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know, but we'll figure that out. If you have your Bibles, we'll be in Mark chapter 4. We'll

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also be in Philippians chapter 4, so if you want to find both and be extra special, that's

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great. Have you ever had one of those days? You know what I mean? Just one of those days.

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And maybe you've heard stories like this, but I want to read you a letter from a man

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that wrote his insurance company that tells us, tells the insurance company about his bad

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day. He says, quote, I'm writing in response to your request for additional information. In

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block number three of the accident reporting form, I put poor planning as the cause of my accident.

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You said in your letter that I should explain more fully and I trust that the following details

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will be sufficient. He says, I'm a bricklayer by trade. One of the, on the day of the accident,

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I was working alone on the roof of a 10 story building. When I completed my work, I discovered

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I had about 500 pounds of bricks lift over. Rather than carry them down by hand, I decided

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to lower them to the ground in a barrel by using a pulley, which fortunately was attached

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to the side of the building at the 10th floor. Securing the rope at ground level, I went

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to the roof, loaded the 500 pounds of bricks that went back down to the ground and untied

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the rope, holding it tightly to ensure the slow descent to the 500 pounds of bricks.

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You will note in block 11 of the accident reporting form that I weigh 165 pounds. Due

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to my surprise of being jerked off the ground, so suddenly I lost the presence of mind and

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forgot to let go of the rope. Needless to say, I proceeded at a rapid rate up the side

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of the building. In the vicinity of the fifth floor, I met the barrel coming down. This

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explains the fractured skull and broken collar bone. I continued by rapid ascent, not stopping

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until the fingers of my right hand were two knuckles deep into the pulley. Fortunately,

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by the time I had regained my presence of mind and was able to hold tightly to the rope

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in spite of my pain, at approximately the same time, however, the barrel of bricks hit

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the ground and the bottom fell out of the barrel. Devoided the weight of the bricks,

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the barrel now weighed approximately 30 pounds. I refer you again to my weight in block number

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11 of the accident reporting form. As you might imagine, I began a rapid descent down

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the building. In the vicinity of the fifth floor, I met the barrel coming up again. This

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accounts to the two fractured ankles and lacerations to my legs and lower body. The second

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encounter with the barrel slowed me enough to lessen my injuries when I fell into the

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pile of bricks, and fortunately, only three vertebrae were cracked. I am sorry to report,

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however, that as I lay there on the bricks in pain and unable to stand, watching the

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empty barrel ten stories above me, I again lost my presence of mind and I let go of

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the rope. I'm going to invite Alexander to come and read our passage this morning. He's

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going to read from Mark chapter four. I'm going to ask him to light our advent candles.

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Go ahead. Do you need me to hold that? If anybody can make it awkward, it's Alexander's

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sentence. I'll tell you that. Alexander's lighting two candles. Last week, we lit the

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Hope candle, just reminding us that we are to be the Hope, the Hope that Jesus brings.

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He's also lighting the second candle, which is the candle of peace, reminding us that

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we are to be peace to the world around us, and peace comes from Jesus. Congratulations.

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You go, Alexander. Okay, is that high enough? Perfect. If you would honor the Lord as we

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stand and honor his word, he's going to read verses 35 through 41.

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On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, let us go across to the other side,

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and leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat just as he was. And the other

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boats were with him in a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat

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so that the boat was already filling. But he was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion,

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and they woke him and said to him, Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing? And

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he awoke and rebuked the wind instead to the sea, peace, be still, and the wind ceased.

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There was a great calm. He said to them, Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?

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And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, Who then is this, that even

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the wind in the sea obey him? Amen. Let's pray. Father, I thank you for Alexander,

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and I just thank you for what you're doing in his life. And I thank you for his willingness

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to read your words today. I pray that you bless him for it.

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Father, as we look at this story that's familiar to us, I pray that you'll just speak to our

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hearts. Be in our midst. We ask all these things in your name. Amen.

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Thanks, Father. Now, if you think from the perspective of the disciples, you think from

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the perspective of the bricklayer, that's a bad day. It's a bad day, right? But we all

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have bad days sometimes, don't we? Sometimes just like the bricklayer or the disciples,

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it seems like one thing hits us after another until all we can do is lay there and watch

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the next thing come. But is that all there is? Is that all what life's about? When you

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look around the world, you see conflict and war and terrorism. When you look in our own

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community, you see drugs and crime and broken homes and abuse. Sometimes it can seem as

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if everything in our world is in turmoil. Sometimes that feeling of chaos even spills

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into the homes we live in, doesn't it? Everything is rush, rush, rush, rush, rush. Everything

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is busy, busy, busy, busy. The chaos of competing interests and schedules seems to have completely

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taken over our lives, especially at this time of year. And that's in our homes where things

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are fairly stable. What about when you add all the other problems that plague our families

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today? There's chaos and confusion in the world. There's chaos and confusion in our

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country, in our community. Chaos and confusion are in our homes. It's in our lives. It's

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just the world we live in. Bricks and barrels and ropes and pulleys and storms can seem

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like they're coming at us from every direction at the same time. But is that the way it's

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supposed to be? Is that how it's supposed to be? Is that the life that God desires for

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us? Of course not. While he was talking about orderliness in the church, Paul reminded us

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of the nature of God. In 1 Corinthians 14, he wrote, For God is not the author of confusion

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but of peace. One thing you can be certain of, if there's confusion and there's chaos

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happening in your life, that's not what God desires for you. That's not His plan. His

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desire is for you to experience peace. Now, that doesn't mean that everything's always

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going to be calm around you. What it means is that the Lord has made peace available

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to you despite all the chaos and confusion that's going on around you. I'm hoping that

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the words of Paul will help us this morning. We're going to look at Philippians chapter

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4, verses 6 through 9. And my hope this morning is that as we break down this text, that we

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will see the value in pursuing peace in our lives. But we have to prepare for it. We have

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to prepare for peace. Peace is not naturally going to happen. In our passage this morning,

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Paul is closing out his letter to the church at Philippi. And as he does so, he wants to

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leave them with some sort of encouragement. Now, we have to understand that the church

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in Philippi, their lives weren't much different than ours. Their lives were busy. Their lives

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were chaotic and confusing. But Paul knew that that wasn't God's desire for them. His

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desire was for their joy, for their peace. The entire letter pointed them to the joy

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of their salvation. Now, in these closing verses, Paul gives them encouraging ways to

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experience true God-given peace. And that's what I want for us here today. Now, as we

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think about the season of Advent, I want us to overcome that chaos and business of the

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season and truly experience the peace that comes from God. But it's not something that's

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just going to happen on its own. Just like most things that are of value don't just

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happen. It's not going to prepare itself. True peace in your life won't prepare itself.

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And so what do we have to do? We have to look for peace in three ways. So the first preparation

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for peace is to look to the right source. In Philippians 4-6 through 7, it reads, Do not

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be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication. With thanksgiving,

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let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding

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will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. And so if we look at those two verses,

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the first preparation for peace is to look at the right source. What a wonderfully familiar

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verse. It's a wonderful thing, right? When a verse is so familiar to us that it just

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kind of rolls off our tongue when we read it. Maybe many of you hadn't memorized, right?

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And it's just in you. You know what that verse is about. If you have that verse memorized,

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that's great. If you haven't, I'd encourage you to do so. But there is a danger with familiarity.

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It's like the songs that we know so well. We just sing Silent Night. We just sing the

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first Noel. We know those songs because we've been singing them for years and years and years.

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We know them so well and we sung them so many times that the words have no impact on us,

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do they? We really have to stop and think. They become so familiar to us that we are

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in danger of not even paying attention to the words we sing anymore. Like driving the

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same stretch of road every single day. The newness wears off. It's almost like your brain

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shuts off when you travel it. Have you ever been there? I can't tell you how many times

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I've arrived to the church or arrived back home and like I have no idea how I got here.

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Like muscle memory just kicks in and my mind is somewhere else. I don't even remember anything

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about the drive. If you're not careful, that can happen with familiar scripture passages.

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The thing is, and all of our familiarity with this verse, most of the time, the focus is

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on the wrong place. Yes, Paul is telling us the importance of prayer and supplication

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and giving things, but his focus here is on the who. The who, not the what. We pray to

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God because he is the source of the peace that we are looking for. As a matter of fact,

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he's the only source of peace we are looking for. But that's not what the world says, is

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it? People on one side of the political world will tell you that the only hope for peace

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in this world is through military strength. People on the other side will tell you that

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the only hope for peace is through appeasement and giving into your enemy's demands. But

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what does the Bible say? What does the Bible tell us? The Bible says that our only hope

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for peace is through the blood of Jesus Christ. Colossians 1.20 says, and having made peace

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through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself, by him

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I say whether they be things in earth or things in heaven. The only source of peace in the

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world is God through the blood of his son Jesus Christ. That's the only source of peace.

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But the world's a big place, right? It's a lot bigger than my life. It's a lot bigger

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than your life. It's a lot further away. When you're in the middle of all the chaos and

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confusion of day to day life, and you're just trying to make it through the day, you're

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just trying to make it through the week, peace in the Middle East doesn't seem quite so important,

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does it? Remember who Paul is talking to here? He's not talking to Caesar. He's not talking

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to some Roman authority. He's not talking to government leaders. He's not talking to

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military people. Even though these principles can apply to all of them as well, that's not

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who he's talking to. He's talking to ordinary, everyday people. Ordinary, everyday people

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just like you and just like me. And he says that even for us, there's only one source for

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peace. He doesn't say peace is found in the psychologist's office. He doesn't say peace

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is found in self-help books. He doesn't say peace is found in a better job or more money

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or a bigger house or a nicer car. He doesn't say peace is found in those things or it's

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not found in people or places. Where does he say the only place of peace is? From God through

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his son, Jesus Christ. See all those other things, they might give you a taste of peace.

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They might be able to give you a temporary relief to all the chaos and confusion that

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your life has right now. But it's kind of like Pepto-Bismol, right? It's ugly. It tastes

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bad. And it only provides some sort of temporary relief. But if you've got the choice between

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temporary relief of symptoms and complete total healing, which one are you going to

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take? I believe I'll take the one that passes all understanding. The only one that comes

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from one source, the one that comes from God through the blood of Jesus Christ. True peace

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only comes from that one source. So the first preparation for peace is to look to the right

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source. Now the second preparation we need comes in verse 8. It says, finally brothers,

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whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely,

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whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think

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about these things. The second preparation for peace is to live with the right mind.

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The right mind. Before we get into each of the words in this list, I want you to notice

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something. Notice that this is a positive command to do something. It's a positive command

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about how we are supposed to think, about the things we are to think about and make

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no mistake about it. The way you think will determine the way you act. When Paul talks

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about thinking here, he's not just talking about thinking in terms of casual book knowledge.

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He's talking about the kind of thinking that drives your actions. That's the kind of thinking

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that he was interested in. Like I said, this list is positive. It's not negative. Paul

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says, think on these things. He doesn't say don't think on these things. Why? Because

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if somebody tells you not to think about something, you can't help but think about it. How many

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of you all were watching that stupid point setter while we were worshiping because I

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asked you not to think about it? You were watching it. I guarantee some of you were thinking,

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well, I'll figure out a way to secure that thing. It's not going to vibrate off. You

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know how I know that? Because somebody secured it last week because it almost fell off. Some

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of you all might have been thinking, why did they even put those things up there if there's

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a risk of them falling off? I don't know the answer to that. They thought it looked good.

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He's talking about the kind of thing that drives our actions. That's the kind of thinking

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that he was interested in. Positive, not negative. Because if somebody tells you not to think

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about something, you can't help but think about it. It's called the power of suggestion.

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If I stand up here and tell you not to look at the point setters, not to think about the

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point setters potentially falling off these subwoofers, how many of you all were thinking

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about it? Liars? One person. Thank you, Corey. If I tell you, man, it really feels hot in

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here. You might not be hot at all, but all of a sudden you began to think about, hey,

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it is kind of warm in here, isn't it? The power of suggestion. That's why Paul says, doesn't

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say don't think like this. The Holy Spirit inspired him to give a list of positive commands,

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positive commands about the way that we are supposed to think. First, he lists six characteristics

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of how we are supposed to think. Think on things that are true and honorable, just pure,

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lovely, and things that are commendable. Notice what leads this list. Truth. The first thing

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that we need to intentionally fill our minds with is truth. And where do we find the truth?

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We find it in the Scripture. We read it. We study it. We learn from it. We meditate on

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it. We pray through it. Without the truth of the Scriptures, as the foundation of your

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thinking, you have no hope of getting any of the rest of this list right. But if you

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start with the foundation of God's words, it will shape the way you think about everything

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else. Think on things that are true and honest. Is there a difference there? Because I thought

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if something was true, it was honest, right? Well, it's today's English. A better translation

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in today's English would be to think about things that are respectable. Things that are

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noble, not things that are trivial, not things that are trashy. Not things that have no

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merit. Not things that are worthless. Think on things that are true and honest and just.

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The word translated just means righteous. Thinking that is righteous is the perfect

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harmony. Think on things that are righteous, that are perfect harmony with God's righteousness

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that He shows us in the truth of the Scripture. It sees sin the way that He sees sin. Not

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just sin that's outside of us, but also the sin that's inside of us. It also means we

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think of and we see the sinner the way that He sees the sinner. Righteous thinking sees

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lost sinners as people Jesus died for who need to hear the Gospel. And righteous thinking

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sees saved sinners as people who Jesus died for and is working in just like me. Think

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on things that are true and honest, just and pure. Pure thoughts are holy thoughts. Thoughts

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that reflect the nature and character of God rather than reflecting on impure words. Impure

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pictures, impure images. Think on things that are true, honest, just, pure and lovely.

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What mental images that word carries with it? It's interesting that this is the only

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place this original word is used in the New Testament. It is a compound word with the

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word for what we think of as brotherly love. It basically means to think about things that

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make you pleasing. Think on things that make you pleasing, that make you attractive. Think

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on things that bring out the inner beauty that you have in you. Actively think about

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things that will make you pleasing to be around. Think on things that are true, honest, just,

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pure, lovely and a good report. Here's another word that this is the only place this original

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word is used. It carries the idea of praiseworthy thoughts. Praiseworthy thoughts, not the kind

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of thoughts that are praised by men, the kind of thoughts that would be praised by God himself.

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Paul wraps up those six kinds of thoughts by summarizing them. He wraps them up by two

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overarching categories. You can think of them as two different filters. The first one is

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virtue. The first filter is virtue. The word literally means moral excellence. Filter your

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thinking through the first filter by asking yourself, is this thought morally excellent?

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That's the first filter we think through. Is this thought that I have in my head morally

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excellent? Would I say it out loud? The second filter is praise. Now before we talked about

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the thoughts that would be praised by God, this filter is different. Filter your thinking

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through this filter by asking yourself, does this thought bring praise and honor and glory

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to the Lord? So the first filter is this morally excellent. The second filter does this thought

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bring praise, honor and glory to the Lord. Now what happens when you have a thought that

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doesn't make it through one of those filters? What do you do with it? How can you not think

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about it? The only way you can not think about it is to think about the things that Paul

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lists before. Think on things that are true and honest, just, pure, lovely. I mean that's

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pretty abstract. That's not going to do me a whole lot of good when my kids are driving

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me crazy. That's not going to do a whole lot of good when your boss is treating you badly,

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is it? So how do we change our thinking? How can these abstract things help me? Because

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it's easy to say think on things that are true, but when you're in the midst of chaos,

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when you're in the midst of temptation, when you feel that pull against you, it's hard,

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right? It's hard to think about things that are pure and lovely. But the reality is they're

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not really abstract. Who is the only person that is true? Who is the most honorable person

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to ever walk the face of the earth? Who is the only righteous and pure and lovely one?

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Jesus. So when bad thoughts are getting caught up in your virtue and praise filter, think

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on Jesus. Having a mind that's focused on Jesus is living with the right mind. So we

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prepare for peace by looking at the right source. We prepare for peace by living with

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the right mind. And finally we see the final piece of preparation in verse 9. He writes,

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what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things. And

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the God of peace will be with you. The third preparation for peace is to learn from the

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right person. Now Paul wrote this letter to the Philippian church from prison. He probably

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wrote it while he was in prison in Rome. It was fairly late in his ministry, probably

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around AD 61. We do know that Paul spent a considerable amount of time face to face with

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these people. He was the one who planted this church during his second missionary journey.

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He visited there at least twice during his third missionary journey. People from Philippi

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came to visit Paul while he was in Rome. They knew him. They saw him in all sorts of situations.

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He wasn't plastic to them. He wasn't just some guy on a screen. He wasn't just some

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voice on a podcast. He was real. He was genuine. They saw how he acted when things were going

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really, really well. And they saw how he acted when things were bad. And it seems like you

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learn a lot more about a person when things are bad, when things are at their worst, don't

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you? You find out what's really important to them. You find out where their focus is.

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You find out if their beliefs are just words or if that's really who they are. So they

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knew that about Paul. They knew him. They saw his words tested and tried in the crucible

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of his life. So when Paul said, I want you to be like me, he wasn't boasting about himself.

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He wasn't putting himself on a pedestal. He was boasting in Christ. Paul had poured out

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every ounce of his life for Jesus. In the last letter he ever wrote, he told his son

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in the faith Timothy that his life was being poured out as a drink offering. Paul was empty

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of himself. So when he told them, follow my example, he was telling them in the clearest

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way possible to follow Christ. Oh, that you and I, that you and I one day might be able

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to point to that and confidently be able to say the same thing. Do these things as I do

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these things. What I can do, what I can do today is point you to the word. And in that

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word you can see Jesus Christ, the God of peace. And the things that you learn and receive

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and hear from his word do those things. That's what I feel like I do every week. Do you want

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peace in your life? Look to the right source. The only source of peace is Christ. Do you

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want peace in your life? Live with the right mind. The right mind thinks thoughts that

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are always focused on Christ. Do you want peace in your life? Learn from the right

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person. The right person is the one who follows Christ, who does as Christ did, who walks

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as Christ walked. How do you prepare for peace this season? You look to Jesus. Think on Jesus.

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Follow Jesus. It's that simple to say, right? It's much harder to practice. Where are your

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eyes this morning? Are they on Jesus? Or are they on the chaos and confusion? Where are

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your thoughts this morning? Are they on Jesus or are they on the busyness? Are they on the

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frantic activity? Did you have a debate with yourself this morning on whether you should

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come to church because your schedule is so busy? Where is your walk this morning? Is

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it following him or chasing after vain activities of this world?

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Let's go back to the story that Alexander read in Mark chapter 4. Let's read about Jesus

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on the bow. Let's read it again and think about what part of their preparation for peace

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was missing. Mark chapter 4 is starting in verse 35. He writes, On that day when evening

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had come, he said to them, Let us go across to the other side. And leaving the crowd,

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they took him with them in the boat just as he was. And other boats were with him. And

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a great wind storm arose and the waves were breaking into the boat so that the boat was

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already filling. But he was in the stern asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said

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to him, Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing? And he awoke and rebuked the wind

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and said to the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased and there was a great calm.

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He said to them, Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith? And they were filled with

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great fear and said to one another, Who then is this that even the wind and sea obey him?

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So we have disciples, right? We have disciples who are with Jesus. They've been walking with

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Jesus. His teaching, his healing, were drawing large crowds of people. As he was healing

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people, word would spread and more people would come. I mean, this had to be an awesome

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experience for them. I mean, it had to be infectious to be around. It'd be like going

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to a concert and thousands of people are there in that arena just to see you. And so there

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was probably some sort of high that they were experiencing. Now, I've never been to a Taylor

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Swift concert because I'm not a teenage girl. But I have seen some videos of how they sneak

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her into the arena. Have you seen those? They put her in this box that looks like a janitor's

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cart. And they wheel her to the stage. So I want you to think about this. The only way

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for Jesus and the disciples to escape from these people is to escape through the sea.

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They don't want to go through the crowds because that might be dangerous. They don't want to

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go through the crowds because people aren't going to leave them alone. So they get in

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their own version of a janitor's cart to get away from the people. Maybe we can get to

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the other side of the sea before they do. And now they are alone. They're on this boat.

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Now they're alone. Now things are calm until it wasn't. And the disciples who had just

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seen Jesus heal people. The disciples who had just seen Jesus feed thousands of people.

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The disciples who had heard Jesus teach in a way that brought life began to panic because

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their peace wasn't in him. It was in something else. They didn't have the right mindset.

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They didn't have the right mindset because all they could focus on was fear and what

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was going on around them. Their peace wasn't in him because they didn't fully trust him

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yet. So quickly let's put ourselves in that situation. Let's put ourselves on that situation.

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Let's put ourselves on that boat. You've experienced Jesus. You've heard the word.

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You've been walking with him, some of you, for a long time. Do you only find peace when

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everyone likes you? And there's constantly something going on. But when things get quiet,

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when things get calm, when it's just you, you begin to panic because the storms of your

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life seem out of control. And so what you do is you get around more people because if

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the people are loud enough and if the people can distract you enough, you won't be able

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to focus on the storms that are going on inside of you. It is easy to be distracted when you're

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popular and everyone wants a piece of you. Do you have a difficult time when it's just

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you and your thoughts? When the waves are beating against you, do you have a difficult

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time thinking on things that are true and good or do you begin to think about all the

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things that are going on wrong around you? Where are your thoughts? And finally, do you

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have someone who you can imitate as they follow Jesus? Because if you just trust yourself,

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if you think that Christianity and walking with Jesus is an isolated thing, you walk

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in a little bit of danger. There's a little bit of danger in that. It's why I'm so grateful

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for the elders of this church in my life because nine times out of ten, nine times out of ten

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at least, they bring out the missing piece that I haven't thought about. They bring these

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things to me. It helps protect me. It helps protect our church from the blind spots that

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I don't see. I need to be in community with people who have my best interests in mind,

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who want to challenge me when they see me walking down the wrong path, when my thoughts

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are in the wrong place. We need people like that in our life. We need accountability.

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We need discipleship. We need somebody to model because at the end of the day, at the

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end of the day, this can't just be about us. We all need to be a disciple of Jesus by being

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the peace that comes from Him. This cannot end with us. You can't do that. You can't

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be a disciple of Jesus and give peace to everybody else if you yourself don't have it. But at

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the same time, you shouldn't just be waiting around until you have everything down perfectly.

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Be the peace to someone in your life this week. Who in your life? Here's how the Holy

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Spirit works because I'm about to ask a question. For some of us, somebody's going to come to

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our mind. Who in your life right now are you needing to give forgiveness to? What relationship

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in your life needs to be reconciled? Can you be the person that people come to when the

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storms of their life are out of control and you can speak true to calm it down? Are you

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that person? Jesus brought peace to this earth when He came and it is the expectation, it

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is the command of all of us who are believers in Jesus to continue to bring peace to the

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world around us. Not add more chaos, not add more confusion. We are called to be the peace

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to the world around us. How can you do that? Sometimes everything is going well in somebody's

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life for the most part but they can't stop thinking about this one bill. They can't stop

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thinking about how they're going to provide for their family. Can you meet a physical

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need this week to help bring peace to a family in need? If you have not experienced peace

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in your lives, could you reach out and seek wise counsel? As you live your life, can you

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confidently say like Paul, hey all these things you've seen, all these things you've seen

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me how I handle situations do the same? Do the same. This is not meant to terminate on

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us, it's meant to be spread throughout the world. So as the Holy Spirit empowers you,

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as the Holy Spirit speaks to you, I'd be willing to bet and I'm not going to ask you to do

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it but I'd be willing to bet when I ask the question what relationship in your life needs

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to be reconciled? What person in your life do you need to forgive forgiveness to? I'd

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be willing to bet that many of you had somebody come to your mind. So you want peace? Walk

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in obedience. Walk in obedience. We are to be the peace that comes from Jesus. Let's

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pray. Father I pray right now that as we close, as we worship, as we respond, that you will

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speak to our hearts. God help us be like Jesus. Help us be like Jesus on that boat. That even

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though there's chaos and confusion all around us, we're still able to sleep in peace because

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we find our peace in you, the source. You are the only source for peace. And so Father

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I pray right now for the person that might try to find peace in every other place except

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for you. They've never given you a chance. So Father I pray for salvation to come. I

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pray that they will call upon your name. Father I pray that you will help our thinking. I

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pray that you will help us not see the negative but actually do the positive. To think on

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things that are true and worthy and noble and just and pure. Think on those things Father.

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I pray that you empower us to. And I pray Father that you will help us see those around us

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who are walking with you in a way that honors you. I pray that you will raise up more. Men

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and women that are walking with you in an honorable way. Help us be those men and women.

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So Father I ask for your spirit to fill this room. I pray that your spirit will minister

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to our hearts as we close out this service. Help us think on things that are praise worthy.

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Help our thoughts be honorable. Help us walk in moral excellence. We give you this time.

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I pray that you will hear your name. Amen.