Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2: I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.
Speaker 2: I wanted to thank you for joining us today.
Speaker 1: Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith.
Speaker 2: Hope it gives your perspective to see God is moving
Speaker 2: in your life.
Speaker 1: Enjoy the message. I'm gonna do something I never did.
Speaker 1: Holly preached so good last week. I hate if you missed.
Speaker 3: It, and she preached so good that for the first
Speaker 3: time I ever, I want to take the verse that
Speaker 3: she ended on and do a tag team off of
Speaker 3: the verse that she ended on. Okay, so come tag
Speaker 3: me bed.
Speaker 1: I used to watch wrestling.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna come flying off the turnbuckle, maw the fabulous Ferdick.
Speaker 3: So I'm gonna drop an elbow on the devil's head today.
Speaker 1: Praise the Lord, and I'll give you one verse to
Speaker 1: start with. Would you go? Ah, didn't bring out my
Speaker 1: screen please so I can really put the verse in context.
Speaker 3: This screen is my way of pretending like you and
Speaker 3: I are having a conversation together and we're just looking
Speaker 3: at the Bible and studying it together. So I pray
Speaker 3: that it'll feel that way to you. Let's welcome our
Speaker 3: Epham all over.
Speaker 1: The world joining us online.
Speaker 3: Here we come, and I'm going to share with you
Speaker 3: from Philippians chapter four, the last verse she read.
Speaker 1: She read several verses, but the.
Speaker 3: One that she ended on is the one I want
Speaker 3: to pick up on. In Philippians four, chapter nineteen. Excuse me,
Speaker 3: chapter nine, verse nine.
Speaker 1: Let's try that again.
Speaker 3: Philippians chapter four, verse nine.
Speaker 1: The Word of the Lord Philippians, chapter four, verse nine.
Speaker 3: A little message that I know is going to help
Speaker 3: you today.
Speaker 4: Right there, Paul says, whatever you have learned or received
Speaker 4: or heard from me or seen in me, put it
Speaker 4: into practice, and the God of Peace will be with you.
Speaker 1: And the God of peace.
Speaker 3: Last week Holly spoke about the peace of God, and
Speaker 3: she was speaking about the peace of God. But today
Speaker 3: I want to take a little bit of a different
Speaker 3: approach to what she shared, and I want to talk
Speaker 3: about this verse and the God of Peace will be
Speaker 3: with you and remind you that he is the God
Speaker 3: of peace. He can speak peace to every situation in
Speaker 3: this room, no matter how scattered or chaotic your life
Speaker 3: is right now.
Speaker 1: But I want to talk about the God.
Speaker 3: Of Peace will be with you, and I want to
Speaker 3: speak about how the God of peace is also.
Speaker 1: The God of pieces.
Speaker 3: I want to talk to you today for just a
Speaker 3: few moments about the God of peaces.
Speaker 1: Pieces.
Speaker 3: Father, when you speak, wind and waves, obey speak Now,
Speaker 3: still our hearts before you make every storm in this
Speaker 3: room a sanctuary where your presence can be felt.
Speaker 1: I think of each person that you brought here today.
Speaker 3: I thank you that you know their situations, and I
Speaker 3: thank you that you have solutions. Moreover, I thank you
Speaker 3: that you are the solution, the God of peace, the
Speaker 3: God of peaces.
Speaker 1: In Jesus' name, Amen, you may be seated, You may
Speaker 1: be seated.
Speaker 3: Me and Holly got in a fight Friday of my fault.
Speaker 3: We don't fight that much, but we fought Friday, only
Speaker 3: about a five minute fight.
Speaker 1: But it was you know, I'll scale a one to ten.
Speaker 1: It might have been a three. But I didn't like it.
Speaker 1: And I didn't like it because I knew I caused it.
Speaker 3: And the reason I caused it is because I did
Speaker 3: not practice what she preached last week. Last week, Holli
Speaker 3: was preaching about peace and she asked a very important question.
Speaker 3: She said, do your practices promote peace? And she shared
Speaker 3: a little extra biblical illustration about the instrument of torture
Speaker 3: known as Instagram.
Speaker 1: The one that the devil invented.
Speaker 3: You know, I know that God created the heavens and
Speaker 3: the earth, but the Devil's created a lot of stuff
Speaker 3: since then, Instagram being one of the platforms that he created. Amen,
Speaker 3: And I post sermons on it, but I know.
Speaker 1: Not to go look at the.
Speaker 3: Comments, and I never do except Friday. I went on
Speaker 3: those comments Friday, and I thought I can handle it.
Speaker 3: I just looked for a minute, and of course I
Speaker 3: couldn't handle it. And I was very worked up about
Speaker 3: some of the things that I saw. And I'm just
Speaker 3: starting my sermon in a very candid place because it's
Speaker 3: interesting to me how I live with a preacher who
Speaker 3: just preached about peace, and even in her message, she said,
Speaker 3: you've got to be careful that your practices don't pollute
Speaker 3: your peace.
Speaker 1: Do you remember when she said that.
Speaker 3: She didn't say that exactly, but I added it on
Speaker 3: for my message today. She said, she said, make sure
Speaker 3: that your practices don't pollute your piece. And the reason
Speaker 3: that we were getting into an argument, to me closely,
Speaker 3: was because it's very hard to have peace when you
Speaker 3: drink poison. And I'm not telling you whether or not
Speaker 3: you should ever look at Instagram or any of the
Speaker 3: social media platforms. In fact, I'm going to try not
Speaker 3: to mention social media for the rest of this message.
Speaker 3: I just wanted to set up for you that what
Speaker 3: Paul is saying here, he says it is the things
Speaker 3: that you put into practice, that you learn, receive, and
Speaker 3: hear or see that produces the peace of God. And
Speaker 3: since we're going to go over here and take a
Speaker 3: Nibbel on verse six real quick, where it says, do
Speaker 3: not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by
Speaker 3: prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to.
Speaker 1: God, and the peace.
Speaker 3: Of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts
Speaker 3: and minds in Christ Jesus. And something that's really convicting
Speaker 3: to me lately is that I think we all want this,
Speaker 3: the peace of God, but sometimes we resist the God
Speaker 3: of Peace.
Speaker 1: And so the question becomes, how can I.
Speaker 3: Expect the peace of God in my life if I
Speaker 3: reject the God of Peace when he comes to show
Speaker 3: me how to live. In other words, that he's showing
Speaker 3: me something that I need to let go of. If
Speaker 3: he's showing me something that I need to keep limited,
Speaker 3: if he's showing me something that I need to walk
Speaker 3: around and not engage. If he's showing me something that.
Speaker 1: I need to add or subtract from.
Speaker 3: My life, and I insist on being stubborn, How can
Speaker 3: I expect the peace to come to my heart if
Speaker 3: I ignore the source who gives it, the peace of God.
Speaker 3: We all want it. Everybody in here wants to feel
Speaker 3: better about your future. Everybody wants to feel confident that
Speaker 3: things are coming together. Everybody in here wants to feel
Speaker 3: like I'm on the right path. Things are going to
Speaker 3: work out. Everybody in here wants to peace of God.
Speaker 3: Paul makes it very clear that in order to experience
Speaker 3: the peace of God, and I just want to lay
Speaker 3: this foundation one more time, you must embrace the God
Speaker 3: of Peace. And I want to remind you that he
Speaker 3: is Jehovah Shalom. Shalom means peace or wholeness, and he
Speaker 3: is the God of peace. He is the God of
Speaker 3: peace in the midst of panic attacks. He is the
Speaker 3: god of peace in the midst of downsizing in your industry.
Speaker 1: He is the God of peace.
Speaker 3: When your best client just didn't sign up for another year,
Speaker 3: and you don't know how you're going to make up
Speaker 3: the contract.
Speaker 1: He is the God of peace.
Speaker 3: When thoughts assail you, telling you that your life has
Speaker 3: reached its zenith and everything from here is just going
Speaker 3: to be nothing but less than what it was.
Speaker 1: He is.
Speaker 3: I feel like reaching to somebody today that the God
Speaker 3: of Peace is in this place.
Speaker 1: Say it. The God of Peace is in this place.
Speaker 3: And you can say that about any place you ever
Speaker 3: find yourself. You can say that in the third row
Speaker 3: of church on a Sunday morning. You can say that
Speaker 3: when you're pulling out of your driveway on Monday going
Speaker 3: to the job, to look at the people that try
Speaker 3: to steal your peace. I'm not walking into this office
Speaker 3: by myself. I'm walking in with the God of Peace.
Speaker 3: He said he would be with me. He said he
Speaker 3: would walk with me.
Speaker 1: He said he.
Speaker 3: Would never leave me nor forsake me. He is more
Speaker 3: than enough for me. He is the all sufficient one.
Speaker 3: There's nothing I will ever encounter that will surprise him.
Speaker 3: He doesn't scratch his head or shake his head or
Speaker 3: hang his head. He doesn't turntail and run when the
Speaker 3: enemy surrounds me. For when the enemy surrounds me. God
Speaker 3: surrounds the enemy. I'm fenced in by fire, even in
Speaker 3: my darkest night, even when I wake up and didn't
Speaker 3: expect the attack. Have God who anticipated the attack and
Speaker 3: put the provision in place, because he is the God
Speaker 3: of peace and he's in this place. We saw a
Speaker 3: testimony how the God of Peace reached in a prison
Speaker 3: cell and rescued a brother in a prison cell. The
Speaker 3: God of Peace will make a prison visit. The God
Speaker 3: of Peace will pull up alongside a hospital bed. The
Speaker 3: God of Peace will show up in a divorce court.
Speaker 1: The God of Peace.
Speaker 3: Will reach your child that isn't living under your roof
Speaker 3: right now, the God of Peace.
Speaker 1: Is in this place now.
Speaker 3: The process by which we experience this peace is what
Speaker 3: Paul is talking about in Philippians for nine and now.
Speaker 3: I want to give you this principle and then give
Speaker 3: you two or three pictures. Whatever you have learned or
Speaker 3: received or heard from me or seen in me, think
Speaker 3: about this.
Speaker 1: Paul says.
Speaker 3: If you do what you saw me do, you will
Speaker 3: have the peace that only God can give. And I'm
Speaker 3: afraid I couldn't say that about my life A lot
Speaker 3: of the times, even as a leader you know. Graham
Speaker 3: said something really interesting a few days ago. He said,
Speaker 3: when I look back on when I was a little
Speaker 3: boy and I first started wrestling, For those of you
Speaker 3: who haven't heard yet, we like to brag about it
Speaker 3: every chance we get. He is a two time state
Speaker 3: champion in the state of North Carolina for the sport
Speaker 3: of wrestling, not tag team wrestling, like wrestling, like real wrestling.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3: And when he first started wrestling, I've been a wrestler
Speaker 3: for a few years when I was in middle school,
Speaker 3: and so he thought I was the man because I
Speaker 3: didn't tell him any different.
Speaker 1: And that's really fun.
Speaker 3: When they're little, their understanding of you is limited, so
Speaker 3: you can kind.
Speaker 1: Of build it all up to be whatever you want
Speaker 1: to be.
Speaker 3: And he said something he goes, now that I'm really
Speaker 3: more advanced as a wrestler, and I look back on
Speaker 3: when I was little, it's crazy how much you coached
Speaker 3: me with.
Speaker 1: How little you knew.
Speaker 3: And I don't think he meant that as a compliment,
Speaker 3: Like man, Dad, you really went all in, and I
Speaker 3: appreciate it. I think what you're saying is, now that
Speaker 3: I know something about what I'm doing, I can't believe
Speaker 3: that I thought the stuff you were screaming from the
Speaker 3: stands had any merit or value whatsoever. You really just
Speaker 3: screamed the same things over and over again.
Speaker 1: But it worked for that stage, isn't it crazy?
Speaker 3: He said, how much you coached me with how little
Speaker 3: you knew. And if you look at your life, there
Speaker 3: are some things about your life that are amazing how
Speaker 3: far God has brought you.
Speaker 1: If you really think about how little you started with.
Speaker 3: I'm going to say that again, and the devil can
Speaker 3: pop my mic and I'll say it a third time.
Speaker 3: It is amazing how far God has brought you in
Speaker 3: some of the things that he has done in your life.
Speaker 3: When you consider where you came from, how little you
Speaker 3: started with, it is amazing. Look at somebody and say
Speaker 3: it's amazing. Come on, tell them, say it's amazing that
Speaker 3: you're in church today. Now, just clap your hands for him,
Speaker 3: give them a little round of applause.
Speaker 1: Come on, look at him. Say after the week you've had, after.
Speaker 3: The news you got, after the mounting to do lists
Speaker 3: that you have to go home to, it's amazing. It's
Speaker 3: amazing the progress that you've made when you consider the
Speaker 3: pattern that you were exposed to. It is amazing that
Speaker 3: you even stayed as a dad when your dad didn't.
Speaker 3: It is amazing that you are apologizing as a husband,
Speaker 3: even though you get mad when you never saw the
Speaker 3: pattern of apology in your own home.
Speaker 1: And the truth of it.
Speaker 3: Is, if some of us were honest, and if we
Speaker 3: could do way with the shame that the devil throws
Speaker 3: on us. For just about five minutes, Yes, there is
Speaker 3: a long way we still have to go, but it's
Speaker 3: pretty amazing the advancements that we've made to be here today.
Speaker 3: Stand up if you never would have thought you'd be
Speaker 3: in church on a Sunday morning three years ago.
Speaker 1: Stand up if there was a season in.
Speaker 3: Your life where you thought God was done with you,
Speaker 3: but you feel something starting to beat in.
Speaker 1: Your heart again. Stand up.
Speaker 3: If you're praising God today was a miracle because you
Speaker 3: went through a season of depression where you couldn't lift
Speaker 3: your head off the pillow.
Speaker 1: Let alone lift your hands.
Speaker 3: In church, somebody shout, it's amazing. And the enemy wants
Speaker 3: to keep us from being amazed at the ways that
Speaker 3: God has made in our life. He wants to keep
Speaker 3: us from being amazed from the place that we stand.
Speaker 1: And so Paul says.
Speaker 3: Look, when you don't know what to do, and you
Speaker 3: don't know what's next, and you're standing in a place
Speaker 3: where you don't really have the full picture of how
Speaker 3: your life.
Speaker 1: Is going to turn out, listen to me.
Speaker 3: Remember what you heard, learned and saw in me, and
Speaker 3: practice that, and the God of Peace will be with you.
Speaker 3: And I thought that was even better than him saying
Speaker 3: the Peace of God will be with me, because it
Speaker 3: means that even if I don't feel the Peace of God,
Speaker 3: I can believe that the God of Peace is with me.
Speaker 3: That's the principle. Now let's break it down for just
Speaker 3: a moment or two. If he says this, whatever you've
Speaker 3: learned or received, or heard or seen in me, put
Speaker 3: it into practice, and the God of Peace will be
Speaker 3: with you, it stands the reason that we are not
Speaker 3: going to learn, receive, hear, or see everything about God
Speaker 3: all at once. He's telling us that this is going
Speaker 3: to take practice. And so sometimes we need more patience
Speaker 3: with ourselves to realize that even God reveals himself to
Speaker 3: us progressively.
Speaker 1: God never grows, but he does.
Speaker 3: Not give you every glimpse of Him all at once,
Speaker 3: and that's a mercy because we could never see His
Speaker 3: glory and live. And so what God is doing in
Speaker 3: your life right now is he's showing you things in stages,
Speaker 3: and he is teaching you things. Watch this in pieces,
Speaker 3: in pieces, He's teaching you in pieces. I'm so glad
Speaker 3: you came today because when you first start showing me
Speaker 3: to play tennis, you did not show me all the
Speaker 3: cool stuff. I remember the first thing you said to
Speaker 3: me was show me how you hold the racket. I'm like, dude,
Speaker 3: I am not out here with seventy five dollars for
Speaker 3: you to say, show me how you hold a racket.
Speaker 1: I know the price has gone.
Speaker 3: Up since then, but I get in on that bottom rate,
Speaker 3: and I'm thinking, like, if we're going to spend twenty
Speaker 3: minutes holding the racket.
Speaker 1: I was trying to learn to play tennis.
Speaker 3: I thought, we're gonna, we're gonna, we're gonna never get
Speaker 3: anywhere with this. But it was a kindness of him
Speaker 3: that he didn't show me Roger Federer highlight clips on
Speaker 3: my first lesson. And it is a kindness of God
Speaker 3: that he teaches you in pieces so that you can
Speaker 3: get a piece and practice and get a piece and practice,
Speaker 3: and get a piece and practice.
Speaker 1: So this time we learned how to hold the racket.
Speaker 1: In about three weeks, I'll show you how to swing it.
Speaker 3: And I'm doing this for your own good, because if
Speaker 3: you swing it but don't know how to grip it,
Speaker 3: that ball is gonna fly every direction every time.
Speaker 1: So Paul is teaching in pieces.
Speaker 3: Not only is he teaching them in pieces, but he's
Speaker 3: teaching them.
Speaker 1: Without his physical presence.
Speaker 3: He's writing this letter from a prison, so he's teaching
Speaker 3: in pieces from prison. Now this church that he founded
Speaker 3: is having to put into practice things that they've heard,
Speaker 3: learn or seen from his life, but he is not
Speaker 3: present to show them the practice. They are having to
Speaker 3: draw from what they saw, even though right now they
Speaker 3: can't see it. And I wonder, is there anybody in
Speaker 3: here today who is having to draw from something right
Speaker 3: now even though you can't exactly see what God is
Speaker 3: doing in your life, even though you don't have an
Speaker 3: exact model for it in your life, even though you
Speaker 3: don't have somebody to look at it and say, I'm
Speaker 3: going to imitate or emulate that. Paul says, I'm teaching
Speaker 3: you in pieces, And think about all the pieces that
Speaker 3: Paul had to teach from, not only the fact that
Speaker 3: he was writing the Bible. So when Paul said, like,
Speaker 3: you can do all things through Christ to strengthens you
Speaker 3: Philippin's four thirteen, they were like, how do you know that?
Speaker 3: He's like, because it's in the Bible, what's gonna be.
Speaker 3: It's going to be in the Bible in just a
Speaker 3: few verses. But to teach like Paul, that's very different
Speaker 3: than teaching like you, because for those of us who
Speaker 3: are parents in the room, we are trying to coach
Speaker 3: them knowing so little and still wrestling ourselves. And so
Speaker 3: Paul is teaching us the great apostle, Paul who was
Speaker 3: writing the illuminated inspired word of God, the great missionary statesman,
Speaker 3: and he's telling this church at Philippi, whatever you saw
Speaker 3: and heard and learned from me, do that and the.
Speaker 1: God of Peace will be with you. Well, that's different
Speaker 1: for us, because we're not writing the Bible. As far
Speaker 1: as I can tell, we're not.
Speaker 3: The example of grace that God has raised up for
Speaker 3: this century. I think I think that for the majority
Speaker 3: of us in here, it's amazing how much we're coaching
Speaker 3: with how little we know. But if Paul was coaching you,
Speaker 3: he could teach you about pieces that I couldn't teach you.
Speaker 3: So when Paul says, hold on to what you've heard
Speaker 3: from me, hold on to what you've learned from me,
Speaker 3: hold on to what you've seen in me.
Speaker 1: There were scenes in Paul's life.
Speaker 3: That we are privy to that would have served as
Speaker 3: examples for them to follow.
Speaker 1: And so when he's telling them, hold on and.
Speaker 3: The God of Peace will be with you, you got
Speaker 3: to understand that Paul is speaking this from.
Speaker 1: A place of deep experience.
Speaker 3: Paul is like a Division one NCAA champion showing you
Speaker 3: how to wrestle. Paul survived stonings and still stayed stable
Speaker 3: in his faith. Paul survived a shipwreck even just before
Speaker 3: he wrote this letter. Let me tell you a story
Speaker 3: real quick. In Acts, chapter twenty seven, Paul tells about
Speaker 3: a trip that he was making as he was awaiting
Speaker 3: his sentencing for preaching the gospel. And while he was
Speaker 3: on the ship, he had a meeting with an angel
Speaker 3: and the angel said, Paul, don't be afraid.
Speaker 1: I'm going to.
Speaker 3: Preserve your life. The boat that you're on is going
Speaker 3: to go through a storm, but you are going to
Speaker 3: make it. I don't know who that was for, but
Speaker 3: that was just the whole word right now, just that
Speaker 3: the boat that you are on is going to go
Speaker 3: through a storm, but you're going to make it. It's
Speaker 3: going to be rocky for a little while. You might
Speaker 3: have to take some dramamine, but you're going to make it.
Speaker 3: There might be some jonahs that have to go overboard,
Speaker 3: relationships that aren't good for you, but you're going to
Speaker 3: make it. It might not look like exactly what it
Speaker 3: looked like when you set out.
Speaker 1: You might not be able to do it like you
Speaker 1: did it when you did it like you did it.
Speaker 3: But if you'll do it like God is telling you
Speaker 3: to do it right now, you are going to make it.
Speaker 3: And you might have to vomit over the side of
Speaker 3: the boat, and you might have to hold your stomach
Speaker 3: for a little while while it rocks and reels, and
Speaker 3: you might have to spend some time praying a little extra.
Speaker 3: The boat is going to go through something, but you're
Speaker 3: going to make it.
Speaker 1: Tell your neighbor you're going to make it. Tell them,
Speaker 1: I prophesy, I prophesy.
Speaker 3: Look them in their eyes, right in the pupils, and
Speaker 3: say you're going to make it.
Speaker 1: Tell them you've got to make it. Yeah, you got
Speaker 1: to make it.
Speaker 3: Because God has something for you to do on the
Speaker 3: other side of this, and the God of Peace is
Speaker 3: with you. So if the God of Peace is with you,
Speaker 3: watch this. In Acts, chapter twenty seven, verse forty one,
Speaker 3: the Bible says that after they had gone through the
Speaker 3: storm for a period of three weeks, the ship struck
Speaker 3: a sandbar and ran aground. The boughs struck fast and
Speaker 3: would not move.
Speaker 1: That's bad.
Speaker 3: And the stern was broke to pieces by the pounding
Speaker 3: of the serf. Now, if you're out in the ocean
Speaker 3: and the ship is carrying you and the ship breaks
Speaker 3: to pieces, that means you're not going to survive unless
Speaker 3: you have a god who is the God of.
Speaker 1: Pieces.
Speaker 3: Put my verse back up there and let me get
Speaker 3: somebody happy.
Speaker 1: I know your ship broke apart.
Speaker 3: I know it was pounded by something you didn't see coming.
Speaker 3: I know your kid's not speaking to you right now.
Speaker 3: I know it's been three days since you had an appetite.
Speaker 3: I know some things look really really sketchy right now.
Speaker 1: But in the name of.
Speaker 3: Jesus, the God of pieces, can get you there. The
Speaker 3: God of Peace is with me. The God of Peace
Speaker 3: is with me, Verse forty two. So the soldiers plan
Speaker 3: to kill the prisoners to prevent any of them from
Speaker 3: swimming away and escaping, but the Furian wanted to spare
Speaker 3: Paul's life and kept them from carrying out their plan.
Speaker 3: He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first
Speaker 3: and to get to land, and the rest were to
Speaker 3: get there on planks or on other.
Speaker 1: Pieces. I'm preaching to somebody who's holding on to a
Speaker 1: peace to the shore today. I'm preaching somebody who's holding
Speaker 1: on to a board to the shore today.
Speaker 3: I'm preaching to somebody who's wondering, how am I going
Speaker 3: to make it with who I have left, what I
Speaker 3: have left? How am I going to make it now
Speaker 3: that they went away? How am I going to make it?
Speaker 3: If they don't support me. You forgot about the God
Speaker 3: of pieces, that if he is with me, one piece
Speaker 3: can get me to the place. If He is with me.
Speaker 3: How many believe.
Speaker 1: God is with me?
Speaker 3: Get an attitude about it, Get Christian cocky about it.
Speaker 1: If you know God is with.
Speaker 3: You, this peace, that I have, this peace, that I'm
Speaker 3: holding on to, this peace that's in my soul.
Speaker 5: The world didn't give it.
Speaker 1: And the world.
Speaker 6: Can't take it away. I thought your neighbors say, I
Speaker 6: got a peace. I got a peace. Don't got a boat,
Speaker 6: but I've got a peace. Don't have a degree, but
Speaker 6: I've got a peace. Don't have a full answer, but
Speaker 6: I've got a peace. Don't have a ten year plan,
Speaker 6: but I got a peace.
Speaker 1: Got a peace. Preach for that. I got a peace.
Speaker 1: I got a peace.
Speaker 5: I lost some stuff, but I got a peace.
Speaker 6: I feel the wind, but I got a peace.
Speaker 3: I'm dealing with some insecurities.
Speaker 5: Right now, but I've got a peace.
Speaker 1: Got a peace about this? I got a peace about this.
Speaker 1: What you feel all right now? I don't feel alright.
Speaker 1: I faith alright.
Speaker 3: I float alright because the God of Peace is with me.
Speaker 1: Now. Maybe to you this is just a word play,
Speaker 1: but I'm trying to work.
Speaker 3: This word into your spirit. One person told me you
Speaker 3: do too much word play when you preach. I said, no,
Speaker 3: I do word work. You understand what I'm saying. The
Speaker 3: worlds were framed by the word of God. So I
Speaker 3: figure if the word of God could frame the worlds,
Speaker 3: that can frame your life. Right now, this season of
Speaker 3: your life right now, Peace in the storm takes on
Speaker 3: a little different meaning when we think about pieces.
Speaker 1: In the storm. I give you one one more picture
Speaker 1: and we'll go home. One more peace.
Speaker 3: You want me to give you another piece of this message. Okay,
Speaker 3: Paul wasn't the first one to go through a storm
Speaker 3: in the scriptures.
Speaker 1: We know this.
Speaker 3: He was different than Jonah, who I mentioned a moment
Speaker 3: ago in that God sent the storm because Jonah was disobedient,
Speaker 3: and Paul was sent into the storm because he was obedient.
Speaker 1: So in either storm, we need a picture of peace.
Speaker 3: So now, the Disciples of Jesus, if anybody had a
Speaker 3: good example to follow, if anybody had a good coach
Speaker 3: to show them how to wrestle against demons and devils
Speaker 3: and fear and anxiety.
Speaker 1: It was the Disciples.
Speaker 3: In Mark chapter six, there's a story about a storm,
Speaker 3: and I'm going to read it to you because you
Speaker 3: tell a story about your storm today, wave at me.
Speaker 3: If you could tell a story about your storm today,
Speaker 3: and in this storm that they were in, which was physical,
Speaker 3: we get some principles that will help us not only psychologically,
Speaker 3: but spiritually and theologically.
Speaker 1: That's the most important part, because I'm not teaching.
Speaker 3: You peace today only from a pragmatic perspective.
Speaker 1: That's wonderful. And do all your breathing exercises. Do a
Speaker 1: red light therapy.
Speaker 3: Do a red light do a red light sauna, do
Speaker 3: a red light sauna, and I do an ice bath
Speaker 3: in the sauna.
Speaker 1: Do everything that helps you and breathe and sip and
Speaker 1: water and do it all. But I'm just saying, the
Speaker 1: theological is my department today. So I want to show
Speaker 1: you something.
Speaker 3: About the God of peace, the God of pieces. Now
Speaker 3: in this particular scripture, it's different because the boat that
Speaker 3: they were on did not break. Jesus was not on
Speaker 3: it with them. It didn't break, but Jesus was not
Speaker 3: on the boat with them. And look at Mark chapter six,
Speaker 3: verse forty five. Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into
Speaker 3: the boat and go on ahead of him to Bethseda
Speaker 3: while he dismissed the crowd. After leaving them, he went
Speaker 3: up on a mountain side to pray. Later that night,
Speaker 3: the boat was in the middle of the lake and
Speaker 3: he was alone on land.
Speaker 1: He saw the disciples straining.
Speaker 3: At the oars because the wind was against them. Shortly
Speaker 3: before dawn, he went out to them. Catch this walking
Speaker 3: on the lake, he was about to pass by them.
Speaker 3: This shows me that Jesus even physically revealed himself in
Speaker 3: pieces to the disciples. He did not identify himself immediately.
Speaker 3: He revealed himself in pieces. I point that out because
Speaker 3: you don't all always know that it's God at first.
Speaker 3: In fact, sometimes the presence of God in our lives
Speaker 3: is met with the feeling of fear, like the disciples
Speaker 3: in this passage, because the Bible says that he was
Speaker 3: about to pass them by, but when they saw him
Speaker 3: walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost.
Speaker 3: They cried out, not for him to save them, but
Speaker 3: because they all saw him and were terrified because they
Speaker 3: had never seen him in this exact situation before. Now
Speaker 3: I need to stop and tell you something. They had
Speaker 3: seen him calm a storm before in Mark chapter four,
Speaker 3: but that time he was on the boat the whole
Speaker 3: time with them. So now they're in a different situation.
Speaker 3: They're dealing with a different predicament. And every time God
Speaker 3: allows you to face a new problem, he's trying to
Speaker 3: show you a new peace, a part of Him.
Speaker 1: That always existed that you never saw. So if Lazarus died.
Speaker 3: He wants to show you that there's a resurrection piece
Speaker 3: if a blind if a blind eye needs to be open,
Speaker 3: he wants to show you that.
Speaker 1: He is the light.
Speaker 3: There is a peace that God is trying to show
Speaker 3: you of himself through every problem that he allows in
Speaker 3: your life. I believe that he is the God of pieces.
Speaker 3: And as they are screaming because they think he's a ghost,
Speaker 3: they're terrified of the one who has the power to save.
Speaker 3: Immediately he spoke to them and said, take courage, it
Speaker 3: is I. Don't be afraid. And then he climbed into
Speaker 3: the boat with them, and the wind died down.
Speaker 1: They were completely a maze beast four.
Speaker 3: This part's going to seem out of nowhere. They had
Speaker 3: not understood about the loaves. Their hearts were hardened. So
Speaker 3: I want to ask you a question, What in the
Speaker 3: world does bread have to do with a boat? What
Speaker 3: does what does they had not understood about the loaves
Speaker 3: have to do with the fact that they were.
Speaker 1: Afraid in the storm.
Speaker 3: In order to put this in context, I want to
Speaker 3: show you one more picture and give you one more peace.
Speaker 3: When the Bible says immediately Jesus made his disciples get
Speaker 3: into the boat and go on ahead of him to Betseeda.
Speaker 1: It does.
Speaker 3: It does not say in that verse what has just
Speaker 3: occurred before Jesus sent them on this trip.
Speaker 1: But if you back up just a few verses.
Speaker 3: Jesus has just finished feeding five thousand men and women
Speaker 3: and children who were starving. Instead of allowing them to
Speaker 3: starve or sending them away, he told the disciples, bring
Speaker 3: me the bread that you have, bring me the fish
Speaker 3: that you have. But Jesus, we only have pieces. But
Speaker 3: when they brought him five loaves and two fish, which
Speaker 3: is nothing but a piece when there's five thousand people
Speaker 3: that need to eat, and they brought him the peace,
Speaker 3: the peace that they brought him became provision that fed
Speaker 3: not only five thousand men, not only fifteen thousand women
Speaker 3: and children.
Speaker 1: With them, But it resulted in leftovers. So the Bible
Speaker 1: says verse forty one, and now I'm ready to preach.
Speaker 3: Taking the five loaves and the two fish, and looking
Speaker 3: up to Heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves.
Speaker 1: Then he gave.
Speaker 3: Them to the disciples to distribute to the people. He
Speaker 3: also divided to fish among them, and they all ate
Speaker 3: and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls
Speaker 3: of broken pieces of bread and fish. The number of
Speaker 3: the men who had eaten was five thousand. Five thousand
Speaker 3: men fed and broken pieces to carry away. So now
Speaker 3: we go to the storm and we see it with
Speaker 3: different eyes, because we realized that even though Jesus is
Speaker 3: not physically in the boat with them in this storm,
Speaker 3: they carried a basket into the boat that was full
Speaker 3: of the pieces of leftovers that came from the touch
Speaker 3: of the Master just a few minutes ago. In other words,
Speaker 3: Jesus sent them into the sea knowing that there would
Speaker 3: be a storm. But he did not send you into
Speaker 3: this storm empty hand.
Speaker 6: If you check your boat, I want to let you know.
Speaker 6: You got some baskets, you got some bread. You got
Speaker 6: some baskets, and you've got some bread. I came to
Speaker 6: remind somebody there's bread in your boat. There's bread in
Speaker 6: your boat. It's bread in my boat. What do you
Speaker 6: mean by that? I don't need food when I'm in
Speaker 6: a storm.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you do to sustain you.
Speaker 3: Until God shows up and stops it. There have been
Speaker 3: moments in your life that God could have stopped the storm,
Speaker 3: but he didn't. There's a storm some of you are
Speaker 3: in right now, and God's not stopping it, and you're wondering,
Speaker 3: what do I do about this? I didn't see this
Speaker 3: storm coming. Jesus isn't even in this boat with me. Yeah,
Speaker 3: but bread is.
Speaker 7: These were big baskets, y'all, twelve big baskets, so that
Speaker 7: every time the wind would blow, they would see the
Speaker 7: bread and remember that they ended up with more than
Speaker 7: they started with when.
Speaker 1: Jesus touched it. Check the bread.
Speaker 3: Next time the devil starts telling you it's not going
Speaker 3: to happen, You're not going to make it.
Speaker 1: Check the bread.
Speaker 3: And by the way, God sends you into a storm
Speaker 3: so the bread doesn't get stale. He doesn't just let
Speaker 3: you depend on him in one circumstance. He allows you
Speaker 3: to experience another storm so that storm can become your.
Speaker 1: School to teach you to be a student, to put
Speaker 1: into practice what He showed you.
Speaker 3: Through his last act of provision. And so the storm comes.
Speaker 3: But the pieces are right there, because even in the storm,
Speaker 3: I have pieces. And I need to give you thirty
Speaker 3: seconds to praise God for the pieces that you have,
Speaker 3: for the pieces, for the pieces. I'm not praising him
Speaker 3: because my life is perfect.
Speaker 1: Don't get me wrong. I'm praising him for.
Speaker 3: Pieces, sometimes broken pieces. And is there something for us
Speaker 3: to learn from the example of Jesus that he blessed
Speaker 3: broken bread and gave thanks for what wasn't enough so
Speaker 3: that it could become enough. Is he showing you and
Speaker 3: showing me that if we can't praise Him for the
Speaker 3: peace that we do have, we're never going to have
Speaker 3: the peace that we're praying for.
Speaker 1: This is the God of pieces.
Speaker 3: And so if all you're holding today is the remnant
Speaker 3: of the regrets of your sins and decisions, bring them
Speaker 3: to the God of pieces. If all you're holding today
Speaker 3: in your life is broken plans, bring them to the
Speaker 3: God of peaces, the God of peace. The God of
Speaker 3: Peace is the God who pieces all things together. And
Speaker 3: sometimes you are in between what God just did and
Speaker 3: what God is going to do, and you got to
Speaker 3: trust God in between those pieces, in between those pieces.
Speaker 1: So something happens and.
Speaker 3: Then nothing happens and something else is going to happen.
Speaker 3: This is for some of you in your career. Something
Speaker 3: happens and then nothing happens, and something else is going
Speaker 3: to happen.
Speaker 1: You see, God do a miracle in your life.
Speaker 3: You walk away with twelve basketballs of pieces and the
Speaker 3: testimony of what God has done, and you put it
Speaker 3: on the boat. And then the boat that is filled
Speaker 3: with the baskets of the bread that God multiplied in
Speaker 3: your life hits a storm.
Speaker 1: Have to praise him for the pieces.
Speaker 3: I want the God of peace in my life, and
Speaker 3: I trust him with the pieces.
Speaker 1: And I praise him for the pieces, the ones I
Speaker 1: can see, the ones I can't see.
Speaker 3: I thank him for the pieces that he's putting together
Speaker 3: back in order right now in the life of somebody.
Speaker 1: In this room.
Speaker 3: And I praise him that he knows the picture of
Speaker 3: your life. He knows the picture of your family, he
Speaker 3: knows the picture of your future. He knows the picture
Speaker 3: of his purpose for your life, and you don't. And
Speaker 3: it comes in pieces.
Speaker 1: And so.
Speaker 3: The Bible gives us a very specific prayer to pray,
Speaker 3: give us this day our daily bread. The devil wants
Speaker 3: you to get overwhelmed by the pile, but God says, no,
Speaker 3: you just take it piece.
Speaker 1: By piece. I thought I would minister.
Speaker 3: To you today on the power of pieces, because even
Speaker 3: some of the songs we sing in this church, the
Speaker 3: songs of praise that we sing that end up touching
Speaker 3: people all over the world. They start as pieces. I mean,
Speaker 3: Chandler and Leland come on back, boys, I mean these boys, Yeah,
Speaker 3: they are amazing songwriters. But I had to tell you something, Church,
Speaker 3: I gotta tell you some of the songs that we
Speaker 3: put out they start as pieces. And let me tell
Speaker 3: you this, the pieces usually aren't pretty. I mean, how
Speaker 3: many times has Holly heard me sending a voice memo
Speaker 3: in the bathroom to Chandler?
Speaker 1: Sound bad when I said it like that?
Speaker 3: But I mean, I was just going through today because
Speaker 3: we talked about ending my sermon in a way that
Speaker 3: would give you a picture of the pieces.
Speaker 1: And I found this.
Speaker 3: There's two thy six and thirty three voice memos on
Speaker 3: this phone.
Speaker 1: Pieces.
Speaker 3: Most of them do not need to be heard by
Speaker 3: human ears. Ever, most of them are an offense that
Speaker 3: they ever recorded.
Speaker 1: Like this one is your Micael. Listen to this. I
Speaker 1: just heard this.
Speaker 3: This is so random, but this is a song idea
Speaker 3: that I sent him a few days ago. Boom boom
Speaker 3: boom boom boom boom foo.
Speaker 1: You mm. And then it ends that's the whole thing.
Speaker 3: And somehow I thought he needed to hear that, and
Speaker 3: I sent.
Speaker 1: It to him.
Speaker 3: I'm saying a little piece over here today because you
Speaker 3: never know what starts as a piece might become a praise.
Speaker 3: So let me demonstrate. I was sitting in a songwriting
Speaker 3: session with Leland and we were finishing up a song.
Speaker 3: And as we're finishing up that one song, he plays something.
Speaker 3: And I'm always paying attention in a songwriting round, trying
Speaker 3: to scabage something that somebody else is throwing away like
Speaker 3: a little scrap, and I grab that sucker and break
Speaker 3: it and give thanks and feed twenty thousand people at Elevation.
Speaker 1: Church with it. Uh huh. So this guy, we're just literally.
Speaker 3: Setting up a microphone and he does something with his
Speaker 3: right hand. Listen to this he goes, and I got
Speaker 3: chills doing it, and I got chos, give me chokes
Speaker 3: he did. He does it and I go.
Speaker 1: What's that? He goes, Oh, it's not that.
Speaker 3: I'm just I'm just recorded real quick and save it
Speaker 3: for something later. And I says, save it for nothing later.
Speaker 3: You are going to.
Speaker 1: Give that to me right now and we're gonna write
Speaker 1: something to it. Do it again. Listen to these chords
Speaker 1: he played. I feel the Holy Ghost.
Speaker 3: When he plays those chords, he could sing Mary had
Speaker 3: a little lamb over those chords.
Speaker 1: And I would feel the Holy Ghost.
Speaker 3: I think it's ting about the Virgin Mary and the
Speaker 3: baby Jesus. But when he played it, we said, man,
Speaker 3: what does that sound like? And eventually we said.
Speaker 8: Gave me mama, Yeah, one more day.
Speaker 1: And then it's like what if It's like, no, you
Speaker 1: gave me more say?
Speaker 3: And then so you know, there's other guys in the room,
Speaker 3: Davs and Jonathan, all of them, and so we write
Speaker 3: this whole chorus the song that we sang earlier in church,
Speaker 3: this song called one more Day?
Speaker 1: All right?
Speaker 3: So we finished that and I'm like, cool, Wait, I
Speaker 3: got this piece.
Speaker 1: That Chandler sent me.
Speaker 3: And Chandler and Leland had never even met, but on
Speaker 3: my phone I got pieces pieces, you see what I'm saying,
Speaker 3: Lja and he had sent me a piece a few
Speaker 3: months ago that we had talked about.
Speaker 8: And his piece goes, I just really want to pray.
Speaker 3: We didn't have those words.
Speaker 9: You mean everything, everything everything to me.
Speaker 1: And so then do the other part again, the chorus.
Speaker 3: Maybe, And I was like, what if this piece, say,
Speaker 3: what if this piece that we just God goes with
Speaker 3: this piece that we've had for three months that we
Speaker 3: don't know what to do with. And what if a
Speaker 3: song is waiting to be sung from pieces.
Speaker 1: From pieces? And what is God? What if the Lord?
Speaker 1: What if the.
Speaker 3: God of pieces is standing over your life today waiting
Speaker 3: for you to praise him for the pieces?
Speaker 1: You can do better than that?
Speaker 5: What if you put your hands together and begin to
Speaker 5: believe that the God of.
Speaker 6: Pieces with me?
Speaker 5: Just send the list and ways obay his voice given, pray.
Speaker 3: Listen, that's said singer sing over those basis.
Speaker 9: I just really want to prize should be anything, everything, everything.
Speaker 9: How does really want to pray?
Speaker 1: She brings all together?
Speaker 9: Do me everything, every everything.
Speaker 1: When we're talking to church, we say, now is.
Speaker 9: Your name on the bride? Shall be be everything everything.
Speaker 1: My daily bread.
Speaker 8: Lord, see you have probab me all this?
Speaker 1: Wee mm hmmm tested fire Oh one mom can I
Speaker 1: see hallelujah?
Speaker 3: What a bank?
Speaker 8: Geez, sir geez bring it all again like cue, bid
Speaker 8: me one word, oh one mold one lord, one Lord.
Speaker 1: It's about ice closed.
Speaker 3: I want you to take a moment and offer your
Speaker 3: broken pieces to the Lord today. And even if you
Speaker 3: want to just lift your hands like this and close
Speaker 3: your eyes and his presence and say, here are my
Speaker 3: peace is God.
Speaker 1: I heard you were the God of peaces. I heard
Speaker 1: that you could take.
Speaker 3: What has been shattered and turn it into something amazing.
Speaker 3: I heard that you can steal storms. I heard that
Speaker 3: you could give peace in a storm.
Speaker 2: God.
Speaker 3: I'm in a storm right now. I'm in a storm
Speaker 3: on the inside. I've got winds raging on the outside.
Speaker 3: But I heard about the God of peace, the God
Speaker 3: of peaces, the God who, even if the boat breaks,
Speaker 3: will see me safely to my assigned place.
Speaker 1: So I offer you all of these plans.
Speaker 3: I offer you all of these problems, and I remember
Speaker 3: that I'm coming into the presence of a sovereign God
Speaker 3: who can speak to a storm. But until you stop
Speaker 3: the God, I believe you have stocked me for this storm.
Speaker 1: You have given me your peace.
Speaker 3: So I'm not anxious about anything, because with prayer and supplication,
Speaker 3: I'm making my request known to you, and the peace
Speaker 3: of God that passes all understanding will guard.
Speaker 1: Your heart and your mind.
Speaker 3: In Christ Jesus, I want to give an invitation for
Speaker 3: someone today to make peace with God in your personal life.
Speaker 1: The Bible says that Jesus.
Speaker 3: Christ became our peace so that we would no longer
Speaker 3: be enemies of God. But through his blood shed on
Speaker 3: the cross, you and I can have peace with God.
Speaker 3: We can be brought into His family. We can be
Speaker 3: forgiven and called sons and daughters. We can have a
Speaker 3: brand new beginning. So, if God has led you to
Speaker 3: this place today and he's speaking to your heart and
Speaker 3: you want to give him the pieces of your broken life,
Speaker 3: say here it is God.
Speaker 1: I've tried doing it without you. Now I need you
Speaker 1: to take over. If you are ready to give your
Speaker 1: life to the Lord.
Speaker 3: Today, I'm going to lead you in a prayer, not
Speaker 3: a prayer that you're going to do better or be perfect,
Speaker 3: but a prayer that says, here are my broken peaces. God,
Speaker 3: give my life to you. And if you're ready to
Speaker 3: do that today, then you repeat after me. If you
Speaker 3: pray this prayer, mean it from your heart. God will
Speaker 3: hear you from heaven. He will heal your sentence and
Speaker 3: give you a new beginning. We're praying out loud as
Speaker 3: a church family for the benefit of those who are
Speaker 3: coming to God or coming back to God. Repeat after me,
Speaker 3: Heavenly Father, today.
Speaker 1: Is my day.
Speaker 3: I am a sinner in need of a savior. And
Speaker 3: I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God
Speaker 3: and the savior of the world. And today I make
Speaker 3: Jesus the Lord of my life. I believe he died
Speaker 3: that I would be forgiven and rose again to give
Speaker 3: me life. I receive this new life. This is my
Speaker 3: new beginning. Shoot your hand up on the count of three.
Speaker 3: If you prayed that one, two, three.
Speaker 1: In Jesus' name.
Speaker 3: Welcome to the family of God's beautiful.
Speaker 1: I see God bless you. Come on anybody else. If
Speaker 1: you put your name in the chat right now, We'll
Speaker 1: break for you. Our team will break for you. We
Speaker 1: celebrate you. The God of Peace is with you. Thank you, Jesus,
Speaker 1: Thank you Jesus.
Speaker 3: Hug three people and tell them God is with you
Speaker 3: in this storm. The God of Peace is with you.
Speaker 3: Put it in the chat right now, say the God
Speaker 3: of Peace is with me. After you've given out all
Speaker 3: your prescribed hugs, campus pastors, you can take it here
Speaker 3: in Valentine. I want to close, grab hands and block
Speaker 3: the exit so nobody gets out till I say this
Speaker 3: close in prayer. Come on up with me. Holly tag
Speaker 3: team partners. You preached on the peace of God. I
Speaker 3: preached on the God of pieces, and together we make
Speaker 3: a good team. Squeeze your neighbor's hand and say we
Speaker 3: make a good team too.
Speaker 1: Tell him I got a peace. I got a peace,
Speaker 1: You got a.
Speaker 3: Peace, peace, and we got a peace making God. I'm
Speaker 3: telling you, when you get back to your boat in
Speaker 3: this storm, you look for.
Speaker 1: Leftovers at your feet.
Speaker 3: You begin to rehearse the goodness of God in your life.
Speaker 3: And now, unto Him who is able to do immeserably
Speaker 3: more than you ask for, imagine to him.
Speaker 1: Be glory through Christ.
Speaker 3: Jesus is the.
Speaker 9: Church pass forever.
Speaker 1: Hey man, how will you beas this week?
Speaker 2: Thank you for joining us special thanks to those of
Speaker 2: you who give generously to this ministry. Is because of
Speaker 2: you that this ministry is possible. You can click the
Speaker 2: link in the description to give now or visit Elevationchurch
Speaker 2: dot org slash podcast for more information and if you
Speaker 2: enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. You can share it
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Speaker 2: tag us at Elevation Church. Thanks again for listening, God
Speaker 2: bless you.