A Different Kind Of Peace
I.
Can you have peace no
matter what state you’re in or is your peace at the mercy of your
circumstances?
A. Philippians 4:1,4,6-Stand
fast, rejoice in the Lord always, be careful for nothing – Stand
immoveable, Be glad always, Don’t be troubled about anything – This is
the exact opposite of being upset, distressed, heavy, and troubled
1.
Stand fast-Stand firm, stand
immoveable, steadfast in mind, does not waiver, persist; Rejoice-Be glad; Be careful
for nothing-Troubled with cares
B. Philippians 4:6-It
doesn’t say be troubled by what you don’t have; It says by prayer, supplication
and thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God
1.
Mark
11:24-When you pray believe you receive-1 John 5:14-15-If we ask according to
His will we know he hears us and if we know He hears you, WE KNOW THAT WE HAVE
the petitions desired of him – If you know you have it then enter into
thanksgiving, trust, don’t be troubled
II. Philippians 4:7, John 14:27-It is the peace of God; Jesus
gave us His peace and not peace like the world gives – It’s a different
kind of peace (John
14:27-CEV-I give you peace, the kind of peace that only I can give. It isn’t
like the peace that this world can give; GW-I don’t give you the kind of
peace that the world gives; JB-My gift is nothing like the peace of the
world)
A. Peace that the world
gives is circumstantial (connected to your circumstances) and it’s
understandable; Jesus’ peace is not circumstantial (connected to your
circumstances) and it’s not understandable (it passes understanding)
1.
The
kind of peace I have is not circumstantial-John
14:27-AMP-Let my perfect peace calm
you in every circumstance and give
you courage and strength for every
challenge
a. John 14:27-TLB-I am leaving you with a gift – peace of mind and heart!
And the peace I give isn’t fragile like the peace the world gives
2.
Philippians
4:7-The kind of peace I have is not understandable
a. This peace is something
that passes all understanding-the
intellectual faculty, (As you hear
this right now you can’t intellectually understand how a person wouldn’t be
troubled/upset in certain situations) – This is peace that passes
understanding
3.
The
kind of peace that I have is why I don’t HAVE TO BE TROUBLED – The kind
of peace I have is not at the mercy of my circumstances and the kind of peace I
have is not at the mercy of my intellect – My peace works in the midst of
any circumstance, my peace works when my intellect doesn’t understand it
B. Isaiah 26:3-My peace
comes from my trust and in the middle of bad circumstances I can trust God and
have peace and not be troubled
1.
Romans
15:13-There’s joy and peace in believing not in having good circumstances and I
can believe in the middle of bad circumstances and have joy and peace and not
be troubled – Your peace is
connected to your trust/faith; if my faith wanes my peace weakens
2.
If
you really are trusting and you really are in faith you’ll have a peace about
you – If you are troubled you are not trusting – John 14:1
C. Philippians 4:8-The
places you let your mind go has everything to do with whether or not the peace
flows
1.
Your
peace is connected to your faith and the level of your faith is determined by
what you feed on through your mind
a. Romans 10:17-If you allow
your mind to feed on the evil report (the words of the enemy) your faith is
going to wane, fear is going to come by hearing those words and you will be
troubled and have no peace-1 Samuel 17:11, Jeremiah 49:23-24, Matthew 14:30
2.
Isaiah
26:3-Why is he trusting? Because he kept his mind stayed on the Lord and fed
and what God said and didn’t give His mind to the evil report – If you
let your mind go and feed on the evil report it will rob you of your faith and
without faith/trust you will have no peace
a. Because he kept his mind
stayed on the Lord his faith was strong and his trust supplied him with peace
D. Philippians 4:9-Do what
you learned, received, heard and saw me do (V1,V4,V6-V8)
and the God of peace will be with you
1.
The
God of peace is everywhere and if you don’t do these things that doesn’t mean
that God’s going to forsake you – BUT if you do these things The God of
Peace will manifest himself to you and manifest Himself as being with you
– If you don’t do these things He won’t manifest Himself to you and He
won’t manifest Himself as being with you
2.
This
is supposed to be our witness that when everybody is freaking out and coming
apart we have the peace that passes all understanding and when you do have it
you’re going to stand out and it will be a witness of the reality of the God of
peace in your life; This is not just something that’s available to us, we are
called to it, it’s our call, it’s our life, it’s how we are supposed to be
living– We should be known for our faith and peace (Isaiah 54:13, Colossians
1:4, Ephesians 1:15-I heard of your faith)
3.
1
Thessalonians 3:7-Your faith and peace can comfort and encourage somebody else
E. Jeremiah 30:10,
46:27-They shall be quiet and NONE shall make them afraid – That’s a different
kind of peace
III.
Philippians 4:11-He
LEARNED (by practice) in whatever state he was to be content-Satisfied, quiet,
not disturbed, having a mind at peace, independent of external circumstances; He’s
not troubled, by what he doesn’t have;
A. He learned to not be
troubled no matter what was going on in his life
1.
AMP-For I have learned
how to be content satisfied to the point where I am not disturbed or uneasy or disquieted regardless of my
circumstances; NET-In any circumstance; NIRV-No matter what happens to
me; NIV-Whatever the circumstances; GW-In whatever situation I am in
B. Content doesn’t mean that
you don’t desire more, that you don’t desire for the situation to change, it
means that the more you don’t have yet and the change you don’t see yet is not
going to determined whether or not you have peace, it’s not going to affect
your peace
1.
Content
didn’t mean that he wasn’t believing God to get out of the prison or that he
was fine being in there the rest of his life; Content isn’t “not desiring
more”; Content is not needing
more to be at peace; Content doesn’t mean he doesn’t want out of the prison; it
just means he’s not going to delay his peace until he gets out; He wanted but
not too much
2.
I’m
not going to wait for my circumstances to change for me to be at peace, that
would be walking by sight and if I walk by sight I can’t walk in victory –
I can be at peace in any circumstance – If you can’t be at peace until it
changes and then you are walking by sight not by faith
IV.
Philippians 4:12-Many
don’t know how to be abased, how to be hungry, to suffer need & when their
circumstances begin to press on them they lose their peace, they get troubled
– They don’t know how to respond when their circumstances aren’t just the
way they want them
A. When you’re circumstances
aren’t exactly the way you want them do you know how to be abased?
1.
JB-I know how to live when things are difficult and I know
how to live when things are prosperous. In general and in particular I have
learned the secret of facing either poverty or plenty. I am ready for anything
through the strength of the one who lives within me; WE-No matter how things are, I have learned how to live; VOICE-I know how to survive
tight situations
2.
Know-Understand, perceive,
know how, to be skilled in; Abased-Reduce
to meaner (poor, wretched) circumstances, to reduce to low condition in life; Abound-To excel, to be abundantly
furnished with, to have in abundance, to abound in a thing; Instructed-Initiate into the mysteries,
secret, mystery; To be hungry-Suffer
want, be needy; To suffer need-Lack,
be in want
B. This is how you be
abased-I’m believing God to come out of this, for this to change but until it
does I’ll never let it affect my peace, I’ll never allow it to trouble me for I
know how to be abased
1.
Being abased doesn’t mean
that you resign yourself to having something that’s less than God’s best or
that’s not in line with His will; Being abased means that until you receive His
best and walk in the fullness of His will you’re going to maintain your peace and
not allow yourself to be troubled
C. The secret to facing any
situation is to NEVER ALLOW IT TO TROUBLE YOU AND STEAL YOUR FAITH & PEACE
– That’s the secret to facing it and overcoming it
1.
AMP-I have learned in any
and all circumstances the secret of facing every situation; ERV-I’ve learned the secret of how to
live through any kind of situation; ICB-I’ve
learned the secret of being happy at any time in everything that happens
2.
I
know BOTH how to handle being abased, but I also know how to not stay there
(abound); If you’ll learn how to be abased you’ll discover the key to
abounding; One of the main ways you don’t stay in the place of abasement is you
don’t allow it to rob you of your peace
3.
His
contentment/peace is not coming from his abasing or abounding – It’s
coming from the God of peace who is with Him
D. 1 Samuel 1-Hannah didn’t
know how to be abased and it wasn’t until she learned how to be abased that she
began to abound
1.
It
can be God’s will for you to have something, but that doesn’t give you a
licensed to be troubled when it’s not there
a. Wanting children isn’t a
bad thing, but Hannah wants it too much – She’s in covetousness for a
good thing and she’s not content, has no peace
b. Hebrews 13:5-6, Luke 12-Covetous-To desire inordinately;
Excessively eager to obtain or possess; You can want something good too bad,
you can want something right too much and you want it too much when not having
it causes you to be troubled
2.
You need to learn how to
not have it before you can have it; You have to learn how to not have it and
not be troubled by not having it
a. She had to learn how to
be abased, how to not have what she wanted and be in peace and when she did she
abounded
E. 13-I can do all things
through Christ who strengthens me and that includes being careful for nothing
and having peace independent of my circumstances