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Showing posts with the label Peace

Prayer - Less Worry Living

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"Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus." -Apostle Paul, writing to the 1st church in Philippi, 1st century Philippians 4:6-7 in the New Living Translation [ This is the  5th  message in this  series ] From many of Jesus' teachings we can see that His message is about worry free living. And it is not just to tell us to not worry without telling us how to go about it. Pray He tells us not to fret, not to be anxious. And instead of worrying we should pray. We should bring our concerns up to God. Anything we may be worried or anxious about should form what we ought to pray for. Peace As we praise God and bring our concerns to Him, before we know it God's peace envelops us. God's presence surrounds us and as the Message Paraphrase put

Quiet Time - Hope, Peace & Joy

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" Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." -Apostle Paul writing to the 1st church in Rome, 1st century Romans 15:13 in the Berean Study Bible Edition [This is the  26th  message in this series] The end of the old year and the start of the new year is always a great time to look back on both our mistakes and our triumphs. It is also the time to thank God for His faithfulness. And to pause to bask in this surreal moment. It was another difficult year of course. It has been for billions of people around the world. We are not alone.  It has actually been two straight challenging years for most. But through it all, we can still sense that God was working behind the scenes. God has brought us through what some might consider their most trying times. And at this moment in time it is important to receive God's joy and peace. The world's joy and the world's pe

Peace On Christmas Day

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“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom His favor rests!” -heavenly hosts Luke 2:14 in the Berean Study Bible Version Christmas On Christmas Day, believers come together for fun, food and gifts. On the birth of Christ, there was a celebration in heaven and on earth. Nine months prior, with the Holy Spirit coming upon Mary, heaven came down gift-wrapped in human flesh. His Name is Jesus. Gift In Him was the Word who spoke the universe into existence. In Him was the Light who is the Way. In Him is the Truth which the human mind cannot completely wrap itself around, unless through the guidance of the Spirit of God.  Love In Him is the Fruit of God's Love. Jesus is Love in human form. He is The Christmas Gift who we need to receive. Angels from heaven came down to announce to the lowliest of men -- shepherds, out in a field that a great and joyful event meant for everybody for all time has occured -- The Savior has just been born in the City of David, The

Feeding the Sheep - Living the New Life 9

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"And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace" -Apostle Paul, 1st century Colossians 3:15a [This is the  24th message of this series] This lesson is intended for mature believers (or adulting believers). For a more orderly study, please go through all the  previous messages  first, if you haven't yet. New Nature This is the  9th part of this  series , within a series. To continue, we were talking about how the Apostle Paul is telling the first church in Colassae what "to do",  in place of the things they started to quit doing. Peace So there are many things money cannot buy, one of them is peace. There is no business which sells peace. Of course there are those who market, advertise and sell you life insurance, home security, guns, computer virus protection, fraud protection, and so on but none of these will be able to give us peace. True peace, real peace comes from knowing th

Wisdom - Common Sense

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" If you’re dumb enough to call attention to yourself     by offending people and making rude gestures, Don’t be surprised if someone bloodies your nose.     Churned milk turns into butter;     riled emotions turn into fist fights." Proverbs 30:32-33 MSG [This is the 23rd message in this series] In this series we are highlighting two-liner verses from the Book of Proverbs. Asking For It This proverb shouldn't even need to be said but then again, common sense is not really all that common. Calling attention to yourself by saying offensive words, rude gestures, bragging and planning malicious things are not really smart things to be doing. All these when sent out there have a way of 'boomeranging' back and hitting you squarely on the nose. And yes when it does, it will hurt. Butter Butter is traditionally made by churning milk. Meaning milk turns into butter by constant agitation. In the same way, when someone is constantly agitating or egging someone o

Wisdom - Joy Comes From Peace

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" Deceit is in the heart of those who plan evil,  but joy belongs to those who advise peace." Proverbs 12:20 [This is the 12th message in this series] In  this series  we are highlighting two-liner verses from the Book of Proverbs. Plotting Evil Most people do not just start planning to do evil. Some of them got swept into it or most evolved into someone who takes delight in it. Spawn Now people who do plot evil, normally wouldn't look anything like we watch in the movies. They wouldn't look like someone wearing an all black or scary outfit or are all tattoed up or have some other menacing appearance. Sometimes they would look and sound like anyone else, like a nicely dressed gentleman or a nice looking grandma.  But appearances aside, someone who is plotting evil always will be giving birth to deceit -- concealing or misrepresenting the truth. Peace On the other hand, those who advocate for peace or promote love, unity, camaraderie and solidarity has joy

Pandemic Preaching - Real Joy Part 2

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  "God’s kingdom does not consist of what a person eats or drinks. Rather, God’s kingdom consists of God’s approval and peace, as well as the joy that the Holy Spirit gives. The person who serves Christ with this in mind is pleasing to God and respected by people. So let’s pursue those things which bring peace and which are good for each other."  Romans 14:17-19 In the  first part of this message , we talked about God's sense of humor. Obviously there was an intent of showing that point across with a little more humor than we would normally be used to. And that could seem odd, weird or even blasphemous to people who would think that God was a serious God or that we shouldn't think of Him that way. Like God does not want us to laugh or even have fun. But if God does not really have a sense of humor or if He isn't funny like that, why would He have created you (or me) for that matter. That alone is proof that He is a comedian. There is absolutely no other reason for

Peace on Earth

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“Glory to God in highest heaven,     and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.” Luke 2:14 NLT Angels showed themselves to shepherds and announced the birth of the child who will grow up to be the Savior of the world. These heavenly host sang to glorify God and shout that peace has come to earth. But it is a peace not like what we expect it would be. In case you haven't yet noticed, everything about the Lord is contrary to what we might normally expect, as His ways are not the ways of the world. Peace is a by-product or a fruit of being saved, of being forgiven. Peace is not the absence of pain, of stresses, of suffering, of turmoil and even of wars. Rather it is the inner tranquility, the calmness and the serenity that one has in spite of whatever else is happening all around us. And for hundreds of years, every Christmas time, people sing Christmas carols about this elusive thing. Today, more than ever, many still do not know what this is, or even wh