Peace

well it's my job to introduce a speaker that i'm sure for most of us needs no introduction if you've read her books if you've listened to her radio program gateway to joy how many here have read a book by elizabeth elliot very few that haven't and her radio program anyone listen to a radio program the many listeners here i know that in uh here at times square church we had a book we have a book club and we've read several of her books together in that uh club and enjoyed it so much if you have a little program or brochure there is a shortened version of her biography in the back of that for anyone that our speaker is fairly new to it basically will tell us that she was born into a christian home of missionary parents that she was a missionary that she has been widowed twice currently married to lars graham has a married daughter and is a grandmother but it's for none of those reasons that we invited her to speak to us today i believe that this woman is a woman that god has entrusted with a message it's a timeless message it's a tested message and it's an enduring word she does not speak what's in vogue this lady speaks with love what women need to hear and we honor her today because the lord has honored her by giving her a name and a reputation it's one known for integrity humility and she speaks with authority i know that we are going to be blessed today and beloved join with me in welcoming our conference speaker elizabeth elliott [Applause] thank you so much am i supposed to hold this i wasn't sure i would be able to get up here and say a word after what we just heard i clepped my hands and said glory he's the one who died for us isn't that wonderful beyond words wonderful i just want to mention one of the books that are available at the book table this one is called let me be a woman and this was my wedding present to my daughter valerie when she was married back in the 70s and i began to see very sad things happening among women at that time and so i've written this book about what it means to be a woman of god i'm very grateful for the privilege of being here in times square church and i wish i could talk about all the fruits of the spirit galatians 5 says that the fruits of the spirit are love joy peace patience kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness and self-control well obviously we can't talk about all of those today but i do want to talk about two of them peace we live we my husband and i live in a very peaceful place we hear birds we hear the waves of massachusetts bay and the soft thumping of lobster pots in front of our house we're about 30 miles northeast of boston and it's a million miles away from times square it seems but my assumption is that you don't have a whole lot of what you might call peace here in new york city the absence of noise stir and commotion seems to me when i come to new york that there's never a moment when there isn't a siren screaming someplace and of course no doubt you seasoned new yorkers pay no attention to that whatsoever and some years ago when my oldest grandson was only about three i happened to be in the car with his father and him when his father decided it was time to go through the car wash and so as the car was drawn into this large dark tunnel my little grandson his eyes got real big and he began to look around and then when this tremendous roar of water began to occur i could see his face go immediately to his father back again to what was going on around these strange things on the car he didn't cry he wasn't afraid because he knew his father and i thought what a parable that is a parable in a car wash this little boy knew that his father was going to take care of him and that everything was fine but all of a sudden there was a tremendous bang on the windshield and then there was the roar of the water coming from all sides at each time his big blue eyes would go immediately to the face of his father and he would be calmed and then finally the car was drawn out into the sunshine and there was a big smile from my little grandson the lord wants to give you and me peace a peace that passes understanding a peace that the world can never possibly give and i trust that today there will be some of you who will find that peace that you've never found before jesus said peace i leave with you my peace i give unto you not as the world giveth give i unto you now for any of you who might be wanting to take notes i'm going to give you three points i always like to do this so that if you go home your husband says well what did olds what's her name talk about and you're not going to remember a thing but if you have a pencil and paper and you want three points then at least you'd be able to say well she talked about three things the heading was peace number one is the gift number two acceptance and number three the result the gift the acceptance the result jesus said peace i leave with you my peace i give you now that ladies is a promise and god never breaks a promise this is a gift which is given here and now in our grubby little souls if in spite of all our troubles and weaknesses our sufferings and our sins we can open the door to jesus and he waits for us to open that door he's not going to barge in he waits and says will you love me will you trust me will you praise me and i want to be able to say yes lord yes lord yes lord now have you opened your heart to the lord jesus undoubtedly there are some here today who have not done that maybe somebody dragged you here and you wonder who in the world this woman is and why would you have to come well it just might be that the spirit of god is going to speak to your heart in a way that you haven't learned before jesus said i do not give to you as the world gives do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid now those are commands we women are prone to fear prone to worry you're looking at a woman who is a champion worrier and i come from long lines of champion worriers on both sides of the family but you know what the bible says don't worry about anything whatever that's what the bible says don't worry well i think every day there's a challenge to me to worry about something i wasn't i was very worried about how in the world i was ever going to get to times square church we're staying way downtown with some friends and a wonderful man who also happened to be staying with them brought me in the taxi so i didn't have worried about anything but it is a command don't worry there's a story in mark 4 about a furious squall that came up when jesus was in a boat with his disciples and the bible says a furious squall came up and the waves broke over the boat so that it was nearly swamped jesus in the midst of all this was asleep with his head on a pillow i love that little touch there the bible tells us that jesus put his head on a pillow he was a human being just like us he got tired he needed to have some sleep and so there he was in the stern sleeping with his head on a pillow and the disciples woke him and they said teacher don't you care if we drown well jesus got up rebuked the wind and the waves and said quiet be still and what happened the bible says the wind died down and it was completely calm he said to his disciples why are you so afraid why is it that you have no faith what would your answer be if he asked you that today i don't know anything about any of you i don't know what you may be worried about some terrible thing that you may have to do tomorrow maybe you have to see a doctor about something that's scaring you whatever it is jesus is there and he's saying to you do you still have no faith he loves you remember that sure does make it a lot easier thank you so much i don't like having to hold the thing and look at my notes at the same time so thank you so much for that when i was in my mid-teens i went to a bible conference in new jersey and i heard a woman who had been a missionary in africa speak and she used a verse from isaiah 50 verse seven she told us some hair-raising stories about very narrow escapes that she had had with very uh hostile people in the jungles of africa and there was one time when she woke up and heard a tremendous lot of noise and there were men coming out of the forest with torches and they were going round and round her little house where she was alone and she felt quite sure that they were going to kill her and she said it was then that the lord brought to my mind this wonderful verse from isaiah 50 verse 7. the lord god will help me therefore shall i not be confounded therefore have i set my face like a flint and i know that i shall not be ashamed and i will never forget dr virginia blakeslee leaning over that pulpit with the tears pouring down her face as she repeated that wonderful verse which has become one of my special verses isaiah 50 verse 7 the lord god will help me therefore shall i not be confounded therefore have i set my face like a flint and i know that i shall not be ashamed that stuck in my mind it's still there i will never forget the intensity with which he spoke those words it's jesus who's speaking to you this morning lord of the universe lover of souls and you have to choose to trust him will you love me he says will you trust me will you praise me well lord i'm going to have a go at it i want to i want to learn to love you and trust you and praise you but lord you know what a tough life i have and you know how awful my husband is and you know those dreadful neighbors next door and all these awful things that are happening in my life and i think he smiles at us and says i got the whole world in my hands i've got you and me sister in my hands nothing is going to happen to you without my permission so i'm giving you a gift he says he is my lord and master he is asking me to do impossible things and of course at my age of very close to 74 i think lord i don't know whether i can do this one more time and the lord said you get up and do what i tell you to do when i tell you to do it god's command is his enabling he's not going to command you to do anything which he will not help you to perform now don't you forget it ladies remember the story about peter walking on water he said lord let me come to you and so the lord called him and he started to walk and what happened he took his eyes off jesus looked around at the wind and the waves and began to sink and beginning to sink he called out lord save me and of course the lord jesus took his hand and saved him the gift is peace now the second thing acceptance isaiah 26 verses 3 and 4 says this you will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is steadfast because he trusts in you trust in the lord forever for the lord the lord is the rock eternal that's from isaiah 6 to 26 verses 3 and 4. another version says thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee because he trusteth in thee and if you are stewing and worrying about something this morning i pray that you will receive the peace that god wants to give you and that means acceptance that means opening your hands and saying lord i'll take it i don't understand it you know how afraid i am you know how i don't know what the world to do about this thing lord i'm going to accept the fact that you have given me peace and i'm going to accept it with all my heart isaiah 26 i will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee when i was growing up we lived in philadelphia and in the summer time we would go to new hampshire wonderful place it was just like heaven to us and there was an old cottage there that had been built by my great great uncle and so each summer we would have a turn in that cottage there were other families and so we had to have a certain rule of thumb as to who was going to go there when and it was it was just heaven to us compared to where we lived in philadelphia we lived on a very busy street it was very hot in summertime and to get up there to the cool breezes of new hampshire and i can remember just cuddling down into that tiny little room that was always mine and the smell of the balsam trees would come through and i could hear the little river down below rippling over the rocks and i would pull the covers around my head myself and then i would look up on the wall where there was this poem written sleep sweetly in this quiet room oh thou whoear thou art and let no mournful yesterdays disturb thy peaceful heart nor let tomorrow scare thy rest with thoughts of coming ill thy maker is thy changeless friend his love surrounds thee still forget thyself and all the world put out each feverish light the stars are watching overhead sleep sweetly then good night and i would sleep very sleek very sweetly but the smell of the balsams the sound of the little river the wind and the balsam trees and that wonderful little poem written by that ubiquitous person called anonymous never have been able to find out who wrote it but i love that poem and i have it in my guest room at home sleep sweetly in this quiet room oh thou whoever thou art and let no mournful yesterdays disturb thy peaceful heart nor let tomorrow scare thy rest with thoughts of coming ill thy maker is thy changeless friend his love surrounds thee still forget thyself it's not always easy is it forget thyself in all the world put out each feverish light the stars are watching overhead sleep sweetly then good night acceptance you have to accept it that isn't that is a decision that you have to make there is such a thing as inward quietness i've known a number of godly people who seemed to exude that inward quietness which should be characteristic of all of us who love the lord jesus cultivate inward quietness cultivate a spirit of calm acceptance and you say to me but elizabeth how can i do that i don't know how to do that well just get down on your knees lift up your empty hands and say lord i want to accept your peace please give it to me you think he will refuse of course not he wants you to ask him you know he pours out many things to us which we haven't even thought of asking him for but there are many times when he's waiting for us to ask and once he gives it to us then we should have a calm acceptance a choice oswald chambers said all god's revelations are sealed to us until we obey all god's revelations are sealed to us until we obey you will never get them open by philosophy or thinking the moment you obey a flash of light comes obey god in the thing he is showing you and instantly the next thing is opened up and if you have listened to my radio broadcast you have certainly heard me talk about do the next thing and that is a wonderful principle that my mother taught me many many years ago when you're just completely overwhelmed with things to do you don't know what to do next just calm down and say lord show me what is the next thing and he's going to show you one step at a time he's not going to bombard you with a whole pile of stuff all at once but just do the next thing so back to what oswald chambers says the moment you obey a flash of light comes obey god in the thing he is showing you and instantly the next thing is opened up i don't know anybody in this audience there might be somebody one or two people who know me but you have to make yourself known to me i don't know who's here but i know that god knows every one of you and he knows whatever you may be struggling with and then you know the lord really doesn't want us to be struggling with things forever he wants us to trust him and to leave our struggles in his hands he's got the whole world in his hands he's got you and me sister where in his hands he's got the tiny little babies in his hands he's got the roaring drunkards in his hands i can remember hearing cory 10 boom use those words he loves you he wants to give you peace so i'm going to read oswald chambers more of this obey god in the thing he is showing you and instantly the next thing is opened up we read books about the work of the holy spirit when five minutes of drastic obedience would make things as clear as a sunbeam i love that and it bears repeating write down this part if you didn't get the rest of it we read books about the work of the holy spirit of course there's nothing wrong with reading books about the work of the holy spirit but it's five minutes of drastic obedience that would make things as clear as a sunbeam here we are stewing away with our head in some very difficult book when the lord has told you i want you to do this one thing for me five minutes of drastic obedience what are you being disobedient about today i don't know it's none of my business but i dare say there are few of you here who are being disobedient and you know it so what is god saying to you five minutes of drastic obedience i don't make things as clear as a sunbeam now you might say well i suppose i'm going to understand someday wouldn't it be wonderful to be like elizabeth elliott she's learned all these things well believe me ladies and gentlemen i am learning new things every day and i am reviewing things that i learned 50 years ago 60 years ago 70 years ago and the lord is reminding me i am to accept whatever the situation may be that i don't like or that nasty person that is so difficult to get along with or why in the world do i have to do this that my husband wants me to do right now when i thought i was going to have time to do that five minutes of drastic obedience would make things clear as a sunbeam and you may be feeling sorry for your poor little self you know we we women are prone to feel very sorry for ourselves and we think well i suppose someday i'll be able to understand these things you can understand now it is not study that god is offering to you it is obedience and you and your heart of hearts know that you are supposed to obey something that god is speaking to you about will you hear him will you obey him god will never reveal more truth about himself till you obey and obey what you already know a missionary to south africa by the name of andrew murray wrote these rules for himself one god brought me here it is by his will that i am in this narrow place he uses an old english word that we don't use very often he brought me here it is by his will i am in this narrow place in that fact i will rest number two he will keep me here in his love and give me grace to behave as his child number three he will make the trial a blessing teaching me the lessons that he intends for me to learn and working in me the grace he means to bestow number four in his good time he can bring me out again how and when he knows now i know that you couldn't possibly have taken down all four of those things so i'm going to give you four simple answers that say just exactly what he has said in more words he says let me say here i am number one i'm here by god's appointment and i think we can assume that every one of us is here today by god's appointment for some reason perhaps for many reasons and if you are one of those who was dragged here against your will be assured that the lord has something specific to say to you too but let me say that i am here by god's appointment those of you who are taking notes number two in his keeping number three under his training and number 4 for his time by god's appointment in his keeping under his training and for his time and if you want one of my favorite verses from the psalms it's psalm 16 5. i couldn't tell you how this has simplified my life tremendously lord you have assigned me my portion and my cup and have made my lot secure what peace that brings me when i get frantic and worried and stewing about things and thinking if i can possibly get all this pile of work done before i have to go to new york or whatever it is i go back to psalm 16 5 lord you have assigned me my portion and god knows exactly the portion of life span that each of us has god knows all the trials and tribulations that you deal with in your home in your work in your neighborhood in your church lord you have signed me my portion in my cup and have made my lot secure my lot is whatever god is dishing out to me and he has made it secure i am here by god's appointment in his keeping under his training and for his time and somebody named bj hoff i have no idea who she was but this is what she wrote when i want to do only great things for you make me willing to do small unnoticed things too when i want to do what the world will acclaim make me willing to do what will lift up your name are we humble enough to say something like that to god lord i want to be your servant i want to do anything that you want me to do but i sure hope you're going to give me something dramatic to do chances aren't very good are they that he's going to give us something really dramatic jesus said if you want to be my disciple there are three things that we have to do you know what they are if you want to be my disciple now you don't have to be jesus disciple if you don't want to there's any number of traveling rabbis you could follow them in jesus day jesus was a rabbi as well but he said if you want to be my disciple you must number one give up your right to yourself may i see the hands of those of you who find that easy give up your right to yourself yes that's what jesus said now you don't have to follow him if you don't want to there any number of itinerant rabbis all over the place you can follow any of those but he said if you want to be my disciple you must give up your right to yourself and that's the first thing he puts at the top of the list because it's the most difficult we don't want to give up our rights to ourselves we want to feel good about ourselves and there's a whole lot of people in the world out there and some of them call themselves christians and they tell you that you're supposed to feel good about yourself you know i can't find one shred of anything in this book that tells me that that i'm supposed to feel good about myself no jesus said if you want to be my disciple give up your right to yourself number two take up the cross now in what form do you expect jesus christ to ask you to take up his cross are you bewildered you think what in the world does that mean am i supposed to be crucified literally no but he says take up the cross which means probably small unnoticed things that god wants you to do that nobody else is ever going to notice very likely that's the way it's going to be he's not going to give us anything dramatic anything wonderful that we can shout abroad to all the world this is what god has taught me there might be one or two things like that but take up the cross means the continual daily practice of small duties which are distasteful to you anybody here got any small duties which are distasteful to you well i won't ask for a show of hands but i dare say there's a few of you out there little things you say i hate you know i hate having to wash dishes what do you think jesus thinks about that it's a job that is required of you so you get busy and you wash those dishes and sing while you're doing it and if it's dirty diapers that you have to sing over then sing and you have that nasty person at work that you're just so fed up with and you just want to say lord get her out of here and the lord's likely to say i'm going to get you out of there because you're the problem i don't know but i have a hunch that i might be ringing some bells out there about these three conditions of discipleship number one give up your right yourself number two take up the cross and number three is follow and that means a continual daily following the lord jesus in whatever he is showing you is it too hard is it impossible are you perplexed and say well lord i don't know how to do that and he says i'll show you get down on your knees when's the last time you got down on your knees and said just lord show me i don't know what to do and i've been in some very very tough places in my life wondering what in the world god wants me to do some of you know that my first husband was killed along with five four other american missionaries five of them killed all at once by a group of so-called savages who thought that these white men were going to eat them that's why they killed them they didn't kill them because they were hate full of hate and blood thirst they were scared they thought these white men were going to come and kill them so when it looked to me after my husband's death that god was telling me that i was supposed to go down there and live with those people that was a little difficult to swallow jesus just says follow give up your right to yourself everything was quite comfortable where i was living with another tribe of indians very peaceful kind sweet people give up your right yourself now take up the cross which could be any kind of difficult things and follow and he tells us i will show you the way we're down now to number three which is the result the name of this talk is peace number one is the gift number two is the acceptance number three is the result we talked about a little boy's trust in that car wash we talked about a missionary's scripture verse the lord god will help me therefore shall i not be confounded we talked about a child who was put to sleep by that wonderful little poem sleep sweetly in this quiet room we talked about oswald chambers strong words about obedience and countless other god godly men and women who have shaped my life how i thank god for the godly men and women that i have been privileged to know in the flesh also in books god is waiting for you and me to trust him to receive his wonderful peace and then to bless others as saint francis of assisi has blessed countless thousands by this well-known wonderful prayer i have this framed in my study i memorized it many many years ago but i trust that this will be a blessing to any of you who may not know it and maybe revive your memory if you did know it but had forgotten this is what saint francis of assisi spoke to the lord lord make me an instrument of thy peace where there is hatred let me sow love where there is injury pardon where there is doubt faith where there is despair hope where there is darkness light where there is sadness joy o divine master grant that i may seek not so much to be consoled as to console to be understood as to understand for it is in giving that we are that we receive it is in pardoning that we are pardoned and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life i have no doubt whatsoever that there are a number of people in this auditorium today who so far have been unwilling to be an instrument of god's peace i had a letter from a lady who told me that her next-door neighbor was constantly encroaching on her property and she said year after year i've talked to him about it and every year he takes a few more inches of my property what am i supposed to do i just told her try saint francis of assisi's words lord make me an instrument of thy peace well but how am i supposed to do that how can i do that you know she's a nasty person well suppose you just go ahead and go over there and just say you know susie i'm just gonna deed you the property that you've already taken you really think i should do that i said why not we're supposed to be instruments of god's peace where there is hatred what am i what what am i supposed to do so love where there is hatred let me show love where there is injury pardon me and some of you have tremendous injuries some of your husbands have walked out on you some other woman has taken your husband away from you you single women you had a chance at one point and all of a sudden the guy disappears i don't know who you are i don't know what the problem is but i know these words from saint francis of assisi they cover everything i can ever think of where there is injury pardon have you refused to pardon someone who has ruined your life perhaps where there is doubt faith lord i will trust you where there is despair and i don't know who in this audience may be despairing over something much too big for you way beyond anything you ever dreamed god was going to require of you where there is despair hope he is the god of hope the bible says the god of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing where there is darkness let me sow light where there is sadness joy oh divine master grant that i may seek not so much to be consoled you know our poor little selves we just feel so sorry for ourselves i had a wonderful bible teacher by the name of l.e maxwell i went to a bible school up in alberta canada and the lady came to him one day and she said oh mr maxwell i just get so blessed i just don't know what to say to the lord and he put his heart his hand on her shoulder and he said madam obviously you really need to be blessed so just trust that god's going to give you whatever it is that you need well i just don't know whether i can take that or not and he would talk to us at times about our sad sweet stinking selves and how many of you are just wallowing in your sad sweet stinking selves because of something somebody did to you a thousand years ago oh divine master grant that i may seek not so much to be consoled as to console i may be in the very depths of despair and loss but god wants me to console somebody else instead of expecting to be surrounded with a whole bunch of people that are going to feel sorry for us not so much to be understood as to understand to be loved as to love for it is in giving that we receive it is in pardoning that we are pardoned and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life may the peace of god be with you this morning we talked about the gift the acceptance the result god bless you

Channel: The Elisabeth Elliot Foundation

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Length: 44min 13sec (2653 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 08 2020