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Advent Pt. 5: The Advent Of Shalom

The Peace Only Christ Can Give

The Lack of Peace / The Advent of Peace / The Victory of Peace / The Stewardship of Peace / The Practice of Peace

THE LACK OF PEACE

The ever present reality of restlessness

Restlessness = Things are not as they are supposed to be…

Because each of us begins this life with things not right between us and our creator

We are: Alienated…Separated…Estranged from God because of Sin

What do I mean by SIN? Sin is our proud self-centered rebellion against God’s ways

Our condition of un-resolved, un-forgiven, un-redeemed sin… lacks Peace

Tension & Stress result from the lack of peace [moments of fleeting peace]

Our enemy is trying to make everyone believe that peace does not exist

He wants you to chase ‘Stuff’: New job, new car, new phone, new house, vacations…

And while you chase what the world values, you will find NO Peace!

The Apostle Paul summed up the condition of mankind quoting O.T texts…

“There is none righteous, not even one; There is none who understands, There is none who seeks for God; All have turned aside, together they have become useless; There is none who does good, There is not even one.” “Their throat is an open grave, With their tongues they keep deceiving,” “The poison of asps is under their lips”; “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness”; “Their feet are swift to shed blood, Destruction and misery are in their paths, And the path of peace they have not known.” “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” Romans 3:10b-18

But we can have peace, God given peace

THE ADVENT OF PEACE

The Declaration of God’s Messengers: Luke 2 11-14 NASB

…for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.”

The coming of the Christ Child was the arrival in our world of the source of Peace!

God was going to give those who He bestows His grace upon…Peace!

Peace, Jesus, arrived and then 33 years later He laid down His life for His Church

THE VICTORY OF PEACE

The Essentials of Christ’s Victory of Peace:

  • Prophetic, Miraculous and humble birth
  • Perfect, sinless life: the demonstration of how everything is supposed to be
  • Sacrificial death to pay for all of our rebellion and willful separation
  • His resurrection is the victory over sin, unrest & stress: The Victory of Peace

For God in all His fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and through Him God reconciled everything to Himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross. ~ Colossians 1:19-20 NLT

  • He did it as one of us
  • The resurrection of Christ, the won the battle over sin & death
  • He made things as they are supposed to be, between us and God

THE STEWARDSHIP OF PEACE

Temples of the Holy Spirit = Place of Peace

The peace Christ gives to His ‘Blood Bought’ Church is a gift that requires proper use

That peace comes from the indwelling Holy Spirit Who comes to live in all who surrender their lives to Jesus the Christ

“These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you. Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.” ~ Jesus Christ @ John 14:25-27 NASB 1995

The ways of The Spirit are not the ways of this world

You cannot experience the Peace of Christ while living by the rules of this world

You cannot experience the Peace of Christ focused on yourself and your stuff

STEWARDSHIP = Great care & proper use of

Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are. Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you thinks that he is wise in this age, he must become foolish, so that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God. ~ 1 Corinthians 3:16-19a NASB 1995

Grace & Peace are a package deal…a bundle!

17 of the 27 New Testament books proclaim this truth to Body of Christ

If you have been given God’s Grace of Eternal life, you also have been given PEACE

The question is: What are you going to do with God’s peace?

You can Squander it OR You can Steward it

God gives us this opportunity for Peace, but we have to intentionally live for it

The author & perfecter of Shalom CHRIST!

Treat it with respect and value it…fully embrace it and maximize it… it takes practice

THE PRACTICE OF PEACE

Application portion of this message:

Wisdom is the path to peace…Humility is the path to wisdom

Peace begins in humility, just like to baby Jesus in that cave He was born it

In that ‘Spirit Given’ humility we turn over control of our day to day to The Holy Spirit

You cannot chase the things of this world and experience True Peace [Shalom]

There is no middle ground!

For those who live according to the flesh have set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit have set their minds on the things of the Spirit. To set the mind on the flesh leads to death, but to set the mind on the Spirit brings life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to the law of God; in fact, it is not even able to do so. ~ Romans 8:5-7 MOUNCE

How do you do it? YOU HAVE TO CHANGE!! [Discipleship]

Our natural state is not peace,

Intentional, willful choices based on your conviction of what God would have YOU!

He does not want HIS children to live a life unrest, striving, discontent, dissatisfaction, and chasing things… but He will allow you to live in that place

If you always need something new and Different and Better and Extra ZERO PEACE

Change Your definition of success.

  • Christian success is all about relationships, with God and others

Change Your definition of growth

  • Not the growth of your career or bank account or Accolades: Spiritual Growth

Change how You use time

  • Is it Your time or God’s Time?
  • Is time to be used learning God’s ways and helping others?

Change what You value

  • The value you place on people must grow
  • The value you place on things must decrease

Change how You think

  • You need a new source of truth not of this world: SCRIPTURE
  • You must take the principals of God’s Word and apply them to real situations

Change Your definition of how it should be [Contentment]

  • Paul nailed it: ‘I have contentment no matter the current circumstances’
  • Discontent will lead you away from Peace
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ADVENT: The Arrival of Shalom

Celebrating The Prince of Peace

What are we celebrating this season? What is it really about? For Christ’s children and those HE is calling to be His; WE celebrate His arrival. ADVENT / ARRIVAL: The coming of the Messiah.

It is the beginning of The Incarnation, the arrival on Earth of ‘The Prince of Peace’. We [Who God’s favors rests on] place our HOPE in the Prince of PEACE. We [Christ’s Body] have JOY because of the Prince of PEACE.

The actual PEACE… the SHALOM is what WE celebrate. The Hebrew word we translate as ‘Peace’ is Shalom. The fullness of what is means is not just a lack of conflict…It is a state of being where everything is as it should be, the way it started out. What Shalom encompasses is: How things are meant to be between us and God.

Perfect Shalom existed in the garden before Adam & Eve disobeyed God. Once sin came between mankind and God, that perfect shalom ceased to exist. God used the Law of Moses to demonstrate that humanity could not create shalom. We could not make things the way they should be, only God could… [HE did]

The birth of the Christ Child was & still is God’s declaration of PEACE to us. This morning it is our privilege & responsibility to glorify God for the gift of Shalom.

Setting the stage; Luke 2:1-7

At that time a proclamation was made by Caesar Augustus that all the inhabited world should be registered. This was the first census, undertaken while Qurenius was governor of Syria and everybody went to the town of his birth to be registered.

Joseph went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to David’s town, Bethlehem, in Judea, because he was a direct descendant of David, to be registered with his future wife, Mary, now in the later stages of her pregnancy.

So it happened that it was while they were there in Bethlehem that she came to the end of her time. She gave birth to her first child, a son. And as there was no place for them inside the inn, she wrapped him up and laid him in a manger.

8 In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened.

  • In the area of Bethlehem, outside the city [I have been there]
  • Massive fear: they knew this was God & they knew things were not as they should be between them & God [need to sacrifice their best stuff]
  • If you are not at peace with God, His Glory is frightening

10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; 11 for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

  • The message was: you don’t have to fear what God is doing
  • The news would result in JOY, not just happiness
  • The joy comes from getting a Savior / The Messiah / God Himself
  • The connection of David is important based on the scripture
  • The uniqueness of this event will be authenticated by the unique birth deal

13 And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace among men with whom He is pleased.”

  • First there is one angel, then ‘A Great Multitude’
  • The angel’s communication has both worship and information
  • 1st God is glorified in this ‘arrival’ of the Messiah
  • 2nd they declare the ‘New Covenant’ where God make peace favored people
  • The Messiah will bring shalom to those who God is pleased with [Grace]
  • God’s messengers declared the end of ‘Fear Based’ relationship with God

15 When the angels had gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds began saying to one another, “Let us go straight to Bethlehem then, and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us.”

  • They must have been stunned for a minute!
  • Very quickly the reality of what had happened moved them to action
  • Revelation made them seek more revelation [seeking the truth]

16 So they came in a hurry and found their way to Mary and Joseph, and the baby as He lay in the manger. 17 When they had seen this, they made known the statement which had been told them about this Child.

  • They didn’t wait to seek God
  • It could not have been very hard to find the Christ Child
  • They don’t just stay there looking at the Baby, they broadcast the Good News
  • They told anyone who would listen what God had told them

18 And all who heard it wondered at the things which were told them by the shepherds. 19 But Mary treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart. 20 The shepherds went back, glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen, just as had been told them.

  • People may have not understood the deal but EVERYONE wondered…
  • The Shepherd’s message had IMPACT [true revelation changes people]
  • Mary treasured the information because she connected it with previous info
    • The Angel & the visit to Elisabeth
  • The shepherds returned to their normal life but having found the means of peace with their maker
  • Theirs lives are now lives of worship based on the revelation of God’s peace

THE GOSPEL Is the offer of Perfect Shalom to you from God

Steps to Shalom:

Start by recognizing that all of us start in a state of conflict with God because of sin.

Embrace the reality that God alone initiates the end of enmity between us by coming to us Himself!

Know that Christ’s coming was the culmination of God’s plan to bring salvation to all peoples through His ‘chosen people’.

The ultimate glorification of God comes from His coming to us to make peace.

The response to the revelation of God’s salvation results in the intentionally sharing of that revelation.

The advent of Shalom changes the world and those who God enables to believe it will treasure that gift by the way they live.

Application:

Are you convinced of your original state of being at war with God because of YOUR sin?

Do you fully believe that it is God who initiates and completes Shalom through the advent of Christ?

Are you active in the seeking and the sharing of Shalom with God, giving Him glory?

Have you put the pieces of what God has revealed to you together so that you treasure the Gift of Shalom with God through Christ?

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