From His Heart

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Today on From His Heart with Pastor Jeff Shreve, you'll discover where to find the peace you may be missing.

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Now, I believe that the greatest witness for a Christian is when you go through a hard time. And there's peace and there's joy and there are praises and there's love for the Lord.

And your face radiates a confidence in the Lord and in his word that though he slay me, yet will I trust in him. And I'm not going to be afraid, because the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He's going to take care of me.

Listen. And that can be your song too, if you will choose the good part. Surrender your life to the Prince of Peace and your life will be characterized by peace.

Speaker 1

Peace is not merely the absence of trouble, but the calming, reassuring presence of the Lord in the midst of trouble. That's real peace, a peace that passes all understanding.

This is From His Heart with Pastor Jeff Shreve. Thank you for joining us and Merry Christmas from all of us at From His Heart, hoping that your Christmas will be filled with joy, peace, and hope that only a relationship with Christ can bring. It's not about the presence. It's about the Prince of Peace, the Prince of Peace that Pastor Jeff will explore today.

Why? Because while the birth of Jesus is important, the shed blood of Jesus purchased peace for you and me. And today we can learn to trade the stresses of this life and find the missing peace. That's the title of today's lesson from Pastor Jeff's Christmas series, What a Beautiful Name.

Isaiah's description of the Promised Messiah. Right now, open your Bible to Isaiah, chapter nine, as Pastor Jeff shows us how to find the missing piece.

Speaker 2

We've been in a series for this Christmas season called "What a Beautiful Name," based on Isaiah's description of the Lord Jesus Christ. Isaiah, who lived in 700 B.C., talked about Jesus who was to come. He says in Isaiah 9, beginning in verse 6, "For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us, and the government will rest on his shoulders, and his name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of his government or of peace on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore; the zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this."

The Lord has a name, the Prince of Peace. Hey, let me ask you a question. Are you living right now? Right now? Are you living with stress and worry in your heart, or are you experiencing the peace of Jesus Christ? I want to share with you two insights from this name, this title, Prince of Peace.

Insight number one: Jesus is the captain and master of peace. That's what the word "prince" means in Hebrew. It means captain, leader, Lord, master, keeper—keeper of peace. And peace is the Hebrew word "shalom." Shalom is used in the Old Testament 239 times. That is the greeting that Jews give one another: shalom. It means more than just the absence of conflict. Externally, shalom means tranquility, contentment, well-being, and harmony within and without. The Greek New Testament's corresponding word for shalom is "eirene," which is used 91 times in the New Testament. So when you put those two together, this concept of tranquility, contentment, and harmony within and without is used 330 times in the Bible. It's a huge part of the Christmas story: "Peace on earth, good will to men." That was the message the angel gave to the shepherds. And the Prince of Peace has come—Jesus, who is the master, the Lord, the leader, and the keeper of this thing called peace.

There was just something about him that was so attractive to people, and that something was his joy, his peace, and his love. His life radiated peace. Furthermore, his sacrifice on the cross purchased peace. See, Jesus is all about peace, and his sacrifice purchased peace. It says in the book of Colossians, chapter 1, beginning in verse 19, "For it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness, the fullness of Deity to dwell in him." Jesus is the God-man, and through him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace, eirene, through the blood of his cross. And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet he has now reconciled you in his fleshly body through death, in order to present you before him, holy and blameless and beyond reproach. He made peace through the blood of his cross. And so he preached peace. He brought about peace, so there's no more conflict between man and God. He made a way where previously there was no way.

Then his coming kingdom will be characterized by peace. Look at verse 7 again in Isaiah chapter 9: "There will be no end to the increase of his government or of peace on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness." That's the first insight.

Insight number two: Jesus offers peace to you, the Prince of Peace, who embodies peace. As the scripture says, "The Lord is our peace." He himself is our peace. He offers peace as a gift. You want a gift at Christmas? Well, how about the gift of peace? You know, the Bible makes it very clear. In the book of Isaiah, the Lord speaks and he says, "There is no peace for the wicked," declares the Lord God. You can't have peace apart from the Prince of Peace, the Lord Jesus Christ. See, peace is not a commodity; peace is a person. And the only way to have peace is through a relationship with Jesus.

Well, Jesus said to his disciples in John chapter 14, "Peace, I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful." How does the world give peace? What's the world's definition of peace? The world's definition of peace? "Hey, you want peace? You know, if you win the lottery, then you'll have peace. If you have a bunch of money, if somebody dumps a truckload of money on you, then you'll have peace. If people aren't against you and they're not talking bad about you on social media, then you can have peace." It's all external things. That's how the world tries to give peace. They say, "Well, you know, here's how you find peace. It's in a bottle, it's in a pill, some drug that you take that can give you peace." It doesn't give you peace. Peace comes from God. "There is no peace," says my God, "for the wicked."

So Jesus said, "I don't give you peace like the world gives." We're not talking about an external thing that can make you feel better for a few hours. We're talking about real peace, lasting peace, tranquility, contentment, well-being, and harmony within and without. It's a picture of this spirit-filled life. And Jesus offers that to you and to me.

Now here's the good news: You don't have to live worried, bothered, and fearful. You don't have to live like that. The Lord doesn't want you to live like that. And the Lord says, "Here's my peace. If you will receive me, you will receive peace." You don't have to live as you're living, worried and stressed and bothered now.

When I think of that, I always think of the story in Luke chapter 10 of Mary and Martha of Bethany when they invited Jesus over to the house for Sunday dinner. Jesus came with the disciples, and Martha is in the kitchen making a magnificent feast, a magnificent meal for the Master. Mary is helping her, her sister. They're cooking and they're getting ready, and I don't know what they're having—maybe meatloaf. And so they're having meatloaf for the Master. It's exciting because Jesus is coming over. Can you imagine how exciting that would be if Jesus came over? Well, they were excited.

But then Jesus gets there, and as soon as he gets there, what does Mary do? She leaves the kitchen, goes in with everybody, and sits at the Lord's feet, listening to his Word. Martha is left alone in the kitchen, and she doesn't like it. She says, "Lord, I've been left here to do all the serving alone." And this is how the scripture words that: "But Martha was distracted with all her preparations." She came up to him and said, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me."

Don't ever do that with the Lord, where you say, "Lord, this is what you're going to do. You're going to tell my sister to help me." That's not a good idea. "Then tell her to help me." But the Lord answered and said to her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things, but only a few things are necessary, really only one, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her."

See, Martha was saying, "Lord, you need to be on my side. Let's you and me tell Mary what she needs to do. She should get up and help me serve because this is meatloaf time for the Master, and that's what's really important."

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And.

Speaker 2

And she was all focused on serving the Lord, and Mary was focused on worshiping the Lord. Martha was stressed out, and Mary was blessed out at the feet of Jesus. Listen, you don't have to live all stressed out and worried and bothered. You know, when we talk about worry, worry is an old Anglo-Saxon word. It literally means to strangle. It's the picture of a dog who takes a shoe in his mouth and tries to strangle it to death. You ever seen a dog do that? They'll grab ahold of that and go back and forth. Well, worry is that thing that takes your soul in its teeth and goes back and forth with it.

The scripture says that Martha was distracted with all her preparations. That word, distracted, means to drag in many different ways. She's thinking, "I gotta do this, and I gotta do that, and I gotta do this other." And she's all freaked out over that. She misses out on a tremendous blessing. That's the way lots of people live. Like Martha, they say, "Well, I'm serving the Lord." But listen, the Lord's not as interested in your service as he is in your worship. If you get your worship right, then your service will be with joy and not with worry and stress.

Years ago, I heard a story about a man. He was walking down a dusty road with a big sack of grain on his back—a heavy sack of grain. One of his neighbors, who lived on a farm not too far from him, came up on a horse-drawn wagon. He stopped and said to the man, "Hey, friend, why don't you come in here, and I'll give you a ride?" The man replied, "Oh, that'd be great." So he got in the wagon, heavy sack of grain still on his back. The fellow said to him, "Well, don't you want to put the grain in the back?" He said, "You know, I'm just grateful that you would carry me. I can't ask you to carry this too."

We kind of snicker at that, but don't we do the same thing with the Lord? We say, "Lord, I give you my life. I want to follow you. I want to be your disciple." Then when difficulties come in—struggles, trials, bad news—we have this heavy burden that we're carrying. The Lord says, "Hey, cast your burden on me, and I'll sustain you." And we say, "Oh, no, Lord, I can't do that because I have this heavy burden. I appreciate you saving me, but I got to handle this myself." But you don't. You can cast your burden on the Lord, so you don't have to live worried, bothered, and fearful. You can choose to trade in your stress for His peace. You can cast all your cares on Him. Every burden that you have, you can put it at His feet. You can take that heavy load off your back and just say, "Lord, I can't handle this, but you can. This is too much for me, but it's not too much for you."

Cast your burdens on the Lord. Psalm 55, verse 22 says, "And He will sustain you. He will never allow the righteous to be shaken." Hey, are you like Martha, worried and bothered about so many things? You don't have to live like that. Perhaps you remember the story I told you some years ago about a man walking down the street. His name was John. He was walking down the street and he saw Fred. Fred and John began talking. Fred said to John, "Man, I hadn't seen you in about a year. You look great! What are you doing? Are you eating different? Your countenance is so good. You just look wonderful. You look so carefree."

He said, "Well, you know, I had a big problem with worry." Fred replied, "Oh, I know. You worried about everything." John continued, "Well, I was looking in the newspaper under the classifieds, and I saw where a man had a business where he would worry for people. So I hired him, and he worries for me. All I have to do is call him up and say, 'Hey, I got this problem. I got that problem.' He worries for me, and I don't have to worry at all. And man, it makes me feel great."

Fred said, "Well, that's wonderful. I'd like to get him to worry for me. How much does he cost?" John replied, "Well, he's expensive. Costs you $1,000 a week." Fred exclaimed, "$1,000 a week? How are you going to pay for that? You don't have that kind of money." John said, "I know. That's his worry."

See, wouldn't it be great if you had somebody that would worry for you? That's what the Lord says, in a sense. He says, "Give me that problem. Give me that burden. I'll take care of it. You don't need to worry about that. You just give it to me." You can cast all your cares on Him. First Peter, chapter five says this in the Amplified: "Casting all your cares, all your anxieties, all your worries, and all your concerns once and for all on Him. For He cares about you with deepest affection and watches over you very carefully."

So I don't have to worry and fret and stew and wonder. I just need to trust Him. I just need to know He cares for me. He told me to bring my worries, my cares, my anxieties to Him, and He'll take care of those for me. It matters to Him concerning you, so you cast all your cares on Him.

Secondly, you yield your life to His control. That's what Mary did. Mary's a picture of that. She's totally yielded. You know, we only read about Mary of Bethany three times in the Scripture. This is very interesting. In Luke, chapter 10, we read about her. Where do we see her? She's seated at the Lord's feet, listening to His Word. We see her again in John, chapter 11. Lazarus was her brother—the one the Lord raised from the dead. When she comes to see Jesus concerning Lazarus, she falls at His feet. Then we read about her in John, chapter 12. She is at the Lord's feet with that expensive perfume, breaking it over His feet and wiping it with her hair. That is Mary of Bethany—always at His feet, surrendered to Him, yielded to Him.

Jesus said of her, "She has chosen the good part." She chose that. And here's the cool thing about that: because she chose it, she's not superwoman. She's not, "Well, that Mary of Bethany, she's in a whole different class than I'm in." I mean, I'm stuck. I'm just... you know, I just serve and complain about it. Nobody ever helps me, and nobody knows the troubles I've seen. No one knows my sorrow. You know, I'm that kind of person. No, it's not like that. Martha could have chosen the good part. She didn't. Mary chose the good part.

Hey, you have a choice. You can choose the good part. You can quit carrying your pack of woes, your heavy sack of woes. You can say, "Hey, I'm going to quit carrying this stuff. I'm going to start casting that on Jesus." He wants me to cast my burden on the Lord, and He will sustain you.

You know who learned how to do that? Many people in the Bible, but one person in particular that comes to mind is Peter. Peter, it says in Acts, chapter 12, was arrested by Herod Agrippa the First. He had arrested James, Peter's cohort in the fishing business. Remember the big three disciples: Peter, James, and John? Herod had arrested James and had him beheaded—put to death by the sword. James is the first martyr of the disciples. When Herod saw that this pleased the Jews, he arrested Peter.

Well, Peter, James, and John—James is number two, and Peter's number one. So he killed off number two; now he's going to kill off number one. He arrests Peter, and he's going to bring him to trial the next day, and he's going to kill him. Peter is chained between two soldiers, and there's a whole squad watching him. It's at night, and he knows that in the morning, he's going to die. Don't you think if you were Peter that you'd be a little nervous? It might be hard to go to sleep that night.

We sing, "Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take." Well, Peter is thinking, "I'm going to die as soon as I awake." And so that was what he knew was coming. Yet he falls asleep between the two soldiers that he's chained to. The Lord sends an angel to deliver him. I'm not making this up. The angel comes and has to give Peter a pretty good whack to wake him up. I mean, he's not lightly sleeping; he is completely at peace, knowing that his life is at the Lord's feet. Whatever the Lord wants to do with him is fine with Peter because he trusts the Lord and knows the Lord will deliver him.

As Paul said, "The Lord will deliver me from every evil deed and bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom. To Him be the glory." Paul went to meet the Lord; they cut his head off. He said, "Still, the Lord delivered me." Peter knew, "Hey, I don't have to worry about anything because the Lord is in control." God released him from prison. God chose to let James die for his faith. He released Peter from prison. We don't know the stranger ways of God. We don't know why He does what He does. But we know this: God is worthy to be trusted.

Mary has chosen the good part. It's a peace, as the scripture says, that surpasses comprehension, that surpasses understanding. It would be so easy to be so fearful, and the devil will keep coming, trying to make you fearful. Now, I believe that the greatest witness for a Christian, when you go through a hard time, is when there's peace, joy, praises, and love for the Lord. Your face radiates a confidence in the Lord and in His word—that though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him. I'm not going to be afraid because the Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He's going to take care of me.

Listen, that can be your song too, and that can be your testimony too. Mary has chosen the good part, Jesus said, which shall not be taken away from her. If you will choose the good part, surrender your life to the Prince of Peace, yield completely to Him. He will come in, He will rule and reign, and your life will be characterized by peace.

Speaker 1

Would you like to choose the good part and come to the Lord today, placing your faith in him for eternal life? Then today would be a great day to turn from your sin and ask him sincerely to come into your heart and to make you new again. He created you to serve him in this life by loving him and allowing Jesus' love to flow through you in his name.

If you want to know more about what it means to be a genuine follower of Christ, then we invite you to go to From His Heart. Click the "Why Jesus" link to discover a lot of great information about his great love for you and me and how we can put that into action in our lives. God has done incredible things through your support from His Heart this month, including touching so many lives with the candid truth of God's love for them. We are grateful that God has given Pastor Jeff a platform to proclaim this truth nationwide and worldwide, and by listening today and supporting this ministry, you enable that to happen.

December is a critical month for us as we've set a challenging goal to help us sustain in 2026 and expand around the world on radio, online, and on television in 182 countries. If God has used this ministry to bless your life this year, we would appreciate you praying about making a generous gift to help us at this end of the year. When you send a gift, we'll send you the new year-long devotional book, "The Heart Is God's Home." It's a wonderful keepsake devotional book, and it's beautiful too, from Pastor Jeff and 38 other pastors and teachers.

You can make your year-end gift when you call 866-40-BIBLE (866-40-BIBLE) or simply go online to fromhisheart.org. Thank you for seeing the need and joining in the action to reach the world for Jesus.

Well, I'm Larry Nobles, and it's been a wonderful day having you join us here on From His Heart. We trust that the program has blessed you and that you'll join us tomorrow for another powerful, timely message from Pastor Jeff as we prepare our hearts for Christmas. The new series is called "The Miracles of Christmas." Be here on Friday for the lesson "The Miracle of the Incarnation," when Pastor Jeff Shreve will open up God's Word and share real truth, real love, and real hope from His heart.

From His Heart is the listener-supported broadcast ministry of Dr. Jeff Shreve, speaking the truth in love to a lost and hurting world. Remember that no matter what, God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. To find out more about that, go to fromhisheart.org.