God’s Peace

Not as the World Gives

/ pastorpete51 / Leave a comment

After reading this verse have you ever stopped to ask, “How does the word give?” Thinking back to peace negotiations from the Vietnam war to the Palestinian conflict the press has focused on ‘peace talks’. The headlines and the world’s hopes are attached to talks which drag on for years all while people are still being killed. But Jesus is offering to give us a peace that is more than talk.. His peace requires no mediation by an outside party because He is the mediator between us and God. The peace Jesus offers us today has no terms other than His unconditional surrender on the cross and our unconditional surrender to Him. This peace is available immediately, lasts forever and is bought by His own blood. There is nothing nor will there ever be any other peace like it on earth. God is opening a peace conference just for us this morning. When we are done with our running away from Him; He is waiting to give us a peace that makes of enemies friends and of angry rebels His own sons and daughters!

 

1522571192821_image.jpg

When will we get home?

/ pastorpete51 / Leave a comment

He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.  But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:7-8

“When are we getting home?” the kids used to pester their mother and I from the back seat of our car many years ago. Whether it was one hour or one day, no matter how many times we explained,  they never seemed to be able to just relax. In much the same way the disciples of Jesus who had just finished a three and a half year apprenticeship and a forty day journey of stress, sorrow and then joy wanted to know when they would  get to the end of their journey. They could have picked up a lesson from the prophet Jeremiah who looking at all the disasters around him in Jerusalem probably wondered the same thing himself. How gracious of our God to come to us, and not to just yell into the back seat, “Just sit down and be quiet!”. God knows the depths of our anxious thoughts and He comes to give us the blessed and healing assurance. that He knows not only the end of the journey but also all the stops along the way! Some days I really need to remind myself of the words of this song – “Now I’m riding in the back seat, and I find that that’s the very place to be. Now I’m riding in the back seat. And I’m leaving all the driving to the chief!”

 

 

 

Where is that Peace on Earth?

/ pastorpete51 / Leave a comment

What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun. Ecclesiastes 1:9

Pete Seeger was sort of quoting King Solomon when he sang “A time for peace, I pray it’s not too late!” in the song “Turn turn turn” At the time the song became a number one hit in 1965, the unspoken reference was to the Vietnam war. Few of us as teenagers had read the verses from Ecclesiastes chapter three which had inspired the song, or thought much about what King Solomon was pointing out:

P1010264

Even as Christmas approaches we also are faced with the continued threats of terrorism and war. Whether people are, dining out, going to the movies or even attending their weekly prayer meetings it seems that there is no place exempt from violence. But in these moments when everything seems to be closing in, we have to remind ourselves that Jesus never promised peace on earth, for now. In fact He guaranteed us that:

In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”    John 16:33

Because Jesus went to the cross, true peace is always possible – Thank God it is never too late! But peace is not the absence of war, though we would wish it so. Peace is the presence of the dove of peace ruling in our hearts no matter what comes.