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If you have a look there in Philippians chapter four, verse number seven, Philippians chapter four verse seven, it says and the peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. The title of the sermon tonight is the peace of God and this is the fruit of the spirit part three. Okay we're going through the fruits of the spirit. I'll just quickly read to you from Galatians 5 22. But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, we've gone through that. Now peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, against such there is no law. So we're looking at the fruit of peace tonight. Okay the peace of God is what's important. Now we're going to come back to Philippians chapter four later on in the sermon but I really want you guys to turn right now to John chapter 14 with me please. John chapter 14. Please turn there. Now peace is called the fruit of the spirit for a reason. Okay for a real reason. This is one fruit of the spirit that you just consistently see in the word of God that the only way you can attain this peace from God is through the holy spirit. The only way you can attain it is by walking in the spirit. So we're going to be doing a bit of a Bible study today and we're just going to see the consistency that we see in the scriptures first of all. But John chapter 14 verse 25, John chapter 14 verse 25, Christ speaking about him leaving his disciples and what did he promise is going to, who's going to come when he leaves? That was going to be the holy ghost. It's going to be the holy spirit. Look at verse 25 there, John 14 25. These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you, but the comforter. Who is the comforter? Jesus tells us which is the holy ghost. Now look if the holy ghost is given the title of comforter, what do you think is going to do to our lives? It's going to provide comfort. All right and wouldn't you say if you've been given comfort then you are at peace. Okay you're given the peace of God. Let's keep reading there verse 26, but the comforter which is the holy ghost whom the father will send in my name he shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you. And verse 27 look Jesus says peace I leave with you at my peace I give unto you not as the world giveth give I unto you let not your heart be troubled neither let it be afraid. Now verse 27 is awesome because he tells us the peace that that peace does not come from the world. You know if you're truly seeking peace in life you're not going to find it in this this world in this sinful world no. Okay this sinful world like it says in verse 27 will give you troubles the sinful world will make you afraid and the peace that Jesus Christ wants to give us is going to comfort us in trouble. It's going to alleviate those fears that we go through life in. Okay and he says look I leave you peace. Why is he leaving them peace? Because he's telling them look when I leave the comforter is coming he's going to give you that peace he's going to give you that confidence in my peace I give unto you. Okay and that once again is the comforter if you leave it within the context of what he's been speaking there spoken there. So the peace of Christ is the fact that the Holy Spirit would come indwell our lives and and develop these fruits in the spirit so long as we walk in the spirit. Okay but if we're seeking peace in this world we're going to be left with the troubles with the fears that the world gives us. So I just want to show you there the consistency that we see in the Bible. Turn to John chapter 16 now just two chapters over. John 16 verse 33. John 16 verse 33 and this is again consistent with what we saw in John 14 but it says here these things I have spoken unto you that ye might have peace. Jesus Christ wants us to live lives where we have peace okay peace in him peace in this world but look it says here in the world ye shall have tribulation. Hey you're going to have problems in this world there's going to be persecutions quite often when Christ speaks of tribulations it's not just the troubles of this world but quite often it's the persecution that comes by being someone that's a follower of Christ okay but you say well Jesus you just told us you give us peace you'll you want us to be peaceful now you're guaranteeing us tribulation what in the world hey look we can have peace even in the face of tribulation because look what it says there but be of good cheer I have overcome the world so even if we're going through troubles the struggles of life God wants us to be of good cheer hey that's that's fruit of the spirit number two joy cheer I told you some of these things overlap you cannot have joy in life unless you first have got the peace of God in your life okay you truly can't have joy until you have peace all right so these things a lot of these fruits do come together but Jesus is telling us look even in the face of tribulation you will have tribulation some people think that peace will come if I don't have problems no Jesus says even in the face of problems you can still have the peace of God okay so now go to uh where can I get to turn to next go to Galatians please Galatians chapter 6 go to Galatians chapter 6 for me and I'm going to read to you from Romans 14 17 you guys go to Galatians 6 I'm going to read to you from Romans 14 17 Jesus said for the kingdom of God is not meat and drink pay attention to that the kingdom of God is not meat and drink all right so if you remember when I taught about the kingdom of God how it comes in three phases if it's not meat and drink it's not talk it's not a literal kingdom okay it's not a physical kingdom because we know in the millennium and in the new heavens and the new earth we are going to be eating and drinking and feasting and celebrating with the Lord okay so it's not meat and drink meaning that it's the first phase of that kingdom you know the spiritual kingdom as it were that we enter by salvation okay so the kingdom of God is not meat and drink it's salvation but then it says but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost it says okay the only way you're going to have that peace is in the Holy Ghost the only way someone can have peace is to be saved to have that spiritual kingdom in them but it doesn't just say peace it says but righteousness and that's uh if you look at the fruits of the spirit one of them is goodness that's very similar to righteousness okay and peace that's another fruit and joy it's another fruit in the Holy Ghost I just want to show you how consistent the Bible is the only way you're going to develop these fruits in your life the only way you're going to be that happy joyful person that person with love that person with peace is if you maintain a walk in the spirit maintain a walk in the Holy Ghost you guys are in Galatians 6 look at verse 15 Galatians 6 verse 15 for in Christ Jesus neither circumcision avail of anything nor uncircumcision but a new creature hey look the the uh circumcised represents the Jew the uncircumcised there represents the Gentile but this is talking about the physical flesh it's talking about that old man that we we unfortunately have to deal with okay but notice that in Christ Jesus what's important is the new creature okay that's the new man that's the spirit all right and then look at verse 16 but and as many as walk according to this rule what rule according to what rule according to the rule of the new creature this is just another way of saying walk in the spirit you know walk according to the rule of the new creature but as many as walk according to this rule peace be on them and mercy and upon the Israel of God you see peace can only come by walking in the spirit this is why you know the Bible yeah this is you know it's it's it's just said over and over and over the only way you're going to get this virtue of peace is by being in the spirit and uh just one more verse if you guys can turn to Romans 8 please Romans 8 Romans 8 Romans 8 verse 5 Romans 8 Romans 8 verse 5 for they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh but they that are after the spirit the things of the spirit for to be carnally minded is death but to be spiritually minded look at this is life and peace all right if you seek to walk in the flesh to walk according to the flesh or those that do not have the spirit of God their life will lead them to death you know for the wages of sin is death you know the only thing you can get out of this flesh without salvation without the spirit of God is a sinful life that will lead you to death but God wants us to have life and and a life that is abundance okay and part of that is to have the peace life and peace look at verse seven because the carnal mind is enmity against God hey you know what your flesh your carnal mind is an enemy of God you know it's a war against God it wants you to sin it doesn't want you in church it doesn't want you reading the bible it doesn't want you developing the fruits of the spirit it's an enmity against God and since for it is not subject to the law of God neither indeed can be if you want peace in your life guys it's not going to come walking after the flesh it's not going to be seeking the carnal things of this world it's going to come by walking in the spirit by being led of the spirit you know so please you know that's just a core teaching of the bible you're never going to have peace in the flesh now what i'll get you guys to do please is turn to let's see turn to the book of daniel please daniel chapter 10 i've got a lot of verses obviously a bit of a bible study today got a lot of verses but i won't get to turn to all of them but you guys go to daniel chapter 10 you see when people think about peace what's the opposite of peace a lot of people think and rightly so that the opposite of peace is war okay and we just saw there that the carnal mind is at enmity against God it's at war against God so that's true in a sense okay you know and when people when there are nations at war you know it people are seeking to make peace agreements to bring peace into the world and that's a reality of life but you know you yourself you're not necessarily going to be at war at you know all the time you know necessarily against against the world against the forces of wickedness at all time but peace another opposite of peace is fear is being afraid and if you're someone that is afraid of certain things that means you're missing out on the peace that God wants to give us okay i'm not talking about the fear of God that's righteous we also have a fear of God we have a fear of God that's going to help us overcome the fear of man okay but we also need the peace that comes by fearing God all right so i just want you to notice this well i'll read to you from judges 622 very quickly because quite often in the bible you'll have events when people are faced with an angel of God all right and and what do they feel quite often they're afraid aren't they they're fearful i'll just read to you from judges 622 this is about Gideon it says and when Gideon perceived that he was an angel of the Lord Gideon said alas O Lord God for because i have seen an angel of the Lord face to face and the Lord said unto him peace be unto thee fear not thou shalt not die what's the opposite of fear in that context it's peace God wants to give Gideon peace yes you've seen an angel of the Lord but don't be afraid you know i come here bringing you peace you guys are in daniel chapter 10 verse 18 daniel chapter 10 verse 18 now this is daniel it says then they came again and touched me one like the appearance of a man and he strengthened me this is an angel that daniel saw that had an appearance of a man there in verse 19 and said o man greatly beloved fear not peace be unto thee you see there again the the the comparison between fearing and peace peace be unto thee be strong yea be strong and when he had spoken unto me i was strengthened and said let my Lord speak for thou hast strengthened me you see peace will give you spiritual strength peace will help you overcome fear that you can face in this life and i'll just quickly read to you from john chapter 20 verse 19 and this is when after Christ's resurrection remember when the disciples were gathered together it says in john 2019 then the same day and evening being the first day of the week when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews you see the disciples were gathered together they stayed inside the house because they were afraid of what the Jews would do to them after they had seen they had crucified their Lord God then it says came Jesus and stood in the midst and said unto them peace be unto you see Jesus comes in the in the face of these disciples fear in the Jews he says look i come and bring you peace you don't need to be afraid all right now you see fear this is a a feeling that we all have in our lives we're all going to go through through fears in our lives you know when you're a child you know you might feel the darkness you know my kids quite a few of them don't want to go to sleep with all the lights off we usually leave a light on somewhere in the house you know because you know there's a fear of the darkness usually that's something when they're young and then they grow out of it when they get older you know but you know a child has certain fears and then as adults we have other types of fears you know as men we might fear that we don't have the ability to provide for our own home you know what if our family go without food or and the things that they need you know or maybe we have fears of raising our children you know to to not be not to love the Lord fears that they might go into the world and things like that we all we all you know throughout life you're always going to face different types of fears you know and unfortunately for the unbelieving world they have a fear of death now we shouldn't fear death okay we know we we got we die we're just with the Lord forever we're gonna we're gonna be more alive than we've ever been before you know we don't need to be afraid of that but fear is a part of life fear is something that we're going to go through you see fear stops you from accomplishing things that otherwise you know you would be able to do you know a lot of people don't go soul winning for example because they have a fear of what you know you know what people will do at the door i'll give you you know one quick example uh you know one of the men that's in my church in sydney he was attending another church and the pastor he was writing the gospel he was solid on it but he never did any door to door soul winning you know and and this man was trying to get his pastor to go out there and he told me the pastor was afraid it was like saying but don't people attack you don't people yell at you don't they tell you it's like yeah sometimes but you see this pastor you know this is supposed to supposed to be a leader in his church was too afraid you know fear was stopping him from going out and preaching the gospel which is the first works you know one of the basic things and and um you know sometimes it might not be the fear of rejection but it might be the fear of not being able to answer questions well one of the first things that prevented me from going out soul winning you know in my christian life was afraid that i'll be asked questions that i don't know of you know i was like man i've got to make sure i give i can give an answer to the atheists i've got to make sure i can give an answer to the muslims i've got to make sure i can give an answer to the roman catholics and etc etc etc and you start thinking i've got to have all this knowledge before i go out there in case i get asked the question and you know there was a fear of that fear of not having an answer and that stopped me from going soul winning earlier in my life you know only to find that was a fear that wasn't grounded in anything you barely get those kinds of questions that come your way and you know what when those questions come you learn at the door you know you love this question came you do your research next time you're better prepared so what you're there to preach the gospel you know the gospel you can go out there preach it they ask you a question you don't know say well look how about we tackle that question afterwards let me finish the presentation of the gospel and then usually you won't even get to that question anyway right if you can get through the gospel but you know fear will stop you achieving things that god wants you to do there's the fear of failure i'll just quickly read to you from proverbs 24 16 it says for a just man what's a just man a righteous man someone that's in the lord someone that's walking in the lord for a just man fall off seven times and rise up up again but the wicked shall fall into mischief hey look we shouldn't be afraid of failure okay if we have no fear if we're seeking to serve the lord we may fail sometimes we may fall a few times okay but the just man gets up again seven times okay failing once is not going to get you down you're going to just get back up again and continue on okay but that that you need you know the fear to be removed in order for you to be able to do that okay we shouldn't fear failure you know if we fail we just need to make sure we get you know why should we should fear is that when we fail we don't get up again that's that's what the wicked do you know the wicked shall fall into mischief and they won't get out of that but the righteous man the just man will get back up again when he fails all right now i'll get you guys to turn to philippians 4 please philippians chapter 4 where we where we started reading from philippians chapter 4 you say pastor kevin yep i understand now i know what the source of peace is you know it's in christ it's in god it's a fruit of the spirit if i walk in the spirit then i know you know that that uh that fruit is available to me peace but how do i get it you know how do i get that piece i know where it's i know where the source is but how do i get it well it's covered here in philippians chapter 4 philippians chapter 4 verse 6 philippians chapter 4 verse 6 and actually before i read verse 6 i'll just read to you um the end of verse 5 there it says the lord is at hand the lord is at hand what does that mean i've heard pre-tribulation teachers say well this proves a pre-tribulation rapture the lord is at hand you can come at any moment no no that's not what it's about keep it within the context the lord is at hand meaning he's close why you know if you need the lord he's available to you he's close he's not far you know if you need him he's close he's at hand you can reach out and touch him as it were but look he's at hand why verse 6 be careful now when the context of careful here is to be full of care full of worries full of fears so let's have a look at it with that mindset it says um be careful for nothing hey don't be full of care don't be full of fear all right be careful for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto god how do you overcome a life full of cares and and fears you go to the lord in prayer just a very basic truth you take your supplications you you you bring your needs before the lord but you go with thanksgiving as well for the things that god has given you remind yourself how god has blessed you you know the great gifts that is given you take those things to god in prayer that's how you overcome fear that's how you overcome the cares of life is you go to god and you leave it in god's hands let's keep reading there in verse number seven look at this so once you've taken your prayer request to god and leave them there please leave them with god i've said it before and i make the same mistake i pray to god about it and then i pick him back up again and i put him back on me and i'm still worried i'm still carrying out full of care no that's the wrong way you you take it to the lord you leave it you know for god to take care of for you look and then verse number seven and the peace of god that's what we want we want the peace of god and the peace of god which passeth all understanding shall keep it's like god you know to protect shall keep your hearts and minds through christ jesus what a promise and if we take our cares our worries to the lord that he will give us his peace okay this is how you know that you've left your worries and your cares with the lord when you finish praying do you have peace and if we're honest say sometimes no i take it to the lord and i'm still worried i'm still concerned then you you haven't received the peace of god meaning you've not left those worries and concerns in the lord's hands but there's been other times you know and usually these are the times i remember the most is when i'm worried you know i may have even you know shed tears for some concern or something and then i take it to the lord and i and now i feel like this huge burdens of my back like it's in god's hands god's in control he's going to take care of it and that's when you have the peace of god you realize god knows he's got in his controllers you know that's the peace of god that you need to be searching for now make sure when you pray you leave it in god's hands and you receive the peace that only god can give but you know what we need to maintain that peace once we have it we need to make sure we maintain that peace in our lives and let's keep reading there verse number eight this is so important okay so important to find peace in your life it says finally brethren whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things are lovely whatsoever things are of good report if there be any virtue and if there be any praise think on these things hey don't don't think on don't be full of cares don't be full of worries don't keep thinking about how wicked and how evil and this how this world is you know there's a reason why i don't turn on the news okay i don't care anymore because you turn on the news and all you see is the crimes and the and just how bad people are the murders the rapes the kidnappings the disasters you know and when you're watching the news day in day out for half an hour whatever you do you know you're bringing on the fears of the world but look god says the things that are just pure true lovely good report think on these things you know it's good to go out and and enjoy the nature that god has created you know we've got some beautiful beaches here we have some beautiful rainforest you know just just go out and see the things that are lovely it's going to give you peace you know there was a time in my life when i was really into conspiracy theories you know and i still kind of am a little bit but you know back then i'd look and i really want to know you know it'd be like this rabbit hole that you'd go down and and you'd see the wickedness of this world and it was really interesting like you know you do that it's really interesting to see just how wicked this world is and it shouldn't surprise us because god tells us you know you know that that there are conspiracies in this world but what i found when i when i dug in too deep when i went when when mentally i was just thinking on the wickedness of this world i realized i was losing the peace of god you know it was taking up my mind i started to get depressed and i used to get i got you know anxious and and uh you know worried you know am i being you know spied on you know uh people maybe maybe i am but who cares you know christ said here over he's overcome the world okay there's going to be tribulation yes but god wants us to have peace even knowing we ought to we already know the world is wicked we already know that satan is the prince of this world as it were okay so we don't we don't need to spend all our day all our time looking at the wickedness of this world and you know just be aware of it it's good but seek the things that are good and lovely fuel your mind these things that's how you're going to have the peace of god let's keep reading there in verse number nine those things which you have both learned and received and heard and seen me do and the god of peace shall be with you okay so how do we have how do we attain peace our cares and worries in prayer we leave it in god's hands we have the peace of god now what do we do we think on things that are lovely things that are true the things that are righteous we think of the things of god you know and uh that will maintain you know the fellowship with god who's the god of peace in you that's how you're gonna have a peaceful life okay turn to uh let's have a look turn to ephesians chapter 2 please ephesians chapter 2 how else can we have peace you guys turn to ephesians 2 which is not really at this point that i'm looking at here but how else can we have peace you you know in my experience believers christians we don't pray generally speaking we don't pray for our government we don't pray for our politicians generally speaking you know because we don't like them we don't really want to pray for them you know because especially you know when we see them bringing in laws that are contrary to the word of god you know if anything maybe you're praying for the destruction i mean maybe that's how far you go okay but look i'll just read to you from first timothy chapter 2 verse 1 it says i exhort therefore that first of all supplications prayers intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men for kings for all and for all that are in authority say no way i don't want to pray for them says that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty you want peace god says pray for the authorities pray for the kings pray for the politicians pray for the government all right say what are we praying for we're praying for peace is what we're praying for okay well what i mean by that is we're not praying for their peace we're not praying that they succeed and have a great political career no we're praying that they would maintain you know religious freedom in this earth in this nation so we can continue coming to church we can continue reading our bibles we can continue going out door to door preaching the gospel you know that the things that god commands of us would not become unlawful would not become crimes because here's the thing where if the government made the commands of god unlawful let's say it was a crime to go soul winning do we listen to the government or do we listen to the lord we've got to listen to the lord don't we but if we listen to the lord you know you're going to face persecution in that environment you know and you might be arrested you know you that might all happen and so you you lose the peace that you have in this nation hey you want to maintain religious freedoms you know to serve the lord we ought to be praying that these politicians would have a fear of god okay when they pass laws it would not be contrary to the laws of god you know so we can serve him in righteousness so please keep that in mind we've got to pray for our politicians okay and it's not how you think of it but that we would be able to live peaceful lives serving the lord now you guys are in effusions 214 let's talk about jesus and one of his names one of his titles is the prince of peace isn't it the prince of peace jesus christ came and brought peace in effusions 214 speaking about the differences between the old testament jews you know israel of the old testament and the gentiles the he the nations whose god was not the god of israel we'll just pick it up from verse 14 it says for he speaking of jesus for he is our peace who have made both one and have broken down the middle wall of partition between us hey we can be numbered amongst the old testament saints amongst abraham isaac you know moses and king david all the great men of god that middle wall partition has been broken because christ has come and brought peace between the jews and the gentiles in christ in christ all right 15 verse 15 having abolished his flesh the enmity even the law of commandments contained in the ordinances ordinances for to make in himself of twain one new man look so making peace okay you want to make you want to have peace between you know israel and the gentiles it's only found in one new man okay in christ jesus as it were all right in in that one body of christ now this is what frustrates me about my fellow brethren my fellow independent baptists that believe in dispensationalism to the point where they say the jews are some other group of people of the lord okay you know and they're trying to to uh love the jews as it were you know to to heighten their standard in the world you know thinking they're doing a righteous thing but what they're doing is breaking or or re recreate and rebuilding that middle war partition say well god has two peoples why when christ has taken down that wall and he's brought peace so making peace by doing that meaning when you build that war wall up again and you say there are two peoples of god what are you doing you're removing the peace that christ has brought in you're bringing in enmity you're making enemies you know because of your racist remarks and yes it is racism when you favor one nation or one people above another okay verse 16 ephesians 2 16 and that he might reconcile both unto god in one body by the cross having slain the enmity thereby and came and preached peace to you which were far off and to them that were nigh for through him we both have access by one spirit unto the father now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners but fellow citizens i love it we're the saints and of the household of god hey we're fellow citizens with the old testament saints with every believer of every nation you know god came and brought jesus christ came and brought peace between the jews and the gentiles okay and it can only be found in christ jesus that's where the peace is found all right now i'll get you guys to turn to let's have a look turn to colossians chapter 1 please colossians chapter 1 colossians chapter 1 and uh this isn't i i've made it a separate point but it's kind of the same point okay but god obviously jesus christ came and brought peace between god and man between god and man what an amazing thing because we already saw that the carnal mind we really saw that the flesh is that enmity against god is that war against god okay and um let's uh you guys turn to colossians one and i'm just going to read to you from romans 10 15 it's a familiar passage to many of you it says and how shall they preach except they be sent as it is written how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things it's a beautiful thing that the gospel we preach is known also as the gospel of peace and the reason why it's known as the gospel of peace is because it brings peace between god and man okay you believe the gospel you now have peace with god you find peace with god you guys are in colossians 1 look at verse 19 for he pleased the father that in him in jesus should all fullness dwell and having made peace how through the blood of his cross so you know it's just the amazing thought just you know thinking of christ on the cross the torture the shedding of blood that he went through the pain and suffering that he went through but he does that for peace you know something so vile something you know i probably wouldn't even be able to look and see a man crucified on the cross now let alone jesus who was whipped and the crown of thorns and all that you know but it was for the peace it says by him in verse 20 by him to reconcile all things unto himself by him i say whether they they be things in earth or things in heaven and you that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works yet now have you reconciled hey we were enemies of god and he's reconciled us through his blood verse 22 in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sights wow what a peace that god has given us that we would be wholly unblameable unreproveable faultless as it were to stand before god in the righteousness of christ so christ has come and brought peace between god and man and i do want to finish up on on a on one key thought here though please turn to james chapter three james chapter three because i think we all want peace you know we all want life that we're without fear we're without you know hardships and and and fightings and warfares so but just like anything with the fruits of the spirit like when we spoke about love that's not to say we shouldn't have hatred all right and just when we spoke about joy you know it's not to say that you know we should rejoice in the things of this world or rejoice in things that are sinful there's always something to go with these fruits that you need to also have into consideration because one thing you need to understand is that we shouldn't strive for peace at all costs okay we shouldn't strive for peace at all costs okay let me let's look at this in james chapter three verse 14 james chapter three verse 14 now we'll start off here but it says but if you have bitter envy and strife in your heart so if you have bitter envy and strife you're obviously lacking peace right you're lacking the peace of god there it says glory not and lie not against the truth this wisdom descendeth not from above but is earthly sensual devilish okay but look at this for where envy and strife is there is confusion in every evil work actually it's verse 17 here it says but the wisdom that is from above is first pure look at this pay attention to these words please but the wisdom that is from above god's wisdom is first pure then peaceable there is something that is more important that's a higher priority in god's eyes than peace what is that purity things that are pure okay the righteousness of the truth of the word of god the pure words of god come first before peace okay i'll read i'll read the rest of you later but i just want to explain this to you okay because a lot of pastors a lot of churches in the effort to find peace amongst all men will not preach certain passages in the bible okay because they know if i preach this if i even read this it's going to cause people to leave my church it's going to cause people to have arguments it's going to cause people to be confused or whatever okay but no something more important than finding peace amongst men is that we have the purity that comes from the wisdom above okay purity righteousness that what is true must come first first pure then peaceable all right so let's take you know the homosexuals all right a good example of that all right so if i you know a lot of pastors they want to have peace amongst the members they want to allow the homeless to come into the church they're just going to hide the truth they're not going to preach what's pure what's true and what's right okay but no god says what's pure must come first you preach what you must preach okay if that causes division so be it if it causes problems so be it pureness purity has a higher priority in god's eyes than peace so teach what's pure teach the whole counsel of god then worry about the peace all right find peace afterwards but don't neglect what's pure and what's true okay so always these things these truths of the spirit must always be put in the right areas of life okay and we see here in this verse here in verse 17 we'll keep reading but the wisdom that is from above is first pure then peaceable gentle and easy to be entreated full of mercy and good fruits without partiality without hypocrisy and the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace so we have another sort of a another kind of list of the fruits of the spirit there okay but what's pure what's right must come first okay it's not peace at all costs okay not at the cost of purity okay you know another example maybe just uh you know day-to-day example you know you might have mates that are unsaved work colleagues that are unsaved you know they might tell the dirty joke or whatever or they might invite you out for a you know to the bar you know to have have some alcohol with them or something to have a beer you know and you might say you know what to find peace with these people i'm just gonna laugh at their dirty jokes i'm just gonna go to the bar i won't even drink i'll just i'll just go there you know i'll find peace with these people no first purity please okay keep yourself pure first if that means there's no peace then so be it you know you have the right priorities in place you know so yeah please just have that as your mindset you know when i'm finding peace am i first being pure am i being true to the word of god first and this is why jesus says in matthew 1034 he says think not that i am come to send peace on earth i am come not to send peace but a sword right because what's pure and what's right will cause divisions and the context of that is even divisions within your own family okay when you stand for the truth of god's word it's going to cause problems you know you tell people in your own family show them passages of the death penalty you show them passages about the reprobate you show them passages where god darkens the hearts heart of the hearts of people and blinds the eyes of people that they cannot believe you know they cannot receive it because they're trying to find peace with everybody but no what what's pure must come first okay don't neglect the word of god just to find peace even in your own family let's uh let's turn to genesis 15 please genesis 15 i'm near the end now guys but i just want to show you the first mention of the word peace in the bible i think it's relevant the first mention here it's in genesis 15 verse 13 like many things that are first mentioned i found in the book of genesis this is god prophesying about abraham always telling abraham about his future as it were but in genesis 15 verse 13 it says genesis 15 13 and he said unto abram no vashurati that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs and shall serve them and they shall flick them 400 years god prophesized about their that israel the children of israel will be taken in bondage in egypt and then it says in verse 14 and also that nation whom they shall serve will i judge and afterwards shall they come out with great substance but look it says and thou shall go to thy fathers in peace but thou shall be buried in a good old age and you know what one of the things i think we all kind of want in life is to get to our old age to get to the time we know we're going to pass on and we pass on with peace you know and part of that is knowing where we're going of course you know i mean i've heard stories of people that have seen their loved ones die they've seen literally the ghost leave the body as it were not physically you know but you know they've seen that point of death and those that are without christ those that don't know eternity a lot of the stories i hear is that there's a fear in them there's a fear in their eyes you know i've even heard stories and i don't know if these are true but there's so many of them where people start screaming in fear it's almost like they're ready they're already there they're really looking at hell and they know where their eternal destination is you know because they're missing out on the peace that comes from god now i want to get to the end of life and have peace not just peace of where i'm going i know that i have that peace already that peace that i've lived my life for the lord that i've served him faithfully you know that i'm going to when i stand before god is not going to deny me you know he's going to to praise me thou good and faithful servant that's what i want to see in my life and we see god you know tells abraham here yeah you can have peace into your last days into your old age you're going to have that peace you know and uh peace at death i think that's something we all kind of really want to strive for and i'll just read to you from psalm 37 37 it says mark that perfect man doesn't mean to be perfect it needs to be righteous made whole someone that is saved and says and behold the upright for the end of that man is peace hey we should be people that even in the face of tribulation maybe even at the point of of uh of death as it were you know we should be people that are known to go into eternity with peace okay the peace that comes from god please turn to first peter chapter three first peter chapter three i want to finish on this first peter chapter three verse eight first peter chapter three verse eight i think it's a good passage to end on it says first peter chapter three verse eight says finally be ye all of one mind having compassion one of another love as brethren be pitiful be courteous not rendering evil for evil or railing for railing but contrarized blessing knowing that you're caught there unto cord that you should inherit a blessing hey we should strive to have peace amongst the church be of one mind have the mind of christ you know if someone rails against you don't render rail for railing evil for evil you know seek to be have peace in the church verse number 10 for he that will love life and see good days let him refrain his tongue from evil and his lips that they speak no guile let him eschew evil and do good let him seek peace and ensure okay seek peace and ensue it now that word ensure if you're not that familiar with it's it's very similar to the word pursue okay when you pursue something what are you doing you're chasing after it okay you're chasing after that thing but usually when you talk about pursuing something usually you're chasing after it uh for a harmful reason usually when you're pursuing something you know when the police is pursuing you it's because they want to uh you know give you that ticket or whatever it is right something something that's harmful but the word ensue and sewer is to follow after you know to attain you know seek to attain seek to hold on to this thing verse number 11 let's look at it again let him assure evil hey get away from the harm you know cast it away do good let him seek peace god wants us to seek the peace the fruit of the spirit that comes by walking after him and ensure he wants us to take it hold on to it follow after it this is a key thing in our lives you know that god seeks for us to do but again brethren just one more time you're not going to find peace in the pleasures of this world it's not there okay all this world's going to give you our troubles it's always going to give you your fears if you've got fears in your life right now you know you can overcome those fears you can have the peace of god you know if you walk in the spirit and you ask this god to please you know take those things take those thoughts please you know look after those fears that i have you know uh just right now we're looking for a house you guys know we're looking for a larger house for our family there's a few available but we put our offer in i think i give a good offer i give i put in more than they ask you know i sell paving three months in advance you know and then as soon as they see the 10 kids as soon as they hear about it it's like your application has been rejected all right and sometimes you look at a house and we've gone with christina we looked at some and we set our hearts on it's like oh man this would be so cool you know and then when you get rejected it's like a crush it's like oh man you know but you know what it even through this process and this isn't a big issue but there's peace you know i know the lord's going to provide for us you know and the reason for that you know when i moved up here to start this church in queensland if you guys remember we got our house a week before the church started a week before the church started you know i mean i could have been afraid i could have been fearful say god where am i going to rest my head you know what's going to happen are we going to move ready got everything organized everything's packed where are we going to go lord but for some reason during the you know we had a peace we just knew that god was going to sort it out because i knew god wanted me here i knew god wanted this church to exist you know so i knew if he's going to you know if this is a work that god wants then he's going to provide that house it's going to work out now i don't know if we'll ever get the house that we're looking for right now the bigger house nevertheless we have the one we've got if that's what we're left with we have peace in our family you know we're comfortable we have the peace of god but if god has something else in mind for us then so be it that's what it means to be at peace you know even when you can't attain the things that you're trying to attain you just know that god's in charge god's taking care of her you know i don't have to worry about it i'll focus on the things that are lovely the things that are true you know i'll focus on those things i'll let god deal with that with the trials in life because he's already overcome the world all right let's pray