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Guest (Male): Describing how the peace of God is defined, here's pastor Tom Keller.

Guest (Male): The tranquil state of a soul sure of its salvation through Christ and so fearing nothing from God and content with his earthly lot, whatever sort that may be. Someone has said that peace is not the absence of trouble, but the presence of God in the midst of trouble. And the peace of God is critical for assurance and guidance among other things. We'll glean that insight as we continue in Paul's letter to the Colossians today on Study the Word. But pastor Tom Keller gets things started by giving credit where credit is due.

Thom Keller: I told a joke to a guy this week and he really liked it. That's a surprise in itself. In fact, he approached me and wanted to buy the exclusive rights to the joke and he handed me his American Express card. I smiled and returned the card. I told him I'm sorry, I can't take credit for that joke. Whoa, thank you. Whoa. And the truth is the truth is as you all know, none of us can take credit for anything good in our life, can we? What do you have that wasn't first given to you? Be it your gifts or abilities or talents, your work ethic, your finances or favor you've received or a position you hold.

Is there anything you have that is good that has not first been given to you by God? So what do you do with that fact? How do you process that? How does that practically affect your life? We'll hold on for a moment. Let's take a look at that in just a bit. Colossians 3:15 to 17. It says, 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 and always be thankful. Let the message about Christ and all his richness fill your lives.

Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus giving thanks through him to God the Father. Verse 15 by itself, 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 and always be thankful. The first sentence is let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your heart. Let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your heart.

Let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your heart. In Greek, the word peace is irini and it's defined as in Christianity, it's the tranquil state of a soul sure of its salvation through Christ and so fearing nothing from God and content with his earthly lot, whatever sort that may be. Listen, that's so good. In Christianity, it's a tranquil state of a soul certain of its salvation through Christ. And because of that, fearing nothing from God and content with its earthly lot whatsoever sort that may be. Let the peace that comes from Christ rule your heart.

How can you tell if you have this peace? You know, there's one sure confirming sign because you will know in certain situations where there is fear or stress that there is a peace that you have in the midst of that event that you know is not coming from you. About 25 years ago, Sue and I were a part of a Sunday night Bible study group at a couple's home. And one night, the teacher was teaching on the Holy Spirit. And he gave each one of us a 3x5 card and he said, there're about 20 people present.

And he said, write down independently from one another, write down how you know that you have the Holy Spirit in your life. What's the evidence? What's the proof? How do you know for certain that you have the Holy Spirit? Write it down and hand it back in. We did and he read all of them and all 20 or whatever the number was, all of them wrote basically the same thing in principle. They said the evidence that I have the Holy Spirit in my life is because there's a peace in certain situations where there should be no peace.

A peace that I cannot explain any other way. That's how I know I have the Holy Spirit. You know, can you say the same? Can you? Now here's a bonus that comes with that fact and this is a big bonus. That peace that you have from the Holy Spirit also represents the absolute final proof positive that you are saved. 2 Corinthians 1:22 says this, and he has identified as his own by placing the Holy Spirit in our hearts as the first installment, as the deposit, as the deposit that guarantees everything he has promised to us.

It's the evidence. Ephesians 1:14. The spirit is God's guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him. The spirit is God's guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he has promised us. And this kind of peace only comes from the Holy Spirit. The unsaved cannot experience this. John 14:27 says, I'm leaving you with a gift. What a gift. Peace of mind and heart. And the peace that I give is a gift the world cannot give.

So don't be troubled or afraid. I would suggest that every time that peace comes upon you, you should try to remember at that moment that that peace he is giving you is proof positive that you are saved. And so thank God for that peace when it comes and for what it represents additionally. The peace coming from Christ who lives in you. Verse 15 once again. Let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. The peace that comes from Christ living in you. And finally, it says, let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your heart.

Now this is pretty cool. In Greek, the word for rule is brabua. Brabua and it means to be an umpire to decide, to determine, to direct, to control, to rule. This word is used only one time in the entire New Testament here in Colossians 3 to be an umpire, to decide, to determine, to direct, to control, to rule. So let's put it all together. The peace that God promises, the irini peace, this tranquil state of your soul's salvation through Christ, the confidence you have in your salvation which is from the Holy Spirit. That same Holy Spirit is the one who serves as an umpire in your life when you question your salvation.

Listen, he decides, he makes the call regarding your doubts about your salvation. He is the one that makes the final call. I like this story. Story of a national Little League tournament ages 12 to 14. It's the bottom of the ninth inning. The score is 5 to 6. The losing team is up two outs. The last batter's up. Two strikes. This is it. There's a runner on first. This could win the game or they're going to lose. The pitch comes in this little guy goes back and takes a swing, hits it into the right right outfield.

Player on first makes it rounds his way down to home. The second player, the ball's coming in, the ball's coming in. He's halfway between third and home. Halfway between. And the ball hits the catcher's mitt. The guy just stops in his tracks. He knows he didn't make it. Just stops. And the umpire yells, safe. And the crowd begins this wailing up of noise. All of a sudden this roar begins and people start yelling out, what are you talking about? Safe. He was out by a mile. You got to be kidding. Where'd you get your umpire license?

Get that guy out of there. What's wrong with you? And this is what the umpire says. If I said he's safe, he's safe. If I said he's home, he's home. All of us have not tagged all the bases. We did not before we were saved. We did not after we were saved. But do you know who the umpire is? The Holy Spirit. And do you know what the Holy Spirit says? He says, you're safe. You're home. If I say you're home, you're home. That is the umpire that decides, that makes the call, that determines, that controls, that rules.

When those doubts come to your mind, and that's what he's going to say, brother. When the enemy is standing before the throne of God bringing accusations before you, and that's what he does, doesn't he? Do you know what the Holy Spirit says? He's home. He's safe. He didn't tag all the bases. That's why Jesus died. He is home. He is free. He is safe. You know, on Sunday, this note was stuffed in a chair back. I'm going to read what it said two Sundays ago. It said, why can't I find any peace and joy and rest?

I hurt really bad. I don't want to do life anymore. It was unsigned. Listen, there are so many beautiful promises in the Bible related to God's peace. And God knows how desperately we need peace. Here are a few of those promises. John 14:27. I am leaving you with a gift, peace of heart, mind and heart. And the peace that I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don't be troubled or afraid. Philippians 4:7. 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.

Isaiah 26:3. You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you. In John 16:33, I have told you all of this so that you may have peace in me. And we know this next part is true. Here in earth, you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart because I have overcome the world. You know, one important thing in finding peace, there are a few things you need to do to be proactive in order to find real peace. And number one, we talked about this, but you need to forgive others.

Ariel Sharon once said, quote, no war is over until it's replaced with peace. No war is over until it's replaced with peace. Listen, if you are harboring unforgiveness towards someone, that person, that event, that situation is always running on the hard drive of your brain. You're probably not aware of it. 99.9% of the time that it's running, you're not consciously aware of it. But it is always running. And to find peace, to have a quiet heart, you need to kill the noise. And that includes that unconscious noise in the background. So how do you do that?

You take inventory of all the bitter, all the people you're bitter toward, all those people who've hurt you, all those people who've wronged you, and you forgive them as an act of your will. That wipes both them and that event off of your hard drive. Forgive them. I didn't share this but someone brought it up later. They said, well, how do you keep how do you keep current in that? What if those thoughts come back? You know, the best way I know when you forgive someone as an act of your will and that thought comes back, the bitterness, is you you become proactive in that and you begin thanking God, praying for that person.

And I don't mean just a simple blessing. Listen, if someone's hurt me and someone's wronged me and I go to pray for them, this is what my prayer sounds like. God, bless them. Bless them good. Now what I mean is crush them. Pay them back. Let that would be the best thing I could see that could happen to this person. Let them have it like they let me have it. Yeah, bless them. Well, you know, the only way you get over that that I have discovered is when you pray for that person, you really pray for that person.

Something like this. God, I pray that you would bless this man in his family relationships, in his relationship with his wife, in his relationship with his children, his relationship with his his parents, his relationship at work, his relationship in the church, his relationship with you. I pray you bless him financially, physically, spiritually, in every arena bless him. And the more you do that, the more you add to that list, the more it takes away that that anger. You really can't do both. Listen, folks, I'm old enough to have a bunch of these happen in my life.

And I 'm telling you, this is the only thing I've ever discovered that can really take that away. You pray that God would really really bless them and go through the list. It's worth it because as you do, you feel you feel that anger, that resentment subsiding. Item by item as you add it, you feel it subsiding. It's what has to happen. And remember also any wrongs that you have done to others, ask God to forgive you. And if necessary, go and make restitution. I've shared this before, but when I was in high school, a bunch of us broke into the school and stole a whole bunch of sports equipment.

And I could tell you a lot about that, but anyway, when I when I got gave my life to Christ at 30, God convicted me of this and I went back to my back to the high school and I spoke to the superintendent. His name was Mr. Good. How would you like going back to Mr. Good telling him that you stole stuff? And I said to Mr. Good, I was in high school, I stole a lot of stuff. Here's a list of what I took and I like to make this right. Every story I ever heard when people did this, the person that was wrong said, oh no, I don't want the money.

You know, you just keep it. Everyone that I went back to, they all took my money, every single one of them. Every single one. He made a list. I came back and of course I paid that amount of money. But here's my point. Folks, when I walked out of the school that day, I remember this like yesterday. It is that gray floor in the summer. The lights were all out and I'm walking out of Elco High School. No one in that building except me that I could see. And I'm walking on a foot of air.

I felt so free. I felt so light that I started praying, God, what else can I go back in find forgiveness for? And there were other items at colleges as well. And I heard of colleges that would take degrees back because of something and I thought about that. I again, I took track stuff, football stuff from college and I thought they could pull my degree. They took my money instead. I remembered I stole some pumpkins and threw them down on the road with a bunch of guys. I went back to that farmer and he in about seems like he had about 15 sons, big strapping guys, and they're all standing there like this.

Pretty intimidating. And he said, yeah, what do you want? I said, well, when I was in high school, I stole some pumpkins and you know, I thought what are these guys going to do? He took my money. I just encourage you, folks, if you know, it's one thing to forgive other people. But listen, there's a lot of weight comes off of you when you go back and make things right and and offer restitution. Ask forgiveness and forgive. Overcome evil by doing good. Listen to this. Don't curse it, don't nurse it, don't rehearse it, reverse it.

That's pretty good, isn't it? Don't curse it, don't nurse it, don't rehearse it, reverse it. You reverse it by asking forgiveness and giving forgiveness. Let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts for as members of one body, you're called to live in peace and always be thankful. It ends with and always be thankful. I would like to suggest that if you are not by nature or by lack of ex practice a grateful person, you work on this. Here's a practical tool. You ready for this? Try to think of 10 things you're grateful for every time a complaint comes to your mind.

Try to think of 10 things you're grateful for every time a complaint comes to your mind. Do you know what employees say about bosses who have not learned to express gratitude and only complain about their work? They say something like this, just try to catch me doing something right sometime. Just try to catch me doing something right sometime. This is what employees say they want and what employers think employees want. Employers think they want good wages number one, job security number two, promotion number three. What do employees really want? Number one, full appreciation for work work well done.

Number two, feeling in and things. Three, sympathetic help with personal problems. A good leader, this is from Howard Hendricks. I heard that Vance Havner said this, but a good leader has a compass in their head and a magnet in their heart. That's so good. A compass in their head pointing north, always directed by the Holy Spirit, directed by the by the Lord, a compass in their head and a magnet in their heart. Listen, one of the highest compliments a person can pay you is when they say to you, I like myself the best when I'm with you.

I like myself the best when I'm with you. Parents, would your children say they like themselves the best when they're with you? Husbands, would your wife say I like myself the best when I'm with you, honey? Wives, would your husband say I like myself the best when I'm with you, honey? See, that's what it should be. Years ago when I surrendered my life to Christ, it was a major revolution in my understanding. The very first note I wrote in the front pages of my Bible, which I took a picture of, the very first thing I wrote, and now those pages are filled with other notes.

The very first thing that hit me was Luke 6:37, never criticize or condemn. It struck me because that's something that I really struggle with. It's so easy to criticize. It's so easy to condemn. You might ask, okay, but how do I address problems if I can't criticize? Here's your answer. Be very very careful. It's kind of like my wife, very very careful. This is the way my wife works as an example. She says, Tom, that joke this morning was really funny, but I'm sure the joke for next week will be even better. What did she just say?

That joke's thank, but you can do better. You know, it's like I remember a church board meeting when I was back at Midway and they were talking about somebody and one of the people and nobody wanted to say anything. And the one deacon said, well, you know, he's just a little bit the way he is. He's just a little bit the way he is. Well now what did he say? He didn't say anything, but he said enough. He's just a little bit the way he is. It's like the pastor who did not like rhubarb pie at all.

And one Sunday, a woman gave him a rhubarb pie up in the church. The next Sunday, he was ready for her. She came up and said, pastor, how did you like that rhubarb pie? He said, oh, rhubarb pie like that doesn't last long in our house. Never criticize or condemn. Parents, husbands, wives, employers, supervisors. When you move into the realm of correction or criticism, walk very tenderly. Listen, just you trying to walk tenderly. Listen, just you trying to walk tenderly. They will read that, sense that and appreciate you for that.

Guest (Male): A wise approach to addressing problems from pastor Tom Keller. But there's still more to consider on this issue. We'll do that next time right here on Study the Word. We've been in Colossians chapter 3 today. You can hear this message again online at ccleb .com or subscribe to our YouTube channel at Calvary Chapel Lebanon. If you'd rather have a CD copy, call us at 717 273 5633. Have you been helped by the ministry? Let us know that. It would be so encouraging to pastor Tom and the team. Give us a call at 717 273 5633 or write to Study the Word.

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Study the Word with pastor Tom Keller is brought to you by Calvary Chapel Lebanon, Pennsylvania. May God richly bless you as you study the Word.