A (3:42)
Punnett Square Jr. Accolade. Right here. So I don't know anything about the Punnett Square, but I can tell you that when Steven and Holly Furtick made babies, we managed to produce three of the most opinionated there is a right and wrong, and I need to make sure that it's clear kind of people. So all five of us together, we have a problem. And when a disagreement occurs in our family, which is rare because we are a pastor's family, we each have this innate desire to have the last word. I know this is not a problem in your house, but this is a problem in my house. So the other day, the weather was nice, and Steven and Abby and I, we were having dinner on our peaceful porch. And earlier that day, I had asked my friend Ashley, whose children go to the same school as Abby, if she could bring Abby home for me. And so we're having dinner, and Abby starts talking about her afternoon, as she often does. And she started in and talking about how Ashley had Chick Fil a waiting for her in the car because they had to kill an hour until Abby was dismissed. Now, Ashley's kids are in the same school as Abby, but they're in the lower school. And they get out like 20 minutes before Abby. So I needed to stop the story right there because I would never inconvenience someone as to make them wait an hour to pick up my child. So I had to interrupt the story. And I said, no, they get out at 2:30 and you get out at 2:55. And she said, no, they get out at 2 and I get out at 2:55. And I said, no, they get out At 2:30. And she said, mom, I think I would know what time we get out of school. And Steven said, guys, does this fact really even matter? We're having a peaceful meal here. So I held my tongue and Abby proceeded with her story. And while she was talking, I went on the school website and I grabbed a screenshot of the school's dismissal times, and I sent that off to her. And just in case you were wondering, they get out at 2:30 and Abby gets out at 2:55. The title of my sermon today is hold your peace. You like that? And I wanna talk to you about the power of peace in your life. And I wanna show you that sometimes in order. Sometimes you have to hold your peace in order to hold your peace. Okay? And I want you to know that you can have peace, biblical peace, in your mind and in your relationships, no matter what is going on in the world around you. As a believer in Christ, we have access to a type of peace that Paul is telling us in the scripture that cannot even be explained. He says it transcends all understanding. Peace in the midst of your pain. Peace in the midst of your circumstances. Peace in the midst of your disappointment. It is a benefit of knowing Jesus. Jesus said to his disciples in John 16:3, he said, I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart, I have overcome the world. You see, peace is not the absence of problems in your life. Jesus said, in this world, you will have trouble. So trouble is the common denominator of every person who has breath in their lungs. Peace is the addition of power to whatever trouble that you're in. So before we go any further, I need to clear up exactly what kind of peace I'm talking about. I'm not talking about a mood or a mental state where everything feels well. I'm not talking about a spa or a vacation spot. I'm not even talking about a quiet Saturday morning in your slippers while everyone else is asleep because I don't know what your life is like. But if I have to wait for those moments, if I have to wait for that kind of peace, I'm not going to have a very peaceful life. Now, there are two types of peace in the Bible that we find. There's external peace and then there's internal peace. And external peace refers to your relationships with others. Internal peace refers to a mental perspective or an attitude towards your personal or your current trouble. And I need you to understand today that the two are connected. They feed each other. So my external peace, my relationships with others affects my internal peace, but also my internal peace affects how I act and how I respond to others. So both are really important. And if the enemy can't get to your inner peace, he's gonna go after your relational peace. Because he knows the external affects the internal and the internal affects the external. And he knows that if he can steal your peace, then he can steal your joy, then he can get you to question your faith, and then he can get you to question your calling. So if trouble is the common denominator of all humans, then peace is the X factor. It's the thing that sets us apart. It's the stabilizing force that allows you to push through the trouble. And if the enemy can't get to your inner peace, then he's gonna go after your relational peace. Do you understand that? And I wanna illustrate this for you today, hopefully in a way that you won't forget. I just read Philippians 4. I meant to read it out of my Bible. I always read it off of my iPad. But I want to show you in my Bible. So this is Philippians 4, which is a letter that was written to the Apostle Paul to the church at Philippi. And maybe you know this, maybe you don't, but Paul wrote this letter from a prison cell in Rome. But this is not the only letter that he wrote. He also wrote Ephesians and Colossians, and they're all right here together. And throughout these three letters, Paul has a lot to say about peace because he's writing to the persecuted believers who needed inner peace, as well as the new believers who needed external peace with one another. So I'm going to come back to Philippians 4, but I want to flip back one page to Ephesians 6 to give you a vivid picture of peace, also written by Paul. So this is Ephesians 6. We're gonna start in verse 11. It says, put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realm. Therefore, put on the full armor of God so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground. And after you have done everything to stand, stand firm. And with the stand firm with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. Paul is painting this picture of a soldier getting ready for battle. Because it's one thing to recognize that there is an enemy. It's another thing to realize that you have to get ready to fight back against the enemy. You know, I think that one of the ways that the enemy attacks us is by diverting Our attention. You think your enemy is your boss or your spouse or maybe your mother in law, not me. Some of us wake up in the morning, we're ready for a fight with the wrong enemy. Paul says our struggle is not against people. It's not against flesh and blood. It is against spiritual forces in a heavenly realm. And you gotta get ready. And here's how you do it. He says, you put on your armor. Now when we get dressed for the day, at least when I get dressed for the day, the last thing I do is put my shoes on. But if you were putting on armor, like, you know, you're gonna have a breastplate and a shield and a sword, your hands are gonna be tied up, so you gotta put your shoes on first, right? And Paul says that our feet are fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. Look at your neighbor and say, I'm ready. Now look down at their shoes and tell me how ready you think they are. Oh, my goodness. How many of you know, how many of you are looking at my shoes and you're like, she ain't ready. Shoes matter. Stephen and I have this funny thing that we say. We got it from like a book from several years ago. And so we say to each other, did you shoes wisely? Like, he was preaching at an event recently in Orlando. And so we had to get up super early and we flew to the location. Then we went straight from the airport to the convention center. And by the time we got to the hotel, hours and hours later, he looked at me in the elevator and he looked down at my shoes and he said, did you shoes wisely? I rarely do. I'm vain. I always go for fashion first. Like, have you ever wondered why when I do the welcome, like, if my chair is right there, why do I not come up these stairs? Why do I walk all the way around and come from the back? It's because I'm always a little bit unstable in my vanity shoes. I just am. And I would never come up these stairs because I'm so afraid that I'm just gonna fall in front of everyone. Let me show you my steadiest shoes that I that I owned. I packed a bag for this sermon, so reflect bag. These are my hiking boots. They are sturdy and they are waterproof. And when I have these shoes on, I really feel like I can maybe walk forever. Not exactly, but the longest time in these shoes. And Stephen and I like to hike together. Now, if you're watching this and you live in Colorado, you might call what we do walking in the woods. But it's. We live in North Carolina and we actually, if you think of Asheville, we live like two hours from Asheville, so. But what we do is hiking to us so we can drive about an hour west of our house and find a good trail that's not too long, not too steep enough for us to feel like we got out in the great outdoors and got a little bit of exercise and got home by dinner. And so I used this app, it's called all trails, to find new trails to download the maps. And so don't they make the most amazing apps these days? There's an app for everything. So the other day I wanted us to try a new trail that I found. It's called the Baden Lake Trail. So we pull up, we drive. It's about an hour and 20 minutes from our house. We pull up to the trail and it looks paved from the car. And so I decided not to put my boots on. Remember, I fashion first, so I'm not gonna like. We went to lunch, so I wasn't gonna wear these to lunch. So they were in the car. I had my white hokas on and I thought that they would be fine. Maybe you can feel where this story is going. The trail was paved for about 50 yards. Rookie mistake. And we go hiking all the time. And normally, even when we do a new trail, I'll read the reviews about the trail. Just, I don't know, just see if there's. If it's a good one. And for some reason I didn't read the reviews that time. And so I went back when I was preparing this sermon and I looked up the reviews of this particular trail and I want to show it to you. So it says, oh, it's got 4.4 stars and 1,000 people have reviewed this trail. And then it says, trail goers are saying highlights include beautiful lake views, a well marked trail, and it's dog friendly. Challenges are muddy areas, rocky sections and limited parking. Reviewers suggest sturdy footwear and bug spray. Guys, we walked over five miles and I was trying so hard to keep my shoes white. So I was like, I was like hopping over puddles and we were crossing creeks at times and my feet were. I know some of you are like, well, you were in tennis shoes. But my feet were like sliding all around in my tennis shoes. And about mile three, I started to get a blister on the bottom of one of my toes. And by the time we got back to the car, I didn't want to complain. So I was Trying not to say anything. By the time we got to the car, I was walking like this, and my shoes were so dirty. I did not choose wisely. Look again one more time at Ephesians 6:15, it says, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace, Paul is saying, there is a battle going on for your very soul, and you have got to fight. And your first line of defense is to make sure that your feet are stable with the gospel of peace. So thank you. This is not peace. Don't judge me. You steal the hotel slippers, too. Also. This, these. This is not peace. This is peace. So some scholars say that Paul is making a reference to the sandals that the Roman soldiers and how they were, like, specifically designed to go long distances and to go over rough terrains. And actually they. These Roman soldiers could like, oh, no, my pants. I just tied my pants into the. Hold on, guys. It's really hard to talk and tie your shoes at the same time. The Roman soldiers, they could cover distances like 20, twice as fast as the other armies. And a lot of people say it was because they had spent a lot of time on their. On their shoes. They even put, like, metal little tacks on the bottom of them so that they could. They were more sturdy. Other people say that Paul was referring to the prophecy from Isaiah when he said, sorry, I had to look down here, when he said, how beautiful are the feet on the mountains that bring the good news. Let me tie this up so I can stand up and tell you that. I'm saying it's both. When you lace up with peace, you're getting yourself ready for the fight that's ahead. And all the people that are watching you walk up that mountain, they're going to be amazed. They're going to look at your life and they're going to wonder, how are you handling your circumstances? You're going to. You're going to try and tell them that what you have is peace, but it's indescribable. It's not pretty, but it's what's holding you up. And if you want to have. I'm going to preach in these shoes the rest of the time because they're way more comfortable. If you want to have any chance in this fight, you're going to have to operate from a place of peace. If you want to hold your peace, you got to tie it on. You got to double knot it. Look how steady I am now. Look, I can even go up and down the stairs like Pastor Stephen when he preaches. And when I'm here, you can't even see my shoes. But when I go back up here, you can see the full picture. I think life is like that, you know, like maybe there's someone you know that seems so peaceful. Do a close up again. And when you do a closeup, you can. There are things about me right now and that you can't see because you're not getting the full picture of preparation that I have done to handle whatever trouble faces me. You see, you don't see my practices. You don't see me double knotting my peace so that I don't lose it with the people that I work with or the people that I live with. All right, now I want to go back to Philippians 4 and I want to talk to you about the practices of peace. So Paul gives us a picture in Ephesians, but now in Philippians, he's going to give us a practice. And it says this. We're going to read the whole thing again. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard or seen in me, put it into practice and the God of peace will be with you. You see, I want you to know today that peace follows practice. God's presence follows my practice, not the other way around. And the truth is, no one likes to practice. Like just ask any 14 year old in piano lessons. Are there any 14 year olds in piano lessons in here? Oh, Abby Furtick. Abby, would you like to play the piano as well as Ella one day? Would you like to play the piano as well as LJ one day? Okay. That's her goal, right? Abby, how many hours of practice do you think they have on you? Thousands. Thousands. Thousands of hours of practice. When you see somebody who does something really well, they have practiced it. So real quick as I close, don't worry, I'm not going to go super long. But I do want to show you three things that you need to practice if you want to hold your peace. And I feel really silly in my boots, but I hope that this will be a reminder to you that peace is not pretty and practice is not pretty. Practice is where you learn from your mistakes. It's not the place where you perform for others. Okay, so three things. First, one is the practice of prayer. Sometimes when I'm faced with a difficult situation, I'm gonna be honest with you. I do everything but pray. I talk about it, I worry about it. I worry about it and call it praying. I talk about it some more, and then I start time traveling. Were any of you here last week when Pastor Stephen said, don't time travel? I know that he made that point up about me, because I am a professional time traveler. I go back in time, and I think of all the things that I did wrong. The other day, I got in my time machine, and I told myself this elaborate story of how something in my life today would have been so different if I had said no to one question that someone asked me 10 years ago. And if I had said no. So I'm in the time machine, and I'm just thinking about that. I was like, if I had said no to that, then this would have happened. And then this wouldn't have happened. And then this would have happened. And I had pretty much convinced myself that everything today is my fault. And so I said to Stephen. Cause I really was convinced. And I said to him, I was like, do you ever wonder what would have happened if I had said no to that one situation? And my husband looked back at me, and he was like, holly, you can't think that way. He said, you're going back and you're changing a past situation with future information. He said, that's not fair to your past self. And furthermore. He doesn't actually say furthermore, but that just makes it sound. He said furthermore. He said, you're not taking into account all the things that could have happened if you had said yes. He said, you're making up the perfect scenario, and life is not perfect. And you did the best that you could with the information that you had at that time. And maybe that's a word for someone today who's been time traveling back and trying to do something over. But you know what? I'm so good at time travel. I can also go forward in time. A situation happened with one of my kids recently, and I got in my time machine. And the problem is I read too much fiction. And so I know a lot about time travel and time loops. And so I was off, and I was like, well, what if this happens while they're driving? And then what if this happens? And then what if that happens? And then what if. And I was so worried about a scenario that was not even happening. And then I Wonder why I feel anxious. Pastor Steven told us last week, all you have to do is don't. And Paul is backing this up. He says, do not be anxious about anything. But by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your request to God. And the peace that passes all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. I feel like the Lord sent me here today to tell someone, don't talk about it any way more. Like I say to my kids, not another word out of your mouth. Take it to the Lord in prayer and no one else stop talking about it. Yes, there are times when you rally, praying people around you to believe with you for a certain situation. I have a handful of women in my life who have prayed me through some really hard stuff. But sometimes in all my running around and telling people to pray, I neglect to actually pray. And Paul didn't say, present your request to people. He said, present your request to God. And the peace of God that transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Sometimes we want something, something so bad for someone we love, but we're going about getting it all the wrong way. And I'm telling you this because I have learned this the hard way, and I still get it wrong. I have tried to manipulate situations for people that I love, and it is exhausting. And then I wonder why I'm the only one who's worried. But here's the lesson that I have learned. When I want something for someone that I love, if I take it to God, he will change them or he'll change my heart. Now, a miracle happened in our home last week. This has been a miracle that is 23 years in the making for me. Steven and I are about to celebrate 23 years of being happily married. Thank you. Please clap for us because we've worked really hard at the happy part. And I want you to know that what I'm about to share has only come after 23 years of learning the hard way about the power that comes when I hold my peace by practicing the work of prayer. So the other day, Stephen woke up and he looked at me and he said, babe, I had the craziest dream last night. You were talking to me and you were saying the nicest things to me and you were encouraging me about that situation that we've been talking about. I was speechless, which is rare when I tell you that the things that he said I was saying to him in his dream, they were the very things that I had been silently holding my peace about and only talking to God about And God, let me silence speak to that man in his sleep. I got to speak my peace, guys. I have found that God can whisper in the ear of the one that I love the very thing that I have been shouting at them for months, or this one's not as fun. He can whisper to me that he has this situation in his hands and he can give me a peace that only comes by prayer. Peace comes by the practice of prayer. The Bible also tells us that peace comes by the practice of patterns. Watch for the pattern here. Philippians 4. 8. Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things. Keep going. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me or seen in me, put it into practice and the God of peace will be with you. Do you see a pattern here? There is power in our patterns. Our patterns will either accentuate the presence of God or they will diminish our awareness of it. It's not that God's presence comes and goes. He's always with us. He will never leave us or forsake us. It's just my awareness of his presence is affected by my patterns. How many of you would agree that you've had a time when you came to church or you joined online, and when it was over, you just had a piece about your situation. Raise your hand. I want to see. Wow. Okay. Put it in the chat. Raise your hand in the chat. Okay, so if that's true, my first question to you is, wouldn't you maybe want to come to church a little bit more frequently, a little more regularly? Like, maybe if you come once a month, you could bump it up to twice a month. Maybe if you come twice a month, you could bump it up again. I'm just saying, you raised your hand and you said you felt God's presence here when you joined us. What are your patterns? My second question is, why would you limit the presence of God to once a week at church? We have to look at our daily routines and habits and evaluate, is this promoting peace in my life, or is it stealing it? For months, I have felt God asking me to do this little thing. It's so stupid. Okay, but here's what it is. For months, I felt like God has been telling me, stop looking at Instagram first thing in the morning. Now, he did not ask me to delete Instagram. He just said, stop going on Instagram first thing in the morning. And I have ignored it. And I have told myself this is harmless. This is a way to just wake up my brain. And I have told myself that my feed is very light. It's not even news. It's like gender reveals and dogs doing cool things and people falling down. And I told God. I was like, God, it's fine. It's just like caffeine for my brain. I'm just like using it to wake up. And then last week, I read this quote in a book by a priest. Her name is Tish Warren. And she said this. We've covered a lot here. She said by reaching for my smartphone every morning, I had developed a ritual that trained me toward a certain end. Entertainment and stimulation via technology. She said my unexamined daily habit was shaping me into a worshiper of glowing screens. So I said, okay, God, I hear you. I won't look at Instagram anymore in the morning. Okay, full disclosure, I have relapsed once, but I'm back on the wagon. My wagons have wings. Does your morning practice promote the peace of God in your life? I'm not saying that you can't play wordle while you're drinking your coffee. I'm not saying that you have to wake up at 5am and read your Bible and journal for an hour before you start your day. What I am saying is if you do that, that's wonderful, but I'm not a 5am kind of person. What I am saying is if your priority is a feed, social media or news, you might not feel very peaceful. Your peace and your priorities are directly connected. What patterns do you need to put in your life in order to protect your peace? In order to make you more steady as you face your day? Here's the last one. The practice of praise. Paul says, is there anything excellent or praiseworthy think about such things. If you want to study yourself with the gospel of peace, you're going to have to fix your focus on the things that in your life that are worthy of praise. The things that come out of your mouth matter. I don't care what you say, it matters what you say. Have you ever had a conversation turn negative and you can literally feel it drag the mood down? It happens, but remember, it's okay. Piece is a practice and practice doesn't make perfect. But maybe in this context, practice makes presence. So if we want to feel the presence of God in our conversations, we have to be careful about what we say. I have a friend that I respect so much about the way that she is careful about how she talks, like sometimes to the point that I'm, like, annoyed by it because she is so careful about how she talks about her kids, how she talks about her spouse, how she talks about her day. I mean, it is really hard to get her to speak negatively. Not only to say something negative, but it's really hard to even get her to talk about what she's afraid of. I want to be like that. And it's not that she's like this perfect person. She's never honest and she never has a bad day, but she is so careful not to let herself spiral into negative talk and negative thoughts. She actually told me that she read that it is scientifically proven that venting does not make you feel better. And it's weird because after she said that, I noticed that almost every time I vent, every time I just let off a little steam, I feel worse because I say things that I don't mean and I exaggerate my situation to a place that it hasn't even gotten to. Now, processing. Processing is different from venting and processing with the right person. Like, talk to your therapist, talk to your spouse, talk to a friend that you trust. But make sure that when you are processing that you begin to take a turn and point your soul to whatever is good, whatever is noble, whatever is pure, whatever is true, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable. Because you will find what you are looking for. I know they get on your nerves. I know it feels like this situation could not get any worse. I know you feel frustrated, but remember, trouble is the common denominator. You've got to get the X factor of peace into play. And sometimes that means speaking out loud what is praiseworthy. Sometimes that just means going, okay. God, I thank you that you are working in places that I cannot see. God, I thank you that you are bigger than this problem. God, I thank you that you are my provider. I praise you because you are Jehovah Jireh. You have never let me down. God, I thank you that you are going to give me wisdom and grace as I move into this day. And when you begin to speak the praises of God, you will sense that peace coming around you. For whatever is next, you don't have to go through this life anxious and worried and unsteady. There is a peace that is available to you, but it doesn't just fall into your lap. You gotta grab it, gotta hold tight to it. You gotta strap it on. You gotta practice it. Isaiah said, how beautiful are the feet on the mountain that proclaim the good news of peace. When you put these things into practice, you will not only hold tightly to your truth, but others will see it and they'll wonder and you'll try to explain it to them, but you can't. Corrie 10 Boom. Anybody know Corrie Tim Boom? She's like one of my heroes. She was a Holocaust survivor, and she was a Christian who was imprisoned because they hid Jews in their house in Holland. And her sister and her were sent to Ravensbruck, the concentration camp in Nazi Germany. And she survived to tell her story. And she traveled the world and she preached about the forgiveness of God. And she told this story about how she and her sister had a secret Bible study where they would speak out loud, the things that they could praise God for. And her sister would make her, you know, praise God for they had a Bible. And she would make her praise God for the fleas that were in the concentration camp. Cause the fleas kept the guards out. And, I mean, they just went through the most horrific circumstances. And Corrie wrote this when she described their barracks one time. She said there was no way to walk to and from the meeting without passing through every row of bunks. And at every one, I would see the light of God in the eyes of people facing death, starvation, and cruelty. In such a place, peace was not just possible. It was real. And I want you to know, today you might be in your darkest hour, but you can have a peace that will guard your heart and mind to an extent that you cannot even explain how it is happening. You just. You just know that it's real. We are in a fight. It is a battle against spiritual enemies in heavenly realms that we cannot even see. And we. We cannot go into it unprepared and unaware. Paul said, if anything is excellent, if anything is worthy of praise, sometimes the only way to hold your peace is to praise. Drown out the noise of the evil one with songs of deliverance. In your home, in your car, at your desk, maybe you got to put on AirPods. Drown out the noise of the enemy with songs of praise.
