take your Bibles if you will and turn to Luke chapter 2, Luke chapter 2 and we are going to be looking at one word tonight and looking at a bunch of verses that deal with that word. Here in Luke chapter 2 and all through the Christmas story if you will and around this time of year You hear of two words primarily, especially if it has anything to do with religion, but also in everyone's house. Of course, you go in a house in wintertime and in Christmastime, you'll see plaques on the wall and all of those types of things. And they'll have these two words, if they're together or maybe on separate plaques, whatever it may be, during this time, and that is joy and peace. Well, tonight we're going to talk about that word, peace. Next week, Lord willing, we'll talk about that word, joy. But a long story short is this, in order to have the peace that the Bible talks about, you have to trust Christ as your personal Savior. Amen? there is much that is said about peace, and we'll talk about that tonight. But the reality is we as believers we can have peace. And in a world that is falling apart, in a world that seems like there is so much turmoil, and so much fighting, and all of those things we can have peace. And we are going to learn about that here tonight. Luke 2, verse 14. Of course this is when the angels have came to the shepherds there. And they are on the hillside there by Bethlehem. And it says here in Luke 2, 14, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. Let's go to the Lord in prayer and ask Him to help us this evening. Dear Lord we do thank You for opportunity we have to own a copy of Your Word. I do pray that You would help us, Lord, as we learn about this word, peace, tonight, that You would help us to see biblically what it means, and what Your will is, Lord, in the area of peace. Lord, I pray that if there is anyone here that is not saved that they would come to know You tonight. And Lord, for those of us who are saved, I pray, dear God, You would help us to have the peace that can only come from You. And I pray that You would do a work in our hearts, and only remove all distractions from our minds. We ask all these things in Jesus' name, Amen. When we think about peace, what comes to your mind? especially as parents. Well, peace is once the kids go to bed. Amen? Once everything is quiet and I can actually sit there and hear myself think for just a little while. But sometimes people think that, well, peace is when people just aren't fighting each other. Well, that means there is peace. That's the world's view of peace. Well, as long as there is no fighting going on, Practically every politician that we've ever heard from, they will talk about world peace. Well, there's a problem when you talk about world peace and when you expect world peace to come during this time, and that is the problem is found because the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ said, in this world ye shall have tribulation. Well, in the midst of tribulation, this world would say that's not peace. These politicians are not talking about the peace that we are learning about tonight. They are not talking about the peace that can only come from God. They are talking about something that mankind can try to manufacture. This peace that we are discussing though it is not something that can be manufactured by mankind. It is something that only comes from God. It is the type of peace that we see when the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ stood up in the boat in the midst of a raging storm and He said this, Only God could do that. Man can't control the weather. There was a time I was out deep sea fishing with my wife's grandfather and my brother-in-law was there with me. And another gentleman was with us as well. And we were way offshore. We were 30 or 35 miles offshore. And it was a beautiful day. Sun was shining. Everything was great. We're catching flounder. And we're all excited about what's going on. And all of a sudden, way off in the distance, we start seeing these clouds roll in. And my wife's grandfather said this. He said, we need to head for the shore. I thought to myself, well, that storm is so far away. We have plenty of time." He said, we're out of here, pull the lines in. So we pulled the lines in and by the time we got to where we were about 15 miles from shore that storm had caught us. And it was pelting down upon us and there was this little tiny roof on this boat. It was a 20 some foot boat but there was a little tiny roof that practically only the driver could sit under. And he was perfectly fine. He's just going down through there, you know. And I looked at the man that was there with us. And he had been out on the water with my wife's grandfather for years. And I looked over at him when these swells are coming up and that boat's coming through. And some of them it would cut through and other ones we'd come off and we'd come back down. And it felt as though we were airborne forever. And we were going through some stuff. And I looked at him and I said, at what point do you get worried? And he looks at me and he says, I've been on the water an awful lot with Burton. He said, if he's not worried, I'm not worried. I said, well, I don't care if he's worried or not. I'm worried. Amen. But there was a there was some time there was we're coming through. You see that you have no control over what's going on. We're out in the middle there. That water could take us anywhere it wanted to take us. and we were trying to get to shore. We could say that in that circumstance, there was no peace, if you will, in what this world considers peace. We were worried about what was going on. But the peace that we're talking about tonight is a peace that can only be, it can only be given to us as believers from God himself. And this peace does not mean that there's nothing going on out here. It means that in the midst of all of those things that are going on, there's peace that's here. You read of that piece in the 23rd Psalm, do you not? All throughout that. It says that he prepares a table before me in the presence of mine enemies. That verse that it's talking about is, when you look at that verse, he's describing a circumstance in which he would be in the middle of a battle, but it was as if a table was set and you could peacefully sit and eat this meal in the midst of all the turmoil going on. That peace can only be given from God himself. And the Bible talks an awful lot about that type of peace. God said this, my peace I give unto you. So if God has peace and he gives that peace to us, then we as believers, we should have a somewhat of an understanding about this peace here in Luke chapter two. In verse 14, we read the word peace. And this word, it comes from the Greek word Irenae, which means this. One, it means peace, it means quietness, and it means rest. Speaking of those things of the inward man. Not just sleep, but rest. We all know there's a difference between sleep and rest. Sometimes you can have your eyes closed and it seems as though you're sleeping, but when you wake up you realize, I didn't rest at all. rest, quietness, peace. So what is all the peace that God is talking about here and how can we have that peace? So I want you to notice first of all tonight the desire of God is for us to have peace. Look at John chapter 14 if you will. John chapter 14, John 14 and verse 27. Now these are the words of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ here in John 14.27 and the Bible says this, "'Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you.'" Not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Now think about this for a moment. As he's speaking to these people here, obviously there's always been wars and fighting and turmoil and all those things going on there, but he doesn't say, let not your outward being be troubled. No, this piece that he's talking about, it has to do with the inward man. He says, let not your heart be troubled. troubled. Why is that important as believers to understand that it's God's will, it's God's desire for us to have peace. It's simply because of this. If we are so bent out of shape and we don't understand what's going on and we're just just clenching our fists all the time and and we're rubbing our hands wondering what's going on understand that that's going to affect the attitude of your heart and as believers we are told to be like Christ and as a man thinketh in his heart so is he if we don't have the peace on the inside and we're not living by that peace understand we're doing a disservice to God as his as his children and if we're walking around as tied up in knots as an unbeliever is. We are to have that peace. And the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, he said, my peace give I unto you. But notice he says here, not as the world giveth. This world would say, well, I could finally have peace and I could finally take a breather through that peace if I had this much money in my bank account. That's not peace. Well, if I was if I had this security in this on this earth, then I would have peace. No, you would not. God desires us to have peace, and that's his desire for me and you. But why do we go through difficulties and trials? A lot of that is because of our own sin. Because of our own sinful nature, the repercussions of our decisions and the rest could be because God knows exactly what we need to be tried. He knows that. You know, if you have true peace on the inside, then no matter what we go through, we're still going to feel that peace. Sometimes we have to go through a tragic circumstance in order to be drawn closer to God. We see all throughout the Word of God that God was trying to draw mankind to Himself. What was He trying to do? He was trying to let them know and let them see that God was in control of this. And all of these things that they were dealing with because of their sin, they didn't have to go through that if they just would have trusted You see it all through the nation of Israel, do you not? When they got their eyes off of God, boy, there wasn't peace in the land. They were fighting wars and people were coming and besieging their city and taking them captive and all of those things. There was no peace when they were not following God. But through those glimpses that we saw when they followed God, Boy, there was peace. He gave them prosperity. He gave them joy. He gave them those things. We go through many trials and many tribulations, and we're tired, and we're loaded down. And many times, humanly speaking, we think to ourselves, well, I just don't know how I can have peace through this. I'm just carrying such a heavy load. I'm trying to stay peaceful. I'm trying to rely on God. What else can I do? Well, God tells us in His Word, come unto me, all ye that are heavy laden. And I will give you rest. That rest that he's talking about. Is that same word we dealt with a moment ago, peace. I'll give that to you. That's what the Lord says here. I think we can all say that we've we've heard this world and its leaders, a call for peace. Everyone is trying to force peace, but it will not happen in a sin curse world. It's not going to happen. Look at Isaiah chapter 48, if you will. Isaiah chapter 48. You see, as we go through this Christmas season, there's words like this that we take for granted and this world takes for granted. There's so much to learn in a word called peace. Isaiah 48, verse 22. Notice, there is no peace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked. We live in a wicked world, do we not? People calling for peace. It's not going to happen because this peace cannot be manufactured. They say all these different things. Well, if we take guns off the streets and if we get rid of these things and we get rid of those things and mankind can't hurt each other and we all just get along, boy, we would have world peace. Well, there's one problem with that and it's a three-letter word called sin. I don't care if a person owns a gun or not, if they have it set in their heart that they are going to kill somebody, they'll use something to get the job done. The reality is this, there is no peace for the wicked. But there is for believers. Let's look at a few reasons why God desires us to have His peace. First of all this, a peaceful heart glorifies God. It does. A peaceful heart glorifies God. Our lives are usually filled with worry. They're filled with confusion and unrest and those things do not glorify God. Not one time when we're living a life of that confusion and unrest and turmoil and all of those things, when we're not relying on God, that does not glorify God. but when we are living in the peace of God, understand the way that we act and the things that we say and what we do, those things are gonna glorify God because we're acting in the peace that is within us. As I mentioned a moment ago, as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. If we're allowing the peace of God that passes all understanding to guide us and direct us, God will be glorified through our life. A peaceful heart. It's a witness to our faith in God. When the world sees that a believer is peaceful, it makes them curious, does it not? Sometimes you'll be going through something and an unbeliever will say something like this, well, I just don't understand how you have so much peace through this. Well, I don't expect you to understand, but you can. by trusting Christ as your personal Savior. Well, typically they want to know what kind of medicine you're on and all those things that you're so peaceful. Well, it's called a renewed spirit, amen, a new song in your heart, a new life that has been given to us by the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ Himself. But understand when we worry, when we're fretting about everything and wringing our hands because of the things that are going on, in our country and around this world. When we're doing that, we're showing the world that we're trusting in man and not God. There's an awful lot of things that go on that we don't agree with. But we can't allow that to dictate how we live. We must live in the peace of God. When we are peaceful in the midst of adversity we testify to the fact that Christ is our Savior. He is peace and a peaceful heart glorifies God. Not only does a peaceful heart glorify God but notice also a peaceful heart helps others. In this Christmas season we see an awful lot of talk of giving and those types of things and people wanting to help others and all of that. It's a wonderful thing seeing people just have that desire. But have you ever noticed that when you're working somewhere and you're trying to live for God you're trying to go to church and trying to be a witness and and all of those things. And there's other people when they go through a hard time, they see that, well, hey, here's a person that's they're trying to live for God. They're faithful to church. And many times they'll bring their trials or their their worries and those types of things. And they'll say, hey, let me ask you a question. Why? Because they see something in your life that they don't have. They may not even know what it is yet but they know there's something different there and they could go to anyone else but they come to you. Why is that? Because they can sense the peace in your life. They know there is something different if we're a a worrier and if we're anxious about everything, understand it's not going to help others because people will be going through those trials and they'll see that we worry as much as they do and that we're anxious and we're not trusting in God either. So why would they come to us? What they need is Christ. They don't need another worrier. Many times we go through life just worried about everything. Some people who are worriers night and day, these people are ones who whenever you get into a conversation with them, boy, they're worrying about this and about that. They are professional worriers by trade. Amen. We all know people like that. And if we're not careful, we can fall right into that ourselves. People always talk about how they are without or what's going on in the government or how they're struggling and everything else. It's worry after worry. We need to ask the Lord to help us to be peaceful because that will help us and it will also help others. You know it's statistically proven and scientifically proven that a peaceful person overall is in better health than a person who's a worrier. It is. A person can think clearer. if they're peaceful. A person who is not drowning in debt and has money saved for emergencies, statistically speaking, they do better in their job and they're more peaceful. It's what the world says. And someone who is drowning in debt and living paycheck to paycheck, why? Because peace helps you mentally. The world sees that. And they don't even know about the peace that we're talking about. Boy, we need to be peaceful. It'll help others around us. Also, a peaceful heart will help you. Spiritually speaking, it will. A person who's trusting God, one who has faith in Christ, the one who is resting on the word of God will be peaceful because of where their faith is placed. God desires for us to have peace in our hearts. But here's something we must understand. We're going to go to Psalm chapter 23. We're going to read that here in just a moment. But something that we must understand is that peace is not the absence of a trial. That's not peace. Oh, it can be a part of peace and we can have peace through an absence of trial. We're not looking for trials. But if you can't have peace in the midst of a trial, then you don't have true peace. Look here in Psalm 23, we find that peace is trusting God's will through the trial. It says here in Psalm 23, notice, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil. My cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. That goodness and mercy we read about in verse 6, understand he's just talked about his enemies, he's just talked about the valley of the shadow of death and all of those things and yet he's talking right after that about the goodness and the mercy of God. Why? Because he had a peace that wasn't out here, it was a peace that was in here. He said, yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. I love the truth of that verse. And it has that picture of not stopping in the midst there. This is just a time that that you will pass through. He said, yea, though I walk through it, I haven't stopped in the midst of it. The Lord is not going to leave me here. I'm walking through that. That meant I came in on one side and I'm coming out on the other side. And yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. Why? Because thou art with me. the peace. that we can have. Boy, that will help us spiritually speaking. The God of Heaven, He said, My peace I give unto you. That is the peace that passes all understanding. If we hear someone say that they cannot be saved, we know as believers that they can be because the Bible declares that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. But if we as believers are not living in the peace of God, understand it is because we are refusing to trust God. We've trusted Him with our eternity and yet many times we refuse to trust Him with our everyday life. Boy, how sad is that? We all fall into that. We go through different trials and sometimes we miss that God is working in the midst of all of those trials that we're going through. We miss that. We get so caught up on what's happening in this world that we forget who spun this world into orbit. We forget that the same God who created everything with just His voice is the one who holds us in His hand. We can live in the peace of God. This peace that's talked about throughout this season here, understand that's a peace that is not only for the month of December. It's for our whole life as believers. And we should be giving that out. A peaceful heart will help us spiritually. Look at the book of Ephesians chapter 6 if you will. Ephesians chapter 6 and notice verse 15. We studied through the armor of God not too long ago and studied through this verse here. Notice in Ephesians 6.15 it says, Well, there's an awful lot of religions out there that try to teach what the Bible calls another gospel. There's no peace there. It's all about what you can do and how you can get to heaven and how you can work and how you can do it, but the gospel of peace. It's completely reliant on the God of Heaven. It's completely reliant on the shed blood of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and us realizing there's nothing I can do to get to Heaven, but I can trust Christ as my personal Savior. There's no good works that I can do, but as I trust Him as my personal Savior, just as there was no way I could work my way to Heaven, no one can ever pluck me out of the hand of God either. And that would give us peace if we live in that truth. We should be thanking God for our salvation. A peaceful heart will help us spiritually. So first of all, we saw that God desires for us to have peace, but I want us to look at number two tonight, and that's something that's very real to all of us, and that's this, the distractions that we deal with. Boy, we would deal with some distractions, do we not? We can all agree that as we go through life we all have trials, we have difficulties. The Bible says that man is of a few days and full of trouble. That's what the Bible says. As we travel through life, there's going to be distractions, there's going to be setbacks, there'll be emergencies, there's going to be things that are unexpected. Maybe your health is great, maybe things are going well in life, and life is going about as usual, but then there's a time where you go to the doctor and guess what? Something happens, and the health is stripped from you like that. Causes a distraction, does it not? That peace that we were living in before, now there's something trying to force that peace out of our life. And if we're not careful, many times we allow it to force it out. The same ones that were standing there praising God for His goodness and His grace, and how He would never leave us nor forsake us, all of a sudden something happens in our life that we have no control over and we've forgotten about that God. It's because we think to ourselves that we had control over anything. God's in control of everything. God's not caught off guard by a bad health report. Didn't catch him off guard. Maybe you're having a Great day, one day, and then you receive a phone call about a loved one who has either passed away or gotten a bad health report. Maybe you're living life and things are going well and an unexpected job loss comes, whatever may be the case, distractions will come. But that is exactly what the devil wants because he knows that if he can have us distracted, that we will not be proceeding the way that we should proceed. Many accidents happen because people are distracted. We know that as people drive down the road, they're distracted by everything. They've got their cell phone out. There was an accident that happened out here back during our vacation Bible school. The girl didn't realize that someone was stopped here. She ran into the back of them, came across the line, hit another truck head on when she finally got out of her vehicle. The vehicle was just absolutely toast and there was a truck down here and the tire was off of that and just a horrible circumstance. Nobody passed away there and praise the Lord for that. But you know what she was distracted by? She was driving down the road watching a movie on her phone. Going 60 miles an hour down the road with someone coming 60 miles an hour the other way, four feet away from her. Watching a movie, distracted. Now we would look at a circumstance like that and say, how could anyone be so foolish? You have something to keep your eyes on and you're distracted. You see where I'm going here in the Christian life? Many times those distractions come when we should be keeping our eye on God, the only one who can give us that peace that we read about in what is considered the Christmas story, that peace on earth. We're to keep our eyes upon that God of peace, but boy, we get distracted. Distractions come, they're real. I understand they are so real. There's many spiritual battles that we as believers understand we do not get the victory through them simply because we allow Satan to distract us. Because we're unwilling to stay focused on the peace of God. In this world you shall have tribulations. We're to keep our eyes on God. There's many distractions that happen simply because we've caused them. Over in Galatians chapter 6 and verse 7, the Bible says this, I've been talking this year an awful lot about sowing bountifully and reaping bountifully. If you're going to sow toward peace in your life, There'll be peace. But too often we're sowing toward distractions, are we not? When we are involved in sin, we cannot blame the consequences on anyone but ourselves because we are reaping what we have sown. Many distractions come because of our foolishness. Some distractions come because of God's chastening. Sometimes God has to get a hold of our heart. The Bible says, for whom he loveth, he chasteneth. Boy, we forget that in the middle of the trial, do we not? The rod was used to smack the sheep on the side when he was getting out of line. Didn't feel good to the sheep, but boy, it kept them in line. That staff would also be used as they were coming into the fold and he would tap them on the back as they were coming in. He was counting those sheep. It was something that was used to reprimand them but also something that comforted them because they knew they were safe in the fold. Some distractions are because of God's chastening. We as believers can seem to think that distractions are always, or that this chastening is always a bad thing. You know sometimes God will send a distraction our way for our good. Remember Job, though he slay me, yet will I trust him. What happened through all of those that we would consider distractions in his life? It drew him closer and closer to his Savior. If you would have came up to Job at the beginning of that and said, okay, here's all the things that are going to happen. Sign on the dotted line. If you want to go through that, he would have said, you're crazy. I don't want to go through those things. But at the very end, he was closer to God than he was before. And it's an amazing thing because before he went through all the trials, the Bible calls him a man who loved God and astute evil. Think about that. Distractions. If we desire to live victoriously, we must know that God desires for us to have peace and we should keep our eyes on Him. Many times God will use a distraction to awaken us. See, the reality is many times we focus on the distraction more than we focus on the God of Heaven who will bring us through that. Notice thirdly this evening, and we'll be done, notice the directions. that are given to peace. The directions that are given to peace. As we study the Word of God we find that it is filled with instructions. This is an instruction manual for the Christian life. It doesn't matter what passage you read you're going to find something there that the Lord desires to to help you with as you read that and as you study that. It's filled with instructions. We just have to read it. We cannot treat it like any other instruction manual and not pick it up until we need it. We need to see that no matter how long we've been saved or what we've been through, we need the word of God. We need those instructions. We need those things. We need God to speak into our life. We need instruction. We need direction that can only come from God himself. There was a little boy standing on a street corner, and a fellow stopped and asked, son, how do you find the post office from here? The boy said, well, you go down the street three blocks, turn right two blocks, go one block, and wait a second. No, that's not the right way. He said, you can't make it that way. What am I thinking? Here's what you do. You go down four blocks, you turn to your right, and you go three. No. He stops and says, mister, I don't think it's possible to get there from here. It's impossible. You know, it's funny as a little story like that is, there's many believers who live life like it's impossible to have the peace of God. Oh, I've tried that. I've tried the whole church thing. I've tried serving in the ministry. I've tried helping people. I've tried doing all these things. And look what I have to show for it. All these trials going on in my life. Many people live that way. It's sad. But they do. In order to have peace, the instructions are pretty simple. First you have to know the giver of peace. That's the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ Himself. He said, My peace give I unto you. He's referring to believers. They're his children anyone who accept him as as their personal Savior He said I will give you peace look at Hebrews chapter 13 if you will Hebrews chapter 13 And verse 20 I Just want to read the very beginning of this verse here. It says now the God of peace The God of peace. Now let's finish the verse. That brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will. He's the God of peace. He desires for us to have peace. Look at Romans chapter five in verse one. Romans chapter five. Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Think about the weight of that statement that was just made there. We, wicked rotten sinners, have peace with God. with God, being justified by faith. And it's only through our Lord Jesus Christ. Look at Isaiah chapter 9 and verse 6. Isaiah chapter 9 and verse 6. You see, there are instructions to have this peace. We must know the Lord. Isaiah chapter 9 and verse 6. The Bible says this, That's who the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is. He being the Prince of Peace did not start in Luke 2 and verse 14. He always has been, therefore He has always been the Prince of Peace and He always will be. The problem is most people say they want peace but yet they have excluded the source of peace, the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ Himself. You see, it's so important for us at any time, but especially during this time of year, as people are running around and they have a skewed view of the meaning of Christmas and everything that they say that it deals with and all of that, it's so important for us as believers to point them to the Prince of Peace, to let them know that this is why the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ came. It wasn't for a Christmas tree. of standing in the living room or the presence underneath of there. It wasn't for any of those things as wonderful as Christmas lights look and all of that. That's not why He came. He came so that we can have peace by trusting in Him as our personal Savior. So in order to have peace, you must know the giver of peace. Notice number two, you must bring every problem to God Himself. You must come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. That's a promise from the word of God. But that is where we fail. Many times we'll go to man and we try to find a peace from mankind but a promise from God himself. He said come unto me all ye that labor. If you feel as though you're under the weight of this labor you're heavy laden. He says, all you have to do is come unto me and I will give you rest. Praise the Lord. That doesn't stop when we trust Christ as our savior. It just gets started. Whatever we go through. He says, come unto me. He says, this joke is easy and his burden is light. Come unto me. Many times we'll go to man or we'll look to ourselves, we look to some program, we look at everything except for where the remedy is found in Christ. Christ said, come unto me. He has all the answers to all of life's problems. He is the answer. We as sinners will often times turn to other sinners to get an antidote. But Christ is the antidote. We are to go to Him. The Bible says, But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. We must bring every problem to God. So the directions that we're given, of course, know the giver of peace, bring every problem to God. Number three, rest upon His Word. Rest upon His Word. The Bible says, These things have I spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. He says, what I've said to you, I've said it so that you can have peace. Remember just a few weeks ago I made this statement that no matter where you read in the Bible you should ask yourself, How does this get me to the cross? Because everything is pointing to the center point of God's plan and that is the cross of Calvary where the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ was crucified there and He shed His blood for each and every one of us so that we can trust Him as our personal Savior. Our sins would be forgiven and we would have a home in Heaven. Every piece of Scripture in some way is getting you to the cross. How does it get me there? He says, these things have I spoken unto you that In me ye might have peace. We read through different things that people went through in the Bible. Some of those things were some tragic circumstances. Some of those ended up in loss of life of people and wars and all these things that went on. How can I have peace in reading through those? by realizing that God was with them the whole time. And anytime they turned to Him, He was right there. They say people wonder far from God, but the return trip is always just one step. All you have to do is turn back to Him. Rest upon his word. I don't know what you're going through tonight. I don't know what what trials you've been through and all of that. I don't know what what people the Lord is going to put into your path. But what I do know is this that the Bible speaks of peace an awful lot and we can have that peace. We can live in that peace. The Apostle Paul was going through a trial and in the midst of that he was asking God to take away that thorn in his flesh and God did not remove that thorn, God did not give him any relief from that. God said this, he said, The Apostle Paul had to realize, it doesn't matter what I go through, what thorn is there, God is with me. And no matter how bad things may seem on this earth, no matter how helpless I may feel, I have a home in heaven that is secure. One man said, he was walking up and he was witnessing to someone and this person told him that if he didn't get off their property, or if he ever came back to their property, they'd kill him. came back to that property, the Lord told him, go back and witness. So he did. Went back on that property and the guy looked at him, put a gun in his face and said, I told you if you ever come back on this property, I'd kill you. The man looks at him and says, you can't threaten me with heaven. He said, I'm here because God told me to be here. I don't know if that man trusted Christ. But what I do know is this, that that man that says, you can't threaten me with heaven, he had a peace on the inside that I need to have. He realized, you know what, God's in control of all this. If this is my time to go, it's my time to go. There's nothing I can do to stop it. Lord, help us to have that peace. As we go through this life and as we go through this season that we're in right now, it's my prayer that people would see the peace in our lives. And remember, peace is not the absence of difficulty. It's the presence of our Savior and us living Many times we don't recognize the peace that we had until we're in the middle of a storm. We as believers not only can live in the peace of God, but we should live in the peace of God. Why? Because God said His peace He gives unto us. Let's have that peace. Let's go back to Luke chapter 2 if you will. Luke chapter 2. Verse 14, I want to read this together and then we'll be done here. Luke chapter two. And verse 14, and let's read it together. Ready? Begin. Glory to God in the highest and on earth. Peace, goodwill toward men. Peace. We can have peace, amen. People can have peace. See, they trust Christ and live in his goodness.