Jimmy Evans – The Power Of Peace – Stand Alone

I'm gonna preach your own piece the power of peace let me tell you the last time I preached on peace at Gateway it didn't go well I don't want to say that it just didn't go well it was about 16 years ago and we were in the daycare center pastor Robert was preaching from me in Amarillo and I was preaching down here and I was preaching on Saturday night on on peace in the midst of the storm was my message and the longer I preached the more upset people got and I just I was preaching on peace and people were just getting more and more upset about 20 minutes into my message I'm preaching and people were talking to each other and just fidgeting around their chairs and they're troubled like this and then they start getting up and leaving I'm just thinking this is the worst sermon in the history of the world does it does it get any worse than this and then the guy in the sound booth did this to me I'm thinking this one was so bad the sound guys telling me to stop he's telling me to wrap it up well it's not what he was telling me there were tornadoes touching down all over the neighborhood and they people started hearing about it in the back and it spread to the front and so but but I kept preaching I didn't know their rhetoric nobody told me sound guys doing this people are getting up and leaving but what stopped the message was the softball-sized hail that started hitting the road when that happened it was older so I'm hoping for a better experience if y'all don't mind please so okay God God's peace is profound and I lived a lot of my life without it I live some of my Christian life without it but in the days that we're living in it is the most precious commodity on earth Luke 21 this is Jesus prophesying about the end times and they're asking him when will the income he's being extremely specific and we'll talk about this for just a minute about some of the prophecies he's giving this is Luke 21:25 jesus said when the in comes there will be signs in the Sun in the moon and the stars and on the earth distress of Nations with perplexity of what that means is there are no answers there's going to be distress of Nations or is there a distress of Nations right now and there are no answers just like I said the see in the waves roaring sea in the bible represents people so it means just unrest among people men's hearts failing them from fear that's the word fob us in the greek it means terror men's hearts failing them for terror jesus prophesied worldwide terrorism right here listen men's hearts failing them for terror and the expectation of the things that are going to be happening in the world the worst thing about terrorism isn't what they're doing it's what you fear they're gonna do it's the next thing it's the expectation of the things coming upon the earth and there are people saying right now we only have 12 years left if we don't stop you know global warming or greenhouse gases like just all kinds of ominous stuff going on for the powers of the heavens will be shaken then they will see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory now when these things begin to happen look up and lift up your heads because your redemption draws near jesus said when you see all these things happening I'm coming don't get all down and don't get your eyes on the world put your eyes on the skies because I'm coming to get you and so these are absolutely and I believe in a pre-tribulation rapture based on Luke 17 one scripture jesus said it would be like the days of Noah like the days of lot buying and selling marrying giving in marriage I believe that we're living in the days just prior to the return of Jesus Christ and Jesus said when you see these things begin to happen don't get down don't don't get you know overwhelmed by it look up put your eyes on me your redemption is drawing near listen where you put your focus in these days will depend on whether you live in peace or whether you live in anxiety or even terror and a lot of people a lot of people are drug addicted a lot of people are alcohol addicted a lot of people are trying to find a moment of peace but Jesus has promised us an eternity of peace beginning right now and I'll live a lot of my life without it I lived most of my life with it and it's a profound thing this is this is what the Bible says about peace Romans 14:17 the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit you can you can tell how close you are to the kingdom of God on your level of peace your proximity to Jesus will always increase and um he's in your heart but I'm talking about walking with Jesus the closer you're walking with Jesus the more peace you will experience Romans 15:13 now may the god of Hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit galatians 5:22 but the fruit of the Spirit is love joy peace patience kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness and self-control the further the spirit is piece/pieces and in us pieces in the Holy Spirit and he gives he gives his peace to everybody who asked Isaiah 9:6 calls Jesus the Prince of Peace Hebrews 6 20 says that Jesus has become high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek Hebrews 7 2 tells us that Melchizedek means king of Salem Salem means peace Jerusalem jyro means city of Salem means peace Jesus will reign forever from a city called the city of peace our God is a God of peace our Jesus is the Prince of Peace and the king of peace and everything he does is peace God never uses fear he always uses peace in our lives peace is a profoundly important thing in the life of a believer but Satan wants to keep you from it especially in the days we're living in now if you have it he wants to take it from you if you don't have it he wants to keep it from you but it is the promise of Jesus to every believer it's the birthright of every believer this is John 14 this is the promised peace I leave with you my peace I give to you not as the world gives do I give to you let not your heart be troubled neither let it be afraid you have heard me say to you I am going away and coming back to you if you love me you would rejoice because I said I'm going to the Father for my father is greater than I in John 14 this is where Jesus is telling the disciples that he's going to prepare a place for them and my father's house for many mansions I'm going to go and prepare a place for you but as surely as I leave I'm going to come back and what he's promising here is from the time that he left until the time he burped turns he's promising us his piece not as the world gives Jesus said I'm giving you my piece and so the Peace of Jesus is an abiding internal transom stanchion peace it's easy to get in hard to loose the Peace of the world is a fragile elusive and circumstantial piece that's hard to get it as easier to lose when I was a young believer and Karen I've been married maybe for a couple of years or so I had a lot of anxiety and I had I had a skin problem and the skin problem got worse it was kind of a rash but it just kept getting worse and I went to dermatologists one day and I thought well I need to get I need to get some medicine for this skin problem so once the dermatologist said you know went off the scent and he came in and looked at it and he said yeah and he gave a name for us whatever he said my nurse will be in here just a minute I thought well good I'll get a shot or I get some medicine and get this thing over with so she came in the room about you know five minutes later it was a cassette recorder anybody remember cassette recorders before that it was rocks and chisels but then then there were cassette recorder so she she came in with a cassette recorder and put it down on the counter and push play in left the room and it was a little speech on anxiety and how to deal with it and I'm listening to this thinking I did not come to the skin doctor for a lecture or a sermon I want medicine and so I listened to the cassette and nobody else came in the room so I just went up the counter I said is that all they say I just kept my car I thought I'm a nervous wreck they bailed um and it was I did not have the peace of God I won't listen to me we were not designed by God to live in an atmosphere that isn't peace your body has to live in peace to be healthy without peace in your life you'll have all kinds of physical problems the number one reason for doctor's office visits in America is stress the number one reason for medication in America is stressful we are not designed by God to live under stress and anxiety we're designed by God to live in peace so I live I lived under stress for years but I live in peace I've lived in peace for many years it's a profoundly different thing whether you're living in God's peace remember Jesus has promised you his peace until he returns it's the promise of Jesus well let me talk about the importance of walking in the peace of God number one is peace is how God guides us now a lot of believers don't know this and I didn't know this for a while peace is how God guides us this is Colossians 3:15 let the peace of God rule in your hearts to which also you were called in one body and be thankful now the word rule is says let the peace of God rule is the word bribe you oh it means to umpire like an umpire in a football game or an umpire in a baseball game it means situational guidance okay well why is peace so important to guide us many of the decisions we make are not a matter of right long they're a matter of right and right where do I go to church what major do I take in college you know who are my friends you know what house do I buy what car do I buy there are many there are many many decisions in life that the Bible doesn't even talk about you know and so how do you make those decisions you pray anyway don't God's peace let me give you in the Old Testament it was called the room in the to me and you may have read about in the Bible it's in numbers it's in the amount of their places but the high priest wore a breastplate over over his chest and behind the breastplate there was a rock and a stick and it was called the room and the to mean an arene means fire or light and to me means perfection or standard and so it was in a pouch over the high priests heart he couldn't see it but he could feel it and so they would consult God through the room in the to me and they would go before God and the high priest would say Lord do we go against the Philistines Lord do we do this Lord we do this and he would just wait and if God were saying yes the dream would heat up and the to meme would stand up and he could see this is this is peace the peace of God is tangible it's not a subjective thing it is something that you can feel or not feel there are many Karen and I have made hundreds and hundreds of decisions solely on peace if the Bible says not to do something don't do it if the Bible says to do something do it but there are many things decisions that we make every single day the Bible didn't have anything to say about it's a matter of letting the peace of God rule in your hearts and so you're praying about a decision Karen and I bought a house one time we had a small group in our house and this is before I came on staff at Trinity and Amborella we had a small group in our house and grew and grew it out to her house and so we were looking for another house and so we bought this other house and we went to look at it was the perfect house it just had everything that we needed right priced everything but we hadn't sold our old house and the real estate agent said they won't take a contract with a contingency to sell your house and I remember I felt anxious I remember I thought we've got to get this house we just we just have to get this house and so I made it happen we bought the new house we got into it carpeted it painted it we still had another house and it didn't sell and every month that went by without that house selling was absolutely excruciating and every month I became more humble and I went before the Lord first month second month third month fourth month eight month ninth month and I said God please please I repent and the Lord said you made that decision by fear because you thought you were gonna lose that house and he said Jimmy it was the right house it was the wrong timing and if you would have waited on me in my peace you would have had that house but you would have not had this stress and I remember I remember when the Lord said it to me and I repented and the house sold the next month and Jimmy has never done that again Jim Jimmy has been clean ever since we God will never use anxiety to guide you I have never regretted one that listen Karen I have made hundreds of decisions based on peace we've never made a wrong decision and we we wait on each other we we don't bully each other if Karen doesn't have a peace I know that God's saying that that's not right and so every single time that God is guiding you he will guide you by peace everything can look right but you don't have a peace about it there have been so many times that if you use reason if everything looks right but there's a profound lack of peace the presence of peace is profound the lack of peace is profound and when God is saying no he just won't give you peace about issues I just love a peace but when God is when you feel a peace especially when both of you are feeling a peace that means that God is saying yes when the devil takes your peace he's knocked out a critical navigational instrument from your life peace is how God guides us list of this one number two peace is how God protects our minds and hearts against Satan's attacks of fear and anxiety this is Philippians 4 be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus the word guard there is the Greek word FRU Rayo it means to protect by a military guard to prevent a hostile invasion listen be anxious for nothing did you know that anxiety is not a condition it's a choice the Bible wouldn't tell us not to be anxious if we couldn't use not to be anxious and I'm going to talk just a minute about prayer but it says don't don't be anxious for anything but in everything with prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God and the peace of God that passes all comprehension what does that mean you shouldn't be at no one else is everybody else is upset based on what's going on in your life you shouldn't have a piece it passes understanding why do you have so much peace because the Holy Spirit has built a fortress around you a piece that the devil can't penetrate he can't make you worry one time we were we were fasting we were doing a fast at first a year and I said to the Lord I said Lord what are you made it fast he said whirring I thought well I don't worry that much you said yeah you did you're gonna fast whirring for the next twenty-one days and then I started worrying about how I was gonna stop worrying I did I could not worry for 21 days I tried to make myself worry let me tell you when God puts his piece on you the devil can't penetrate it with without the peace of God protecting us were vulnerable or vulnerable to the devil number three thing that peace is important in our lives it's the platform of our witness if he's in 615 the Apostle Paul is talking about the armor of God that protects us against Satan and he's saying having shot your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace and so the gospel that we preach is one of peace of reconciling God with men let me say this people in the hospital are not riding good well Get Well cards to other people they're sick they're thinking about getting well when you don't have peace in your life you're not really thinking about other people having peace in their life through Jesus you're not witnessing you're not you're not helping I'm not saying you're not helping anyone but peace is so attractive to unbelievers when believe this is what they're looking for they're looking for it through money they're looking for it through relationships are looking for it through substances the world is looking for peace and we have for free what they're looking for and it says when you wake up every day put on the gospel of peace we should be on the day of Pentecost Peter there's 9 o'clock in the morning and Peter said these people are not drunk like you think they are he had they were had so much peace and were so full of the holy spirit they had to explain to him they weren't drunk people should be walking up to us say who's your pusher where do you get that stuff I want that's good stuff obviously you're on the good stuff yeah the Holy Spirit's my pusher I'll send him to you if we are walking in the peace of God it makes us attractive and also when you're walking in the peace of God you start thinking about other people and how they're living their lives number four it's the purpose of our ministry and our influence this is Matthew 5:9 blessed are the peacemakers this is our calling for they shall be called sons of God Luke 10 go your way I send you out as lambs among wolves carry neither money bag knapsack nor sandals and greet no one along the road but whatever house you enter first say peace to this house and if a son of Peace is there your peace will rest on it if not it will return to you know that's a pretty profound thing that we can walk up by the way Jesus treating and Paul's greeting and the greeting and the Bible was a peace and Hebrew Shalom which means peace it's a greeting he says when you walk into a house you can speak your peace on that house your ministry is to extend the peace of the kingdom of God forever you go that's your ministry list this is mark 4 on the same day when evening had come he said then let us cross over to the other side when they had left the multitude they took him along in the boat as he was and other little boats were also with him and a great wind storm arose and the waves beat into the boat so that was already filling but he was in the stern to sleep on a pillow and they awoke him and said to him teacher do you not care that we are perishing then he arose and rebuked the wind and said to the sea peace be still and the wind ceased and there was a great calm but he said to them why are you so fearful how is it that you have no faith and they feared exceedingly and said to one another who can this be that even the wind and sea obey him so our ministry is peace so here's the here's the moral of this story the disciples are on the deck Jesus is asleep in this big storm is arisen and they're terrified and they come down and wake Jesus up and he comes up and he says peace and the sea grew calm why could Jesus do that and the disciples couldn't and here's the answer because the sea looked like their hearts and when Jesus spoke is stopped the storm stopped and then it looked like his heart you can't give away what you don't have if you don't have the your environment will always manifest your inner nature and there are two kinds of people peacemakers and troublemakers and if your heart is a raging sea and you don't have peace in your life you won't have peace in your relationships you want to have peace around you wherever you go because you're your environment is always going to manifest your in turn Eicher so let me talk finish this message the five essential foundations of peace how do you get this peace that's why it's important how to get this piece here are five foundations of piece number one submission to the lordship of Christ this is the most important Isaiah 9 for unto us a child is born unto us a son is given and the government will be upon his shoulder and his name will be called wonderful counselor mighty God everlasting father Prince of Peace of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end of the increase of his government and peace there will be no in James chapter 4 says submit to God then resist the devil and he'll flee from you if you're not submitted to God that mean you're not a believer doesn't mean you don't love Jesus I'm not saying that but if you're not submitted to God it means you're out here the peace is here and so when Karen and I got married you know talked about you know anxiety and the skin problems I was having and things like that I was a believer and I was committed to Christ my marriage and our finances were not submitted to Jesus Christ I was a bad husband I never prayed about our marriage I just thought Karen was the problem and I never prayed about our finances I just worried about our finances but when I came under the authority I remember the day that I submitted our marriage that we submitted our marriage to Jesus and everything Chauncey when you're not submitted to Jesus you have two strong wills trying to overpower each other when you're submitted to Jesus you have two wills surrender to the will of Jesus and you're at peace when you're under and you know and you know if you're submitted by how much you pray if you don't pray it just means you're you're an independent agent you're just acting on your own but being submitted to Jesus the more his government increases in your life the more peace you'll have and when you look at an area of your life where you don't have peace it just simply means you have it yielded in that area you love Jesus you're a good person you're going to heaven but it's telling you something okay number two foundation of peace is diligent faithful prayer and we go back to Philippians four be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ well an interesting little thing there is says be anxious for nothing this is a choice it says with Thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God did you know without faith prayer is just griping in the spirit literally I have prayed before and I was as upset when I got finished praying as I was when I before I pray and really the purpose of my prayer was upset him I was worried and I just wanted to worry him I was just worrying God that's all I was doing prayer doesn't work if you don't transfer the burden here's what Peter says first Peter 5:7 casting all of your care upon him because he cares for you and your concept of God is critical when it comes to prayer and here's what it means when I come to God and I pray don't be anxious for anything that's your choice anxiety this is what I've learned being a nervous anxious worrying kind of a person it's my choice if but okay so some people say well I don't know how to pray I mean let me teach how to pray five seconds we'll teach you how to pray wake up in the morning make a list of everything you're worried about at the top of it write prayer list I just taught you how to pray just worry pray and here's what you do you don't just pray you pray with Thanksgiving was that mean father I thank you that you love me I thank you that you hear my prayers Jesus said you know every hair of my head you care about every detail of my life and I'm thankful I am thankful that I have a loving daddy to take care of me now I am coming to you not to inform you because I know you already know I'm coming to transfer the burden of this I'm just a sheep I can't bear burdens it stresses me out I'm giving this to you father and I'm trusting you with this I'm trusting you with my relationships I'm trusting you with my job I'm trusting you with my friends I'm trusting you with my education the burden is off of me and now the burden is on you Peter says cast all your care upon him faith filled prayer brings peace it says and the peace that passes all comprehension when you pray and you do it with Thanksgiving it says it will guard your mind in your heart and so the Saints of old called it praying through how do you know you've prayed enough when you have peace if you don't have peace keep praying and don't just don't just be worried while you're praying trust God while you're praying number three a god word mindset a god word mindset having our minds on God Isaiah 26:3 you will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you because he trusts in you I was in my office one day studying I have a TV in my office I my TV turned on a lot of times I watch golf or something long study and that's what my messages are anointed but on this day I had it on cable news I had my TV on cable news and I was sitting there studying and what about three or four hours into it I began to lose my peace and what I realized was I was watching the worst thing in the world happening live moment by moment and when I realize this I can't I like watching the news but if you watch it too much you lose your peace if all you're doing so Karen and I were on a flight to Hawaii for our anniversary I think was our 25th anniversary or something and we had we'd had a hard year we had some things happen that just were bad you know just hard hurtful painful kind of bad and I it it upset it hurt me ended upset me and Karen knew I was sitting by the window and you know Karen I was upset and so we got up in the air and we were I think we were flying over the Pacific Ocean and Karen turned to me and she said are you okay and I turned to her and I said I feel like I'm waiting for the next shoe to drop I just feel like a lot of bad things have happened I'm just waiting for the next bad thing to happen and she kind of patted me on the hand you know and I was just sitting there on the flight just thinking about stuff and here's what the Lord said to me real real comforting he said Jimmy fear is expecting the devil to move faith is expecting me to move now you can put your mind anywhere you want it but if you're gonna have your mind on the devil moving you'll have no peace it helped they helped me tremendously during that whole trip that's all I meditated on Romans 8 for those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh but those who live according to the spirit the things of the Spirit for to be carnally minded is death but to be spiritually minded is life and peace your mindset is yours to set no one set your mind for you you set your mind I set my mind and we have to make a decisions this is importance of the word of prayer of worship of meditation wherever you set your mind is going to determine whether you have peace or anxiety see David David went down to the valley floor to fight Goliath all the army of Israel was terrified of Goliath is nine feet tall and David walked up and they were all terrified and David walked up and said who is this uncircumcised Philistine and he kept mentioning it every time David brought the issue up he said who is that uncircumcised Philistine you're thinking what's the big deal about that yeah let me tell what the big deal is God made a covenant with Abraham and the sign of the covenant was circumcision and God said to Abraham this is an everlasting covenant and I will be your God and I will protect you from all your enemies and David walked up all the other men could only see a 9-foot tall guy David walked up and realized I'm circumcised he's not I'm protected he's not I don't need your armor Saul I can kill him with a slingshot it's all your perspective it's all your perspective it's all where your mind is number four foundation of peace is daily dependence upon the holy spirit depending on the Holy Spirit the fruit of the Spirit is love joy peace patience kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness and self-control our our emotions are like an engine but they have to have oil or they overheat and walk up the Holy Spirit is the oil the engine of our emotions was designed to run on your car will do unbelievable things as long as it's well lubricated but without oil it locks down very quickly that's the same with your emotions every single day we need to pray and say will you give me emotional grace it's a free gift it's a free gift but we just have to admit that we need it and we say the Holy Spirit would you give me your peace I've got some difficult things that are coming up today I've got some difficult people to deal with would you help me you know in after 46 years of being saved it's amazing how godly I can be in difficult circumstances under the power of the Holy Spirit it's amazing how carnal I can be when I'm not walking in the Holy Spirit especially in traffic people who are wonderful Christians are heathen Philistines behind the wheel and we need the Holy Spirit we need the Holy Spirit number five is praise and worship Isaiah 60:1 the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted to proclaim Liberty to captives and the opening of the prisons of those who are bound to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God to comfort all who mourn to consult those who mourn in Zion to give them beauty for Ashes the oil of joy for mourning and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness this is a messianic prophecy talking about Jesus and it says that he gives us the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness why don't why does the Bible call praise a garment because you have to put it on you don't wake up with it what the Bible also tells us in Colossians to put on humility why does the Bible tell us to put on humility because we're naturally prideful people and two things I decide to put on I've tried to remember everyday is humility and praise today I'm going to be humble and today I'm gonna open my mouth I'm gonna praise God and it says God's gonna give you a garner garment of praise if you'll put it on for a spirit of darkness that's what the word means a spirit of heaviness this is depression and discouragement and anxiety it's a spirit whenever depression comes in our lives by the way anxiety just wears our emotions out and we become depressed the number one or one of the clinical definitions for depression is just anger current in work or stress turned inward and it just wears your emotions out and then the devil comes and puts the spirit of darkness on you and all you can think about is your problems I saw so someone said one day this statement if you can't smile by feeling smile by faith here's what I say if you can't praise with your feelings praise by faith but the devil hates praise this is Psalm 149 I'll close with this let the Saints be joyful and glory let them single out on their beds let the high praises of God be in their mouth and a two-edged sword their hand to execute vengeance on the nation and punishment to the people to bind their kings with chains and their nobles with fetters of iron to exit execute upon them the written judgment this honor have all the saints this isn't talked about people this talk about the devil it said let the high praises of God be in your mouth in a two-edged sword on your hand and attack the devil and when the devil comes and tries to put discouragement tries to put depression tries to put anxiety on you you've got to open your mouth and begin to praise God you've got to decide I'm not going to let the devil put a spirit of heaviness on me Psalm 22 says that God is enthroned upon the praises of his people the devil cannot minister in the presence of God and whenever you're praising you're creating a throne for God right there it's very important that we understand we were designed to live in peace and as jesus promised submission are you submitted is there an area of your life that isn't submitted that'll create a lot of problems faith filled prayer do you believe that God your father and he cares about you and do you go regularly before him not worrying but praying a god word mindset where's your mind you know what what are you thinking about what's your perspective of life dependence on the Holy Spirit how often do you tell the Holy Spirit that you need him how often do you ask him for peace and the things that he's there freely to give and praise do you praise God in the storm do you praise God in the difficulties of life or is your confession more negative whatever it might be and I've made every mistake I've made every mistake related to this but I've learned and a lot of it the hard way I've learned peace is the only way to live your life in peace is why Jesus came he came to make peace between God and men and give us the ability to live our lives in peace

Channel: gatewaychurchtv

Views: 173,358

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Keywords: gateway, Gateway Church, gatewaypeople, Sermon, Jesus, God, Dallas, Texas, Robert Morris, Stand Alone, Jimmy Evans, The Power Of Peace

Id: tBLQ4YqG69Y

Length: 34min 26sec (2066 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 24 2019