Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Hey guys, this is naive. And you've reached the Mosaic Church podcast. So excited that you're part of our listening community and I'd love for you to be even more connected. So check out our website. There's more content there and there's more opportunities for you to get connected in our ministries and events as well. Also, love for you to share this content. If this is blessed you. I know that God wants to use you to bless other people with it. So share this podcast if you will. Lastly, would you consider supporting this ministry? This is made possible by other people's generosity and I'd love for you to pay it forward. Join us to reclaim the message and the movement of Jesus together. So would you consider giving to this ministry? I know that God is able to do immeasurably more through us when we come together. Thank you so much. God bless you and enjoy.
[00:00:56] Well, good. Oh, good. Good morning.
[00:01:00] Good morning. How are we feeling this morning?
[00:01:02] Awesome. 11:00 crowd is the best.
[00:01:06] I say that to the 9:30 too, but the 11:00 is the best. So we're starting a brand new series. If you're a guest here, let me let you know that this is week one of a series, three part series. We're talking about peace. Now, how many of you would say you need some peace in your life? Anybody need some peace in your life? Right? The good world is going a little cray cray Translation crazy. Yes, it's going a little crazy and we all need it. But let me ask you a question really quick. Okay. I realized something. That a lot of my peace is connected to my phone. Anybody else?
[00:01:37] Anybody else? Yeah. Okay, let me ask you this. Do you have an unhealthy relationship with your phone? Be honest. Come on. Come on. This is 11 o'clock.
[00:01:46] Be honest. Be honest. You have an unhealthy. Would your closest person to you in a sense say that you have an unhealthy relationship with your phone?
[00:01:58] No. You're like, I still want them to be close, so no. No, it's not unhealthy at all. Now how would you define it? I tell you what I think. Do you have a love hate relationship with your phone? Anybody? Love hate? Yeah, you love it because it gives you all the things you need. You hate it because you're addicted to it. You're connected to it. Mine, I have a hide and seek relationship with my phone.
[00:02:21] You guys know what I mean? Okay, so what happens is that apparently my phone, it's a she. Okay? She. If I ignore her don't give her a lot of attention. She walks away.
[00:02:32] She walks away and she plays hide and seek and she goes and she hides herself and plays that. I cannot find her, okay? I'm constantly like, where are you? Where are you? And then sometimes when she's really feel like I've ignored her for so long, she turns herself off to silent mode. And then I can never get in touch with her. There's no way. No way. There's no way. I can't do it. Can't do it. What's interesting though is I feel like we, some of us, we have done this. It's a really real thing. And that is we have lost our minds. We have lost our minds because we have misplaced our phones. Anybody else?
[00:03:05] I'll tell you what, I mean, there's a full on freak out session. If you lose your phone, you lose your wallet. You're like, ah, get another one.
[00:03:14] The DMV line is not that bad, okay? You lose your phone. You're like, the memories, everybody, everything. You're like, the phone is your thing. You know what I realized? I realized over the years that I had this relationship with my phone that's not really good. Because I get up in the morning, the first thing, I don't even care to say hello to Ashley. I'm like, hello, phone, hey, how are you? Because I'm like, I want to know what the world is doing. Anybody else want to know what the world is doing? And then what I've done is that I'll get on my phone for a while and I'll just stay on there and it basically will tell me how I should feel that day, you know what I'm saying? Like on my feed the news, whatever, like whatever it's telling me, I'll respond to that. And so I wonder though, I wonder though, that I wonder if we have done this. I wonder. Not the phone thing, because I know we lose our mind when we misplace our phones. But have we lost our peace because we've misplaced our hope? We lost our peace because we've misplaced our hope. Like, you're like, I can't even find hope. Yeah, you misplaced it. It's not where you are, not what it's supposed to be. You've lost your peace because you're like, I had it. I thought I had it. But it's not anymore. But what's going on? And so this series is really about how to get our peace and protect it and keep it. Because we live in a world that right now there's so much lack of peace because of the political situation. And some of you guys, like, yes, it's happening, it's gonna end on Tuesday. But, you know, I don't know. I'm not quite sure. Some of you guys, like, I'm not quite sure what's gonna happen after that. Maybe your career, not politics, but maybe with your life, you're, like, wondering, hey, am I going to be in a place where I'm gonna have peace? And the truth is, for some of us have been looking for peace for so long. And the reason why you're looking for peace, not because you've been actively looking for it or you miss it, it's because you have so much anxiety.
[00:05:09] Do you know that Gen Z is one of the few generations that have been defined by a generation that's anxious? And I think part of it is connected to our phones, but part of it is connected to the world we live in. The truth is, there is so much anxiety and so much lack of peace. So I want to help us find peace again. And so what I wanna do is I wanna go to a passage of scripture that will set the tone for us of what this piece is. Okay, so this is Jesus talking. It's in John 14. And he says this. He says, I'm leaving you with a. Help me out. With a what? It's a gift. With a. Is it with a what gift? Not a gift. I'm not leaving you. Wouldn't that be hilarious? He just says, peace out. I'm leaving you with a gift. You're like, what? What? He said, I'm giving you a gift. And he says, what's that gift? He says this. He says, peace of what? Mind and heart? He said, I'm giving you a gift. This is a gift. The peace that God gives is a gift. He says this, and the peace that I give is a gift that the world cannot. What can I give you? So don't be troubled and don't be afraid. So what he's saying here fundamentally is that there is an idea of what peace, how we can get peace. And we think a peace is something that we either have to manifest or it's something that we have to conjure up or something that lies inside of us. But a gift is different, isn't it? A gift is something you can't manifest. A gift has to be given to you. And for some of us who go, you know, I can manifest a gift, well, Christmas is not going to be fun because you can manifest all Day long, there's no gift.
[00:06:52] But Jesus says, hey, the peace I wanna give you is actually a gift that you can't figure out. It has to be given to you. And so I want you to know that maybe if you're trying to figure out how to get peace, if you've been really hard on yourself going, I just gotta, I gotta stop, I gotta stop this, I gotta stop this. And I wish I could not. I wish I just didn't stress out as much as I do right now. Maybe, just maybe, maybe, just maybe you need a gift.
[00:07:19] Maybe you've gotten the gift. Maybe you've gotten the gift. Maybe you haven't opened it up. Cause a gift is no use if you don't open it up. And a gift of no use if you don't use it. It's just a thing. So I wonder if for us, if we realize that peace is a gift, it's a gift. It's not us.
[00:07:42] It's not things working out for us. It's a gift that God has given to us that he wants us to unwrap. In fact, it's so true because Jesus explains this idea of the peace being gift and wrapped up in him. He goes on John 16, he says this. He says, I have told you these things so that in me you may have what in me you may have what in me you would have peace.
[00:08:11] This world, this world, this world. You'll have many troubles. But what take heart, I have overcome the world Jesus is saying is there's gonna be plenty of things for you to freak out, worry about, stress out about. There's gonna be plenty of things. And you will pray and pray and pray that God will just remove these things. But I just want you to know that in the midst of all of this, I'm giving you my peace that's in you. And I want you to take heart. Because at the end of the day, I've overcome the world. I've done something that no one else can do. I've done something that's supernatural. I've done something that you need to know that this gift is not things working out that the world or the world around us, our job gives us. It's something extremely different. And it's connected to the fact that I've overcome the world. So I think for some of us, we need to go, okay, what is this peace that Jesus is talking about?
[00:09:02] What is this peace? Jesus continues that whole thought idea about the peace. And he shows up. He shows up after he was resurrected. He shows up Sunday Morning, he's resurrected. Sunday night, the disciples are gathering together, hanging out, and he shows up. Jesus shows up. And what happens there? Well, he appears. And it says that they were filled with. They were filled with joy when they saw the Lord. They're like, oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh. That's the same time, you know, like, when Thomas was like, I can't believe that Jesus has already risen. Show me the scars. All that. That's the scene that happened here. But here, John records the fact that Jesus. That Jesus said something to them, and he said this to them. He said, peace what be with you? He's like, shalom. Which is interesting because the word shalom is Hebrew, but in Arabic that I speak, it says, salaam. And if you ever heard a Muslim or an Arab person say, as salamu alaykum, it basically is peace be to you. So it's kind of ironic for me to go, okay. That's the first thing he says. If it's what is in Arabic. He says, salaamu alaikum. He says, peace be to you. Now, he's not talking about that. Hey, I'm gonna. I hope you feel better. No, he says this. He says, peace be to you. As the Father sent me.
[00:10:30] As the Father sent me. I'm sending you. I'm sending you. Basically, he's saying, I'm leaving. I've done my work. I'm sending you. And here's what he does. And then he did something that you would never do during COVID Okay, what did he do?
[00:10:46] He what?
[00:10:48] Come on, you can say it. You can say it.
[00:10:50] He breathed on them, right?
[00:10:55] The breath of life. And he said, receive what?
[00:10:59] The Holy Spirit. Give them a gift. Receive the Holy Spirit. He gives them this gift that you and I cannot attain by just figuring out stuff and making sure all everything lines up and making sure everybody's on time. Now, of course, if the kids were always on time, that would be great. Yeah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Okay. But then everybody else has to be on time too. You know, everything else has to work out as well. So when Jesus talks about giving us a gift of his presence, what he's really saying is there is a fake deal. There is a fake presence that you can put on your piece that you can put on your phone. It's like, the world gives. Because the world gives you this happenstance that everything has to happen. And he basically saying is, let me just tell you what the world gives you or what we're tempted to kind of believe in when it comes to peace is that if we believe that peace is found in power, it's found in power. Now you might say, oh, I don't want power. Of course you do. Of course you do. You're like, no, I really don't want to have power. I just, I just, I just. No. If you want certainty, you want power.
[00:12:10] If you want to be in control, you want power. If you want security, you want.
[00:12:15] You want power. You're like, no, no, no, I don't want to rule the world. No, no, no. But you know that. You've taught this. If everybody would just listen to me, if everybody would just do what I tell them to do, hallelujah, everything would be great.
[00:12:31] Everything would be great. And we believe this because we believe that things, if we just are in power, if we can control everything, it'd be great. Honestly, it's not just us. I mean, religious institutions believe this. Maybe even Christianity has believed this. That's why politicians are so, so attractive to us, because they promise change and control. They promise a security that maybe you and I have based on their policies. And then what you think is, and what we think is, or we're tempted to do is we want to put them in power. And if we just put them in power, everything would work out. In fact, there's a whole slew, whole slew of Christians out there who believe that if Christianity just had power, the world would be different. And so what we need to do is we need to elect and govern with Christian rules or Christian ideology, and then the whole world would be amazing, Amazing. Talk to the crusaders who did that.
[00:13:35] Like, that's what we believe. Because we believe that if we just have control, security, power, we're good, we're good. And Jesus says, hey, this is not about you. This is a gift that I want to give you. And it's supernatural. It's a gift. And if you're anxious, if you're anxious, if you worry about just a lot of things, I don't need you to snap out of it. The world might say, just snap out of it, get a hold of yourself, control yourself. It's not that it's a gift. It's a supernatural gift that you need to understand. It's been given to you. You have to rece it, take it, believe it, open it up. And that's going to make all the difference in the world. Regardless of what happens, regardless of it, it will change the game for you. Because this piece that Jesus is talking about came with a price. He paid it with a price. You know, when I came to the States, I got introduced to Christianity.
[00:14:41] But before coming to the States, I was in Kuwait and, you know, was very familiar with pop culture, American pop culture, and also British pop culture, by the way. And so I just grew up in British, English and British, you know, and all that. And the fashion as well. So this idea of, like, wearing a cross, right? The symbol of a cross, like cross T shirts, cross, you know, it was a big deal. It was a big deal. I think I wore a cross earring when George Michael was, you know, hot. Remember that? Like, come on, let's go. Yes, yes. Freedom. Anyways, whatever. Okay. Yeah, I was like. I was a George Michael fan. I was like, yes. And he had this cross thing. And I was like, yeah, I'm gonna wear that. Yeah, I know I'm Muslim, but who cares? Who cares? And guess what? No one did. No one did. No one did. It was like, oh, yeah, it's a thing. I came to the States. Guess what? Everybody's wearing crosses. You're a Christian. Whatever. No, I'm like, they're all wearing crosses. The cross was not a thing. Not a thing. In fact, if you haven't been in the church world, you might not know this, but if you grew up in somewhat of a church world, as in, you grew up on a certain denomination, maybe conservative denomination, then you start checking out other churches, and that's where you found yourself here.
[00:15:55] You've probably seen the circuit of churches, and what you might have never noticed is that there was a season. Not season. There's a shift that's happened where people, Architects would design churches that are very. That had religious symbols in them, and then they started moving away from that. So if you can think back of any church that you visited recently, it's a modern church. You know, like, everybody's cool and hip, and we got all kinds of stuff going on. They don't have religious symbols up. In fact, there was a time where there's no way you'd walk into an auditorium and there wasn't a couple of crosses.
[00:16:33] But now, if you think about it, if you go to the last church, modern church you went to, there is. It's a warehouse. It's cool, it's hip, it's great. There's coffee. No cross.
[00:16:43] That was the thing.
[00:16:45] Get rid of the cross, put the coffee in there. And honestly, I understood that because it was like a way to get people not get triggered for some reason, because you're trying to reach people who are not maybe Christian. I get that. So we Came here to this auditorium. And some of you guys can see this online, but we have a cross in the auditorium, which was a conversation because we couldn't put a cross on top of the building. And other people have done that, but we couldn't. But I really believe that we needed to remember the cross, not to, like, focus on it. But I think that there is a picture of the cross that we've forgotten. And the cross is a symbol of the cost of our peace that we were given.
[00:17:30] It was. It's a. It's a. It's a little. It's a big deal. It's a big deal. I remember when I first saw the cross. I saw the first cross. I saw. Jesus was still on the cross. Then I. Exactly. I went to a Catholic church in Kuwait. Jesus on the cross. That's right. I came here, I was like, something is missing.
[00:17:49] There's a dude supposed to be up there, right? They're like, jesus. They're like, someone. Someone's supposed to be up there. They're like, no, no, no, no, no. The Catholics believe that they just keep him in the cross. We have resurrected him. I'm like, what? You resurrected him? Whatever. Like, no, we believe in Easter. No, he's not. Death cannot be overcome. They're like, okay, whatever, man. Okay, so Jesus is not on your crosses, but he's on that cross. So the people debate about that. Here's the deal, though. See, the cross symbolizes a supernatural event that took place, but also a very real event that took place that allowed us to be given. To be given, to be allowed to have access to this gift.
[00:18:32] The cross allowed that. Not before. Before, it wasn't the deal. Now it was when Jesus came back and he breathed on them. Remember that?
[00:18:41] When he breathed on them, that was after he'd been on the cross. You see, the cross was a symbol of the pain that he had to go through to have this open connection with you and God. Before all of this, before Jesus stepped in, Isaiah, one of the prophets, he prophesied this. About this coming Messiah, this man. And he says this. He says in Isaiah, he says, but he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities.
[00:19:20] The punishment that brought us what peace was upon him. And by his wounds, we are healed. And so Isaiah prophesies that there's going to be a coming Messiah who's going to change. Change the relationship that God and humanity has had. And there'll be a price to pay on this, that this person will die on a tree he would die on and he would be. And he laid out pretty much what happened to Jesus. And this was going to be like a big deal. In fact, it was like a contract or a covenant. Because Isaiah 54, where he writes, later on, he says this. He says this. Do though the mountains be shaken. Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed. Like everything can start falling apart. He says, yet, yet, yet, yet my unfailing love for you will what never be shaken. And my covenant of what peace will never be removed.
[00:20:30] See, God is prophesying something that you and I need to know and realize. He promised that there is a covenant relationship that he'll have with you, and he will pay the price. And then after that, he will breathe on you, give you this gift of peace, and you can have peace in the midst of all the things going on in your life. All the things. Because it's a gift that you need to unwrap. Now, does it make sense? I'm not. It doesn't. Honestly. Is it supernatural? Yes, you betcha. It is so supernatural. Friends, there are some things you worry about. There's some things. There are some things you listen to and you probably shouldn't do. You know, you already listen to or watch, you shouldn't do. And because of those, those are voices, those are thoughts that are put in your head. And there are some things that you are reading, and those are your thoughts. But then there are voices that you are hearing that are not from anybody else, but besides the. The enemy of your soul. Like, some of you need to know this, that there is an enemy of your soul. There's an enemy that does not want you to have peace. He wants to steal, kill, destroy the peace. And the enemy, friends, is not the other political party. It's not a candidate. It's not a person. It's the enemy. It's the enemy of your soul. Jesus didn't pray against the Romans, didn't pray against Rome. He said, no. There is an enemy that wants to divide and conquer. And this enemy is serious about you. In fact, Jesus prayed that we, in the midst of living here, would not be taken hold of the enemy, because the enemy will give you thoughts and you'll start believing some thoughts. And that's why we have loved ones. We have loved ones who severed relationships with other loved ones because of politics.
[00:22:18] What is that if not the enemy?
[00:22:24] We belittle other humans who are made in the same image of our God. We call them names, and we're okay with that. We are okay with genocide. We are okay with other humans killing other humans. Because in God's name, God has never been okay with that.
[00:22:41] He's never been okay with that. And you can take whatever you want. He's never been okay with that.
[00:22:47] Never been. But yet we've believed this. And there are certain people who believe certain things. And the problem is those people could be even us. If we're not talking evil stuff, we're believing some thoughts that are just not true. And they're not true about us and your situation. And you're not doom and gloom, and it's not the end of the world. It's not all those things, but you and I have allowed this. So Paul, the apostle, he writes to one of the churches in Corinth and he tells them, he says, I need you to understand some of the things that you're thinking about that is like messing up your peace and giving you so much anxiety. I want you to know this, that there are these thoughts in your head. They're stuck, and we have to fight against them. And then he says this. And the way you fight against them, the way you protect your peace, let me just tell you. He says, the weapons we fight with are what? Not the weapons what, of this world. We don't do it with just doing the, like, electing the right people or convincing this person. It's not that you don't fight an invisible army with visible stuff. He says there's something else going on. He says, on the contrary. On the contrary. He says they have the weapons we have. He says. He says they have divine power to demolish. To demolish. I love that word. Right? Demolish. What? What's the word? Strong. What? Strongholds.
[00:24:08] He says they have the power to demolish strongholds. He says, and we. Demolish. Love that word again. Demolish arguments. No, he's not thinking, I'm gonna win that debate.
[00:24:18] No, no, he's talking about that. He's talking about when your mind starts making arguments about God is not real and everything is doomed and everything is this. And you gotta treat people like that, and you gotta shame people in behaving this way. All of those arguments that you have with your head. Have you ever had an argument in your head? Yeah. You have? Yeah, you have. He says, every argument and every pretension that sets itself up against what?
[00:24:45] The knowledge of God, against the gift of God in you. And then he says, and we take what? Take what? Captive every thought and make it, what, obedient to Christ? I mean, he's using a lot of military language. Have you noticed that we want to demolish these people? We're going to take them hostage. We're going to do this over here. What's he saying? Because of the word he uses, the word stronghold. Stronghold is a military word that he uses here in particular, a stronghold was a power position, the most strategic position to be in to win a battle. And so if the enemy was coming against them, if they could figure out the best stronghold, like back in the day, when they take in towns or castles and all that, they would find the most strategic position where they can attack from, and that would determine if they were going to win or not. But if they didn't have a stronghold in the strategic position, it'd be messed up. Now, it's so funny because when we hear this, I'm like, oh, this is interesting. It's not my world that we live in, but actually, I think it is. Let me explain. So how many of you have ever, like, when you walk into a restaurant, you're picky about the restaurant? No, not about food you eat, but where you sit?
[00:26:06] Yeah, yeah. Do you know someone who refuses to sit with their back against the entry door? Anybody? Yes. Yes, Yes. I don't know. I think we should be in therapy. I don't know. I am the same. I have done this with our. With people. I'm like, can we just move? Let's go over there. Let's go there. I want my back. They're like, what's wrong? I'm, like, just saying I like to be what I call a power position. See what I'm talking about? Some of you guys know what I'm talking about. Yes. You want to be in the position. You can see what everything. Yeah. You're like, that's the door.
[00:26:41] What's going to happen? Yes. We're smart. We're strategic people, okay? It's situational awareness. Look it up. We're serious about this, okay? We're not the guys in the movie who get trouble, you know, we're the guys in the movie who make it in the movies, you know, so we sit in the proper places.
[00:26:58] So here's what's funny. What's funny about this is that this thing that's wired up in our DNA is actually a spiritual thing, too.
[00:27:06] You see, the most secure space to be in determines how the battle is going to go.
[00:27:12] Do you know that some of us have allowed the enemy to sit in that space?
[00:27:19] You've allowed the enemy, as the scriptures say, to take a stronghold in your life. And when the scriptures say that you know what they're saying? They're saying the most strategic place that will determine if you win this battle. That strategic place. You've given it up.
[00:27:39] You just gave it. If you allow bitterness to stay there, you're going to lose every time. It doesn't matter how many times you forgive.
[00:27:48] Why? Because the stronghold of your life, that space in your life. What's sitting there? Who's sitting there? Unforgiveness.
[00:27:55] Oh, oh. Prejudice is sitting there. It doesn't matter how many things you do. I gotta be a nice person. I gotta be a nice person. No, no. What's in there? What's sitting in the most strategic place? The power position of your mind and heart is not you. It's not God. It's the enemy. So he says, I want to demolish. I want to get rid of everything, and I'm going to make it subject. I'm going to make it subject. He said, basically, I'm going to take that thought, whatever that thought is, and I'm going to say, you're not sitting here. You can sit anywhere else.
[00:28:27] You can come and go in my life, but the stronghold of my life. That's why David, the psalmist, would say, the Lord is the stronghold of my life, of whom shall I be afraid?
[00:28:39] He's not saying there's nothing to fear. He's saying, I know he's sitting in my stronghold.
[00:28:45] I know he's sitting there. Guess what? It's not a candidate.
[00:28:50] It's not whoever, whoever.
[00:28:53] He says, it's God. He sits there. And because he sits there, I win.
[00:28:59] I win. It might be a bloody battle, but I'm going to win this thing. I'm going to win this thing. I'm going to overcome. So he says, put God in that stronghold. And then the Scriptures tell us, in Philippians, Paul says, let me tell you how it works out for you. Here's what you need to do. Here's what you need to do. He says, don't be anxious.
[00:29:21] Okay, that's fun. No, no, no. Then he goes on, he says, about anything? Yeah.
[00:29:27] I mean, only drugs do that. I mean, no, no, no. Like, what is that? What are you saying, bro? He says, no, no, no. He says, don't be anxious about it. I'll tell you why. I'll tell you why. He says, here's how you know you can fight anxiousness. He says, here's how you do it. He says, in every situation, by prayer and petition. So prayer and petition with thanksgiving. Now. Prayer and petition with what? Now say it. One more time, because I really want you to understand this. With prayer and petition, with Thanksgiving. With Thanksgiving, huge present, your request to God. Here's a huge thing. When you and I go to God, I can tell you right now, I mean, I struggle with this. I'm going to just project that on you. Okay, A little bit. I think we struggle with going to him. And the first thing we need to. We want to say is, I'm sorry, I should be better. I should do better. You know what I'm saying? The first thing is, I know, I know, I know. And some of us take it a little bit further. Some of us would go to God and go, listen, I know you're busy.
[00:30:28] You got a lot of things. I know you feel like you have to introduce yourself, hey, I'm John. Not that John, the other John. Not the one you love in the scriptures. No, the other one. Like, I'm not John, that John. You know, I'm John. You know, I'm here. You have to kind of go, hey, hey, hey, hello, hello. You have to do that. Or you just go with, I just, you know, I need you to do. Please, God, please, God, please, I need you to do this now. Let me just ask you something. If you were talking to a real person, if you come to me and the first thing you would say is, I know you don't have time for me, the first thing I'm going to be like, oh, this is not going well.
[00:31:03] That's what I'm going to think. If you're like, oh, I don't have time for me. I know you're super busy. I know you're busy. Hey, I don't know if you know me. I'm like, so many things. I don't know what to feel.
[00:31:15] Or you come to me and you just start begging. You're just like, ah, please, please, please. I'm like, hey, can we just talk? Because you know what begging does? Or when you say things like, oh, I know you don't have time for me. I know you don't. You know what it says? It says to the person, I don't have faith in you.
[00:31:33] It says, I know you think the worst of me.
[00:31:37] I think you don't have any thoughts about me.
[00:31:41] I know you think this about me. And so when we do that to God and say we apologize, you know what it says to God? I don't trust that you actually love me, that you even care.
[00:31:52] That I have to convince you to care for me and love me.
[00:31:56] And what we basically saying is, I know we are prejudging God. And when he says prayer and petition. With what? Thanksgiving? When he says. With Thanksgiving, he says, if you. Thanksgiving.
[00:32:12] Being grateful requires friends, requires you to think the best of people. Did you know that? You can't be grateful without thinking the best in people. You cannot be grateful. If you think the worst of people, you can't be grateful for them. You're like, do a better job.
[00:32:32] Be better. But if you're grateful for them, there's something inside of you that says, I believe the best about you. And God's saying, hey, could you do that? I believe the best about you. Could you do the same with me?
[00:32:42] Could you just say all the stuff you want to say with Thanksgiving? And then he says, I'll tell you what's going to happen if you do that. Let me tell you what's going to happen. The peace of God, my presence.
[00:32:55] My presence that transcends. I love that word. Transcends what? All understanding. Like, it doesn't make any sense. It transcends all.
[00:33:05] It transcends all understanding. It'll do something. It will. It will what? What's that word? It will what?
[00:33:11] Guard your hearts and mind in Christ Jesus. He says, finally, brothers, if you would just do this. If you would. Let me just say, if you do this, it will guard it. It will make sure that the enemy doesn't sit in that stronghold, that space, if you come, if you start doing this. And then he says, okay, here's the thing. It's supernatural, but it's super practical, too. And here's the practical part about it. This is what some of you need to do right now. Okay? This week, he says this. He says, brothers and sisters, whatever. Whatever. Whatever. Whatever is true.
[00:33:47] Whatever is noble, whatever is right.
[00:33:52] Whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable.
[00:33:59] If anything is excellent or praiseworthy. Stop.
[00:34:05] Stop and think about those things.
[00:34:08] You know, to think you have to mentally stop. You know, to think you have to mentally just go, stop and go, let me think about this. Let me think about this. Do you know there are certain things in your life that are so beautiful that you don't even stop to consider?
[00:34:22] Because the world, everything else is on fire. You're like, oh, there's things that are lovely and true.
[00:34:30] There's something. There are things that are noble. Now, all this list of things are probably not on your phone's feed.
[00:34:36] It's the opposite of those things, but you gotta stop. And he says, hey, think about those things. Think about the fact that you have kids who make you laugh, man. You have people in your life who check up on you. That's a beautiful thing. Think of the nobility of people. Sometimes you're like, ah, yeah, but think of those. Just stop. Think of things that are praiseworthy. Think of things that are pure. Oh, man, that's so pure. Think of those things.
[00:35:10] Think of those things. Think of the things that are beautiful in your life.
[00:35:15] I'll tell you what, if you start doing this, basically Paul's saying, number one, the enemy will never sit in the stronghold.
[00:35:25] And you'll be so focused on doing all these things, you won't have time to worry. Wouldn't it be great not to have time to worry?
[00:35:35] Oh, my gosh, what is that kind of world? If you just keep thinking, just keep thinking. And then he goes on, he says, whatever. He says, whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, like, if you see me do this, I do this. He says, I do this.
[00:35:50] If you've done this, put it into practice. Just see what happens if you put it into practice. Because I'll tell you. Because then if you do this, then the God of peace. The God of peace will be what with you. So there's a gift that God's given us. It's supernatural. It was paid by a price. It's not. It's real. It's not like the world gives. It doesn't give you. Promise you power. It doesn't promise you control. It doesn't promise you certainty. It doesn't promise you any of these things. It does promise you supernatural peace that transcends all understanding. And so that is a gift that we have to unwrap. That is a gift that we have to put in practice as we sit and we go, okay, this is what I've got to focus on. This is what I'm going to practice. So let me do that for us. Can I do that? Can I just pray that over you this morning? All right, let's stand together.
[00:36:46] God, thank you so much for this morning. Thank you, God, that you are the God of peace. You're the God who've allowed us to have this moment, even here. God, I just want to say thank you.
[00:37:01] Thank you for giving us this moment, this time, where we can come to a service, we can come to a church environment, we can come and say hello to some people, hug some people around us, reminding us that we are part of a community, that we're part of something that's beyond us. God, that we're part of a collective and that we're part of a journey with so many other people moving and trying to go in the same direction, finding more peace in our lives. God, so Father, I just pray, I pray in Jesus name a peace over us, that God, that surpasses all understanding that would guard our hearts and minds. God, I pray for super supernatural peace. God, God, I pray that as we sing this last song, it wouldn't be just the last song. It would be us saying, God, this is how we thank you. We thank you for loving us so much, for giving us so much peace.
[00:38:03] Holy Spirit, would you do a work this morning, in this moment for some of us? God, would you remove that stronghold, that thought, that negative thought of unworthiness, this dread of people leaving us?
[00:38:24] Would you remove that this morning? Would you remove God, a sense of failure, that even the next thing that we try, it's going to fail because everything else has.
[00:38:36] God, would you remove that?
[00:38:39] Would you remove that? God, would you at peace, transcend that, get all, everything that our mind has believed that is not true?
[00:38:50] God, would you transcend that?
[00:38:56] My God, I just pray this peace.
[00:39:00] I pray this peace over my friends here. God, over all of us. God, over our families, over our little kids, over our loved ones, over our nation. Peace.
[00:39:18] God, let us be conduits of peace this week. As we go into the world that's seemingly chaotic. We have this sense that we're grounded because God is the stronghold of our life.
[00:39:37] He is the stronghold of our life.
[00:39:42] God, I thank you for that. Help us respond this morning in your name.
[00:39:48] Amen.
[00:39:50] Thanks for listening to this message from Mosaic Church in Charlotte, North Carolina. For more audio and video content, visit us at Mosaic Church tv.
