Finding Rest and Peace | An Evening with the Briscoes

I was born in 1930 in the little town in the north of England called Milne you've never heard of Milne most of the people in England have never heard of milem it was a one-horse town there was in a beautiful situation on the one side we had the Irish Sea on another side we helped the river Dudden and another side we had the mountains of the lake district an idyllic place there just a little town that didn't go very far the one thing that it had going for it was that deep down underneath it there was the richest vein of iron ore in the world so we mined iron in my hometown smelted it and that was where everybody who had a job got a job one of the things that used to happen is when they were smelting this iron was that they produced a lot of dross as well as beautiful iron ore and they had to get rid of this dross they had been doing this for years and over the years they had built huge slag banks they were gray and they were ugly and they were barren and they overshadowed the town and many of the houses where people lived in order to get the molten dross from the furnaces up onto the top of the slag banks they had a little truck that went up little railroad truck and they had they would tip the molten slag down the side of this day heatless like heap and all of a sudden the dead of night would be banished and the most beautiful golden glow would last for probably three or four minutes then slowly die down we go used to it but one night it didn't work very well it was during the Second World War 12 miles away from where we lived as the crow flies or more significantly as the Luftwaffe used to fly there was the largest shipbuilding yard in England where they both built the submarine to where they built the aircraft carriers one night when the slag was tipped out it was tipped out during an arrow warning that the driver had never heard and all of a sudden in the dark of night with the bombers overhead suddenly there was a brilliant golden glow and the whole of our town was lit up and we were there sitting ducks the target for the bombs of the Luftwaffe it was my introduction to the war the real war I went to school the next day and found empty desks in my classroom I walked around the town and I saw half a house with beds hanging out side of it windows broken people sorting through what was left of their homes one night during one of those bombing air raids now me officer who is a dear friend of our family said we should let me come and serve you something that's how British army officers talk as if it hurts them come at me this job and I'll show you something so he took me to the top story of our house to my little bedroom very very carefully he made sure all the lights were switched off and then he drew back the drapes now he said we're going to watch something very fascinating here and sure enough shortly after he said that there was a big flash in the sky the third slides came on the study Criss crossing in the air we saw the treasure shelves going up and I was a great flash then I noticed something I noticed that just a few seconds after the big flash there was a tremendous reverberation and the whole of our house shook and the windows rattled and the chimes on our clock started to chime discordantly when I stood there with my friend the captain in the Royal Artillery teaching me the difference of speed the speed of light and the speed of sound for that was what we were seeing firsthand the flash and the feeling of the reverberation I learnt another lesson who was fascinating for my mother had put a plaque on the wall of my bedroom I don't remember ever looking at it before this particular occasion but every time as we stood there in the pitch darkness watching the bombing and listening to the reverberation of the bombs and the shells at cetera cetera and there was a bright flash and that beautiful golden glow filled the room where we were standing just for a minute or so and then died away there was a plaque on the wall that my mother had placed there and this in the old fashioned King James English because this was when I was a kid before we had modern translations with his words thou will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee thou will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee the light would go down on it again with what's in the darkness there be another bomb there be enough when this flash there would be again silently on the wall thou will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee I was a young teenager at the time what did that mean to a young teenager I would be hard-put to tell you right now but I do know that at that particular time I was standing there literally in the middle of a war with a message an eternal message from God himself that I he himself would accept responsibility to make sure that I would have perfect peace perfect peace in the middle of war that doesn't make any sense at all that's because of the way we define peace I think many of us would have to say that our definition of peace would be the cessation of hostilities the many hostile situation we find ourselves in we get ourselves into fights into arguments into disagreements into situations that are breaking relationships but then they're resolved and oh it's peace again well that's certainly kind of peace maybe we don't have hostilities but we probably all do live with tensions and for many others peace would not be the cessation of hostilities for many others peace would be the eradication of stress but if we define this peace in those ways then we've got to face up to something very unpalatable and it is this that this is a hostile world this is a stress-filled world it's a fallen world populated by fallen people who live according to fallen principals who created a fallen culture and it is impossible for a person here to eradicate all stress and to find the cessation of all hostility listen to the news it's never ending it seems to be getting worse so realistically speaking how can we begin to think of there being such a thing as perfect peace in the midst of a war by redefining peace that's how we do it let me read to from the prophet Isaiah or if you prefer the prophet Isaiah it says I err this is what Isaiah had to say more importantly there seventeen of Isaiah chapter 48 this is what the Lord says your Redeemer the Holy One of Israel I am the Lord your God who teaches you what is best for you who directs you in the way you should go if only you had paid attention to my commands your peace would have been like a river your righteousness like the waves of the sea that expression peace like a river ring a bell with any of you can you remember one of the old hymns we used to sing in cases we trot it out as well and peace like a river attendeth my way when sorrows like sea billows roll whatever my lot thou has taught me to say it is well it is well with my soul beautiful hymn gorgeous sentiments you know who wrote it is written by Horatio Spafford ratio Stafford made his fortune in Chicago and lost it in the fire of Chicago at the same time his only son died he spent a lot of his time with what was left of his fortune helping the people who are homeless in Chicago but in the end he and his family were just practically worn out and they decided that they should take a vacation and they would go to Europe he was delayed his wife and four daughters got on a ship and sailed across the Atlantic they only got as far as Newfoundland when the Gaza to Newfoundland they collided with another ship and the ship from which his missus Spofford and the four daughters were sank without a trace mrs. boffin survived before daughters were drowned he'd lost his business he lost his savings he'd lost his son he had lost his four daughters he was reunited with his wife and some time later he obviously was Isaiah chapter 48 in mind wrote when peace like a river attendeth my way and sorrows like sea billows roll thou has taught me to say now whatever my lot thou has taught me to say it is well it is well with my soul was that guide totally out of touch with reality or was he in touch with a reality that many people have never discovered what would that reality that many people have never discovered thee well what did it say what did the Lord say through Isaiah I am the Lord your God who teaches you what is best for you well can you check that off who direct you in the way you should go you check that off he said if you had only followed those two things you would have expected peace like a river even when outside things were not going the way you wanted them to go so the operative thing here is this the peace that God is talking about here is not the eradication of stress and it's not the cessation of hostilities it's the deep-rooted sense of well-being whatever the circumstance is that allows you to say whatever the circumstances it is well it is well with I saw notice that the Lord said I'm the one who knows best unfortunately sometimes say you may know best God but I know better and I am the one who teaches you the ways you should go I know I should go in Lord with what I'm not going to do it and that result is we do not follow his commands and if we do not follow his commands we cannot say deep down in my soul regardless of circumstances it is well it is well with my soul because my soul is at peace with God and therein lies the problem many people are in stressful situations many people are in hostile situations many of those people are struggling and longing for just for little peace but the thing that perhaps they've overlooked is this that they've got a bigger problem than dealing with the hostility in dealing with the stress that the bigger problem is this they're out of whack we've got they're out of communion with God out of believing he knows this they're out of touch with believing that he tells us the way we would go they're out of touch with a life of humble trusting loving obedience and as a result they have no inner resource they're missing what we call the peace with God peace with God Romans chapter 5 the Apostle Paul talked more about peace of God he says having therefore being justified freely by His grace we have peace with God but the interesting thing about it is this a little further on in Romans chapter 5 he talks about human beings in their natural condition and one of the surprising things he says about us is that we actually were in an attitude of enmity against God enemies of God now that enemies of God find peace with God that's what he says enemies of God find peace with God how do they find it by going back to saying I believe the Lord is my god I believe he is the one who knows what is best for me I believe he is the one who tells me the way that I should go and I want to say before the Lord my God I have left undone the things that I ought to have done and I have done the things that I should not have done in other words I have not listened to you I have not obeyed you I have not trusted you I am somebody who's had a fundamentally hostile attitude to God at worst or a attitude of benign disrespect and disregard the best how can i person such as I am ever be able to say it is well it is well with my soul and the answer is simply this by the grace of God by the grace of God who took an initiative and made it possible for an offended God to freely and fully forgive a repentant cinah me and s while enemy sinner who finds himself saved by grace justified by faith enjoying peace with God then he begins to understand what Jesus says jesus said in the world you will have trouble one of my favorite texts because it is so utterly realistic but I like the rest of the text even better in the world you will have trouble in me you will have peace yes yes peace with God just think in your own heart you believe that the Lord your God created you do you believe he knows what's best for you do you believe he's told you the way you ought to go I am prepared to admit like the rest of us you were like a sheep have gone astray and turned to his own way do you believe that you've had an attitude that is resistant to God and you realize that you have been looking for peace satisfaction fulfillment in a contentment sense of belonging purposefulness that have eluded you can you take all those steps and then can you say God I need to repent of my sin I need to lay hold of what you offer me as a gift of grace which is free and full forgiveness restoration of relationship with yourself on the merits of Jesus your son what he did in his death and resurrection and I ask you to give to me that newness of life that will give me peace with God leading to and his second points the peace of God you put the Apostle Paul writing to the Philippians put it this way he said now I don't want you to be full of anxiety for anything that's in the Bible I don't want you to be full of anxiety about anything now in all fairness to understand what Paul said there before we did just dismiss it who's he kidding in that same epistle he uses the same greek word in a slightly different way he's talking about his young Protege Timothy and he says of Timothy I have no one like him for he cares for your well-being that's interesting what he says in commendation of Timothy he cares for your well-being is you he uses the same word where he says don't be anxious for anything and suggest to me that the word the anxiety can come in two kinds there can be a responsible concern for the well-being of other people there can be a responsible acceptance of the fact that I should not be after pathetic about the needs of people I should be deeply concerned about these people but there are things in my life that are beyond my control and whilst it would be wrong of me not to care about those who need my care it would be equally long of me wrong of me to be anxious about the things that come under God's control and the problem for many of us even some have made peace with God is that we don't really enjoy the peace of God that is able to say practically as the days go by he says well it is well with my soul the Apostle Paul tells us very quickly how we can do this don't be fooling SIA t4 anything but in everything by prayer and supplication let your request be known unto God in other words take the anxieties and bring them to a God who knows what is best for you who tells you the way that you want to go who promises that if you would order your life according to the orders of an orderly God your inner life would be in order which is the fundamental meaning of peace you begin to experience something that you can't explain in fact the Bible puts it this way it's peace that passes understanding so there's peace with God and there's the peace of God you say what do I do with it I'm glad you raised that because what the Apostle Paul also said right into the Romans was this some of the sameness advice most realistic advice imaginable if it is possible as much as it depends on you live at peace with everyone do you know what this world needs this world needs people who made their peace with God who live in their circumstances enjoying the peace of God and who radiate that in a sense of contentment and well-being that wellness of soul in such a way that there's a pervasive sense of peace wherever they go and they are actively involved in one single basic thing if it is possible as much as it depends on them they're going to make absolutely certain they are peace makers that's what we need peace with God leading to the peace of God leading to peace on and I have gone 27 seconds over time and I apologize profoundly and auspicious yes oh dear no I don't need that I think it's because I just had a birthday ah yeah well I'm in Chicago and during my birthday I was go up there for my daughter's duty who's here tonight and and we have a great time and go shopping and actually I really worry about that I want to talk about worry and I am the prize up here I think I must have been worried very worried baby because I'm sure I grew up worrying and perhaps because like Stewart I was bombed and continually living in Liverpool which was bombed every night because we had the ships coming in to the port at Liverpool and we lived on this on the sea line there and I didn't come from a believing home like Stuart I come from a wonderful mom and dad if they had known about Jesus I would have heard about him first thing but there isn't a better mom and dad on the planet than I had it's amazing to me how good people can be without God I know you know people like that and so I was in the area children one night and the bombs came over but I was underground my dad had dug it before he went off to the war and if you had any land at all then the shelters that you could run to outside your house when the bombing began with only one or two and you couldn't get to them and so before he went he made this little shelter for my mom and my sister and I and I remember what was i five or six one terrible night when the bombs just didn't stop it's very scary when you're underground and you can't see do it was watching the flash and then expecting it but I couldn't see the flash I could only hear it and then silence and that's when your heart went like this and they crash and you're underground you can't see it so all you can do is hear it and I remember one night my sister and I were just holding each other and shaking and crying Anderson bang bang bang bang bang and I just lost it and I began to scream stop it stop it stop being a mummy who's trying to kill her first regulars were to bumble it touches really kill us tonight and when I'm trying to keep me calm and she's crying and we're all crying and I thought I have to pray but I didn't know who to pray to fortunately there was no separation of church and state oh I probably wouldn't be here where would a little British school girl like me have ever heard of Jesus if it wasn't in my formal Anglican prayers and saying the Apostles Creed every day in my public school and I thought it sounded like a prayer and I am panic began to pray all the way through the Apostles Creed and I pray to God the Father and I prayed to God the Son and I prayed to God the Holy Ghost we called him and my little mind stopped and I thought who what what's that what's the Holy Ghost I didn't understand then a bomb dropped and I prayed to the early go and I continued praying all the way through and I prayed to the Holy Catholic Church and there everyone I could find in panic who could I pray to that would stop the bombs falling I remember the prayer he stopped them falling all over my sister dolls of my mummy so usually you stop stop stop my voice went up and suddenly into that hole in the ground came the Holy Ghost there is absolutely no way I could explain what happened but literally my little heart started to calm peace the past understanding ridiculous peace and I totally misjudged that and I thought God said yes weren't you so right little girl so right little girl I've heard your prayer and I totally relaxed the rest of the night and I waited and I couldn't wait to get up and I got out and I looked at the house and the bomb had damaged the back of our house hadn't taken it and so that small age I remember looking at him it always dawn when the all-clear went and there was like the stars were still out and it looked like holes in heaven to my little girl's mind and I saw he can leave all the lights on because we have to paint our windows blackened must be wonderful and then who are you what why do you tease me like that you said yes yes I I won't let the bomb torture happen why did you tease me and I totally misinterpreted that peace that God gave me that night so I grew up can't remember meeting a Christian in so-called Christian England and we didn't go to church and then I had the after the war my dad came back like millions didn't in Europe and I grew up with no one to answer those questions what was that peace and then by God's grace I went to Cambridge and for the very first time I met Jesus lovers and glory givers people that unashamedly walked around Cambridge around my life I was playing tennis for my college my captain was one of these Jesus people another Jesus person was obviously the top girl it was a girls college in those days in the school and I was told to take her note to her and I ran upstairs and knocked on the door and very rudely went in before she answered me and there she was on her knees the Bible open on the bed I was thoroughly embarrassed for her I thought she'd get up and close the Bible maybe and she didn't she just melt there this is how it is Jill Ryder this is how I am and she's can smiled at me and said yes to and a great irritation I'd actually make me feel like this I threw the note at her and I went outside and I leant against the wall and it was the piece on her face I it was I don't know and when I got over my irritation at making me feel like that a great cry went up from this lost lost teenager probably someone this number would tell me what that worked that kissed that piece it's on her face it was in my heart and then one glorious day I got sick and was rushed into addressed hospital at Cambridge and a nurse who was also sick but in the next bed to me led me thoroughly total irrevocably to Christ only took two days I was waiting I was listening she was the answer to my prayer Cody someone would tell me God said all right she took revelation 3:20 totally out of context but it worked and she prayed the sinner's prayer and I followed I stand at the door and knock If any man opens the door that's really about Jesus standing outside a church that needed revival but she applied it to me personally Jesus was standing at the door of your heart and see as Lewis was on his way to conversion from Oxford and he was on the BBC and he was talking about the fact that he was from atheism now to a fully-fledged and England listened he was on the History Channel he was supposed to be talking about history and he started to talk about God and some of his words were being written down as students began to listen at Oxford in cambridge and all over the the country and somebody put some of those quotes in my hand and one of them said there is a door very famous quote of Louis there is a door opened in the pitiless walls the world and one day we should get in one of my favorite of his clerks there is a door opened in the pitiless walls of the world and one day actually the full quote we will follow our great captain inside and I went back to my little room out of the lunch line and that great cry went up again what is this door is a death doors and who will get in and will I get in sorry summer tell me tell me do you know I want to tell you something our world is screaming for us to tell them do you know that do we look like it or do they look like it now you looked at me you would have said that girls not got a god thought in her head and nobody's going next door neighbor man that brings the groceries the gas station happening every day for Randolph and the girl that led me to Jesus said Jill from now on the mission field is between your own two feet at any given time I said what are you talking about and she explained it and she said everyone that comes into the orbit of your life for the rest of your life hears about Jesus I said what do you mean she had her head nurse tell her tell him tell her I did everything she told me she was my seminary never had a chance to go I didn't need to Jenny followed me up he did it and after this I said to her you know the thing that got to me when I was put next to you you're in huge pain her back had gone out third back operation nothing was working she was being prepped to go into the next one and there was something about her eyes and I'm looking and thinking all my words girl what's going to happen I didn't know who she was but she just kept smiling at me and and I looked at her eyes and I thought somebody's looking after her inside yeah and she came back from the same jail Julia's still know she's coming out of the other city yes of course I'm here what what I've heard something to tell you I was looted what was so important and then I remember she came back to me anaesthetic and she opened her eyes and there why would your eyes not show the peace of God later in my work on the streets with teenagers I had some students out one day tough kids all around her and one of them came up to me and he says ACA you you with this loss and I said yeah what's your name my I got a question what is it what's your on what you're smoking what's your on I said we could we can tell you about God but I mean what we are he says you're all on something I was I was just talking to my mates and we said yeah they I mean they don't all look alike like that but look at their eyes and you know I said oh how interesting and I just went around my students very wise peace of God is aren't they supposed to be the windows of the soul there it was again ridiculous please peace when everything else is in turmoil but you say that's all very well Jill you don't get it I'm a worrier I'm not the positive sort of person hey you are looking at the world's most anxious worried woman when our eldest son not pleased was too he hadn't talked yet I I'm a Cambridge teacher and it hadn't occurred to me that this was highly weird and this he should be gambling and babbling you know at about 16 month or even earlier and nothing he'd just point mmm-hmm and I began to thank you yeah come on now and and he probably couldn't get a word in edgewise that was the problem so one day he spoke not just one word with two and I put him in a little pram the little Pushkin I went all the way where was a mission men and big castles to in the office with three with a spinster ladies and married ladies and I rushed him I said he talks he taught his talks and so what he looks at and says obviously Why What did he say and I said he said oh yeah I put him back in the pram and left the room where he heard that I'm missed oh dear so can Jesus Christ do something with somebody like me that anxious frightened I mean I I haven't been in too many serious dangerous situations I've been in a few but I suppose one of the most dangerous was the 911 when I was trying to get back from we'd been actually up to Siberia along Lee all those people groups belong that Russian border came back to Heathrow Stewart put me on the plane to try and get back to Chicago I went on to Ireland and we we got to within three hours of Chicago and the planes hit the towers and if you will remember all the airspace was immediately closed around America all the land was immediately closed and the great notice went out which I think was the miracle of 9/11 to 3000 Aero planes in the air over America at that point you're on your own work with the nearest airport get down and three thousand airplanes within half an hour without an accident landed there people of the nearest airstrip they could find but I was just outside that I was just inside the three hour so everything inside went onto Gander a Newfoundland danda is not a stopping station Gander is a refueling stop but thirty-six jet packs there was three or four runways and we were second-to-last down and so began my adventure when the pilot came on he didn't know they didn't tell the pilots they said there's a national emergency get the plane down we'll tell you then and so our guy came on and made the announcement and I'm a two million mile flier wasn't then I was probably a million mile then but I've flown all over the world and there was this horrible noise I'd never heard and I honestly thought we're going we're done I'd never heard the noise what he was doing was emptying the gas into the ocean there's too much to land I was sitting next to a young doctor and we began to talk he said what do you think I said I've never heard that noise he said nor have I he said I think we're done and I said I think we did and my heart began to beat and I'd left my Bible above my head all of us immediately had to put on our belts and everything I couldn't get it last time I did that now i was left Hey memorized and one of the verses I learned to Cambridge I learned 500 verses say that we did that with the system of memorization popped into my mind all the days ordained for you Jill Briscoe were written in my book before one of them came to be some 139 all the days ordained for you and remember to number your days God's numbered your days we also apply a heart to wisdom and so we all have a day and you can do what you like you're not going to live beyond that day and you're not going to heaven before so I knew that up here but now we were in this situation we didn't know why we were making this emergency landing and the young doctor said to me I think we're going down I said yes and then everyone who was really strange they've been talking everything until this happened and then dead silence all around us everyone with their own sort my heart starts to go like this and I said to the Lord so I hate to tell you this and I hate to tell you this but I wasn't expecting to see you today I didn't want to die I felt her don't I want to see Jesus or yes but not today and my heart would not stop I was absolutely panic inside absolutely panic inside and as I put it I went to the steps of my cell and they D placed where nobody goes and we began to have a conversation and I said sorry Lord I love you dearly was just I wasn't expected to see you today and I think I heard him say well I understand you now let's try a little bit harder from now home No and so began the pastor's wife missionary before their struggling with myself and what I thought was lack of faith and six and a half days from the Salvation Army floor in gumbo Newfoundland followed you know the story and before I got to gamble fortunately that night God had given me peace in the airplane before I even knew what had happened and it wasn't a feeling it's not feeling far deeper far more real and a feeling and that's what I've always thought peace was emotion didn't it's the present presence of God that you can't explain except to say it's peace peace and it's not the absence of worry it's teeth in it just like still saying and I got calm inside although agitated externally sometimes during those days and it was that that many things have happened wrote a little book about it the new normal when I got back that are trusted a girl that really needed to hear about Christ on that aeroplane and I didn't know we are nothing to do six and a half days just no television Salvation Army never saw the thing until we got out except talk what an opportunity and I guess must have been my eyes I don't know but after three days of trying to get to this pretty wild lady who was behaving in a way I didn't appreciate I felt I've gotta talk to her but I can't get her attention she's always surrounded by men and including my young married doctor who I'd been getting to know and so I've tried to attract her attention and get up in the morning and I lord give me an idea wonderful prayer prayers give me an idea and he gave me an idea seemed weird smile smile on nobody's smiling maybe that'll get their attention so ha6 had some coffee took it over put it in her admiring certain and she began obviously aware of this weird woman who kept smiling and it I said Lord is not working that's not your idea and I was just about to give her and she tapped me on the shoulder and she said can I ask you a question and I said sure she's what have you got to smile about and I said faith oh she said I don't to hear that Jesus stuff so so what's the answer and whether your life still not it's faith and she said them I just want to go home I said oh do you have a good home and you married I've been watching a behavior she said yes I am I just want to go home I said so you got a good home you got a good marriage should have a terrible marriage I'm in the middle of a divorce why do you want to go home she's I don't know there's something in me they didn't want to go home wants to go home I said let me tell you what that is there's one place called heaven when something like this happens does this like on it I want God I want I want light in my eyes that's what is so hard it and she said tell me about that now I'd love to tell you that her letters of Jesus and she's now the Archbishop of Canterbury that was just a link on the chain just a link I'll meet her in heaven when all the other links are put on peace peace so nothing can happen to a child of God outside the will of God I wrote this that day sitting in the plane before I knew and anybody knew what had happened as God gave me and in the serenity in the middle of the waves from the storm and that's all I needed Jesus in the middle of the worry but not allowing the worry to stop me doing what I needed to do that's the thing the devil wants us worrying ourselves to death and not thinking about anybody else but me and that's one of the most incredible opportunities I can tell you to realize there's people all around you that need peace and later I asked what did I believe and I wrote in my diary do I believe that God is in control even when I'm not yes do I believe that nothing can happen to his children apart from his permissive will yes do I believe that God is good all the time even when things are bad yes and the peace is growing do i and other Jesus lovers and glory give us on this plane have a colossal advantage over those who have no Hightower for the Soul to run to no good shepherd to come the beating heart no one to hush their fears and remind them that it's the very worst were to happen very best was yet to begin me yes yes that's peace did it mean that I'd stopped the agitation no I would have been a fool in those sort of situations but the peace dominates the peace dominates it would be weird if all this is lovely I love this right yes it's not a feeling it's called the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit peace a person so if you're a warrior like me if you're an old dear person you'll always be one I'm the negative Stuart's the positive I've never met anyone more positive it drives me crazy what was I do if he was negative I'd be dead by now I'm sure though opposites attract and then irritate nervousness because I I love to see I used to think it was personality natural it isn't it is faith faith trust and it goes along with the anxiety and dominate the anxiety the storm is still storming but Jesus says peace to your heart in the middle of the storm and peace to you peace to you peace to you [Applause] good evening Jeff your Bible hope so open it please to second chronicles chapter 14 2nd chronicles is in your Old Testament right after 1st chronicles right there and pray with me please Oh Prince of Peace we're talking about you tonight we're talking about peace true peace real peace lasting teeth supernatural peace and I pray that you would open our eyes and our hearts to it by your spirit speak through me I pray touch each of us none of us are here by accident you've got something for each of us touch us tell us I give this time to you in Jesus name Amen peace is a slippery critter you know a piece is like pieces like a greased watermelon you ever played with a greased watermelon in a swimming pool you got that thing for one second and it starts to loot your grip starts to loosen on it and the harder you squeeze it farther it goes pieces like that you'll be cruising along in life peace peace peace peace peace all of a sudden something will start to erode your peace you'll start to grab for it it's gone a relatively normal night you went to bed at the normal time you're sleeping like a baby until you hear your doorbell ring you're kind of groggy goes you're in the middle of REM sleep you look at your alarm clock and it's 2 2 o'clock in the morning and the doorbell rings again and you're like what is going on and you go to the front door and you open it and there's a police officer standing there and the police officer asks if your daughter lives at your house and you say yes and you look behind him and there she's standing with another police officer and the piece that you went to bed with it just where and you sit down with there and you have a conversation with her and you say what are you thinking and this is the night this just looks at you and says you know what I don't even care what you guys say whatever just bring it and there's an edge to her that you've never seen before and by the time she goes to bed you two have said harsher words to each other than you've ever said before and you're so worried and deeply concerned and you're extrapolating on what this might look like if she keeps going this way and you're afraid for her future and your concern she's going to make a decision that will impact the rest of her days and anyone else raised teenagers yeah and the piece ASA was the rarest of Kings he was a king in Judah and he was a good one it's a really short list lots of bad Kings he was a good one he got rid of all the idols he cut down the Asherah poles he broke out broke down the high places of idol worship he established the altar of the Lord the text in second chronicles tells us that he had about 300,000 troops but it also tells us he never had to use him because no one came to war against him in fact the way it says that in the second chronicles chapter 14 verse 6 it says no one was at war with him during those years for the Lord gave him peace it was peace in the land until the king of course showed up one day the Kushites the Egyptians the Hebrew is a little difficult to understand and commentators argue about exactly what it means but most people believe it says that he had over 1 million troops a million that's a big army and this in the day of hand-to-hand combat the way you won a battle was they fought hand-to-hand and then the one with the soldiers at the end won so if you have a million versus 300,000 this is quite an advantage one day asa looks out and on the horizon there is the army of cush a million strong and what started out as a peaceful day what did he do he prayed look at 2nd chronicles 14 verse 11 the outnumbered and overwhelmed King said Lord there is no one like you to help the powerless against the mighty help us Lord our God for we rely on you and in your name we have come up against this vast army Lord you are our God do not let mere mortals prevail against you I love this prayer it says in verse 12 the Lord struck down the Kushites before ASA and Judah that's an interesting verse isn't it it doesn't say ASA struck down the Kushites it says the Lord struck down the cush outs before ASA it almost sounds like before he got there they were already dead I don't think that's what it means I think as he got there God struck them down through the armies of ASA but God did it ASA doesn't even get any credit at all the Kushites those who survived fled and in verse 13 ASA and his army pursued them as far as garage they headed south in chapter 15 verse 15 this amazing phrase is found the Lord gave them rest on every side I love that the Lord gave them rest on every side does that does that not raise your hand if having rest on every side sounds good to you that's what that sounds now if you're a king in Judah and you have rest on most sides would that be good enough let's say you have seven sides and on five sides rest on two sides not so much are you a happy King six out of seven no seven out of seven or there's no peace at all peace on every side aisa teaches us that peace is not something that we create peace is something that happens peace is something that happens look at asus prayer again in verse 11 Lord there is no one like you to help the powerless against the mighty hopeless Lord our God the first thing he does is he admits his need he admits as he is powerless and he admits that God is all-powerful there's no one like you to help people like me for he says we rely on you if you mark in your Bible Circle the word rely it's the Hebrew word son it means to lean on something it's used in the Old Testament of someone leaning on a staff or leaning on a spear that was Saul he was leaning on the spear right before he chucked it at David remember that story he was leaning on it same word it's used figuratively of someone trusting someone leaning on somebody else someone and trusting themselves to someone else and that's how the word is used here it's using a verse that many of you have memorized trust in the Lord with all your heart and what Lee not same word so on don't lean on your own understanding in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight the word acknowledge that means to know him in all your ways know him make your goal to know him and as you make your goal to know him and as you know him he makes your paths straight but don't whatever you do don't lean on your own understanding lean on him instead same word and he says we are going to lean on you God and in your name in the Old Testament the name of God spoke to his authority in his power we're going to lean on your authority we're going to lean on your power we have come up against this vast army so I'm going to face this army head-on God in your name in your power leaning on you here I go Lord you are our God I'm all-in with you there's no plan B if you don't show up I'm dead it's you do not let mere mortals prevail against us is that what it says are you reading along because I just read it wrong so what'd I tell my people in my church is when I read it wrong yell at me someone reads the Bible wrong you yell at them let's try this again do not let mere mortals prevail against us say no peace so what it says what it says is do not let mere mortals prevail against you you see I am so leaning on you I'm not just leaning on you you're like giving me a piggyback ride God I'm like clinging to you so much so that if we lose this battle you're actually the one that loses this battle you're not going to that happen are you this is a guy leaning on God leaning and trusting himself to him the battle was won God beat them and then there was peace on every side peace is not something that you create peace is something that happens the simple message of ASA is that peace happens in the middle of leaning on God peace happens in the middle of leaning on God what I want you to do is I want you to imagine a hallway the hallway is where you find yourself the moment that that happens the moment that peace runs away the moment that all of a sudden tension and stress and anxiety is introduced into your life you find yourself in a hallway we'll call it the hallway of your Kushites whatever your cush ID happens to be and you have no choice you can't choose not to be in there you're just thrust in there it just happens when the police show up at the door two in the morning you're just there you're in the hallway there's nothing you can do about it as you're walking along this hallway as you're going through this experience you find yourself coming across two door there's a door on your left across across the top of the door on the left it says lean on your own understanding and there's a door on your right and it says lean on him now you have a choice if there's a door on either side of the hallway you cannot go into both at the same time you have to choose one or the other like do you I don't know I think you can choose both I think you can lean on God and lean on your understanding let me just quote the verse to you again lean not on your own understanding trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not at one or the other if you were to choose the lean on your own understanding door you would walk in there and you know you would find you'd find a bunch of consultants it's a consulting firm inside that door you would find ideas you would find strategies you would find ways to leverage your resources you would find metrics you would find experts they're there to help if you go across the hall and you go unto into the door that says lean on him and walk in there you will find Narnia remember Narnia CS Lewis's magnificent depiction of this place where Aslan Christ rules you walk into Narnia and the grass is green and the sky is blue and the clouds are puffy whites and the air smells fragrance with life with grace with peace and as you sit down in the grass you hear the thundering voice behind you of Aslan himself and he simply says give it to me give it to me and as you give it to him peace happens peace happens this is the way Paul said it in Romans five my dad referenced this passage a few minutes ago therefore since we have been justified through faith faith is leaning on since we've leaned on Christ and we've been justified through that faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ this peace is given to us in the person of Jesus Christ Jesus Christ is the Prince of Peace Adlon is peace so the moment we entrust our life to him the moment we entrust our stuff to him peace happens therefore since we have been justified through faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand through leaning on him we find ourselves surrounded by His grace surrounded by his favor surrounded by his peace his rest his life peace happens in the middle of leaning on Jesus in the silver chair CS Lewis depicts this scene I have come set a deep voice behind them they turned and they saw the lion himself so bright and real and strong that everything else began at once to look pale and shadowy compared with him I love that everything else at once looks pale and shadowy compared to him when you entrust your Kushites to Jesus the Kushites look pale and shadowy even a million of them look pale and shadowy compared with him Keith's captain's in the middle of leaning on Jesus so let's let's stop preaching and start meddling can we it's 2 o'clock in the morning and police officer standing there your daughter there you have to talk with daughter she goes up to the bedroom you go back to bed you're lying looking at the ceiling you cannot sleep the rest of the night pieces it's gone so you find yourself in the rebellious teenager hallway that's where you are you can't help it you were thrust to there and you're walking along and you find yourself with a choice I can lean on my own understanding or I can lean on him what does it mean to lean on my own understanding I go in and I find a consulting firm first thing that happens is people hand me two or three books the first book says ten things every parent needs to do to keep their child from rebelling your legs too late for that one the next book is 148 things every father needs to do before 6:00 a.m. to raise great kids oh I'll have to read this one the next one is everything a mother should do you know you get you get all the books they're handed to you just piling up I got to read to all these tonight because I know they're gonna I'm going to find the secret to my kid in here as you're going through there with all your books you come up to the youth pastor he's got a weird haircut and skinny jeans on and he hasn't even had kids yet and he looks at you and says I'll help you raise your teenager so you sit down at the table with him and he gives you a three-point sermon on how to raise great kids and you're just taking notes going seriously and you walk along and then there's three moms there and each of these moms have had rebellious teenagers and they say sit down we want to walk you through how to deal with it because here's what happened with my kid and it just worked great and you're taking notes and then and then they say and what you really need to do is you need to talk to that guy and as you're walking towards the door there's the counselor he specializes in adolescent girls specialty he says come on I'll help you and you go to the counselor and you pay an enormous amount of money and you get a whole bunch of ideas and you walk out of the room no closer to figuring out how to love your daughter than when you walked in but a little more stressed this is what we tend to do when we're panicking when we find ourselves in a hallway we tend to try and get as much information as we possibly can so we can large existing to death so we can fake it then we remember wait Narnia is over here we go through the lean on him door and we sit down and also we feel the breath on the back of our neck and a son says give her to me give it to me and you know what you say yeah I heard P preaching the sermon but then we got to this part and I have no idea how to actually give her to you what do I do now and as I'm says oh remember this prayer that ASA preached let's try it together Lord there's no one like you to help the powerless against the mighty rebellious teenagers is a mighty foe a rebellious teenager can make a million Kushites look cushy for one of a better way to put it Lord I've got this battle in front of me it's real help us Lord our God I lean on you I choose to lean into you right now Jesus I choose to trust you with this give me ideas like my mom give me an idea Lord intervene in her life do something in her do something in us as parents if we're doing something wrong tell us what it is Holy Spirit start to raise this child through us instead of us trying to fix everything just do something supernatural Jesus I trust you intervene you know it's during this time that the Lord might bring a book to mind or he might lay on your heart you know there's a mom that lives two houses down she had a rebellious teacher go talk to her I'm gonna tell you some stuff through her or there's this counselor you really I mean he might bring these ideas to you because you've asked him in your name in your power Jesus I come across I come against this vast army or Jesus I'm going to step into this battle I will do anything you ask in your power in your authority if you're telling me to kick her out of the house we'll kick her out of the house if you're telling me to check her into rehab I'll check her into rehab if you're telling me to discipline her we will discipline her if you're telling us to let this one go and to come alongside and love in a different way we will do that just tell us and in your power Lord Jesus love her through us Lord you are our God but we have no plan B here Jesus it's you or nothing do not let mere mortals prevail against you don't let rebellion win in her life Lord Jesus because then you're losing don't lose this one do something when you're trusting Jesus with it you will find peace in it that doesn't mean it's all going to work out perfectly friends sometimes it doesn't but what it means is in the middle of whatever happens next you will experience the peace that passes all understanding I have to read you the second part of the Aces story it's the second chronicles 16 7 35 years into his peace he's had thirty five years of peace on every side that's a pretty good gig 35 years and then but Shaw comes for the vast army and he finds himself in the basalt alway Oh another vast army and he walks down the hallway and he looks to his left and he sees lean on your own understanding and it looks to his right that says lean on him and for some inexplicable reason he turns left and he goes and he takes the silver and the gold from the temple treasury and he uses it to bribe another king to come in cahoots with him and join forces to go against this fast army and the prophet of the Lord came to him in verse 7 of 2nd chronicles 16 it says this at that time Hananiah the seer came to ASA king of Judah and said to him because you relied on the king of Arum and not on the Lord your God because you leaned on someone else instead of on him the army of the king of Arum has escaped from your hand you lost the battle we're not the Kushites and Libyans a mighty army with a great number of chariots and horsemen and yet when you relied on the Lord he delivered them into your head he reminds him of what happened 35 years earlier when he leaned on God for the eyes of the Lord raged throughout the earth to strengthen those who hearts are fully committed to him that's a beautiful verse God's just looking for people who are trusting him so we can strengthen them you've done a foolish thing and from now on you will be at war another way to say war is peace on 0 sides he went from peace on all sides to peace on 0 sides what was the difference he chose relying on him peace on all sides he chose relying on man peace on 0 sides pretty clean-cut here's the point I want to make every time you find yourself in a new hallway and your hallway maybe a bed bed some bad news from the doctor it may be financial issues that may be marital issues it may be teenager stuff it may be stuff at work with your supervisor it may be that you've lost your job whatever hallway you find yourself in is a new opportunity to choose to rely on him door and just because you've been choosing it for 35 years straight and you've been living at peace with him doesn't mean today you're going to choose it again every single time you have to make this specific decision to lean on him and as you lean on him peace happens pray with me please hello Jesus thank you for loving us the way you do thank you for caring about our pain thank you for caring about the hallways we find ourselves in thank you Lord that you are there and that as we come to you and we just lay ourselves before you in whatever situation we're struggling with we entrusted into your care that you will give us peace we will find rest for our souls Lord we can't even give this to you in our own strength we need you to empowers to do this too so we surrender ourselves to you Lord whatever hallway my friends find themselves in tonight and they know exactly what the hallway is I pray that they'd be able to spend a little time in your word maybe in this very prayer sometimes tonight maybe just give it to you and as I am you in your power and authority would act and even in that moment they would experience the peace that surpasses all understanding thank you that you are a Living God thank you that you live in us Jesus thank you that you care about all this thank you that you listen thank you that you act we love you and we pray this in Jesus name Amen

Channel: Telling the Truth with Stuart and Jill Briscoe

Views: 13,220

Rating: 4.8321676 out of 5

Keywords: Pete Briscoe, Stuart Briscoe, Jill Briscoe, Telling the Truth, Listener Event, Peace, Rest, Evening with the Briscoes, Hope, Fear, Faith, Uncertainty, Christian Living

Id: MGOLBGxz3WI

Length: 81min 2sec (4862 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 17 2017