Peace in Storms

good morning and welcome to insights

with pastor john today i want to talk

about something that's very important to

every every christian right now we're

we're dealing with wars and rumors of

war and uh uncertainty

but

jesus said that he gave us peace and

that his peace

uh surpasses all understanding

and we're when you're dealing with this

as a christian you can get overwhelmed

with everything that's going on in the

world

uh with countries fighting each other

with trying to obliterate each other and

how it affects life from day to day but

if we go back into 1 thessalonians

chapter 5 and we approach this with what

should my response to what's going on in

the world be

uh

to

establish peace in my life in every

storm and so listen to what paul says

this starts in chap this is in chapter 5

it starts in verse 14 listen to what he

says he says "now we exhort you brethren

warn them that are unruly comfort the

feeble-minded support the weak be

patient toward all men see that none

render evil for evil unto any man but

ever follow that which is good both

among yourselves and to all men." now

he's telling you how to approach what's

going on in the world now he's going to

tell you how to establish peace in your

life in the everyday things that we need

to do and it's really really important

really important that we understand how

to establish peace for ourselves in

life's storms and listen to what he says

verse 16 the first thing he says is to

rejoice ever more

sometimes it's really hard to to to

rejoice when we're in the middle of the

storm but if we do that

we're in a place where god's spirit

begins to flow and brings peace to us in

that situation the next thing he says is

to pray without ceasing

that means keeping your mind focused on

what god's given you to do we all have

tasks that god has assigned us and to do

those effectively we have to pray

without ceasing in other words we have

to meditate on god's word we have to be

continually thinking about the things

that god is bringing to us we have to be

willing to hear what god has to say

in verse 18 he says "in everything give

thanks for this is the will of god in

christ jesus concerning you." it's hard

to be thankful when uh you're facing

every day's challenges uh it's hard to

be thankful when you are trying to

figure out how to pay all your bills uh

but in that

times no matter how bad things may be

you could have one bad thing going on

but you've got 10 good things going on

so you need to focus on those things

that are good and when you do that you

can be thankful in everything give

thanks for this is the will of god in

christ jesus concerning you god only

wants the best for you but to get that

you have to be able to be thankful in

every situation in romans 8:28

he says "all things work together for

good to them that love the lord and are

the called according to his purposes."

you're the called of god

so no matter how bad or bleak it may

look god intends to work it out in your

favor so when you begin to approach life

from that point of view you have an

opportunity to do things that other

people can't because you know already

that god is going to do amazing things

for you

he says "quench not the spirit." in

other words when the spirit is beginning

to flow and you can feel god's presence

don't stop that presence from flowing

he says "despise not prophesying." god

is always willing to speak to his people

if you as a person are willing to let

him speak and he will speak through you

to other people to encourage them and

bolden them to give them hope

he says "prove all things and hold fast

that which is good

abstain from all appearance of evil if

you're a christian you shouldn't look

like the world you shouldn't talk like

the world you shouldn't walk like the

world you should be doing the things

that god says for you to do so in

everything give thanks

and he says "and the very god of peace

sanctify you holy

and i pray god your whole spirit and

soul and body be preserved blameless

unto the coming of the lord jesus christ

he he wants you to have peace he wants

to sanctify you he and that means to be

set aside for service he wants to use

you to reach other people with his

message it's not my message it's not

your message it's his message and his

message is i came to give life and to

give it more abundantly that's his

message and if we're thankful in

everything if we're understand that all

things good or bad work for our for our

benefit then we can move into this place

of victory and overcoming the world that

most people never get to because they

have forgotten how to be thankful

he says "faithful is he that calleth you

who also will do it." what god's told

you he intends to complete

it's important for you to trust him even

when you can't see the answer that he

already has the answer and that he's

going to do for you what exactly what he

said he would do now it's going to be

tough you're going to have to take a

stand you're going to have to believe

god more than the situation

and if you can do that god can turn any

situation for your good

so i want you to keep that in mind we

face lots of things we face a lot of bad

in this world the world is an evil place

but we're not of this world we're just

pilgrims here we're passing through and

so if you can focus in on the things

that god says about you about himself

the fact that he said "i will never

leave you or forsake you." no matter how

bad the situation is god is with you and

if god is with you who can be against

you if god is for you who can be against

you take this time

and focus in on what god says about you

and allow god's

spirit and god's word to become the very

center part of your being and you will

find peace that surpasses all

understanding you're going to find

yourself in a place where you look at

situations differently and you know

people are going to look at you

differently because you're not tossed

around by the things that are going on

in this world you are firmly anchored in

christ and because of that you're able

to give thanks to god in everything this

last weekend was very uh very uh could

have been a very frightening weekend but

look what came out of it a ceasefire in

the middle east

um people that were just totally and

completely afraid of what's going to

happen next and now there's peace now

i'm not saying that uh this peace that's

is that has been established going to

last forever because the bible says it's

not going to but what we can look at

this and the way we should look at this

is god is orchestrating

things in our favor what he's done is

he's given us space to reach more people

um and that's our number one goal our

number one goal in life as a christian

as a believer is to reach as many people

with the gospel of jesus christ to get

them to become part of his kingdom to

disciple them and have them go do more

that's our job that's the sum total of

what we're supposed to do we are

supposed to teach people and train them

up in the ways of the lord we're

supposed to as parents to train our

children up in the lord so that uh they

become members of god's kingdom they

become citizens of the kingdom and that

kingdom is what they're trying to share

uh it doesn't matter what you do or

where you go or how you say it if you're

telling them about jesus if you're

showing them by your life because your

testimony is what draws people in

it's the things they see that you're

saying and doing that creates a way for

the holy spirit to bring conviction to

people and to help them understand that

with him all things are possible every

impossible situation you're facing can

be overcome by being thankful uh i had a

gentleman i knew that was he was uh he

had been diagnosed with cancer

and it brought fear cancer will bring

fear if you allow it to but in the

middle of all of it he said

"i need to tell people about the

goodness of god." and yet he was

diagnosed with cancer

but he's saying "i need to tell people

about the goodness of god." that is how

you're thankful in everything

and i want to encourage you to focus on

that look for things in life that you

can be thankful for and let people see

that thankfulness flowing in you in such

a way that when people look at you say

"i don't know how you do this i don't

know how you can be so calm in such a a

a a storm of life yet here you are

you're calm you're you're you have words

of encouragement for people uh you're

able to share with them love and

compassion and god's grace how do you do

that because i've learned

to be thankful in everything give thanks

for this is the will of god in christ

jesus concerning you so i want to

encourage you this coming week learn

look for things to be thankful for focus

in on the good stuff and when you see

the bad stuff remember

all things work together for good to

them that love the lord and are the

called according to his purposes and if

you can do that you can be thankful in

everything and therefore fulfill god's

word in your own life let's pray thank

you lord for today thank you for your

word we ask lord that you help us to

apply these principles