John Hagee - Real Peace, Real Power
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Let’s begin with this: Everyone wants peace, but what is it? The search for peace has become an international obsession. We live in an age of anxiety. Americans live behind locked doors in fear. We have burglar bars over the windows of our homes. We have our guns cocked and loaded. We have attacked dogs that are straining at the leash. Gangs and illegal aliens are in the street, and there’s a reign of terror in this nation from coast to coast. We write books on peace of mind, and they sell like hotcakes. Why? Because we’re looking for in a book what we do not have in our lives.
The question is, what is peace? If you can’t define it, you don’t know if you have it. Peace is precious. The ancient poet has said: «Heap upon other men the treasures of the world, but give to me the blessing of the untroubled heart.» America represents 6% of the earth’s population, and we consume 90% of the world’s prescription drugs. The point is, we’re an uptight generation. The Bible says, «There is no peace,» saith God, «to the wicked.» There are many things we desire. We desire health, love, riches, beauty, talent, fame, and power. But without peace of mind, all of those things are torment. If we have peace, no matter what else we may lack, life is beautiful. Without peace, a palace of gold is a penitentiary.
I want to say that again: Without peace, a palace of gold is a penitentiary. I want to say this: I have preached the gospel all over the earth. In some nations that you would consider pathetically poor, the people who lived in those humble homes had more peace than most Americans. Why? What is peace? The absence of strife is not peace. At the moment Jesus was speaking of peace in Matthew 5 to the people by the side of the sea, there was no war on the earth, but neither was there peace. The Roman Empire had forced the world to its knees, and the people had lost the means and the will to fight. Rome kept peace through fear. The Jews were not at war with Rome, basically because they feared the Romans. Their fear forced them to swallow their hatred and submit with sullen rage to their misfortune.
The point is, the absence of strife does not mean you have peace. It could mean you’re just too tired to fight. Peace is not detachment from risk and responsibility. Peace is not total security. Peace is not the absence of tension. Peace is not the blue haven beyond a troubled soul. In this world, there is no such thing as total security or absence of tension. A woman came to see her pastor for counseling, and she said, «I’m tired of the stress in life. I’m tired of constant tension. I’m tired of the endless responsibilities of life. I want that to be over.» The pastor said, «Okay, I’ll show you how to have it.» He took her out of the office, put her in a taxi, and drove to the nearest cemetery. When they got there, he said, «Get out. When you get where they are, you’re going to have what you’re looking for.»
To pray for peace, meaning refuge from risk and responsibility, is to pray for the peace of death. There is no peace in withdrawal or retreat from life. Jesus said, «Take up your cross and follow me.» The message is, take up your task. There are giants to defeat, there are mountains to climb, there are powers and principalities to conquer. And through the will and power of God, you’re able to get it done. Do it! Christianity is a call to life. Christianity is not escapism; it’s involvement. Christianity is transforming adversity into opportunity. Christianity is snatching victory from the jaws of defeat. Christianity is giving and forgiving. Christianity is putting on the whole armor of God, as Paul says, and fighting the good fight. The Bible says, «Resist the devil and he will flee from you.» Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Don’t be afraid to fight the good fight. St. Paul says in 6:11 of Ephesians, «Put on the whole armor of God and fight the good fight that you may stand in the evil day.»
Let me tell you something: The John Hagee version of that is, God hates a coward. Put on the uniform and go get the enemy and knock him down. Christianity is knowing that nothing is impossible to those that believe. And if that was the only verse in the Bible, it would make Christianity the most challenging faith on the face of the earth. Nothing is impossible to those that believe. Christianity is to count it all joy in the trials of life. That’s the Bible. The victory is ours through Jesus Christ. He is the victor over death, hell, and the grave. If that was the only message in the Bible, it would make the Bible the greatest book that was ever printed. Jesus Christ is Lord over death, hell, and the grave. Give him praise in this house.
Paul said, «The peace of God surpasses understanding.» Why? Because you can be happier in the combat zone than you can in the comfort zone. You can be happier in the lion’s den with Daniel than in the king’s palace, out of the will of God. You can be happier in the fiery furnace with the fourth man in the fire than outside, bowing with all of those moral cowards before a pagan god. This is in the Bible, by the way. Some of you are looking at me and saying, «Where’d he get that from?» That’s in the Bible. Quit looking for mock and dialing 911. There’s more peace in the battle than there is sitting on the sideline. Peace is won by accompanying God into battle. I like that phrase: Peace is won by accompanying God into the battle. There is peace in the time of trouble. There is peace in the battle to save. There is peace when you go to war to save America for your family, for your children, from the socialism that’s trying to destroy your children in public education. Fight the good fight. We cannot be defeated, so says the word of God. Give him praise in the house.
There is peace in the hour of death. The Bible says, «I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me-listen to these words-shall never die.» That means your last breath here is your first breath there. It’s just that fast. There is peace in the time of storm. He’s the master of winds and waves. «Peace, be still!» There is peace in the darkest valley. «Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.» Why? «For thou art with me.» Listen, the shadow of a lion cannot bite you. The shadow of a snake cannot harm you. The shadow of a sword cannot cut you. The shadow of death is harmless. It’s powerless. It was defeated at the cross by Jesus Christ, the Lion of the tribe of Judah. Give him praise in the house.
Peace is the gift of God. Let me shock you: It was never God’s plan for there to be universal peace. Let that set for a while. Jesus said, «Do not think that I have come to bring peace. I have come to bring a sword.» A sword divides. You can place a piece of meat on this platform, and with a sword, now you have two pieces. It divides. Jesus said, «I am the sword that divides.» Jesus Christ divides wheat from tares. He divides sheep from goats. He divides those who are in light and those who are in darkness. There’s a broadway and a narrow way. God entreats you to take the narrow way. But if you choose the broadway, it’s on you. The word of truth versus Satan’s deception. You are a servant of Jesus Christ, or you are a slave to sin and Satan right now. That’s division. Don’t ever get the idea we’re all going to heaven. There’s a broad way that leads the wrong way, and there’s a narrow way that leads to the cross and into heaven.
Paul said in Romans 5:1, «We have peace through God and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.» Peace is the gift of God. Without total surrender to Jesus Christ, peace is not possible. Peace that makes you happy in an unhappy world is the gift of God. And he only gives it to those who bow their knee to his son, Jesus Christ, as Lord and Savior. He is the Prince of Peace. You’re not going to have peace until you accept him.
Peace is the opposite of hatred. It is absolutely true that the most expensive thing in the world is hatred. Look at the byproducts of hatred: war is the byproduct of hatred, divorce, racial prejudice, riots in the streets of nations of the world, anti- Semitism, demonic hatred-that’s what that is-slander, the assassination of another person’s character, suicide, which is self-hatred. How can these things be eradicated? Not with bigger bombs and more fighter jets, not by moral laws or moral lawyers, not by counselors, but by every person being a peacemaker. Jesus said in Matthew 5:9, «Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons and daughters of God.» Blessed are the peacemakers! Say it one more time: Peacemakers!
Where is peace found? Nowhere in the Bible is peace sought as the end goal of existence. Peace is the consequence of something. Peace is the consequence of something. The Bible says the fruit of the Spirit is peace. Peace is the fruit of reconciliation. St. Paul says, «Being justified by faith, we have peace with God.» There can be no peace of mind until there is peace with God. In every man’s heart lurks a sense of inner wrongness and a hunger for righteousness. Uneasiness in the heart is the sense of guilt. It’s useless to sweep your guilt under the rug or to take it to the seashore or to the mountains or some Shangri-La where you’re sure to forget it. The sense of guilt is a divine gift. It’s the voice of God saying, «Repent! Turn around! Repent! What you’re doing is wrong. Stop it!» But the longer you kill your conscience, the weaker that voice becomes until you have no conscience.
Too many are trying to get adjusted to their sin rather than get converted from their sin. They’re having their sins explained rather than forgiven. But the Bible says if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Let me shock you: Quit praying for peace and start praying for righteousness, because you cannot have peace when you are at war with God. You cannot have peace when you’re at war with God. If your inner self cries for peace, it’s possible only if you reconcile with Jesus Christ, who is the Prince of Peace. Say that with me: The Prince of Peace. It’s not a title; it’s a fact. He is the Prince of Peace.
Peace is the fruit of responsibility. Peace is the result of facing, not fleeing, the risks of life. Jesus said, «My peace I give to you, not as the world gives, but such as I have, give I it unto the world.» The situation when Jesus speaks these words is not in an ivory tower of detachment. He said these words in the upper room the night before he was crucified. «My peace I give unto you, not as the world gives, but such as I have.» The night before the greatest battle of his life with the powers of hell for your soul, Jesus did his duty. He went to the cross. He suffered. He bled. He died because that was his divine assignment. You and you and you and you and you and you, and those of you watching by television, you have a divine assignment. Find out what it is and get on with your life. It will be the most exciting life you’ve ever had.
We are in a spiritual dogfight for the soul of America. Fight the good fight. Endure hardness. Let the light of the Gospel crush the prince of darkness. Stand up for righteousness. Stand up for morality. Stop voting for politicians who lie and deceive, who live as if the law does not apply to them. We are in a war for the soul of this nation. Christians, stand your post and do your duty. Stand for righteousness at all times, and we will take this nation back.
Moses did his duty. He faced Pharaoh. He led Israel for 40 years. He lived to be 120 and walked to his own funeral. Joshua did his duty. He marched around Jericho seven times. They shouted in faith, and the walls came tumbling down. David did his duty. He fought and killed Goliath. He fought 18 wars for Israel that produced the golden age in the history of Israel. St. Paul did his duty. He fought the good fight. He walked to the chopping block in confidence and triumph, and he said, «I have fought a good fight. I have finished my course.» What a triumphant testimonial fact!
You will never find peace with God or yourself until you do your duty. Until you take responsibility for who you are. Stop blaming what you are on your mama and your daddy. You’re 45 now. You should be on the way to recovery. Peace is the fruit of righteousness, peace on earth, and goodwill toward men. World peace: how does it come? Will it ever come? It’s much easier to hate war than to hate the thing within ourselves that makes war possible. The price of world peace is world righteousness. The price of peace in the streets of America, the end of drive-by shootings, murder, rape, race wars, anti- Semitism, domestic violence: The price is righteousness, which means to live by the laws of this book. Here it is, America; this is the stairway to the stars.
The end of the collapse of the traditional family is righteousness. And the greatest illness in America right now is the collapse of the family. The end of economic disaster is righteousness. The Bible says it is the Lord that gives you the power to get wealth. It is the Lord that makes you the head and not the tail. It is the Lord who makes a way where there seems to be no way. If you would just get behind the Lord and let him lead you, he will knock your enemies right and left, and you go right down the center of the field, finding yourself in the end zone.
Peace is the fruit of repentance. The last word our Lord said to the church is not the great commission. The last word our Lord spoke to the church was to repent. It’s in Revelation 2:5. It says, «Repent, or else.» Say that with me: «Repent, or else!» That was his command — five out of seven times to the seven churches of Asia. If it was true then, it has to be true now. Five out of seven churches: repent, or else! The churches in America are full. But of what? But of what? Stand up, church of Jesus Christ! The battle is raging for the soul of this nation. Let’s win this fight! Win by being a peacemaker! Not by society changing us, but by us changing society in the authority of Jesus' name.
Peacemakers are called the children of God. When you make peace, God looks from heaven and says, «Look, that’s my kid! That’s my child!» He or she doesn’t lower their lip and whine for self-pity, demanding their rights. They’re making peace. That’s my kid. Do you want to be right, or do you want to be reconciled? You can win an argument and lose a marriage. You can win an argument and lose a friend. No one can be a peacemaker who does not know the Prince of Peace. And the way to make America back from racial division, from social and moral corruption, from spiritual collapse, is to make peace with God and with each other. God, listen, God loves all of us or he doesn’t love any of us. He loves us all. He gave his son to make us one family.
The kingdom of God is not meat and drink but righteousness, peace, and joy. Notice the sequence: peace then comes joy. Peace on earth is simple: seek righteousness and peace will come. Our frustration comes when we reverse the order. We want peace without righteousness. We want the gifts of God without the rule of God. We want fruit without planting the tree. We want fruit without planting the tree. In this nuclear age, we need to recognize that Jesus said, «Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all of these things-meaning love, joy, peace, wealth-will be added unto you.» You want peace, real peace, lasting peace in every dimension of your life-in your mind, in your marriage, for our nation? Then confess and be filled with the Holy Spirit. Take responsibility for your life. Seek righteousness, and then peace will come. Peace will come. And that’s what many of you need, and that’s what America must have if we are going to sustain our existence as a democracy.
Can we stand to our feet? How many of you in this room can say, «Pastor, I do not have peace in my life. I don’t have peace in my home. I don’t have peace in my marriage. I don’t have peace in my business. I don’t have peace of mind. I live with stress, with worry, with apprehension. I really want and must have the peace of God. I feel so alone, so hopeless. I’ve tried and failed. My life is spinning out of control. I need the peace of God.» If that describes you, would you slip your hand up right now? God bless you. Be honest. Be honest with God. God bless you, and God bless you, all over this room. Those of you watching by television, if you don’t have the peace of God in your heart, in your mind, in your family, in your church, and you want it, pray this prayer with us. Congregation, would you lift your hand toward the throne of grace?
Our most gracious heavenly Father, in the authority of Jesus' name, we ask you to forgive us of all of our sin, to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, and to pursue peace in our families, in our church, in our nation, that we, this nation, may long endure, being set free from the powers of the prince of darkness. In the authority of Jesus' name, I receive the peace of God. Amen.