THE FIVE KEYS TO PEACE OF MIND
Patience, Persistence and Peace of Mind - Part 5 of 6
John 14:27
03-17-13 Sermon
John 14:27 (Ph) Jesus:
"I leave behind with you --
peace; I give you My own peace and My gift is nothing like the peace of
the world. Do not be distressed or
daunted."
THE FIVE KEYS
1. Accept God's
_____________________________________________
"Since
we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our
Lord Jesus Christ." Rom.
5:1
"Who
is a God like You, who pardons sin and forgives. . . . You . . . delight
to show mercy." Micah
7:18
2. Recognize God's
_____________________________________________
"You
(God) will keep those in perfect peace whose minds are steadfast on You . .
." Isaiah 26:3
".
. . to be spiritually minded is life and peace." Rom. 8:6
"God
is our refuge and strength, and ever-present help in trouble. Be still and know that I am God." Ps. 46:1, 10
3. Obey God's
_____________________________________________
"Those
who love Your laws have great peace of heart and mind and do not stumble
. . . so I have obeyed Your laws." Psalm 119:165-116
4. Trust God's
_____________________________________________
"Trust
in the Lord with all your heart, and don't lean on your own understanding; in all
your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths." Prov. 3:5-6
".
. . I have learned to be content whatever the
circumstances." Phil.
4:12
5. Ask for God's
_____________________________________________
"Don't
worry about anything; instead pray about everything; tell God your needs
and don't forget to thank Him for His answers. If you do this, you will experience God's peace,
which is far moire wonderful than the human mind can understand." Phil. 4:6-7 (LB)
Jesus
said, "Do not let your hearts be
troubled. Trust in God -- trust in
Me." John 14:1
THE FIVE KEYS TO PEACE OF MIND
Patience, Persistence and Peace of Mind - Part 5 of 6
John 14:27
03-17-13 Sermon
John 14. Cover article in Parade magazine called "Stress Busters" -- "Stress
is taking a terrible toll in the nation's health and economy. More than 66% of all visits to
physicians are for stress related disorders. Job stress costs American industry more than 150 billion
dollars a year in absenteeism, lost productivity, accidents, medical
insurance. Every week 112 million
people take medication for stress related symptoms."
We're in a stressful
world. Are you under stress? Quiz: How well do you understand stress? Complete these sentences:
I'm ready to throw in the.... towel.
I'm
at the end of my ... rope.
I'm
just a bundle of ... nerves.
My
life is falling ... apart.
I'm
at wit's ... end.
I'm
about to come ... unglued.
I
feel like resigning from the human ... race.
You are pros at stress! It's amazing what people try to do to
deal with stress. Therapy, fads,
diets, cults, etc.
The Bible has a different way
of dealing with stress. John 14:27
Jesus said, "I leave My peace with
you. Peace. I give you My own peace and My gift is
nothing like the peace of this world. Don't be distressed [that's the word
"stress"] or daunted."
He says a couple of things
here. First, peace is a gift. God's peace is a gift. Circle "gift". Peace of mind is not something you work
for, you earn, you buy, you learn, you search for. It's a gift.
And God's peace of mind is different from the world's. In the first
place, it's not fragile. In the
last 3500 years we've had 286 years of peace. We don't have much peace in the world. But human peace is based on circumstances. If everything is ok, then I'm at
peace. But if everything's in
chaos then I'm not at peace.
The Bible says peace is an
internal thing. Today we want to
look at how can I be at peace under
pressure? How can I be strong
under stress? There are five
keys to peace of mind. Very simple
message. Just five things.
The most important one is the
very first one. I want us to spend
some time on it this morning.
1. ACCEPT
GOD'S PARDON
Romans 5:1 "Since we have been justified through
faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."
You were made to live in
harmony with God. When you're out
of harmony with God it causes stress.
That is the greatest source of stress in your life. When you're out of harmony with God,
nothing else clicks. When the
vertical and the horizontal are out of order, your life's a mess.
The Bible says you need to
first accept God's pardon. The
number one source of stress, psychologists tell us, is guilt. Is anybody perfect? We all make mistakes. I don't live up to my own standards,
much less God's. Because we all
make mistakes, we all feel guilty and that guilt causes stress in our
lives. The Bible says we need to
accept God's pardon. It says "We're justified through faith". Circle "justified".
What does that word
mean? An easy way to think of
it: Justified means Just-as-if-I'd
never sinned. God wipes the slate clean.
He washes the blackboard. Even if
there were no such thing as heaven -- and there is -- I'd become a Christian
just to have a clear conscience.
Guilt causes stress. Even
Christians who know they're forgiven often don't feel forgiven. Even
Christians who know they're forgiven, don't accept it.
So
we need to accept God's pardon.
It's the number one cause of stress -- guilt. Dr. Leslie Weatherhead said, "The forgiveness of God is the most powerful, therapeutic idea in
the world. If a person can really
believe that God has forgiven him or her, he or she can be saved from
neuroticism."
Micah 7:18 "Who is a God like You who pardons sin
and forgives? You delight to show mercy." Circle "delight". God is eager to clean your slate. He wants to.
He's willing. He's ready to
clear your conscience. There is no
peace of mind without a clear conscience.
The word pardon means to
release from punishment. It means
to be forgiven. A man who
committed a crime thirty years before kept it a secret. Finally he confessed it and made
restitution. He said, "I was living in a personal hell for
thirty years."
We could stop with that and
think about the fact that God says, "I
want to offer you blanket coverage, total forgiveness for every single thing
you've ever done wrong."
Do you think that would promote peace of mind? Yes, it would.
Settle this issue. God wants to forgive you. He wants to wipe the slate clean. He wants to forgive you of all your
past. He wants you to start
over. It's called being born
again. It's like starting over and
that clear conscience produces peace of mind.
2.
RECOGNIZE GOD'S PRESENCE.
Realize that He's with you
all the time. Focus on Him. Stress comes when you feel like you're
facing everything by yourself. Isaiah 26:3 "You,
God, will keep those in perfect peace whose minds are steadfast on You." Romans 8:6 "To be spiritually minded is life and peace." Peace is a mind set. It is determined by what you focus
on. What I want you to learn today
is to make your first response to every crisis "Lord, I realize You're here with me."
If you will do that your
stress level will reduce significantly. You're not facing anything alone. God is with you.
Psalm 46:1 & 10 "God is our refuge and strength, an
ever present help in trouble. Be
still and know that I am God."
The background of this verse is interesting -- 180,000 enemy troops had
surrounded the city of Jerusalem.
They were about to destroy the city. The Israelis were getting uptight. God said (Frank translation) "Chill out!
Relax. I'm in
control." Five minutes
before they attacked the city, God caused a plague to come down and decimate
the enemy and the city of Jerusalem was saved. God says, "Don't
worry. I'm your ever present
help. I'm always present. You need to recognize My
presence."
Notice there are two steps to
recognizing God's presence. How do
you know that God is with you all the time?
First it says "Be still". In Hebrew it means "let go, ease up". Pascal once said, "All of man's problems come from his inability to sit still."
Hurry aggravates worry.
The more hurried you get, the more worried you get. If there is anything I could do for you
this week would be to get you to establish a regular daily time where you just sit
still. Most people are so
busy. They hit the ground running and they're off! They come home dead at night, watch a little TV, throw
themselves into bed -- no time to be quiet. If we took a survey right now and I asked "How many of
you in the last 24 hours have had at least twenty minutes of stillness where
you just sat and did nothing -- no TV, no radio, no phone, no computer -- twenty minutes of
stillness? You just sat and talked
to God in the last 24 hours. There probably wouldn't be too many
people." We need to be quiet.
People say, "God never talks to me!" Just sit down and shut up so you can
hear Him. You've got the radio on,
the TV on, the iPod on. You are so
busy cramming your mind you couldn't hear God if He wanted to say anything to
you. You've got to be quiet. Be still.
Then it says, be still and
know. The word "know" in Greek is the word
that means the most intimate kind of knowledge. It's not knowing about. There's a difference between knowing about God and knowing
God. You can know about God. You can know facts. You can go to
church and know about God. But
you've got to really know Him. The
word here is literally used to mean the most intimate kind of knowledge where
the Bible says, "Adam knew
Eve." She had a
baby. Abraham knew Sarah. She had a baby. Mary knew no man before
Jesus was born. It's the ultimate
type of intimate knowledge -- that's the way God wants you to know Him. Not on a far off basis -- "God, You're on Your side of the
fence. I'm on mine and never the
twain shall meet." But
personal interaction and fellowship.
God says, "I want you to know
Me."
If you will accept God's
pardon, recognize His presence -- that you never go anywhere in life by
yourself, that every crisis you face, you're facing it with God's help -- your
tension level is going to go down and your peace of mind is going to go
up.
Remind yourself as your first
reaction, "Lord, I know You're here
with me." The problem is
we know more about everything else except God. Because you know who you spend the most time
with.
Accept God's pardon. Recognize His presence. Then there's a third thing if you want
peace of mind on a consistent, regular basis.
3. OBEY
GOD'S PRINCIPLES
Psalm 119:165-166 "Those who love Your laws have great
peace of heart and mind and do not stumble. So I have obeyed Your laws."
The Bible, is the owner's
manual for life. It's not just a
book of history. There are
principles in here. If you
disregard the owner's manual, it's your own tough luck. You buy a car -- you can either follow
the maintenance schedule in the owner's manual or you can ignore it. If you follow it, your car will last
longer. If you ignore it, you just
hurt yourself.
There are principles all
through the Bible. There are
principles on personal happiness, on success, on how to build strong
relationships, on how to build your business, on finances, on health, on
marriage, on parenting. Every
different area. You don't have to
listen to this book at all. You
can ignore it, never open it, never read or study it, never obey it. Who do you think you're hurting? You're not hurting God. This is God's gift to us by which we
can live the kind of life He says we're meant to live.
Every rule in the Bible is
there for your own good. It's like
a rail road car on a track. The
train's going down the track and saying, "These
stupid tracks! They are so
confining. I can only go where the tracks go. I can't jump off there in the field." The train can jump the tracks to its
own detriment and destruction. The
tracks are made so it can run on and get to its proper destination. It's what it was made to do.
You were made to abide by
certain principles. If you ignore
them, the result is STRESS. Stress
comes when you ignore the way God has told us to live. Obey God's principles. You won't stumble -- you won't make a
bunch of dumb mistakes. They don't
restrict you; they're for your own benefit.
What has God told you to do
that you haven't done yet? What
has God told you to do that you're still putting off. When God's told you to do something and you just ignore it,
is it any wonder you don't have any peace?
"... So I have obeyed your laws." Circle
"obeyed". It's not just
enough to know the Bible; you've got to follow it. You've got to apply it in your life. The
best translation of Scripture is when you translate it into your life.
Peace comes through
obedience. The more I do what God
says, the more at peace I am, the less stressed I am. The more I ignore what God says, the more stressed out I
am. If I want to have peace of
mind, I accept God's pardon, I recognize His presence, and I obey His
principles. And then,…
4. I MUST
TRUST GOD'S PLAN.
I must trust God when I don't
understand why things happen the way they do. Even when it doesn't make sense. Proverbs 3:5-6 "Trust
in the Lord with all your heart and don't lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He
will direct your paths."
There are four verbs in these sentences to circle: trust,
don't lean, acknowledge, direct.
The first three are things we're supposed to do and the fourth is a
promise that God says He'll do if we do the first three.
1. First it says, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart" That means depend
on Him. When? Even when it doesn't make sense. Trust in the Lord even when
everything's out of your control.
It's not out of His control.
2. Then it says, "Don't lean on your own understanding." This is one of
the number one reasons why even Christians don't have peace of mind. You're trying to figure everything
out. The fact of life is, many, if
not most of the things in life you're never going to figure out. There are some things you're going to
ask -- questions that are just not going to be answered. The most common natural, normal
reaction to an illness, or a crisis or a loss, or a death of someone we've
loved is "Why?" Why, God? Why is this happening?”
Sometimes you get an answer. But
you probably know by now from experience, sometimes you don't get an answer.
What do you do with the whys
of life? Why did this relationship
break up? Why was this person
struck down in the prime of life?
God does not promise an
explanation for everything in life.
He doesn't owe you an explanation.
If you understood it all, you'd be God. But you don't have to.
You do have to trust. And
the testimony that I've heard from people over and over is "In this crisis, in this situation, in this loss, when I finally
stopped trying to figure out why and just started trusting, the peace of mind
flooded my heart."
God is more interested in
comforting you than explaining things to you. Some things you're just never going to figure out why. "Lean not on your own
understanding." One of
the things I'm slowly learning in life is that I don't have to figure out the
why, the how, or the when God does what He does, in order to have peace. I just have peace about it because I
trust Him.
3. The third thing it says you do -- "You acknowledge". You admit
some basic facts. You acknowledge
God is a good God, God is a loving God, God knows all about my problems, God is
in control, God has the power to change my problems, God knows what He's doing,
God has a plan and purpose, God does not make mistakes, He has no flops, no
flubs, no fiascos. God never says,
"Ooops!"
You affirm these things and
that brings peace of mind when you have to trust God's plan.
4. The result when you trust and you don't
lean on your own understanding and you acknowledge God's goodness and His
power, the result is God says, "I
will direct your paths."
That will bring peace. One
of the chief causes of stress is indecision. "I can't decide.
Which way do I go? Do I go
this way? Do I do this or
that? Do I hang on or let go? Hold on or give up? What do I do?" When you acknowledge, you trust, and
you don't lean on your own understanding, then God will direct your paths and
that brings peace.
Philippians 4:12 Paul says, "I've learned to be content whatever
the circumstance." That's
what I call a person of complete peace.
How can you upset a guy like this?
You can't. He's learned to
be content no matter what the situation.
You know God's in control. You
can be rich. You can be poor. I can be healthy. I can be sick. I can be up. I can be down.
I can have plenty. I can
have nothing. I've learned to be
content in every situation because I trust God's plan. That is peace of mind. Learning to be content, not always
having to have more.
5. I ASK
FOR GOD'S PROVISION.
When I need something, I
simply ask for God's provision and that brings peace of mind. The great destroyer of peace of mind is
worry. We worry a lot. Many of you may be professional
worriers. "What if I don't have the
time? What if I don't have the
money? What if I don't have the energy?
What if..." You're
What if-ing yourself. We
fear that we're going to lack something.
Worry is the exact opposite
of peace of mind. They're in
conflict with each other. When
worry comes in the front door of your mind, peace of mind goes out the back
door. Worry stays in your mind
until you invite peace of mind back in the front door. The root of the word for
worry is the word "to choke, to
strangle". Have you ever
been strangled by worry? You feel
like it's choking out your life.
Here is God's antidote for
worry, Philippians 4:6-7 (Living Bible), a very well known verse, "Don't worry about anything..."
I think that is the most difficult verse in the Bible to obey. I don't know about you, but I've blown
that this week. It says, don't
worry about anything, nothing, zip!
God flat out says it ‑- Don't worry about anything.
Whenever God gives a
negative, He always follows it up with a positive. "Don't worry
about anything. Instead pray about
everything."
You have two options in
life. One brings stress. One brings peace of mind. The
two options are panic or pray.
Those are your options when you're facing crisis. Panic or pray. You can worry or you can pray. If you're not praying, you're worrying.
If we'd pray more than we worry, we'd have a lot less to worry about. The
point is this: Turn your cares
into prayers. That's the
antidote. Don't worry about
it. Worry never solves
anything. It's a totally useless
thing. Instead pray about it
because God can do something about it.
Prayer is a tremendous stress reliever.
Here’s another verse that’s
not in your outline and a question;
Ephesians 6:14-15 Stand therefore,
having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of
righteousness, and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.
And the question is: are you wearing your killer shoes? Will
you turn to the person next to you and ask them, What in the world is he
talking about now?
Well, Paul is talking here
about the armor of the Roman soldier and if you ever saw the shoes of a Roman
soldier you would want to make sure that you didn’t get in his way where he
might step on you! The roman
soldiers didn’t wear tennis shoes or normal shoes, they wore killer shoes!
Here in this passage Paul
says that every believer needs to be clothed with the shoes of peace. I realize that this sounds like a
passive peaceful part of our spiritual armor, but these were actually killer
shoes.
The shoes of the Roman
soldier were vicious weapons. They
began at the top of the legs near the knees and extended down to the feet. The portions that covered the knees to
the feet were made of metal and were specially shaped to wrap around the calves
of a soldier’s legs. They were
uncomfortable, but essential for the safety of the soldier’s legs.
The shoes were made f heavy
pieces of leather or metal. The
bottom of the shoes had sharp, dangerous protruding spikes and the front of
each shoe had two sharp spikes that pointed outward.
The metal that covered the
legs was to protect the soldier’s legs from rocky or thorny terrain. It kept him from getting gashed and cut
by the environment. If an enemy
tried to hit the soldier in his shins to break his legs, the soldier would be
uninjured.
The spikes on the bottom of
the shoes were intended to hold him in place during battle. His opponent might try to push him
around, but the spikes made him immoveable. Plus the spikes on the bottom and front of the shoes were
also killing machines. One good
kick or stomping with those shoes and an enemy would be dead.
Notice that Paul connects
these killer shoes with peace.
Why? Well, just as the leg
protection of the shoes protected the soldier from the environment and blows of
the enemy, the peace of God protects and defends you from the hassles and
assaults of the devil. Our enemy,
the devil, may try to disrupt you, distract you and steal your attention by
causing all kinds of negative events to swirl around you, but his attempts will
fail because the peace of God, like a protective weapon, enables you to keep
marching forward.
And just as those spiked held
a roman soldier securely in place when his enemy tried to push him around, the
peace of God will hold you in place when the devil tries to push YOU
around. And as the soldier used
those spikes to kick and kill his opponent, there is no need for you to ever
stop moving ahead just because the devil tries to block your path. If he is foolish enough to try to get
in front of you, just keep walking.
Stomp all the way!
Paul uses this illustration
to tell us that we must firmly tie God’s peace on to our lives so it will not
come off when the road or the battle gets rough.
The Bible teaches very
clearly that peace of mind is to be the normal Christian lifestyle. It's the normal way to live. It's not God's will that you be
uptight, that you be pressured, irritable, tense, nervous, stressed out. God's plan for your life is a peace of
mind lifestyle.
Peace is not problem free
living, because you're always going to have problems. Peace is not absence of conflict, because you will always
have conflict. Peace is not having
everything go your way, because it won't.
Peace is never having any deadlines or pressures. You will have deadlines and pressures.
My life is filled with deadlines, constant appointments, deadlines and
responsibilities.
Definition of peace: "A sense of order
that comes from ordering my life according to God's will."
What's got you uptight this
morning? Your kids, a problem at
work, your finances are going down the toilet, your health isn't very good,
you've got a relationship that's on the verge of splitting up. What's got you uptight today? Does Jesus Christ have anything to say
to you today? Yes, He does.
John 14:1 Jesus says, "Do not let your hearts be
troubled. Trust in God. Trust in Me." The antidote is a person. Jesus Christ is the Prince of
Peace. You will never have ultimate
peace in your life until the Prince of Peace is invited in to become the
resident president of your life.
When the Prince of Peace becomes the president in your life, it flows
out of your lifestyle. And you're
just not at the same level of stress anymore. Trust in God.
Trust in Christ.
Often in the middle of a
storm there is a center that is quiet. While everything else is blowing apart,
there's that quiet center. You can
have that kind of peace. It is
available. But you must do these
five things. First, accept God's
pardon. If you haven't done that,
do it. Don't wait, do it. Open your life to Christ today. Say, "Please come in and forgive
all the things I've done wrong. I
want You to be number one in my life." He wants to make you justified -- just-as-if-I'd never
sinned. Wipe the slate clean and
walk out of here with a clear conscious.
Number two, say "God, I
want to start recognizing Your presence on a day by day, moment by moment
basis. I'm not in this by
myself. You're with me. I want to obey Your principles. I want to get into the Bible. I want to spend some time being quiet
every day. I want to trust Your
plan, when I don't understand and it doesn't make sense. I'm going to quit trying to figure out
why everything is happening and start trusting in You and lean not on my own
understanding. Then I'm going to
ask for Your provision when I have a need instead of panicking I'm going to
pray." And peace of mind will
flood your life.
God makes this optional. You can walk out of here having heard
this and do absolutely nothing about it.
If you're living under stress, it's your choice. God did not mean for you to live that
way. Peace is not a problem-free,
deadline-free, conflict-free life.
Peace is a sense of order in my life when I order my own life according
to God's will. There is freedom
and peace I can have under pressure in spite of stress.
Go in peace. And if the devil comes to try to steal
your peace, stomp and kick him to shreds!
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