Your Peace Jesus Your Peace you give to me, Jesus, Freely for me to receive, Help me to know that this is true, Though your Spirit Lord, help me to believe. For in this world there are so many trials, Wars are springing up everywhere, Peace is so hard to find my Lord, Through the noise, it is hard to see you there. So pour out your Spirit upon me, Jesus, And, upon the whole world, for it is yours to give, So that all may place their lives down in front of you, And find the true way in which to live. Then it will be only your peace that will remain, Jesus your love will change the hearts of all who live, There will be no more wars, no battles to win, As all accept, this gracious gift of peace in which you give. Have a blessed weekend Pastor John Oakley
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Acts 10:36
You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, announcing the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. The meaning of the word peace in the Greek is, Eirene it can convey the sense of an inner rest, well being and harmony. The ultimate peace is the state of reconciliation with God, effected by placing one's faith in the gospel. In eschatology, peace is prophesied to be an essential characteristic of the Messianic kingdom . So there you have it, the Greek meaning of the word peace. It is to have rest in the Salvation we have in Jesus. It is through Jesus we are reconciled with God through faith. It is redemption and change, it is also about a great love for all mankind. But the key word here is faith. Although we haven't seen Jesus, we believe and why. Because we, as believers trust in the written word of God and have faith in the Gospel message of the freedom found in Jesus. Without faith, the faith we receive as a gift given through the Holy Spirit, faithfulness, we would not be able to believe and receive all the God has laid out for us in our walk with Him. And when we walk by faith, we walk in peace in knowing that we have been redeemed and that through that redemption we are renewed in a life everlasting. Change will be evident in our lives. Oh what a glorious day when all who live believe! What a beautiful vision, what a beautiful peace that will be. Let me leave you with another poem on peace that God gave me to write yesterday. Romans 8:6
For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. Good morning everyone, with all that is going on in this world, the wars, the protests, sicknesses and governments and nations fighting for supremacy, it is hard to find peace. If we look at these situations being led by our flesh, we will never find peace. Because our fleshly thinking always wants to fight back. We even join in on battles that have nothing to do with us. This is the work of the enemy. He wants us to be judgemental, to walk in anger and not love. This will hold us back from the peace we so desperately desire. But if we set our minds on Jesus, we can move from anger and judgment into a humble position of love and peace. He holds the key to everything we need. It is in Him where we get the means to fend off the enemy and to show love through the peace we have in our hearts. I know the wars in Ukraine and Israel touch our hearts, with all of the senseless fighting and death. It is natural for us to feel sorrow for the people of these countries. But if we turn to rage and anger, we move past the emotions of love and peace in our hearts and step away from being like Jesus. Just think about it. When Jesus walked on this earth, the Romans had full control and the people were oppressed. But, as Jesus states himself, He didn't come to defeat the Romans but to defeat sin and death for all who live, including them. He even healed the Roman Centurion' servant and not once can I find that He started a protest against them or did He use His great power to take them out. And then there was the Apostle Paul, who was a Roman citizen by rights, who could have found a way to be released from prison because of this. Yet he took on a humble position, as a slave for Jesus and was imprisoned and was in chains. He too, shared the good news with the Romans the enemy of that day and even led some to a life in Jesus. This is showing peace, in a troubled time of oppression during the Roman rule. This is living for Jesus to it's fullest. As much as we want to lash out in these troubling times, as believers, we are asked to do as Jesus did when He was here in the flesh. To walk in peace and to show love as we represent Him for the cause of God's Kingdom. To share the Good News, and the way to freedom found only in Jesus. The apostles all did this right to their deaths and the Apostle Paul was, by far the greatest example. Again I say, we are not of this world, even though we still live in it. We belong to the Kingdom of God, here on earth. Blessed are the peace makers, for they will be called sons of God Matthew 5:9. We cannot be a part of bringing peace to this world unless we show it, live in it, and share it with a heart of love, Jesus's love!!! Have a blessed and wonderful day Pastor John Oakley Good morning everyone, today we will continue on the topic of peace.
John 14:27 “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid. Before Jesus left His disciples, He gave them a gift, a gift of peace, a different kind of peace from what we can try to find in this busy world in which we live. He gave us His peace. What is the biblical meaning of the word peace? In short, peace is knowing that the Lord of the universe is by your side and resting in that. It's not just knowing, but it is also living it out. Peace is sitting in comfort and knowing that God is next to your side no matter what. The Hebrew word for peace is Shalom, which also is used as a greating. But the shalom that Jesus gives here, is one of peace of mind and heart. And of course, whenever the heart is referred to in the bible, it means our soul. Of all of the things that can distract us from finding peace, our mind has to be the number one culprit. Things that go on around us can rob us of our peace, but once we walk past the noise , it usually fades away and we can, once again, find the temporal peace that we can muster up. But if the noise is in our minds and then reaches our hearts, then it becomes more difficult to ignore. We can allow one issue to rob us of our peace and it can last for days, months and even years. This, in turn can steal away our joy. But, if we focus on Jesus and ask for the Holy Spirit to fill us with the peace that come our Lord, we can find that peace!!! One sure fire way, of resting in His peace, is to pickup the Living Word of God and read it. Look up verses on peace, meditate on them, and also read verses on the neverending presence of God. Just realizing that God is always with you, in the good and the bad is enough to bring a level of peace to your mind and soul, and in it, you will find rest for your weary souls. This is another reason that Jesus died for us and after He left this earth, gave us His Spirit, and through the Holy Spirit, Jesus lives in us, and because of this, everything He is (Jesus )is at our disposal. EVERYTHING!! All that we need to do, is call upon His Holy name, believe it and receive it and then live in it. This is key, we need to walk in everything that we receive in order for it to reach its maximum effect! So call upon and rest in the shalom that comes from Jesus when the noise in your mind and heart get so loud that you cannot bear it. It is a gift, given by love, one not meant to sit and collect dust, but one to open and enjoy. Blessings Pastor John Oakley John 16:33 ~ I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world. Good morning everyone, in keeping with the Fruits of the Holy Spirit, today we speak on peace, which also represents the second candle of advent, which will be lit this coming Sunday. When Jesus explains peace here, it is when He told His disciples that He would be leaving them, that He would endure the cross for them, you, me, and all who live. This must have put the disciples in panic mode, once it sunk in. Here their leader was telling them that He would be going away. But Jesus let them know that He would return, first in person and then later on once that He would assend to heaven, that the Holy Spirit would come so that He could continue to be with them as His Spirit would live in them, us, and all who believe, while we are here on earth and that He will meet us as we enter eternity. Jesus also let them know that they would be facing trials. This must have added to the panic! But Jesus did reassure them, as He does us in this verse, that not to worry because He has overcome the world, which means the trials we will face as well. His victory is our victory and if we walk in that victory, we can have peace in knowing that if we keep our eyes on Jesus, in every situation, we can have peace in knowing that we, too have victory over the trials that we will face. But without focusing on Jesus, this is impossible. On our own we cannot overcome our trials. We can actually make things worse. But if we focus on the One who goes before us, the path will become cleared and we will step out of our trials as Victors in Christ Jesus, and we will know peace, Amen. Have a blessed Monday Pastor John Oakley Isaiah 7:14 NLT
All right then, the Lord himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin[a] will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’). This Sunday marks the beginning of Advent and the first candle that we will light represents "Hope." This first purple candle, which symbolises royalty is sometimes called the prophecy candle, which prompts us to look back to the prophet Isaiah' s foretelling of the coming saviour, Jesus. The hope of all people then and today. People can place their hope in many things, work, business, each other and for some, even lottery tickets. When we compete with others by trying to have a bigger house, a better car, and so on, we are taking our eyes off of the Lord and placing our hope onto the material things of this world. But the truth is, these things only bring a temporary fix. Even our jobs are not as secure as they once were and these things can be here today and tomorrow they are gone. But by placing our hope in Jesus, the supplier of all things, we can find confidence in knowing that he will sustain us in every way as we patiently await His return. He says in His word, look at the birds of the sky, the do not store up food in barns, yet our heavenly Father takes care of them, so how much more will He take care of us! This is a hope we can count on. The hope of our life here on earth being taken care of, but most importantly the hope of His return, in where we have eternal benefits. Eternal life and no more wars, sicknesses, and death will be no more. Everyone will be the same, have the same and we will be content. Everything will be totally pure, as God is pure. And we will be blessed and put in awe of his glory. And all those things that we place our hope in today, money, cars, houses, businesses, clothing, all of the things that we compete in this world in hopes to be like someone else, will be gone and we will totally be reliant on God alone. The competition will be gone and only one thing will remain! Our loving Father God. Oh what a glorious day that will be. Have a blessed weekend Pastor John Oakley |
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