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And if Jesus makes that 
exclusive claim, he therefore 

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means that peace cannot be found
in any other religion, cannot be

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found anywhere else. 
We cannot find it in reading 

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00:00:15,560 --> 00:00:19,400
nice motivational books. 
We cannot find it here and 

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there. 
Jesus says if you want it, I'm 

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the one who gives the world 
through peace. 

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And Isaiah puts it this way. 
In Isaiah 48 verse 22, there is 

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no peace. 
It says the Lord for the wicked,

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those outside of me, they have 
no peace, for peace cannot be 

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found outside of Christ. 
I don't know where this morning 

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you are trying to find your 
peace because perhaps you don't 

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feel like you have it this 
morning because perhaps of the 

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many things that are happening 
in your life, you maybe don't 

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even sensing or feeling the 
peace of God and you think maybe

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I need to do ABC and D to find 
that peace. 

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I may say to you this morning, 
lean in to Him who is peace. 

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Nothing out there satisfies the 
human soul apart from Christ. 

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He not only gives peace, but He 
is peace. 

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It is Himself that He offers to 
ask this one that I am your 

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peace. 
Temporary solutions may feel 

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like peace, but they will not 
last. 

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And therefore, if you don't have
it this morning, I have the best

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answer for you. 
Come to Jesus, That is where you

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will find true peace in a world 
that needs peace. 

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How does Christ then provide 
this peace for us? 

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The world does not have it. 
Christ gives it to us. 

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But how? 
That's the major question. 

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How does it give us this peace? 
There's only one way that the 

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Son of Man, the Bible tells us 
in John chapter 1, the Son of 

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Man who would come in his 
Incarnate state, fully man and 

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fully God, coming to live among 
us and also coming to die for us

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in our place and for our sin. 
That those who were enemies of 

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God can now be reconciled to 
God. 

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Those who rebelled against Him 
would come to know Him by faith.

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It is the only way to which we 
have peace is that Christ must 

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die for us. 
The work of atonement must take 

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place. 
He must die on our behalf so 

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that we may receive His peace. 
And indeed, He did die for us. 

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00:03:02,920 --> 00:03:07,480
The apostle Paul in Ephesians 
chapter 2 he argues for three 

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things that Christ did in giving
us this peace. 

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He mentions it three times in 
Ephesians chapter 2 verse 11 to 

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18. 
The first thing he mentions is 

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that through His death, Christ 
is our peace. 

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We receive this peace through 
His death, and He becomes our 

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peace. 
In other words, those who were 

46
00:03:34,040 --> 00:03:39,440
enemies of God and now have been
reconciled to God and have him 

47
00:03:40,480 --> 00:03:45,480
as peace. 
He not only gives us this peace,

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the apostle Paula argues that he
also made peace. 

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He is our peace, and He made 
peace through the cross as we 

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read deficient to it is a 
relationship between the Jews 

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and the Gentiles who did not get
along. 

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They simply did not like each 
other. 

53
00:04:02,640 --> 00:04:04,640
They did not want to be in one 
space. 

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00:04:05,000 --> 00:04:10,360
And the Bible says once Jesus 
died on the cross, that barrier 

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between the Jews and the 
Gentiles, that division that was

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between the Jews and the 
Gentiles has now been broken. 

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The two have become one. 
Those were enemies. 

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They're now brothers and sisters
in Christ. 

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He not only gives peace, but he 
made peace in a broken world 

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where people are divided by 
class, by race, and all of these

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things. 
The Bible says no Christ made 

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peace. 
He brought the two, one, that 

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beautiful picture of the 
manifold wisdom of God, the 

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multicolor Church of God, the 
one who gives peace but also 

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makes peace. 
The Apostle Paul further argues 

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that he not only gives us peace,
not only made peace, but he 

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preached peace as well. 
He preached peace to all, that 

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those who may not know him even 
this morning in this place may 

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come to know him as the peace is
being preached. 

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Peace is expensive. 
Peace is made by Jesus dying on 

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our behalf on the cross. 
Peace is bloody so that you and 

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I may truly know Him, and as we 
know Him, being indwelt by the 

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power of the Holy Spirit and 
being made right with God. 

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And therefore the answer to 
peace is Christ. 

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But how does he do that? 
Through his death on the cross. 

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Without the cross there is no 
peace. 

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And if you are in this place 
today and you don't have that 

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peace, perhaps the question I 
ought to ask you this morning, 

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have you cried out to God for 
salvation? 

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00:05:57,200 --> 00:06:02,280
Have you said, Lord, save me, 
Lord, cleanse me, Lord, I repent

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of my sin. 
And I believe Isaiah 53 verse 5 

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says the following. 
But he was pierced for our 

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transgressions. 
He was crushed for iniquities. 

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00:06:14,640 --> 00:06:19,480
Upon Him was the chastisement 
that brought US peace, and with 

85
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His wounds we are healed. 
Without the blood there is no 

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peace. 
Peace of God flows from the very

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grace of God, from the death of 
Christ, that we have peace. 

88
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Today. 
Therefore, what the world offers

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cannot truly satisfy only that 
which He gives, which is Himself

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that truly satisfies us. 
And I think if we talk about 

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peace in the context of 
Galatians 5 without talking 

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about peace that flows from 
grace, I think we would miss the

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context altogether, because 
peace must flow from Christ's 

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death, and without that we know 
absolutely nothing about peace. 

95
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So he gives us peace or he made 
peace, That's what the text 

96
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says. 
But also He gives us peace. 

97
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We have peace with God because 
of the cross, because of His 

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death. 
We have peace with Him and our 

99
00:07:32,400 --> 00:07:36,400
salvation is secured in Him. 
And we cannot lose our salvation

100
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because we have peace with God. 
But, but, but let us not stop 

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there. 
We not only have the peace, 

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peace with God, we also have the
peace of God. 

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00:07:47,120 --> 00:07:53,120
We have His peace in Romans 5, 
verse one and two says, 

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therefore, since you have been 
justified through faith, we have

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peace with God through our Lord 
Jesus Christ through whom we 

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have gained access by faith into
his grace, which we now stand. 

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And so because of Jesus now we 
have this peace that we have. 

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It means we no longer living in 
guilt. 

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We no longer living in shame 
today. 

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And, and, and even Laura was 
speaking was reminded of 

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Zechariah chapter 3, when Satan 
would come and accuse Zechariah 

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because of the sin and the 
dirtiness of Zechariah and and, 

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and, and, and, and Joshua said, 
let's put a new robe on Joshua. 

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Let's put a new robe upon him, a
white one now so that the 

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accuser may not succeed. 
And at times we feel like that. 

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We feel dirty all the time, 
sinful all the time, and often 

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we must be reminded. 
No, the Lord gives us a new 

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robe, a new robe to remind us of
our righteousness, of our right 

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standing before God, that we do 
not work in guilt, we don't work

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in fear, and we don't work in 
shame. 

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We work in the liberty and the 
freedom of Jesus Christ. 

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Therefore, brethren, don't, 
don't, don't, don't take the 

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guilt. 
Don't take it for now. 

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Now, today, there is no 
condemnation for those who are 

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in Christ Jesus no longer 
condemned. 

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00:09:19,400 --> 00:09:22,840
Take it in, believe it. 
Even when you don't feel 

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righteous, even when you don't 
feel the peace of God, believe 

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it. 
This is your standing before the

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one true God. 
We not only have peace with Him,

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we have His peace by faith at 
work in our lives. 

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This is the peace of God, only 
the peace in which God gives us.

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It is the Peace of Mind, a peace
that is free from the anxiety, a

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peace that is free from panic, 
because often we panic. 

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Often we are anxious because of 
what is happening around us, in 

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our families, in our workplaces,
you know, in our businesses, 

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whatever it could be. 
At times we feel like why, why, 

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why is this happening? 
And at those moments who become 

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so anxious, can I say to you, 
may the peace of God be with 

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you. 
May in those moments you know 

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the Shalom of God. 
The only thing that drives out 

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worry according to Philippians 4
is prayer. 

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Philippians forces this. 
Do not be anxious about anything

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quite interesting about 
anything, but in every 

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situation, by prayer and 
petition, with Thanksgiving, 

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present your requests to God. 
Notice the next line. 

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And the peace of God, which 
transcends all understanding, 

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will guard your hearts and minds
in Christ Jesus. 

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00:11:04,360 --> 00:11:08,120
Wow. 
Do not be anxious about 

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anything, but in everything, do 
what pray. 

150
00:11:12,760 --> 00:11:18,000
Worry will either drive out 
prayer in your life or prayer 

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00:11:18,160 --> 00:11:20,000
will drive out worry in your 
life. 

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You choose. 
And he says as you do that and 

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the peace of God, which 
transcends all understanding, 

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what will that peace do? 
It will guide your hearts and 

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your minds in Christ Jesus. 
Wow, we pray. 

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00:11:43,360 --> 00:11:50,800
We can choose to worry, or we 
can choose to pray and trust 

157
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God. 
Listen to me, listen to me 

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church. 
God can be trusted. 

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00:11:59,680 --> 00:12:03,080
I don't know what you may be 
going through this morning that 

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has taken away your peace, but 
can I say God can be trusted 

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with everything? 
I know that anxiety will come. 

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The daily pressures of life will
come. 

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I know I'm not. 
I'm not dismissing that, that 

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that that happens. 
I know. 

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So can we have peace in the 
midst of stress and when life is

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difficult, can we have peace in 
our homes, in our workplaces? 

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The answer is yes, we can have 
the peace of God. 

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The kind of peace that we have 
is a peace that is a witness of 

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the gospel of Christ to the 
world that needs that peace that

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people may wonder why are you so
calm? 

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Why are you still believing? 
But things are not going well is

172
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because the peace of God is in 
you. 

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And not only the peace of God, 
but you are trusting the one who

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cares for you, who loves you, 
the one who is for you. 

175
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As a believer. 
We have no Plan B Church. 

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Jesus is all we have got in the 
kind of world we can have. 

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The peace that testifies to the 
world that Jesus is good. 

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Last final thing I want to say 
to us this morning is that God 

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not only made peace, not only 
does He give peace, we talked 

180
00:13:53,680 --> 00:13:59,120
about the how he does that, but 
also He calls us to live in 

181
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peace with others. 
It is often true that we know 

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about the peace that God gives 
us, but often when we have 

183
00:14:08,160 --> 00:14:12,040
received that kind of peace, 
excuse me, we also then are 

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called to live in peace with 
others. 

185
00:14:16,640 --> 00:14:20,240
There's a wonderful story in 
Romans 14 and Romans 15. 

186
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Not really, not really a story, 
but the apostle Paul is speaking

187
00:14:24,240 --> 00:14:28,280
to these Jewish but also Gentile
believers. 

188
00:14:28,280 --> 00:14:32,520
And there are quite a number of 
issues in Romans 14 and 15 and 1

189
00:14:32,520 --> 00:14:36,640
of it has to do with what should
we eat, which bakery, sorry, 

190
00:14:36,640 --> 00:14:40,960
sorry, which, which place should
we go and buy meat from? 

191
00:14:40,960 --> 00:14:45,720
That's what I wanted to say. 
And so the issue is, should we 

192
00:14:45,720 --> 00:14:49,760
be eating meat made by pagans or
not? 

193
00:14:50,280 --> 00:14:52,840
Well, the gentle believers have 
got no issues with that. 

194
00:14:52,960 --> 00:14:54,440
Meat is meat. 
Let's eat, man. 

195
00:14:55,120 --> 00:14:57,760
We are now in Christ. 
Let's eat meat. 

196
00:14:57,760 --> 00:15:00,240
Let's eat pork. 
I don't know who some people are

197
00:15:00,240 --> 00:15:03,600
not believers don't eat pork. 
Yeah, you're missing out in a 

198
00:15:03,600 --> 00:15:06,760
good bacon, by the way. 
But anyway, it's not, it's not 

199
00:15:06,760 --> 00:15:08,680
my problem. 
Just saying you're missing out 

200
00:15:09,640 --> 00:15:11,320
if you don't eat pork. 
It's really nice. 

201
00:15:13,000 --> 00:15:14,840
OK, you're going to get an 
e-mail tomorrow morning. 

202
00:15:15,280 --> 00:15:20,720
Someone is going to be upset. 
But on the other hand, on the 

203
00:15:20,720 --> 00:15:23,960
other hand, the Jewish believer 
says, no, you can't eat this 

204
00:15:23,960 --> 00:15:26,880
meat. 
You can't Jewish, Jewish 

205
00:15:26,880 --> 00:15:29,920
believers don't eat this meat. 
And so these believers are at 

206
00:15:29,920 --> 00:15:31,600
loggerheads. 
They are fighting. 

207
00:15:34,040 --> 00:15:37,480
And the apostle Paul is now 
writing to them to address them 

208
00:15:37,480 --> 00:15:39,760
on this very issue. 
And the other issue they are 

209
00:15:39,760 --> 00:15:41,600
fighting about is the Sabbath as
well. 

210
00:15:41,720 --> 00:15:43,400
Maybe we are cool to keep the 
Sabbath. 

211
00:15:43,560 --> 00:15:45,680
And the gentle says, no, we are 
free in Christ. 

212
00:15:45,680 --> 00:15:46,960
We're not going to keep the 
Sabbath. 

213
00:15:47,200 --> 00:15:50,240
It's got absolutely nothing to 
do with us. 

214
00:15:50,720 --> 00:15:55,280
And so there is this conflict 
between these believers and 

215
00:15:55,280 --> 00:15:57,840
perhaps the Gentiles. 
We're thinking to themselves, 

216
00:15:57,840 --> 00:15:59,960
well, we are the strong 
Christians. 

217
00:16:00,840 --> 00:16:04,840
We know who we are in Christ. 
None of these things affect us. 

218
00:16:05,480 --> 00:16:08,120
And maybe the Jewish believers 
were thinking these are weak 

219
00:16:08,120 --> 00:16:11,720
Christians because they're doing
everything that they ought not 

220
00:16:11,720 --> 00:16:16,200
to do, including eating meat 
that is unclean according to 

221
00:16:16,200 --> 00:16:19,720
them, and that is sacrificed to 
idols maybe. 

222
00:16:20,360 --> 00:16:26,800
And because of that, there is 
now these these not only just 

223
00:16:26,800 --> 00:16:30,360
differences, but this conflict 
because of cultural and 

224
00:16:30,360 --> 00:16:34,920
religious backgrounds causing a 
significant theological and 

225
00:16:34,920 --> 00:16:36,680
practical disagreements in this 
church. 

226
00:16:39,000 --> 00:16:43,960
And the Apostle Paul knows that 
often believers are going to 

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agree not as the Apostle Paul 
does not take a side, He does 

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not side with the gentle 
believers, nor does a side with 

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the Jewish believers. 
He says one thing to them. 

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He says accept one another. 
That's it. 

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He knows that they are 
quarrelling and disputes among 

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them, but he's saying to them, 
listen, you can disagree with 

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each other, but after 
disagreeing with each other, 

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accept one another. 
In other words, the one you 

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disagree with is not your enemy.
They are still your brothers and

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sisters in Christ. 
Notice what he says in Romans 

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1413. 
Accept one another whose faith 

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is weak. 
Without quoting over disputable 

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matters. 
One person's faith allows them 

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to eat anything, but another 
whose faith is weak eats only 

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vegetables. 
The one who eats everything must

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not treat with contempt the one 
who does not, and the one who 

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does not eat everything must not
judge the one who does. 

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For God has accepted accepted 
them. 

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So the the Jewish believers 
should not judge the Gentiles, 

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but the Gentiles equally should 
not judge the Jews. 

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And then he says in verse 19, 
make every effort to do what 

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leads to peace. 
The the, the peace we have 

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through the gospel means we must
do our best to live in peace 

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with other people. 
That's the point here. 

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And that is the example of 
Christ. 

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And when we are not in peace 
with others, we are saying God 

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has accepted you, but I do not 
accept you because we disagree 

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on ABC and D. 
Let's think about our world 

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today. 
One of the things Christians 

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even disagree about today is the
issue of wine. 

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Should Christians be drinking 
wine? 

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Should they be not drinking 
wine? 

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And people disagree on those 
things? 

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But the question is, should we 
then in our disagreement condemn

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or judge one another? 
Or should we accept one another 

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even though we may disagree on 
something? 

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I think that's the challenge 
that we have today in taking 

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this further. 
I'm about to close the apostle 

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Paul says the following and I 
want to quote few verses here as

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it drives this point home. 
In Romans 12/18 he says for it 

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is possible as far as depend on 
you live at peace with everyone.

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First Corinthians 715 God has 
called us to live in peace. 

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First Corinthians 1433 God is 
not a God of disorder but a God 

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of peace. 
Ephesians 43 Make every effort 

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to keep the unity of the Spirit 
through the bond of peace. 

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Peace, peace, peace. 
This is the heart of the gospel 

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for those who are truly saved, 
who know the peace of God, but 

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also who make an effort to live 
in peace with everybody. 

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Therefore, few things for 
consideration. 

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One, we should be careful to 
avoid the kind of words and and 

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attitudes. 
That can create 

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misunderstandings and divisions 
#2 for us to keep peace, we 

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should be quick to apologize and
said sorry. 

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And I was thinking about, in 
fact, here I was thinking about 

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Bishop Doodoo. 
Bishop Doodoo said there are two

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things that are quite hard for 
humans. 

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Wanted to say I'm sorry, wanted 
to say thank you. 

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So it is very hard for people to
say those two things. 

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We should be quick to apologize 
instead of trying to defend 

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ourselves, which is often easy 
to do. 

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We need to follow careful 
instructions of Jesus in how we 

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deal with conflict in the body 
of Christ, following Matthew 18,

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verse 15 to 17. 
Above all, in keeping the peace,

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we should avoid all kinds of 
gossip about other people and 

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lend the strict discipline of 
keeping confidences. 

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That's the peace within the 
context of the local church and 

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among believers. 
Well, the world longs for this 

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peace. 
And if you are in Christ, you 

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have this peace already secured 
in Christ Jesus. 

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My prayer is that the that this 
will be a fruit of the Spirit, 

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the outworking of the power of 
the Spirit in your own life. 

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Let's pray, Father, in the name 
of Jesus, we are grateful for 

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peace that you have given us, a 
peace that the world does not 

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know. 
And yet, Lord God, the peace 

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00:21:52,440 --> 00:21:56,880
that we have received through 
the atoning work of Christ on 

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the cross. 
And so, Lord, we say thank you 

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for giving us the kind of peace 
that transcends all 

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understanding. 
And Lord, because we have that 

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kind of peace, help us to live 
in peace with others. 

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We want to be those kind of 
people, Oh God, who live 

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peaceful lives, who are always 
seeking to reconcile with 

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people, seeking to love people, 
seeking to serve people, and 

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seeking to forgive people. 
And Holy Spirit, we ask you to 

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please help us. 
In Christ's name we pray. 

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Amen. 
Thanks.