna be standing right over here by the next step spanner. And listen, for some of you today, you need to trust Jesus for the first time and give them your hearts. But for some others of you, here's, here's, here it is. You know Jesus, but your life is anything but peaceful. Maybe, maybe, maybe you've been looking at it from the wrong perspective. Maybe today you just need to invite the prince of peace to give you peace and to carry you into his peace. Can I tell you what happens when you do that? He hears you and he moves in you.
I'm gonna have some prayer people over here in just a minute with myself. Jesus today. Amen. We'd love you. We'd love to walk with you today. But number two, maybe, maybe, maybe you just need to s- have somebody today lock arms with you and pray with you and over you that the sar Shalom would live up to who he is and that you would just be able to say," Here I am, Lord Jesus. Move in me.