The Peacemakers and Those Who Are Persecuted

It's wonderful to be back and to be able to enjoy this wonderful day. Again, what a blessing! I was thinking about that in my prayers this morning, to be able to partake in these special holy days that God gives us. We see a picture into His plan, a glimpse of the future, well, the past, the present, and the future with God. And we see that all that He's going to do for not just us and our own lives individually, but all that He's going to do for the world. And we can see, just by looking out our windows and turning our TVs on or listening to whatever radio program you enjoy, this world desperately needs a new path forward. Mankind, we're not going to figure this out. Mankind's never figured this out, and that's why we praise God for figuring it out. He's figured out our lives. He knows us. He's been able to do wonders in our lives, as Mr. Hobb mentioned during the sermon at time. And so we let us remain in His hands as we go forward as His people, with new hearts, uplifted hearts, with a bounce on our step, and continuing to seek after His way of life for our lives, looking forward to the time when all of humanity will have the understanding and the blessings that God has poured out unto us so richly.

During the night before Jesus died, He shared some last thoughts and words with His disciples. For you in Detroit that listened in yesterday, this is going to be a similar message. I did add in some different pieces to try to keep it fresh for you. I recognize you were on with us in Flint. But these thoughts that He shared with us are also the thoughts that He shared with His disciples that evening before He was crucified, before He was arrested, and then went through the mock trial and then died for the sins of the world. He shared words of encouragement. He shared words of purpose. He shared words of focus for His disciples and, in turn, for us. And I try to place myself in the shoes of the disciples hearing this last teaching, the last opportunity that they would have to be with their Lord and Savior in the flesh. He would later, after He was resurrected, come back down and talk with them for some additional time. But this was Jesus Christ's last moment to share special and unique words with His followers. What would He share? What would be the importance of these words?

This is His last hurrah, right, as we would say in an earthly sense. I think as I put myself in His shoes, I would have been encouraged at times. I would have been bewildered at times because some of the things He explained, they wouldn't fully understand until later on. But I also think there are some hard sayings that He shared with them that they might have tried to move out of their mind kind of quickly because it's uncomfortable for us to go where He was wanting to lead them and to open their eyes to see. And so, just for myself, I think there would have been some phrases like what we see in John 14 in verse 27. That would have been, maybe I would have heard and been like, okay, I get it, but let's not stay here. Let's not dwell here because I don't like where it makes my mind need to go. John 14 in verse 27. Knowing all that would happen in His life, knowing all that would happen in the future with the apostles and what they would be sent out to do and the difficulties that they would endure. Jesus told them in John 14 verse 27, He says, Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. And those are the parts where I think I would have said, let's move on to a happier part, Jesus. Let not your heart be troubled or be afraid means things are going to get difficult. Things are going to be uncomfortable. Things are going to be uncertain. And their thoughts are going to come in. And Jesus knew that this would be part of the challenge. And He says, I want to leave my peace with you because my peace is the only thing that's going to settle you and allow you to continue to go forward with the trials and the challenges that will come. Another passage, just of chapter four, we're John 15 and verse 18. It's another one that I think maybe I would have tried, I would have heard what my Lord and Savior would have said, but I probably would have wanted to move on to some different thoughts. John 15 verse 18, He says, If the world hates you, know that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of this world, of the world, the world would love its own, yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world. Therefore, the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, a servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will keep yours also. Persecution, not a place we want our minds to go, right? Nobody says, wakes up and says, I hope I get persecuted today. I felt persecuted today driving here. Traffic was crazy, right? I'm like, why are they persecuted me? I was asking Laura this, but it's a joke, right? She heard this sermon yesterday, knew what I was going to say. We don't wake up asking to be persecuted. We don't ask to go through difficulties for our faith in God, but yet Jesus said persecution will come, and I think I would have been a little bit uncomfortable, not really wanting to embrace the thoughts of being troubled or afraid or recognizing persecution.

The disciples all heard these phrases, just as we read, yet just a short time later, Peter drew a sword and caught off a soldier's ear. Not very peaceful, right? And Peter, being present at Jesus' mock trial, saw Jesus deal with verbal mockings, slappings, being punched, right before his own eyes. And just a few hours before these events took place, Peter told Christ, I will never deny you. I will even die alongside you if I have to.

Yet when the soldiers showed up, where did the disciples all go? They scattered. And then when Peter walked up and was watching this mock trial from a little bit of a distance, others recognized him and said, aren't you one of those followers of this Jesus? And he denied Christ to the point of even cursing. I mean, you've got to really be embarrassed, angry, wanting to separate yourself to now let your own curses come out of your mouth towards others, saying, I do not know the man. And then Jesus looked right. Peter saw his Lord's eyes rest on his heart, and he ran away sorrowful.

Now, this message is not to pick on Peter or focus on just his weaknesses in these moments, because, as I mentioned at the very beginning, if I put myself in Peter's shoes and heard these thoughts and messaging from Jesus himself, I probably would have done a similar thing. I have to be honest with myself and recognize the struggles that we all have. Why do we have such a hard time maintaining peace in our lives?

And why is persecution so prevalent among mankind, among our interactions, among our relationships?

We are in a time of the year where God has, as we again heard during the sermon at time, and as we focus that Passover and as we've considered in messages and also in our own studies leading up to this point, a time where God wants us to change our mindset.

He wants us to go in a new direction with our life. He did that when he started calling us, and we started accepting that calling. And then he says, like, accept my son as a covering of your sin and to remove your sins from you. And then he says, walk in newness of life. And we signed, in a way, our name on the dotted line, right? And we said, wherever you want us to go, God will go. And then he says, hang on, because it's going to be a ride, right? For any of us who've been baptized for a year, five years, 20 years, some for 50 years, we know where God has taken us. And it's not always been comfortable, has it? Because change is hard. Overcoming ourselves is really difficult. We can fix everybody else, right? Like, I can fix my spouse, I can fix my kids. That's a joke. Fixing ourselves, we can't do it. We need God to fix ourselves. And as he does that fixing, just like a remodel, a repair, fixing the house, fixing the yard, it can get messy at times. It takes work. You got to peel off some layers to fix what's behind the scenes before you can then put the wall back on or tear up the yard a little bit before you can then plant your landscape, right? God is doing a masterful work in our lives, but it's not always easy.

We've considered over these last several weeks Jesus's teaching at the very beginning of Matthew chapter 5, commonly referred to as the Beatitudes. The word Beatitude is that 15th century word that means ultimate blessing or supreme happiness, as we've looked at these many weeks. We've considered how Jesus came and in his teachings flipped the world upside down, not in a way that was wrong, but taking it much further the way that we're to live our lives with God and magnifying the way that we are to go forward, loving one another and also loving God.

The Beatitudes are difficult. I've shared with you more times than I probably can count how many times these Beatitudes have hit me between the eyes and made me really refocus these last two months or so as I've studied in depth these Beatitudes. I've read through them many times, but as anybody who shared a message, anybody who studied these to the point to put a message together, looking at several of our speakers, you know it touches you differently when you have to prepare it for others and you have to share it in a way that comes across as God would want it to.

And so I praise him, as we all do, as we've entered into this time period, that he opens up our hearts and he touches our mind and he moves our conscience to say, we've got to change. We've got to do things differently. I've got to put a lid on this jar that shouldn't be in my life. Bury it in the yard and then forget where I buried it. It's got to be in my past. That's what Jesus said to come and do. He said, don't just pick two or three of these Beatitudes that fit well in your life and that are comfortable and then say, yeah, help me.

He says, take them all. Apply them all. Make them all part of your life because they are so critical. So we're going to look at two more of the Beatitudes that I feel have a strong connection as we continue into these days of Unleavened Bread. Matthew 5 and verse 1 is where we find the Beatitudes. I don't know what I'm going to ever speak on the Beatitudes again because now that I've shared a series of sermons on them and I've figured my whole life out and I've got it all figured out.

I'll never have to come back to this, right? I hope you can, again, see the humor in this because I think as we've looked at each one of these Beatitudes and we've seen the depth that Christ shared this, we can read through the Beatitudes in what, 20 seconds, 30 seconds, but we'll spend the rest of our life trying to apply these in action, in word and indeed.

And so as Jesus shared this, and this is just the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount, you want some fun study. Keep on going when the Beatitudes finish here. Keep going with the Sermon or with the message that he shared here because talk about flipping the world upside down. He continues to do that. It says, in Jesus seeing the multitudes, he went up on a mountain and when he was seated, his disciples came to him.

Then he opened his mouth and taught them, saying, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. We recognize this is that humility that we are to have in our heart, the lowliness of mind, because our own nature wants to puff us up, just like that bread, just like those cookies that we're going to give up for this week.

Our own mind says, you're much more important than to let someone else treat you that way or to not be in that role or that position. God says we are to be poor in spirit. We're to see ourselves as he sees us and then to use that as a strength to go forward in service and in love towards others.

And he says the blessing is if you have this mindset, you'll make you'll be in his kingdom.

He goes on to say in verse four, but blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted. We know there's a lot of things that happen in our lives that hurt our heart. We can all share the different things we've gone through, but even apart from that, we recognize the impact that sin has had on this world and the damage it has done to not only our lives, but all of humanity. And so God wants us to be sensitive to these things. He wants us our heart to hurt.

And the blessing is if we have that mindset, if a tear sometimes comes down our cheek, because of what's going on in our lives and what we see around us in society, he says, I'll bring you the comfort that you need so those tears don't continue forever.

He says in verse five, blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth. We know that meekness is not weakness, but it's strength, complete strength under complete control.

He goes on in verse six to say, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, they shall be filled. Any of us who've been hungry or thirsty for a long period of time, we know that that yearning, we know that uncomfortableness. It's uncomfortable to have our stomach growling. It's uncomfortable to have our lips dry and our tongue sticking to the roof of our mouth. We don't like it. We don't like to have chapped lips. God is saying you should be uncomfortable for my righteousness and you should seek it as you would a meal if it's been a long time since you've had one. And he says if you do that, the blessing is I will fill you.

I will fill you. You won't be uncomfortable anymore spiritually.

And he says, blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy.

And we all pray and ask God for his mercy towards us. And he's saying, are you having that same mindset towards everybody else that you interact with? Or are you on your high horse? Are you judging others? Are you critical all the time? Because you don't want me to be critical with you all the time. And so he says, if we are merciful, we will receive his mercy. We're going to skip over eight verse eight, because we're going to God willing look over this one on the last day of Unleavened Bread, next to this coming Sabbath. Let's look at verse nine and focus in on this beatitude. Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of God.

Again, with all the blessings that God wants us to receive, we are to become a changed person from the inside out. Our character and our personality should take on a new form and a new shape.

Granted, it's gradual over time, right? We'll be applying the beatitudes to our lives for the rest of our lives. And at times, it'll be uncomfortable because we will read through this passage or we'll consider an action or a word that we say to someone. And then God will say, is that really what you want to do? And then we'll have to come face to face with it again.

But I believe when it comes to this beatitude, we all acknowledge that we want more peace in our lives.

We've been in a peaceful state, whether that's out on a sailboat, as Mr. Kaczmalski shared many weeks ago, whether that's on a Caribbean island. You know your place of peace and you know how it makes you feel. That's a type of peace, but God is saying, let's take this next to the spiritual component.

How are your relationships with other people? How's your relationship with your spouse?

How's your relationship with your brothers and sisters in the room?

We all want more peace in our lives. We want to develop more of the fruit of the spirit in our lives, which one of the components is peace. And that's a beautiful aspect of this week that we are entering into and we are now part of today. We get to think more fervently. God asks us and invites us. We should be thinking year-round, but He says, really focus in on this week. Are you taking in that unleavened bread of Jesus Christ? Because if you are, then the fruit of the spirit, those characteristics should be on the front of your mind. And He gives us this physical example to help us remember this all week long. And then we're going to come to the next Sabbath. And then the days of unleavened bread are going to come to a close. And He doesn't want us to just go back and just continue to just bring the sin back in that we buried in the yard because we knew we had to get it out of our life. The physical will be over, but the spiritual He wants us to continue and to go forward with. Peace is an interesting thing, if you'll consider it, because when it comes to peace in our lives, we are rarely not at peace when everything's going our way, right?

When we're able to set all the dominoes around us in a way that they fall the way that we dictate and that we enjoy and that we like, we feel pretty good. We're at peace, right, with ourselves. And we're wrecking every single else, every other person around us. We're ruining their peace in the process, though. But we ourselves feel pretty good. I like the dishes done a certain way, and so when I'm there by myself, I do them that way. I like to drive the car the way that I like to drive the car at the speed or in the lane I like, and as long as everybody else gets out of my way as I'm driving down, I feel pretty at peace. But if we control everybody else's life around us so that we're always happy, then we're making everyone else miserable, aren't we? That's not real peace. It's a fake peace. It's a fake peace in our own mind. It's funny, we rarely get angry or bothered with ourselves, right? How many times, and I'm not gonna ask for a show of hands, are you really mad at yourself? I mean, angry at yourself. It's not too often. I can count a few times. I'm not gonna share any stories on this one. They're not pretty. Where I was just really upset with myself. I did something really dumb, and I was mad and angry. But I could probably count on maybe one or two hands, right? That I really was that way. But if we were to go down our docket of how many times we've been upset with other people in our life, angry, frustrated, do we have enough volumes to keep track of that? Right? We're rarely upset with ourselves because it's uncomfortable to be upset with ourselves. Because we have to look at ourselves in the mirror and then recognize we don't like what we see. But it's so easy to look all around us and then get frustrated, to get angry, and to allow other people to disrupt our peace. Again, John 14, as we read earlier in verse 27, Jesus said, peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you, not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

It's interesting that as he shares this phrasing and this passage with his disciples, he was a few hours away from going through the most difficult thing anybody really, I mean, crucifixion. A death doesn't get much worse than that. He knew the events that would occur.

He knew the pain that he would go through. And yet he was telling the listener, he's telling us, I leave with you this peace so that you can go forward in strength.

I put myself in Jesus's shoes just for a little bit because it's very uncomfortable to go there. If I knew I was going to go through what he was about to go through, would my focus be on those around me? Would my focus be on encouraging others? Or would I tell everybody, you know what, I need a few minutes to myself. And Jesus took that in prayer with his father. But his focus was on helping others maintain a peaceful state of mind and to go forward. With care for the disciples that was around him. Now again, we would all like to have peace in our lives. Even the most difficult person we can imagine or we know or the most grumpy individual, they really do want to have peace deep down in their life, right? We all want it.

So because we desire this so fervently, it's not a bad prayer to go and ask God to help us.

To help us to develop more peace in our lives. The challenge is that the method that we use to achieve peace in our life is rarely the method God would choose to allow peace to come in.

I'm going to repeat that statement because it really hit me strong as the words came together.

The challenge is that the method that we use to achieve peace in our life, because we have a way that we want to go after peace and we have a way that we think is the right way to bring peace into our life, is rarely the method that God would choose to allow peace to come in to our life. The truth is, when God begins to show us an avenue to peace, we often reject it. Turn with me to James 4 and verse 1. This is a passage, again, for this time of the year that we can consider and reflect on. Because we've got to put the old man away and behind us and move forward with the newness and the refreshing of Christ in our lives. It's another annual yearly reminder to do so. But this gets to the core of our human nature here that James begins to talk about in James 4 and verse 1. He asks, where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desire for pleasure that war in your members? What are some of the things that you have been putting off leading up to this day? What are some of the things that you want to continue to put off in your relationships with others so that wars and fights and strife and challenges don't come back in? He goes on to say, you lust and you do not have. So, selfishness, pride, you murder and covet, wanting things that are not yours to have. You wish you had something that somebody else has.

You fight and you war, yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive because you ask amiss that you may spend it on your pleasures. He's saying so many times in life, we go to God with a request and with an idea that something that we feel would be a blessing for our life, but this is our mind coming up with this. There's often so much selfish motivation, like, God help me with this whatever, fill in the blank.

James is saying so often we don't go to God with the right request, or when we do go, our motivation is wrong. So, either way that we think God is either isn't answering us, or doesn't understand us because what we've asked for, He doesn't give us. What He does give us may not be what we wanted. It goes on in verse 4. He says, adulterers and adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever, therefore, wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

And so, we see this contrast between light and darkness, right and wrong, world and God.

Where will we find peace? So many times, we have to come face to face that the real enemy to peace is our own pride.

The phrase, I know what's best for my life, is often the motivation for the decisions we make daily, right? I know what's best for my life. I know what I need. I know what I want. My peace is being disrupted. My happiness is being robbed.

The bottom is, my eyes, my eyes, so often in these statements.

And this is what often brings us to an avenue where, to have peace, we push back on God. We reject what He says. If you do this, it'll bring you peace. That's not what I prayed for, God. That's uncomfortable, God. That's not what I thought you would want me to have or to do in this moment. You mean I have to be the bigger person in this situation? Yes, I do, right?

You mean I have to forgive this person who hurt me because they, even though they never said that they were sorry? Yes, you do. So this person that drives me nuts and upsets my peace—let's put that in quotes, right? Because it's not real peace—I have to figure out how to love them as a brother or sister in Christ. Yep. So when my spouse really upsets me for doing the same thing, which we have talked about multiple times, I have to maintain a peaceful state of mind and not really let them have it. We do.

See, when we pray and ask God for peace, He will often prompt our mind with what we should do in that moment. How many times have we been in prayer asking for God's help, asking for His guidance, asking for His peace? And we say, God, just show me. All right? And then He goes, hey, this is what you need to do. And we're like, oh no. Did He really just say that and prompt my mind with that just now? Because I really—that's the last thing that I was thinking that would be the answer to the solution or what I should do. Sometimes we don't like what God prompts us with.

And sometimes we work quickly to push that thought out of our mind.

And in doing so, we reject God.

These beatitudes are hard, aren't they? They're uncomfortable.

We don't like where our minds go as we read into these and consider these.

We have entered into another, again, one of these great festival seasons of God, where we focus on putting out more of our own nature, more of our own past that is not harmonized with God's way. And in turn, we bring in more of Jesus Christ. We bring in more of His righteousness, His characteristics, His truth. We bring in this righteousness because we know our lives will be happier, and we will have more peace between us and God if we do. And so we want this deeply, and we want it intently. And so God gives us this physical reminder week again. He's more worried about our hearts and the spiritual components always, but He goes, let this be a physical reminder to you so that you can grasp and see things a little bit different, right? All the teachers out there, you know how you try to talk to your students and talk to their hearts. Sometimes you use physical examples. Sometimes it's imagery, but we don't just go with one avenue. God says, focus on the spiritual, but He says, here's some unleavened bread.

Enjoy it for a week and what it symbolizes. And then when the week comes to a close, you can have your pizza, and you can have your cookies, you can bring those things back in.

The physical, but keep going with the spiritual. Don't forget the spiritual lessons.

Do we really, and this is another one of those big questions, do we really want to be at peace with others as much as we want there to be peace between us and God?

Because when we really get down to it, in all of our prayer time, in all the relationships that we have with God, in all the things that we, the journey that we have on our walk with God, we pray and ask, and sometimes tears come down our face, asking God to be merciful with us, asking for Him to forgive our sins, asking for there to be that reconciling between us and Him, to be at one with God. We say that all, we even sing it in some of our hymns, right? At one with God. We want that so fervently. And we praise Him when He gives us that feeling that we are at one. Your sins are forgiven. As far as East is from the West, I don't even remember them anymore. And we praise His name and we get off our knees, feeling the weight of life lifted. And then it's not too long till we are in conflict with another human being, right? Someone that we could be very merciful to, someone we could be very patient with, someone we could be more understanding of. It's funny how quickly we can go from praising God for His mercy and His help to then doing the exact opposite with others in our lives.

Do we really want peace in our relationships with others as much as we desire that peace with God?

Mr. Hobb referenced Hebrews chapter 12. We won't turn there. But it has a tie-in here as well because the beatitude says, bless are the peace makers, not just those who are at peace in their lives, but those who work at it, those who strive for it, those who look for avenues to find it.

And as he referenced in Hebrews chapter 12, the writer says, pursue peace with all people.

Not just those who are nice with you, not just brothers and sisters in the faith, not just with your family members, all people.

Turn with me to Romans 12 verse 18. All people pursue. Go after, seek, and when you find it, grasp it, hang on to it. Don't quit.

Romans 12. And verse 18, Paul writes, if it is possible, as much as depends on you, again, live peaceably with all men. Paul points out an important aspect because I think when I said before, like, oh, be at peace without all people, you're probably like, yeah, but there are some people that don't want to be at peace with me. And you know what? You're right.

God knows that a personal relationship, there's two sides to it, right? There's two components, us and the other person. We don't control the other person. We don't answer for them. They don't answer and control us either. And so Paul recognizes that and says, if it is possible, because sometimes we can do everything under our power to live in a peaceful state with another person, and they absolutely refuse to do so, right? So he acknowledges, if it is possible, and then he says, as much as depends on you, which means you don't have an out, you don't have a cop out, you don't have an avenue to escape, as much as depends on you, which means we have to put every ounce of effort that we have to seek out this peaceful relationship from our side.

And he says, if it's possible and not to ever quit working on it, he says, then live peaceably with all men. A few two chapters later, Romans 14 verse 16, he also shares an action component of this peace. Romans 14 and verse 16, Paul says, Therefore, do not let your good be spoken of as evil, for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. For he who serves Christ in these things is acceptable to God and approved by men. Therefore, again, let us pursue the things which make for peace, and the things by which one may edify another.

If you are struggling to be at peace with others in your life, I encourage you to consider if you are at peace in your relationship with God.

Strong statement, right? It's one that's uncomfortable. It's one where you have to examine yourself first, right? There's been many times that I've been angry or frustrated with another person and ready to let them have it. And sometimes I have, right? We all have messed up. We've all done these things. But often, if I would really address and at times God has brought to my mind very quickly and says, Mike, are you good with me right now?

I'd have to acknowledge, you know what? No, I'm not okay with you right now. Because if I was okay with God in that moment, I would probably be thinking very differently. My actions would be showing something very different. I often share with the young couples that we counsel for marriage. We talk about the challenges and the difficulties. And I encourage our young men as, because I haven't, it's, I've married a few older couples, and it's kind of hard to counsel them because I feel like they're looking at me like, what does this guy even know? Right?

But I think back to young Mike Phelps, newly married and this ridiculous things that sometimes I thought were okay. And so many times when I would become, I recognize and I tell our young men, when you become frustrated with your spouse, when you become angry, or you're annoyed, consider if your relationship with God is where it needs to be before you really try to address something with your spouse. Because what I find more times than not in my own life, if my motivations are not right, if my thoughts are not right, if I'm getting really been out of shape, if it's about me, I'm not happy, my peace is being interrupted, this is not what I thought we would be doing. There's a lot of me's and I's and a lot of pride, a lot of selfishness. And if we would pause in these moments where we're not at peace with another person, and then take a step back and say, okay, how am I with God right now?

Is everything okay between me and God? Or am I falling short in some of my relationship with God? Because we've seen those times where we've been in tune, like really, like lock step with God, right? Those times where we feel fervent, we're on fire. And it seems like things are coming from left and right. And we just got those shields up and we're battling them left and right. And we're just like, where did the strength come from? And then we realize that's not of me, that's of God.

But if that relationship with God isn't where it needs to be, then we may have left our shield three miles back. We may not be going forward with the right mindset, the right attitude. And so when we struggle to be at peace with others, I hope that we will take a pause and say, how am I with God right now? And this is hard. This is what this is one of those like, to always be in this mindset, it's like always hungering and thirsting for God's righteousness, right? How often are we always hungering and thirsting?

How often are we always, when we feel frustration or something come in, are we evaluating our relationship with God? It's tough. But this is why we can become peacemakers with God, because we are in tune with God. We are in tune to His prompting. We're in tune to His Spirit working within us. So that when He prompts us and says, are you sure you want to go down this path? We recognize, no, I don't want to go down this path. And then we stop it before it ever occurs.

It's like a flowing river, right? That refreshing water that flows down the river, it doesn't start right there at the point that we walk up to the river and we dip our cup in and we're like, this is great to drink from. It started miles, maybe hundreds of miles further upriver and led to that moment to where you can enjoy that drink. In a similar way, having this peace with others, being able to, in that moment, work in a peaceful way towards that relationship, didn't just start in that exact moment, in that minute, in that second. It started a lot further back and it started with God. It started with Him being that source for us to be able to have peace.

But if we don't have that relationship with God right, then we don't have anything to pull from. We don't have any water to dip our cup into. God is that source. He's the source of the water. He's the source of the river. It's made it down to us and then we can enjoy and we can capture it and we can go forward with it. But it's not of us. When we are at peace with another person, it is not of us because we know how many times we haven't been at peace with others. And so when we can pull everything together and when we can be in harmony and we can be in control, we recognize that that's only God and His characteristics working within us. Through our prayer and our focused time with God, we can pray for a solution where the outcome will be different and then He brings the peace into our heart and into our mind. There are times where we have to repeat this process over and over and over again. I've shared with you the conflict we had with our neighbor back in Ohio. A very difficult person to get along with. I would pray and ask God, forgive my heart. Help me to look at them from a different vantage point. Help me to forgive them. And I get up off my knees and I feel pretty good until they drove down the driveway again or down the street and I see them and then it all comes right back up. And it's all gooey. All right? We've all had that and then it's what? Back to your knees because apparently I haven't forgiven them. Being at peace sometimes takes work, takes a lot of energy, it takes maybe even repeating the process. And if that's what it takes, keep doing it. Don't quit. Don't back down. Because God can bring that peace. And He did in that relationship with our neighbor. I remember the time that I saw her drive down and nothing came up. And I'm like, what was that? It felt great. It was renewing. It was freeing. Right?

This is why Jesus said to become a peacemaker.

Blessed are the people who learn peace so that they can become peacemakers. And blessed are the people who learn peace because they become like God.

One of God's names is the God of peace and He wants to give that to us. He wants to make us complete. He wants to work within us and to change ourselves from the old person into the new.

And so, back to the original beatitude. Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of God. Let's consider in the rest of our time together Matthew 5 and verse 10. This is the last of the beatitudes in order. We're going to jump back to Matthew 5 and verse 8, hopefully on the eighth day or the last day of Unleavened Bread.

Because I think that one has a beautiful tie-in as we exit these days and go on forward.

But back to Matthew 5. And this is time in verse 10.

Jesus says, blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

This is one of those hard sayings again, right? Blessed are those who are mocked, ridiculed, punched, belittled, cursed at, laughed at.

This is not where we want our mind to naturally go, right?

And to consider that this is a blessing from God, to have evil or untrue things said about us.

He goes on in verse 11, blessed are you when they revile and persecute you and say all kinds of evil things against you falsely for my name.

And then he says something crazy, rejoice and be exceedingly glad.

For great is your reward in heaven, for they so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

You. This was one of those, like, I think we see the fruit in a lot of the other aspects, like the other beatitudes become a peacemaker. Blessed are the merciful. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, those who mourn. We see the blessing, like, okay, that means I'm changing this heart. I'm becoming a more sensitive person. I'm relating better with my fellow human beings. And then he slides this one at the end and says, blessed are you when you do everything that I ask you to do, when you seek after me first with all of your heart, and then people persecute you. That's hard.

That's uncomfortable. This is why we have to flip our mind around in this new direction, the direction that God wants us to change our thoughts. Because we would be following, if we did, in the footsteps of so many saints that have gone before us and been persecuted and belittled. We'd be following after the example of our Lord and Savior.

Again, this week we are to be putting on more of him daily, and then to exit these days to continue to be putting on more of him. I'd like to spend some time considering Peter's example again. Remember, I didn't bash on him. I almost said that. I was bashing him. I didn't really bash on him. I pointed out some of his flaws, and I'm thankful all my life history isn't recorded throughout Scripture, right? Because there would be some moments that we'd be bashing on this guy right here.

I'd like to go back to Peter's story. In Acts chapter 3, and you can turn. We're going to be kind of looking at some excerpts from chapter 3, 4, and 5.

In Acts chapter 3, we find a renewed Peter, zealous and going forward in the work that God has given him. John is along his side. They're going back to Jerusalem back, or they're in Jerusalem. They're going back to the Temple Mount. They're going to continue to do what God has called them to do, and wherever God calls them. As they pass by a man who is lame by the gate, he asks if they have anything to help him out.

Peter says, I don't have money. I don't have something that's going to be able to go and buy food, but what I do have is God's healing. He tells the man to stand up, and his legs get strong again. The man stands up, and Peter does this in the name of Jesus Christ, and he heals this lame man. This lame man goes leaping into the temple area, and he's telling everybody else, and everybody who sees him running by, he says, isn't this the guy that was out at the front gate? He's high-fiving people as he probably goes through, and it just has this renewal, this new lease on life, and he can't help but share it with everyone else around. It says that those who saw him, those who knew him, were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

I can only speak as a pastor, if that would ever happen to where God would empower me to be able to heal someone in that way, it would almost be the highlight, right? The highlight of the mic drop moment, like, I'm done, and walk out, because it doesn't get any better than that.

Peter, God allowed Peter to go and heal others.

Then at the temple, as Peter goes and does other good things, people are coming up and asking him, and what's going on here, and he can't help but share the truth in the name of Jesus, as why he's doing what he's doing. Acts 3 and verse 18, he says, but those things which God foretold by the mouth of all of his prophets, that the Christ would suffer, notice that, he has thus fulfilled, and then he instructs him, repent therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that the times of refreshing, that's what God wants from us this week. He wants us to turn away from our past. He wants us to live refreshed.

And as Mr. Hobb again mentioned, when we have asked God to forgive us our sins, and when we have overcome sins, not through our own power, but through God's, what a release that provides for our life. What a refreshing comes in. What to not have any more shame, not have that guilt, that's maybe something we've been battling for a while, and God has now, through our own effort, and through so much more of his, freed us of that. This is what he did for Peter. He freed him of this doubting, this denying Christ, this compulsive behavior where he says, God, I'll die for you, and then three minutes later, he's scattered, right? Peter felt this refreshing. He couldn't help but go forward and talk about God, talk about Jesus, talk about the example that he felt and that he saw. But then, as sometimes is the case, there were some who were not very happy with Peter's message about Jesus. Peter and John, they were put into custody. They were put into prison. They were placed before the council and asked to explain themselves. And that council asked them in verse 18, and he said, they commanded them not to speak or teach in the name of Jesus. This is right after this is right after Peter had seen God perform the miracle to heal the lame man.

After he has gone and he shared the truth of God and other listeners are starting to say, this is profound. This is life-changing, these words that you're sharing with me.

And then somebody didn't like it.

Don't speak or teach in the name of Jesus anymore, they tell him. And then verse 19, but Peter and John answered and said to them, whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge, for we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.

In the face of persecution, Peter and John could not help but share God's truth because they had the power of God dwelling richly in them as we do when we take in Christ. When we take in the unleavened bread of Jesus Christ this week, we have God's extra help, extra power to continue to change and overcome. And we can't help but do better when this is our mindset.

In Acts chapter 5, we find more miracles occurred in the church. If we were to read through that, we don't have time to. The healing of the sick, the conversion of hearts, the hearts of many people towards God, but also more persecution also came to those who followed Jesus. Verse 17, Acts 5 and verse 17 says, then the high priest rose up and all those who were filled with him, because Peter and John, they couldn't help but continue to talk about Jesus, continue to help. People were healed, lives were changed. And it says, verse 17, this sect of the Sadducees, and it says, and they were filled with indignation, and they laid their hands on the apostles and put them in the common prison. We had told you to stop it. You didn't. We don't care what good came out of it. We don't care who was healed. You're going into prison, because we're going to deal with you later.

But at night, an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out and said, now go stand in the temple and speak to all, to the people, all the words of this life. I think of Peter for a moment. He goes, I was just out there, God. Like, why didn't you just keep them from arresting me? We could have kept this going. It's this back and forth, you see, doing good. And then persecution comes in. And then God says, go back and do some more good. So they did. They went back out. And when they heard that, they entered the temple early in the morning and they taught. But the high priest and those with him came and called the council together with all the elders of the children of Israel and sent to the prison. They weren't aware that they were over in a corner preaching Jesus Christ. So they sent to the prison to have them brought. But when the officers came and did not find them in the prison, they returned and reported, saying, indeed, we found the prison shut securely and the guard standing outside before the doors. But when we opened them, we found no one inside. And now when the high priest, the captain of the temple and the chief priest heard these things, they wondered what the outcome would be.

And then in a scene that I think we could just draw from a movie, you could see it this. I can see this in my mind's eye. Verse 25. So one came and told them, saying, look, the men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people. You can see this playing out in a movie. Here is great works being done, and let's throw them in prison. And then they continue to check lives are changed. And they have to deal with them. And they tell them, don't go preach us Jesus anymore. And then here they come, and they're looking for these guys. And then somebody runs up and says, isn't that the person in the corner over there? Then the captain went with the officers and brought them without violence, for they feared the people as they should be stoned. And when they brought them and set them before the council and the high priest asked them, saying, did we not strictly command you not to teach in the name? And look, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine and intend to bring this man's blood on us. But Peter and the other apostles answered and said, we ought to obey God rather than men. And this is that conflict that you and I are faced with this week. We have our own human nature.

We have our own mind that says, you really want to do things this way, Mike. This will bring you more peace, more happiness. This is what makes you feel more comfortable. And then we're going to have to fight back. We're going to have to obey God rather than ourselves.

Peter goes on in the next few verses to continue teaching about Jesus, explaining who he is and what he had come to do. In verse 32, he says, And we are his witnesses to these things, and so also is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him. And you and I have that Spirit of God dwelling in us. And so we are not only witnesses to what Christ lived and died and did, but also how we are to go forward.

And when they heard this, they were furious and plotted to kill them.

And then God intervened again. Then one of the council stood up, a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law held in respect by all the people and commanded them. To put the apostles outside for a little while is back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.

Notice how God intervenes this time. And he said to them, Men of Israel, take heed to yourselves what you intend to do regarding these men. For some time ago, Theodos rose up, claiming to be somebody, and then he goes through this man's account. He got all these followers, but then he came to nothing and everybody else scattered. In verse 37, he uses another example of another person that rose up. People followed him.

But he also perished, and all who obeyed him were dispersed. In verse 38, he says, And now I say to you, keep away these men, and let them alone. For if this plan or this work is of men, it'll come to nothing. But if it is of God, you cannot overthrow it, lest you even be found to fight against God. And they agreed with him, and when they had called for the apostles, and they beat them, another opportunity for God to intervene, and they could have just said, Now get out of here, you rascals. No, they took a beating. They commanded that they should speak in the name of Jesus, and they let them go. It'd be easy to have your head hanging low at this point. It'd be easy to be scared to do what you were doing before. But notice verse 41.

So they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. And daily in the temple, and in every house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ. Most of us have not been completely insulated from ridicule, from mocking, from insults for our beliefs in God. I know that some of your extended family members look at you at times like the crazy one in the family, right? I know that while I received an email from someone this week that asked if I would pray for him, not in our fellowship, but someone who knows that we keep the Sabbath, we follow the teachings of God. She said her mind is being open. She knows that this is the way that she has to go with her life. And she says her family is using all kinds of colorful words to describe the church that she's becoming part of or that this this way of life that she's seeking after. And she asked if I would pray for her, and I did. I don't know if she'll visit with us someday. I don't know where God is going to take her life, but she is trying to now, through just this little glimpse of understanding that she's coming to about the Sabbath and about the Holy Days, her own family is turning their back on her. Some of you may have lost jobs over the Sabbath or the Holy Day observance that you hold tight to your chest and to your heart. I know of someone within our midst right now who's facing that and likelihood and possibility of losing their employment because of the Sabbath and the Holy Days. Maybe someone made fun of you for your Christian beliefs. I know a young adult who, when she would, her roommates, her dorm mates, would make fun and talk about the cute little church dress that she's putting on to go to church. These are not just hypothetical examples that we sometimes utilize. These are real things that some of our members are currently going through or have gone through over the past year. Let's turn to 1 Peter 4 in verse 12.

Continue with Peter's thoughts. This is his letter. This is his letter. After going through everything that we saw in the book of Acts, his experiences, his beatings, he offers encouragement from his own hand. 1 Peter 4 in verse 12.

He says, Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you. But rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings, that when his glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. This week, we are going to continue to work to change our lives and to bring it more and more and more into alignment with God. When we do, we may face criticism. We may face ridicule. We may face questioning from our co-workers. We may be persecuted with a tray of donuts that shows up in the office. I remember that so many times. Go in that week and it's just like, who brought the donuts in? Of all weeks to bring donuts in. This is the week that somebody wants to be generous. Thankfully, I worked with my brother and my nephew, too, and so when one of us would see it and was of clear mind, because sometimes you just come running in the door and you see a donut and you go to grab it, we would try to text each other before the others got there. Somebody brought donuts in. Don't take any. You may be persecuted with a donut this week. But when you endure through that persecution this week, you're putting on a semblance of that suffering that Christ went through.

And we rehearsed and we read through those accounts two nights ago. We've considered this for several weeks now from many of the men who've shared messages from different angles.

We see the beauty in what Christ did for the world.

And we get invited and we are invited to partake in part of his suffering, part of his persecution, and that's a good thing.

Peter goes on in verse 14 and says, If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you. For the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part he is blaspheme, but on your part he is glorified as we praise him. Verse 16, Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter.

Verse 19, Therefore let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to him in doing good as to a faithful creator.

The big question for us today and for this week, if Jesus Christ suffered for us and we follow in his footsteps, are we willing to suffer for him?

Are we willing to suffer for him?

Let's look in the same chapter or same book, 1 Peter 2, this time in verse 20.

A donut's not much persecution, right? Because every time that happened, one of us would agree that after the days of Unleavened Bread got over, either my brother Troy or my nephew Caleb, one of us would be like, we're bringing donuts in next week when we can have them. And we shared them. We weren't selfish. We didn't just eat them all ourselves. We shared them with the office as well. But it wasn't much persecution because it wasn't that big of a deal.

1 Peter 2 and verse 20, Peter says, For what credit is it when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? That chastising that we heard from Mr. Hob again, when we've done something wrong and we're dealing in pain for the consequences, it's not much to—and we're patient with it or understanding of why we're dealing with it—doesn't add up to much.

But he says, But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow in his steps, who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth, who, when he was reviled, did not revile in return, when he suffered he did not threaten, but committed himself to him who judges righteously, who himself bore our sins on his own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness by whose stripes you were healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls.

When we endure persecution at the hands of another, when other people are upset and they don't want to live in a peaceful relationship with us, they are not really fighting us, they're not really persecuting us, they're really persecuting and fighting against God.

They are upset because they see an example and a light that they don't like. They see something in us that they may even hate. And that hatred, that vileness, really doesn't come from that person, it comes from Satan. Satan is the God of this world, he is the influencer, he has set things in a certain order, God has given him that permission to do that. And there's a lot of vileness, and when people see that light, they hate it. And so they're not really coming after you, they're coming after that glimpse of God that they see in you. And if we can frame our mind around that, then we can look at them as a person who's not really hurting us, but they just don't like God in us. And so we can separate out what they're personally doing to us and recognize Christ gave everything for you and for me. And so if I have to deal with a little bit of persecution for his sake, it's okay. And then it can allow us, because we separate out that action, that persecution from the person, because they're not purposeful, they're not really coming after us, they're going after God. We can separate that out from them and still look at them as a child of God, as a potential brother or sister someday in the family.

Because when we make it personal, that's when our peace is disrupted. When we make it personal, that's when we then make them the source of any type of ire that we could then deflect back towards them because they're persecuting us. But when we recognize that really the one that they hate is the eternal and he still gave his son for their life, then it changes our whole perspective and brings us back into alignment with God.

If we were to consider who really understands what you and I are going through when we're persecuted, when we're hated, when people revile, say hurtful things against us, God understands because they did it to his own son.

At times, we're not going to feel loved in this world, but we are loved by God. At times, others will not understand our suffering or may try to minimize it, but our Savior understands our suffering. At times, we feel hopeless because of the persecution we are experiencing, but we are not without hope because we have a Savior. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. There's, of course, more we could say on these two Beatitudes, but as you normally find me about this time of the sermon, we're out of time, right? There's a final passage, though, that I'd like to leave with you that I believe shines a light on both of the Beatitudes we looked at, and this is in Luke chapter 23.

Luke chapter 23 and verse 33. As we read this, consider our calling to become a peacemaker and to endure through persecution when it comes at times in our life.

Luke 23 and verse 33.

This is the moment when Christ has been crucified. He's bearing the weight of the sins of the world. He's surrounded by criminals, and it's just a place where we don't really like our mind to go with because it's not at all pretty or happy.

Luke 23 verse 33. When they had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified him. And the criminals, one on the right hand and the other on the left, and then Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do. And they divided his garments, and they cast lots. Jesus said that they do not know what they're doing. And in a way, Jesus is saying, it's not their fault.

Jesus is saying it's not their fault, God, heavenly Father. They're doing these horrendous things. They're doing this unmerciful, unacceptable things, but it's not their fault.

This is the mind of God. This is the mind that he has invited us in to continue to let live in our heart. It's the mind he wants us to have towards those who purposefully disrupt our peace or those who persecute us. Father, forgive them because they don't know what they're doing. This is hard, but it is what God is asking those that are covered by the blood of Jesus Christ to do. Again, Jesus separated out in his own mind that what these people were physically doing to him was out of hatred for what God had already shown them the way to go and what God was doing for them in that very moment, giving his own son for the sake of the world. And he says, they don't understand, so don't hold it against them. And so when we're battling through persecution, when we're battling through our peace being disrupted by others, if we can recognize that it's not really a personal attack on us, but rather an attack on God, we can then go forward with strength that is not of ourselves. Because again, as Jesus, through all the beatitudes, flipped the world upside down, this is flipping our mindset upside down to say, God, it's not really their fault, and you still sent your son for them as well.

So Father, help me work through this. Help me to have the right mindset. Help me to understand this and help me to continue my race with you. So let us go forward in these days of Unleavened Bread with a focus on our mind and I hope a bounce in our step. Maybe the sugar from the cookies will give us that energy to be a little bit more of a bounce in our step. Let us go forward with a renewal and a mindset and focus on allowing God to continue to flip our world upside down, to flip and to rearrange our thoughts of blessings in a new way, and to continue our race to the kingdom of God with perseverance and endurance. I hope this is one of the best weeks of your year.

I hope that this is a time of renewal and refreshing, and I look forward to being back with you on Saturday on our Sabbath in Brighton where we'll continue and we'll look at one more beatitude.