The Peace of God

Now, do you hear me? OK. I want to encourage you all to grab a seat. Grab a seat.

Sorry about that. If you have your Bibles, go ahead and open it up to Philippians chapter 4, so that you are at least ready. If you have your Bibles, feel free to open them up to Philippians chapter 4. Have your, have your Bible opened and ready for when you'll need to be there.

I'll just let upfront that, in the first, in the morning message, I had more than what I was able to cram into the time that I have and so we're gonna, we're gonna have to, have God in His grace step in and And do what only he can do. I wanna ask you guys to join with me in prayer, please. Lord, Lord, we come before you. We ask Lord that you would see fit.

To reveal yourself to us. We pray that you would grant to us a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the true knowledge of you. We pray, Lord, that you would show forth your glory. That you would arrest our attention with your magnificence, with your greatness, with your beauty, Lord.

We pray, Father, that you might cause us to, to comprehend more fully the reality of who you are, help us in our feeble attempts to wrap our minds around you, oh God. We pray, Father, that you would grant to us a sense of your nearness, a sense of your presence. I pray, Lord, that with whatever distractions some of us have in coming here, Lord, that You would help us to lay aside those distractions and help us to be in tune with you and to, and to lay hold of you, God. We come to you, Lord, not in our own righteousness, but we come to you, Lord, in the righteousness of Jesus, knowing that it is through His death on the cross that we can approach your throne of grace with boldness.

The veil has been rent in two, and we come into your presence, God. And we ask for your glory's sake, and because we need you. That you would reveal yourself to us. I pray Lord that you would minister your word to us, that you would speak to us through your word, and that we would in effect lay hold, not just of the peace of God, but the God who gives that peace.

Help us, oh God, to lay hold of you. Cause us to have a sense of who you are. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.

I want to begin this morning by asking a series of questions. have you ever struggled, have you ever struggled, have you ever struggled with relational harmony in your life? How are you doing in your relationship to the Lord? Are you experiencing the peace of God along with the God who supplies that peace?

Can you honestly say that you are practicing the presence of God? Over the course of the last week, have you been consciously aware of the reality that the Lord is near? How are you doing in your relationships with other people? Your spouse, your children, your brethren in the Lord.

Are your relationships marked with genuine joy, gentleness, and peace that flow out of intimacy with Christ? Or would you say that you struggle In relationships. Would you say that you struggle with intimacy with the Lord? Would you say that there seems to be some measure of distance between you and the Lord?

Would you say that you are in conflict with another person? This morning, I would say to you that God's passion for you is relational harmony. His desire for you is to experience intimacy and harmony in your relationships. He wants you to be at peace with him and at peace with your fellow man.

This is what the Bible refers to as Shalom, and this is what God wants for you. He wants for you to experience his Shalom, his peace. This is the Hebrew word that speaks of a state of mind that is satisfied and has relationships which are characterized by harmony. Are you experiencing Shalom?

This word carries with it the idea of peace, but it means far more than mere peace of mind or a ceasefire between enemies. In the Bible, Shalom means universal flourishing, wholeness, and delight. A rich state of affairs in which natural needs are satisfied and natural gifts fruitfully employed, a state of affairs that inspires joyful wonder as its Creator and Savior opens doors and welcomes the creatures in whom he delights. Shalom, in other words, is the way that things ought to be.

So the central question that is being presented this morning is this, are you experiencing Shalom, the peace of God? Is there Shalom in your relationships with the Lord, and is there Shalom in your relationships with others? Another related question has to do with those around you. Give thought to those around you, whether they be family members or folks in your care group or folks in the local body and even beyond.

Are your fellow believers experiencing the Shalom of God? Are your fellow believers experiencing the God of Shalom? Is God using you in the lives of others, so that as a result of your encounter with that person, They sense a special nearness to the Lord Himself, because you are radiating the glory of the Lord out of the overflow of your relationship with Him. This morning, our message is entitled The Peace of God.

You could call it Shalom if you want, but we want to take the time to focus our attention on the peace of God. We're gonna consider 6 disciplines, we may not get that far. I'll do what I can, but We will begin to consider 6 disciplines that will help you to genuinely experience the peace of God, 6 disciplines. Let us read the passage together.

Philippians chapter 4, I would like to give the larger context, so let's begin reading in verse 2. I urge you, Odia, and I urge Syntake to live in harmony in the Lord. They are not experiencing Shalom, or at least Shalom to the degree that they ought. Indeed, true companion, some translations read, loyal yoke fellow, I ask you also to help these women who have shared my struggle in the cause of the gospel.

Together with Clement also and the rest of my fellow workers whose names are in the book of life. And so we've got this backdrop of Eodia and Syntache. They are warriors for the Lord, but at this time, they are in discord with one another, they are not living in harmony in the Lord with one another. We get to verse 4 then, rejoice in the Lord always.

Again, I will say, rejoice, let your gentle spirit be made known to all men, the Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God. And the peace of God which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence, and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.

The things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things. And the God of peace will be with you. And so we're focusing our attention on the peace of God, 6 disciplines that will help you to genuinely experience the God of peace or the peace of God. Number 1, discipline, number 1, rejoicing in the Lord.

You see that there in verse 4, Paul says, rejoice in the Lord always, again, I will say, rejoice and so clearly this passage teaches that we are to rejoice in the Lord, as opposed to the things that this world has to offer. One of the problems that people run into is The fact that they seek to rejoice in things that are less of the Lord. there are people that are looking for peace in the wrong places. there are people who are seeking to fill up the void, if you will, through entertainment, or through relationships or through drugs or through sex.

or what have you, they're feeling, trying to fill the void with things other than the Lord, and they're seeking to derive joy from these idols, and the Bible here says rejoice in the Lord, rejoice in the Lord, and he says it again, and I will say again, he says, rejoice. This word rejoice is somewhat synonymous with being thankful. The idea of being thankful, being thankful to the Lord, being thankful because of the Lord. Now when you think about its counterpart, thanklessness, thanklessness is the first step towards a hardened heart, and so conversely, thankfulness, rejoicing in the Lord is, is a step in the direction of a softened heart.

When we are thankless, we find ourselves moving in the direction of heart-heartedness. In Romans 1:21, we read, even though they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks. See, their failure is the failure of not giving thanks, but they became futile in their speculations and their foolish heart was darkened. Oftentimes in giving counsel to people, I will ask them, are you being thankful to the Lord?

I will ask a husband or a wife, are you being thankful for the person that God has made your spouse to be? Are you giving thanks to the Lord? Are you thankful, and oftentimes when couples are having relational struggles, it is true that they're not being as thankful as they ought to be. If we would just cultivate this discipline of thankfulness, that would take us a long distance in experiencing relational harmony, i.e.

Shalom, peace from God that has an effect on our relationships with one another. This particular passage, which tells us to rejoice, can be joined with other passages. Listen to 2 Corinthians 13:11. Finally, brethren, rejoice, be made complete, be comforted, be like-minded, live in peace, and the God of love and peace shall be with you.

This passage is a counterpart to the text we're looking at this morning, he says, rejoice, and later on he says, and the God of love and peace shall be with you in this passage we're looking at this morning, later on we will discover and the God of peace shall be with you, but, to get to that place, to get to the place of Shalom, we must be rejoicing in the Lord. Earlier in this epistle, in chapter 2 verse 17, we read Paul saying, but even if I am being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with you all.

Here he is in the midst of a trial, on the verge of poss being put to death, and we hear the apostle Paul practicing what he is preaching, he is saying here, I rejoice, and I share my joy with you all. And then he goes on to say, and you too, Philippians, I urge you, and by way of extension, cornerstone, I urge you, rejoice in the same way.

And share your joy with me. Later in Philippians chapter 3, verse 1, this is just one chapter back from where we're looking at now, we read, finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. First Thessalonians 5:16 tells us to rejoice always. Brothers and sisters, we do not have to think too long, nor do we have to think too hard.

Before we can arrive at things that we can rejoice about. There are blessings from the Lord that we receive from the Lord as his gifts and, and we react, we respond to such blessings with joy and thankfulness and gratitude. We do not have to think too long and too hard in order to find things to rejoice about. God has given to us life.

And he has given to us breath. He has given to us for all intents and intents and purposes relative health and, and, and at the end of the day, on the other side, we will all experience if we are in Christ, perfect health. He has given to us abilities, we can see and, and many of us can, can hear and communicate, etc. He has given to us provision.

The provision of food and clothing and shelter, these are but a few of the blessings that have come to us from God and because of these things, they every single one of us ought to be able to rejoice in the Lord. He has been kind to us, he has been good to us, but beyond all of these things, we have a savior. We are, we are justified through the blood of Jesus, the Lord Jesus died on the cross for our sins, and our sins, every single one, past, present, future, have been atoned for.

We stand before the Lord as forgiven for our sins.

Sin, is there any more reason that we need to rejoice in this? We ought to be able to rejoice and be happy and be glad in the Lord. Our numerous countless multitudes of sins have been atoned for. He paid the price.

And he has clothed us in His righteousness, and we stand before Him as if we were holy, righteous, and without blame. Rejoice in the Lord always, and again, I will say rejoice. We are justified, we are in the process, even now as I am speaking of being st. and we have confidence of our future glorification.

There will come a day when we will stand in the presence of the Lamb of God Himself, and we will behold Him face to face, rejoice in the Lord. And again, I say, rejoice. Through the gospel, God has given to us vision for our lives, a real sense of purpose. We do have peace with God because of his sacrifice for us.

We know based upon the teaching of God's word that he causes everything to work together for our good. We know that our God is for us and there is nothing in fact that can separate us from His love. He is faithful and he will complete the work that he has begun in us. We know through the gospel that death has been defeated.

We have ample reason to rejoice. Death has been defeated through the Lamb of God, through the shed blood of Jesus and through his resurrection, death has been conquered, and we know that we will spend, if we have repented of sin, and if we have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, we know that we will spend our eternity in heaven in the presence of Christ, rejoice in the Lord always. Hallelujah. Furthermore, Not only will we, will we come face to face with our Savior, but we will also have the privilege of being reunited with loved ones who have gone on before us and who have died in the Lord.

We will see. Loved ones again, those who have died believing. And as I think about this, I, I think, and I'm sure many of you can think as well of family members and loved ones that you long to see at some point yet in the future. When you die, there are certain names of people you're looking forward, I want to see that person again someday.

I think of my grandfather who died. But before he died, 2 months before his death, he came to faith in Christ. I will see Grandpa Stuart again someday. I think of my dear father-in-law, Tom McClellan.

who passed away January twenty-sixth of this year. And I was there when he was ushered into the presence of the Lord. I will see him again someday, rejoice in the Lord. I will see my wife's grandparents, 3 of those 4 whom I had never seen before, but I have heard such wonderful things to the family about her grandparents, and I look forward to the day when I will see them.

I have over the last few weeks, I have been finding myself thinking more and more about folks in my own care group and folks related to members in my care group. I think of an old lady named Evelyn Cis who was in my care group who passed away a few years back. I will see her again someday. I think of a young child named Elizabeth Myers, who several years ago went on to be with the Lord, and I know that the day will come when I will see this little girl again someday.

And more recently, I think of my, my brother Moses Tay, whose sister-in-law Eunice passed away because of cancer. After a long, hard battle with cancer, she went on to be in the presence of the Lord, and I will see such a person again someday, rejoice in the Lord, and again I will say rejoice. We have a hope, and we have a confidence, and we of all people can look to the future and we can smile with joy inexpressible and full of glory, rejoice in the Lord. We have so much reason to rejoice.

Rejoicing in the Lord is necessary for experiencing the peace of God. It will also serve as a foundation upon which we can relate in a gentle manner to those who heard us. This leads us to the second discipline, and that is the discipline of relating to others in a gentle manner. You see, when we've got our mind focused on the Lord, and when we've got the gospel before us, and when we know that our many sins have been forgiven, that sets us up in such a way that we can relate to others who have sinned against us in a gentle manner.

Philippians 4:5 says, let your forbearing spirit. Translations read the word as gentleness. Let your gentleness be known. The idea of known here is to be, is to be known by experience.

Let it be that the experience of all men is that they receive from you, your gentleness, your forbearing spirit. The idea of gentleness or forbearing spirit here is, is that of not being unduly rigorous, being satisfied with less than one's due, sweet reasonableness, forbearance, and so 11 translator puts it this way, let your sweet reasonableness, your forbearance, your being satisfied with less than your due become known to all men. Matthew Henry says this word signifies a good disposition towards other men.

The idea of being patient and bearing underneath the load of affliction, it is responding to one who has sinned against you, who has hurt you with a measure of grace is the idea.

This word would suggest a forbearing, non-retaliatory spirit, non-retaliation. I'm not keeping record of wrongs. I'm not coming along to thrash you, even though maybe there is good reason to thrash you. I'm not gonna go there.

I'm going to allow the Shalom of God to manifest itself through me, and I am going to relate to you in a spirit of gentleness. All of us have had opportunity to practice this, right? I've, I've had opportunity to practice this and, and to my shame, there are times in which I don't practice this as effectively as I should, but once in a while, my wife and I will get a gift card and it will be a gift card. To Starbucks coffee.

If you guys know me, that I am somewhat of a coffee junkie. I'll drink one or two good cups of coffee on a daily basis. I like coffee, and so when we get a Starbucks card from one of the pastors or someone of the church or whoever, I get pretty happy and I'm looking forward to Drinking my Starbucks coffee, but on occasion, what we will do is my wife and I, we will go to Starbucks, we will buy one of those big, I don't know what they're called venta or extra large, what, a big coffee, and the intent is that we are going to, we, we're gonna share this coffee with one another.

And inevitably what happens is we get the coffee and my wife is the one who has the, a handle on the coffee.

And, and somewhere along the way, for whatever dumb reason, I forget that we had purchased a coffee, yet somewhere in the back of my mind, I am looking forward to that nice gulp of Starbucks coffee, and it has happened on regular occasion when I have looked over and I have asked my wife, where is that coffee, that lo and behold, it is completely gone. And she holds the cup in front of my face and my wife will say, Here, honey, and what it is, is a cup of ice with some watered down little bit of coffee, and I look at my wife and what, if I am walking in Shalom, I can respond to her by just appreciating the fact that she had the privilege of enjoying the whole cup of coffee by herself.

To my shame, there are times in which I don't walk in Shalom, and so I, I see that there's this empty cup and I just give her this look like, what is up with that? That is not cool.

And, and this is but one example of, of the types of opportunities that God gives to us, the opportunity, the privilege to let your gentleness be made known to all. Now that might seem like a small thing. We can move in the direction of bigger things. When you come to find out that your spouse has been harboring a secret sin, and without your spouse knowing it, you discover that he or she has been looking at inappropriate material over the internet, and therein is your opportunity to relate to your spouse and Shalom to relate to your spouse in a gentle manner, not to take offense.

I am not saying that you are not concerned, but you are not concerned because of the hurt that it gives to you. You are primarily concerned because, because you come to discover that your spouse is struggling. In some way, and your concern being that you are at a place of peace, is that your spouse can be brought to a place in which he or she can experience the Shalom of God. That would be another more severe example or application of how this relating to others in a gentle manner can take place.

Perhaps in your relationship to your spouse or maybe with one of your children, you find that your spouse or your child struggles with a particular sin. You got a kid who's lazy and just won't tidy the room or just won't work hard at trying to be excellent at something that that the Lord would want for him or her to be excellent with, and therein is an opportunity to practice this, to relate to your child or even to relate. To your spouse who may struggle with laziness or anger or, or maybe your spouse fails to fulfill his or her biblical role either as a spouse or as a parent, and therein is an opportunity for you to relate to your spouse with peace, with shalom, with, with gentleness.

Why be gentle?

Well, we could look back in the passage and remind ourselves that we have a Lord in whom we can rejoice, a Lord who was crucified for our sins, but we can also look ahead in the passage and be reminded of the fact that the Lord is near, the Lord is near, and so this leads Us to the next discipline that coincides with experiencing the peace of God. Number 3, the discipline of practicing the presence of God, practicing the presence of God. In Philippians 4:53, we read that the Lord is near.

The Lord is near.

What the apostle Paul wants is for his readers. To have their minds focused on the reality that theirs is a God who is near to them. Brothers and sisters, the Lord is near. This actually piggybacks the first command to rejoice.

Consider with me Psalm 16 and 11, it says, in thy presence is fullness of joy, in your presence, In your nearness, as I find myself to be intimate with you and connected to you, as I behold you face to face as it were, in your presence, there is fullness of joy, and it is in your presence that I am able to rejoice in you always. It is absolutely critical that we develop a sense of the nearness of God. We're not here talking about mere intellectual knowledge, but what we are talking about is an experience.

It goes beyond the intellectual knowledge, it, it doesn't contradict it, but it goes beyond the propositional truth.

the demons believe, and they shudder, we want more than that, we want to have the subjective sense of the nearness of God, to know in our spirit that, that the Holy One. God is there, and he is with us, and he is present. God is near, and even as I speak right now, God is near, and he has something to say to people. He has something to say to you, as you look at his word, and as you meditate upon it, and as you hear it being explained, God is near and he has something.

To say, and his nearness ought on the one hand to invoke fear in some, but comfort in others. The Lord is near. Listen to what AW Tozer says regarding the doctrine of the nearness of God. Few other truths are taught in the scriptures with as great clarity as the doctrine of the divine omnipresence.

Those passages supporting this truth are so plain. that it would take considerable effort to misunderstand them. They declare that God is eminent in His creation, that there is no place in heaven or earth or hell where men may hide their face from His presence. They teach that God is at once far off, speaking of his transcendence and near, both at the same time, speaking of His eminence, and that in Him men move and live and have their being.

Listen to Jeremiah, the prophet in chapter 23, verse 23, he says, we hear, we hear the Lord saying through Jeremiah, am I a God who is near, declares the Lord, and not a God far off? Can a man hide himself in hiding places? So I do not see him, declares the Lord, do I not feel the heavens and the earth, declares the Lord, you see what God is saying is I am present everywhere within the context of creation and beyond creation, there is absolutely nothing that can contain my presence.

I am everywhere, I am in it, and I am outside of it, I am present everywhere, not to be confused with creation.

God is not creation, but he is present in creation. It's important to affirm the Creator-creation distinction, but God is in fact near. First Kings 8:27, but will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain thee, how much less this house which I have built, speaking of the temple of the Lord.

And of course, the classic passage dealing with the nearness of the Lord, Psalm 139, beginning in verse 7. Listen to the psalmist, listen to David, he says, where can I go from thy spirit? Or where can I flee from thy presence? If I ascend to heaven, thou art there.

If I make my bed in Shiel, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of The dawn, if I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, even there, thy hand will lead me, and thy right hand will lay hold of me. If I say, surely the darkness will overwhelm me and the light around me will become night, even the darkness is not dark to thee, and the night is as bright as the day, darkness and light are a light to thee, for thou didst form my inward part. Thou didst weave me in my mother's womb.

I will give thanks to thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are thy works, and my soul knows it very well. Here the psalmist is affirming the nearness of God, and what the psalmist is saying is that God was there when I was conceived, God was there when I was developing in my mother's womb, God has been present ever since day one, all the way to the present and all the way into the future, God is with me. And by way of extension, God is with you.

Imagine the thought that when you were conceived, and when you were being knit together in your mother's womb, there was God present. You see, sometimes we look back over the course of our lives, and we're tempted to reject the nearness of God. We're tempted to, we're tempted to look back and we think of a difficult situation, and we ask ourselves the question, where were you, God, when that was happening to me? And the Bible says that God was present.

The Bible says that God was there, and you may have gone through some very difficult things in your life, but I can tell you based upon the teachings of God's word that God was not divorced from your circumstance in life. God was not separated, God was in fact there, and I can guarantee you that he was grieving over the grief that you yourself experienced. God is a God who is near. And it is so helpful for us to wrap our minds around the reality that he was present even in the dark hour, even when I was sinned against tremendously, that God was with me and he has a plan, and he will complete this plan, and he will bring me into his presence, and when I am, I will come forth as gold after he has tried me, I will come forth as gold.

He knows the way that I take. Brothers and sisters, the Lord is near. He is present. And for those of us who are believers, Praise the Lord.

Let me backtrack, rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say, rejoice. In the Middle Ages, Christian theologians had a saying, God's center is everywhere, God's circumference is nowhere. In other words, he is just as much present in any place as he is in any other place.

Nowhere do you find a limitation on the presence of God. I don't necessarily agree with everything that this theologian has to say, but here he says something and states it well. Thomas Odin says that no atomic particle is so small that God is not fully present to it, and no galaxy is so vast that God does not circumscribe it, no space is without the divine presence. God is present.

You cannot run, you cannot hide, you cannot flee. That can bless us, or that can induce fear in us. But praise the Lord that he is near. Diffenbaugh says this, let me read what Bible believing Christian.

What Bible believing Christian would challenge the truth that God is omnipresent? We all would affirm it, right? We believe that. And yet he says, I fear that while we believe this doctrine to be true to scripture, we do not sense it to be true to life, a truth which applies to the way we live, but it does affect our daily lives.

I have approached the subject of the omnipresence of God as The nearness of God, for as we shall soon discover the nearness of God is one of the Christian's highest aspirations, the greatest good, this truth greatly impacts our attitudes, I would add our motives and our actions. Consider then the nearness of God, meditate upon the reality that God is near, that he is constantly present in our lives. Jerry Bridges says that it is critical that we cultivate and practice the conscious presence of God.

And I would add that such an awareness of the presence of God coincides with the Shalom of God, the peace of God.

When you think about it, our passage, this passage that we are looking at communicates an approach for practicing the presence of God. You might be wondering how can I practice the presence of God? Well, we can practice the presence of God by one, rejoicing in the Lord 2, relating to others in a gentle manner, 3, giving conscious thought to the fact that God is present, it would do us well to come before the Almighty to be still. To be still and to know that I am God.

That can be hard to do in this rat race of a world that we live in, where there are so many things vying for our attention, and God speaks in the still small voice and God says, be still. Put away The video games, turn off the TV, lay aside the tasks, come before my presence, be still and know that I am God. Well, let us move on to the 4th discipline. that will assist us in genuinely experiencing the peace of God.

Number 4, replacing anxiety with prayer to God. Listen to what it says in Philippians 4:6-7, he says, be anxious for nothing. Anxiety here is the opposite of Shalom peace. He is calling us to Shalom, and he is calling us to lay aside anxiety.

This word speaks of being distracted, being lured away from a focus on the Lord and from prayer to the Lord, from intimacy with the Lord. The anxious person is focused on the trial oftentimes rather than the Lord, and the storms of life come up and we get focused on those storms and we find ourselves sinking, even as Peter did after he took that first step on the sea. He says be anxious for nothing. There is absolutely nothing that we ought to be anxious about or there is nothing out there that ought to cause us to be anxious, he says, but in everything, in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, there it is again, this attitude of gratitude, this rejoicing in the Lord, with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God.

You see, the anxious person is often concerned more with his own desires and wants, rather than accepting God and the sovereignty. And the anxious person is being instructed by, by Paul here to go to the Lord and to pray. To pray about everything, to go to the Lord with an awareness that he is near, and he is willing to hear what you have to say. He wants for you to pray to him, he's desiring for you to be intimate with him and to lay your burdens at his feet, you are to cast your cares upon Him.

Because he does in fact care for you, and here the passage tells us to pray with an attitude of gratitude and notice the effect of this, the positive effect of rejoicing in the Lord, relating to others in a gentle manner. practicing the presence of the Lord, and replacing anxiety with prayer to the Lord, the positive effect of that is found in verse 7, and the peace of God, Shalom, which surpasses all comprehension. This goes beyond mere human comprehension. It builds upon what you can know, but it goes beyond that.

There's an experiential sense to this Shalom of God. This peace of God is something that surpasses all human comprehension, and it is a peace that will serve as a guard over your heart and your mind. This peace will guard your heart. And your mind in Christ Jesus.

Note that this peace comes from God, it is a fruit of the Spirit, we cannot drum up the peace inside of ourselves, we must go to the Lord in prayer, and he is the one that will induce his peace into us. We need him to produce in us this Shalom that we need. And so this piece goes as it says beyond human comprehension, it's like the love of God, which is described in Paul's 2 prayer to the Ephesians, where he says it's a love that surpasses knowledge. We're moving in the realm of the experiential here.

We're, we're, we're, we're getting a little bit away from just propositional truth. We're not ignoring it, but we're building upon it and we're landing in a place where we are experiencing the gospel and all of its fullness, as is stated in Cornerstone's mission statement. recently, I'm just gonna share this with you. I'm not gonna get into the details.

this was a trial that me and my family faced within the context of our neighborhood, and that's about as much as I'm gonna say, but recently, I was faced with a fairly intense trial. It was something that ate me up inside. I found myself to be stressed and I experienced a few sleepless nights. I found myself being angry one evening, just really battling with anger in my heart one evening, and my thoughts raced in a dozen of different directions.

I could feel my stress affecting me relationally to some degree with the Lord and also with people around me. And I finally sent out an email to my care group, and I didn't get into the details with them, but I just urged them to be praying for me and for my family. And I can tell you that there were a good number of people in my care group who responded within a day or two to that email, and, and brother, we're praying for you and we're praying for your family. If you need anything, let us know.

Less than 2 days after firing off the prayer request, I was in my office on my face in total tears before the Lord, just repenting of the struggle that I had inside of myself and just totally broken in the presence of the Lord, and by His grace I was able to get to the place where what, God, you can do whatever you want to do. And I don't have to have any answers to any of my questions, that is OK. I surrendered it before the Lord, and what happened? Amazing, the peace of God that surpasses all comprehension.

guarded my heart and my mind, and I can tell you to this day, I have not been threatened about that situation, which is a situation that is ongoing to this day. The Lord, by His grace allowed for me to experience his Shalom in relation to this situation, his peace. Well, I see that we've run out of time. Let me just give you the answers, make a few statements, and try to blast through this.

we're moving on then to number 5. Meditating on appropriate things. Note what Paul says. Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there's any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell On these things, meditate on these things, these things, these qualities are embodied in the person and work of Jesus, and so part of what we can say here is that we are to focus our attention on the Lord Himself who embodies these qualities.

Additionally, One can see these Christ-like qualities reflected in the lives of other believers. Therefore, we are to see the good that the Lord is accomplishing in and through our brethren, and sometimes you might have to look a little harder to find it, but we ought always to find the good and to allow ourselves to focus on the good. As we think about fellow brethren in the Lord. And this passage also tells us that in essence, we are to view all of life through a decidedly Christian worldview.

We are to view God's, we are to recognize God's sovereignty in our lives, we are to recognize His love, His compassion, his mercy, his goodness, his faithfulness, his nearness, his kindness, we are to see all of life through the lens of the divine. This is what the apostle Paul is calling us to. Moving on then to the last point, number 6. And Paul moves away from our thought life, and he, and he brings us to the place of our behavior.

And so if we are to experience the God of peace, the, the peace of God, we are 6 to, to practice the discipline of behaving in a godly manner. Listen to what Paul says in verse 9, the things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things. And the God of peace shall be with you. And here the apostle Paul says the things that you have seen in me, practice.

Paul is concerned that the people of God are transformed by the truth to where the truth works itself out in their lives in practical ways. You see, head knowledge is insufficient, God's word must be applied. And also from this passage, please take note of the importance of learning from a real life example, the things you have seen in me. You get the sense that Paul was living life with these Philippians at some point in the past, and they had seen him, they had observed him, they knew how he lived his life out, and he says the things you have seen in me, these things do, apply these things, follow me as I follow the Lord.

And note the promise. And the God of peace will be with you. And so by way of review, The peace of God, 6 disciplines that will, that will help you to genuinely experience the peace of God, the discipline of rejoicing in the Lord, relating to others in a gentle manner, practicing the presence of God, replacing anxiety with prayer to God, meditating on appropriate things and behaving in a godly manner. You see, Paul's concern for his readers, and going back to Eodia and Syntache as well, Paul's concern for them is they experience God's peace, both vertically and horizontally as well.

Eodia and Sintake would do well to apply these principles. Clement and the loyal yoke fellow, whoever he was, and the rest of the church would have done well to take these disciplines, to take these principles, and to seek to flesh them out in the lives of Eodia and Sintake so that they could get them to the place where they would be in harmony with one another and therefore experiencing in fuller measure the Shalom of God. You are a believer and you are here with us this morning.

It is my prayer.

that you would experience His peace. You are here with us this morning. And you are not a believer. I would urge you To flee.

To Christ, to run to Christ, you will never experience the peace that trespasses human understanding, you will never experience this peace of God, which is an, an amazing peace, unless you come to Christ, repenting of your sin and believing in him. And apart from Christ, you have no peace. You may think you have peace, but you have no peace. Peace comes through having a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, and he has provided that through the death, through his own death, through his death, we can have peace with God.

Well, let us go ahead and close in prayer. you can fill out your information slip if you would like. If you have any prayer requests, feel free to, to jot those down and to pass it in the basket as it is being passed around. We're gonna go ahead and close here in prayer.

We'll do a worship song and get us out of here, but let's pray. Lord, we just thank you so much for your word. Lord, we thank you that you are the God who is near. Lord, we thank you that we can have peace with you.

Lord, I pray that you would make it our experience. that we would in fact have Shalom. And that such a Shalom would mark our intimacy with you and our relationships with one another. Lord, as we sing this final song, we, we lift our hearts up to you and praise, we rejoice in you, we, we're mindful that you are with us.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.