Do You Want To Be A PeaceMaker

The paragraphs below are the transcript of this video.

Hey y’all,

I spent the weekend really in a lot of prayer and studying the Bible and trying to win back some semblance of peace in my heart, honestly with all of the craziness going on right now on social media and regular media, not knowing what the truth is, not knowing whether danger is gonna come to our town,all these things, I’ve just felt the need to search out the truth. 

The truth is, I’m so glad I did. I went to the Black Lives Matter rally today in our city in Waynesville and it was a wonderful experience. I’m grateful for all the people that I met and that I was able to stand up with my brothers and sisters because the fact is, as one of the gentlemen said, We are all members of the human race, and that’s what’s most important. Of course, we’re created in the image of God and that’s paramount, right?

So when I came home, I was thinking about the things that God had taught me this weekend, and then just kind of what I observed at the Black Lives Matter rally and it occurred to me that I needed to put this video together because we are called to be peacemakers. I’m not talking about temporary peace. When we are reconciled to God by receiving the gift of salvation, we are purveyors of permanent peace. We have something to give away, and it’s the kind of peace that everybody’s searching for. That’s what’s happened in our country, whether it’s racial injustice or whether it’s economic fallout or political mud-slinging, all those things, we are never going to make all those right, because we have a society that is inundated  with sin,with people who fail to recognize any standard.  

You know, it’s interesting. Some people don’t believe in divine justice. The reason they don’t believe in divine justice is because they don’t acknowledge God.  So it’s really interesting that when you think about how hopeless that leaves society, if you believe that right and wrong, for example,are relative to peoples and cultures,and then someone breaks into your home because they feel like that’s the thing that’s natural for them, they feel like that’s the right thing to do,and they violate your privacy. They violate you, your things, your people, whatever,  but you feel like it’s wrong. Well, that feeling that we have, that something is absolutely right or absolutely wrong, it’s only a true feeling if there’s a supernatural standard for which to judge it by. Because otherwise we’re just guessing. Although I feel this way and I maybe feel different than you feel, but without justice, which is what a lot of our turmoil is about in this country right now. But if there is a bar of justice,then we have hope because there is a standard by which everyone will be judged. 

What’s crazy is people don’t even live up to their own standards for justice. We all kind of generally agree that we should treat people the way we would wanna be treated, right? But we don’t even do that. Matter of fact,we don’t even do that to ourselves.We don’t treat ourselves the way we should be treated because we fail constantly. Whether that’s overeating, just not exercising or just not doing the things we think we should do,but we hold others to the standard that we don’t even hold ourselves to. So we have this sense that something is very wrong within us and with our society. And you know what’s interesting is that the Bible in Romans 2:15 says that The requirements of the law are written in our heart. Our conscience bears witness, and our thoughts accuse us.

See, God created us with a sense of his divine law and that there is a right and wrong. And that sense of divine justice takes us on the path to peace. And as I was studying this this weekend, it was just so clear to me,I want to be a peacemaker.  The way to become a peacemaker is by showing people you have a need for a reconciliation with God. Something really interesting that I read was when Jesus said, Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the sons of God. Matthew 5:9. That word peacemakers is only used in the Greek in that context one other time in the Bible. That’s in Colossians 1:20, and it’s Jesus in Colossians. It says Jesus reconciled to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven,making peace by the blood of his cross.

See, Jesus the Prince of Peace is what he’s called in the Bible. He provided the reconciliation of our sinful heart to holy God, that is permanent peace, reconciliation. Thank God.  It’s interesting that  God said in the Old Testament, in Isaiah 48:22  he said, There is no peace for the wicked. Of course, what he’s talking about is a person who has not been reconciled to his righteousness. So this is the key. You wanna be a peacemaker. If you wanna know, you can’t give out something you don’t have though. And as I studied this this weekend, I was thinking, God, what can one person do?  I don’t even understand. I can’t understand racial injustice because I’ve never had that particular sense of injustice exercised against me. We all understand some injustice, right?

I don’t understand why innocent police officers are being accused of, or are being labeled as racist. I mean, we’re taking things to extremes on both ends. And neither is right. The fact is that humans do not have a solution for permanent peace. Sure, we can fix things temporarily, right? The government can do some things.

We can try, we can make a great effort to make peace with people  and walk peaceably. But if we wanna get permanent peace, if we wanna give people something that  never changes, no matter what your circumstances are, then we need to give them what Jesus gives, what Jesus’s brand of peace is .You know, when Jesus was talking to the disciples in the Book of John, nearly  entire last half of the book of John is dedicated to Jesus talking to his disciples on the day before he was going to be crucified. So, it’s kind of really fascinating. He has this long discussion with them in this  just wonderful prayer. And he’s preparing them to go through life’s journey without him. 

“And he says to them, he says, Peace I leave with you.

My peace I give you: not as the world gives, give I unto you.  Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” That’s John 14:27. 

 Jesus wasn’t talking about temporary peace when he was talking about his peace. Any peace that we have without him is like sipping water from an illusionary spring in the desert. It’s fleeting. When our circumstances come along and change, whether that’s racial injustice, whether that’s someone stealing from us, whether it’s someone looting our business, whatever the injustice is, that circumstance cannot take our peace. The Bible calls the peace that we have from God, a peace that passes understanding our carnal mind can’t even understand it. The reason that our circumstances can’t rob us of our peace is because God is the author of our peace and circumstances do not change. Number one, who he is, number two, how much he loves us. And the fact that we are guaranteed our eternity. That never changes. Because if it did, God would be a liar and he’s not. 

 I think about how much I am blessed to live in this country to be able to have the freedom to speak. I was happy to stand with my brothers and sisters in Christ and pray today in the Waynesville Park and pray for justice. You know that when we have injustice, it’s a terrible thing. It’s horrible. But I was most thrilled to meet some new brothers and sisters in Christ with whom I felt the common bond of the Holy Spirit. When Jesus was talking to his disciples in the upper room, in the last part of the Book of John, he said, he’s going to send an advocate, the Holy Spirit, to be with us when he leaves. Now our first advocate is Christ, right? Because he paid the price and he satisfied God’s divine justice for us. So we don’t have to. We can’t anyway, right?

So the Holy Spirit, though, is sent to intercede for us and to remind us of how rich we are in the gift of Jesus Christ. If there was a pot of gold in your backyard and you knew it was back there, would you be worried about losing $5 on the street or worried if somebody pickpocketed you and stole five bucks? Now you would be digging for that gold until you found it, right? You would be searching, you’d tear up the whole yard. You’d probably hire people with a backhoe to get it right. You  would go after it and $5 would be nothing to you. Well, the problem with most of us, myself included, is that we spend our entire life trying to be offended by people who’ve stolen our $5. They’ve offended us because they’ve said something hurtful. They’ve offended us because they have just anything you can think of. Meanwhile, while we’re worried about that $5, we have a billion dollars sitting in our backyard that we haven’t dug up. When we invite the Holy Spirit every day to come in and dwell within us, we’re taking that pot of gold out of the ground and we are putting it into use.

 We have the power of the resurrection within us, and we put it to use. We are not thwarted by our circumstances. We can turn off the social media, we can tune into something that’s going to fill us with the precious promises of God like his word and talking to him, and then we become peacemakers. Isn’t that what you want to do?

Don’t you wanna be a peacemaker? A purveyor of permanent peace? Yeah, me too. And so I wanted to share this with you because I thought it was just so good. Let Jesus Christ come into your heart, surrender to him, become his child, and then invite the Holy Spirit to come in every day and to fill you with the peace that passes understanding. Then you can share that. Then it will shine out like a great light to everyone around you. And people will know the peace of God is the only peace that’s permanent. It’s the peace that passes understanding and it will be in your heart and it will be shared with everyone that comes around you. Thanks guys.

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