A while back, one of our very own members of Crossing Nation
wrote a poem called The Turning of the Tide.
We it made its way into one of our worship nights and I believe
it actually showed up and was featured during one of our
Easter experiences a couple years ago.
I got the words and I fell in love with it.
It goes, it opens like this. In the beginning God created
everything. Or in the beginning God created
and everything was very good. Creator and His creation dwelled
together just as they should, until something slithered into
the garden to tempt and deceive the serpent.
Satan painted our Creator as a God who should not be believed.
Doubt, birth, temptation, temptation, birth, sin.
With one bite, we waged a war we alone could never win.
Where there once was peace, pain spread across the land.
One of the most obvious facts of history and of the human
experience is that peace does not characterize our earthly
existence. There is no peace now for at
least two reasons, the spiritual opposition of Satan with very
real and physical implications, and the simple disobedience of
us. It has been reported that in
1968 a major newspaper printed that since 36 years before
Christ to that moment it was published.
In 1968 there had been 14,533 known wars.
Since 1945 there have been over 80 wars and almost 200
internationally significant outbreaks of violence spread
over almost 100 nations. And I wrote this two weeks ago,
and we should probably add some. However, that only accounts for
the wars that are beyond us. That does not even begin to
touch the number of wars around us.
Take the average American household, the one you live in,
with all of its anger, arguments and abuse.
Think about the number of affairs, fights, divorces.
Add to that our internal personal wars.
Our souls are weary of the fight against pain, emotional
disorders, anxiety, depression and regret that never lets its
foot off the gas. So what do we do?
We try to manufacture peace. How do we manufacture it?
Through at least two areas, substance abuse and materialism.
But there's never enough. And my hope is that by the end
of our time together today, you will be able to chart a
different course towards peace. I want to welcome all of our
different locations, those of you watching online and inside.
And a special shout out to those of you who are here for the
first time or the first time in a long time.
In fact, I want to zoom in for just a little bit to those of
you who are here for the first time or the first time in a long
time Crossing nation, those of you who are part of this church
on a regular basis, I need you to hear me say this.
People who are here for the first time or the first time in
a long time, they are the VI PS of this church.
And let me tell you why there is often a peace problem that
causes people to come to church for the first time or for the
first time in a long time. In all my years of ministry, you
guys have heard me talk about this before.
I have never met somebody for the first time and said, hey,
what brought you here? And they went, well, I got to be
honest with you, we make too much money, our marriage has too
much sex, our communication has never been stronger, our kids
listen too well, and our health has never been better.
And we were bored. That has never been the
testimony of anybody that I've met.
There is almost, and I know I'm using a big paintbrush.
There is usually something wrong and it's usually a peace
problem, a pain point that is pushing people back into a
relationship with God. They've lost their peace.
And that is why as a church, we ask you to serve, give, show up
early, park far away, prioritize the needs of others.
Because there are people who are going through something and when
they walk into our church for the first time or the first time
in a long time, they are trying to make a spiritual move as a
result of very physical, emotional, relational or mental
pain points. And as they're making that move
towards Jesus in a spiritual way, they are facing spiritual
opposition every step of the way.
Now, this desire for peace is not a new one.
It is one of the most prominent concepts featured in the Old
Testament. The word for peace appears 236
times in the Old Testament. The word, the Hebrew word, is
Shalom. Turn to your neighbor.
Say Shalom, hopefully we're going to get to go to Israel in
2028. And when you do, when the tour
guide hops on the bus, he's going to say to everybody,
Shalom, children of Israel, it's how you say hi if you're in
Israel. And Shalom means way more, way,
way, way more than health and prosperity.
It means way, way, way more than the absence of conflict.
It carries with it the idea of wholeness, completeness, total
well-being. And right now, if you were to
rank yourself on the peace scale of 1 to 10, with one being I
have no peace whatsoever, and 10 being rainbows fell out of my
pockets when I was walking into church today, where would you
put yourself on the peace scale? And what if I told you that your
number could increase? What if I told you your number
could never go down again? We are in a series of teachings
called the Same Name, and we are showing that the God of the Old
Testament and the God of the New Testament are the same God.
They have the same name because it's the same God with the same
power, offering the same promise if you will receive him.
If you have a Bible, you can turn to Judges chapter 6.
Quick history lesson. While you're turning to Judges
chapter 6, Moses has led the people out of slavery in Egypt
and they have moved into the wilderness, and Moses has died.
The journey for the people of Israel is not complete though.
They have yet to make it into the Promised Land.
So God raises up Joshua to follow after Moses, and Moses
leads the people across the Jordan River into the Promised
Land, and they have been taken possession of it and he has
died. And now the people are in the
Promised land and in the book of Judges.
They are living in the land that God promised them, but they are
in a vicious cycle. As you read through the book of
Judges, if you were to do that this week, you will see this
cycle over and over and over and over again.
Here is the cycle. The people of God abandoned God.
Then God lets the people of Israel experience the
consequences of abandoning God. And So what do the people do
when they start to experience the things that they don't like
to experience? They cry out to God.
We don't like this and hear this.
God hears the cries of disobedient people.
And then God empowers someone to deliver Israel from their
oppression. Now before you get to Judgey,
while we're reading the book of Judges, that's kind of my story
too. And I think if you were to be
honest, it's probably your story.
I've abandoned God. God allows me to experience the
consequences of me walking outside of his path, outside of
his ways. Eventually I'm like, I don't
like this anymore. And I cry out to God and go, you
know what? Let's turn this thing around.
And our God is so good that even though I have been disobedient,
he hears my cry, and the God begins to make moves on my
behalf to empower someone to bring me back into a right
relationship with Him. This is where we pick up the
story in Judges chapter 6. See if you can see the cycle.
The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and for seven
years He gave them into the hands of the many nights.
Because the power of Midian was so oppressive, the Israelites
prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves, and
strongholds. So they were in the land that
God gave them, but they could not enjoy the land that God gave
them, and they were left to the outskirts.
When the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, the
Amalekites and other eastern peoples invaded the country.
They camped on the land and ruined the crops all the way to
Gaza. Gaza.
That Gaza? Yeah, that one.
And did not spare a living thing for Israel, neither sheep nor
cattle or donkeys, let's say. Right.
Go back there for just a second. We're a primarily agrarian
society. Imagine this May as the farmers
had just completed planting all their crops of foreign invaders
came in and they wiped out all of our farmland.
And then we go out to our barns, and instead of the sheep and the
cattle and the donkeys, they've taken the John Deere, the case
and the Klaus. Oh, did I say Klaus?
Yeah. Guys, I come home.
I know. I know my farm stuff.
OK? I'm that cool.
OK. They came up with their
livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts.
It was impossible to count them or their camels.
They invaded the land to ravage it.
Midian so impoverished Israel that they cried out to the Lord
for help. Quick reminder, God never
blesses disobedience. God removes His protection and
His provision in an effort watch this to bring you back to Him
because if God were to continue to bless you while you were
living in sin, you would not realize the consequences of your
sin and your true need of Him. What was this evil that they
were doing? I'll tell you they were
worshipping other gods, false gods, alongside of their worship
of Him. This violates the first two of
the 10 commandments that God had given them when they were going
into the Promised land that accompanied a blessing.
If you do these things, I will bless you.
God said. I am the Lord your God.
You shall have no other gods before me, and you shall not
make for yourselves idols to worship.
In other words, while mutual funds might be a great
investment strategy for your retirement to spread the risk
across the place, it is a bad strategy when it comes to faith.
God is a single stock God. You either trust Him or you
don't. You either worship Him alone or
you don't. Judges chapter 6, verses 11
through 16. The Angel of the Lord came and
sat down under the oak and Oprah that belonged to Joash the
Abizarite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a wine
press to keep it from the many nights.
If you guys, you guys probably caught it.
He's threshing wheat in a wine press.
This is like mowing the yard with your oven.
He is. Things are not going the right
way, but he's doing it because they are that impoverished.
When the Angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said the
Lord is with you, mighty warrior.
Gideon's gone. Yeah, I don't kind of see that
happening. But sometimes you got to
remember that God sees things in you that you are capable of with
him that you don't see in yourselves.
Gideon has a bit of a passive aggressive wife mood going on.
You're going to see that. Have you ever had an argument
with your spouse where you were super respectful?
Pardon me, my Lord, Gideon replied.
If the Lord is with us, why has all this happened?
Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when
they said, did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?
But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of
Midian. The Lord turned to him and said,
Go in the strength that you have, and save Israel out of
Midian's hand. Am I not sending you?
Pardon me my Lord, dear wife, I beseech thee, how thou should I
actually say or folded the hand towels getting replied But how
can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in
Manessa, and I am the least in my family.
The Lord answered, I will be with you, and you will strike
down all of the Midianites, leaving none alive.
Let's pause before we can get into the real meat of the sermon
because we just introduced something that I know is going
to rattle around in your brains. Is God about to wipe out an
entire group of people? The answer to that question is
yes. Sometimes when you're sitting
across the table from an atheist or a person who is struggling
with their faith, they will actually have one of two
questions. Here is one of them.
If God is so good, why does he allow all the evil in the world?
Why doesn't he do something about it?
The answer to that question is you have the many nights doing
evil and God is about to eradicate it.
He's about to do something about it.
But when God actually shows up to do something about removing
some of the evil in the world, do you know what the very same
people will say? They will switch sides of the
balance sheet. They will argue from both sides,
and they will go, how could a good God destroy all of these
people? You can't blame God for both
sides of the equation. God is stepping in to move on
behalf of the people to save them.
And when God ends the lives of people, he always does so
justly. God has never ended the life of
an innocent person, save one, and that was Jesus Christ.
So when God actually does something about the evil in the
world and wipes out the Midianites, people get mad at
God for punishing people. Here's what it would look like
in our world if police were real.
Like, if they really existed, there wouldn't be crime.
And then at the same time going, hey, there's all these bad guys,
somebody should do something about it.
The police show up, they take away the bad guys, and then the
same people go, why are these guys removing these?
Why are the police removing these guys from their homes and
leaving kids without dads? Well, hold on a second.
You can't have it both ways. Back to the story, Gideon pushes
back on God. If you're with us, why has all
this happened? I've heard of all the things
you've done in the past, but I don't see you and I am not
experiencing you in my present. Now this is a pretty bold
question for Gideon to ask because God is not the one who
moved. The people had.
You're going to find this out if you go home and read the rest of
the story. Gideon is having this pardon me
my Lord conversation while he has idols in his house.
The fact that God didn't just end him in the midst of the
pardon me my Lord. Gideon is blaming God for the
fact that God has not been taking care of them all while
Gideon and his family are still worshipping other gods.
They were mad at God for what was happening to them, all while
living in rejection of Him. And isn't this us?
We assume that God's the problem when things don't go right,
we're like, yeah, God really let us down.
God really didn't come through. Instead of owning our own
disobedience to His perfect will and purpose that He has for our
lives. And I know what you're thinking,
but Clayton, I have 0 idols in my house.
I have none. I took them all to the thrift
store. We don't have any of them there
anymore. But here, Lee, rarely is an
idol, a piece of wood, or a graven image.
An idol for you and I is anything that you ultimately
count on for your provision, protection, and satisfaction.
In the Old Testament, the the battle is always against
idolatry. In the New Testament, the battle
is always against worldliness. This is when you and I conform
our lives to the God of culture rather than the God revealed in
the Scriptures. That's why our men's conference
is called uncommon, because we're trying to kill ordinary We
want to be who God called us to be instead of what the world is
trying to convince us to be. There are all kinds of things in
the Bible that we are called to do, and when we don't do them,
it is because we are trusting in the wisdom of culture instead of
the wisdom of our Creator. Back to the story, verses 22
through 24. When Gideon realized that it was
an Angel of the Lord, he exclaimed, Alas, sovereign Lord,
I have seen the Angel of the Lord face to face.
But the Lord said to him, peace, do not be afraid, you are not
going to die. So Gideon built an altar to the
Lord there and called it, The Lord is peace.
And here we get a name for God, a title, Jehovah Shalom.
God is peace. Not only is God peace, God is
the one who gives peace. You guys have heard this 100
times in your life. If you've been going to church
for a long time. Numbers chapter 624 through 26.
Look at what it says. The Lord bless you and keep you.
The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you.
The Lord turn his face towards you and give you Shalom.
This is backed up in Isaiah chapter 26 verse three.
It says you will keep in perfect Shalom those whose minds are
steadfast because they trust in you.
Watch this. God is the one who gives peace.
Peace comes from Him. But it is released by us.
How is it released by us when we shift our trust from wherever it
is to our trust being placed in Him?
The way I've heard it said, and maybe you've heard it said this
way is like this. No God, no peace, no God, no
peace, no God. You will not have any peace if
you know God. You can no peace.
So how can I know God? Easy.
Through an intimate personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
Let's Fast forward to the New Testament, John chapter 14,
verse 27. This is Jesus talking.
He says, this peace I leave with you, my peace I give you, but I
do not give to you as the world gives.
Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
You see, when you begin to walk with Jesus, you begin to walk in
peace in Shalom. Jesus, through the gift of the
Holy Spirit changes your mind, your soul, your heart, and as a
result changes your peace. Now watch this very carefully.
Romans chapter 8, verses 5 through 7.
Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on
what the flesh desires, but those who live according to the
Spirit have their mind set on what the Spirit desires.
The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed
by the Spirit is life and Shalom.
The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God.
It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so.
Watch this. Watch this your life.
If it is not being governed by the Holy Spirit, your mind is
leading you to death. But when you allow the Holy
Spirit into your life, which you get when you come into a right
relationship with Jesus Christ, your obedience to God in the
area of baptism, we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit comes into life and He changes how our mind
functions and the decisions that we make.
And when we have a spiritual mind that we cannot get on our
own, that is a gift that God gives us.
Through our belief in Him and our sacrifice and submission to
Him, we get a new mind. And this new mind gives us US
life and peace. God gives it, We release it.
We release it, we access it, we lay hold of it through faith in
Him. When we put our faith in Him.
Peace comes from God, but it is released when you and I shift
our trust from being placed on anywhere else and make it placed
on Him. And since we don't submit to
God's law, we don't experience peace.
Hopefully at this point right now, you are noticing a theme.
The God of the Old Testament offers peace.
Jesus of the New Testament offers peace.
Why? Because God is Jehovah Shalom,
and so is Jesus. It is the same name because it's
the same God with the same power offering the same promise.
But don't miss this, OK? If you've tuned out, tune back
in. Look at me.
The peace comes before the problem is resolved.
This is like, This is why you came.
You didn't know why you're getting up early today.
This is it. Gideon said Jehovah Shalom
before he tore down the idols, he still had to go battle the
Midianites. Remember what it said about the
Midianites and the Amalekites that they showed up and there
was, there was too numerous to count.
So Gideon, he gathers up a group of people.
He goes, hey, everybody show up. We're going to fight these guys.
32,000 people show up. So it is 32,000 people versus
too numerous to count. The odds aren't good.
God says, hey, you're going to be tempted to think that you won
this battle. And so we're just going to,
we're going to, we're going to whittle this group of 32,000
down. Whoever's afraid, tell them they
can go home. Gideon's like, Are you sure
about that? He's like, yeah, well, he didn't
say that, but I'm you guys get the picture.
Like I've been looking in the Bible.
Clayton lied. And so 22,000 people were like,
oh, the, the the scared people can go home.
Yeah, I'm back, babe, You want me to vacuum?
What are we doing? He said the scared guys could
come home. This is great.
So Gideon now has 10,000 dudes versus an army to numerous
account. Jehovah, Shalom, God goes.
So here's as I'm looking down at this, you'd be tempted to think
that if you won, that you won. But I need you to know that I'm
the one who provides the victory.
He goes, so have them take a drink and we'll kind of separate
them by how they drink. And 300 people drink one way and
9700 people drink another way. And Gideon's going, OK, losing
300 people's not that big of a deal.
And God says, actually send the 9700 people home.
So now it's 300 verse 2, numerous to count.
Not good odds. They're gearing up for battle.
What did they take? Did they pull out their katanas?
Did they pull out their super good swords and the Super good
bows and Aries? You listen.
Here's what I want you to do. I want you to get your lanterns
and your pottery and your trumpets and go to war.
Just feel that for a second. When you go to the local high
school, I want you to rob the pottery kids, the theater kids
and the band kids. Take all their stuff.
Is that who you'd pick? 300 people with band equipment?
And guess what, they won. Because when Jehovah Shalom is
your Jehovah Shalom, it doesn't matter what's stacked against
you, because the peace comes from him, but it's released by
you. He's saying, if you follow me,
you will experience the victory. Watch this.
Jesus said the words peace I leave with you, my peace I give
you. Guess when he said it?
He said it the night before he went to the cross and died for
our sins and gave us the victory.
Peace comes before the battle, before the victory.
Paul writes to the church in Philippi.
Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me or
seen in me, put it into practice and the God of peace will be
with you. Guess where Paul writes this?
Paul writes those words in prison.
He's talking about a God of peace while being chained and
imprisoned in Rome. The peace comes before the
victory. Paul writes to the church in
Thessalonica who are undergoing intense persecution for their
faith, intense persecution for their faith.
He says, now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at
all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you.
Here's what I'm trying to say today.
You might be in a battle, or you might be preparing for one.
You might be pushed out, cast aside, but you can still know
peace because Jehovah Shalom has declared it.
He has provided it. He has promised it.
One day, 2 artists were requested to paint a picture of
peace. The one who painted the best
picture was going to win $250,000.
As you can imagine, both painters attempted to paint the
finest painting of piece they could paint.
The first painter set to work creating a serene portrait of a
lake with the sun glistening off of it just at the right angle so
that it's sparkled across the top of the water.
The purest blue shade lay across the top of the water,
complementing the blue sky. The artist added a young girl
skipping near the lake with a yellow balloon securely fastened
to her wrist. Trees towered gracefully on one
side of the lake, with birds gathering in their tallest
branches. After completing his painting,
the painter leaned back and took a deep breath of satisfaction.
In his mind, he had portrayed peace and was sure to win the
prize. The second artist had a very
different idea in mind when he painted his image.
In his painting, the sky was pitch black.
Lightning zigzagged through the air in unpredictable movements.
The painter also had water, but the waves in his painting roared
as if they were somehow awakened from a terrible dream.
Trees bent and bowed, whining in the wind.
The painting looked more like a portrait of disaster, but all
the way down at the bottom of the left hand side, just near
the very edge of this horrific scene, a little bird stood on a
rock. The little bird had its mouth
open, singing a beautiful song. 1 Faint light shone down on the
bird as it sang, despite the situation all around it.
And it was the second painter who won the competition.
The judges chose him as the winner because he showed the
truest manifestation of peace, a well-being that resonates from
within despite what's going on all around.
And that is why Paul writes to the church in Rome, Romans 16
verse 20. You should underline this.
The God of peace will soon crush Satan underneath your feet.
You see, God is a God of peace who walks in victory, and you
and I will one day walk in his victory.
And if you are in Christ, hear me, If you are in Christ, you
have peace before the victory because He has declared it.
And if you don't have a relationship with Jesus Christ,
the good news is you can find peace today, and I hope you'll
do so. We're moving to a time of
decision. Can I finish the poem I started
at the beginning of the sermon? You're going to fall in love
with this. From Adam to Joseph, Mary's
betrothed, not one man could overcome the seed of sin that
had been sowed until in Bethlehem a virgin gave birth to
Jesus. Emmanuel, God with us here on
earth. This child a sure sign that God
has not left us to fight alone, but has given everything of
himself to bring us back home for the first time in history.
A man who resists sin at every temptation.
A man who commands angels and demons, disease, wind and waves,
and they obey him. But this man looked nothing like
the warrior we expected, and his claims to be the way, truth and
the life we rejected. He was found guilty, though he
committed no crime. His accusers struck him,
taunting. Tell us who hit you if you are
the Christ. He was delivered to Pilate, who
freed Barabbas to please the crowd, and Jesus was dressed and
spit a scarlet robe and thorns twisted into a crown.
As Jesus breathed his last hanging on a tree, Satan and all
of his powers of darkness shouted out with Glee.
If this is God's chosen Messiah, the one who came to save, what
good is it to have a Savior lying in a grave?
Darkness has enveloped the world at the dying of the light, and
now there is no way home, no way to be made right.
Surely Satan won this battle and with this battle the war and God
let Satan celebrate for three days and not one minute more.
With the rolling of a stone comes the turning of the tide.
Yes, Jesus was buried in the tomb, but he could not be kept
inside. In the battle against good and
evil. Jesus has won the war.
Satan and his powers of darkness flee at the mighty lions roar.
Where every man has failed, Jesus has succeeded.
Sin has been resisted, and death has been defeated.
Every chain has been broken. Every captive has been set free.
God has taken on the record of our debt and He has nailed it to
a tree where Satan staked his claim.
Jesus poured out his blood and cast out the darkness with the
light that cannot be overcome. The Son of God is risen and He
fights on our side. Thanks be to God who gives us
the victory through Jesus Christ.
To those of you who don't know Jesus, if you are not in Christ,
you are not part of the victory, but you can be.
And it is time for you to start an intimate personal
relationship with Jesus Christ. And can I encourage you to start
it today? In just a few moments, the
people around you are going to stand and sing.
If you're watching online, they're going to make it
available in the chat. And I want to encourage you to
turn and talk to somebody that you know, turn and talk to
somebody that brought you. Or if you would walk right up
there underneath that screen next to that baptistry and say,
hey, I need peace. I'm ready to walk in the victory
of Christ. To those of you who do know
Jesus, if you don't have peace today, you're struggling, you're
in the middle of a battle, you're in a middle of a season.
Let me just lay a couple things in front of you.
One, you might not be operating in peace because you are still
operating in sin. And so maybe one of the things
you need to do is you just need to get down your knees and
repent of the sins that you've been committing.
There are other gods playing a role in your life and you need
to be a one God person. Some of you, you are just in it
and it just hurts and you just need to allow God to strengthen
you through your prayer. You usually say, God, there is
this thing in front of me and I don't have peace and that means
that my trust is misplaced. Help me to place my trust in
you. The disciples cried out to Jesus
and they said help us in our disbelief and God will help you
and grow your faith. Would you guys stand with me?
Heavenly Father, thank you. Thank you for all the ways you
have gone before us, provided for us, looked out for us, been
patient with us. Thank you.
Thank you for doing what we could have never done and doing
it when we didn't deserve it yet.
I'm asking that right now, not just here, but across all of our
locations, and that you would use this moment to draw every
single soul closer to you. Amen.
I pray. Amen.