So the sermon title for today is called The Lord is Peace. The Lord is Peace. I was seeking the Lord for a message and he's kept me on this same topic. He is peace. He is peace, that's been the subject of my last three messages. It has been a key point in my prayer life for the past year. I've had to minister to people about the peace of God, but I've had to put into practice walking in the peace of God. And I realize as I'm praying and leaning on the Lord, I realize I don't know how to maneuver through that without constantly being in prayer. because we have pseudo kind of pieces. We know how to escape into whatever to try to distract ourselves from the stresses and strains of life. And so the way things become more and more unstable, the way things become more and more unmanageable, the more and more we want to make sure that we are in communion with God and experiencing the peace that he has to offer. So peace has been a priority for the message and we're, We need this piece because we're serving Him in very trying times. Okay, I just named a few things. I wrote them off and I just want to articulate it to you at a high level. Unstable, intense weather patterns. Unstable and intense weather patterns. We're hearing about these storms that are much more intense than normal, and we're seeing it wipe out whole cities of people. I mean, my mind went into, when I saw the disaster in Texas, and I was watching a lot of clips, my mind went to the fact that somebody woke up that morning, made their coffee, and thought this was gonna be BAU, business as usual. And all of a sudden, they went from business as usual to crisis management. Can you imagine that? Waking up, having your breakfast, and I heard one lady say she woke up, had her coffee, and before you know it, she was waist high in water. She didn't think, and all she had to do was grab whatever she could and get out. And those kind of stories seem to be happening more often now. And quite as it kept, we haven't had that kind of experience here. But it can happen. 89, most of us remember 1989. A lot of us remember. And we thought it was business as usual. Got up, went to the job, fell asleep on a bar train because I used to work in a civic center on Bank of America, and I had my regular routine, going from there to Lake Merritt. I knew how to take a nap and wake up on the spot. And so I woke up and we were at West Oakland Station and we were like, what's going on? The BART train over us is empty. Saw someone jumping up and down. The Cypress had fell. Business as usual changed. And so we have to realize that we really live in an unstable earth, that we really need to learn how to trust God, because it can go from zero to 100. Wake up tomorrow, you think you're going to handle your business, and the next thing you know, you're going from business as usual to crisis management. Then on top of it, we got the North Korea nuclear missile threat. Now, North Korea threatened to bomb Guam. Guam is where my folks are from. I'm Chamorran from Guam. And so I grew up in the 70s. Nobody knew what Guam was. Guam is a little island out in the Pacific. Don't nobody know where Guam is. Some people, a handful of people knew where Guam was. But the fact of the matter is I thought to myself, I said, who would ever thought the way people would come to know about the place where I came from was because a nuclear missile was coming toward it. You know what I'm saying? And so here we have weird times. And I saw a YouTube video where this guy woke up in the middle of the morning because sirens were going off because a missile was fired. So they fired a missile and it blew off in Japan. So that's another level of concern that we need the peace of God for these times. Instability and volatility in our government. Racial tension and hatred across the nation. It gets real ugly on the worldwide web. Apparent abuses of authority by people in power. Increased corporate corruption. After the mortgage meltdown and the bailout, we were told that Main Street need to take precedence over Wall Street, but nothing has changed. Wall Street still continues to triumph over Main Street. So much so that we can't trust our food, we can't trust our water, You go buy supplements because you're going to try to keep yourself healthy, and you find out that there was so much deregulation that you can't even trust that. We have troubling reports, statistical trends as we try to evangelize. Increased narcissism I talked about in the last message. Narcissistic attitudes and behaviors. And it's impacting even our families and friends. Increases in depression, anxiety, and suicide among groups, including the youth. CDC released a report. about increased suicide amongst young people. Increasing number of people abandoning the faith in significant numbers. Breaks in churches over deceptive doctrines creeping in. Radical shifts in the culture, I mentioned this the last time, against absolute truth, marriage, and gender, and the indoctrination of our youth. So we need this peace. It's not a luxury, it's a necessity if you want to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. So we want to walk in his peace to serve his purposes. So let's go to the next slide. And this is the primary message, I mean, verse that I've been, passage that I've been preaching from. John 14, 23, 27 says, Jesus replied, anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them and we will come to them and make our home with them. Anybody who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own. They belong to the Father who sent me. All this I have spoken while still with you, but the Advocate, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. And one of the things I mentioned was he didn't make this promise to the crowd. He did not make this promise to the crowd. There were many times when the crowds followed him, he didn't tell the crowd that I'm gonna give you my peace. He waited until he was talking to his disciples. And he said, I'm going to send you the comforter, but I'm going to give you my peace. He called the peace of God out. And why was that so important for him to say? Because he knew what was going to come down the line. He knew, I'm leaving. I'm gonna die a tragic death and you guys are gonna be martyred. So one of the things he wanted to do is make sure that you understand, I'm gonna give you my peace. And that quality of peace was not the same as the world's, because the source of the peace was not the world's. And it correlated with the giving of the Holy Spirit. And we know the Holy Spirit, one of the attributes of the Holy Spirit is peace. So a key dependency on this peace is you have to be obedient. He's not going to give it to rebels or rogues. He's not going to give it to you if you're walking in opposition to you. So here's the blessing though. A lack of peace could be an indication that you're in the wrong place. Now, let me make this clear. I'm not saying it has to be the case, but a lack of peace could be an indication you're in the wrong place. And there are times when I'm walking, handling my business, and I know I said something, I don't feel right, I'm off. And that's an indication I need to get back and retreat into the presence of God. So a lack of peace could be an indication. I'm not saying it absolutely has to, but it's a good checkpoint. Let me get into the presence of God. Let me make sure that I'm in the right place. It's not a bad thing. It's actually a good thing because he's not going to reward you with peace if he's trying to shepherd you. Now, you don't reward a sheep that's going rogue. You, to the, now let me, let me, let me, this has come to my mind, back to my memory. I had heard one of the practices of a shepherd was if they had a wayward sheep, and it was a regularly wayward sheep, they would break the legs and put that sheep over their neck to carry it because it had a tendency to go astray. And in the same sense, God is shepherding us. Remember, his goal is not our goal. We're constantly being told about the goal is to get your best life now and live your best life ever. You know, in the American dream, you know, dream your dream and live your dream. But the fact of the matter is, Jesus' goal is to conform you into the image of Christ. Once you're saved, that means he's going to make you look like Jesus before it's all said and done. He'll break you, he'll mold you, he'll shape you. But the fact of the matter is, he's waiting for that white flag of surrender. And as we yield to him, then we... Of the fruit of the spirit. What is the fruit of the spirit? Love, peace, joy, gentleness, kindness, goodness, faith, temperance, meekness. As we yield to God, now, Let me break it down for two seconds. I know if I'm not prayerful. I can be something else. I can be something else. I can go from if you put me in a high volatile situation. I can get moody. I can go some places. So I'm learning how to mature and how to invite God into more of those stressful situations. One of the things you can't do is justify it. So when I'm sitting up there and I'm like, okay, you should have known not to walk up on me in this time because I'm under a lot of pressure. No, no. I can't be delivered from something that I'm justifying. And sometimes we make moodiness acceptable. You know what I'm saying? You come up on a Christian and you say, how are you doing? No, that's not the fruit of the spirit. I haven't seen that in there. You know, murmuring, grumbling, it ain't even in there. So what we have to do is we got to not make it okay and make it a matter of prayer. Amen. So in order to experience this, so the lack of peace could be an indication of a problem. And so what you got to do is examine your priorities. He said, seek ye first the kingdom of God and all its righteousness and everything will be added unto you. Don't, don't beat up on yourself to the extent that you're going to be stuck. Just reshift your priorities. If he gave you another day, it's another day where you can, you have brand new mercies and you can reprioritize his kingdom. Amen. So he's going to make us have a disciplined life where we study, pray, and obey. Where we study, pray, and obey. I say study, not read. It's different. We have to remember, you're called to be a student of the Lord. You're called to be a soldier in the army. So what you have to do is learn how to be a student of this word. And that's more than surface knowledge. I learn a scripture or two, I quote it, and I'm gonna show you that when it comes to this particular verse that I quote a lot, that if you don't understand things in context, just like the peace of God, I want the peace of God, but I want the peace of God to do what I wanna do. I want the peace of God so I can live my best life ever. Why is God, why am I so frustrated, right? I'm just trying to live the dream and I'm not at peace. Well, maybe God is trying to shift your priorities and make him your priority. Amen? And that's a good thing. That's a loving thing. I know sometimes we don't look at it, but chastisement, the Bible says he chastises those he loves. So if he's messing with you all up in your life, that's a good thing. That means he's trying to get your attention. Let him get all up in your business, let him get up all in your life, because he's saying, look, I'm Abba father, you're not running nothing. And this day and time where kids try to run to parents, he don't play that. He don't play that. No, you aren't going to know who the authoritarian is in this household. So if you name the name of Jesus Christ and you are of the household of faith, he will chastise you if you're in the wrong place. Amen? So being a student of this word is important. Why? Because one of the main attributes of the scripture is a mirror. It's a mirror. It's a mirror for your motives. I quoted that scripture the last time. The Word of God is quick and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing center of soul and spirits, joint and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and the intent of the heart. So before you read the Word so you can bash your brother and sister, read that Word to see how off you are that you want to go bash your brother and sister. You know what I'm saying? It's not about you. It's about you not making you feel great about yourself. I mean, we want to know where we're right. I mean, we don't want to just abuse ourselves to no end, but really it's to go in here and sit up here and find out things that I need to be groomed of and pruned of so that I can continue to grow in the faith. Amen. So let's go to the next verse. The kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. So you notice that righteousness precedes peace and I mentioned that before. Now we're not made righteous because of what we do. We're made righteous because of what he did for us. Okay, so I'm not talking about salvation by works but Our works, but I keep repeating this but we're saved to produce good works You when you are bought with the price and you realize that you're not your own You're not supposed to live your life for you anymore. It's a it's a game-changer It's not B-A-U. It's not the same old, same old. It's now I need to learn about this God that saved me. I need to grow in the knowledge of him. I need to walk with him. I need to talk with him. I need to let him lead me in my life. I need to let him change the trajectory of my life. If that's not the life we want to do, I can set all the goals and there's nothing wrong with setting goals and planning and preparing, but he can change it up in a minute. And thank God he does because he knows the end from the beginning and he knows better than us. I had one idea 20 years ago when I surrendered to him about where my life should be and how my life should go and who should be in my life and what I should be doing and he changed it up and I thank God for it because I couldn't see past where I was. but he's the one that knows how to make the shifts. And one of the things about it is he can give you peace with aligning with his decision. So obeying him, being in his presence, allowing him to align his will, it may frustrate you for a minute, but you surrender and get in his presence and you start to experience more of the peace of God while you're maturing in God. Confession is key for the believer. Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy. I went through all these things. I said, when should you get in the Word? I put a list up, if you guys remember the last time. And I said, there are attitudes that are not Christ-like. that are spelled out in the New Testament. There is conversation that is not Christ-like that's spelled out in the New Testament. There is conduct that is not Christ-like that is spelled out in the New Testament. And we need to be in that word because we may forget sometimes. Especially like when you're in non-Christian surroundings. It's easy to be Christ-like when you around us. When we around each other, then we can remember, okay, Jesus is the reason, and better act right. But when you around other people who ain't acting right, it's easy to not act right. It is. When people cop an attitude, well, you know, I know how to cop an attitude, too. When you talk crazy, I know how to talk crazy, too. You know what I'm saying? But the fact of the matter is, is I'm not supposed to be a chameleon. I'm not supposed to blend into my environment. If all of us were 100% honest, we can all say we've had chameleon moments. And we have chameleon struggles. And the struggle is real. You know what I'm saying? Because sometimes you're like, OK, Lord, I'm making a conscious decision. I am going to act like you in this situation. Then you go in there, and before you know it, you got hijacked. And you're like, oh. Lord, help me. And you realize, wow, I'm a piece of work. And that's OK. That's OK, because that means you still have a resolve to walk with him. Once you justify it, you're stuck. It's over. And then he has to more than likely break you down to, OK, you're right. You're right. But we have to constantly be reminded, we're supposed to be the light in the culture. We don't flicker lights. You know, I'm a light when I'm around light, but when I'm around darkness, you know, I dim the lights a little bit. No, I'm supposed to be a light, especially in darkness. So, but that's a challenge. That means you got to learn how to be very prayerful. You have to be in that word, a student of that word, growing in the knowledge of the word. I started reading this thing about 20 years ago, 1990. That's more like 27 years ago. Somebody do the math for me. 90, 2002, more like 17, right? Somebody help me with the math. 27. I'm getting older, you guys, so. But I started reading about 27 years ago. And you never master it because you still need to deal with this flesh up until he comes. So you gotta always be in that mirror, just like you don't sit up and say, well, I looked at the mirror last week, and I took a shower last week, so I should be fine, I won't be funky, right? No. Look doesn't take care of today's representation. So you gotta be in that mirror every day. And the more you do it and the more you practice it, not just read it, the more proficient you become with it. So allow yourself the grace to grow, but grow. So one of the things we wanna do is look at the mirror, check our motives, because even things that look right can be wrong. And the Lord showed me that early on in my walk with him. I remember I went up, I was at the job, and we had an open space, and I went and did something, and I walked back, and I sat, and all these people were like, dang, look at Rick, he's just, he a Christian. Look at how Christianly he's acting. But I came back, and I was praying, and the Lord said, you did that for you. you trying to make you look good. And he will alter our motives. He'll say, look, this is, no, this is about me. This is not about you being you and you being wonderful. And so he'll teach us humility. Okay, let's see. One of the main things I'm saying is his goal is our development into Christ like this and confession and repentance is a regular part of that process. Okay, we can go ahead to the next. And these are really the two scriptures, this is one of the two scriptures that was on my heart to really go over. So 1 Peter 5, 1 and 11 says, so I exhort the elders among you as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that's going to be revealed. Shepherd the flock of God that is among you. exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you, not for shameful gain, but eagerly, not domineering over those in charge, but being an example to you. And when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. Likewise, you who are younger be subject to the elder. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, and this is the scriptural verse that really is the primary verse for this holding. Casting all your anxieties upon Him because He cares for you. Casting all your anxieties upon Him because He cares for you. Be sober minded, be watchful, your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. Resist him firm in the faith knowing that the same kind of sufferings are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world, and after you've suffered a while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be dominion forever and ever, amen. I want to show you this one little point. Casting all your cares upon him because he cares for you. Sin is one of the things I said. Not all things are sins. Sometimes we have to check our hearts to see if there's any unconfessed sin, but some things are not sins. They're just cares but if we don't address the cares The Bible lets us know it will choke the word from being fruitful. So we not only want to make sure we don't have any unconfessed sins, but we want to make sure we don't have any unsurrendered cares. And so those things that would wear and try to wear us out is not necessarily sin. It's just the things that are trying to burden you down. And if you don't take that to the Lord, then it is can be sin because it's the sin of independence. He wants us to rely on Him. And there's no way we cannot rely on Him under some of the real pressures and the struggles and the strains and the stresses and the trials and the tribulations as well as the things that He's commissioned us to do. It's over our head. But He didn't mean for you to handle it independent of Him. And just like when I told you guys the last time, about him saying, my peace I give you, right after he turns around and says, I am the vine, you are the branches. Right after that saying, read it in its context. That's why context is critical. We want to quote scriptures, but it's like, look at the context of that scripture. So right after he said, I'm going to give you my peace, I'm going to give you the Holy Ghost, then he turns around and he says, I am the vine. Apart from you, you can do nothing. You can't do nothing. that is going to advance the furtherance of the kingdom. So if you really want to have kingdom impact and then later on kingdom reward, you want to make sure you're connected to Christ. Involves a lot of confession because he said not only do I want you to connect I'm gonna purge you I'm gonna prune you and that you may bring forth more fruits So we're also always going through the clipping process and it's better to sit up and say, you know I got an attitude problem and let him have to break you off and show you you got an attitude problem So that's why it's better. I'm gonna be in this mirror cuz I don't want my extra trials, you know I don't need extra. I got enough right? So let me let me get up in his face and And before I got to get broke off, let me look at my mirror and let me check myself. Right? So that's the regular, that's the blessing about being in communion with him. So, but I wanted you to see a couple of things, and this is the only thing I really want to call out, that casting your cares upon him is in the context of serving. He calls the leaders to serve in a certain way, and he says the youth also subject yourself to the elders. So in serving and submitting to one another, then he'll give us the, I mean, we're in a right place to be able to cast our cares upon him. It's also in humility. So it's in service and humility. You can't be off the hook and be like, well, what I'm trying to throw my cares upon the Lord, but no, he's he's frustrating you because he wants you to get into the right place. Sometimes we got, because sometimes we don't, that seems simple, but I've seen a lot of people in a frustrated place and you try to minister to try to pray for them, but you're like, look, he's trying to get you from here to here. He really wants you to throw the white flag of surrender up. He wants you to surrender. People in the 12 steps in recovery know we wanted peace while we did what we did. We got our drink on. And we sat there and thought, you know, I just want everything to be okay. I'd wake up, blackouts, total tons of cars along the way. One time I was arrested, but fortunately they didn't charge me, especially during the 80s because you know, Mothers Against Drug Drivers was hot on our tail at that time. And I was handcuffed in that back seat of the car and I prayed and I said, I'll give you my life. Now I lied. I did, because I've played a lot of negotiating games with God during this. If you get me out of here, I'll give you my life. And he got me out, and I went back to BAU. And then I had to go back to God. front and I got into another situation I was smoking crack and it was about I can see I was about to take the nest eat lunch and I said I swear I was like Lord I'll give you my life and he made a way got out of the situation and then I went back to business so it was a lot of negotiating and he was faithful but I wasn't But he had to keep bringing me back to the place. Okay, now are you ready to surrender? Now are you ready to give me your life? And since doing that, I'm starting to understand kingdom privileges, kingdom benefits. When you're in the right place, you know I can take my cares to him. I can surrender to him. I know that if I pray, that I oftentimes will get the peace of God that surpasses all understanding, that guards your heart and Christ's minds and Christ Jesus. And don't think that everything has to be that dramatic. It doesn't have to be drug use. It doesn't have to be alcohol. Sometimes it's just like, I'm just gonna do what the Lord is calling you to serve in this capacity, to do something. You're like, no, I don't wanna do it. And you have the Jonah effect, that where you go, You not happy, but everyone around you's not happy either. Because you affecting everybody. You affecting you and everybody around you. And everyone's like, something ain't right. Throw somebody overboard. You know what I'm saying? So it's like, so we can learn. We can cast our cares upon. Why do we need that? Why do we need to know that? Because it's getting more and more real every day. is getting more and more real every day. We see the political climate getting crazy. We see the weather patterns getting crazy. Call it the return of Christ impending or the beginning of birth pains, but stuff is happening. And just like a mother pays attention when the contractions start to happen, that maybe this baby's about to come. The same way we're supposed to pay attention when things become unstable around us, when things became uncertain around us, that we need to cling to Christ. Amen. And situations may not change, but if you can have the peace of God in the midst, you can be blessed and be even a blessing to those around you. Amen. Let's go to the next one. And then I'm going to give you one story, and then we're done. The Call of Gideon. Now, the angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him and said, The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor. And Gideon said to him, Please, my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt? But now the Lord has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian. And the Lord turned to him and said, go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian. Do not I send you? And he said to him, please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I'm the least in my father's house. And the Lord said to him, but I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man. And he said to him, if now I have found favor or not in your eyes, then show me a sign that it is you who speak with me. Please do not depart from here until I come to you and bring out my present and set it before you. And he said, I will stay till you return. Let's go to the next one. And I'm a backtrack. So Gideon went into his house and prepared a young goat and unloving cakes from an ephah of flour. The meat he put in a basket and the broth he put in a pot and brought them to him under the terebinth and presented them. And the angel of God said to him, take the meat and the unloving cakes and put them on this rock and pour the broth over them. And he did so. Then the angel of the Lord reached out the tip of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened cakes. And fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened cakes. And the angel of the Lord vanished from his sight. Then Gideon perceived that he was the angel of the Lord. And Gideon said, Alas, O Lord God, for now I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face. But the Lord said to him, Peace be to you. Do not fear, you shall not die. Then Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and called it, The Lord is Peace. To this day, it still stands at Ofra, which belongs to the Abiezrites. Let's go back to the prior slide, thank you. And so, a couple of things that came to my mind. I wanted to go in a certain direction, but the Holy Spirit would not let me go in that direction, and I felt led to go in this. He was called by God to serve him. Pastor Jamie's talking about it. We're all called to something when we're in the body. We're called to serve in some capacity. And so he was called by God to serve in very hostile, dire times, in a very hostile, dire environment. He had lots of legitimate cares. and concerns, anxiety, and fear. You have to understand, during the time of the judges, when the children of Israel would act crazy, and they would cry out to the Lord because they started reaping, and they would go into captivity, God would raise up a judge, someone who would be an instrument by which he would lead them out of captivity. And so, this is who Gideon was. He was a chosen vessel to lead them out of captivity. And so he was serving in dire times. And one of the ways you can know it was because, and I saw it in one commentary, was that he was sitting, where is it? He was beating out the wheat in a wine press to hide it from the Midianites. So he was hiding. And he was beating out wheat himself. He wasn't using an ox like normally was done. He was hiding in the wine press rather than doing it outdoors. Why? Because whenever they would come in, And they would raid, exactly, they would raid. And so then there was famine in the land. Basically, it was hard times. They were always in fear of being attacked, terrorism. On top of it, they had a scarcity of food. So here he is hiding. Now, this is the interesting thing. He's hiding, and the angel of the Lord says, the Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor. So he's calling him a mighty man of valor, and he's hiding. He's scared. The God is calling him a mighty man of valor. And he starts telling the Lord, you know, this is what's going on, you know, basically, you know, what happened to all the miracles? We're sitting up here where there's no ownership about the fact that we're in idolatry, but let's not go there right now. But the fact of the matter is the Lord has forsaken us, right? And then he says, go in this mighty of yours and save Israel from the hand of many. Do I not I send you? And so he's talking to this guy, and then this guy starts rattling off his credentials. My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I'm the least in my father's house. So this is somebody who does not feel qualified. This is somebody who says, I ain't got no credentials. Why are you raising me up? Why are you choosing me? You see what I'm saying? And why are you choosing me to do this impossible task? Don't you see the situation? You need someone who can really handle the business because this is some rough stuff we're dealing with right now. And so, but this is the thing, the Lord doesn't get upset with him. He continues to deal with him in the exchange. And he says, I will be with you and you shall strike the Midianites as one man. Now, as one man means you're going to have to mobilize people. Not only did I call you, but I called you to mobilize people. And you can imagine I'm trying to cause you to mobilize people who probably are not motivated. who are probably just as scared as I am, probably in their own little wine press, being their own little threshing floor, and you gonna sit up there and get me to motivate this group of people, you know, with my lack of credential self? And so here, but here's the thing that is interesting. He had very legitimate cares and concerns, and he had a lot of anxiety and fear, and God gives him peace. Out of all the things that he calls in every, you know, we hear about, sometimes we've talked about, I think when we started TLC, about the names of God, Jehovah Jireh, Jehovah Sincanu, Jehovah Shalom, Jehovah M. Kadesh, all these different things. But his experience with God caused him to call out a particular attribute of God, which is God is peace. That's what I need him to be right now. because I don't have it. You see what I'm saying? And he's giving me something that I don't have. This is the blessing. He is peace. So he's starting to experience God as his peace. Okay, now he's gonna need that peace. God don't give you nothing just so you can have something. He gives you something because you're gonna need it. And that's the main point of this whole messages of we need his peace. Because we are in dire times. It is a dire environment. And you are called to serve in it. And you have to be humble. in the midst of it. So, one of the things about the word Jehovah Shalom, it meant completeness. A wish, when you greeted someone with Shalom, you were saying, I wish you completeness. I wish contentment, fulfillment, satisfaction, for blessing, for well-being, prosperity in all levels. So, that's what you meant when you were saying, I wish you Shalom. The New Testament word, Irenae, is Tranquil state of soul as a soul is at rest a satisfied soul But this is the one thing I want you guys to get out of this and then we're gonna be done He talked to God from where he was at He's he had a conversation God didn't shut him down and He but it was reverence and real now This is the one thing I have a problem with because I've heard people sit up there and say I talked I cussed out the Lord this morning cuz I was mad and And I was like, because that's how the kind of relationship we have with each other. I keep it 100. He knows what's in my heart. I'm like, no. It's real and reverence. Because at the end of the day, he's God and you're not. You know what I'm saying? At the end of the day, you need him. He doesn't need you. So there's some humility that has to come in this. And I do that all the time because we still encased in this flesh, this sinful nature, and we can get ungrateful. I have ungrateful moments. I get frustrated moments. I get some complaining moments. And if you catch me before I pray, you may hear more than you want to hear about how frustrated I am about the situation. But I've learned how to run into his presence and learn how to cast those cares upon him because otherwise I'm not going to represent right. That's the main point of this particular message. Last one is about doing a heart check up. This one how to cast your cares upon him. And we are in times, now this is one thing, God intervened in his life and turned his panic into peace, his fear into faith, his lack of confidence to courageousness based upon his confidence in the Lord. We need our emotions to be settled a lot of the times. We need our emotions. We may know how to quote a scripture, but I need my emotions to come into line with this scripture. I need the peace of God. I need that scripture to be more real to me. So that comes by you being in communion with him. He needed it because God was gonna have him tear down the idol of his father and the community. As soon as he gave him that peace, he had to go in and he had to tear down the idol of his community so much so that they were gonna kill him. They were hostile toward him. But because he had spent time in the presence of God, he had peace, and he had courage to be able to go forth. He was going to fight an enemy with limited resources. He was going to mobilize a group to take on their hostile, relentless adversary. He needed the peace of God. And even when you read those stories, and I admonish you to read it, it's only three chapters. When you go and you read it, he didn't stop. It wasn't a one-time conversation. And even the Lord was so gracious to him that even when he went into the battle, he said, okay, if you're scared, bring your friend with you. Bring your servant with you, I mean. Bring your servant with you. God was very gracious to him. He was having intimate communion with God, and so that's a priority that we have to say. So he was in a naturally, emotionally uncomfortable place, anxious-filled place. He would have to lead the people, leaning solely on the Lord. He would have to wait on his direction and his timing, and this is how God is. He had a small group of people that he was mobilizing, like 32,000, and the army against him was greater. And so he was like, look, we got to lean on the Lord because we got a smaller group. And this is what God does to them. Okay, that's still too many. So it's like, okay, Lord, the odds were already against us. You want to make the odds even more? I'm going to take it down another level. Yes, you got too many people because I want to look good in this situation. It's going to be about me moving on in the situation to get the glory. So he had to I mean and that's good, but he had to keep praying because when you're in the fight and God tells you to make the odds even worse. You need the emotions to come subject. So we need to be in communion with God, casting our cares upon the Lord. We have to be constantly surrendered. I thought my prayer life was good until these trials started coming. And that's the one thing that's supposed to happen is you're supposed to grow. So the fifth grade homework wasn't good for the sixth grade. And the 6th grade homework ain't gonna be good for the 7th grade. You know, you can't say, you know, you're in the 7th grade. Well, you know, I did all my homework last year. Okay. But you in the 7th grade and the expectation level is higher. So in the same way, the more you grow, you gotta learn how to put away childish things. Time to man up, woman up, soldier up. And that's the thing, the metaphor of a soldier means you gotta learn how to lean, live on lean times. And that sometimes is emotionally lean times. So we want to be intimately connected and surrender. I want to leave you with these last, let's go to not only this, let's go to the next one. And actually the one after that. Philippians 4, 4, and 9 says, Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I say rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer, supplication, and thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. Don't be anxious even to get to the next moment. Meaning, if you're in the midst of something, you're waiting on the Lord, be anxious to pray. Be anxious to get into his presence. And it's not only prayer, supplication, but it's also thanksgiving. Thank you, Lord, for learning how to be content every step of the way. You gonna be a praying somebody before it's all said and done, but the Bible says, you shall know my house shall be called a house of prayer. Men ought to pray always. Pray without. Bless God. And then he says, if you make it a point to prioritize prayer and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. That's a key part. I don't want to be anxious for anything. I want to have the peace of God so I can maneuver in the situation according to his direction. Not out of panic, but out of peace. Finally, brothers, whatsoever is true, whatsoever is honorable, Lovely whatever is commendable if there's any excellence if there is anything worthy of praise think about these things So you get a you're learning to get a hold of your thought life in your prayer Which you have learned and received and heard and seen him in me practice these things and the God of peace Will be with you. Let's go to the last scripture Isaiah 26 3 says you will keep him in perfect. Peace those whose minds are steadfast and because they trust in you, not people that glance at you every now and then. You know, I took a look at the Lord this morning. I'm good for the rest of the day. No, I got to keep my mind stayed on Jesus. You know, I peeked over and saw him for a minute, but now my mind is fixated on my situation. No, I need my mind to be on Jesus. And God, I can only tell you this, and I'm gonna be quiet, but on my job, when I came back, and I'm gonna be 100% transparent here, I had to leave the corporation that I left because I had like a meltdown of sorts. And I went seven years, because I didn't think I could handle life. That was at the time when God arrested me and started to take control of my life. And I was, I had lost so much confidence in my ability. I just took whatever could come my way and take temp jobs. I wasn't working regularly. I told you guys I was living on everybody's couch, you know, but there was a certain point. It was actually literally, this is God. And I left the corporation in September of 90, and they wouldn't hire me back, and then someone called me and I got rehired in September of 97. I don't do number things, but it just happened that it was exactly seven years later. Now, mind you, I worked at that corporation from September of 83, and left in September of 90, which was literally seven years. I didn't plan it, it just happened that way. And then I came back, they wouldn't hire me, they called me, and came back seven years later. Now, don't try to put that number on everything, you know what I'm saying? It's seven days later, someone's going, no, I'm saying, but this is how he worked it out. And I remember coming back and I was like, I don't want to have another meltdown because I don't like looking crazy in front of the people. I don't like looking weak and vulnerable, unstable. It doesn't look good on me. And sure enough, within a short amount of time, I had someone coming down on me hard. I was living back at home, my father's situation, I did it, everything was wearing on me. And to the point where I had a meltdown in front of people. And I went, left there humiliated, went to the doctor, they put me on Prozac. And I did not want to go back. I left one job previously and didn't come back. It was a lower paying job. But I sat there and I said, I can't go back because I'm embarrassed. I'm humiliated. I feel stupid. You know, let's just keep it moving. Let's go on to the next thing. It's a wrap. And the Lord told me, show up. And I went back and he gave me the grace to be able to show up. This was in 1998. So it wasn't like yesterday or nothing. And I showed up, and this was when there was a merger going on, and it looked like I was gonna be on the outs. I was working with two people that were basically on the outs, so I was like, oh, I'm on the get rid of crew. And then they were throwing work at us, nobody was motivated, and I said, look, I was a production supervisor before, I know how to handle business. So I was like, look, you take this, I take this, I just start delegating. I was like, look, I need this job, I need the income. I showed up embarrassed, so I mean, we might as well be here, let's do something. And so I started delegating, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. He started giving me the wherewithal to maneuver. The next thing you know, they called me, they said, we noticed how you handle things. and we're going to promote you. So God bless me on the back of an attack, but I had to be, I had to show up. I had to show up. I had to show up. We're not going to be lorded over by our emotions. He's going to give us the ability to. Lord over our emotions as we surrender to Him and so He's basically had me yielding to Him. Now I've been back the second time around going on 20 years in September. September would be 20 years back and He's caused me to thrive and prosper and be fruitful and it became from leaning on Him. Even in preparation for this sermon I was like I can't I gotta write some documentation, boom, boom, boom. And he was like, just lean on me. Show up, lean on me. Acknowledge me in all your ways and I'll direct the path. Leave it alone right now. Watch this, do this, boom, boom, boom. Put it down, write this document. And he was causing me to shine in an area at work where I wasn't even expecting, you know what I'm saying? So it was like, do this, watch, boom, and I just started. And he was causing me to thrive and prosper in what otherwise was a desolate situation. So I'm telling you, we gotta learn how to lean on him, but I had to learn how to cast my cares on him. When I was stressed out and overwhelmed, okay, let me take it to the Lord. Young people, there's a lot of non, there's a lot of dire forecasts, even if you got a college degree. They're telling you you have low probabilities and all these statistics, even where young people are high in anxiety, depression, suicide. It's increasing amongst young people. Learn how to lean on the Lord. Look to the Lord. and lean on the Lord. He will cause you to have peace in the midst of troubling situations and circumstances. Learn how to let Him be Lord of your life. Let Him give you meaning and purpose beyond the scope of this life. Because that's most of us, we're just taught this is what you need to have a good life and have it now. And there is so much out there. I was watching a video and they were talking about all these young people that were making big money, lottery winners. depressed, suicidal. One guy, he won the lottery. His two kids killed themselves because they had all this luxury, but they didn't have no Lord. And so what we need is we need the Lord. Amen? And with that, I'm going to stop, and we're going to pray. So remember, bless God. Bless God. Possess your sins and cast your cares.