True Inner Peace

True Inner Peace is the title of the sermon today, which I hope all of you have been searching for and some have found. A little feedback there.

Most of us would like to have more inner peace, but it is so difficult today. Here we have North Korea wanting to flex their muscles. We have a health care crisis that seems to be looming that no one can find the answer to. We have ISIS, Hamas, Hezbollah, all terrorist organizations that are looking to take the forefront. We love to be on the nightly news and sad to say that they end up there every week. Somebody does. The nightly and daily news, if you watch it, whether you get your news over the Internet or off television, it is nothing but depressing news.

The violence on our streets, the taxes and more taxes as the government is trying to cut taxes, and that just leaves the state to decide, well, we'll just raise our own state taxes and come up with some of those shortfalls. It used to be everybody worked to have job security. Anymore, it's called job insecurity as the days of being able to work for 20, 30, 40 years at a company you're just about over. True inner peace.

It's not really found why you drive the roads of Miami, is it? We don't find it that way. And then, to bring a little bit of levity in, two weeks ago, my wife and I were sitting there watching on a Saturday night trying to find something to relax with and come to find out there is a Sharknado 5. Now, I remember when Sharknado 1 came, and I thought that was enough.

I had no idea they were going to make four more movies about a tornado that hits the water and pulls all the sharks out and throws them across the land. I don't think much of us are too worried about Sharknado. But what is true inner peace? According to the hundreds of books, the thousands of so-called experts that are out there today, I looked at their lists, and I thought you might find it interesting. Some call it finding mindful meditation. Some have just said, a place and time to chill.

Another said, true inner peace is absorbing Islam. Another stated that true inner peace is learning to please yourself first. While another expert actually said the opposite, that true inner peace comes from serving others. And yet another says, true inner peace begins the moment you choose not to allow another person or event to control your emotions. Eckert Tolle, a self-proclaimed expert in inner peace, tells the world that space is the answer to true inner peace. He pontificates that you must be conscious of being conscious.

That we have an issue of no space in us, to quote his words. That there's no space between our thoughts and no space or not enough space in our lives. Back to the question, what is inner peace? Do we understand? Have we experienced it? Do we want more of it? It almost seems like all those little cartoons you can find scattered out of a Buddha story, some type of guru sitting on top of a mountain, and he's supposed to have true peace, and people come, and they always have these things and come and ask, what is the meaning of life?

And I saw one the other day that shows this man climbing up this mountain to get to him, and he asked him, what is the meaning of life? And the guru says, I can't tell you. Google's down right now. And some people think, well, this Eastern meditation and how the Buddhists think they kind of have a grasp on the true meaning of life and the peace, but yet, when you understand Buddhism, they don't really believe they exist.

They're just passing through this time in a space and in a sphere. I found it so interesting. A Buddhist master was teaching his student, and he said, do you understand that you don't really exist? To which the student promptly says, well, who are you talking to? You kind of see how asinine these thoughts are as people are looking for things. So back to the question, what is true inner peace?

One dictionary defines it as, as inner peace refers to a deliberate state of psychological or spiritual calm despite the potential presence of stressors. And it's not just being at peace. Some say it is a state of being at peace. Searching, searching, searching, searching, searching.

Everyone's searching. With all these answers, supposed answers, perhaps a sign says it best was put up in a high school. Actually says nothing will bring you greater peace than minding your own business. If you've been to high schools and worked in them, you can understand that even more. I guess you do. Jill Boat Taylor, a renowned doctor, motivational speaker, earns tens of thousands of dollars, not hundreds of thousands of dollars, teaching about the mind, the brain, and peace. I think you might find this leading expert advice, not just puzzling, but also enlightening. You could use those two words together. She was asked what gives her peace, and this is her answer. Sorry, it's not water.

This is her answer. I quote. She says, I am the life force power of the universe. Did you find it on the internet anywhere where she's saying, I am the life force power of the universe, which kind of reminds me of what, Romans 12 and verse 3? I think more of ourselves than we ought to. I mean, when you go that far, that she's the life force. She doesn't really need God, does she? She is God. I finish her quote. I am the life force power of the 50 trillion beautiful molecular geniuses that make up my form.

Our ego says, once everything falls into place, I'll have inner peace. I find it more interesting to say, once I have peace, things will typically fall into place better. To inner peace, what is the answer? The old saying goes, inquiring minds want to know. We all long for it. Some of us never find it, and most of us find that it's very fleeting when we do have it. It is like a drug, for once you have it, you always want more of it.

True inner peace, brethren, comes from only one place. For those in this room, we'll probably not argue the fact, but the world will argue the fact. But the fact is, that place is Jesus the Christ. Christ has to give it to you according to the Scripture. He actually mentions what? My peace, I leave with you. Let's go there. Let's go there to John 14. I'll read from the New Living Translation. John 14. John 14, verse 27. Christ told the disciples, I am leaving you with a gift.

I am leaving you with a gift. Peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. Hmm. Makes it pretty clear. So don't be troubled or afraid. I guess that's why he also says later on in chapter 16, that I'm telling you this, giving you this explanation, telling you about me, telling you why I came, telling you what I'm going to do for you in the future, so that you may have peace in me. So you have a greater understanding. You may have peace in me. Do we see that? The I am, the Christ, the Word of God, our Lord, King of kings.

God actually says He gives you peace. True inner peace, and the world cannot give it. But yet we have people all the time looking for it. What about you? What about me? Is this something that we do not believe thoroughly? It is something that we perhaps do not have faith, that God can give us that inner peace. It's almost as if God says, believe it or leave it. Believe it or leave it, because that's the way it is. True inner peace. How would you define it?

Bruce? Peace within myself through Christ, through God. Peace with God. Peace with God? Probably all on the same page? Yes? In this piece of God, you will see the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God gives us peace. For faith? I want to give you my definition. True inner peace to me is knowing that God is in control. Period.

God is in control. Period. Nothing after really has to be said. If you have that belief, walking with God, obeying and trusting in God is the only sure way to have true inner peace in our lives. Dave Ramsey, the financial guru on radio, he always ends his radio show with, the only way to true financial peace is to walk daily with the Prince of Peace, Christ Jesus. I don't know, any of you ever heard that? No? Dave Ramsey's not down here as much as he needs to be. Oh, you've heard it. Okay. Good. Well, if you really want true inner peace, first and foremost, you must know what it is, and then where to get it. And you're going to say, well, wait a minute, didn't you just tell me it's through Jesus Christ? Well, yeah, but that didn't tell you how you're going to get it, does it? I can tell you to have faith, but what does that do for you? You're going to tell me, tell me how to have faith. I'm going to give faith. That's what the Bible does. The Bible teaches us. It doesn't leave us with these big question marks of, wow, true inner peace. Now, how do I...what is it, and then how do we have it? I'd like to go answer both of those from Scripture. If you'll turn with me to Romans. Many of you know this verse. Romans 8 and verse 6, I'll be reading. I'm reading today from the New Living Translation.

Romans 8 and verse 6, So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and...what? Peace. Oh, you said about the Spirit, right? So you're going to have to be in contact with God. You're going to have to be led by Him, and as you can read further in the chapter and just above, those who set their mind on the things above, they will have peace. But those who set their mind on the things of the earth, well, what? They're going to dwell on the earth, and they're going to think about things, and they're going to be troubled. And it will not lead you to where God wants you to be, and that is to walk with Him.

Instead, Enoch walked with God for 300 years. Wow, that's a long time.

God's just asking us to walk for 30, 20, 40 years, and most, probably most all of us get.

300 years, walking with God.

God actually wrote that, or had that written, that He did walk with Him for 300 years. Do you think those 300 years were times of peace? I do, because I'm sure they weren't perfect, but He walked with God.

God says, Walk with Me, and you will have peace.

Don't walk with Me, and you won't have peace, obviously.

And I think most of us can say, I've done that. Been there, done that. Right?

I see it. Been through it.

Let's go over to Romans 5, one page in my Bible. Romans 5 and verse 1. Since all of us want this true inner peace, let's leave hopefully today with no reason for you not having it.

The rest is up to you. Romans 5, verse 1, said, Therefore, since we have been made right in God's sight by faith, we have been made right in God's sight by faith, we have peace.

That's what we're all looking for. We have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ, our Lord, has done for us.

He's taking the penalty of death for each one of us.

He has taken the pain that is due, would be due on us.

He did all this so that we can every day be cleansed of our sins and cleansed of mental anguish that can come from living a life contrary to God.

Most of us can say we've been down their road, too.

And it's so nice to be able to be cleansed, purged of our sins, forgiven.

That's big. I've counseled more than a few people that are still bogged down because they've never let that sacrifice be pure.

They still bring it up.

All of this thing that I did, God's forgotten that.

We should, too.

So God's made it possible mentally, physically, and spiritually, and emotionally, to have peace.

Now, I can tell you during the last week, physically, I didn't have a lot of peace.

I had this head that just kept pulsating that I'm going to drive you crazy, Chuck. I'm going to drive you crazy, Chuck. I'm going to drive you crazy, Chuck. I'm going to drive you crazy.

And it wasn't pleasant, but it also helped me to examine my life.

It made me realize, because I knew God could remove this pain, everything I was going through, like that.

I've seen it done. I've anointed many people, and I've seen amazing things done.

I also realized that anything happens in my life, because God is in the center of my life, is there for a reason.

Happens for a reason. It just doesn't like, oh, wow, look what happened to me today. No.

I think all of us realize that, that walk with God, steady with God.

And I also realized that I had a bit of pride, that I needed struck down.

I had that bit of pride because I had been working out, trying to get in shape, working out for six months, trying to prepare for this summer camp that took place in St. Lucia, where I was with a bunch of young, forty years younger than I am, and trying to climb mountains and hills and trees and rocks and everything else.

Totally exhausted me. I was so drained at the end of the camp, I was like, but you know what I said to myself? Not bad. I made it through.

I must be in better shape than I thought I was. Well, you know, God showed me I wasn't, because I was in such a weakened state.

I think this thing happened. Plus, just jumped back into work like I know tomorrow, no problem.

But I also made God a vow, about a month or two ago, that I didn't keep.

And I told Him, because I'd been working sixty, seventy hours a week, never sometimes not even get a day off, we'd take a day off here or there, that wasn't right.

It's not how He designed it, even for the ministry.

And that I was going to change things, God.

And I was going to cut back my hours, fifty to sixty hours, and make sure I take one day a week off, at least.

I didn't do it.

He made me stop. He made me get in bed and stay in bed, because I was too exhausted to get out, couldn't open my eyes.

Now, you may say, well, but that just happens. Not in my life.

And I want to tell you, not in your life either, if you walk with God.

There's a purpose for everything He's working with, each and every one of us, individually.

And I'm sure there were other things He wanted to get my attention on to.

He got it. He got it.

And it gets yours, too.

But He wants us to have true inner peace.

And I realize last night, as I knelt, knelt down to pray that I was truly able to thank Him for what I was going through.

Because now I see, but now my eyes see.

And it does bring about this peace of not why me, but thank you.

Thank you for being in control of everything.

No matter what, God's still in control.

That, that is an incredible state to be in, when you know He's in charge.

So how important is it for God's people to have and display inner peace?

Because it's not enough just to have it, but can you display it? Do you display that inner peace?

Is that a reason that perhaps you want it, this true inner peace?

Consider Proverbs, if you will go there. Consider Proverbs.

Proverbs 16, from the New Living Translation.

Now, if for no other reason, maybe you feel like, well, I don't really have it, but do I truly need it to have it as much as I want it?

Because I have experienced inner peace and I want more of it. That's the thing that I sometimes have in my mind. Well, wait a minute. Wow, when's this going to end?

Self-fulfilled prophecy. When's it going to end? Well, then I start worrying about, when is my peace going to end? Then I lose my peace, right?

What about us?

Proverbs 16, verse 7 said, When people's lives please the Lord, even their enemies are at peace with them.

Don't we need that?

I do. I want that.

I want my enemies to be at peace with me.

If we are not right with God, as Isaiah actually said in 48, 243, somewhere in the 40s, I can't...

He said, there is no peace for the wicked.

There is no peace for the wicked. That's a good reason not to be wicked, isn't it? It's kind of a motivation.

Have peace. Be good. Have peace. You'll be happy.

Don't have peace. Be miserable and you'll be wicked.

I think if God presents us two things, we're going to go, Oh, let's see, wow, early, which one?

No. You're going to choose this one over here. Most of us want to.

But you see, there's another force over here that wants to bring... take that peace from you. Because the more you're at peace with God, the more you're at peace with yourself, the farther you're away from Satan and his devices. And he's going, What's wrong with these people? They're too peaceful.

They're too settled. They don't worry.

Because that's how I can get to them. They start in their minds where they start thinking about something. Then all of a sudden, they take that thing and they start worrying about it. And then they worry about that. And then that connects to another neuron that starts worrying about this. And the next thing you know, he's got us.

Thinking a lot about us or other things. And off the thing that gives us the most inner peace, our relationship with God.

Man was made by God to walk with God. Most in this room understand that and believe that. Man was made by God to walk with God because that walk is a walk of peace in the garden before sin.

Heaven and Eve, they just walk. I mean, it was a great life. And God was with them there. Right?

That's the state He wants us to be in because they were close to God.

He was around them. They were around Him. They had peace every way, shape, and form. But that changed. But God wants us to have some of that peace.

He said, yes, there will be trouble. You're going to have problems. Yeah, there's going to be some of that.

But I'm with you.

Like Elijah opened up his eyes, God, his servant. And you can see that all the army that is with you. And you see that spiddly little army out here.

And you're worried?

We need to open our eyes sometimes, spiritually, and realize just how many are with us.

Just how powerful our God is, and what we can do and what we can accomplish.

God and Christ desire a walk of peace today.

Today and tomorrow and the next day and the next.

Now go with me to Isaiah 59. Isaiah 59. Because Isaiah is just explaining, as Jeff and I were talking about earlier, you know, people could have peace in their life if they just obey this.

It's that simple. It's nothing hard or complicated about it. He even said, with nations, you do this and I'll do this. You do this and there's just natural laws out there.

Chapter 59, verse 1, New Living. Listen, the Lord's arm is not too weak to save you. Do we realize that? Do we dwell on that? Do we know that Scripture? No, a lot of times we're like, oh, what am I going to do?

Nor is His ear too deaf to hear you call.

It's your sins that cut you off from God. Because of your sins, He has turned away and He will not listen anymore. He'll listen if you'll repent, but if you continue to do these things, how can He bless you?

Any of you that have children know that bad behavior is not going to go, oh, wow, here we go, let's buy you a new bike for that bad behavior. What are you going to get? More bad behavior?

It's simple as God is trying to tell us.

Your hands are full, your hands are the hands of murderers, as He was dealing with Israel and Judah at the time, or Elie Judah. He said, your fingers are filthy with sin, your lips are full of lies, and your mouth spews corruption. No one cares about being fair and honest.

Is this America?

The people's lawsuits are based on lies. They conceive evil deeds and then give birth to sin. They hatch deadly snakes and weave spiderwebs. Whoever falls into their webs will die, and there's danger even in getting near them. Their webs are like that can't be made into clothing, and nothing they do is productive. All their activity is filled with sin, and violence is their trademark. Their feet run to do evil, and they rush to commit murder. They think only about sinning. Misery and destruction always follow them.

They don't know where to find peace or what it means to be just and good.

Brethren, we do. We know what it is to be good. That's why you're here. If you didn't want a good life, if you didn't want a blessed life, if you did not want to follow God, you wouldn't be here.

And you want peace, and God wants to give it. And I've always kind of envisioned that in that if peace was something that's like, are we like God handing here, and we're just here, and it's just like He's wanting, and we just, every time we come close, we...

Every time we get that peace that we want to hold, we got it, we got it, we got it.

Because He just keeps, He's got it out there for us all the time. He wants us to have it all the time.

Guess what? There's peace up in the heavenly realm.

There's only a short time there was, and He got rid of that problem.

But us, have that peace, that reconciliation to God.

Come back. Come back. Teshuvah. Come back to God. Come back to Him.

Because He...that's where peace is at. Don't be separate from Him. Don't be like, oh man, you know, I've messed up. I miss two days of Bible study, and I, you know, I kind of really haven't prayed, and, you know, it's just kind of hard for me to go back. Go back! It's that simple. We're children in His eyes. We're just like the kids. You want your kids to go, ah, no, I'm not turning back. I'm not going to say I'm sorry. You know? Remember, that was a big deal when I was a kid. I was a kid, I'd do something, and my parents would say, okay, you're going to have to apologize. No, I'm not.

Didn't want to.

It wouldn't harm me, but it was that spirit. It was that spirit in me that, oh, no, I don't have to do that. Well, it was either that or I walked back in the back room with my dad and his infamous belt. And it didn't take but a belt a couple of times to realize it's a whole lot easier to say, sorry. And sometimes God has to take us with the spiritual belt sometimes to go, sorry.

But that's all it requires. And then make those moves. He wants you. He wants to help us. He's there to help us overcome these things. By true repentance, we are reconciled back to God, back to true peace. That's why it says in Romans 8 and verse 38-39 that nothing can separate us from the love of God.

Once we're back there, once we're with Him, it's nothing. It's a great study sometimes when you want to do that. But you know Peter said, Peter said, search for peace and work to maintain it. I want to go there. Let's go there. One of the last scriptures I have. Here, go back to 1 Peter.

1 Peter 1. No, 1 Peter 3. 1 Peter 3. 1 Peter 3. And I read this from New Living because I really like the way it's laid out. So if you just want to listen, that's fine. Look what Peter says. He says, if you want to enjoy life, do you? And see many happy days, do we? Keep your tongue from speaking evil words and your lips from telling lies.

Do we? Search or turn away from evil and do what is good. Do we? Search for peace and work to maintain it. So guess what? You're going to have to...it's not going to just be there. You're going to have to work to maintain that peace. And with God, you have to too. He's constantly wanting to give his peace to you, but you're going to have to work at it because we're the one that slides away, aren't we?

We're the one that backslides, as the old term goes. And then it says, the eyes of the Lord watch over those who do right, and his ears are open to their prayers. Peace. Peter was someone that knew something about needing peace, didn't he? Just look at his life, what we have written. I want to wrap this up today with an example.

An example to show that true inner peace is contagious. It's contagious. Over 40 years ago, my parents were baptized when I was about 15 or 16 years old. Remember it because I'd never been around baptism.

We were just coming into the church. I didn't know what any of that meant. I just was watching it, and little did I know I would be baptizing people 40 years later. But they were baptized with an older man and his wife, Mr. and Mrs. Scott, and it struck me about this man because it started up a friendship with my father and him. I eventually spent some time with him myself, but I just realized how at peace and calm this man was. He didn't have a lot, but he didn't worry about a lot. He had a very peaceful life. He walked with God, very clear and present to everyone who came around him.

But he was older in his life when God opened up his mind. And he never seemed to worry. And so we lost track because he moved into another part of the state. And I didn't really see him for another 20 years. By this time, he was pretty aged. His wife had died, and he was living in a little trailer on his son's farm. Nice little place. And he had moved back to that area, and there wasn't anyone around.

They went to church. And he was pretty far away from our church. But when I got the call, I went and visited him. And then I could see that he really wanted to go to church since it was a part of his life. So I decided that, okay, I may not be able to do this all the time, but how about if I come and pick you up, and take you to church, and take you back home afterwards. The problem was, his place was about an hour and 20 minutes from where the church was.

And it was that far from his almost the opposite direction from my house. But I, after seeing him, you know, kind of wanted him to be a part of the church. Because I knew what an asset he would be. And so I had just started giving sermon. I'd given one or two sermons. I wasn't, I was a novice. I was, go back and listen to those sermons. Now I wonder why the church even sat and listened to me. Because I wasn't really prepared, I gave one every few months or something.

And I had to study all week, and then study the next week, and make sure I got everything. And so I went and picked him up. Mary, it was, she just drove her car straight to services at time. And I went and drove out and got him. And we talked about the way, the entire way. An hour and 15-20 minutes. As he just was such an example of believing that God guided everything through his life.

I mean, he was giving me 80 years of experience and how God had done this. And well, this happened. And, you know, it was very inspiring to me. And I walked, we got services about five minutes before, because it took so long. And when I walked in, I sat my stuff down. And I think it was Mary that came over and goes, The minister is supposed to be here today, he's not here. He forgot this was on his schedule. We don't have anything. We don't have tapes. We don't have anything.

Guys are wondering if you can give a sermon. I hadn't even looked at... You know? I mean, now I'm relaxed, but I mean, that wasn't 20 years ago. And all of a sudden, I got this... My stomach. To all these people. And my hands actually started to shake. Because I was totally... I hadn't even... I hadn't even looked at notes.

I hadn't done anything. And I looked over at him. And I said, man, that's who I need to be. And I walked up there and I gave a sermon. And it went off better than most sermons I'd ever given. But it was that peace, peace that he gave me, because if you walk with God, He's with you. Don't worry. Remember, in fact, scriptures even say, when you do get into trouble down the road, don't worry about what you're going to say. I'll put the words in your mouth.

What an incredible example this man was. And I had the privilege of doing his funeral.

And I saw that there were so many of his family members, didn't believe what he believed or anything, but boy, did they have respect for him. He brought that. He brought that to the table, no matter where he was. It's contagious. Are we good models?

I hoped one day to be as good as E.B. Scott.

Till then, I'll just have to keep working at it, as I'm sure most of you will too, to get to a time where we are known as people of true inner peace most of the time.

Psalm 119 verse 65. The last one. The last scripture.

Psalm 119. 165. Said, Those who love your instructions have great peace.

Those who love your instructions have great peace and do not stumble.

I want to keep from stumbling. I don't know about you.

This week, live in peace, as Paul told the Corinthians, because then the God of love and peace will be with you if you follow Him.

Because you see, brethren, true inner peace comes only from your Prince of Peace, Christ Jesus.

Enjoy your peace this week. And thank, as we heard earlier, thank God for that peace, because we all need more.

What the world needs now is more peace, and it needs to start with us.