God’s Peace and Harmony

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for that beautiful song. It was well done and absolutely gorgeous. Okay, let me get organized here. It only doesn't take too long. Have you ever been in a position where Christ said, you of little faith? Since I lived in South Florida, we had two hurricanes. Helene was one that we watched very carefully because it was making its way to Panama City. And then it kind of went wobbled to the east, which made this possible. And then, of course, you had Milton. But Milton...the thing with Milton that was disturbing was the tornadoes that spawned. I actually had a tornado that sat down within two miles of my house. I did a lot of damage, but here I am. We made it. But I did have to deal with the OU of little faith because I didn't think I'd be here. But here we are, and that's great. My title today is God's Peace in Harmony. Now, what I want to do, I want to make a statement, some may call it a definition, on what harmony is. And when you go to harmony, I look at it this way, and this is how I'm using it. It says, it represents a state of unity, peace, and balance that is divinely ordained throughout the Scriptures. Harmony is portrayed as an essential aspect of God's creation and His desire for humanity. So as I thought about this, I said, is there a biblical example of this statement that was just made? And there is the Garden of Eden, the Garden of God. And when Adam and Eve were placed there, that harmony, that divine harmony was there. And I firmly believe that God had that in His Word for us to understand that there is such a thing. And the beauty of it from there is it's going to be restored. That peace and harmony will come back when Jesus Christ returns. We will have it. And it was, you know, I thought so much about it. They had that peace. They had that harmony with God as God was with them in the Garden of Eden. But then what happened? There was a tragic act of disobedience. And we will now go to Genesis 3, 3.23, because this is where the disharmony begins, which points to the world we live in today.

It says, So God, or so the Lord, God banished them from the Garden of Eden, and He sent Adam out to cultivate the ground from which He had been made. So God gives us this history. Yes, it was there. Tragic area of disobedience took place. But now you have to ask the question, what was the source of that disobedience? Where did it come from? Go to 2 Corinthians 4, verse 4, and what does it say?

It says, Satan, who is the God of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don't believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the good news. They don't understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact lightness of God.

Is this not something you understand? You do. Because God has revealed it to you. But the world in general, no, they do not. They don't understand. They may be saying some things to them about the truth of God and what life is with Him. They can't see it. And because of what Satan did, what kind of world do we live in in this age? You go to Romans 3, chapter 16, I'm sorry, chapter 3, 16 through 18. It says, destruction and misery always follows them. Wars. The aftermath of wars, disease, famine. That has been our history. From that moment, they were removed from the garden. And it says they don't know how to find peace. You look at the Middle East, they want peace, but they don't know how to find it, how to achieve it. The same thing in Ukraine, in Europe. There's no peace. They claim they want it, but they don't know how to get there. And then in chapter verse 18, it says, they have no fear of God at all. You know, I look at this country today. Where is that fear of God? Look at all the ills and troubles that are within our society today. What is the cause? Because they don't have a fear of God anymore. You look at it, you go, I see it in my way. We are living in an era of what? Sodom and Gomorrah. Because there's no fear of God. But those of us that do fear God, we have a different life. And it troubles me to see what's going on, but at the same time, it has to be. God has revealed to us, it has to be. Before Jesus Christ returns. And we know and understand that plan. Because we keep the festivals of God, because it's in those festivals that we learn and understand God's plan. The world doesn't even know. They don't even recognize it. That's why they're so blind. That's why they cannot understand what is going on around them. It's a sad thing to see, but there is a day coming when they will understand. But let's go to Romans 8 verse 6, because this is actually a warning for us. This is something we need to be keenly aware of. It says, So, letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. Even though we are in God's church, we struggle with this every day. A sinful nature is still there. We don't allow it to control us, do we? But what happens in the weak moments? You cannot entertain a social thought at all. Because if you allow it, it could take root. It could become very dangerous to you. Because with my experience, it takes me an hour to get to work, an hour and a half to get to church. But there are times I'm kind of relaxed, and the mind's relaxing, and the thoughts are kind of drifting through. Every now and then the wrong one will come. But I have learned over the years to do one thing, and it works, because I'm fortunate no one's with me. I will yell out, stop! Go away! It does. But it's taken many years to get to that point. But you have to stop the thought. That's up to us, and that's what we deal with. But let's turn to 1 Corinthians 14, verse 33.

It says, for God is not a God of disorder, but of peace, as in all the meetings of God's holy people. Stop and think for a moment. When we assemble in the house of God, is not that peace there?

Because you end up in other places that are of the world. You'll see people arguing. They're fighting outside, you know, all that kind of stuff. That does not happen in God's church, because His Spirit is of peace. And we have that peace within us. That is God's way.

The world has a different way, doesn't it? Argumented, confrontational, just rude. Because that's one of the things today, because I work in government. I deal with the public. And I would say recently, their attitudes have changed, especially on the road. They're in a hurry. They're confrontational. Worse than ever I've seen before. Because earlier, people were generally fairly nice, and they'd talk to you. And you can work the problems out, because I deal with contractors. And every now and then they like to get in my face. And one of the things I do, I just hold my arms, listen to them. I wait for them to talk themselves out. And then I simply ask them the question, What can I do for you?

They don't have any more words. They've talked it all out. They've just thrown it everywhere. And we get things done. But it takes time and a lot of patience to do that. But that's what it's come to, and I hate to see that. Because when I was growing up, people were civil. You did talk your problems out. But that's all changed now. So let's go to Ephesians 4, verse 3. It says, Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace.

We should be doing that now. And I truly believe we are. We're here at the feast. There is peace here. And we work on binding ourselves together, because there's a bond there that is between each and every one of us that comes from the Holy Spirit. It is something we have to do. Because the source of it, because what is this peace? What is this binding that we have? If you go to John 14, verse 27, this is Jesus Christ speaking. He says, I am leaving you with a gift, peace of mind and heart.

And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don't be troubled or afraid. Because I know with myself as I think about what's coming, I think it's closer than we realize, and knowing what's going to happen, knowing that Jesus Christ is going to return, He's going to bring that peace and harmony with Him. But we have that understanding. There's trouble coming. But in knowing what Jesus Christ has to her, especially at the resurrection of first one, that peace and joy is there.

And it kind of dampens, I'm afraid. Sure, it's not going to be fun to go through. But there's a peace because you know the truth. You know what's coming. You know you have a part in that first resurrection where you'll be able to rebuild society. All the wrongs will be made right. That brings peace. That brings the strength. I will see the trouble through if I'm alive. And then going to 1 Corinthians 2, verse 9. This one, I like, there's two here.

I love these. It says, that is what Scripture means when they say, no eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love them. Who's he actually addressing there? Have you ever given that any thought? Because when you go to 1 Corinthians 2, verse 10, it says, but, listen, but, it was to us, those of you sitting here, that God revealed these things by his Spirit, for his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God's deep secrets.

Do you understand that? Seriously, the things you know, the things you've been taught, the things that you believe in, the world in general can't even comprehend it. They can't. You do. You have the Holy Spirit. You believe in it and you obey God. He has revealed his secrets to you. That's just something to kind of think about, because at first I didn't really understand what the correlation was between the two. Who's being talked to here? People in general. And then it comes and says, I, God, have revealed my secrets to you. And you know what they are.

It's the Millennium. We're sitting here, engaged and enjoying the Feast of Tabernacles. That's a God-given secret, is it not? Because if you didn't have his Spirit or love him, you wouldn't be sitting here. But the fact of the matter is, you are sitting here. Beautiful thing. And then moving on to Romans 14 verse 17, it says, For the kingdom of God is not a matter of what we eat or drink, but of living a life of goodness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. That's your love, is it not?

Doing those very things, living a good life, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit is the root of it. It teaches you, it guides you in the things that you know are right, and to avoid the wrong things. But even though, you know, like Christ said, the Spirit is willing. But the flesh is weak. Over the years, I have come to understand it. My Spirit wants to do right. It dwells in it, but then the flesh weakens.

Mistakes are made. Sin may have a start. It's something that you have to repent of. It's our flesh that we fight. But our strength and courage comes from the Holy Spirit to do that. That's our responsibility. That's what we do. And that's what Christ expects of us. In 1 Peter 1, verses 14 through 15, instruction. So you must live as God's obedient children.

Don't! And I say it again. Don't slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. Do not do that. You didn't know any better before, Christ, in that thing. It says, you must be holy in everything you do. Just as God who chose you is holy. Now, I want to go back to that one statement.

Don't slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. One of the problems I've seen is that I've been in church 51 years. I came in as a young man in my mid-20s. On fire, zealous, learned things. I'm going to do everything right. But, you know, after a time, 20 years, 25 years, do we not get a little complacent? Not paying attention? And we slip back into an old way. Is that not true? I'm sure that has happened with every one of us. And I will be honest with you. A few weeks ago, now, I'll say a few months, I did that very thing.

Slipped back, and I allowed it. But then troubles came, and I knew why and where these, why it was going on. And what was the big mistake I made? Compromise. Because I kind of just said, well, I'll do this. I'll put this in this box over here, just kind of to remind me not to do that. How stupid I was! God says, you can't hide things from me. I know everything. The troubles continued. And then finally, I got rid of it all. And by doing that, I knew them. God forgave me. And you may say, well, how do you know?

Did He tell you? No, there's a certain presence that comes. It's a presence of absolute joy, absolute comfort. And it stays with me for a little while, and then it moves on. The question was, Jeffrey, do not compromise. I will not honor that, and I may increase your troubles. So the right thing is what He's saying is, the right thing is when you repent, do it.

Get rid of it all, like you're supposed to do. Because Philippians 4 verses 7 and 8, this is what it says. It says, once you make that step to fully repent and understand, you cannot hide anything from God. You can't. Don't even try. Don't even compromise. Don't even try that game, because it won't work. But with Philippians 4, 7 and 8, it says, then, that word, then, you will experience God's peace.

And that's what I was trying to explain. When I did the right thing, there's a presence. There's this experience of God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. I can't explain it to you when I do the right thing and fully repent, and that presence of peace. Maybe some of you have experienced that. I don't know. That's your private relationship with God. When you fully repent, how does He let you know? I don't know. I know what my experience is. You should know yours. And hopefully, well, it's like it says, when you experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. It says, His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

Because being forgiven, going before God in total sincerity, it's that peace of mind. You've done the right thing, and God has recognized it. And that's living with Jesus Christ. And then in verse 8 it says, And now, dear brothers, sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right and pure and lovely and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. So as I'm traveling in my car, not yelling, stop it to myself, I think about the things of God. I think about Jesus Christ, His return, the millennium, and the great white throne judgment.

All who ever lived will be raised up in that family members. Because in my family, I looked at the last three generations, and I come from the black sheep side of the family. God only called me and no one else. And I sit there and think, at the great white throne judgment, up comes my family, and they see me.

And it probably what's going in their mind, they're probably saying, what good thing could come from that side of the family? That's going to be a wondrous experience. I'll just tell them all. We got a lot to talk about. From you? Yes. So I mean, and so I keep myself focused there.

Or sometimes when I'm on the speaking schedule, I got to think about that too, because that takes work.

So those are good things. And in Romans 12, verse 18, it says, You all you can to live in peace with everyone.

That can be difficult, can it? The way people are today, their attitudes, their confrontational, it's the highway, you know, because we know on the interstate and system, the turnpike, it's deadly out there.

You know, I kind of take the attitude, if you want to kill yourself, go ahead, but don't endanger anybody else.

Why are you doing what you're doing? And it's not getting any better. So I would ask the question, how do you get peaceful with that individual?

Hopefully you're not going to chase him and do a little road rage there, but it's difficult. It actually bothers me that, why are you behaving like this?

Why don't you do the right thing, follow the laws, and be peaceful? Why? It's not getting any better.

And then in Romans 14 verse 19, it says, So then let us aim for harmony in the church, at peace, at unity, and try to build each other up.

That's what we should be doing, and we have to. We know troubles in times are coming, and we've got to grow closer together.

We have to know one another, and we have to help one another. Times are coming.

Harmony, harmony, harmony in the church.

That must be our number one goal, because Jesus Christ and God expect that of us.

Because I know there were times, let's go to Hebrews 12 verses 14 and 15, it says, Work at living in peace with everyone, and work at living a holy life. For those who are not holy will not see the Lord.

But the one thing we do know, one of those secrets that God revealed to us, those people you will see in the Great White Throne Judgment, and they will be given their chance. But today, and now, living that holy life, loving God, obeying God, that's what you are doing.

And that is the right thing to do. And you'll be rewarded with that, like Revelation chapter 20 verse 6 said. Blessed and holy are those who are in the first resurrection. That's where you are headed. That's why you are here.

Follow it. Chase it. Don't ever give up on it.

Then verse 15, Look after each other, so that none of you fails to receive the grace of God.

Here's the point. Watch out. Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting others.

Seen a lot of that, you know, because I was in worldwide and so forth. Divisions. Divisions happen. That's what that root of bitterness is.

It's destructive. It should not be amongst us. Understanding we are human, problems happen.

But you have to let the Holy Spirit rule and say, don't follow that.

And God has given a procedure in dealing with those kind of problems. Follow it.

Because that's what He'll honor. But don't let these roots of bitterness take root amongst you.

It's just not the right thing. And I've seen too much of it. And it hits me hard when that starts to happen.

And you go, this has got to stop. But do it the way that God tells you to do it.

You go to Him first. If He doesn't listen to you, you take a witness or a brother with you, brother or sister.

And if that doesn't work, to the minister, let Him deal with it.

Because now, let's go to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, verses 5-6. It says, For you are all children of the light and of the day. We don't belong to darkness and night.

So be on your guard, not asleep like others. Stay alert and be clear-headed.

And I had to think about that. Not asleep like the others. Do you know what came to my mind? The ten virgins.

Half of them were asleep. The others were kind of dozy, but they weren't asleep. They were still watching.

And I apply that because when you look at the two graphics, the bottom one shows where we once were.

In the darkness. Not, no, we just were blind to these things. And we're wandering around in this darkness.

But then something happened. And that's what happened to you. Because when you look at the top one, you were good ground when God planted the seed of His word in you. You started taking a different direction.

You started moving to the light. I don't know how many of you have been in caves and everything, but it's dark. You can't see anything. Maybe you get a little shard of light somewhere and you start going to it because God is leading you there.

You're going against the world. And then finally, the grand opening. You had just now walked into the light.

And hopefully you still are there. Because if you're not, you wouldn't be here. But that's the pattern because I remember when God called me.

Oh, it was quite an experience. It hit me like a freight train. And it came from a Plain Truth magazine.

Because earlier in my life when I was in high school, I tried. I read the Gospels to, who is Christ? Who is this person? Because I wanted to know.

But I got frustrated because it wasn't working. So life went on. I got out of the service in my early mid-20s. That's when it really happened.

That's when I made a surfing trip to the west coast of Mexico with my best friend from high school. And it was that Plain Truth magazine.

It hit me so hard I couldn't wait to get home. And that's how it all began. That's what brought me out of the darkness into the light.

I came out of that cave of darkness into God's beauty, His truth, and everything else that goes along with that.

Let's go to 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 10 and 11. It said, Christ died for us. Whether we are dead or alive when He returns, we can live with Him forever.

Now I have to go back again to my early days in the church.

The boys and I would always talk about this. We would say, I want to be alive when Christ returns. I got to see this.

We were really serious about that. And then as time went on, matured in the Word, came to a conclusion.

It doesn't matter if you're dead or alive. You are going to be there when Jesus Christ returns.

That solved a lot of problems for me. It made me, you know, I got a lot of ease there saying, wow, I'm going to see what I want to see.

First resurrection. Far greater than anything I understood at that time. And it's like, yes.

Yes, I will be there on that day. That desire to be there when He returns. And that should be your desire as well.

And then going, it says, so encourage each other and build each other up just as you are already doing.

And that's why I was telling you, it doesn't matter if I'm dead or alive with Jesus Christ returns. I am going to be there just as you will.

Of course, those of us there are asleep. We're not going to go through that trouble.

I mean, we even discussed things like about death, that that truly is the real place of safety, isn't it?

You're going to miss everything and that's just fine. But that moment when Jesus Christ returns, you will be there and you will be with Him forever.

What a... I can't begin to tell you what that means and the greatness of it.

And then I have to ask you the question, do you believe it? Do you understand it? Do you live for it?

Those are questions you need to ask yourself. And then I'm coming to an end here. Deuteronomy 16, verse 14, I mean verse 14, it says, This festival will be a happy time of celebrating with your sons and daughters, cousins, uncles, and whoever you have with you, grandchildren, your male and female servants, and the Levites, foreigners, orphans, and widows from your town.

And then going to Deuteronomy 16, I guess 15, 16, it says, For seven days you must celebrate this festival to honor your God, the Lord, your God at the place He chooses.

For it is He who blesses you with beautiful harvests and gives you success in all your work. This festival will be a time of great joy for all.

And I would recommend to every one of you, enjoy this festival like you never had before. Because who knows where we will be next year? Who knows what the status of this country will be?

It could be very different, brethren. I mean very different. So enjoy this one. Treat it as though it's your last one. And if we get to meet again next year, that's even better.

But make it count. Enjoy it. Do the things that God wants you to do.

But now I'm coming to my last verse. 1 Peter 1, verse 2.

This scripture, this verse, is so dear to me. It's actually life. It encourages me to keep going on. Because it says, God the Father knew you and chose you long ago. He did? I didn't know that. But this one tells me He did.

And His Spirit has made you holy. As a result, you have obeyed Him and have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ.

And it says, may God give you more and more grace and peace. That is a beautiful scripture, brethren.

Enjoy it. Live in that grace and peace. But it's just the idea. God knew you before you were born.

Why you were being knitted together. He knew you. And you sit here today.

So, brethren, make peace in harmony with your goal in life.