Peace

Thank you again, Mr. Call. It's nice when you call on someone impromptu and they're still come right through. That's a little sloppy. I've got a drinking problem. I have trouble getting it into the mouth. I'd like to paint a little bit of a verbal picture for you today. I'll rely on your imaginations because I'm sure they're more effective than the words I would produce. But if you would imagine with me a wonderful spring morning.

I'm thinking of one, two or three weeks back, and the sun was just above the horizon. If you've been to my house, you know the horizon is a lot higher back there, so it was later in the morning than it might sound. But the sun's peeking through, and there's dew glistening on the grass. Many of the flowers have opened up, and of course the trees flowering, and there's new leaves. And I'm taking Connor outside for a walk. And he's gotten to where he loves walking outside. A lot of times the first thing you'll say when he gets up is, he's outside, outside, shoes on. So he's eager, and we go outside, and it's this beautiful setting. You can imagine the woods are there. I hear birds chirping away, and our neighbors next door have some really huge wind chimes. And so there are, hmm, there's these harmonies.

And I just breathe in the air, and I say, ah, what peace! That's the way I feel at the time. Ah, it's just peaceful. And it's not a coincidence, though, that that's the word I thought of, because by this time I was already doing some study planning on wanting to give a sermon on the subject of peace. You know, I've been studying on it. But how fragile is the peace that I just described? Well, it depends on what your definition of peace is.

Our peace came to an end fairly quickly when Connor and I had a disagreement over whether or not he should walk through a certain mud puddle. Now, I tried to win him over to my way of thinking verbally, and that didn't seem to work, so eventually I forced him by picking him up and moving him down the road a little bit. You know, using physical force.

Now you could say, in one sense, peace was restored because the conflict was resolved in my favor. But in another sense, maybe peace wasn't restored, because he kept looking over his shoulder just because things were going my way didn't mean that we had come to a meeting of the mines until a little bit later, when he discovered a large pile of rocks. And the puddle went out of his mind, and he was interested in picking up rocks and throwing them. Now, you might wonder, you know, maybe Mr. Dunkel is parsing his words too closely.

You know, you had peace, but you didn't have peace. I mean, we all know what peace is, I think, don't we? Now, we hear about it a lot. As I was thinking about this, I thought, I don't know if they still do it, because I haven't watched any of these in a long time, but if you used to watch the Miss America pageant, beauty pageant winners, towards the end, once they've winnowed it down to the final five, and you've seen them in ball gowns and swimsuits, then they bring them up and ask them questions.

And it seems like there's at least one or two of them that always say, what is your goal in life? I'd like to work for world peace. Well, of course, who's not going to be for world peace? Don't we all want peace? I mean, come December, people happily quote the phrase, "'Peace on earth and good will toward men.'" And we don't celebrate Christmas, but I'm all for peace on earth and good will toward men.

You know, in politics, liberals and conservatives agree that they want peace. Different religions, Catholics and Jews, even Muslims, we've heard many times say, there is a religion of peace. So if everybody wants peace, we should have peace, shouldn't we? Well, but we don't. So that brings the question, why not? And I'm not even going to turn there, but in the book of Romans, Paul gave a simple answer. He said, the way of peace they have not known. They, he was talking about the people in the world in general, the way of peace they have not known.

But as Christians, can we have peace? And if so, how do we do it? So I want to explore that subject today. I'll mention one of the main reasons I wanted to talk about peace. There's an overlap with Mr. Warren's sermonette. I was conscious that we're between the days of 11 bread and rapidly coming to Pentecost. And when I looked at the calendar, I said, I'm not going to get to speak very much before Pentecost.

Well, I will, but I had a sermon I gave, well, I gave this sermon last week, but you heard one from, or you heard split sermons from Daniel and Mr. Call, which I have yet to catch up on and see if they were dealing with Pentecost. But as I said, limited time. So I said, I want to talk about some things leading up to Pentecost, including the fruits of the Spirit. Peace is one of the fruits of the Spirit. If you want to turn to Galatians 5.22 for a start, let's remind ourselves of that.

Galatians 5 verse 22, you know, you hear me refer to my memory scriptures often, but I remember even at 10 years old, two things my grandmother started teaching us to memorize. One was the Ten Commandments, and the other was the fruits of the Holy Spirit. And of course, I've heard people debating ever since then, is it fruits or fruits? Well, I don't think that matters. There are at least these seven characteristics of the Holy Spirit.

Galatians 5.22, when they start off, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace. Those first three just roll right off the tongue. Matter of fact, I never had trouble memorizing those. It's later you can get into long-suffering kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and I think in the old King James, it's meekness, self-control. Against such, there is no law. All of these are wonderful things. We could give a sermon on each and every one of them, but I didn't have that many.

And I thought, peace is a good one to talk about. And this shows us it's a fruit of the Holy Spirit. It's a gift from God. That's the real source of peace. And that's why I believe the Apostle Paul said of the people out the general population, the way of peace they haven't known. Peace is not holy or the Holy Spirit is not generally available to the world's populace, and thus peace does not prevail generally. But the blessing of peace is one that God wants to give us.

Let's go to the Old Testament to see a particularly poetic section of Scripture in Numbers chapter 6.

Numbers 6, and we'll begin in verse 24.

It's funny, I've read this many times before, but it was one of those things that, oh yeah, I've read this, but it slips out of your memory. And then, it was almost a year and a half ago, Sue and I took Connor to Cincinnati for the blessing of little children. And we did it a little differently because we wanted the opportunity to have Mr.

Ed Smith do the ceremony because he had been the pastor when Sue was a little girl, and he actually did the ceremony with her. We thought that'd be a really neat thing to have him do the mother and then the son. And the reason I'm mentioning that is, as part of his blessing, he read this. Well, he recited it from memory. And of course, if you know Mr. Smith, he can do anything from memory.

But it struck me as particularly poetic. I thought, I want to try to remember this when I do a blessing of little children, and it shows one of the blessings that God gives us. Let's read number 6, verses 24. Well, let's start in verse 23 because the instructions are to Aaron and his sons, the priests, saying, This is the way you shall bless the children of Israel. Say to them, The Eternal bless you and keep you. The Eternal make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Eternal lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. What a way to close that.

All these great blessings that God, shining his blessing, his favor on you, and give you peace.

That's the source of peace. Let's turn also to Psalms chapter 29, or more appropriately, the 29th Psalm, in verse 11. Somewhat wanting to set the stage to say, What is peace?

And of course, it is a blessing from God. It is a result of the Holy Spirit. Psalm 29, verse 11.

I said, where we see L-O-R-D in all caps, I tend to use the word eternal, although it doesn't come disrupt some of the poetry, like the section we just read, but it says there, The Eternal will give strength to his people. The Eternal will bless his people with peace.

That's a blessing from God to have peace. Now, I thought, well, that's nice we've been saying, but still, we know it's a blessing. What is it? I did, as I like to do, I checked the lexicon to say, well, what is the Hebrew word? The Hebrew word translated peace is one that you're probably fairly familiar with. It's shalom. Shalom. It's used often as a greeting in Hebrew. It's used in the place of hello or goodbye, sort of like in Hawaii they say aloha. I wonder if aloha means peace.

I don't know Hawaiian, but the definition besides being translated peace, it could also mean rest or health, prosperity, favor. All pretty good things are not different from our common understanding of the word. And the Greek, very similar, but there was one more dimension that I really appreciated. The Greek word was irane. It's pronounced irane. They transliterated the spelling as e-i-r-e-n-e. E-i-r-e-n-e. And there won't be a spelling test at the end.

But its general definition could be translated peace, quietness, rest. But what I found really significant, there was a note that said it's derived from a root word that means to join.

To join or to be set at one. I thought, well, that's the source of peace. When people are set at one, then they have peace. They're of one mind. And it brought back to mind something I remember as a younger person hearing Mr. Armstrong say in sermons and on the telecast, I think, that peace is not just the absence of fighting or war. The nations want peace and the end of fighting.

They say, oh, we've got peace. The real peace is when you're not only not fighting, but you agree.

You come together. Not just fighting over your disagreements, but really working them out.

So that can give us insight into why the world lacks peace. And also, why sometimes we lack peace.

We don't want to, but sometimes we do. Now, the world doesn't have much peace because people disagree. They're in conflict with each other. When they're not joined, they don't have peace. Now, a lack of peace can result from small conflicts or disagreements. The one that came to mind, I thought, what's a small conflict that could come up? And I thought, you know, well, a trivial one, but still could be important in certain settings, is what to order on your pizza. And, you know, the more people you have involved in ordering a pizza, the more time it takes to find something people agree on. Okay? And that's usually one you can resolve. But then, when it comes to bigger conflicts, the question is like, who's in charge here? Or we have some money we have to spend, how are we going to spend it? You know, who's in control? Lack of peace often comes from people wanting to get their own way. And I don't mind saying, and I've had discussions with people, I don't know how many times, about splits within the church and the one we experienced about a year and a half ago, my personal opinion was that it was largely on decisions over who was going to be in control and who would get to decide how to spend the money. And that's one reason I love it here.

We've got Mr. Call as the treasurer, and I don't have to sign checks or see the money, but we like to get input on how to make those decisions. You know, eventually someone has to, though, and so there has to be someone in control. And if you have differing opinions, then how do you decide? I'm pausing because I want to shift gears and give an illustration from American history. Actually, it's somewhat world history. I'd come up in a world western civ class, I guess, if you studied long enough, but there was an international effort in the 1920s to try to make peace permanent among nations. Interesting, because it's looked back on now, historians like to talk about it almost as a joke, because it comes out kind of that way. But it wasn't intended that way. It was the highest intentions. This was, well, in the 1920s. You might remember that the 20s followed, well, followed the teens, but followed the end of World War I. World War I was the biggest, most destructive war in human history up to that point in time. And of course, it didn't have the one after it. It was just the Great War until we discovered we could have an even bigger one in the 1930s and 40s. But that war had been, well, it took away the young people, an entire generation of many in Europe. And it caused just the destruction was so bad, a lot of people were disillusioned.

It led to revolutions in thought. The first big sexual revolution happened in the 20s and all kinds of things. And I don't want to go into that, but a lot of nations wanted to end this, and they even started calling that war before it was over, the war to end all wars. Now, that was part of the, I don't want to say propaganda, but it was a way to sell the war to Americans.

What was interesting, I don't know if you realize this, that when the war ended, the leaders of all the nations came together outside of France at Versailles to negotiate a treaty. And our president, Woodrow Wilson, did something no American president had done before. He left the country while he was still president to go negotiate personally. And he worked hard to establish a treaty that would work, you know, and they set up a League of Nations to try to be a body where people would work, you know, nations would work out their disputes. And to hisch your grin, once it was all worked out, the United States Senate refused to ratify it. And that's a long story, and it involves politics. And we're hearing today a lot of what happens with politics and how you can argue. So the United States didn't join in that treaty. When it was all said and done, technically we were still at war with Germany and some of the other nations. So we signed limited treaties that just said, okay, we're not at war anymore. But many people thought, let's do something to try to end war. So in the 1920s, it was in, I believe, 1928, the French foreign minister, a fellow named Aristide Breondes, approached the Secretary of State for the United States. Isn't that a great French name? Aristide Breondes. That's sound... well, he was French. That's why it sounds French. We don't have anybody here named Aristide, I don't think. What's funny is that the Secretary of State had a very American name. His name was Frank. So you got Aristide and Frank hanging out.

It's Frank Kellogg, by the way, which was related to the family that makes the breakfast cereal, but he was busy with other things. And I'm getting sidetracked. Anyways, Aristide Breondes made this proposal to, you know, the representative from the United States, let's sign a pact that will outlaw war. We'll agree that we'll just never fight with each other.

And Mr. Kellogg said, well, that sounds good, but, you know, other nations might see that as an alliance, that, you know, U.S. and France are going to never fight, but that means we might have to fight other people. And, you know, our Congress was very touchy about alliances with other countries for good reason. So they said, you know, they thought about it and said, let's broaden it.

And they took the proposal to several of the large nations in the world. And by the time it was signed, on August 27th of 1928, 15 different nations signed what became known as the Kellogg-Breond Peace Pact.

It was a peace pact with 15 nations, and in the months to follow, 18 more signed—well, wait, I got out of—yeah, 15 nations signed it initially. It renounced war as any instrument of national policy, promised to resolve all disputes by pacific means. Pacific is a fancy word for peaceful.

By the time it got to the U.S. Senate, and the Senate did ratify this agreement, 31 other nations had added their signatures, and in the months to follow, 18 more signed.

And if you think back in the 1920s, there were not as many nations in the world because a lot of the great empires hadn't separated. So it came down to only four nations in the world didn't sign.

And for some reason—I don't know if it's indicative—they were all in Latin America. It was Argentina, Bolivia, El Salvador, and Uruguay. And I don't know how many people saw a big threat from Uruguay. So we had almost the whole world sign this treaty saying, we won't fight anymore.

War is against the law. What a wonderful thing. Now, of course, that was 1929. A lot of you are probably thinking, yeah, but didn't we have some wars since then? And we did. It was a great idea and an earnest hope, but many politicians, even at the time, said, well, it's just a mere gesture.

Some in the Senate said, yeah, I'll vote to ratify it, but it doesn't mean anything.

And you wonder, why not? Why couldn't it work? Why didn't it mean anything?

And the answer, really, when you think about it, is pretty simple. What if someone breaks the treaty?

How do you enforce it? Well, you have to go to war against them. So when you make war against the law, the only way to enforce the law is by using military force. And of course, that would break the treaty so everyone would be in that way. So it's kind of a shame. But it shows something.

We know that the only way that peace can be brought to nations is for there to be a higher power that can enforce it, not the nations bringing it on themselves. Well, let me take that back.

I think I initially said the only way, but there is another way. Now, of course, I mentioned Mr.

Armstrong talking about how the world lacks peace and needs it, and he talked about that strong hand from someplace. As a matter of fact, last week I was saying, I know there's a quote that said, we need that. And I think, as Mr. Sancho pointed out, I was pretty sure it was Douglas MacArthur who had said it. I should have gone and double-checked, but I was so certain that I didn't.

But is there another way, aside from having it forced on the nations? Because if you do that, then isn't it kind of like what I did with Connor, where I picked him up and moved him past the puddle but he was still looking back? Well, the other way is if the nations have a change of mind and change of heart so that you don't need to have stronger power force it on them.

That's what we want. That's what the world is looking for. I'm looking on a worldwide basis, but yeah, we can't have it until there's either a higher power to force the peace or a higher power to change people's minds.

With that in mind, I want to look at a description of one time in the Bible where there was some peace.

And it stands out because so much of the Scripture, we see there's descriptions of peace either in conflict with God or in conflict with each other. The book of Judges is really a book of wars of Israel conquering the Promised Land and there's wars everywhere else. But there's one period in the history of ancient Israel that was a time of peace and we could see why there was peace.

We believe that this time was intended to be a model of the kingdom of God. This was the reign of King Solomon. King Solomon's reign was a time of peace and you might notice the word Solomon, if you didn't know, is a derivative of Shalom. His name was peace or one version of it. Let's go to the book of 1 Chronicles. 1 Chronicles 22. And we'll read verse 9. This is a promise that was made to King David before Solomon was born, but God had this plan and you'll remember that in the book of 1 Chronicles 22, God was gathering all the materials and the wealth needed. God told him, look David, it's good that you want to do this, but you've been involved in too much war. You're a man of bloodshed. I'm going to give you a son that can take care of this for you. We'll read this in verse 9 of 1 Chronicles 22. God's speaking to David. He says, Behold, a son shall be born to you, who shall be a man of rest. And I will give him rest from all his enemies round about. His name shall be Solomon, which is a derivative of peace. For I will give peace and quietness to Israel in his days, and he'll build a house for my name. So God planned for this to be an era of peace and happiness. And of course, this was even before Solomon asked God for wisdom when he said, Ask me what you want. I'm going to give you a blessing. And Solomon, instead of asking for health and power and wealth, just asked for wisdom to lead the people properly. And God was very happy with that, and he gave him all the other things, too. Let's go back a little bit to first in the book to 1 Kings. 1 Kings chapter 10. Rather than me tell you about King Solomon's reign, let's see how a visitor did at the time. Because Solomon developed quite a reputation. He was wealthy, and the kingdom was doing very well, and word spread to all these other nations.

So of course, well, I shouldn't say of course, but some people were curious. And the Queen of Sheba decided to come and pay him a visit. Take a look for herself and see if any of this was really true, and if so, how did it happen? So let's read what she said. 1 Kings chapter 10 will begin in verse 6.

Oh, no wonder I was looking in chapter 9. Then she, that's the queen of Sheba, said to the king, It was a true report, which I heard in my own land, about your words and your wisdom. However, I didn't believe the words until I came and saw with my own eyes. And indeed, the half was not told me. Your wisdom and prosperity exceed the fame of which I heard. Happy are your men. Happy are these, your servants, who stand continually before you and hear your wisdom. Blessed be the eternal your God, who delighted in you, setting you on the throne of Israel, because the eternal was loved Israel forever. Therefore he made you king, to do justice and righteousness.

Now I underline that in my notes, to do justice and righteousness. Sounds like it was a great time to live because of all the other things, but largely also because there was peace and they were happy. But she pointed out God had set Solomon up and gave him instruction and the ability to do justice and righteousness. And I think that is what made for peace. Because they were doing things God's way. It wasn't one man's way forced on the other, other people. It wasn't a struggle for power. It was justice and righteousness. That's what brings peace. Doing things God's way.

Now, of course, as far as in the realm of nations, we're going to be waiting, I believe, until Jesus Christ returns and he can do both things I mentioned. He can have that high, stronger power to force peace on the nations and provide the Holy Spirit to bring peace, to bring the people's minds together. But as Christians, can we have peace now? We don't have to worry about bringing peace to all the nations. We'll worry about it when the time comes when we're kings and priests. We'll help to bring that peace. But remember, I'll refer to this in the Sermon on the Mount. And if you want to write a reference, Matthew 5, chapter 9, Jesus Christ said, blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God. Now, all those other blessings are pretty good things, but being called a son of God, that's one of the highest blessings there is. That's what we want. We want to be born into God's family. So for us to get there, one of the ways to do it is by making peace.

Before I go to Romans chapter 12, if you want to turn there, but I couldn't help. I was thinking of a scene from a movie I saw years and years ago. I don't know if any of you are Monty Python fans.

I used to be a huge one. I saw reruns of the TV show, and Monty Python on the Holy Grail, I think, was one of the classic movies. Then they came out with one a few years later called, I believe, The Life of Brian. It was supposed to be set in the time of Christ, but things that are going on at the same time, so they spoof some biblical things. Some of it is not a movie that I say, oh, you've got to go out and see it, because it could be offensive in some ways, although it doesn't portray Jesus. Except for this one scene, I remember they're on the outskirts, and there's a crowd listening to someone teach. The impression is, is Jesus. He said, what did he say? He said, blessed are the cheesemakers. That's cheesemakers? What did the cheesemakers ever do that's so special?

And then, of course, Jesus said, the peacemakers are blessed.

They thought that was a lot funnier in Prestonsburg. It must be the delivery.

Anyways, I'm sure cheesemakers can be blessed, too. But if you're in Romans 12, let's read verse 18. Talk about making peace. Here it says, if it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. Okay, we've got a clear goal here. We want to make peace. We want to live peaceably.

Now, we've got the goal. We know what we want to do, but we don't have a lot of instruction on how to do it.

Now, so before I look at some things that I recommend for ways to make peace, I wanted to look at another story from the Bible in the Old Testament. We're going to go back to before Solomon's time to King David. So if you want to be turning to 1 Samuel 25, I'll start setting the stage, because this episode doesn't give a how-to of how to make peace. But I think it's an instructive story. It shows us two different ways you might try to make peace. And one of them, I think, is a way that we don't want to do, and the other one is more like it. So in 1 Samuel 25, we're breaking into the time when David had been anointed to become king, but he wasn't yet.

King Saul was on the throne, and when he realized that David was going to replace him, he wanted to get David. He tried to kill him a couple of occasions, but of course God delivered him. So David was on the run, and while he was hiding out, men, the Bible says people who were disgruntled or in debt or whatever, people who were outcast from society tended to gravitate towards him. And apparently many of them were trained in the military arts, because this group of men, they needed to live, and they couldn't settle down and plant crops because they were on the run, so they worked somewhat as mercenaries. Now, they didn't just hire out to fight against just anybody, but they helped protect Israel's borders. This is a time when there were marauders, people from other countries, armed bands of thieves or whatever might come in and attack and destroy.

And of course we know later David sort of signed on with one of the kings of the Philistines, and you know, lived there and did some fighting with them, but never against the people of Israel.

So we have here, we're breaking the story where David and his men are camped near the area of Carmel, and they haven't made an official agreement with the landowners there, but they're protecting them from those who might come to attack their sheep and such. And in the story, we're coming to where David and his men had been particularly protecting the flocks and the animals of a wealthy landowner named Nabal. Nabal is interesting, we'll get to the meaning of the name in a bit, but after they've done this for quite a time, it comes sheep shearing season, a time when they reap the wealth from the sheep, and they'll sell the wool, and some of them they'll slaughter so that they don't have to keep feeding them. So it's a time when, you know, they have an abundance.

David sends some of his men to Nabal to ask for a contribution. You know, you have all of this because we've helped you. So let's start reading in verse 5. David sent ten young men, and David said to the young men, go up to Carmel, go to Nabal, and greet him in my name. You know, we're from David. And this you shall say to him who lives in prosperity. And this is a part of it that caught my eye that made me think this story might be useful for studying peace, because what they told him to say is, peace be to you, peace to your home, and peace to all that you have. So David goes proclaiming peace, but of course he is going to ask for a contribution. I've heard that you have shearers.

Your shepherds were with us, and we didn't hurt them, nor was anything missing from them all the while they were in Carmel. Ask you young men, they'll tell you. Therefore let my young men find favor in your eyes, for we come on a feast day. Please give whatever comes to your hand to your servants and your son David. So David, he's being a little bold, but he's saying we did you a favor. Part of the reason you have all this is because of the service we've done. So if you would give something to these, your servants and your son David. So David's young men come and they speak to Nabal according to these words in the name of David, and they waited. Nabal's answer was not what they expected. He answered David's servants and said, who is David? Who is the son of Jesse?

There are many servants these days who break away each one from his master. He's like, there's a lot of people out there. Anybody could be calling themselves David. There's runaway slaves out there.

Shall I then take my bread and my water and my meat that I've killed for my shearers and give it to men that I don't know who they're from? So this wasn't the answer they were expecting. He wasn't giving them anything, and he kind of implied that they were no goods and liars. So David's young men turned on their heels and went back. I always wondered about that turning on their heels, but anyway, they got out of there. And they bring a report back to David, and David changes his tune.

He went proclaiming peace now to his own men. He says, every man gird on his sword, and every man girded on his sword. And David also girded on his sword. I love the writing sometimes in the Old Testament. Gird on your sword? Okay, anyways, they're all getting their swords girded. And 200 stay behind, and now the young men... now they're on their way to... David's coming not with a message of peace, and we'll see later what he has in mind. Matter of fact, let's skip ahead. If you look at verse 21, and then we'll go back and pick up the pieces. But now David had said, so at the time they're girding on their swords, he's saying, surely I have... in vain, I've protected all that this fellow has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that belongs to him. And he's repaid me evil for good. May God do so and more also to the enemies of David if I leave one male among all who belong to him by morning light. So David's saying, oh yeah, you're gonna call us names and not give us anything. We're gonna come and kill all the men. Now, and what I would say is, that would impose a kind of peace. That would force and resolve the conflict. But I'm not sure...

well, I shouldn't say I'm not sure. I'm pretty positive that's not the way God wants us as Christians to make peace. You know, he doesn't want it... now, in some cases, like when I needed to have peace between Connor and I over the mud puddle, I was able to impose my will. But that's okay.

Later on, he'll understand. I don't think that's what God had in mind here. Now, we'll see, though, that there's another way of going about making peace practiced by another person that we're about to meet. Now, we'll see. One of the young men... go back to verse 14.

One of the young men, that's one of Nabal's servants, told Abigail, Nabal's wife, saying, look, David sent messengers from the wilderness to greet our master, and he reviled them. But the men were good to us, and we were not hurt, nor did we miss anything as long as we accompanied them when we were in the fields. They were a wall to us, both by night and day. All the time we were with them, keeping the sheep. Now, remember, being a shepherd was a somewhat dangerous business back then. There were armed marauders and also animals, wolves and lions. You know, David himself, when he was a young boy as a shepherd, had to kill a bear and a lion to protect the sheep. These guys didn't have to do that because David's men were doing it for them. And so this fellow goes on talking to Abigail, now therefore no one consider what you'll do, for harm is determined against our master and against all his household, for he is such a scoundrel that one cannot speak to him.

As I mentioned, Nabal, the word means, well, I guess literally son of Belial, but scoundrel is a good interpretation. It means, you know, a dummy. Or a professor and ambassador said, like to said, said you could interpret it as blockhead. He said, Nabal, and he used to say this, Nabal was a blockhead!

So now I've shared that with all of you, a little taste of Ambassador College.

Now, how does Abigail deal with this? Abigail wants to make peace. In verse 18, Abigail made haste and took two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five sheep already dressed, five sias of roasted grain, and a hundred clusters of raisins, two hundred cakes of figs, and loaded them on donkeys. And she said to her servants, Go on before me, I'm coming after you. And she didn't tell her husband Nabal. So she rode on the donkey and she went down under cover of the hill, and there were David and his men coming towards him. So they're on their way, they're not far away, when she meets them bringing a gift. Now, I've already read what David said. Let's skip down to verse 23. When Abigail saw David, she dismounted quickly from the donkey and fell on her face before David and bowed to the ground. So she fell at his feet and said, On me, my lord, on me, let this iniquity be, and please let your maidservant speak in your ears and hear the words of your maidservant. Please let not my lord regard this scoundrel Nabal. For as his name is, so is he.

Nabal is his name, and folly is in him. But I, your maidservant, did not see the young men of my lord, whom you sent. Now therefore, my lord, as the eternal lives and as your soul lives, since the eternal has held you back from coming to bloodshed and avenging yourself with your own hand, then let your enemies and those who seek harm be as my lord Nabal. Nabal is. And it's interesting, because she said God has kept you from causing harm and avenging yourself. She's putting herself in the role of an agent from God. Now I don't deny, I think she probably was. God might have inspired her, but she's making a good claim for herself. Hey, God's keeping you from avenging yourself, and you might regret it later. As a matter of fact, I want to...

That's what happens when you don't look at your notes. Okay, yeah, down in, if we skip down to verse 30, we'll see this. Oh, that's actually what I just read. Oh, yeah, and it shall come to pass, and verse 30, when the eternal is done for my lord, according to all the good he has spoken concerning you, and has appointed you ruler of Israel. So when you finally are king, that this will be no grief to you, nor offense of heart to my lord, either that you've shed blood without cause, or that my lord has avenged himself. But when the lord has dealt well with my lord, then remember your maidservant. So she's saying, David, later on you're going to regret it if you go avenging yourself. You know, scripture says vengeance is mine, says the lord, so calm down, be cool. Let's think about this. And she did make a gift, but I don't think it was just buying him off. It was the attitude, the humility. I wonder if those young men had come to Navel, and he said, boy, I'd give you something, but it's been a rough year. We have very little. Maybe I can give you a little. But it was the fact that he reviled them, and he insulted them, and was vain and proud.

That's what set David off. So Abigail took a different approach. She was very humble, and of course they did have enough that they could give and share. But I think that attitude, saying, don't do this. You're going to regret it later. And David agreed. But Abigail made a personal sacrifice to make peace, and that appealed to David and others. Let's look ahead to verse 38, and we'll see that God would work things out for David. David did get the help he needed, but also God worked it out to bring peace. In verse 38, then it happened, after about 10 days, the eternal struck Navel, and he died. But notice, David didn't do it. God struck Navel. Now, earlier it says, when he heard the news of what happened, he said his heart became like a stone. Some people speculate maybe he had a stroke or a heart attack. We don't know, but he lingered a while, and then he died. And when David heard that Navel was dead, he said, blessed be the eternal who has pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Navel, and has kept his servant from evil. David acknowledges here that what he wanted to do was evil. So he's glad he didn't do it. For the eternal has returned the wickedness of Navel on his own head. And after that, David sent and proposed to Abigail to take him as wife. And that's... I'm not sure if I call that a great love story, but then again, she was happy being with David. Now, it's interesting that God's plan for mankind includes a plan that everyone can have a chance, including Navel, to willingly accept God's way.

Navel is going to come up in the general resurrection and have access to God's Holy Spirit, and he'll probably look back and say, boy, I wasn't a very good guy back then, and no wonder what David wanted to kill me. But he'll be glad David didn't. He and David can be of one mind when that time comes. And that's the important thing to remember. When God brings peace, he has the long-term picture in mind that we can come of one mind, whether it's now in this life or eventually in the resurrection. But for us to have peace, and my thought, we need to do it in the right order. We need to not just try to impose our will, but think about how to build peace.

We want to be peacemakers. So I think to have peace, we have to work on it a step at a time, and so the first step is to have peace with God. We need to be at peace between us and God.

Now, that's more important than anything else. And I'll say simply, obeying God brings peace.

It puts us at peace with Him. Let's look at a couple of scriptures to show that. First in Psalm 119. Psalm 119, we'll read verse 165. I might have heard that transition, but from that story I want to go to look at, as I said, steps that I think are essential to being peacemakers.

For us to make peace, we have to make peace first with our relationship with God. As I said, Psalm 119 verse 165 says, Great peace have those who love your law, and nothing causes them to stumble.

Loving God's law gives peace. Before I comment further, let's skip ahead a few pages to Proverbs chapter 3. Similar statement. Proverbs 3 beginning in verse 1 says, My son, do not forsake my law, but let your heart keep my commands. For length of days and long life and peace they will add to you. We believe Solomon wrote this, and he's instructing his son saying, keep my law, but Solomon meant my law is God's law. So obey the instructions from the Bible, and it'll add you a long life and peace. When we break God's law, we're in conflict with Him. And we come in conflict really with the universe, because the universe was created by God, and it's intended to work a certain way. So those who are opposing God by breaking His law will not know peace. And you could say in a sense, we're reducing the peace that God would have in Himself, because I think there's good reason to believe that He grieves when we break His law. And He can be angry at the sinners, but He doesn't, you know, He feels bad. He doesn't want us to hurt and bring the suffering on ourselves. So the way to resolve the conflict and to have peace with God is to obey, but also it's through Christ's sacrifice. Let's look at a couple of scriptures we've seen leading up to the Passover, but are worth coming back and reading again. Romans chapter 5 and verse 1. Romans 5.

It says, therefore, having been justified by faith, justified means our sins are forgiven, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. And of course, it's through Jesus Christ because His sacrifice pays for our sins. That's what gives us peace with God. Let's turn back a few pages also to Colossians chapter 1. Colossians 1. I said I've been going to Colossians a lot lately talking about Christ's sacrifice, and I've discovered it's a very small book. It's tucked right in there near the end of the Epistles of Paul. So if you get to Hebrews, you've gone too far.

Colossians 1, we will begin in verse 19.

For it pleased the Father that in Him, that is Jesus Christ, all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself by Him. So the Father used Christ's sacrifice to reconcile all things to Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross or His crucifixion, having made peace. So it's Christ's sacrifice that reconciles us to God and puts us at peace with Him, and that's first and foremost. Then that peace can continue by the indwelling of God's Holy Spirit. As we read earlier, you can make a reference to Galatians 5.22 says, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace. So that leads us to the next step in building peace or making peace, and that is, I believe, to have peace within ourselves. We need to be at peace with God by not being in conflict with Him, but we also want to have peace within ourselves, and many of us are struggling to have peace within ourselves, at least at one time or another. If you'll turn back to Romans in chapter 8, Romans 8, and we'll begin in verse 6. We'll see the difference between our human way of thinking and the way of thinking of anybody without God's Holy Spirit and then with the Holy Spirit. Romans 8 and verse 6.

For to be carnally minded, that's physically minded, is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. To be spiritually minded is life and peace because the carnal mind is enmity against God. It's not subject to the law of God, and it can't be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you're not in the flesh but in the Spirit if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now, if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he's not his. Now, this is saying, of course, we know we're still flesh and blood. You remember they used to talk about the hat pin trick, which is funny because not many people wear hats and they certainly don't have the pins, but any pin will do. If you poke it with yourself, blood will start coming out and it'll hurt you. You say, well, I'm still flesh. But he's saying if you have Spirit of God dwelling in you, God's thinking of you as Spirit. You're on the road. You're heading that direction, and that's what can give you peace because that Spirit is in you guiding your mind. You don't have to have that conflict. Now, it doesn't happen all at once, though. It's a struggle. Let's go back a few pages to Romans chapter 15. I'm going to lead up to this, the struggle and how God's Spirit helps us to get over the struggle to have peace. Romans 15 and verse 13.

So I thought there were an abundance of Scriptures showing that God's Spirit is what brings the peace.

Now, may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace, and believing that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. So God can fill you with that hope and peace by the power of His Spirit. That's something we don't produce on our own. Now, we have to do our part, but it's that power in us, the power of God that makes it possible to love His way, to be reconciled to Him and change so that we are at peace with Him and start to have peace with ourselves.

Now, as we yield more and more to God's Spirit, we'll be more like God. And we'll put to...

we use the phrase, put to death our old self, our vain, selfish character. That's, you know, of course, baptism is a picture of that. That's why we have to talk about it as a watery grave.

Symbolically, you're putting to death the old man, and a new one comes out, our mankind, since there are many women. But a new person comes out, and supposedly we have peace. Now, the trick is the ongoing struggle. That's where I wanted... if you want to turn to Romans chapter 7, you can follow along. I'm going to read a different translation. Now, did I write down the name of the translation? It's the New Living Translation. And I'm doing this... it's actually... we cite this in the New Kingdom of God seminar that's coming out. It's in the notes they sent us, and I said, I've never read this translation. But it puts what Paul says so very well. So, Romans 7 beginning in verse 21, I'm going to read from this translation, and I think it shows that struggle, the lack of peace, but then we'll move to how we have the peace. So, beginning in chapter... or verse 21, Paul says, I've discovered this principle of life, that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. Now, I love God's law with all my heart, but there's another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that's dominated by sin and death?

Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So, you see how it is. In my mind, I really want to obey God's law, but because of my sinful nature, I'm a slave to sin. Now, as I said, I like the way that brought it out in a modern English version, and this is a description of not being at peace with yourself. So, you might be thinking, yeah, you say I get baptized to have the Holy Spirit, I'll be at peace. All of us know that there's times when it's not that way. You're struggling, as Paul described, you know what you want, and then you find yourself sinning and you're struggling. There are two conflicting poles. There is the desire to obey God and the desire to sin, and this brought back to mind an analogy that I remember another professor teaching at Ambassador College, and I don't think he'd mind me stealing it, but he drew the analogy of these two. Paul talks about the law of sin and the law of God, and he's likened the law of sin to being like gravity, pulling you down, and God's law being like the law of aerodynamics that you see in the wings of an airplane that would pull up. And so, supposedly, they would cancel each other out, but if you notice, a plane that's not moving is just sitting on the ground. The law of gravity is winning. So there's something required to make it go up. Let's read, if you're there, in Romans chapter 8. We'll continue on. Romans 8 and verse 1. There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit, for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.

So Paul said there's these two laws, and the law of sin and death is pulling me down, but he says the law of the Spirit. He's talking about God's Holy Spirit in you is going to overcome that, and that's where it's like the jet engine on an airplane. It gives you thrust, and that works with the wings to overcome gravity that's holding you down. Let's go on in verse 5. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. As I said earlier, in the end of chapter 7, he's describing a life where you're not at peace. But he says being spiritually minded brings peace. It helps overcome that law of sin, that pull that wants to drag you down. As I said, it's like the jet engine added to the wings of an airplane that lifts you up above. You can't do it on your own. You can have the law. If you only had the first five books of the Bible, you'd know what you should do. Or even if you have all the Bible, you have the instruction, but you know it's hard to do because we've got Satan pulling us down.

We've got our carnal nature. It's the Holy Spirit that gives us the power, and that's what will bring peace in our own minds. It's funny I got a note because I've tried using this analogy before, and I often times I fall short. The professor, well, partly because he was using a chalkboard.

Maybe that made it better, but I say, I was gonna say, if the analogy doesn't work for you, just you can say just that God's Spirit lets us live a righteous life and end that inner conflict. You know, the conflict might flare up at times, but overall we'll be at peace within ourselves because the power of the Spirit helps us to push down that desire to sin. And that leads to the next step in the process. We want to be at peace with God, at peace within ourselves, and then try to make peace with others. And in some ways that can be the toughest because you know God always wants to be at peace with you. Now, he doesn't compromise on how. It's we get on board with his way of doing things, and when it's ourselves we're struggling just with ourselves. Conflict with other people can be tough. You know, conflict is the opposite of peace, and it comes from disagreements, and it seems like we're always having disagreements with other people. Now, they can be big ones or small, as I mentioned. The small conflicts are often pretty easy to overcome.

Now, I should point out sometimes they're not easy to overcome. If we're willing to exercise a selfless attitude in giving, they're easy to overcome. I thought I'd go back to that analogy I said of a small disagreement. It could like comes up when you're ordering a pizza, and I've experienced this many times because I love anchovies. I like anchovies on pizza. I mean, they get a salty taste, and I like salty stuff, but you know almost nobody I know likes anchovies on pizza. That's funny. I don't, like I said, I think Sue said she was going to tune into Cincinnati today, so she's probably not listening, but after I gave the sermon last week, she said, have I tried anchovies? I'm not sure. I said, I think you did, but you didn't like them.

But anyway, so I found an easy way to resolve it. I just don't ask for anchovies. I don't argue with people. I'd like to have them, but I've realized that I like peace more than I like anchovies. And you know, pizza without anchovies is still pretty good, right? I mean, there's a number of things in the world that even when they're not so good, they're still pretty good, and I think pizza is one of them. So I choose to make peace when it comes to pizza, you know, by deferring. And it's not that I'm saying, I really wish I had anchovies and I'm upset at these things. No, it's like, I've willingly given it up. You know, I'm, forget the anchovies. I don't mind.

Like I said, it's still pretty good, and I like that piece that we have. And you know, similar things. I thought, well, we don't do this anymore. We used to, sometimes if you wanted to watch a movie at home, you'd go to Blockbuster or the video store. I used to joke because, you know, I remember being with my friends when we were single, we'd all pile in the car. I said, oh no, if there's a piling in the car, it's going to take forever. You know, I think you could work out a mathematical formula where the time it takes to pick a movie increases exponentially by the number of people involved in the decision. Anyways, that's getting off track. Let's talk about bigger conflicts.

Now, it wouldn't be great. Ideally, in the church, we shouldn't have any big conflicts, right? We're all seeking to be at peace with God, living His law, so there shouldn't be any problems.

And I made a note, I'm not going to turn there, but in 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 13, it's funny, it's just the last part of the verse Paul writes, be at peace among yourselves.

And I thought, yeah, it's good to say that. And it's, well, he wouldn't have had to write that if we were ever, if everyone were already at peace. It's because sometimes we're not. And we do sometimes have conflicts, and sometimes it's something small, like disagreements over a pizza that can spread and grow. But as I said, they're also bigger things, like who's going to make the decision, you know, how to spend the money, who's going to be in charge. And I think that's the time when we need to consider something else that Paul wrote. Let's go to Romans chapter 14. I'm still in Romans, so hopefully you are too. Romans 14 verse 19. We're going to break into here. I've cited this recently, I think, in another sermon, but he's talking about a disagreement about what some people had over whether they should eat meat or not. And Paul came to a solution, at least for some people, in verse 19, said, therefore, let us pursue the things which make for peace. So let's pursue peace. And the things by which one may edify another do not destroy the work of God.

Now, by work of God, he means other Christians. We're all a work that God is doing. So he's saying, don't destroy that work, the progress God has made with someone, for the sake of food. He said, all things indeed are pure. In other words, he's saying, it's okay to eat meat. I know it. Some of you know it. But it is evil for the man who eats with offense. So if someone thinks it's wrong, it could be that it's wrong for him. So he says, it's good neither to eat meat nor drink wine, nor do anything by which your brother stumbles or is offended or is made weak.

And this is describing doing a sacrifice to make peace, giving up your way.

Sort of like, he's saying, love peace with your brother more than anchovies, or more than convincing others that you're right. Let's go also to 1 Corinthians chapter 8.

1 Corinthians 8 and verse 13.

This is a very similar situation, but I thought I'd read it because Paul thought it was important enough to write in two separate letters. It says, therefore, if food makes my brother to stumble, I'll never again eat meat lest I make my brother stumble. And when I read that, I thought, you know, we know, like I said, you know what you can't eat or can't eat, and you're fine with it.

But it made me think sometimes being a Christian means doing what we call being the bigger man, saying, okay, I know I'm right, but I'm going to let others have their way, even though I know I'm right. Sometimes that's what it takes. That's making peace. Now, you pray that God will eat everyone. Eventually, we'd hope people that think that eating meat is wrong would realize that God made some meats to be eaten, and that's okay. But you don't have to force it down someone. Let them come to that understanding. Oh, yeah, I was going to just make a note, if you want to make a note of this, in 1 Peter chapter 3 verse 11. Peter, in his epistle, quotes from the Psalms, where he said, let him seek peace and pursue it. When I was searching Scripture, I saw that pursuing peace.

That's making peace. That's making an effort. It's not about not only—boy, double and triple negatives get tough—it's not only about avoiding doing something that causes offense, but going beyond and taking an act of effort to bring together a meeting of the minds. Let's do turn to Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews 12 says something similar.

Oh, okay, I was looking to see if there was a reason I wanted to go to that one and wasn't going to the other one, because it says something very similar. Oh, this is the reason why. Part of my transition. Hebrews 12 and verse 14 says, pursue peace with all people and holiness without which no one will see the Lord. But here, I've been talking about peace within the church, but Paul rightly is saying, pursue peace with all people, not just our brethren in the church.

We tend to think first of our brethren. We want to, as I said, let's have peace with God, peace within ourselves, and peace with other people. It's easiest to have peace within the church, but sometimes it's not as easy because we're so much closer. It's like peace with your own family. You know, you grow up with brothers or sisters. Those are the people you should be most peaceful with. But if my experience as a sibling was that my sister was mean and hateful, she was never right, and I was always right. Now, you know, that's not true, but that was my perspective when I was 11 years old and she was 13. You know, so we should have been very close.

Now we're at peace now. We get along fine. Of course, she lives 100 miles away, but it's not because of that. But you see what I'm saying when you're close, sometimes little things cause more offense. Now, how can we have peace with those who do not live God's way? You know, they're all around us and it's not by their choice necessarily. So it's not like, you stupid person, why don't you just live God's way and we'll be at peace? You know, if they're not called, it's not their option.

Well, we can still do all the things I just mentioned, and we should do. We should defer to others. We should be selfless, giving. We should try to seek peace. We should be willing and sometimes to turn the other cheek. You know, as a young person, I struggled with that when Christ said, if someone smites you on one cheek, turn the other. I thought, why in the world? And what if he hits that one? If you turn back the first one, and I've heard many ministers explain, well, you do so much, sometimes you back away, you know. But he's saying, be willing to go extra. You know, the phrase extra mile comes from the same passage. If someone forces you to go a mile, go an extra mile. And that way you're making peace. You're letting them say, hey, I'm willing to serve. I'm more willing to serve than you are to force me. And that can go a long ways to be at peace with people. But the other thing we can do and should do is trust God to bring us peace with others when it's totally outside of our control. If we go to the book of Proverbs in chapter 16.

Proverbs 16, and we'll read verse 7.

There's a couple of scriptures here that just short passages, but I think they say something important for us to keep in mind.

I'm off my game here. I haven't even finished one glass of water yet.

Proverbs 16 and verse 7 says, When a man's ways please the Eternal, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.

So notice it's, we work on pleasing the Eternal. We be at peace with him, and of course we'll bring peace in ourselves. And then God will make our enemies to be at peace with us. It says, even his enemies, not to mention the other people. That made me think back, of course, the story of David and Nabal. Eventually they had a type of peace, but it wasn't David's doing.

David was going to force his own way, but then God brought the ultimate peace.

And, you know, when David humbly followed God's law and was willing to sacrifice and say, okay, I'm walking away. I'm not going to punish this guy, even though I think he deserves it.

Then God intervened, and of course God brought Nabal's life to an end.

But knowing that he would resurrect him in the next moment, the next thing Nabal would know is he's in the world tomorrow, and he can be at peace. David will be king, and Nabal will say, oh, I should have been nicer to him. But of course David will be patient and merciful.

He'll be a son of God, and he'll be at peace. Let's go to Isaiah 45.

This is another scripture I couldn't resist, partly because of the turn of phrase it brought to mind. Isaiah 45 and verse 7.

This is, again, one of my favorite sections of scripture because God, for several chapters, is speaking in first person. So where it says, I, it's the great Almighty God speaking. He says, I form the light and create darkness. I make peace and create calamity. God says, I make peace.

So sometimes we need to stop and say, well, we strive to become peacemakers, but there are certain situations where we have to leave it to God and realize that the cowboys of the old west were wrong. Now they called the Colt 45 the peacemaker. But no, it wasn't. I mean, it's a superior force, but God is the ultimate force. He makes peace. Now, now that the thing is, though, God does not always make peace for us, or at least not the way we want. He doesn't always make things go our way. People do us wrong, and sometimes we suffer. Matter of fact, a lot of times we suffer.

Paul wrote that with much affliction we must enter the kingdom. Was that Paul or was that Peter?

I'm saying it off the top of my head, but whoever said it, with much affliction we enter the kingdom of God. Ours is a life of trials because we're striving for that better resurrection with better promises. So we know we're going to have struggles and trials. So, but can we have peace even as we're going through those? Well, my answer is yes. I've got it in big capital letters here. Yes!

You know, we can do our best to make peace within ourselves and with others, but because we're looking ahead to God's kingdom, that's where our real peace is. Our citizenship is in the kingdom of God. And as long as our focus is there, you could say the two molts and difficulties, the trials we have here, can't really touch us in our innermost being. Now, we can think about them and we'll struggle and have difficulties, but if we're thinking ahead to God's kingdom, that should be where our peace, our peace of mind comes. And Jesus said that Himself. Let's go turn to John chapter 14. On His last night in His physical life with the apostles, or those who would become the apostles, He told them that. John 14 in verse 27. These are a couple scriptures that just say a lot to me. And as I said, remember, peace is one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit. It comes from God, and He expressed some of what how we'll have it this way. That sentence didn't make a lot of sense.

He expressed it this way. Let's just read. He's speaking to the 12. He says, Peace, or through the 11 at this point, Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you, not as the world gives do I give to you. So it's not the peace you can have in the world. This is something better. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Jesus says, I'm going to give you my peace, not the peace you can have in the world. He says, don't let your heart be troubled or afraid. Being troubled and afraid is just about the opposite of peace, I would say, at least peace within yourself. But Jesus Christ promises to give us His peace.

Let's skip ahead to chapter 16 in verse 33.

As I said, this is one of my favorite scriptures to read just because of the way I imagine Christ saying it and then smiling as He's telling the apostles this. He's talking about all this. He says, these things I've spoken to you that in me you may have peace. So in me you're going to have peace in the world. You're going to have tribulation. And by every extent of the word tribulation, He knew ahead, these guys, some of them were going to be killed, tortured, strung up. He said, in the world you're going to have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I've overcome the world. Now He knew at that point He knew He was going to go through the sacrifice and be successful. So He said, you're going to go through some tough times, but be of good cheer. Be cheerful. I've overcome the world. And that's how He says, in me you can have peace. That's how we can have peace.

And I think, if you think about how tough that is, which it is, I mean, when people are giving us a hard time, when we're being done wrong, it's not easy to just think of the kingdom and be at peace.

But Jesus knew what He was talking about. He knew what was going to happen. And He was the one, you know, when He was being raised up on that stake, said, Father, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing. He was at peace. You know, that's what can help us to be at peace with others, even if they're not at peace with us. And that's the tough thing. That vital key to being at peace with others sometimes involves forgiveness. Being at peace with them, even if they're not at peace with you. I had a note we could do an entire sermon on forgiveness, which is why I guess I did on the last day of Unleavened Bread. And I didn't cover the whole subject by any means. But that's an important thing. If we have some sort of grudge against someone because they've done us wrong and they are not repentant, we could harbor bad feelings. You know, that bitterness could eat us up and destroy us. And that's why we've got to learn to forgive, even if they're not repentant yet. We've got to focus on the Kingdom of God when they will be, and turn that matter over to God and let it go. That's the way to having peace. Peace within yourself, as well as peace with that person when the reconciliation finally comes. Because God wants us to think and act in the present, but think ahead to His Kingdom. So, brethren, we can have peace. We can be peacemakers.

While we need to strive to make peace with others and within ourselves, we need to realize that we must first and foremost be at peace with God. Peace with God comes first and then it'll help us to build the other. We can have that peace if we ask God for it and if we submit to His will.

Christ's sacrifice brings us that peace. And His Holy Spirit then leads us in the way of righteousness that builds peace within us. Then, as we learn to give as God gives, trusting in Him, He'll make us to be at peace with others. We'll be at peace with our families, at peace with our spiritual brethren, and eventually at peace with the entire world.