Better Together

The Promised Prince of Peace - Episode 1124

December 18, 2025 | S7 E1124 | 52:34

The key to living in supernatural peace and rest is not the absence of anxiety and grief. Everything we need is found in a Savior who loves us to life and empowers us to experience Heaven on Earth. | TBN Prayer Line: 714-731-1000

#Christmas #Jesus #PromisesofGod #Peace #Adoption #Depression #Faith #Bible #Anxiety #Hope #Loneliness #Surrender #Mother #LoveofGod #LaurieCrouch #CeCeWinans #SheilaWalsh #LisaHarper #KalleyHeiligenthal

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Better Together | The Promised Prince of Peace - Episode 1124 | December 18, 2025

Today you can encounter jesus, the prince of peace. in a world
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That competes for power and position,
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Our savior brings shalom, peace, and wholeness that's not
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Of this world.
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Come on, let's talk about that.
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♪♪
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As we come to talk about one
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Of my favorite things about jesus,
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About this season and every season of life,
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Is the promise of peace.
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Yes.
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He is the prince of peace. yes.
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And to me, that's just one of the greatest benefits
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In knowing him.
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And his peace is not
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Determined on your circumstances.
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Right. you know, i remember, and i'm sure we all remember
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Certain things that happened in life where we were.
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You know, i was thinking about 9/11, you know, where i
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Was when that happened.
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And i was actually-- i had just landed in, uh, chicago,
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And the pilot announced, well, the trade centers have been hit,
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And we had just landed.
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And i was like, the trade centers were just hit?
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And then he came back-- and this is the thing that just got me.
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He said, and i they're saying it was intentional.
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And you just heard the whole plane said, ooh.
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And i said, what?
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And so at that time, they thought maybe they would come
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And hit the sears tower. right.
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And i was landing there for a rehearsal for a tour
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We were going on.
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But the peace of god
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It flooded my heart to the place of, you know, i don't
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Know what's going on--
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And this is the beauty of the peace of god.
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I don't know what's going on, but god, you do.
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That's right. that's right.
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You know what i'm saying?
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And at this time, there's
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There's nothing i can do about it.
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But when you know the prince of peace--
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Yeah. then you can rest in the midst of turmoil.
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Yeah. and that's the only thing you can do.
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And again, the pandemic, i think we all remember where we
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Were when the pandemic broke out, you know, and a lot of
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People would ask me, what are you going to do?
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What are you going to do? what are you going to do?
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What are we going to do?
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And it's just like, well, we don't know what's going on.
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We don't know when this
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Started, when it's going to end.
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But let's just do what we know to do, you know?
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And you just got to trust god. yeah.
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You got to trust god with your past.
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You got to trust him with your your present.
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You got to trust him with your future.
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And so i just love that name.
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I love that name,
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The prince of peace and how jesus, he revolutionized things
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Totally different.
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He was a totally different king
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Than what they thought he would be.
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It was an upside down kingdom, you know, and i love that
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About him because
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His response is consistent.
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But it's always totally different from ours.
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You know, his plans are different.
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How he handles things are different.
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But he is the prince of peace
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And everything he does is intentional.
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The plans of god,
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It doesn't line up with ours,
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But it's always right, you know?
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And that's one of the beautiful things to me about serving god
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Is that i can rest in knowing
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That nothing takes him by surprise.
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And it takes me a minute.
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You know, it takes-- i think it takes us all a minute.
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But if you're hit with something, your first response
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Is kind of out of your flesh, you know?
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And it's like, okay, what's going to happen, you know, but
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But then the next response, it's going to be, okay.
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You know, a lot of times our world is rocked either by
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Something that's happened to us or by something we've done.
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But jesus promises, the bible says that if we keep our minds
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Stayed on him, he will keep us in perfect peace.
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And so when i find myself in
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That place, it might take a moment.
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Your legs may be shaking for a minute, but then that's when
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You just surrender and just say, god, you've got this.
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I trust in you.
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Your will be done.
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And just start thinking about the goodness of god and how
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Much control he actually has over your life,
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And surrender to him.
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He will keep you in--
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He'll keep you in perfect peace.
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That means you're all right
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All the way around.
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Perfect peace.
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It's a promise from god for you.
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But isaiah 9:6-7 says...
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He can look what's happening on
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The news and god is not nervous.
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I tell people everywhere i go,
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God's not nervous.
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He's not sitting back saying, oh, what happened?
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How did that happen?
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How are we going to get out of it?
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No, no, no.
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He knows the end from the beginning.
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And that's why we have to keep our eyes on him.
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But it says it'll never end.
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He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his
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Ancestor david for all eternity.
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The lord, passionate commitment of the lord of
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Heaven's armies will make this happen.
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Yes, i love it.
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I love it, i love it, i love it.
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And then luke 1:79 says...
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And a lot of times-- and i love the word where it says the word
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Of god is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.
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If you need peace today, you got to go to the word.
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Yeah, right.
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The word of god will show you the way.
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But if you can hold on to that peace, because most of the time
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You just got to breathe.
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Think on who he is.
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Think about what he's already done.
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Think about his character and then, you know,
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Everything's going to be okay.
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I love what you're saying.
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It's the character of god.
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It's the character.
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He can't not be peace because that's who he is.
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That's his character.
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Yes. have you ever found yourself something major
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Happens in your life, and you wake up and you think, okay,
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What am i supposed to be upset about right now?
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I know there's something. mhm.
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And then you think about it and you think,
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Man, i cannot get riled up about that.
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Just there is a, there's a
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Peace that passes your understanding,
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A peace that i don't get.
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I shouldn't be like this.
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I should-- i should be feeling more.
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I should be overreacting, i should be-- but you don't
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Because you've your your solid rock is christ.
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And i'm grounded and i'm rooted
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In god, and god is peace, right?
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Righteousness, peace and joy is the kingdom of heaven.
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That's it.
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And that's where we live.
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That's where we abide, is in the kingdom of god.
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And that's what we experience,
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That righteousness, that peace and that joy.
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Yeah, yeah. joy unspeakable. joy--
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Peace that passes understanding because we're the righteousness
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Of god in christ. yeah.
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We can model jesus's peace in the midst of chaos by being
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Just like him.
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When we read the gospels, when we read about jesus, he
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Spoke peace to the storm.
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And i think we all have the ability to be the peacemaker.
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The bible says blessed are the peacemakers.
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So in the midst of chaos, make sure that you
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Bring, um, the calm, you bring the solution.
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And most of the time that's just being humble, that's
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Bringing forgiveness to the party, that's bringing love to
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The situation and being able to
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See people the way jesus sees them.
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And really, i believe when we carry the prince of peace
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And we do as believers, that when we walk into any
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Situation, we change the atmosphere.
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One of the things that really helps me practically, when
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Covid hit, for the first few weeks, i quite liked it because
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I was used to having-- we were all together.
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Well, yeah, i was used to having like traveling on
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Weekends and things, and suddenly i could stay in my
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Jammies all day, you know, and
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Watch the great british baking show.
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But then after a while, i found myself kind of spiraling a
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Little bit again and kind of felt like i was falling into
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Kind of a bit of a depression and not sure what to do.
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And one of my dearest friends, a gentleman called doctor david
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Jeremiah, and he had sent me a little book, a little leather
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Book in the mail with this instruction.
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Um, and he said, sheila, every day when you get up, i want you
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To read three psalms out loud.
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Um, because it's good for your
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Ears to hear what your eyes are reading.
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And then i found this quote by, i think it was athanasius
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In the fourth century where he said, whereas most scripture
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Speaks to us, the psalms speak for us.
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For us.
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To give us a language of prayer.
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And honestly, it made a huge difference.
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I still do it to this day.
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I read the psalms out loud
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Because it's the living word of god.
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And then no matter what is going on, this remains.
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And this remains.
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That is a very practical way that i experience the
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Peace of the lord.
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Yeah. it's beautiful.
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I used to think
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Peace is good, but kind of like
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A consolation prize a little bit.
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You know what i'm saying?
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Like, it's not like,
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It's not like one of the loud ones.
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The exciting ones. power or--
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You know what i'm saying?
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Like, joy is like--
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Yeah, like peace.
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Like. oh, that's nice.
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Just a contented, quiet line
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Smile, you know, hands folded in your lap.
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I just didn't probably have an appreciation for what it was.
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So we named one of our kids,
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And one of the names meant peace.
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And it actually confronted that belief system in me where i'm
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Like, peace.
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Like, i know that's sweet, but can't we do something a little
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Bit more mighty, a little more powerful, rousing, you know.
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For declaration.
00:10:53.498 --> 00:10:54.933
Yeah. yeah, exactly.
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Um. and the lord goes, no, it's not, it's not peace like that.
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Like everything is just calm and serene and glowy.
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He's like, i'm talking peace.
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Like, after all you've ever known is war.
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That's right.
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All you've ever known is shut down,
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Locked up in terror and fear.
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There's no reality apart from this peace is what happens when
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You walk out for the first time.
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And you look and through, you know, the gunsmoke is all
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Settled, and all of a sudden there's a possibility of what
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Do we do in life now? what's possible? if we're not, if we're
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Not hiding away, cowering in fear for our lives and the
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Whole world has been opened up to us, what now can happen?
00:11:34.139 --> 00:11:37.408
What potential? peace is potential. peace is life after
00:11:37.408 --> 00:11:41.913
Lockdown, and it so confronted in me i've been thinking
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Wrong about peace.
00:11:45.950 --> 00:11:47.385
I began to look into it and like these passages,
00:11:47.385 --> 00:11:49.954
Isaiah, how stunning,
00:11:49.954 --> 00:11:51.790
Wonderful counselor, mighty god, everlasting father,
00:11:51.790 --> 00:11:53.792
Prince of peace.
00:11:53.792 --> 00:11:55.260
That peace is shalom, which is everything as it was intended,
00:11:55.260 --> 00:11:58.963
Like everything ordered.
00:11:58.963 --> 00:12:00.298
Just like you said, the order of god, the order of heaven
00:12:00.298 --> 00:12:03.601
Realigned to his intention.
00:12:03.601 --> 00:12:06.638
And i'm like, oh, there's something so incredibly
00:12:06.638 --> 00:12:09.908
Powerful that i've missed about the gift of peace.
00:12:09.908 --> 00:12:13.077
It's not neutrality.
00:12:13.077 --> 00:12:14.512
It is conquering.
00:12:14.512 --> 00:12:16.080
It is overcoming.
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It is we were in lockdown, shut down.
00:12:17.448 --> 00:12:20.018
All we had in front of us was war and death.
00:12:20.018 --> 00:12:23.188
And this prince of peace came.
00:12:23.188 --> 00:12:25.623
And he settled it once and for all.
00:12:25.623 --> 00:12:28.359
And now the invitation is to walk out in the light of day.
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Arise and shine
00:12:31.896 --> 00:12:32.764
For your light has come
00:12:32.764 --> 00:12:34.566
And the glory of the lord is here.
00:12:34.566 --> 00:12:36.301
Now what's possible?
00:12:36.301 --> 00:12:38.136
Jesus coming as prince of peace opened up possibility
00:12:38.136 --> 00:12:41.840
Where we didn't even know we didn't have it.
00:12:41.840 --> 00:12:43.942
We didn't even know we lost it.
00:12:43.942 --> 00:12:46.044
To me, that invitation into that sort of peace has changed
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Everything about how when i welcome peace, when i invite it
00:12:50.915 --> 00:12:54.652
Right, to think with so much more depth.
00:12:54.652 --> 00:12:56.955
Jesus didn't die for me to sit here with
00:12:56.955 --> 00:12:58.957
Just like a serene, happy, contented. he died to give life
00:12:58.957 --> 00:13:03.995
And imagination back.
00:13:03.995 --> 00:13:05.263
Dreams and potential.
00:13:05.263 --> 00:13:07.365
Like what, what this can be.
00:13:07.365 --> 00:13:09.801
What we're created for is brought back on the scene.
00:13:09.801 --> 00:13:13.438
I'm still navigating the path that leads to peace.
00:13:14.472 --> 00:13:17.375
I really struggle with anxiety.
00:13:17.375 --> 00:13:20.011
From the time i was a young woman, i was i just grew up
00:13:20.011 --> 00:13:23.648
With this fear that i wasn't good enough.
00:13:23.648 --> 00:13:25.450
There was a lot of
00:13:25.450 --> 00:13:27.385
Abuse in my backstory, um, people outside of my family,
00:13:27.385 --> 00:13:31.522
But it made me feel really dirty and damaged.
00:13:31.522 --> 00:13:34.292
So i spent a long, long time
00:13:34.292 --> 00:13:36.394
Just trying to do better, be better.
00:13:36.394 --> 00:13:38.296
And that causes a tremendous amount of anxiety, the peace
00:13:38.296 --> 00:13:42.734
And and, um, kalley talked about it in the conversation
00:13:42.734 --> 00:13:47.438
Being a shalom.
00:13:47.438 --> 00:13:48.740
In other words, it's not just a momentary feeling of, oh, i
00:13:48.740 --> 00:13:51.643
Feel kind of like i don't have anxiety right now.
00:13:51.643 --> 00:13:53.845
It's bigger than that.
00:13:53.845 --> 00:13:54.545
It's body, mind and spirit.
00:13:54.545 --> 00:13:57.015
So it's this holistic feeling of
00:13:57.015 --> 00:13:59.250
All's good in the world because i am absolutely loved by god
00:14:00.418 --> 00:14:06.257
Who is present with me.
00:14:06.257 --> 00:14:08.159
Um, i'm still learning to walk
00:14:08.159 --> 00:14:10.228
In that every moment of every day.
00:14:10.228 --> 00:14:12.163
But the path to peace is a path of surrender,
00:14:12.163 --> 00:14:16.234
Saying, lord, i can't make it by myself, i need you.
00:14:16.234 --> 00:14:19.737
Doesn't take a fancy prayer, but it does take an
00:14:19.737 --> 00:14:21.973
Acknowledgment of your need for jesus.
00:14:21.973 --> 00:14:24.976
And then i think worship is a path to peace,
00:14:24.976 --> 00:14:27.612
To say there is none like you.
00:14:27.612 --> 00:14:30.048
You're my peace.
00:14:30.048 --> 00:14:30.548
You're my hope.
00:14:30.548 --> 00:14:31.249
You're my joy.
00:14:31.249 --> 00:14:32.550
So i think the first thing is admitting our need for jesus.
00:14:32.550 --> 00:14:35.286
Second, when you praise him,
00:14:35.286 --> 00:14:37.555
That'll lead you to peace as well.
00:14:37.555 --> 00:14:39.691
So peace is a person.
00:14:40.191 --> 00:14:42.026
Peace is jesus coming in and living within you.
00:14:42.026 --> 00:14:47.198
And because he is the prince of peace, you see, your peace will
00:14:47.198 --> 00:14:51.636
Not be determined by your circumstances.
00:14:51.636 --> 00:14:53.938
It doesn't matter if you're in the middle of the storm.
00:14:53.938 --> 00:14:56.207
You carry the person who spoke
00:14:56.207 --> 00:14:57.775
To the winds and told them to obey.
00:14:57.775 --> 00:15:00.411
And so remember, you have that same authority and that the
00:15:00.411 --> 00:15:03.214
Peace of god comes from the inside, and not only will it
00:15:03.214 --> 00:15:06.784
Give you what you need to walk through the storm, but you can
00:15:06.784 --> 00:15:10.154
Actually calm the storm.
00:15:10.154 --> 00:15:12.290
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One of the things i like to do during this kind of crazy busy
00:15:42.021 --> 00:15:45.190
Season, to be able to really rest and enjoy peace is
00:15:45.190 --> 00:15:49.561
I always get an advent wreath.
00:15:49.561 --> 00:15:51.630
And for the four sundays leading up to christmas, i'll
00:15:51.630 --> 00:15:55.134
Light a candle
00:15:55.134 --> 00:15:55.868
Each christmas-- they each have
00:15:55.868 --> 00:15:56.769
Different-- i mean each weekend.
00:15:56.769 --> 00:15:58.771
And just to take a little time, and then my husband and my son
00:15:58.771 --> 00:16:02.975
And i, we will always sit down together on christmas eve and
00:16:02.975 --> 00:16:06.712
And read the christmas story together.
00:16:06.712 --> 00:16:08.881
There's just so many little things that you can do.
00:16:08.881 --> 00:16:11.483
And if you like to go caroling around your neighborhood,
00:16:11.483 --> 00:16:14.887
That's something we're going to do this year.
00:16:14.887 --> 00:16:16.522
And i think sometimes it just reminds people this is about
00:16:16.522 --> 00:16:20.159
Way, way more than presents.
00:16:20.159 --> 00:16:22.161
It's about god come to us and
00:16:22.161 --> 00:16:24.463
We come to one another in community.
00:16:24.463 --> 00:16:32.237
You see the biblical just the
00:16:32.871 --> 00:16:36.175
Anthology of peace in scripture.
00:16:36.175 --> 00:16:38.110
It's a gateway gift.
00:16:38.110 --> 00:16:39.978
Yes. the way i begin to understand it is when i brought
00:16:39.978 --> 00:16:43.182
Missy home from haiti, our adoption transition therapist
00:16:43.182 --> 00:16:46.652
Said, lisa, how are you going to love missy?
00:16:46.652 --> 00:16:49.721
And i was like, wow, i'm just going to love her.
00:16:49.721 --> 00:16:53.559
I'm going to give-- you know, i said some hyperbolic, you know,
00:16:53.559 --> 00:16:56.929
Big emotional thing.
00:16:56.929 --> 00:16:58.130
And she said, that will not speak love to her.
00:16:58.130 --> 00:17:01.967
She said the most important thing for her is to know that
00:17:01.967 --> 00:17:04.937
She's in a safe, secure place.
00:17:04.937 --> 00:17:07.139
That's what will speak, love.
00:17:07.139 --> 00:17:08.407
The very first time i raised my hand, i was going to either
00:17:08.407 --> 00:17:11.777
Touch your face or play with her hair.
00:17:11.777 --> 00:17:13.479
First night she was home.
00:17:13.479 --> 00:17:14.713
Missy flinched because she had been beaten so much at the
00:17:14.713 --> 00:17:18.450
Orphanage that when adult hand was raised, she assumed she was
00:17:18.450 --> 00:17:21.620
Going to be hit.
00:17:21.620 --> 00:17:23.422
So it wasn't until missy began to realize, oh, my mama
00:17:23.422 --> 00:17:27.359
Blanche, she called me white mama.
00:17:27.359 --> 00:17:29.261
My mama blanche is not going to hit me.
00:17:29.261 --> 00:17:32.264
She's going to give me
00:17:32.264 --> 00:17:33.165
Something to eat in the morning.
00:17:33.165 --> 00:17:34.800
She's going to give me something to eat in the
00:17:34.800 --> 00:17:36.435
Middle of the day.
00:17:36.435 --> 00:17:37.536
She's going to give me something to eat at night.
00:17:37.536 --> 00:17:39.371
She's going to sing with me.
00:17:39.371 --> 00:17:41.006
She's going to put me in a bed, and she's going to pull
00:17:41.006 --> 00:17:43.075
The covers over me.
00:17:43.075 --> 00:17:44.376
She's going to sing to me again, and then she's going to
00:17:44.376 --> 00:17:46.612
Play with my hair.
00:17:46.612 --> 00:17:47.646
Oh, she did the very same thing the next day.
00:17:48.547 --> 00:17:50.682
She, missy, couldn't receive love until she had the peace to
00:17:50.682 --> 00:17:55.187
Know she wasn't going to be hit.
00:17:55.187 --> 00:17:57.022
And we don't realize peace is a gateway gift.
00:17:57.022 --> 00:18:01.126
In human relations, it's called secure attachment.
00:18:01.126 --> 00:18:06.265
Peace spiritually.
00:18:06.698 --> 00:18:08.433
And scripture is where we realized he came for us.
00:18:08.433 --> 00:18:13.071
You're right.
00:18:13.071 --> 00:18:14.239
We so miss the gift of him being the prince of peace
00:18:14.239 --> 00:18:16.508
Because we don't know war like the israelites did.
00:18:16.508 --> 00:18:19.945
We don't know what it is to always be flinching.
00:18:19.945 --> 00:18:23.348
And that's why it says. he's coming as the prince.
00:18:23.348 --> 00:18:26.885
You can be held.
00:18:26.885 --> 00:18:28.420
Yes, you can hug your kids instead of stand at the window
00:18:28.420 --> 00:18:31.590
With bow and arrow.
00:18:31.590 --> 00:18:32.724
You can eat in peace and have conversation.
00:18:33.625 --> 00:18:36.795
We think it's that thin lipped-- and it's like, no, no,
00:18:36.795 --> 00:18:39.264
No, no, no, no.
00:18:39.264 --> 00:18:40.098
That's what he's saying.
00:18:40.098 --> 00:18:42.167
Everything else comes in when you go, oh, he loves me.
00:18:42.167 --> 00:18:47.172
Yeah, yeah. wow.
00:18:47.639 --> 00:18:49.274
That brings so much more to "your feet
00:18:49.274 --> 00:18:52.010
Shod with peace."
00:18:52.010 --> 00:18:53.011
That's it.
00:18:53.011 --> 00:18:53.545
Yes. that's it.
00:18:53.545 --> 00:18:54.513
That's one of--
00:18:54.513 --> 00:18:55.547
That's what you put on every day you get up.
00:18:55.547 --> 00:18:57.983
That's right. shod your feet with peace.
00:18:57.983 --> 00:18:59.985
Secure attachment.
00:18:59.985 --> 00:19:01.119
It's less-- beautiful.
00:19:01.119 --> 00:19:02.487
I'm not going to fuss today, and more i'm his.
00:19:02.487 --> 00:19:06.491
His. that's it.
00:19:06.491 --> 00:19:07.759
I'm his delight. stand in that.
00:19:07.759 --> 00:19:11.296
I think one of the things that we really want to know as human
00:19:11.296 --> 00:19:14.866
Beings is that we're safe, you know?
00:19:14.866 --> 00:19:17.402
And how can you trust a god you can't see?
00:19:17.402 --> 00:19:20.872
And that's why it really is.
00:19:20.872 --> 00:19:22.241
It's like a life journey of faith.
00:19:22.241 --> 00:19:24.509
The more you get to know god,
00:19:24.509 --> 00:19:26.311
The more you'll get to understand
00:19:26.311 --> 00:19:28.247
His ways are perfect.
00:19:28.247 --> 00:19:30.048
But not only that, when i look back in my own life, you know i
00:19:30.048 --> 00:19:33.151
Give my life to christ when i was 11 years old.
00:19:33.151 --> 00:19:35.988
But god has a track record.
00:19:35.988 --> 00:19:38.223
That's why so many times in the
00:19:38.223 --> 00:19:39.791
Bible it'll say, remember, remember,
00:19:39.791 --> 00:19:42.694
Reminding us to look back on the faithfulness of god
00:19:42.694 --> 00:19:46.098
Because the longer you walk with jesus and it's not about
00:19:46.098 --> 00:19:49.601
You being perfect. don't try and be perfect.
00:19:49.601 --> 00:19:52.170
We follow jesus, who is perfect.
00:19:52.170 --> 00:19:55.641
Oh, that is awesome.
00:19:56.108 --> 00:19:57.342
That is awesome.
00:19:57.342 --> 00:19:58.176
But going back to the word of god,
00:19:58.176 --> 00:20:00.012
Like like sheila was saying,
00:20:00.012 --> 00:20:01.747
Knowing the word, speaking it out
00:20:01.747 --> 00:20:04.683
Brings power. it does.
00:20:05.250 --> 00:20:07.085
And power brings peace.
00:20:07.085 --> 00:20:08.654
Yes it does.
00:20:08.654 --> 00:20:09.454
Yes. yes.
00:20:09.755 --> 00:20:11.657
You know when you, when you read
00:20:11.657 --> 00:20:13.258
The promises, knowing the promises,
00:20:13.258 --> 00:20:16.128
You know, when i read, uh, psalms 34:19, many are the
00:20:16.128 --> 00:20:20.299
Afflictions of the righteous.
00:20:20.299 --> 00:20:21.933
But. but. come on. the lord delivers us from them all.
00:20:21.933 --> 00:20:27.372
You know, that ushers in peace.
00:20:27.372 --> 00:20:29.741
Yes.
00:20:29.741 --> 00:20:30.909
You know, and like you said, so many people, maybe not
00:20:30.909 --> 00:20:33.779
Us, but there are a lot of
00:20:33.779 --> 00:20:34.946
People who have lived their lives
00:20:34.946 --> 00:20:37.149
Flinching and scared and nervous.
00:20:37.149 --> 00:20:39.318
You were talking about your precious daughter, you know.
00:20:39.318 --> 00:20:42.387
Um, but then to experience the love of god--
00:20:42.387 --> 00:20:46.491
That's right.
00:20:46.491 --> 00:20:47.326
Brings peace. yeah.
00:20:47.326 --> 00:20:48.927
It floods.
00:20:48.927 --> 00:20:49.594
It comes in like a flood.
00:20:49.594 --> 00:20:51.430
It comes in like--
00:20:51.430 --> 00:20:52.531
I think what you're saying about the word of god,
00:20:52.531 --> 00:20:54.466
You hear the word theology, and
00:20:54.466 --> 00:20:55.801
A lot of people think academics.
00:20:55.801 --> 00:20:57.235
I'm like, no, theology is conversations about god.
00:20:57.235 --> 00:21:00.539
The more you dive into the word of god, the more you realize
00:21:00.539 --> 00:21:02.908
His love for us doesn't wax and wane.
00:21:02.908 --> 00:21:05.344
It's immutable.
00:21:05.344 --> 00:21:06.778
Psalm 34 david says, radiance is
00:21:06.778 --> 00:21:09.481
The face of those who look to the lord.
00:21:09.481 --> 00:21:10.749
Their faces will never be covered with shame.
00:21:10.749 --> 00:21:12.818
Remember, he wrote that right after he drooled in his beard
00:21:12.818 --> 00:21:16.254
To escape death from abimelech, and for a jewish man to drool
00:21:16.254 --> 00:21:20.625
In his beard, he not only brought shame on himself, he
00:21:20.625 --> 00:21:23.128
Brought shame on his whole family, his whole lineage.
00:21:23.128 --> 00:21:25.764
So for him to say, after shaming himself, i actually
00:21:25.764 --> 00:21:30.502
Don't wear shame because of you, not because of me.
00:21:30.502 --> 00:21:34.039
But you have to know the word of god to keep standing in the
00:21:34.039 --> 00:21:37.776
Security of he loves me not because of my deservedness or
00:21:37.776 --> 00:21:41.780
Lack thereof, but because of who he is. and
00:21:41.780 --> 00:21:45.484
You're right, the word of god is what keeps us
00:21:45.484 --> 00:21:48.687
Hanging on to peace.
00:21:48.687 --> 00:21:49.955
I don't think we hang on to peace without the word of god.
00:21:49.955 --> 00:21:53.258
That's true.
00:21:53.592 --> 00:21:54.192
Well, and it's the, um,
00:21:54.192 --> 00:21:55.794
He did away with the fear of punishment, the flinching, also
00:21:55.794 --> 00:21:59.431
Striving, all of the busyness, the hustle to prove ourselves,
00:21:59.431 --> 00:22:03.702
To qualify ourselves for righteousness.
00:22:03.702 --> 00:22:06.671
And don't you see that
00:22:06.671 --> 00:22:07.706
At christmas? yeah.
00:22:07.706 --> 00:22:08.907
I've never seen
00:22:09.274 --> 00:22:10.175
Christians busier than at christmas.
00:22:10.175 --> 00:22:11.910
Yes, yes.
00:22:11.910 --> 00:22:13.545
And the gift is we can take a deep breath.
00:22:13.545 --> 00:22:16.548
It has been accomplished.
00:22:16.548 --> 00:22:18.383
I mean, and that is that's in isaiah, right?
00:22:18.383 --> 00:22:20.352
That your warfare is comfort, comfort my people.
00:22:20.352 --> 00:22:24.289
And i'm like that, that sort of peace too, of the busyness
00:22:24.289 --> 00:22:27.726
Of proving ourselves before god,
00:22:27.726 --> 00:22:29.761
All of the, the stipulations of the law to just like, be in
00:22:29.761 --> 00:22:33.732
Right standing, right striving, being enough.
00:22:33.732 --> 00:22:36.802
Things we could never have done, we could never fulfill
00:22:36.802 --> 00:22:39.571
On our own,
00:22:39.571 --> 00:22:40.605
He stepped in and became the perfect offering.
00:22:40.605 --> 00:22:43.542
Our strivings now mean nothing.
00:22:43.542 --> 00:22:45.043
There is nothing that we can
00:22:45.043 --> 00:22:46.378
Add to the offering of jesus christ.
00:22:46.378 --> 00:22:49.314
So this deep breath of peace,
00:22:49.314 --> 00:22:51.216
It has been accomplished on my behalf.
00:22:51.216 --> 00:22:53.385
And it's finished.
00:22:53.385 --> 00:22:55.287
Woohoo!
00:22:53.952 --> 00:22:57.155
We can choose god's peace instead of striving by simply,
00:22:57.155 --> 00:23:02.394
First of all, i think during this season take out the time
00:23:02.394 --> 00:23:05.730
To reflect on who he is.
00:23:05.730 --> 00:23:07.299
Um, sometimes we can be so busy that we forget what the season
00:23:08.467 --> 00:23:12.504
Is all about and what it represents.
00:23:12.504 --> 00:23:14.272
So when you reflect on who god is, then after that reflection,
00:23:14.272 --> 00:23:20.445
Then begin to imitate him.
00:23:20.445 --> 00:23:22.314
Um, and when you imitate him, you're going to see the things
00:23:23.515 --> 00:23:29.187
Manifest that manifested through his life.
00:23:29.187 --> 00:23:32.557
You know, you're going to see peace, not just follow you, but
00:23:32.557 --> 00:23:36.528
Also begin to minister to other people.
00:23:36.528 --> 00:23:40.098
You know, when i was in youth camp and they'd say, god loves
00:23:40.098 --> 00:23:43.468
You as much as he loved billy graham.
00:23:43.468 --> 00:23:45.036
And i'd be like, liar, liar, pants on fire.
00:23:45.036 --> 00:23:47.138
Like, there's no way, god,
00:23:47.138 --> 00:23:49.040
Because i believe the truth
00:23:49.040 --> 00:23:52.277
But i'm still so stinking human.
00:23:52.277 --> 00:23:54.045
And sometimes my mind is a colander.
00:23:54.045 --> 00:23:56.515
Sometimes for me to actually sit in the fact that he loves
00:23:56.515 --> 00:24:00.986
Me as much today, or he loves me as much when i'm piddling as
00:24:00.986 --> 00:24:06.858
He does when i'm studying my bible.
00:24:06.858 --> 00:24:09.160
Sometimes, like, how do y'all hang on to that,
00:24:09.160 --> 00:24:12.864
That knowing, that peace
00:24:13.365 --> 00:24:15.467
That i'm his and his love for me,
00:24:15.467 --> 00:24:18.537
He's not fickle?
00:24:18.904 --> 00:24:20.872
He loves me as much today--
00:24:20.872 --> 00:24:22.807
And he decided that. jesus accomplished that on calvary.
00:24:22.807 --> 00:24:26.811
There's not one single thing
00:24:26.811 --> 00:24:28.113
I do that can make him love me more.
00:24:28.113 --> 00:24:30.815
I can say that theologically. sometimes emotionally, my heart
00:24:30.815 --> 00:24:34.753
Has a hard time hanging on to that.
00:24:34.753 --> 00:24:36.288
And i think as long as we're on this side of of heaven, we will
00:24:36.288 --> 00:24:40.659
Fight with that, because in our flesh dwells no good thing, and
00:24:40.659 --> 00:24:44.296
The enemy is always coming after us.
00:24:44.296 --> 00:24:46.031
And that's again, i mean, we talked about it earlier about
00:24:46.031 --> 00:24:50.001
How god is still working on us, how new things come up, you
00:24:50.001 --> 00:24:52.837
Know, and i think i know for me, staying in the word of god
00:24:52.837 --> 00:24:56.641
Keeps me reminded of what he's already done.
00:24:56.641 --> 00:24:59.010
Yeah. yeah.
00:24:59.010 --> 00:25:00.412
It's not it's not to prove that i know the scripture or
00:25:00.412 --> 00:25:03.248
Whatever, but if i don't know it, it's life, you know what
00:25:03.248 --> 00:25:06.351
I'm saying?
00:25:06.351 --> 00:25:07.385
And it keeps you reminded that he loves you.
00:25:07.385 --> 00:25:10.388
Yeah, yeah.
00:25:10.388 --> 00:25:11.623
I do something that's probably going to be sound really.
00:25:11.623 --> 00:25:14.092
Weird, and it probably is really weird.
00:25:14.092 --> 00:25:16.861
But i'm going to do it.
00:25:17.362 --> 00:25:18.897
I don't care if it's weird or not.
00:25:18.897 --> 00:25:20.332
I do this every day.
00:25:20.332 --> 00:25:22.000
I take a chair, usually the kitchen chair, and i move it
00:25:22.000 --> 00:25:25.003
Into the space and i sit there
00:25:25.003 --> 00:25:28.306
In the lord's presence and i smile.
00:25:29.107 --> 00:25:31.977
Mhm.
00:25:32.177 --> 00:25:33.411
Because so much of my life i spent thinking i'm not good
00:25:33.411 --> 00:25:36.281
Enough, i'll never be good enough.
00:25:36.281 --> 00:25:37.882
I'm too broken to be loved. yeah.
00:25:37.882 --> 00:25:39.818
And when you begin to understand, you know all
00:25:39.818 --> 00:25:42.253
The things you thought,
00:25:42.253 --> 00:25:44.022
There's truth to all of those.
00:25:44.022 --> 00:25:45.357
You are broken.
00:25:45.357 --> 00:25:46.524
You are this, you are that.
00:25:46.524 --> 00:25:47.826
However, however, now that you are in christ and you are a new
00:25:47.826 --> 00:25:52.197
Creation, that god loves us.
00:25:52.197 --> 00:25:55.667
Yeah, bought with a price.
00:25:55.667 --> 00:25:56.901
The way he loves his son.
00:25:56.901 --> 00:25:58.770
So i just--
00:25:58.770 --> 00:25:59.371
I don't say anything.
00:25:59.371 --> 00:26:00.372
I just sit there and it's just this kind of--
00:26:00.372 --> 00:26:04.142
I do that at night when i wake up during the night.
00:26:04.142 --> 00:26:06.611
Just think, okay,
00:26:07.045 --> 00:26:07.879
It's just me and you, you know?
00:26:07.879 --> 00:26:10.415
Yeah. absolutely.
00:26:10.415 --> 00:26:11.516
Peace in his presence. well,
00:26:11.516 --> 00:26:13.351
And i know a lot of, a lot of people don't have kids.
00:26:13.351 --> 00:26:17.155
But i'm always reminded about my kids, how i feel about my
00:26:17.155 --> 00:26:22.994
Kids, how much i love my kids, no matter--
00:26:22.994 --> 00:26:26.898
They always have my love.
00:26:26.898 --> 00:26:29.000
They always have my attention.
00:26:29.000 --> 00:26:31.903
If you have never received the love of god, it is a
00:26:31.903 --> 00:26:35.740
Free gift to you.
00:26:35.740 --> 00:26:37.509
The bible says that jesus stands knocking at your door,
00:26:37.509 --> 00:26:40.745
The door of your heart, and he says, if you'll just
00:26:40.745 --> 00:26:43.381
Open the door,
00:26:43.381 --> 00:26:44.315
I will come in and i will be with you.
00:26:44.315 --> 00:26:47.919
And that is a simple yes to jesus.
00:26:47.919 --> 00:26:50.722
He's never pushing.
00:26:50.722 --> 00:26:52.357
He's never shoving his way into your life.
00:26:52.357 --> 00:26:55.026
He's always open arms calling you,
00:26:55.026 --> 00:26:58.663
Come, come, come unto me.
00:26:58.663 --> 00:27:01.666
His love is the greatest gift you'll ever have.
00:27:01.666 --> 00:27:04.969
His love is never failing.
00:27:04.969 --> 00:27:06.971
His love is always abounding towards you.
00:27:06.971 --> 00:27:10.975
You don't have to be good enough.
00:27:10.975 --> 00:27:13.144
You don't have to have done something wonderful.
00:27:13.144 --> 00:27:17.348
He wants you just the way you are.
00:27:17.348 --> 00:27:19.484
Come dirty, come ugly.
00:27:19.984 --> 00:27:22.020
However you feel today.
00:27:22.020 --> 00:27:23.788
Jesus loves you and he wants you to be his.
00:27:23.788 --> 00:27:26.991
He wants you to open your heart to him.
00:27:26.991 --> 00:27:29.094
It's a simple yes.
00:27:29.094 --> 00:27:30.528
And then you think about the scriptures, even mary,
00:27:31.529 --> 00:27:34.165
So god looked on her and she says, the lowly one, that god's
00:27:34.165 --> 00:27:40.105
Gaze was on her.
00:27:40.105 --> 00:27:42.440
How does it feel to be gazed on by god?
00:27:42.440 --> 00:27:45.443
Right. you know.
00:27:45.443 --> 00:27:46.411
And he tells us he's looking to and fro.
00:27:46.411 --> 00:27:48.980
Yeah. searching for someone.
00:27:49.647 --> 00:27:51.483
And i'm always wanting to be that someone.
00:27:51.483 --> 00:27:54.252
God, right here. yeah.
00:27:54.252 --> 00:27:56.121
You know, i'm going to be the one that touches your garment,
00:27:56.121 --> 00:27:59.991
That reaches out, that believes you. or i want to be.
00:27:59.991 --> 00:28:03.695
I want to be the one that
00:28:03.695 --> 00:28:05.463
Captures your attention for my faith.
00:28:05.463 --> 00:28:08.600
Yes.
00:28:08.600 --> 00:28:09.534
That i believe in you no matter what.
00:28:09.534 --> 00:28:11.436
If i can just touch you because
00:28:11.436 --> 00:28:13.571
You're looking for me. you're looking.
00:28:13.571 --> 00:28:15.974
Let me give you incentive to bless me somehow.
00:28:15.974 --> 00:28:20.078
You know the story of the woman in luke eight who washes his
00:28:20.078 --> 00:28:22.847
Feet with her tears and dries with her hair?
00:28:22.847 --> 00:28:24.949
Um, have a professor who's done a lot of his doctoral work on
00:28:24.949 --> 00:28:28.253
That passage, and i just.
00:28:28.253 --> 00:28:29.521
I'd never heard it the way he broke down some of the
00:28:29.521 --> 00:28:33.358
Socio historical parts.
00:28:33.358 --> 00:28:34.626
But he he breaks down that verse where when jesus, and he's
00:28:34.626 --> 00:28:38.630
Fussing at simon the pharisee who's been so ungodly, saying,
00:28:38.630 --> 00:28:42.734
She hasn't stopped washing my feet.
00:28:42.734 --> 00:28:44.102
She hasn't stopped.
00:28:44.102 --> 00:28:45.370
But in the greek verb there, when it says, he gazes at her,
00:28:45.370 --> 00:28:49.340
I think it's verse 40, maybe,
00:28:49.340 --> 00:28:51.109
But he said in the original text it's saying jesus is not
00:28:51.109 --> 00:28:55.113
Looking at simon.
00:28:55.113 --> 00:28:57.015
He's telling simon, you're so consumed with being religious,
00:28:57.015 --> 00:29:00.118
You've missed me.
00:29:00.118 --> 00:29:01.319
But he's gazing at her.
00:29:01.319 --> 00:29:03.288
And based on what was going on in rome at the time, she was
00:29:03.288 --> 00:29:06.391
Likely a human trafficking victim.
00:29:06.391 --> 00:29:09.060
And you know the vile around her neck with perfume that was
00:29:09.060 --> 00:29:12.130
To put on her, john.
00:29:12.130 --> 00:29:13.498
So, i mean, it's just the story took on so much more weight
00:29:13.498 --> 00:29:16.968
When he broke it down,
00:29:16.968 --> 00:29:17.836
The sociohistorical context.
00:29:17.836 --> 00:29:19.737
But you see this woman who probably, since she was a
00:29:19.737 --> 00:29:22.707
Little girl, has only been looked at by men with lust in
00:29:22.707 --> 00:29:26.344
Their eyes.
00:29:26.344 --> 00:29:27.078
And here's jesus
00:29:27.445 --> 00:29:29.581
Gazing at her.
00:29:29.948 --> 00:29:30.982
And i thought, oh, and missy and i-- it's not--
00:29:30.982 --> 00:29:35.119
And of course, it wasn't romantic with jesus.
00:29:35.119 --> 00:29:36.788
It was compassion.
00:29:36.788 --> 00:29:38.022
But missy and i have this little thing where if we're in
00:29:38.022 --> 00:29:40.525
A room, we've been doing this since she was really little,
00:29:40.525 --> 00:29:43.795
But we would go, i love you.
00:29:43.795 --> 00:29:46.998
Well, now it's real short.
00:29:46.998 --> 00:29:48.333
Where? so it doesn't embarrass her in school or something, but
00:29:48.333 --> 00:29:50.535
She'll just go, like, if she sees me across a crowded room,
00:29:50.535 --> 00:29:53.071
She'll go--
00:29:53.071 --> 00:29:54.906
It's just kind of, oh, we both know it's i love you.
00:29:54.906 --> 00:29:59.544
And after i heard him teach that on luke eight and talk
00:29:59.544 --> 00:30:04.048
About the the unbroken, compassionate gaze of jesus for
00:30:04.048 --> 00:30:09.120
This woman, i thought, i want to be looking for god.
00:30:09.120 --> 00:30:12.757
Doing that to me is, as trite as that might sound to some,
00:30:12.757 --> 00:30:17.128
He loves me infinitely more than i love my daughter.
00:30:17.128 --> 00:30:20.498
And to know that he is always looking to and fro.
00:30:20.498 --> 00:30:23.568
I thought the god-- song of solomon says with one glance
00:30:23.568 --> 00:30:26.671
Of our eyes we've captured his heart.
00:30:26.671 --> 00:30:29.674
Yes. that the god of the universe is going--
00:30:29.674 --> 00:30:32.143
Yeah, yeah.
00:30:32.477 --> 00:30:33.778
I mean, i want to walk in light of that all day.
00:30:33.778 --> 00:30:38.316
I spent so many years trying to be a perfect christian, wanting
00:30:38.316 --> 00:30:43.221
To please god, wanting to make him happy.
00:30:43.221 --> 00:30:45.223
And a lot of that just came out of the hardship in my childhood
00:30:45.223 --> 00:30:48.693
When my father, who had been-- you know, i adored my dad.
00:30:48.693 --> 00:30:52.864
He was my favorite person on the planet.
00:30:52.864 --> 00:30:54.666
And then through his brain
00:30:54.666 --> 00:30:55.867
Injury, his personality changed.
00:30:55.867 --> 00:30:58.736
And then eventually my dad died by suicide.
00:30:58.736 --> 00:31:01.873
And one of the things that was really hard for me was
00:31:01.873 --> 00:31:05.343
Thinking, well, if your earthly father could feel that way
00:31:05.343 --> 00:31:08.446
Toward you one day and then not the next, what about god?
00:31:08.446 --> 00:31:11.683
And so the thought, so often it was like i almost didn't want
00:31:11.683 --> 00:31:14.619
To raise my face toward heaven, because i didn't really want
00:31:14.619 --> 00:31:17.822
God to look too close to me in case he saw things that made
00:31:17.822 --> 00:31:21.626
Him not love me as much.
00:31:21.626 --> 00:31:23.194
But when my life completely fell apart and i ended up in a
00:31:23.194 --> 00:31:26.831
Psychiatric hospital at my least loving, least lovable, as
00:31:26.831 --> 00:31:31.035
Far as i was concerned, i discovered how much god
00:31:31.035 --> 00:31:33.671
Really loves us.
00:31:33.671 --> 00:31:34.939
There's something about the gaze of the lord on your life.
00:31:34.939 --> 00:31:38.776
It's not to judge anything that's not perfect.
00:31:38.776 --> 00:31:41.646
It's to let you know how much you're loved.
00:31:41.646 --> 00:31:44.082
I was 19 years old and i had started at this university.
00:31:45.216 --> 00:31:49.754
My undergrad was in bible and theology, so it's like i want
00:31:49.754 --> 00:31:52.924
My mind to get really big and full and rich with the word.
00:31:52.924 --> 00:31:56.027
And still it's so important.
00:31:56.027 --> 00:31:57.929
So valuable.
00:31:57.929 --> 00:31:59.263
Um, there's quite a lot of striving in there for me.
00:31:59.263 --> 00:32:01.899
And i ended up just taking a semester off and going and
00:32:01.899 --> 00:32:04.435
Doing, um, like a mission school.
00:32:04.435 --> 00:32:07.005
And we go and we have, you know, an hour set aside every
00:32:07.005 --> 00:32:09.974
Morning for time with the lord.
00:32:09.974 --> 00:32:11.242
And i'm like, well, but i'm still getting my degree and i'm
00:32:11.242 --> 00:32:13.478
Really learning how to read this thing.
00:32:13.478 --> 00:32:14.812
The hermeneutics, exegesis, everything.
00:32:14.812 --> 00:32:16.447
I got this, i got this.
00:32:16.447 --> 00:32:17.382
So i go and i'm like, i'm ready
00:32:17.382 --> 00:32:18.750
To feverishly, you know, find him.
00:32:18.750 --> 00:32:20.651
And he goes, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, i'm talking to you.
00:32:20.651 --> 00:32:23.955
Right.
00:32:24.188 --> 00:32:25.356
I want to talk to you through the whole course of this
00:32:25.356 --> 00:32:28.192
Mission school.
00:32:28.192 --> 00:32:29.494
We're still going to meet for an hour every morning, but i'm
00:32:29.494 --> 00:32:31.763
Talking to you and i'm like, okay, great.
00:32:31.763 --> 00:32:34.298
Sir, yes, sir.
00:32:34.298 --> 00:32:35.033
So i show up 7 a.m.
00:32:35.033 --> 00:32:36.834
And i'm like, all right, what is it?
00:32:36.834 --> 00:32:38.770
And he begins to just lavish love.
00:32:38.770 --> 00:32:43.207
Yeah. and i was so uncomfortable.
00:32:43.207 --> 00:32:46.511
I was-- and it was song of solomon.
00:32:46.511 --> 00:32:47.912
It was things where i'm like,
00:32:47.912 --> 00:32:48.946
I'm like, cool.
00:32:49.313 --> 00:32:50.815
This is not because i'm ready to use it.
00:32:50.815 --> 00:32:53.117
It was so intimate, and i'm ready to use all the tools.
00:32:53.117 --> 00:32:55.319
And what i didn't realize was tools are great.
00:32:55.319 --> 00:32:58.723
What they were kind of doing for me at the moment was
00:32:58.723 --> 00:33:00.792
Protecting me a little bit and pulling to my head.
00:33:00.792 --> 00:33:02.894
He wanted my heart right.
00:33:02.894 --> 00:33:04.362
And so he's saying, hey.
00:33:04.362 --> 00:33:05.363
Yes. okay, good.
00:33:05.363 --> 00:33:07.031
But it's like he pulled a chair for me and he's like,
00:33:07.031 --> 00:33:09.367
I'm asking you to sit.
00:33:09.367 --> 00:33:11.069
And we did it the first day.
00:33:11.069 --> 00:33:12.904
Yeah. and i'm like, oh, the eyes of god,
00:33:12.904 --> 00:33:15.973
The gaze was almost too much and i was squirming.
00:33:15.973 --> 00:33:18.910
I show up the next day. i'm like, same?
00:33:18.910 --> 00:33:20.478
And he goes, yeah.
00:33:20.478 --> 00:33:21.479
And he just continues to pour love on me,
00:33:21.479 --> 00:33:24.015
What he loves about me.
00:33:24.015 --> 00:33:25.516
And it was so, it was like a dad with a little girl and and i
00:33:25.516 --> 00:33:30.521
Felt so confronted because i'm like, this can't be true.
00:33:30.521 --> 00:33:33.391
This is too good to be true.
00:33:33.391 --> 00:33:34.459
And he goes, i'm just starting.
00:33:34.459 --> 00:33:35.893
I'm just starting.
00:33:35.893 --> 00:33:37.295
And then i'm like, three weeks in and i'm like, surely
00:33:37.295 --> 00:33:39.564
It's my turn, right?
00:33:39.564 --> 00:33:41.365
No, i still i have more because his thoughts outnumber
00:33:41.365 --> 00:33:44.268
The grains of sand.
00:33:44.268 --> 00:33:45.703
That's right.
00:33:45.703 --> 00:33:46.971
And then i began to feel the security where i could actually
00:33:46.971 --> 00:33:51.142
Love and find him in his word.
00:33:51.142 --> 00:33:52.510
But the grounding was he sat me in the chair and he said,
00:33:52.510 --> 00:33:56.581
Now you listen.
00:33:56.581 --> 00:33:58.216
I'm going to tell you how
00:33:58.216 --> 00:33:59.584
You move me and what i love about you.
00:33:59.584 --> 00:34:01.886
We're going to get one thing
00:34:01.886 --> 00:34:02.987
Clear before we add anything on top,
00:34:02.987 --> 00:34:04.856
Any more study any more in your mind.
00:34:04.856 --> 00:34:07.258
Your heart's going to know i'm after you.
00:34:07.258 --> 00:34:09.894
I'm ravished by you.
00:34:09.894 --> 00:34:11.462
And you're my favorite.
00:34:11.462 --> 00:34:12.997
Hey, i want to encourage you to give god everything.
00:34:14.065 --> 00:34:17.468
I taught a message not too long ago called being all in.
00:34:17.468 --> 00:34:21.739
And the beautiful thing about being all in,
00:34:21.739 --> 00:34:24.442
When you're all in, you can
00:34:24.442 --> 00:34:25.743
Receive all that god has for you.
00:34:25.743 --> 00:34:27.812
So don't hold back
00:34:27.812 --> 00:34:29.013
Because if he--
00:34:29.013 --> 00:34:30.081
He requires your whole heart,
00:34:30.081 --> 00:34:32.283
Your soul, your mind and your strength.
00:34:32.283 --> 00:34:34.218
I think we have gotten so wrong about people hear scripture,
00:34:35.386 --> 00:34:39.657
They think work, duty, rule book.
00:34:39.657 --> 00:34:43.194
I've got it.
00:34:43.194 --> 00:34:44.095
And i'm like, no, it's a love story.
00:34:44.095 --> 00:34:45.796
It's a love story.
00:34:45.796 --> 00:34:46.631
At its core, it's a love story.
00:34:46.631 --> 00:34:47.932
But i think when you make the bible dutiful, which oftentimes
00:34:47.932 --> 00:34:52.570
We do in christian circles, it's got to have your bible
00:34:52.570 --> 00:34:55.206
Study, you've got to have your 15 minutes,
00:34:55.206 --> 00:34:56.741
You've got to fill in all these blanks,
00:34:56.741 --> 00:34:58.109
It becomes a textbook or a rule book instead of a love story.
00:34:58.109 --> 00:35:02.780
And i think even you saying, you know,
00:35:02.780 --> 00:35:04.882
N.t. wright talks a lot about speaking it out loud. when you
00:35:04.882 --> 00:35:08.786
Speak it out loud in corporate worship or even alone,
00:35:08.786 --> 00:35:12.957
You hear the love story.
00:35:12.957 --> 00:35:14.625
Then you begin to go, why am i reading this like a rule book?
00:35:14.625 --> 00:35:17.862
Yeah, right.
00:35:17.862 --> 00:35:19.130
Because even the parameters, it's him saying--it's what i did
00:35:19.130 --> 00:35:21.365
When i would take missy bowling when she was little, i'd have
00:35:21.365 --> 00:35:24.268
Them put the rails up so her ball wouldn't go in the gutter.
00:35:24.268 --> 00:35:28.139
When he gives us parameters they're for our good.
00:35:28.139 --> 00:35:31.442
He's not mad at us.
00:35:31.442 --> 00:35:33.010
He wants us to be in this
00:35:33.010 --> 00:35:34.545
Purpose and blessing he has for us.
00:35:34.545 --> 00:35:36.647
But i think some people maybe this christmas, the greatest
00:35:36.647 --> 00:35:39.984
Gift for them would be to get a new bible.
00:35:39.984 --> 00:35:43.921
Mhm. um, and then go, lord, i'm not going to start marking it
00:35:43.921 --> 00:35:48.659
Up until i listen to you first and i lean back into a chair
00:35:48.659 --> 00:35:54.031
And sit in your presence and first i hear i love you,
00:35:54.031 --> 00:35:58.536
I'm crazy about you.
00:35:58.536 --> 00:36:00.004
With one glance of your eyes, you captured my heart.
00:36:00.004 --> 00:36:02.206
And to just kind of flip the script and the way they do the
00:36:02.206 --> 00:36:04.709
Bible and begin to peruse it as a love story, find their story
00:36:04.709 --> 00:36:08.446
In the love story, instead of doing this to be good.
00:36:08.446 --> 00:36:11.983
For me, a telltale sign that i have gone out of peace and into
00:36:13.150 --> 00:36:18.522
Striving is that i'm exhausted.
00:36:18.522 --> 00:36:22.093
There are seasons that are tired and and that's normal but
00:36:22.093 --> 00:36:26.731
The like swimming upstream,
00:36:26.731 --> 00:36:29.100
The the exhaustion of there's not ease.
00:36:29.100 --> 00:36:33.070
There's not grace here.
00:36:33.070 --> 00:36:35.006
For me, it's going back and
00:36:35.006 --> 00:36:36.474
Asking him somewhere along the way.
00:36:36.474 --> 00:36:38.109
Did i pick up a yoke that you didn't put on me because you
00:36:38.109 --> 00:36:41.712
Said that your yoke is easy, your burden is light, and god,
00:36:41.712 --> 00:36:46.751
If i picked up something along the way, if i'm striving for
00:36:46.751 --> 00:36:49.553
Something that you already accomplished for me, you
00:36:49.553 --> 00:36:52.089
Already bought on my behalf, i
00:36:52.089 --> 00:36:54.659
Want to enter back into your rest.
00:36:54.659 --> 00:36:56.927
I want to enter back into the
00:36:56.927 --> 00:36:58.629
Peace that you extend to me freely.
00:36:58.629 --> 00:37:01.766
I want the grace of belonging to you and remembering what is
00:37:01.766 --> 00:37:05.770
Mine through you.
00:37:05.770 --> 00:37:07.071
And he's so faithful to bring us all the way back to being
00:37:07.071 --> 00:37:11.142
His children once again.
00:37:11.142 --> 00:37:13.411
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I've had one minute with one of y'all,
00:37:28.159 --> 00:37:30.895
What i'd tell you is, don't be like me.
00:37:30.895 --> 00:37:33.264
I spent so many years thinking i had to be good enough,
00:37:33.264 --> 00:37:36.534
I had to earn god's affection.
00:37:36.534 --> 00:37:38.269
I felt like i had to kind of double spanx in order to be
00:37:38.269 --> 00:37:42.173
Acceptable in god's sight.
00:37:42.173 --> 00:37:43.908
I wish i had really believed the gospel, that god loves us
00:37:43.908 --> 00:37:50.247
Unconditionally and knows us absolutely.
00:37:50.247 --> 00:37:53.017
Nothing in our lives is hidden from him.
00:37:53.017 --> 00:37:55.119
So he thinks you're the bomb.
00:37:55.119 --> 00:37:56.287
The bible says with one glance
00:37:56.287 --> 00:37:57.521
Of your eyes you captured his heart.
00:37:57.521 --> 00:37:59.857
So just lean into jesus.
00:37:59.857 --> 00:38:01.592
You don't have to curate your emotions.
00:38:01.592 --> 00:38:02.860
You don't have to be perfect. even if you're just crawling
00:38:02.860 --> 00:38:05.496
And collapsing into his grace, do that.
00:38:05.496 --> 00:38:07.431
Do that faster than i did.
00:38:07.431 --> 00:38:14.905
What about someone, though, that would say, oh man, i don't
00:38:16.073 --> 00:38:19.610
Want god to gaze at me
00:38:19.610 --> 00:38:21.412
Because i'm ashamed?
00:38:21.879 --> 00:38:23.447
I've been so bad.
00:38:23.881 --> 00:38:24.982
I don't deserve a gaze.
00:38:24.982 --> 00:38:26.250
Please don't look at me.
00:38:26.250 --> 00:38:27.485
Well, that was me for a million years.
00:38:27.485 --> 00:38:29.420
Yeah.
00:38:29.420 --> 00:38:30.721
I mean, i used to try to hold my stomach in with god because
00:38:30.721 --> 00:38:32.623
There's sexual abuse in my backstory.
00:38:32.623 --> 00:38:35.159
And so i got confused with my heart is dirty.
00:38:35.159 --> 00:38:38.729
I just thought i was dirty. yeah.
00:38:38.729 --> 00:38:40.164
And i thought, i've just got to be better, do better,
00:38:40.164 --> 00:38:42.166
Be better, do better
00:38:42.166 --> 00:38:43.267
Because if he really looks
00:38:43.267 --> 00:38:44.802
Close, he's going to be disappointed.
00:38:44.802 --> 00:38:47.371
He lowered the bar and let me into his kingdom.
00:38:47.371 --> 00:38:49.740
And so, um, he did for me what he did for you.
00:38:49.740 --> 00:38:53.711
It's just i'm a lot slower learner than sheila.
00:38:53.711 --> 00:38:56.113
And for you, it was little by little. you know, missy didn't
00:38:56.113 --> 00:39:00.951
Immediately let me hold her.
00:39:00.951 --> 00:39:03.120
It took a while.
00:39:03.487 --> 00:39:05.756
Now she's 16 and she'll still
00:39:05.756 --> 00:39:07.758
Sit in my lap, and my legs fall asleep.
00:39:07.758 --> 00:39:10.094
But only in private.
00:39:10.561 --> 00:39:11.962
But it took me so long to believe what he'd been
00:39:11.962 --> 00:39:16.700
Saying all along.
00:39:16.700 --> 00:39:17.935
And so i would just say, if you can
00:39:17.935 --> 00:39:20.204
Only for-- i'll tell you what i do.
00:39:20.204 --> 00:39:22.039
I'm not, again, nearly as mature as this one.
00:39:22.039 --> 00:39:25.142
Um, i used to do this, and i need to do it more.
00:39:25.142 --> 00:39:28.212
I would take warm laundry out of the dryer because i'm good
00:39:28.212 --> 00:39:31.348
At being dutiful.
00:39:31.348 --> 00:39:32.149
I'm not good at being held.
00:39:32.149 --> 00:39:33.851
So i rock out of peace pretty quickly.
00:39:33.851 --> 00:39:36.987
And i would put warm laundry right out of the dryer on my
00:39:36.987 --> 00:39:39.623
Bed and lean back into the laundry, because that kind of
00:39:39.623 --> 00:39:42.159
Feels like you're being held because i have a hard time
00:39:42.159 --> 00:39:44.895
Being held.
00:39:44.895 --> 00:39:46.363
And i would pray, jesus, give me the grace to lean more fully
00:39:46.363 --> 00:39:51.068
Into your embrace.
00:39:51.068 --> 00:39:52.269
And that's that's all i had.
00:39:52.269 --> 00:39:54.472
I love that.
00:39:54.472 --> 00:39:55.739
But because i want to use my mind to protect myself and all
00:39:55.739 --> 00:39:58.108
The other stuff, but learning to be held by god, that's
00:39:58.108 --> 00:40:03.013
Changed everything for me.
00:40:03.013 --> 00:40:04.248
And knowing that he knows everything and he still loves
00:40:04.248 --> 00:40:07.284
You more than anything.
00:40:07.284 --> 00:40:08.786
I'm not naturally very good at letting the lord hold me.
00:40:09.920 --> 00:40:13.190
I like to kind of do stuff with him and for him, and i've
00:40:13.190 --> 00:40:16.727
Always kind of been that way, and i think he knows that.
00:40:16.727 --> 00:40:20.731
But we do need to be held.
00:40:21.298 --> 00:40:23.133
And that's not a personality type.
00:40:23.133 --> 00:40:25.469
That's not an expression.
00:40:25.469 --> 00:40:26.770
We need to know the love of god for us.
00:40:26.770 --> 00:40:29.773
And so for me, the process of of letting myself ease into his
00:40:29.773 --> 00:40:36.547
Arms, his embrace, his love, has been telling him, i need
00:40:36.547 --> 00:40:41.685
You to draw me unto yourself.
00:40:41.685 --> 00:40:44.221
I'm going to show up.
00:40:44.221 --> 00:40:45.689
Would you show me how to do this?
00:40:45.689 --> 00:40:47.324
Would you take me into your arms and instruct me in the
00:40:47.324 --> 00:40:50.661
Way of love?
00:40:50.661 --> 00:40:52.162
I'm not sure what this looks like, but you do.
00:40:52.162 --> 00:40:54.965
So i'm going to show up
00:40:54.965 --> 00:40:56.433
And i'm going to know that you are a god of love.
00:40:56.433 --> 00:40:59.904
And you always make me that way.
00:40:59.904 --> 00:41:01.739
Um. so come do what you do.
00:41:01.739 --> 00:41:04.174
I remember joseph prince,
00:41:04.742 --> 00:41:06.443
Uh, he would say,
00:41:06.443 --> 00:41:07.912
I think i heard him tell a story one day that someone was
00:41:07.912 --> 00:41:10.648
Talking about how much they loved the lord
00:41:10.648 --> 00:41:12.650
And, you know, i just have this overwhelming love.
00:41:12.650 --> 00:41:14.885
And he was kind of like, oh, i want to--
00:41:14.885 --> 00:41:16.820
I want to feel that.
00:41:16.820 --> 00:41:18.055
I, you know, sometimes we just don't feel this.
00:41:18.055 --> 00:41:20.291
And the lord spoke to him and said, you do that by realizing
00:41:20.291 --> 00:41:25.195
How much i love you. right?
00:41:25.195 --> 00:41:27.097
You bask in how much i love you.
00:41:27.097 --> 00:41:30.668
That's right.
00:41:30.668 --> 00:41:31.535
That's what we need to do.
00:41:31.535 --> 00:41:33.571
That's where the power is because our loving him comes
00:41:33.571 --> 00:41:36.674
As a response of knowing how much he loves you.
00:41:36.674 --> 00:41:40.277
My whole chair thing started with when i'm 18 and i'm going
00:41:40.277 --> 00:41:43.547
Off to seminary, and i'm volunteering at an old people's
00:41:43.547 --> 00:41:46.216
Home just for a month before i go off to seminary.
00:41:46.216 --> 00:41:49.053
And this one gentleman, i could never reach him.
00:41:49.053 --> 00:41:51.055
He would stay in the corner,
00:41:51.055 --> 00:41:52.423
Wouldn't come out for the lunch.
00:41:52.423 --> 00:41:53.757
So i would take his lunch to him on a tray.
00:41:53.757 --> 00:41:55.826
And then one day i thought, i'm just going to try harder.
00:41:55.826 --> 00:41:58.028
So i went over to him and i said, i said to him, i said,
00:41:58.028 --> 00:42:00.464
And i said, hey, my name is sheila.
00:42:00.464 --> 00:42:01.999
I live here in the area
00:42:02.499 --> 00:42:04.168
But one of these days i'm going to go to america.
00:42:04.168 --> 00:42:06.537
And his face lit up like he'd won the lottery.
00:42:06.537 --> 00:42:09.640
And he said, um, i'm from america.
00:42:09.640 --> 00:42:12.776
If you ever get to poughkeepsie, tell him
00:42:12.776 --> 00:42:14.712
George said hi.
00:42:14.712 --> 00:42:15.980
And i'm like, i don't know what
00:42:15.980 --> 00:42:17.014
Poughkeepsie is, but i will do it.
00:42:17.014 --> 00:42:18.983
But after that, from that day on, even if i was late,
00:42:18.983 --> 00:42:22.119
Because, you know, we sometimes i had to take a bus and it
00:42:22.119 --> 00:42:24.989
Would be late, the minute i walked in, no matter what was
00:42:24.989 --> 00:42:28.025
Happening, george would call out loudly,
00:42:28.025 --> 00:42:30.628
She came!
00:42:30.628 --> 00:42:31.996
And that's what i do in the morning with the lord.
00:42:33.030 --> 00:42:35.499
I feel like i sit in a chair and hear god
00:42:35.499 --> 00:42:38.435
Call over me, she came!
00:42:38.435 --> 00:42:40.671
Sheila, that's awesome.
00:42:40.671 --> 00:42:42.573
But when you said it reminded me of my father, who's gone
00:42:42.573 --> 00:42:45.209
On to be with the lord.
00:42:45.209 --> 00:42:46.410
But he used to get dressed up and go sit in the chair.
00:42:46.410 --> 00:42:49.580
Oh. wow. every morning.
00:42:49.580 --> 00:42:51.315
Of course he would.
00:42:51.315 --> 00:42:52.483
I'm going to see the king of kings.
00:42:52.483 --> 00:42:54.652
Oh, wow. wow.
00:42:54.652 --> 00:42:56.286
And would just worship him. mhm.
00:42:56.286 --> 00:42:58.455
Yeah. yeah.
00:42:58.856 --> 00:43:00.357
So taking out time to just breathe in his love i think is
00:43:00.357 --> 00:43:03.861
So important to having our peace.
00:43:03.861 --> 00:43:06.697
Yes.
00:43:06.697 --> 00:43:07.965
You know when you, when you know you're loved then you live
00:43:07.965 --> 00:43:09.733
Like you're loved. yeah.
00:43:09.733 --> 00:43:11.035
But you got to know it.
00:43:11.535 --> 00:43:13.103
And knowing it just you got to keep reminding yourself.
00:43:13.103 --> 00:43:15.973
Yeah, you got to stay, you got to keep seeing it.
00:43:15.973 --> 00:43:18.275
Keep saying it. yeah.
00:43:18.275 --> 00:43:19.543
You know, somebody said faith
00:43:19.543 --> 00:43:20.978
Is not just believing, but it's,
00:43:20.978 --> 00:43:22.713
But it's saying it, speaking it, speaking it.
00:43:22.713 --> 00:43:24.715
Yeah.
00:43:24.715 --> 00:43:25.883
And then it separates your heart from circumstances.
00:43:25.883 --> 00:43:28.619
Because it used to be if things were going well or things
00:43:28.619 --> 00:43:30.621
Falling into place, then i felt like the lord loved me
00:43:30.621 --> 00:43:33.290
And i had his peace.
00:43:33.290 --> 00:43:34.925
But when you get how much you're loved and you take time
00:43:34.925 --> 00:43:38.295
To sit in that love, then
00:43:38.295 --> 00:43:40.898
Things can go wrong all around you,
00:43:40.898 --> 00:43:43.267
But you're like, i didn't see that coming.
00:43:43.267 --> 00:43:45.402
But you did, and you're here.
00:43:45.402 --> 00:43:47.137
And so many people put their peace off.
00:43:47.137 --> 00:43:49.373
Yeah, well, i'll have peace once i get that job.
00:43:49.373 --> 00:43:51.408
I'll really be able to settle down and have some peace when i
00:43:51.408 --> 00:43:54.845
Move or when i do this, or when i do that, when i get married,
00:43:54.845 --> 00:43:57.848
Whatever it is.
00:43:57.848 --> 00:43:59.483
And god wants you to have it right now.
00:43:59.483 --> 00:44:02.252
We have it now.
00:44:02.252 --> 00:44:03.420
And it's interesting, even as we hear it,
00:44:03.420 --> 00:44:05.255
We're talking about circumstances.
00:44:05.255 --> 00:44:07.091
That's not biblical peace.
00:44:07.091 --> 00:44:08.525
That's a lack of anxiety, right?
00:44:08.525 --> 00:44:10.894
Biblical peace is so much better than, oh, yeah,
00:44:10.894 --> 00:44:14.598
I got a job that'll pay the bills.
00:44:14.598 --> 00:44:15.899
You're like, well, that's fine and good, but that's not going
00:44:15.899 --> 00:44:18.902
To carry you through life well.
00:44:18.902 --> 00:44:20.370
No, because every day changes.
00:44:20.370 --> 00:44:22.740
Circumstances change. that's right.
00:44:22.740 --> 00:44:25.442
This has a ton to do with feelings, if i'm honest.
00:44:25.442 --> 00:44:28.278
I think it's this overarching reality, something much deeper
00:44:28.278 --> 00:44:32.249
And far reaching.
00:44:32.249 --> 00:44:33.117
We have this promise in the bible.
00:44:33.117 --> 00:44:35.486
In this world you will have trouble.
00:44:35.486 --> 00:44:37.621
So if peace is a feeling and we're supposed to experience it
00:44:37.621 --> 00:44:40.524
All the time, what happens when there's trouble?
00:44:40.524 --> 00:44:44.495
The answer is, i have overcome the world, and that's
00:44:44.495 --> 00:44:47.030
Where peace rests.
00:44:47.030 --> 00:44:48.532
It's in the reality.
00:44:48.532 --> 00:44:49.767
Regardless of what i'm facing, regardless of all the
00:44:49.767 --> 00:44:53.137
Things that might be flaring up, the truth of the matter is
00:44:53.137 --> 00:44:56.306
This is finished because of the work of jesus christ.
00:44:56.306 --> 00:44:59.843
He's accomplished it on my behalf.
00:44:59.843 --> 00:45:01.712
So all striving, all fear, all worrying, all punishment was
00:45:01.712 --> 00:45:06.517
Taken to the cross and settled once and for all.
00:45:06.517 --> 00:45:09.720
He himself is our peace.
00:45:09.720 --> 00:45:12.790
How can we during this christmas season?
00:45:12.790 --> 00:45:16.260
How can we share this peace with others during this season?
00:45:16.260 --> 00:45:20.964
I'm actually going to encourage people, some of my friends and
00:45:20.964 --> 00:45:23.867
Family, to do what sheila did with the chair and what your
00:45:23.867 --> 00:45:26.637
Daddy did. that, that really speaks to me.
00:45:26.637 --> 00:45:29.540
And really, i mean, some mornings it feels so intimate
00:45:29.540 --> 00:45:32.376
That barry will come downstairs and he'll just look at me and
00:45:32.376 --> 00:45:35.112
He'll be like, you're with the lord, huh?
00:45:35.112 --> 00:45:37.748
Because it's just this beautiful thing.
00:45:37.748 --> 00:45:40.818
But one of the things i've started doing and i've been
00:45:40.818 --> 00:45:42.820
Surprised by the answers is if i feel prompted by the holy
00:45:42.820 --> 00:45:45.656
Spirit, i'll say to somebody, can i pray for you?
00:45:45.656 --> 00:45:48.025
Like in my uber the other night, we're driving somewhere
00:45:48.025 --> 00:45:50.928
And i felt the lord say, you know, let's pray for him.
00:45:50.928 --> 00:45:54.665
And so i'm thinking, i have
00:45:54.665 --> 00:45:56.133
No idea what this guy's going to think.
00:45:56.133 --> 00:45:57.634
But i asked him and he said, actually, i would love that.
00:45:57.634 --> 00:46:01.138
I think people are more open to that, i think.
00:46:01.138 --> 00:46:03.874
Yeah.
00:46:03.874 --> 00:46:05.175
So being being sensitive to the holy spirit, being again, being
00:46:05.175 --> 00:46:07.711
Aware of that ministry we've been talking about, but asking
00:46:07.711 --> 00:46:11.515
To pray for people,
00:46:11.515 --> 00:46:12.249
I think that's an awesome way
00:46:12.249 --> 00:46:13.617
To be a blessing during this christmas.
00:46:13.617 --> 00:46:15.619
I think interceding too and releasing peace where you go,
00:46:15.619 --> 00:46:18.021
Do you know what i'm saying?
00:46:18.021 --> 00:46:19.223
Even carrying it and being aware, i have the prince of
00:46:19.223 --> 00:46:23.393
Peace with me wherever i go and releasing his presence where my
00:46:23.393 --> 00:46:27.130
Where my feet step, whether that's like the school pick up
00:46:27.130 --> 00:46:29.633
Line or, you know, grocery shopping or wherever i find
00:46:29.633 --> 00:46:33.370
Myself, through airports, i am actively aware of the prince of
00:46:33.370 --> 00:46:39.109
Peace asking him to fill me, to overflow, that he would spill
00:46:39.109 --> 00:46:42.346
Out wherever i am and declaring releasing this
00:46:42.346 --> 00:46:46.016
Kingdom reality it is.
00:46:46.016 --> 00:46:47.618
It's what heaven is built upon.
00:46:47.618 --> 00:46:49.653
And if we want heaven on earth, what does it look like about
00:46:49.653 --> 00:46:53.123
Our days to just be releasing,
00:46:53.123 --> 00:46:55.492
Spilling over the prince of peace?
00:46:55.492 --> 00:46:57.761
Man, can you imagine if every believer, ooh,
00:46:57.761 --> 00:47:01.331
Would just release peace
00:47:01.832 --> 00:47:03.133
Wherever we go?
00:47:03.133 --> 00:47:04.401
We would change our nation and the world,
00:47:04.401 --> 00:47:06.370
Huh? come on.
00:47:06.370 --> 00:47:09.072
When we extend love and peace to others, we're doing exactly
00:47:09.072 --> 00:47:11.708
What jesus said when he said, this is the last
00:47:11.708 --> 00:47:14.244
Commandment i give you.
00:47:14.244 --> 00:47:15.345
This is in the gospel of john, chapter 13 verse 34.
00:47:15.345 --> 00:47:19.216
He says, love others as i have loved you.
00:47:19.216 --> 00:47:23.253
I want you to love my other image bearers.
00:47:23.253 --> 00:47:26.423
And in that way people will see me.
00:47:26.423 --> 00:47:28.458
In other words, when we love other people, well, they go,
00:47:28.458 --> 00:47:31.728
Ain't no way they could love me like that unless there's
00:47:31.728 --> 00:47:34.464
Something divine in them.
00:47:34.464 --> 00:47:35.632
And so they kind of turn toward jesus when we love them.
00:47:35.632 --> 00:47:38.735
Well, um, that is the fulfillment of the gospel.
00:47:38.735 --> 00:47:42.105
First, we love god.
00:47:42.105 --> 00:47:43.740
Secondly, we love each other.
00:47:43.740 --> 00:47:45.542
Frankly, i don't think you can be a christ follower if you
00:47:45.542 --> 00:47:50.013
Don't love his image bearers.
00:47:50.013 --> 00:47:51.481
That's all throughout the gospels.
00:47:51.481 --> 00:47:53.617
And so that is, uh, that's part and parcel
00:47:53.617 --> 00:47:59.022
Of who we're called to be.
00:47:59.022 --> 00:48:00.257
We're called not just to be consumers of the gospel, but
00:48:00.257 --> 00:48:03.460
We're called to be carriers of some measure of the grace that
00:48:03.460 --> 00:48:06.196
He lavished on us.
00:48:06.196 --> 00:48:08.098
So, father god, we just thank you.
00:48:08.865 --> 00:48:10.767
We thank you for being the prince of peace.
00:48:10.767 --> 00:48:13.570
We thank you for coming into this world and turning it
00:48:13.570 --> 00:48:18.208
Upside down.
00:48:18.208 --> 00:48:19.943
We thank you for your love and your power.
00:48:19.943 --> 00:48:22.346
And we pray, father god, that all of us who are carrying this
00:48:22.346 --> 00:48:26.984
Peace would be peacemakers, and that we would realize the gift
00:48:26.984 --> 00:48:31.254
That we have is not just meant for us, but it's so that we
00:48:31.254 --> 00:48:34.624
Would share it with the whole world, father god, so i just
00:48:34.624 --> 00:48:37.728
Pray that all of us would be sensitive to your your spirit
00:48:37.728 --> 00:48:41.999
So that this season people will come to know you.
00:48:41.999 --> 00:48:46.403
People will experience your peace through the peace that
00:48:46.403 --> 00:48:49.973
You've given us.
00:48:49.973 --> 00:48:51.241
And lord, we pray for people who are hurting today, people
00:48:51.241 --> 00:48:55.012
Who are in the middle of chaos
00:48:55.012 --> 00:48:57.080
And don't know what's happening.
00:48:57.080 --> 00:48:58.882
Father god, we just release your peace into their hearts
00:48:58.882 --> 00:49:02.185
And to their situation and to their homes and to their
00:49:02.185 --> 00:49:05.222
Families and to their children.
00:49:05.222 --> 00:49:07.224
Lord, we pray that your peace would just flood their lives
00:49:07.224 --> 00:49:12.396
This season and for the rest of their lives.
00:49:12.396 --> 00:49:14.398
We pray that they would recognize who you are and would
00:49:14.398 --> 00:49:17.434
Say yes to you.
00:49:17.434 --> 00:49:18.869
They would just yield to your spirit so that they can
00:49:18.869 --> 00:49:22.305
Experience salvation and the prince of peace.
00:49:22.305 --> 00:49:25.942
In jesus' name, amen. amen.
00:49:25.942 --> 00:49:29.546
Connect with us on social media and let us know how our team
00:49:30.714 --> 00:49:33.583
Can pray for you.
00:49:33.583 --> 00:49:39.823
I think we all go through some seasons in our lives where
00:49:40.957 --> 00:49:43.527
We feel alone.
00:49:43.527 --> 00:49:44.995
So i want you to know this christmas, if you feel like
00:49:44.995 --> 00:49:48.398
You're alone, i want to remind
00:49:48.398 --> 00:49:49.866
You that you're not. the god of all
00:49:49.866 --> 00:49:52.736
Heaven is sitting beside you.
00:49:52.736 --> 00:49:55.172
God is with you.
00:49:55.172 --> 00:49:56.406
The holy spirit is on the inside of you to comfort you,
00:49:56.406 --> 00:50:01.111
To give you peace that passes all understanding to give
00:50:01.111 --> 00:50:04.548
You joy unspeakable.
00:50:04.548 --> 00:50:06.616
Here at tbn and better together, we make every effort
00:50:06.616 --> 00:50:10.554
To put our hearts and souls into making sure that you don't
00:50:10.554 --> 00:50:14.291
Feel alone in any way.
00:50:14.291 --> 00:50:16.093
So we want to stay with you.
00:50:16.093 --> 00:50:17.828
We want to be there for you, and our hearts are with you. as
00:50:17.828 --> 00:50:21.731
We, a family of god, make this beautiful worship to him this
00:50:21.731 --> 00:50:26.536
Christmas season, just to remember that you are loved.
00:50:26.536 --> 00:50:30.207
You are chosen.
00:50:30.207 --> 00:50:31.741
God has not forgotten you.
00:50:31.741 --> 00:50:33.310
God sees you.
00:50:33.310 --> 00:50:34.744
God is with you.
00:50:34.744 --> 00:50:35.712
God is for you, and we're with you, too.
00:50:35.712 --> 00:50:39.316
Be the first to know all the latest better together updates.
00:50:39.316 --> 00:50:43.120
Visit bettertogether.tv to sign up for our weekly emails
00:50:43.120 --> 00:50:46.790
And never miss the latest news!
00:50:46.790 --> 00:50:49.126
♪♪
00:50:49.126 --> 00:50:49.126

The Promised Prince of Peace - Episode 1124

December 18, 2025 | S7 E1124 | 52:34

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