New Hope Community Fellowship
Thursday, March 28, 2024
Developing Disciples for Kingdom Deployment

Coronavirus Bible Study Series: July 1, 2020

 

Head Health Part 3

 

THE PLACE OF PEACE,

 

Synopsis of Bible Study July 1, 2020

Delivered by Lee Bynum, MDiv.

Isaiah 54:10 NKJV
For the mountains shall depart And the hills be removed, But My kindness shall not depart from you, Nor shall My covenant of peace be removed,” Says the Lord, who has mercy on you.

 

I. WHAT IS PEACE?

 

§  Peace is the state of being free from disturbance. It’s a state of tranquility. It involves a sense of wholeness and well-being.

§  Peace is not the absence of tension and stress, but instead the revelation of God’s word in the midst of your situation.

§  When you experience God’s peace, remembering God’s word, you have the strength to make it through.

§  The devil is always trying to attack your peace, because when you’re in a place of crisis and you don’t have peace, you end up in panic.

§  Panic is rooted in fear.

 

A.     Peace Is A Relational Term

1.       You must have peace both vertically and horizontally. You can’t have peace with Christ if you don’t have it with everyone else. You can tell people that are at peace with God because they are at peace with others.

 

B.     Peace Is A Communal Term

1.       Peace encompasses the entire body of Christ. Peace is available for everybody, not just a few people.

 

C.     Peace Is A Redemptive Term

1.       Sin is the ultimate disrupter of peace. Show me where there is no peace and we can show you sin in that situation.

Romans 5:1-5 1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; 4 and perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.- When I am justified with God and have peace, my entire existence shows piece.

§  How do you walk through life, through circumstances you can’t control, in a spirit of peace?

 

D.     What Peace Is Not

1.       Because there is work involved, it doesn’t mean peace isn’t present. You can be in the midst of the most extreme situations and still have peace.

 

II. WHY IS PEACE NECESSARY?

 

A.    Staying close to God is the only way you will have strong peace.

1.       Living a peaceful relationship with others can be challenging. Christians should be known and recognized by the fruit of peace.

 

B.     We ought to seek peace.

 

Peter 3:11 Let him turn away from evil and do good; Let him seek peace and pursue it.- When children are on the playground and a fight breaks out, they all run to the fight. When you get older, you run from the fight. You don’t want to be involved with the chaos.

1.       The more you mature in God, the less you run to drama. As you mature in God, you look for peace.

2.      The bible says in Job that a man born of a woman is but of few days and full of trouble. Why then should we add to the trouble that we are already guaranteed?

 

C.      How do we find peace in this world the way it is?

 

1.       You have to know that there is a place called peace. In the Old Testament, God promised to mend that which had been lost in the Fall by reinstituting peace on earth.

A.     Through the Prophet Ezekiel, God made a covenant which promises peace.  Ezekiel 37:26-27 26 Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them, and it shall be an everlasting covenant with them; I will establish them and multiply them, and I will set My sanctuary in their midst forevermore. 27 My tabernacle also shall be with them; indeed I will be their God, and they shall be My people.- God says his covenant of peace is not void of his presence.

B.     You can’t have peace without God’s presence. No God, no peace. Know God, Know Peace.

 

III.  HOW DO YOU COME TO A PLACE OF PEACE IN THE MIDST OF CHAOS?

1.       Pause and Pray

2.      Take some time mentally, to remove yourself from the noise of life, family, friends, and work. “Prayer does not bind us to the world, but it transforms our vision of the world.” -Thomas Merton

A.     In times of high anxiety, take time to pause, before speaking to others.

B.     This pause is not a matter of seconds, but instead a matter of hours.

3.      The more anxious we are, the more time you should set aside to pray.

A.     For some, they find that early in the morning is the best time to pray. This is a time when they can get away from the family and pray in quiet. You have to take the time to pause and pray.

4.      Know that your prayer doesn’t have to be a long and drawn out prayer. It may just be a simple prayer that says “Thank you Lord” or “Lord, speak to my heart”

§  Be the Light

§  You can overcome chaos by simply being the light. Matthew 5:14 You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.

§  “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

§  Be the light both online and in life. Use your social media platform to spread light. Share messages that God has given you. People need to hear good news these days.

§  Make inner peace your highest priority.

§  In the bible, there is a dispute among the Gentiles on whether they should be circumcised or not to have a relationship with Jesus Christ. James stands up and responds to this.

§  Case Study – James
Acts 15: 6-15 6 Now the apostles and elders came together to consider this matter. 7 And when there had been much dispute, Peter rose up and said to them: “Men and brethren, you know that a good while ago God chose among us, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. 8 So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us, 9 and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. 10 Now therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? 11 But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as they.” 12 Then all the multitude kept silent and listened to Barnabas and Paul declaring how many miracles and wonders God had worked through them among the Gentiles. 13 And after they had become silent, James answered, saying, “Men and brethren, listen to me: 14 Simon has declared how God at the first visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name. 15 And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written:

§  James said stop the madness. It’s not worth it! James handled this disagreement in a way that there was peace in the midst of chaos.

§  Do you add fuel to the fire or are you part of the solution?

§  Get to The Source

§  You need to allow God to bandage the wounds caused by chaos.

§  Luke 10:34 So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him.- Man is attacked on Jericho Rd and left for dead. A good Samaritan comes and bandages up his wounds, takes him to an inn, and pays for him to stay. It’s a wonderful revelation how God saw us on the side of the road, bandaged us up, and healed us in a place where we were in crisis. God brought us to a place of healing.

§  When we are in a place of healing, we find time for silence.

§  Find Time for Silence

§  Silence is an important part of communication.

§  The same letters in silence are some of the same letters in listen.

§  Silence puts you into a position to hear from God.

§  We often miss God, because we have too much noise going on.

§  Matthew 5:9-12 9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. 10 Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. 12 Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.- You have to come to the place where you need to be silent.

§  When you are under persecution, know that people can’t quote silence. Old people used to say, hold your peace and let the Lord fight your battles.

 

IV. HOW TO MAINTAIN PEACE

 

1.       Depend Exclusively on God

2.      Your identity should be based on your relationship with Christ. Some people invest too much into people. You can’t let our peace hinge upon how someone treats you. If you do this, you are bound to fail.

3.      Never let anyone be your peace. No person knows everything that you need.

A.     Numbers 6:24-26 24 The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 The Lord make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; 26 The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace. – Only the Lord can truly give you peace. Stop putting people into a position to be other than what God ordained them be.

4.      Walk in Love

5.      Walking in love means that I forgive freely, expecting nothing back.

6.      God will not require you to do anything that He hasn’t empowered you to do.

7.      Unforgiveness will always rob you of peace. This is why you have to walk in love.

A.     Psalm 85:10 Mercy and truth have met together; Righteousness and peace have kissed. – We don’t have to like you to love you. This helps me with my peace.

8.     Renew Your Mind

 

Isaiah 26:3 You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You. – God will keep me in perfect peace. This is not absence of tension and trouble.

 

1.       If tension, trouble, and stress are there, then how does my mind have peace, if my mind is stayed on Thee?

2.      If my mind is elevated above the chaos, stress, and drama in my current situation, its elevating my mind. It’s a place of mental elevation.

3.      If we keep our mind stayed on Him, we won’t be stressed out by all the other stuff we have to confront.

4.      Surrender

5.      You have to kill sin or sin will kill you.

A.     1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. – God will cleanse you and bring you to peace.

 

V. PEACE IN THE WORLD VS. PEACE IN CHRIST

 

1.       Peace in The World

2.      This is peace that comes instantaneously. When you use something else for peace, you have to keep refreshing it when it wears off.

3.      The peace of the world works from the outside in. The peace of God works from the inside out.

4.      You can live in the biggest of houses, but still have no peace.

5.      Peace in Christ

Leviticus 26:6 I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and none will make you afraid; I will rid the land of evil beasts, and the sword will not go through your land.

1.       God says, I am the giver of peace. God says he has you, no matter what is going on around you.

2.      When you have the peace of God, you can lie down.

3.      It is important that you understand what the peace of God looks like.

4.      Settle yourself, peace Is not in stuff, or things that money can buy. It is instead in the things money can’t buy.

I speak peace over your life and your family, over your career. We submit that you are able to walk in peace. I pray that you have peace which is not the absence of tension, but the revelation of God in the midst of it.

Stay Informed.

Stay Safe.

Be Encouraged.