there, you know? And I would get up on Christmas morning, I'm telling you. I mean, you know, you know how it is. At 4 a.m., 4.15, go to bed, it's not time. 5 a.m. How many of you ever did that? Did you ever do that? How many of you do that to your mom and dad now? It would be a great idea, by the way. Set your alarm clock. Anyway, your parents are going to hate me. But you know, Christmas, I couldn't wait to unwrap things. Let me just tell you something, okay? There was never a gift I've got and there's never a gift that you will receive greater than the Christmas blessings that God gives us. Here's the problem. If we're not careful, we're just learning about them and we're not opening them up. I don't want to just learn about God's blessings. I want to open them up. I want to enjoy them. I want to experience them. Wouldn't you agree with that? And so as we've been working our way through this, I trust that you're not just hearing about the gifts, but you're opening the gifts. That you are personally applying God's truth to your life and enjoying the blessings that He's provided for you. And I want to look at another one this morning. Let's begin reading in verse number 8. And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them. And they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not. For behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you, you shall find the babe, wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenliest. I mean, they couldn't hold it back any longer. The heavens burst forth with a heavenly host of angels praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, good will toward men. I want you to look again at verse 14. I want you to see a Christmas blessing. Glory to God in the highest and on earth Peace. Somebody could say, preacher, we have anything but peace in our world. I beg to differ. We may not have world peace. We may not have peace between factions in America or groups or different things like that. Maybe you don't even have peace in your home. But you can have personal peace in your life. There is peace on earth. You just may not be tapping into it. You just may not have it. But God wants to bless you with it. Let's talk about the blessing of peace. Let's pray together. Father, thank You for Your Word. Thank You for the truth of Your Word. I pray, Lord, that we would have ears to hear today. Lord, there may be those that have come for the very first time. Lord, at times it's a little unsettling coming into a strange place. Help them to know they're among friends and we love them. That we're glad they're here. That, Lord, at one time we all came to a strange place that's part of Calvary. And Lord, that we were at all one-time guests at some point in our lives. And Lord, we're glad that they're here today. And Father, I pray that You'll speak to us. I pray You'll challenge us. I pray You'll change us. Lord, help us to learn of Your blessings. I pray You'll work in hearts and lives today. And Lord, You'd help us to learn of Your peace that You want every person in this room to know and experience the blessing Lord, of living a peace-filled life every day of our lives. And Lord, that's what You promised to us. That's what Jesus came to bring. And Father, we're going to thank You for that. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Well a number of years ago, just really a few short years ago, there was a fascinating conversation on a nationally syndicated radio talk show. The host having just completed Tom Brokaw's book on The Greatest Generation. It's a book that's filled with inspiring stories of the World War II generation known as The Greatest Generation. And the talk show host, after reading it, had taken the position that the current generation of young adults, those in their twenties, were for the most part just being whiners. He said that while they are constantly whining and moaning about the difficulty of their lives, in fact, when compared to the hardships faced by their grandparents' generation, they've actually got it easy. Their grandparents endured truly devastating events like the Great Depression, World War II, and other things like it. And the current crop of young adults, he concluded, doesn't even have a clue about real hardship. Once he had finished his monologue, a self-professed member of the younger generation of adults called in to offer a different perspective. He was a bright, articulate young man, about 23 years of age. And here's what he said. He said, while the Great Depression and World War II certainly created terrible hardships for the people who faced them, that he and his generation believed that they faced an even greater hardship. The radio talk show host said, and exactly what would that be? The caller said, the loss of hope and peace. He said that his experience indicated that many of today's young adults had simply stopped believing that things were going to get better and had no idea how to cope if they didn't. They weren't expecting a brighter future. They have simply given up in finding hope and peace. He went on to say, the Great Depression and World War II created terrible hardships. He went on to say, but I submit to you that the greatest hardship of all is living without any hope or any peace. Can I tell you, God doesn't want you to live without hope and without peace. As a matter of fact, the truth is that most of us are far more familiar with tension and stress and anxiety than we are peace. A lack of peace is the result many times of our complex, accelerated, and stressed out world. I want you to take a little peace test with me, alright? We're talking about personal peace here. And I want you to finish with the word that's going to complete this sentence. You can do it out loud or to yourself. It doesn't matter. Are you ready? We had a real good time in the 8.30 service with it. So let's see if you can fill in the blank, so to speak, alright? And take the test. I am ready to throw in the towel. I'm at the end of my rope. Now my wife's cheating. She's heard this. She listens to me preach twice. Now it's okay. I am just a bundle of nerves. I am at my wits' end. I feel like resigning from the human race. I'm in over my head. Sounds to me like you need peace. What about you? Probably every one of us at some point probably within the last week have said one of these statements. Or at least in the last month. And it's during those times that we know that we need a dose of peace. That life leaves us frazzled and at those moments we are usually experiencing anything but peace even as God's people. Isn't that true? And true peace we're going to find is not found in the stuff we accumulate. We already talked about that. Stuff will never make us happy. Stuff will never bring us joy. Stuff will never bring hope. And stuff will never leave us with peace. It never will. You're not going to find it in the locations, the places that you travel to. Oh, it might bring you a momentary respite of happiness or relief, but it will not bring you lasting peace. You will not find it in the person that you do or do not have. Can I say that again? You will not find it in the person that you do or do not have. People cannot bring you peace, and it is not found in the prestigious places and positions that we can find ourselves in life. True peace is not found in all of those things. It's only found in the person of the God that we can know and walk with every day of our lives. C.S. Lewis put it this way. He said, God cannot give happiness and peace apart from Himself. There is no such thing as peace without God. But I've got good news for you. 2,000 years ago in the angels' announcement to those humble shepherds, God is telling us that He desires to bless us with His peace. God doesn't just want you to have a peaceful life, He wants you to learn to live a peace-filled life. And the secret to living a life filled with the blessing of His peace is found in this angels' announcement. Look what He said, Glory to God in the highest and on earth, Why in the world can there be peace and goodwill from God toward men? Because of the truth of verse number 10. He said unto them, Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ, The Lord. Friend, can I tell you, God has blessed us with His hope and peace, and God's peace is bound up in a babe that was wrapped in swaddling clothes, that was laid in a manger, that was surrounded by animals in a Bethlehem stable. You see, friend, listen, Jesus Christ is not just the bringer of joy, and He's not just the giver of hope, but praise be to His name, He is the provider of peace. The prophet put it this, 700 years before he was ever born. Speaking of the birth of the Lord Jesus in chapter 9 and verse 6 said, For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder. Won't that be a great day? And his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Wow! That babe in Bethlehem grew to manhood. His last night on earth, He says this to a group of troubled men, Peace I leave with you. My peace I give unto you, not as the world giveth, give I unto you. What we have, church, is different than anything this world has to offer. If you, friend, are looking today for something in this world that will bring you peace, you are going to be sadly disappointed. You just are. You're going to come up empty every time. Whatever you think is going to bring you peace in that moment is going to leave you even more desperate. It's going to leave you even more disappointed. It's going to leave you even more disillusioned because you will come to the end of life searching for peace and never finding it. He said, My peace I give unto you, not as the world give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled. Don't let it be filled with anxious worry and anxiety and stress. Don't let it do that. Neither let it be afraid. You see, somebody described God's peace as that tranquil serenity of heart that comes from the all-pervading consciousness that our lives are in the hands of an all-wise, all-loving Savior that makes absolutely no mistakes in life. There are times that we get in foggy situations. What I mean by that is life has turned sour, or things have gotten difficult, or we get into a place of turmoil and it gets foggy and we can't see and it's dark and misty, and we lose sight of the things that we know as Christians. And you know what? It's during those times that somehow we think God's made a mistake. Can you come up for air for a moment? Because I can promise you for something, God never makes a mistake. He never does. God's never going to tell you to understand Him, but He will tell you to trust Him. It's a peace that passeth understanding. It's beyond human comprehension. I want to give you a couple thoughts this morning. Number one, if you want to experience the blessing of peace, you must first of all receive the gift of peace. You must receive the gift of peace. Listen to me. God wants you to have His peace. He does. It's a blessing that He said is to all people. Not just to a few people. Not just to most people. It's for every person. That means you can have it today. I mean, before you walk out of this building this morning, you can have a peace that you have never known before, never experienced before. It's going to be beyond anything you can ever imagine. It is a peace that can be personally yours, and God wants you to have it. But here's what you've got to learn. Peace is not a goal that you attain. It's not something you strive for. You can't search for it in the sense of trying to find it in this world. Listen, there are people everywhere that have a goal of peace. Our world has a goal of peace. And they come up empty. The reality of it is that peace is not a goal we attain. It is a gift we receive. It is. When it comes to the matter of our relationship with God, the peace has already been made. Two thousand years ago, the Prince of Peace robed Himself in human flesh. He was cradled in the womb of a virgin. He entered a broken, sin-cursed world. And that child was destined to die on a cross for the sins of the entire world. And here's what Colossians 1 and verse 20 says. The Holy Spirit says to us in that verse that He made peace through the blood of His cross. See, there's a war going on for Him. And it's not a war between nations. And it's not a war between people. But if you're here and you've never received the gift of peace this morning, there is a war going on in your life, and it is a war between you and God, and the hostilities are not on His part. They're on ours every time. The Bible teaches us that in our sinful condition, we're the enemies of God. You say, wait a minute. No, I love God. No, I'm the friend of God. No, I'm thankful for God. Friend, if you don't know Him in a saving way, the truth is you're His enemy this morning. I was God's enemy for 17 years of my life. You know why? Because I was living in rebellion against Him. I could talk about loving God. I could talk about all of these things, but the reality of it is inside of my heart I was in rebellion against Him. I wanted my way. I wanted my living. I wanted my sin. I wanted what made me happy. I didn't really want what made God happy at that point in my life. And friend, let me just tell you something. When it comes to this matter of being enemies of God, whether we're aware of it or not, whether we understand it or not, before a person is saved, they are at war with God. And that's many times where they're at war with other people. Do you realize on a very personal level that even Christian you, maybe you're out of the will of God today. I can promise you when we are not where we ought to be with God, and even as a Christian being at war with Him in our heart, it makes us irritable, hard to deal with, and you know what? It affects all the other relationships in life. You know what you say, preacher? I want my marriage stronger than build your relationship with God. I want my family stronger than build your relationship with God. And I can just tell you, that God loves you this morning. And the reason there's such turmoil and churning in your soul, because the Bible said, there is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked or to those who don't know me. You'll never find it because there's a vacuum, there's a restlessness in your heart that only God can feel. And once He feels it, there's peace that comes because He made you for Himself. And it wasn't God who caused the war. It was us. Listen to Isaiah 59 verse 2. Your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you. God's not at war with us. We're at war with God. God sent His Son so that there would be peace, not just any kind of peace, but His peace on earth. And here's what Isaiah 53 and verse 5 says how that God has remedied this war, remedied this problem, how that God has made peace, talking about His Son Jesus Christ, the same prophet who prophesied His birth, prophesied His death. And here's what He said about the death of Jesus Christ, but He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised. for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed." Do you know what he's saying in that verse? That, listen, the problem of our sin that's creating this hostility in our heart toward God that Jesus Christ, through His blood on the cross of Calvary, paid for the penalty of it. He paid for the sin of all mankind, and He took it out of the way, friends, so that today you can receive the gift of God's peace in your heart. by knowing Him as your Savior and the forgiver of your sins. Isn't that a wonderful truth? God wants to bring healing to your heart when you come to know His Son as your Savior. I've shared this illustration more times than I can count in my 30 years of ministry. And every time I read it, every time I share it, it blesses me. So bear with me again. In World War II, there was a saturation bombing that devastated a little village along the Rhine River in Germany. The village church that had existed for centuries took a direct hit and it was destroyed. After the war, the townspeople took what little money they had and rebuilt their church. It was nothing like the old church. But to try to make it a little more normal for them. They gathered what remaining monies they had and they asked the village carver to take wood that could be salvaged from the old church and make something special for the new one. And so he made little wooden figurines of Christ and the twelve apostles. It was interesting that when he carved the statue of the Lord Jesus that the carver made no attempt to remove the bomb fragments from the wood. Therefore, the statue of Jesus had metal fragments protruding out from it. And it was as if that little statue of Christ was saying, I took the pain that you might have the peace. And can I tell you, in a very real sense, that is exactly what took place at the cross of Calvary. There He endured the pain and the penalty and the suffering and the punish that my sin and that your sins deserve that we might have the peace. Friend, can I tell you that there is one person where peace is found and that is the Prince of Peace, the Lord Jesus Christ, and He wants to be yours today. He wants to be your Savior, your Lord, your God. He wants you to know Him in a real and saving way this morning. Isaiah 32, 17, "...and the work of righteousness shall be peace." Sins forgiven, guilt gone, future secure. Peace of His salvation in our lives. Romans 5, 1, "...therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Do you realize that God invites you to receive the gift of His peace? You say, preacher, but wait a minute. It can't be that simple. Life's so complicated. It's so complex. It's so stress-filled. It can't be that simple. This thing of going to heaven and sin's forgiven. I mean, you don't know how complicated the things in my life are because of how I've lived and what I've done. It can't be that simple. The solution... I've got to do something. Can I share the reality of you? The reality with you is this, that you can't do anything. You can't make peace with God. You don't have anything to make peace with. That's why He made it for you. And He just asked you to by faith receive it and trust Him as your Savior today. I want to tell you on this Christmas season, why don't you receive one of the greatest gifts that you can ever receive in your life? And that's the gift of God's peace through His Son, Jesus Christ. It begins by receiving the gift of peace. You say, well preacher, I've received that gift, but I still don't have peace in my heart. I'm just stressed out. I've reached the limit. I'm about ready. I'm at the end of my rope. I'm a bundle of nerves. I'm at my wits end. I'm ready to resign from the human race or any race for that matter. The second step is to rest in the God of peace. The same God that saved you is the same God that can see you through this life. God is a God of peace. His Son, Jesus Christ, is the Prince of Peace. No less than six times in our New Testament, our God is called the God of Peace. Aren't you glad? He's the God of grace. He's the God of mercy. He's the faithful God. He's the God of all comfort. Do you realize whatever you need, God is? I need peace, preacher. He has it. He's the God of all peace. Do you realize there's some Old Testament names for God? God combined His name Jehovah with other words in the Old Testament to help people understand who He was to them. And one of those is Jehovah Shalom, the Lord our peace. Do you realize today the recurring theme that God alone is the one who can provide your peace? John 14, 27, can I share it with you again? Peace I leave with you, my peace give I unto you, not as the world giveth, temporary relief, momentary distraction, fleeting moments of happiness. That's all it's going to give you. Not that kind of peace, Jesus says, am I going to give to you. He said, I'm going to give you a different kind of peace. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Yet, if we're honest, there are times our hearts are troubled and we do become afraid. It's during those times, dear Christian, that God wants you to know and rest in Him as the God of peace. We don't have to remain a roller coaster of ups and downs. We don't have to be in a constant tug of war. Just turn with me. We're not going to come back here. Turn with me, if you would, to Philippians. We're going to look at a couple passages of Scripture this morning. Look at Philippians chapter 4. And let's look at these with a fresh set of eyes this morning. Can we do that? Philippians chapter 4. Here the Apostle Paul is going to echo the words of the Lord Jesus. He's going to say the same thing in a different way. Same truth. Philippians chapter 4 verse 6, be careful for nothing. That's the same phrase basically when Jesus said, let not your heart be troubled. Don't let it be filled with turmoil. Don't let it be filled with strife. You don't have to live in a world of upsets. You don't have to do that. No. I don't have to allow that to define my life. I don't have to be a bundle of nerves. I don't have to be pulled in different directions, that tug of war, so to speak, in my life, where we're just torn inside and ripped apart. God said you don't have to live that way. He said be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer. When we come to the end of ourselves, do you realize that that's the beginning of God's working? The problem is that we're trying to figure it all out. We're trying to fix the turmoil. We're trying to set it right. We're all trying to fix it and make it better. And the problem is that when we come to this place in life, we can't make it all better, and you can't fix everything. You can't do it. And when we come to the end of our selves, that's when we come to God. And suddenly when God comes into the picture, we recognize that prayer, notice what He says, be careful for nothing but in everything by prayer. You know what we do? We begin to text the turmoil. See, we used to just pick up the telephone and call. But now we text it, or we Facebook message it, or we broadcast it to the world. And you know what you're doing? You're looking for sympathy. You're looking for somebody to say, oh, I feel so sorry for you. And it don't make you feel any better, does it? There's just somebody now low like you and down and depressed. They sort of just jumped in the hole with you. And you know what you didn't do? You didn't talk to God, did you? Because you've been spending your time talking to everybody else about it. and you haven't bowed on your face before God about it, and they can't give you peace. I'm not saying you can't put it on Facebook, or message it, or text it, or tell somebody, or enlist prayer. I'm not saying you can't do that. But what most people are doing is they're out here just looking for sympathy, and God's not going to give you sympathy. He's going to give you genuine help and peace when you come to Him. I just sort of felt a little cord struck there. That did ouch a little bit, didn't it? Because we're looking to people, aren't we? And we're coming up empty. And it's not fixing anything. And we're still in turmoil. And we're still in upsets. And you know what? God's bringing you to the end of yourself and everybody else because it's when you look to Him. See, when we're careful for nothing, that means I'm taking all of my cares, all of my anxiety, all of my stress, all of my worry, all of my turmoil. I'm taking it to God. Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, thankful that God is at work and He's able and He can and He's already blessed you in the past. Alright? Let your requests be made known unto God. And so, God said, instead of you being torn up inside and looking everywhere else for a place of relief, why don't you come to Me? You say, Preacher, that's all I'm going to be doing. Well, you know what? Maybe that's what we need to be doing. daily walking with God and talking to Him. That doesn't mean I can't talk to anybody else. That doesn't mean that I can't put it out there. But listen, we need to quit looking for sympathy and start looking for peace and help and strength from God. Look at verse 7. And the peace of God. There it is. What we've been needing. which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." Your hearts and minds. We need peace of mind, peace of heart. Everything's raging out here. I want it to be quiet in here. I don't need the noise out there in here. I need something different. That shall keep means to garrison or guard. A couple years ago I went to Wales to see our missionary brother Stagner and I was preaching in some of his churches over there and some other churches and had a wonderful time. And the last day we went to London, England and we spent the day in London sort of sightseeing because I was going to fly out from there. He was going to drive back to Wales and we just wanted to see some things. Came to Buckingham Palace. Now on TV it's really impressive. In real life, not so much. So I'm standing there and the guards are really exactly... I mean I thought this was the neatest thing. The guards are like wooden statues. I mean they're like toy soldiers standing there. Now I didn't jump up like you see on TV. I didn't want to get shot, stabbed, beat, killed. Didn't do anything like that. So I just thought I'd watch them. You know what I'm saying? And they stood there the entire time. I wondered a couple times if I need to check their pulse and see if they was really breathing or if they were just sort of dead. Rigor mortis sat in just there. You know what I'm saying? I wasn't sure. But I guarantee you if somebody come barreling through the gates of Buckingham Palace, those soldiers would snap too. I believe they would go at it. Don't you think? I believe they would do what they were trained to do and they would come alive at that moment and do everything they could to protect the queen and the royal family and all of that at Buckingham Palace. Wouldn't we all agree with that? Do you realize that when I am practicing Philippians 4, 6, and 7, And I'm anxious, careful for nothing. I'm praying about everything. That God's peace is like that guard standing at the door, the entryway of my heart. It's there. It's a sentinel. Now watch this. I don't always at that moment, at that moment sense God's peace being on guard. Because sometimes we're living on the roller coaster up in life. We're having a good time. We're with family. We're enjoying ourselves. And we're not thinking about needing peace. But the moment the roller coaster starts going down and we begin to call on God, it's immediately then that the garrison of God's peace begins to work, begins to guard. I mean, it begins to come alive in our hearts. It's then that we become conscious of it. protecting us from the disturbances of the world. It's that inner calmness, that quiet assurance that all is well on the inside even though everything may not be well on the outside. Somebody said the peace of God is that internal calm which lies far too deep in the praying, trusting soul to be reached by any external disturbances. Now I want you to notice the tenses of some of these words. Be careful for nothing. Everything by prayer shall keep. Okay? All of those are tense verb tenses that means that it's ongoing action. It's constant. It's consistent. It's continuous. Okay? And what I want you to understand is God's peace is a total package. It's perfect. It's priceless. You can't put a price tag on it. It's precious, but it's also permanent. It's lasting. It's lasting. It's ongoing. And be careful for nothing but in everything by prayer. 1 Peter 5, 7, casting all your care upon Him, for He careth for you. It is casting. Present tense. I'm continually casting my care, casting my care, casting my care, my worries, my burdens, my trials, my difficulties. I'm constantly doing that. Why? Because I can't carry them by myself. Well, preacher, I just bring them to the altar. I take them back with me. Why do you want to do that? But maybe it's because we have to keep giving them to Him. Because in our humanness, we do want to carry them back with us, don't we? Our humanness does want to fix it. Our humanness does want... You see what I'm saying? And that's why God said in a real way to continually be casting, continually casting, continually casting. Do you talk to God all day? You can. It was amazing, an uproar in our nation's capital over a couple people that made a statement, or probably in the media, when a couple people in government made a statement that they talked to God and God talked to them. I didn't think that was weird, did you? God talks to me? Oh, he didn't. Kevin, get up. It's church day. Come worship me. He didn't do that. I'm not riding down the road and God says, Kevin, you haven't talked to me much today. He doesn't do that. Oh no, but I've known Him for over 35 years now. And I've spent enough time in here that some of this has got in my heart. And the Holy Spirit speaks to me by bringing this to my heart and my mind and reminding me of what He said. And I hear His voice. It's this book. You know it's amazing people talk about hearing voices out in the world, many of them strung out on drugs, and nobody mocks that or makes fun of that, and that's not even real. Why do people want to make fun of something that's real? It's because they're scared of it. Do you know that there are people that are scared for God to talk to them? They don't want to hear His voice. That's why they don't want to come to church. That's why they don't want to hear the Bible preached. That's why they don't want to read it. Because the bottom line is they don't want to hear what God has to say. They don't want to hear His voice. I hope that's not you this morning. Because God loves you and He wants to talk to you from His Word. Can we look at one more verse and I'm going to close? Turn to the Old Testament book of Isaiah. The Old Testament book of Isaiah. Find chapter 26. Because you say, preacher, I understand all this, but I'm still not really experiencing it. Well, here's the key. Isaiah 26 verse 3. You ought to memorize this verse. Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace. That's what I want. Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee. Why? Because he trusteth in Thee. I like verse 4. Trust ye in the Lord forever. Forever. Don't ever stop trusting. For in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. God said, don't ever let your trust run out because my strength is never going to run out. That's pretty good, isn't it? Now I want you to look at a couple of words. I want you to look at the word stayed. What does it mean to have my mind stayed on Him? What does that mean? What does that look like? Well, that word stayed comes from a Hebrew word that has the idea of a staff, okay? A wooden staff. But it's not just any kind of staff. This is a shepherd's staff. About 6-7 foot long, has a crook on the end of it. Hey, listen, let me put imagery in your mind. You remember when you were a part as a kid in the children's play? My granddaddy never pastored over about 40 people in his whole life. We had a play every year. It was the same thing pretty much. I mean, you know, might change the speaking parts just a little bit. But I was a shepherd, had a towel wrapped around my head and my bathrobe. How many know what I'm talking about? How many of you have done this? How many don't want to admit you've done this? I got a towel wrapped around my head, you know, and I'm walking in there with my shepherd's crook. Many times people's made them, you know what I'm saying, and they got a crook in them, you know, and you got that thing and you're carrying it in there. And that's what he's talking about, this shepherd's staff. That shepherd's staff was used to corral sheep, correct sheep, provide for sheep, protect sheep, but also had another use. Preacher, what was it used for? It was used to hold up the shepherd because there were times when he couldn't go and he was worn out. They need to lean on something as he stood and watched over his sheep. And that word trust means to lean one's whole weight upon. It means the shepherd would walk up on that hillside and there would be his sheep. He's been leading them all day long and he's tired and he's weary, but he's got to watch. And he holds that staff and he plants it onto the ground and then he leans on it. And it holds him up. And it gives him strength. It enables him to keep doing what he needs to do. And God is your stay. He's your shepherd's staff. He's the one on whom you can lean. And He'll never break. He'll never fail. He'll always hold you up. that we're trusteth in Him. See, I'm convinced the reason we're not experiencing the perfect peace is the reality our mind has not stayed on Him. We're like Peter walking on the water when he suddenly realized what he was doing. This isn't normal. Lord, is that You walking on the water? Is that You, Lord? If it's You, bid me come to You on the water. And the Lord said, Come, Peter. And you remember He stepped out of the boat and He started walking on the water. Would we say that's supernatural? People don't walk on water, do they? Except the Lord and then when He enables Peter to do it. God's peace is supernatural. It's not natural. People aren't born with it. They don't just have it. It's supernatural. The problem is when we start experiencing it, it's abnormal. Because we're supposed to be torn up inside. That's what we're used to. Being at wit's end. All ripped apart. In a tug of war. I'm just a worry wart. I'm just a bundle of nerves. I just worry about everything. That's how we think about living. You know why? Because that's what we conditioned ourselves to. And then in a moment we feel a little bit of God's peace and we experience a little of that peace. Well, this isn't normal. And that's when Peter started what? Sinking. Because you know what he did? He didn't have his mind stayed on the Lord. He quit trusting, didn't he? You know what you need to do? You need to get your mind off the winds and the waves and stay it on Him. and walk with Him and learn of Him and see who He is in your life and He will enable you to have the strength to go on. Does that mean that I'm going to feel this? No. It doesn't. But what it does mean is that there's an inner calmness that I know that the Lord's my shepherd and He's my stay and He's got this. And it's okay. You study your Bible, God will never tell you to understand Him. But He will tell you to trust Him. Because I can't always understand what God's doing. I can't figure it out. I don't have all the answers. Do you? But He does. And if we did have all the answers and we could figure it all out, why would we need faith? Trust links us with God just like prayer because prayer voices our trust. He is our shepherd's staff. He gives perfect peace when we stay our mind on Him because we trust in Him. And then we trust in Him forever. That's ongoing. Why? Because the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. He enables me to keep going when I don't want to keep going or we want to quit or we want to give in or we want to give up or we're at the end of our rope or we're in over our heads or whatever we want to say. He's able. Corrie ten Boom, who spent time in a Nazi concentration camp, said, When I look at the world, I get distressed. When I look at myself, I get depressed. But when I look to Jesus, I am at rest. Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee. Peace is not the absence of trouble. You've heard this many times. But the presence of Jesus. We need to practice the presence of God in our everyday lives. We need to learn to walk with Him because His peace is real and genuine. He's blessed you with it. You have it. We just need to experience it. Charles Wesley said, I rest beneath the Almighty's shade. My griefs expire, my troubles cease. Thou, Lord, on whom my soul has stayed, will keep me in perfect peace. God wants to bless you with His peace. He wants you first of all to receive the gift of peace. The noise of your soul will never quieten till you have peace with God. Till you come to grips that you're a sinner and you need a Savior and you receive the Savior and you trust Him by faith. You believe on Him. It's not keeping the Ten Commandments. It's not taking a catechism. It's not putting a wafer and drinking some juice. It's not joining a church or getting baptized in our baptistry. It's not trying to turn over a new leaf and you live a better life or make up for what bad things you may have done. It's realizing that Jesus Christ died for your sins, was buried. Three days later He rose again. He's alive in heaven. And He said, If you'll come to Me and you'll receive Me, if you'll believe on Me, I'll save you. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. He wants you to call on Him for salvation today. To come to Him and He will quiet the noise of your heart. He will give you peace with God. He'll do that. Christian, rest in the God of peace. You say, Preacher, I've come to Him. I've trusted Him. I have peace with God. You want to experience the peace of God? Then rest in the God of peace. Begin to rearrange how you live your life. and come to the place that you can't. Just admit it to yourself. And then come to grips with the fact that He can. And begin to cast your care upon Him on a regular basis. And those moments of turmoil... Listen, when life turns up the heat on you, you turn up the heat on life by turning up your spiritual life. and spending more time with God, talking to Him more frequently, leaning upon Him more and more and more during those times because we need Him. What we want to do is during those times we struggle reading the Bible, we struggle praying, we struggle with those things because we're over here and we don't feel like it. And the devil doesn't want you to do it. And you don't think it works anyway. And then we jettison the very thing. the very answer to what's going on in our lives. Maybe today you, Christian, need to confess that you've been doing it your way. And you start doing things God's way. You've been trying to carry your care instead of casting your care. You've been trying to fix it rather than letting God work. You're trying to figure it all out. instead of realizing He has this. Now, does that mean that I don't need to set budgets or make decisions? No, it doesn't. But that means that for those things that are beyond me, I'm casting them on Him. Because only God can quiet the noise inside of you. And maybe you need to bring it to Him this morning. Maybe you need to make an altar out of your seat. Maybe you need to come right here and talk to the God of peace today. Confess to Him what's going on in your life. Maybe you've got sin in your life. God can't give you peace if you've got sin in your life and disobedience. Maybe you're not as committed to Him as you one time were. And today you need to get those things right and you begin to start casting your care and leaning on Him and letting Him be your stay and trusting Him. and admit to Him that you've not been trusting Him. You know, that is disobedience. Confess that as a sin. Ask God for forgiveness. Christian, the altar is yours this morning. This is your invitation. God's blessed you with His peace. Now live in it. Make it yours. Unwrap the gift. Friend without Christ, why don't you make this the day that you receive His gift? of peace through His Son, Jesus Christ, and the forgiveness of sins. Let's bow our heads in prayer.