Practical Choices for Peace

Discover how to find peace during the busy Christmas season with practical choices inspired by Christian teachings. Peace, or 'shalom,' is a central theme in Christianity, representing completeness and soundness. Learn how Jesus maintained peace amidst chaos and how you can apply these lessons to your life. Key steps include making a decision for peace, inviting Jesus into your life, and trusting Him. This December, avoid unnecessary activities, schedule personal and family time, and nurture your relationship with God. Reflect on areas needing peace and take steps to create a peaceful environment.


This sermon was recorded at a Sunday morning gathering at Church of the Lookout in Longmont, Colorado.

Visit our website
Follow us on Facebook
Follow us on Instagram

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Welcome to the Lookout Weekly Podcast. Church of the Lookout is in Boulder, Colorado, and our vision is Jesus, abiding in his presence, growing in his family, and living on his mission to transform the world with awe-inspiring love. Visit us online at the lookout.church.

SPEAKER_01 0:19

Okay. Good morning. I wish I was good at jokes. I'd tell you one now. Well, thank you, Luke. And thank you, Church. For am I good? All right. Thank you. Um I want to thank you for receiving uh Brit and myself back. This is home. This is home class. And uh it was painful to be away, but you know, the Lord uses those times in your life, and He's really done so much for us. And we do really feel loved here, and we appreciate you. I've decided that the purpose of being here on this earth is to learn how to love. And it's not easy, but the way you learn how to love is you are giving opportunities not to love. And you have to overcome that and love anyhow. And that's what what's happened here for us. We've been loved. And as we I'd like to ask Britt to come very quickly, and I don't know where that mic went to, the one that you had there, Luke. Thank you. Um Britt and I have gone together now uh to Africa. Come up here, hon, a couple times. And uh I just wanted her to give you a quick overview, this will be quick, about what happened in Africa when we were with Pastor Willie back in October.

SPEAKER_00 2:00

So we did three pastors and wives conferences. Uh two years ago was the first time that wives came to uh hear the conferences, and this last couple months or in October, uh, we had the most wives and pastors there, over a hundred at each conference. And we got um 60 moms and newborn babies out of the hospital. They can't go home until their bill is paid. So some of those little newborn babies were two and three months old before they can go home. I have pictures to show you if you want to come see them. Um we got uh 80 mattresses for moms and children and special needs children, Down syndromes, fruvapalsy kids, and older adult seniors. Such a blessing to see such joy in their eyes. And uh paid a hundred for a hundred people to get health insurance for the entire year. And then one of the most special things was Walt has never been able to do that there in Rwanda. We got to baptize five men who had been on drugs and alcohol, and they have been going through Pastor Willie's rehab program, and we baptized them. Um, and it was just special. The Lord said, I love you, my beloved son. And these men are on fire. We did uh a special training for them, and we were dancing and singing and praising the Lord and teaching, and their eyes are just so full of love because the shame and the guilt that they had, the Lord healed them. And that was just such a huge blessing of peace and joy that we uh were able to give. And thanks to your generosity, uh, Pastor Willie and Antoinette now have an SUV that seats seven people. So he's very grateful. Love you, honey.

SPEAKER_01 3:44

Thank you, Brent.

SPEAKER_00 3:46

Oh, you have the mic.

SPEAKER_01 3:49

Isn't she nice? I was a little bit concerned about coming back um, you know, with a companion. Um Joyce um was so loved here, and she loved you all so much. And so, you know, I went through a 15-year journey of losing her to dementia, and she did pretty good uh in the moment, but you wouldn't know that at home she was really uh declining. You know, she could mask it pretty good, but she was an amazing mom. And uh my dad uh few months ago was sitting in the back seat of the car as I was driving here to church with him, and he said, You're the luckiest guy I know. And I said, What's that, Dad? He said, You managed to get two of the most beautiful women I've ever seen. He was talking about Joyce and Britt. And uh I've had guys ask me, How did you get her? I said, Well, I sang to her. And I did. Uh she had a CD uh of her singing, and she's a very good vocalist, and uh so I put it in the car, I drove around and harmonized with her, and then I got a brilliant idea. And I decided to just take out my phone and record me harmonizing with that CD, and I sent it to her, and the rest is history. She's here. I sang to her. Um I also wanted to say thank you to Pastor Luke. Um I just couldn't be more proud of who he is as a leader, as a man of God. Um I just moved to tears. Uh he is gifted, he has integrity, um, he's loving. He accepted me back. I I just couldn't say enough about that. And then there's so many of you here, special, you know, Bob and Betty, and I just thanked the Lord for Piper when I first came back and she was leading worship. I I just was moved to tears. You know, I've always wanted the presence of the Lord in worship, and to see it happening here, you know, when we stepped away to see how the Lord's presence is here. So my assignment today is to teach the second in the series of peace. And we all know the scriptures of uh peace on earth, goodwill to men, and so many scriptures uh, you know, about peace and Jesus coming at Christmas time. And Pastor Luke wrote in the overview of the series, he said, true peace is not merely the absence of conflict. Now that stopped me short because that's been my lifelong pursuit. The absence of conflict. George and I have twelve children, and many are here, uh, and that was part of our healing journey as they came back first, and really it gave me courage. Um but you can imagine with uh a large family that you're looking for the absence of conflict. He said, so it's not merely the absence of conflict, but it's a life rooted in God's presence, reconciling us to himself, to one another, and even in our suffering. So when I left this church in 2015, I was suffering. Uh Joyce, her journey was about 12 years at that point. And I was suffering so much that I couldn't even stand here and say goodbye. And I called Bob Young and I said, Bob, I can't do it. I can't stand up here and say anything. I was completely spent. Um, I was on medication to sleep and medication to get through the day. I'd spent years just putting one foot in front of the other, this one meeting or whatever was in front of me. So I was I was devastated. And and please forgive me for not being able to stand here and say goodbye. That's been painful for me over all these years. But I didn't have it. I couldn't do it. I was crushed. So George, Joyce had already gone to Georgia to live with my daughter Sarah, who's here today. Uh she lives in Georgia. So uh to be with her and her family to support us as her mom was declining. I was suffering. And now I teach pastors in Africa how to get through suffering. You know, the Lord uses what you've been through, he leverages it for the kingdom to help others. That's the way we go through a lot of stuff to learn how to comfort and learn how to love. Because that's what we're giving away. That's what we learn to give away to others. And uh when I was teaching on how to get through suffering, one pastor came to me afterwards and he said, I didn't know Americans could suffer. They've been through COVID and starvation, I mean hungry. Pastor Willie uh fed a lot of pastors through COVID. And, you know, when it comes to material things, there's they're suffering, but they also uh suffer like we do, emotionally and spiritually, you know, those kind of things that are part of our life. And I've come to understand that we need a good theology of suffering in the church. It's not all about being prosperous. Now I like prosperity. You have a better class of problems. Did you get that? But we we need to understand that what Jesus went through, and and at some point, um I would love to, and Luke has already mentioned this, at some point in the future I'd like to talk to you about the process of suffering. It's a it's a journey, it goes from loss to oneness with the Father. That's what Jesus went through, death, burial, resurrection. And I I came to understand in this last 10 years that I've been away, that not only was Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection and ascension a redemptive act, but it was also illustrative. We're gonna go through it too. And so some of you are in that place today. And I've had so many people tell me in the last couple days, this has been a hard week. I imagine some of you could raise your hand on that one, right? It's been a hard week. But but there are things that if we understood the purpose of suffering and how to get through it, then we can see how redemptive it is. When I was in uh when we when I went to Georgia, uh where Joyce was, I went to a home group and they asked me to give my story. I was like, yeah, right. How much time do you have? You know, keep you here all night talking about my story. But I I didn't do that and I knew I couldn't do that, but it this is what came out, and it was the Holy Spirit. I love it when you say something, you know, that's better than me. That's gotta be God. And it was one of those moments. I said, right now I'm dying. I'm going through death. That's I just have nothing. I'm I'm just void, and I I'm going through death. And then the Spirit came on me. But the next step is resurrection. I was saying that prophetically. And that's what I've been going through is newness of life and oneness. And Britt's a big part of that story of God's restoration. I say that to you to know, to let you know that God is doing the same thing in all of our lives. He's working in us to bring him into relationship, to bring us into relationship with him, a loving relationship. And when I talk to the guys trying to get off drugs in Africa, I talk about we're sons. We have an identity, which is a son and daughter of God. And I've been preaching that for quite some time. And I would have pastors come to me once said, I've been a pastor for 18 years, and I didn't know I was a son. I had a pastor tell me who sponsored that conference that we were in on the uh Tanzania and um Rwanda border. He said, I was gonna leave the ministry after this conference because I committed to organize it and I was gonna just leave. He said, but after hearing you talk about uh being a son, I've decided I want to go home and learn what it means to be a son and teach my whole church our identity as sons. Okay, how much time do we have? I'm off topic already. Let me try and get through this. It's a life is a process. Um the Bible says, the children of Israel knew my acts. You remember that scripture? But Moses knew my ways. Do you understand the difference? Children of Israel knew my acts, but Moses knew my ways. See, the ways of God are not just a one-time event. The ways of God is a series of things that are unfolding in terms of revelation and personal growth. That's what it is, it's a process. And uh and so you and it's what do they say? It's not microwaved, it's crock pot. It's just a slow. It always seems to take longer than it should and hurts a little more than you think it ought to. That's the way. But there's a way out, there's a purpose in his suffering, and his purpose is for you to know him in a way you would not know him otherwise. That's what's happened to me. All my suffering has led me to a deeper place in him. Job felt the same way when he was suffering. It's like, you know, in his story, he was looking for peace and he was wrestling with God, and he was looking for answers. In Job 30, 20, it says, I cry out to you, but you do not answer. Anybody ever feel that way? Yeah, come on, let's be honest. We sure do. Then he said in 30, 27, My heart is in turmoil and cannot rest. Days of affliction confront me. Now, you know the story of Job. Job offered sacrifices even for his children. I mean, he was covering all the bases and checking all the boxes to make sure God approved of him and what he did in his conduct. And it says he's an upright man, you know. And so when he lost all those things that he went through, his children and his possessions and his health, you know, he kind of wanted to know why is that happening? Have you ever gotten into the trap? I've really tried to live a really good life. I'm trying to be a really good person. And since I am, I don't understand why this is not going so well. I don't understand why I'm suffering. I don't understand why I've gone through this loss. And people get mad at God and just say, this Christianity thing doesn't work. And you've probably thought that yourself sometimes. I don't know if this thing works or not. But what he's trying to do when he withholds things and we experience loss, he's trying to position us for a deeper relationship with him. When it says that we are being conformed to the image of Christ, how is he conform us? Pressure. It's like putting the clay on the potter's wheel. And then you know the first thing he does, the potter, when he wants to start making that vessel for his own purpose? He spins it. Do you ever feel like you're on the wheel spinning? And then not only does he spin it, he puts pressure on it, he puts his hands on it. And we're getting pressured, aren't we? We get pressure. And the pressure is designed to conform us to the image of Christ. To make us like Him, His character, His nature. Amen? Y'all getting quiet on me there. I mean, you know, I need all the help I can get. So as followers of Christ, we have a new access to his presence through Jesus. And it tells us in Romans, uh, I'm sorry, in Hebrews 20 and 22, it says we have a new and living way through his body, through his broken body. And that because of that we should draw near. We have access to God in a way that Old Testament believers didn't understand. But it for us, the Holy Spirit has been given. The Holy Spirit has been poured out. And so we have an advantage because of the Spirit has been poured out upon us. Everything seems, as I've grown in the Lord, it all comes back to the Holy Spirit. You can't do this without the Holy Spirit. Oh, you can try, but you'll just be a religious bigot. You you I shouldn't go down that road. I've already chased so many rabbit trails you wouldn't believe. I'll see if I can get to get through this. In Romans 14, 17, I like this. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but righteousness, which is right relationship with God and others, peace and joy. Right? I'm try that was a trick question. There's something that has to be added to that. What is it? In the Holy Spirit. It all comes from the Holy Spirit. It's not God the Father, God the Son, and God the Bible. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. And they all three use the Bible to help us grow and be trained. Okay, so what I'm gonna do is unpack uh Philippians 4, 2 to 9, and then we'll be done, okay? Um I want to start at the end, verse 9, and it says in verse 9, these things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do. This is the apostle Paul speaking to the Philippians. He said, The things which you learned and received from me, and the things you heard and saw me, he said, These things do. Now notice this. If you do these things, what? And the peace of God will be with you. Okay, what are those things? Well, let's go back and let's see what those things are that he said. I'm gonna uh I'm gonna go back here just A little bit for many years when I teach when I taught this passage, I started with verse six, and you're most of you are familiar with verse six. Be anxious for nothing, right? But in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. Let your request be known to God, and the peace of God will guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus. Amen. Yeah. And I just I would just start right there and I would get into it. And you know, hey, we don't have to be anxious in our suffering. We don't have to be fearful. You know, we can find peace. I went a lot of years I couldn't find peace. I didn't understand it. I didn't understand what I was going through. I didn't understand it was meant to change me, to conform me, to make me like Christ, and to teach me how to love. And so all I thought is, these are not working. I thought I was doing it. I thought I was seeking you sincerely. I thought I was really, you know, coming after you, Lord, and being faithful to you, like Job. You know, it's like, oh, what's the deal? And this is what happens to me? I get wiped out. And so Paul here in Philippians is talking about that. And he and so he says, you know, be anxious for nothing. And then one time as I was teaching in Africa, while the translator was talking, my eyes fell back to verse 4 in my Bible. And I thought, whoa, wait a minute, I didn't see this before. Because verse 4 says, rejoice in the Lord always, and again and again I say, rejoice. He's emphasizing it. He's saying, look, whatever you're going through, no matter what kind of suffering, what kind of difficulty, whatever it is, don't be anxious, you know, and rejoice in the Lord. And I thought, wait a minute, maybe the reason we're not getting our prayers answered, our petitions, and you know, the things that we bring before God, are we asking outside of his presence? Think about it. Because he's saying, start with praise. You need to start with praise before you go in and ask him for something, before you petition him for something. This is like being children, you know. If all they ever do is, Dad, will you give me this, Mom will you give me this, you know. You know, parents love to have their kids say, I just really love you. Thank you for all you've done for me. We love to hear that, don't we? I think God does too. So before you start praying and petitioning, he's saying, Rejoice in the Lord always. And so then I then uh I went back to verse 2. I'm walking backwards through this passage. And I'm and I realized that this passage is teaching us the journey to peace. So I never saw that before. And, you know, it's really fun to see something for the first time, get a revelation. So so here are the steps that make up the journey. So, verse 2, let's go to verse 2 and then we'll go to the end and um we'll see what happens. Okay. Um he said, I implore Yudia and I implore Synth to be of the same mind in the Lord, and I urge you also, true companion, help these women who labored with me in the gospel. We have two ladies who are not getting along, they're in conflict. And he's saying, Look, will you help them? They need to be of the same mind. How? In the Lord. That's that's how you become of the same mind is by being in the Lord. That means he's saying, Look, look, you you have you're suffering, you're having anxiety, and I'm gonna show you the journey to peace, and this is where it starts. It starts with with forgiveness, pardoning people and forgiving them. That's where your journey is gonna start in your pursuit for peace. You forgive others, you get along with others, you heal. Isn't that great? Yeah, you know, don't he said, if you've got aught against your brother, leave your gift at the altar, go reconcile. So, as far as you on your part, you know, be at peace with others. And so he's saying, in this journey here, that's gonna be your first step. And as I say that today, some of you sitting here are that's where you have to start in your journey to find peace. You're gonna have to forgive people. And now, one of the ways that I help people understand how to forgive is to get a little bit different perspective about conflict. When people treat you badly, they're not telling you who you are, they're telling you who they are. You can quote me on that. That's worth repeating. I've used this over and over and over. It's an identity issue because when you're in Christ and you're confident in your relationship with Him, what other people say about you and you know the assault that might come to you, water off a duck's back. I know who I am. I'm a loved son and daughter of God. So when people treat you badly, they're not telling you who you are, they're telling you who they are, and they're telling you that they're not in peace. Because people at peace don't treat you badly. They're loving, they're kind, they're gentle. That's the fruit of the spirit. And so when they're treating you badly and they're acting out like that, they're just saying, You please pray for me because I've really got stuff that's unresolved in my life. You have to get a different shift. You know, if you don't know who you are, you'll get defensive and you'll get angry. And and that'll lead to no good. So rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice, verse 4, and um actually, yeah. There's a story I like to tell about uh rejoicing in the Lord always. Some years ago when we were in Texas pastoring, I got a phone call in the office. Dad, the barn's on fire. We had a we lived out in a ranch in Texas and we had a little barn out there and had hay in it, and two of my younger children, whom will remain anonymous, had decided to play with matches and burn the barn out. So when I drove as quickly as I could south of Paris, Texas, I could see the sacrifice of smoke going up. You know, the barn was burning. And I got there and the fire department was there, and all the neighbors, because that's the most exciting thing they had ever seen out there in the country in Parish, Texas. We got a fire. It's a good one, too. Y'all gotta come see that. So I went to bed that night, and I tossed and I turned. You all know what that's like. Something's happened, and you can't sleep. I could not sleep. All I was thinking about is I do not have the money to replace that barn and that hay, and I'm in trouble here. You know, thanking God my children escaped the fire, but you know, I still have the problem with this barn. I gotta do something about it. So I get up in the middle of the night and I leave the lights off, and I go into the living room, and I went into the rocking chair, and I always have a rocking chair. That's so that's that's my holy of holies, right there in the rocking chair. So I'm sitting in the rocking chair, and in the dark, and I'm saying, God, I don't know what I'm gonna do about this. I have no idea. This is you know, and I'm trying to I'm trying to tell Dad, uh Dad, yeah, the Father in heaven, how bad things are for me, as if he didn't know. And so it was then in that moment the Holy Spirit showed up because what came out of my mouth was this I don't understand, but I'll praise you. I had been faithful to in my giving, faithful and tithing. Hey, I thought you rebuked the devourer. You know, I've just been I've been devoured. What's going on? So I don't know, I don't understand, but I'm gonna praise you. And that was the turning moment that uh I'll just condense this. In two weeks, that barn was replaced with a better barn. It was a nice red barn instead of a plain barn, and the hay was replaced. In two weeks. I didn't have the money, but God gave me the money in two weeks to do that. And it all hinged on that moment. I don't understand what I'm going through, but I'm gonna praise you. So the first step is get your relationships right, you know, give forgiveness. Then you want to praise. And then the next one is um verse 5. Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. You know what that means? That he's watching over us to see how we treat each other. That the Lord is near, he's watching over us. I'll tell you another quick story. Oh, I should be done about now. Can I have a few more minutes here? Yeah. So um I would sit at the dining room table and and write the bills, take the checkbook and write the bills. That's the old days. I hated it. I hated those days. I could sit down and pay all these bills and write the checkbook. And I left the checkbook on the dining room table, uh, not thinking about that. And we had a dog whose name was Rusty. And I came out of the living room and I looked and where's the checkbook? And I started asking, where's the checkbook? And my son Theron, little guy, he said, Rusty ate it. And I looked out the patio, it was elevated, and I looked over the backyard, and there was the checkbook scattered all over the backyard. I instantly was angry. How am I gonna figure this out? I was so mad. I charged down those steps, and Rusty's in the backyard, and I was going for Rusty. I mean, I was gonna let him have his day. I was sick of that dog, and he had crossed the line. And so I finally, after I chased him a long time, I corralled him and got my hands right on his neck, looking at his face, you know. I was so angry trying to figure out what am I gonna do with this guy. Maybe, you know, right here I'm gonna do him in right now. I got him. And I hear Joyce from the house go, Your children are watching. That dog lived. Simply because my children were watching, my behavior changed. You know the point I'm trying to get at. The Father's watching us, how we treat each other. And when we mess up, when we blow it, change. Just okay, that's my humanness. That's why I need Jesus. That's why I need a savior. Because I'm not perfect. And so he says in verse 5, Father's watching over us because we're in his presence. Because when we've praised, we've come into his presence. And then he says in verse 6, be anxious for nothing but everything by prayer and supplication. And supplication means intensity, earnestness. I mean, you're not going to let this thing go. I need an answer. You're like Job. I need to talk to you. And so you stay in that place of prayer and petition after you've um, you know, forgiven and praised. And it says to let your requests be known to God with thanksgiving. It's changed the way I pray. So instead of saying, God, I need such and such, I'll say thank you for such and such. Do you understand what I'm saying there? I shift it with thanksgiving. That means I'm his son, your, or if you're a daughter, son or daughter, I'm a son or daughter, and I'm coming not begging. I'm not begging. I'm a loved son or daughter. And so I can ask with that assurance and with that confidence, and I can thank him even before he answers. Got it? That's a big deal. So often when I'm praying, thank you, Lord, for this. Thank you for that. Thank you for what you've done. Thank you. This is what we need right now, Lord, and I thank you. You hear and you know, and I'm yeah, I'm just praising him and thanking him. We have a new living way. Do you know we're really loved? I mean, we are. He really loves us. So approach him that way. So that third step is is uh well um petition with thanksgiving. You see, one who entrusts their cares to Christ, instead of fretting over them, will experience the peace of God and guard them from nagging anxiety. So what we're talking about, we're still on this journey to peace. And when we're anxious and we have this nagging anxiety, he's saying, if you'll go through this journey, I'll take you to peace. Now, fretting is like having a tick on your mind. That's all you think about. You've been there. I would pastoring in Indiana, someone said something uh as criticism against Joyce, and of course I didn't like that at all. And so one Saturday, shortly after that happened, I'm out on the lawn mower, and it was a sizable piece of lawn there, and I had a uh one of those driving mowers, and I had uh entire morning out there mowing the lawn fretting about what they said about Joyce. I couldn't get it off my mind. Well, I'm gonna say this, I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna talk to so and so about this. Yeah, yeah, and I just spent the whole morning, it was on my mind. And that's not very productive, as you know. You don't get many good answers, you don't you're not led into wisdom, you know. You don't, it's not wise to do that, but that's what I was doing. I was so upset and so angry. But you know, we have to think about what we're thinking about. Did you get that? You know what I mean by that? Check yourself. What am I thinking about right now? Am I thinking about something negative or am I thinking about something positive? What am I thinking about? Because that's the difference between life and death. If you're so here he addresses this. Um in verse 8, find me, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things of good report, if there's any virtue, if there's anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things. Why? Because that brings peace. Meditate on these things, the good things. Meditate on how good God is. Meditate on the answered prayers you've had in the past. Meditate on the miracles you've seen in your life. Meditate on his faithfulness, meditate on those things. And he said, that's going to bring you peace. And I like the way it says it in the message. Summing it all up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious, the best, not the worst, the beautiful, not the ugly. Things to praise, not things to curse. Now I I I do not take the Lord's name in vain. But I've found a you know a better way to vent my emotions, you know, with little nicer words sometimes. Right? It's not really the words, it's the attitude of the heart. You know, it's like I'm mad. I'm gonna he said, if you you know, if you're meditating on the wrong things, if you're thinking about the wrong things, that's gonna lead you in the wrong direction, you know. But peace is what we're looking for. So now let me let me land this thing. I I just walked us through the steps of the journey of coming into peace with God. And um, Piper, if you would come. I I decided I was gonna start everything with the word pee, even if it doesn't really fit. I know Luke wouldn't do that, but hey, at my age, you know. You take a little more license with these things and you own it up. So I was thinking, okay, what is the first step? Can anybody help me? What's the first step?

unknown 42:05

Pardon, pardon, pardon, pardon.

SPEAKER_01 42:08

Yeah. And that's really a pardon is just excusing it, letting it go. But forgiveness is actually engaging in your heart to forgive them and and release them, you know, from whatever the consequences are. So that's the first step. And some of you here today, that's where you need to start in this journey to peace. You say I had a rough week. Things have been hard for me. Like for me, I've been in this for years now with my wife. She's declining, and my life is a wreck. I'm fallen to pieces. So the first thing is forgiveness. And some of us, we have blamed God for what's happened to us. You know, God, why weren't you faithful to me in this? Why this didn't work out the way I thought. So, you know, sometimes it'll just come right down to I'm just kind of mad at God that He let that happen, or He let them do that, or this has happened to me. Why did He do that? That's kind of where Job was. You know, what is going on here? I've been faithful. Look at this. And I've decided the reason we don't understand and we get lost is because we don't understand that it's a process. He's leading us in a journey, you know, he wants to draw us into relationship with him, to know him. And the way he does that is he walks with us through this process. And that's how we learn his faithful, because he walked me through the process. And I do not have time to tell you how blessed and restored I am, but you can just look at my wife now and you can see this is a blessed guy. Really? Really blessed. But it's been a process. So the first thing is forgiveness. What's the second one?

unknown 44:09

Praise.

SPEAKER_01 44:10

Praise. Even when you don't understand what? Praise. I wish I had time to tell you more stories about that. Praising before you got the answer. I, you know, I really need about three days. Yeah. Third step, prayer, petition, what? With thanksgiving. And then fourth step is ponder, which is meditate. Meditate. Think about what you're thinking about and deal with your wandering mind that doesn't understand what's happening. You just know God's going to get you through it and he'll help you. It may not seem like it, but he will. And when you get through whatever he's doing in you, you are going to be transformed. You're going to be a different person. Because you're growing into the character and the nature of Christ. And then, and then after you ponder and you meditate, then you're led into the peace of God. Which is not just, as Luke said, the absence of conflict, but now is the presence of the Lord. Your relationship with him has grown. You have come to know him. You're not like the children of Israel, just knew his acts. You are becoming like Moses, who knew his ways. And when you know his ways, you can walk through a lot of stuff. And you'll come out the other side. And I would just say that as I'm closing and asking Luke to come to finish. I would just say this to you. Some of you right now, you've been looking for peace. This is a difficult time for you. I'm just telling you, he will be faithful to you. Enter into the work of the Holy Spirit. Enter into what the Holy Spirit is doing and what he's saying. And as you do, the Holy Spirit will walk you through this and you will come out a changed person. And like Job, who was blessed, a devil in the end, you can expect to be blessed more than where you were before. That's what's happened to me. I'm blessed more than I was before. And part of that is coming back here to be with you. I didn't think I'd ever be on this platform again, ever. I didn't, when I left, I didn't want to either. But I'm so happy to be with you. Britt and I are so happy to be with you. The Spirit of the Lord is here. His love is here. His presence is here. His goodness is here. His faithfulness is here among us. It's beautiful. It's beautiful. It's just beautiful. I'll finish with this one thing. Come on up. I had a pastor's wife call me some years ago and she said, I can't, I don't want to go to church. I don't want to pray. I don't want to read my Bible. And the background is that her husband passed. He was a pastor. And her son took over the church, and he had a calling on his life to pastor, and he got cancer and died. And so all she had was loss. Her husband, her son, you know, and she was a strong woman in the Lord, and she helped disciple me. And she said, I don't want to pray. I don't want to read the Bible. I don't want to go to church. It's just I can't, I don't want to. She was suffering so much. She said, I don't know what to do. I said, Shirley, this is what I did. And I offer this for some of you that might help. And then I'm going to turn it over to them. I said, I was the same place. I just like, ugh, I don't understand what's going on, and I can't get through this. So I decided to get up every morning before I went to work and pray in the Holy Spirit. And I'd sit in my chair and rock and I'd pray in tongues. And I would pray until I felt like I was kind of entering into the presence of the Lord. And the more I did, it was like ice that melted. And I was coming back to life by praying in the Spirit. Because the Spirit knows what's going on in what you're going through. And he knows how to talk to you and teach you. And so little by little he started unfolding this revelation of what I was going through, the process of suffering. Now I've shared with you today the process of entering into his peace. And so some of you I would just offer, just get along with him and pray and get before him. And I would pray in the spirit until I felt it melt. And it's just what a gift the Holy Spirit is. I cannot say enough about a relationship with the Holy Spirit.