Beth Moore - The Fight for Peace - Part 4
Let the peace of Christ rule. So, you know when we want like how can I say, how can I say? Speed dial. You know when we need a speed dial? In other words, we need quick access. This is the one to remember. So, say your waters, those waves are going... Something huge has happened. You've been laid off, and as it is, you were strapped for cash. You're a single mom. You don't know how you're gonna make it, all the waves... When you have your go-to, your go-to, think Colossians 3:15. Think, "Let the peace of Christ rule," let the peace of Christ rule, let the peace of Christ rule, let the peace of Christ rule. In other words, you're going every single time, "The crown of Christ, let him rule over this. Let him rule," knowing that he rules, and nothing can be out from under his rule, and that he will rule over this, and he rules over me.
This is our fast, quick pace to peace, to remember that one thing: he rules, he rules, and let him rule over this, and immediately, we are surrendering this to the rule of Christ. And I mean, we're running. I mean, we may have to run to the restroom at work, where it's like, you know what? I'm gonna need to have a moment alone. Because I need to find a place where I can get down on my knees and go, "I give this to you right now. 'Cause I can already tell. I can already feel it, Lord. I can already feel the panic setting in, and I'm giving it to you right now. I surrender this to your rule. Take authority over it. Take authority over it. You speak, and it is accomplished. Take authority".
I told you that you could see the concept again and again. This is one of 'em. You've heard it so many times. You'll get it on Christmas cards this year. Isaiah 9:6: "For a child will be born for us, a son will be given to us, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace". The government will be on his shoulders, and he will be called the Prince of Peace, governing authority. Bow to his authority the second those waves come up and you see it. It's what he did when he got up and he would just go like, "Stop it"! to the waves, and they go... Why? Because he has full authority. He rules. Bow down immediately and bring it to him.
I love Isaiah 60, verse 17, Isaiah 60, verse 17, and it says this in the NIV. It's the NIV, all of 'em say "government," but it's the NIV that says it beautifully: "I will make peace your governor and well-being your ruler". Listen carefully. When you're trying to figure out what to do, you could go one of two directions, and you're really torn between the two, peace will be your governor. Where's your peace? Where's your peace? Like, you go, "That's a great opportunity," but you cannot get peace, and you're prayerful. You're prayerful. You're seeking him, so it's not just like, you're seekin' him. You're going, "Lord, give me peace with what direct", peace will be your governor. Go where the peace of Christ is because there is where he will rule.
Let's go to the next one. What's the next one up? Say it again. He acts, this one, again, over and over I will say of these because they are categorical. This one is as crucial as the rest. You gotta know that Jesus is not just sitting up there at the right hand of God sittin' on his hands. He acts! You see it all over. The Book of Acts, you see it all over, not just the Old Testament, you see it on the New, somehow, we think because he is seated that somehow he's gonna be passive until he comes. Are we out of our minds? Are we out of our minds? God was always seated on his throne and look what he did to part the seas to bring the manna, the fire by night, the cloudy pillar by day, the quail in the evening, miracle after miracle after miracle after miracle. They were all from the throne of God. He acts.
I love the words of Acts chapter 4. And I want you to know something. I'm asking God for this. I am asking God for a miracle to happen to us today, that this will be a reality to us, that we will literally leave this place with multiplied peace, that we'll think: You know, I don't have to live this way anymore, and I'm not going to. I'm not going to. I'm gonna be ready for my spinnin' tops. I'm gonna be ready for my Weed Eater. I'm gonna be ready for my volcanoes. I'm gonna be ready to know there's gonna be chaos around me constantly, and I'm gonna take a deep breath and go: I know who is in charge of this universe. And this turns out very well. This turns out well. He acts and so I'm asking him for this.
Acts 4:29 through 31: "And now, Lord," so, the disciples have gotten together with John and Peter because John and Peter have been told "you better not preach the name of Jesus again," and so, they've been beaten. They've been threatened. They've been jailed. And so, of course, they can't obey that. They've got to obey the Lord, and so, they go back to the others that are praying for them, and they say, "This is what's happened, and so, what are we gonna do"? And so, it says in verse 29, and this is them praying, "And now, Lord, consider their threats, and grant that your servants may speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand for healing, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus".
So, they are praying for Peter and John, and watch what happens, "And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God boldly". I just love that. What if the next time you pray something mighty for somebody, it just happens to you while you're standing there? Do you not know that there's an overflow? Do you think there was just enough for your friend? You can throw in at the end of anything that you're praying for someone, "And I wouldn't mind having it myself, Lord". If you just want, if there's just, if you just want to, "I'll take it myself".
I'll take it myself. He acts. Oh, he says that it delights him for us to seek, for us to ask, for us to knock. Do not stop. Listen, I'm gonna tell you something. I'm not gonna have not 'cause I ask not. I'm gonna ask. I'm asking that the mightiest works of God I will ever see in my life are still in front of me and not behind me. Why? Because I just get to ask. He can always say no, but I'm gonna ask. I'm gonna ask to see an awakening. I'm gonna ask to see signs, and wonders, and miracles. Oh, I'm gonna ask, all right. Oh, I'm gonna ask. Because it delights him. He may not always give us what we ask, but he will always Bless us for asking, always bless us for asking.
Okay, this one you gotta know. I want you to turn back with me now to John 14, verse 18, and it "says, I will not leave you as orphans; I am coming to you". That's of critical importance because he's told him, "I am leaving, but I just want you to know something. I'm not gonna leave you as orphans. I'm gonna come to you". And the way he's going to come to them is how? Through the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity. Go with me down to 25 through 27: "I have spoken these things to you while I remain with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things to remind you of everything I've told you. Peace I leave with you". So he bequeaths this. He's telling him, "I am sending the Holy Spirit to you". And so, this means that instead of peace being next to them, and he says this in the farewell discourse, "I have been with you, but I will be in you".
So they've been with their peace, but their peace, when he pours out his Spirit upon those who believe, now will indwell those who come to receive him as Savior and Lord. So he says, "Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your heart be troubled or fearful". Now, 16:31 through 33: "Do you now believe"? Jesus says, "Indeed, an hour is coming, and has come, when each of you will be scattered to his own home, and you will leave me alone". Remember that the scripture has told us that Jesus has been tempted is all ways, just as we, only without sin and that he has endured everything we will ever endure in some form or another.
This is telling us this sense of what it's going to feel like to Jesus when they all just scatter, that even though he knows it's coming, the pain of it will still be, 'cause he knows what it's like for us to be left. He said, "You will leave me alone". When was the last time you just were like, you looked around, you went, "Where is everybody? Where is everybody"? That in your darkest hour, there just was no one. Where are they? And then he says this. Look at these five words: "Yet I am not alone, because my Father is with me". And "I have told you these things so that in me, you will have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world".
You know what has never hit me one time until I was studying it for you? This is the beauty of the scriptures. You just keep going back over it, studying it again and again and again, and suddenly, like, wait a second. I have memorized that verse, and I've never thought of that once. One of the things he is doing in this verse is he is telling him in advance, "Listen, you're gonna scatter, and you're gonna think about the fact later over and over again".
We left him all alone. We left him all alone. We left him all alone. And I just want you to know when that occurs to you, I was not alone. My Father was with me. He doesn't get them off the hook for scattering, but he's saying, "You're gonna think about this, and I want you to know something. Have peace because I was not alone. My Father was with me". Sometimes, the only way you will know that God truly is God is because everybody else is scattered and it's just you and him. And you know, like you know your first name from your last, that you could not possibly have survived that if he had not been God and if he had not been with you.
I want you to see those words: Yet I am not alone. Say those four words: I am not alone. Say it again. I am not alone. You need to know you're not alone. He said he wanted them to know at the very end of the Great Commission, in Matthew chapter 28, he says to them, "And you got to know something or you go out into all the world and you take the gospel. You take the gospel. You disciple people. You baptize them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, but you need to remember, I am always with you. I will never leave you. I will never forsake you. I am always with you". I don't know who left you, whether it was a parent through death or through unfaithfulness, sibling, best friend. Some of you in here, you have a best friend that, like, has just ghosted you. You have no idea what you did, none, none. They just keep telling you everything's fine.
You know it's not fine. You know it's not fine, but they won't tell you. They don't have the courage to tell you what is wrong. Spouses left you. Maybe you feel like your church has left you. Child has left you. I've got to tell you something. Jesus never left you never, never. He stays, he stays, he stays, he stays, he stays, he stays, he stays, he stays. I want you to say that over and over again. He stays, he stays, he stays, he stays. Say it again... Look at somebody around you and go, "He stays". He stays, he stays, he stays, he stays. I want you to do something if you're willing. If you don't like to write on yourself, then don't, but I want you to either, I thought I'm gonna have you do it right about here because you'll wash your hands and wash it off, and I hope it'll stay for a while.
But I wonder if you would consider, in all capital letters, writing the letters I-A-N-A on your arm. I-A-N-A: I Am Not Alone. Write it right on your wrist where you can see it so that you can remember "I am not alone". I may be suffering. I may be in pain, but I can dang well tell you this: I am not alone. I have Christ with me and not only that, we have the saints. We have the saints. We have one another. So much of what has happened to us is common to one another. Would you go with me to 1 Thessalonians 5? And I want to show you something. Let's talk about obedience for a few minutes because what I pray that I will be given to and that you will be given to, I want to ask this question right here: Have you tried obedience? Have we tried obedience? Do we trust him enough to be able to remind ourselves...
Let me tell you something. Every "no" he has ever said to us is not to take from us. It is not to cheat us. It is to cause us to flourish. Every "no" he will ever say to you is to get you to run into your oncoming "yes". Every "no" is because it's gonna block you from your "yes," and your "yes" is this way. It's not this way. So he's not trying to take away your fun. He's not trying to take away your sexual experimentation with all manner. He's not trying to take away all the things that you find so exciting and so pleasurable. What he's saying is, "I'm gonna say no to certain things because if I don't, it's gonna block you from your yes," from your yes.
Listen to this verse because this is profound. 1 Thessalonians 5:23 and 24: "Now may the God of peace," everybody, tell, what does he call him? Yeah, "May the God of peace himself sanctify you completely. May your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ," how in the world are we gonna do that? "He who calls you is faithful; he will do it". Okay, rewind all the way to last night when we talked about the essential element of shalom, peace.
Remember, it was complete. It was wholeness. It's not perfection in the way that we are sinless. We will not be sinless until we get home. Thank God our sins have been atoned for on the cross of Christ, but we're going to make mistakes. We are going to have times where we're going to freak out. We're gonna have all manner of thing, but we can present our whole self to the Lord in an act of trust, and it would be a daily thing with this overwhelming attitude that I pray we are all leaving with today.
I'm giving him the complete thing. Do you know what sanctification means? It's a word, oh, I have it for you. I have it for you on a... okay, look, look here, hagiazo. Do you see that word? It's a word that means "to make holy or to sanctify". He's saying, "May he sanctify. May he have full command over your spirit, soul, and body". I love it. Please, please forgive me if I have to go here with the tabernacle for a minute, but he's going from the inside out. He's going from what to for us as tabernacles, as temples. He's going from the innermost place, the spirit, to the soul, to the physical body, spirit, soul and physical body.
Most times, in the Word of God, spirit and soul both mean the same thing. They're just the immaterial part of us. But when they are divided up, when there is a distinction between the two, normally, the way you can think about it is your soul is your seat of emotions. It's your personality. It's kind of what makes you you. Your spirit is what...we were all created with the spirit, which is our capacity to know God. That is why you might think of it this way, that animals have souls, but they don't have spirits, so to speak, this capacity to know, and to converse with, and to have a meaningful relationship with God. When we receive Jesus Christ as Savior, his Holy Spirit takes up that spirit component. And what he's saying is, "Allow me to have full reign over you, not just your spirit but your soul and your physical body".
Today, would you consider literally saying, "I give you my physical body in its brokenness, in its health, in its sickness. I just, I give it to you. In its aches and its pains and the ways it betrays me, I give it to you. In its cravings, I give it to you. I give you full reign over my personality. Lord, with your Holy Spirit, take up the whole thing, the whole thing, spirit, soul and body". Would we try obedience? And here's what he says, "I'll bring you peace like a river". Because you know what? It may make a mess in some relationships, but you know what you'll have inside your body is some peace. I've gotten in so much trouble in recent years, but the one thing I had was peace. I knew that there were no... I thought 100 times out of 100, I have to have been a totally different person to have thought a different way about that.
And I don't know. I don't know what to do with it, and it is such a mess, and it is so heartbreaking, and I'm so grief stricken, but I have peace. And with peace, joy comes. I realized earlier when we held up our hands, if we really were in a storm... I have to look at somebody in my staff. I realized, Kimberly, I wasn't in one right now, and I've been in one real... a squall, and it's just like, I don't know if some of you are just going, like, "I'm still alive. It didn't kill me".
Obedience. I wanna tell you a little story about obedience. I think of it every single time I go to the airport, especially when I see the little store because Houston airport is just, like, fun. I mean, it's like a mall. Anybody know what I'm talking about? Well, the Lord is required of me for many, many years, I mean, many years. I can't even remember a time when this wasn't true. Certainly all the life of "Living Proof Live," the Lord has called me to just be apart from several different things for the entire time that I'm serving at "Living Proof Live".
And so, for me, that starts on Thursday because that's the day I would fly out so that I can prepare in my hotel room in complete silence for that Friday night and Saturday. So, from Thursday to Saturday, completely sanctified, and for me, that would mean that during that time, there would be no TV. It's one reason why I don't love for Keith to come with me to "Living Proof". Because he's gonna turn on the TV, and it's kind of like, I don't know how to tell you this, but I don't, you know, it's just like, nothing, nothing. I try not to get online from the time LPL starts until it's over. And the other thing is that he just put it upon me years and years ago, it's not time for shopping. It's just not time for...and I'll go to these towns, and there just the cutest little boutiques.
And I'm like...ugh! I don't have trouble giving up the TV, but every once in a while, I'll see something darling I wish I owned, and it's just like. So, one time, this was several years ago, I was at the airport. It was the day before, it was Thursday. I didn't start speaking until Friday. It was Thursday, and I looked in the store and the cutest top I've ever seen in my life, the cutest top. I know you remember this story, Travis. The cutest top I've ever seen in my life, it was black like this, and it kind of went out like a tent and stopped here, and then the sleeves were net but they had bright colored flowers sewn into them, and I mean, it was adorable, the perfect speaking top, perfect, perfect.
And I thought, you know, the Lord might want me to have that. And so, here's what I said to the Lord. I said to him, "If my credit card does not go through". I put my credit card in. It just slides right on through, slides right on through. I'm gonna tell you something. Get my top, put it on. I'm not even gonna wear it that weekend. And I told myself, "What difference does it make? It's Thursday. It's not even the day of". But he had said, "Nothing, nothing". I mean, Beth, I mean, like, can you not go without for 48 stinkin' hours? And so, I'm gonna tell you immediately, my spirit froze up, immediately. I could not, I did all that preparing. We had a great lesson planned. I mean, I could not feel anything. I was so mad at him. 'Cause it was like, "You're making a big deal out of nothing. I mean, you're doing this over a top, Lord, over a top"!
And so, we are in worship. Friday night has now come, and we are in worship, so Travis and the team are up there. They're all singing. They're all leading, and I'm just, like, I am freaking out. I can feel the sweat beads. I can't feel anything during worship, nothing. And you think, Beth, it was just your mind. But oh no, oh no, I had completely quenched the spirit. And finally, I just said, "Fine! I repent"! The Spirit fell on me so hard, he nearly knocked me to the floor, nearly knocked me to the floor. I've never forgotten it as long as I've lived. He was with us all weekend long, and he just had one little phrase for me at the end of it: don't forget it. When I tell you something, obey me that I may bless you. And I'm gonna tell you something. The more you walk with him, the pickier he will get.