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My name is Kathy Garman and today's scripture is coming from Matthew 5, 1-9, page 551 in the Bibles in the back of your pews, if you'd like to follow along with me.

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When he saw the crowds he went up on the mountain and after he sat down his disciples came to him.

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Then he began to teach them saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit for the kingdom of heaven is theirs.

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Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted. Blessed are the humble for they will inherit the earth.

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Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be filled.

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Blessed are the merciful for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God.

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And blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called sons of God. This is God's word today.

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So I don't know about you guys but yesterday I kind of went down a rabbit hole.

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And I knew better but I did it nonetheless. So I went on X, formerly known as Twitter.

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And I began to track the up to the minute reports that were coming out of Israel.

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It's one thing to hear about it after the fact but it's a whole other thing to see it in images and videos coming live.

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Unfiltered, unedited, uncensored.

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The image of a young lady who was being taken, thrown onto the back of a motorcycle as she's screaming,

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Please don't kill me, and reaching out for the person holding the camera.

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A scene of many elderly lying at a bus stop who had just been gunned down.

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The reports of thousands of rockets showering down on cities and neighborhoods in Israel.

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The reports that in one day families who were there near Jerusalem had to rush to bomb shelters

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at least 13 times to escape the rain of fire coming down on them.

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That the call went out to all civilians in Israel who own a gun to find their firearm

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and strap it on and carry it with them at all times, in all places, wherever they go.

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The images of the parading of dead bodies in the streets of Gaza to the cries of Allah Akbar.

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God is most great.

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And the retaliatory strikes, the promise to repay the attack in an unprecedented way,

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the commitment to completely eradicate Hamas, both their military and their governmental wing,

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from the president of Israel.

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And all of this, the day before, we're to talk about peacemaking.

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Well, blessed are the poor, but blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the sons of God.

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What is a peacemaker?

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We're going to go on that journey today with what is fresh in mind from yesterday and today and continues.

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Psalm 34, verse 11 through 14 says, Come, children, listen to me.

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I will teach you the fear of the Lord.

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Who is someone who desires life, loving a long life to enjoy what is good,

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will keep your tongue from evil and your lips from deceitful speech.

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Turn away from evil and do what is good.

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Seek peace and pursue it.

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Blessed are the peacemakers.

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Sometimes the best way, or at least the way to start talking about something, is to talk about what it is not.

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Let's talk about two things that peacemaking is not.

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Notice, first off, that it does not say blessed are the peacekeepers.

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Peacemaking is not peacekeeping.

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So what is the difference between a peacemaker and a peacekeeper?

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Well, Caitlin Garrison, she's a Christian blogger, she wrote this in an article about the difference.

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A peacemaker is someone who is willing to resolve both outer and inner turmoil

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in order to establish peace with others and within themselves.

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Inevitably, peacemaking will require engaging in conflict and tension

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to help bring about the situation to a solid place.

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But peacekeepers, on the other hand, desire to maintain peace by avoiding conflict.

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They typically give in to the tension or steer clear of disagreement to keep other people happy.

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Peacekeepers hate rocking the boat, and therefore they will sacrifice their own inner peace

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to maintain the facade of peace with others.

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A peacekeeper avoids conflict, internalizes the discord within themselves,

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and would rather have the appearance of peace instead of being on the solid ground of actual peace.

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So think back to those words in Psalm 34.

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Turn away from evil and do what is good, seek peace and pursue it.

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True peace is not making an armistice with evil, not coming to some sort of agreement.

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It's not about making nice with evil.

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It is about completely and totally undoing evil so that peace might reign.

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How? It's not about appeasing, but actively overcoming evil with good.

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And that does not sound conflict-free, because either way, evil won't go down quietly.

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Evil will bring the conflict to you, even if you're bringing good to the fight.

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One pastor put it this way. Peacekeeping is when we keep our feelings suppressed,

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we keep our thoughts repressed, and we keep our tongues stuck to the roof of our mouths

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because we might say the wrong thing and end up in an unwanted conflict.

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But conflict is not a sin.

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Anger is not evil, and making right judgments is not bad judgment.

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Some of you may be going, wait, I thought anger is evil.

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God gets angry. God gets angry.

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Such judgment is often the pathway to making peace.

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Truth is not painless. Honesty is not easy, and facing reality does not come naturally to us.

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Therefore, peace is made.

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Sometimes by going through conflict, not by sidestepping it.

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Peacekeeping is the safe choice, but it is not the wisest.

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Jesus says to us this morning, what a life! Fully satisfied are the peacemakers,

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for they will be called the sons of God.

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This is the seventh pronouncement that we've looked out of blessing for those who are in the kingdom.

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Peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.

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Peacemaking is not peacekeeping.

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Number two, peacemaking is not war making.

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What is war making all about?

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Well, this one relates primarily to our relationships with one another.

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War making is all about employing both defenses and offenses to overcome your enemy, right?

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That's what war is all about. Defense and offense.

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You're trading. You're going between attacking and defending.

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It's lobbing bombs and building walls to help fortify.

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In relationships, gossip is war making.

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In your relationships, slander is war making.

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Manipulation is war making.

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Judgmentalism is war making.

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These are the offensive weapons we might employ against one another.

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There are many more.

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What are some of the defensive ones? Well, emotional walls, shutting down, not engaging, retreating, hiding.

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These are all warcraft.

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Not peacemaking.

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This morning, let's look at a few points.

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What are the marks of a peacemaker?

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Number one mark of a peacemaker is their own heart is set at peace.

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A peacemaker's own heart is set at peace.

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The book of Romans, chapter eight, verse seven through eight, we read this.

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The mindset of the flesh is hostile to God.

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The mindset of the flesh is hostile to God because it does not submit to God's law.

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Indeed, it's unable to do so.

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Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

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The mindset of the flesh is an enemy of God.

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It is hostile towards him. It cannot please him.

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But we, a created being made by God for communion with God,

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only in the perfect state of fellowship and harmony with our creator can we find true peace.

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In our flesh, we cannot fulfill that destiny.

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We cannot be at peace while we are hostile or at war with God.

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If you are here today, I can tell you that you cannot find peace while you are at war and opposition with God, your creator, to whom you are accountable.

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You will not find peace in this world.

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You might find a moment where you let your guard down, but I promise you, lurking around the corner is strife and chaos.

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For you cannot be at peace if you're at enmity with the God who created you and to whom you are accountable to.

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And this is actually a good promise.

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Because when evil and evildoers come our way and they inflict all kinds of pain on us,

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we can trust that if they are walking in evil, then they're at enmity with God too, and they will not last either.

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That all evil will eventually meet its maker and be judged.

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And that can bring us peace, even now.

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A peacemaker is one who, through the gospel of Jesus Christ, has been transformed, a new heart, a new mind,

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one that desires to obey God and desires to remain in right standing with God,

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even as it wrestles and toils with the presence of failure, falling short sin.

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And so we are told in Romans 5 that therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have what?

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We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

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The Bible says, it points us to Jesus, and it says it's through Jesus Christ that we have peace.

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Jesus, the great reconciler, the great peacemaker, has done what you and I could not do.

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In our enmity as enemies of God, opposed to God in our minds, in our flesh, we could not make it right.

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But Christ could. This is good news. This is good news. This is grace.

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If you are in Christ, this is true of you. You are at peace with your creator God.

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This is a great and precious promise in reality. You are made right with God.

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Your heart is set at peace.

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Augustine said that peace is made perfect when there is no more opposition.

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Peace is made perfect when there is no more opposition, and particularly it goes on to talk about opposition to your creator God.

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Peace is made when you lay down your arms and you surrender to the one who made, created, and destined you.

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From the heart at peace, a peacemaker then begins to take action.

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So number one, a peacemaker, their heart is at peace with their creator.

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Number two, they actively seek peace.

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A mark of the peacemaker is that they actively seek peace.

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Having now received that peace from God, having now received through the gospel of Jesus Christ, made right at peace with God their creator,

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they now seek to spread it.

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They are not peacekeepers who are just avoiding conflict.

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No, they actively insert themselves into conflict.

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They listen, they learn, and they feel the conflict, and they speak the truth in love, and they bring the warring parties together

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to see if peace is possible.

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To those who are hostile toward God, the peacemaker implores them.

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As I implore you this morning, if you are outside of Christ and your mind and your flesh is hostile to God, then I implore you,

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engage with you and plead with you for reconciliation to God your creator.

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Second Corinthians chapter five has one of my favorite verses, one that has stuck with me so long, is one of the first songs that I wrote.

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It's a terrible song.

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I will never play it for anyone, but it came from second Corinthians five.

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Listen to this amazing passage that speaks exactly to this ministry of peacemaking.

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I don't usually say hello, but good morning, Jordan.

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He can take it.

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Listen to this, second Corinthians chapter five.

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From now on, we do not know anyone from a worldly perspective, talking to the believers.

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Even if we have known Christ from a worldly perspective, yet we no longer know him in this way.

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Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.

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The old is gone, the new has come.

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Everything is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave to us the ministry of reconciliation.

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That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their transgressions against them.

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And he was committing the message of reconciliation to us.

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Here's the kicker. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ.

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Since God is making his appeal through us, we plead on Christ's behalf with you.

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Be reconciled to God.

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He made the one who did not know sin at all to be sin for us,

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so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

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What an amazing truth. What an amazing truth.

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God willing to not count transgressions against them, committing the ministry of reconciliation,

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the ministry of peacemaking to us to go and therefore, as Christ's ambassador, to make the appeal,

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to make the plead, to implore, be reconciled to your creator, God, to whom you are accountable.

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Be reconciled. How could that go to waste?

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My friends, my brothers and sisters, how could that message go to waste?

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Shouldn't everyone know?

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Don't keep the secret.

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Shout it from the rooftops.

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In relationships, the peacemaker takes the active steps to repair and reconcile the brokenness.

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Two neighbors fighting.

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The solution is not to avoid one or the other or to pick sides.

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The solution is to get the two neighbors together to talk and see if peace can be made.

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Husband and wife can't understand each other, relationship breaking down.

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The peacemaker brings them together, sits them down and helps to negotiate real peace, understanding

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the basis of what is good, one that overcomes evil with good.

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This is peacemaking.

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Peacemakers are actively seeking peace because their heart is set at peace.

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They can go about the ministry of reconciliation to make peace in this broken world.

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Number three, mark of a peacemaker is that they are resolute in the truth.

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Resolute in the truth.

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And this is important because there's all kinds of peace being peddled all around the world.

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But a Christian peace, a peace that is in Christ, is a peace that is resolute in truth.

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Because truth, because what is true in lasting peace can only be found in a covenantal relationship

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with God, our creator. Peace cannot be achieved by setting aside the truth.

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You can't lowball it for someone into the kingdom.

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Bring the meeting of God way down and say, hey, you do anything you want, you be anything you want,

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you act any way you want. No, you're going to meet your creator to whom you're accountable for.

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Truth matters.

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If there isn't peace in a relationship or in a situation or in this world because of injustice,

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it is not peacekeeping or peacemaking to say, oh, let's just overlook the injustice.

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Let's just overlook it. Remember the old, can't we all just get along?

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That is not peacemaking because that would be to deny the truth.

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True peacemaking means the injustice is confronted head on, head on.

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This passage by some Christians in the past have been used to promote pacifism,

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to say we ought to do nothing in the face of injustice and evil as forces around.

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And I think this grossly misunderstands the scripture and the whole witness of scripture,

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to whom God has given authority to do what, and therefore we cannot read it as pacifist,

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that Christians are to oppose any sort of force whatsoever, even against injustice,

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in order to achieve peace. I don't believe that. I don't believe that at all.

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But that would be to take this passage and to over realize its implications in this world,

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far beyond the whole counsel of the word of God, which does give the power of the sword to the government,

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to punish evildoers. They've been given that authority.

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And in fact, we oftentimes find ourselves in a place where we are begging them to do just that.

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And a situation like what I saw yesterday, and what all of you have been seeing in the news,

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is one I was telling some people earlier. I had to deal with my own heart before I got up here,

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because I was like halfway out the door going to buy a gun and get on an airplane to head over to Israel.

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Because I could not stand what I was seeing. Women and children. The elderly.

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Peacemaking is not turning a blind eye to injustice. But when evil rises up, it's confronting it head on,

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because there is no peace without right relationship with God. And there is no right relationship with God

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in the presence of evil. Evil must be dealt with head on.

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It is not peacemaking to turn a blind eye to injustice. And it is not peacemaking to tell an abused wife

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that it's more important for her to get it right with her husband and just ignore the abuse.

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You know what peacemaking is? Peacemaking is confronting the abuse, calling the cops and having him arrested.

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And while he is in prison, remaining in the situation and pleading with him to repent and believe the gospel

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for the salvation of his soul, and going and giving the wife the needed care and support that she needs,

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with no expectation that she is to get back together or figure this out.

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But it's to handle the injustice. To call them on it, not to say, you know, let's just smooth over and make right.

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There will be no peace that way. It will only rise up again and again. Evil finds its way, right?

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To rear its ugly head in many different ways. What does a peacemaker, or when does a peacemaker stop though?

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When is it time to draw the line? When is it time to say enough is enough?

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Is there ever a time when a peacemaker is to move on? And I think the answer is yes.

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In fact, Pastor Stephen Lawson says it this way. Where does a peacemaker draw the line?

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A peacemaker draws the line not when they themselves are rejected.

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They only draw the line when the parties outright reject Christ.

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Not when they're rejected, but when Christ is rejected.

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What is he saying? Well, actually he's drawing from all sorts of points in the scripture.

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You guys can probably see the hyperlinks there, right?

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What are you to do with your enemies and those who persecute you? What does Jesus tell us?

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Pray for them. Love them. Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.

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What are you to do to those who reject the message of Christ?

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See ya. You rejected the only hope that you had. You rejected life.

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Wipe your feet off. Dust them and leave.

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Some of us think we are peacemakers, but we've been hanging on really, really long

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to those who've rejected Christ a long, long time ago.

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And what you are doing is taking the ministry of reconciliation, which is from God,

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this message, this beautiful message that God is reconciling mankind,

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and you are dead set on getting this person to get it,

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and you'll go to your grave even if they don't get it.

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All the 20 people who live around you and that you interacted with all day long go to hell.

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Ministry of reconciliation, peacemaking, is for those who receive their King.

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Let the Holy Spirit do what it's going to do.

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He'll bring them around. If he wants them, they'll work on their heart.

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This message is too great and too precious to, like pearls, be cast to swines.

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Do not cast pearls to swines. It's time to make peace elsewhere.

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In Matthew 5, 9, we are told that the peacemakers are blessed.

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Well, how are they blessed?

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A peacemaker is blessed because they are called sons of God.

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Notice that it does not say that they will call themselves sons of God,

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but they are called sons of God.

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It is an identity that is received and not one taken on themselves.

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What does it mean to be called sons of God?

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Now, some of you, I can look out here, and some of you all are ladies,

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and you're going, that's messed up.

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Sons of God? Well, what about the ladies of God, the daughters of God?

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What does it mean?

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Actually, it's pretty amazing what it means,

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because you have to read the Bible with an understanding of where it was written

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and what time it was.

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To talk in general terms to you all that you are sons of God is to say you are heirs and inheritors.

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You are inheritors of the great and precious things that are God's.

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Yours is the kingdom.

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And to know at that time the ladies weren't the first in line.

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They didn't inherit. The sons did.

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But you all are sons of God, which means you all are inheritors.

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It's actually beautiful, liberating, glorious message, equalizing.

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We all are inheritors. We're all sons of God.

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Peacemakers.

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It means that they live out what membership in God's family really means.

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They've caught the culture of the kingdom.

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They are recognized by the kingdom and the king's distinctives.

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That's what it means to be a son of God.

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It's someone walking by you and going, oh, yeah, I know. I know.

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You must be his kid.

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You got you got all of his kingdom and his kingship all over you in your peacemaking and your love.

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A son of God displays the kingdom life.

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They imitate the king and they act the kingdom part in this world.

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They take the ministry of reconciliation seriously and the ministry of peacemaking seriously.

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They will not back down. They will not skate around.

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They will not turn a blind eye to injustice.

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They will confront evil and injustice in this world with the hope to bring God and Christ to the situation

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so that true lasting peace might be forged.

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Anything short of that is a miss.

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And that's what we are to be all about.

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We are to be about God's kingdom and his kingdom culture.

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So have you caught the kingdom culture?

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Are you known as a peacemaker?

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Do people go, oh, I know whose kid you are.

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You're a kid of the king.

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You're one of those kingdom kids.

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You're always going around trying to make lasting peace.

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Whoa.

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That's that's something we didn't cover.

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But in in Luke, the same scriptures that talk about the we talk about the Beatitudes, the blessed are actually

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countered with woes and woes are the anti blessed.

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Anti blessed the woes, whereas the blessed is a pronouncement of of God's promises and favor and glory and life on this person.

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It's a it's a proclamation.

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Look, wow, what a life.

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Amazing.

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A woe is oh, no.

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How pitiable.

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What a fool.

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A foolish life.

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Woe to the peace breakers, but blessed are the peacemakers.

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For he, Jesus, we are told, is our peace.