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Peace Rules & the Word Dwells: Lord’s Day 43

Date: October 26, 2025 Lord’s Day: 43

Series: Colossians the Mystery of Christ Title: Peace Rule and the Word Dwells

Text: Colossians 3:15-17, Luke 8:26-36

 Church, what is sanctification?

Sanctification is the work of God’s free grace, whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God, and are enabled more and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness.

Colossians 3:15-17

15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Luke 8:26-3627 When Jesus[d] had stepped out on land, there met him a man from the city who had demons. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he had not lived in a house but among the tombs. 28 When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him and said with a loud voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me.” 29 For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many a time it had seized him. He was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the desert.) 30 Jesus then asked him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Legion,” for many demons had entered him. 31 And they begged him not to command them to depart into the abyss. 32 Now a large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and they begged him to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. 33 Then the demons came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and drowned.

34 When the herdsmen saw what had happened, they fled and told it in the city and in the country. 35 Then people went out to see what had happened, and they came to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had gone, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. 36 And those who had seen it told them how the demon-possessed man had been healed. 

Through the years I have had the pleasure of taking most all of my family to an Ohio State game. So much has changed with the game and it is not the same, but the experience has remained the same.

The experience is most likely the one thing that has kept me interested in college football.  When it gets to this time of year, the smell in the air, even when it is still warm, it ignites memories.

It takes me back to the very first time I was able to go into Ohio Stadium.  It was the mid-1990’s and Ohio State was playing Bowling Green on a September Saturday.  I was able to get a ticket for $19.  This was when the track was still around the field.

The sound of the band and the drums as they echo in the rotunda before they go on to the field. 

Then you go to your seat.  When you come out of the tunnel and see that electric green grass on the field, oh, it just takes your breath away.  I am certain every fan of something like this.  (Cricket, baseball, rugby, soccer)

I wanted to share this with family and friends.  Through the years, I have been able to take almost every family member to a game.  I took my father to see Ohio State play Marshall University. 

I recall on that one praying the night before the game, “Please Lord, don’t put anyone around us that swears a lot.”  My father would have said something . . . I would have been the one having to defend it cause he was frail. 

Anyway, one of the games that I took my son Hunter to was very special.  Before coming here to Donnels Creek, I was a chaplain and one person that I knew there where I worked was an Ohio State 1. alumni 2. band member AND3. “I” dotter. 

He had gotten to a place where he could not go to the alumni games and he would give me the tickets every year.  The first year I decided to take Hunter. 

The process of getting the tickets is not as cut and dry and paying for them and they mail them to you.  You actually had to meet someone and because of traffic (I had planned for traffic but this was different) we missed the pick up.

Various people tried to help us.  They made calls and sent us here and then there but ultimately, there was no way for us to retrieve the tickets.

I was very disappointed and brought Hunter up to speed and he was very gracious.  Told him that we would have to try again in the future and he accepted that. 

We were making our way back to where we parked and we were going a little slow now and just taking in the scenes.  Out of a crowd of people a man emerged and he said, “You father and son?”  I said, “Yes”

He said, “You have tickets?” I nodded no and was beginning to give a very short version of what happened but he quickly said, “Here are two tickets.  A father and son should experience at least one game.”  I told him I did not have enough $ to pay him and he was like, they are free.  We had these given to us, I am giving them to you.

We were so thankful – he was just trying to hurry to get to his seat.  But problem solved right?  It was terrific.  Hunter and I got to enjoy the game after all for which we were so grateful. 

But these events, the people get so worked up.  You even have fans who have season tickets, who also go to every away game and they wear the same out fit.  They end up on TV and end up signing autographs.  They are no athletes – but what they are known for is being a fan.  They are paid to go to events, “You can see Buckeye man”. 

Fans of every sport get so worked up painting their bodies.  My son-in-law is a chiefs fan, he grew up in Missouri.  Even though he lives in Grove City, he works in Missouri in the family business. 

The chiefs are a pretty good ball team.  He is a fan.  He went to one of the playoff games one year and it was some crazy temperature.  It gets to the third QTR and he takes his shirt off.

He is a seminary student at Westminster Theological Seminary – he is taking his shirt off for the team when it is single digit cold with wind.  He is taking pictures and sending it to family.

People do this.  People go wild and crazy and support their team. Painting faces, wearing jersey’s and yelling to give the home field advantage.

We are so excited to be a part of things we don’t want to miss.  We are so excited.  We mark it on our calendar; I do not want to miss this and we go.

It leads me to ask this question that I want you to really think about.  Do not answer it out loud, you can just answer it rhetorically. 

How do you view the time here with your Church family?  Are you coming here because you can’t live without it or because it is a habit or obligation? 

This is not about, do you like me or the other members here.  This is about if this is an event that you can’t miss.  I am not trying to guilt you into it.  Honesty is needed here because it directly relates to our text in Colossians 3:16.

The Peace of Christ

Last week we were in 3:15 “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts.”  That word there for rule is the same word that means umpire, judge or arbiter.  It was an official position in the Olympic games. 

Let the peace of Christ be the umpire in your hearts.  Let the peace of Christ call the balls and the strikes.  That is the picture Paul is painting here in this letter. 

The peace of Christ should be the moderator in our hearts.  The peace of Christ should be overseer in our hearts. 

This really changes how we process decisions.  We are at peace.  The reason we are at peace is Christ for us.  Now that we are at peace through Christ, let him oversee us. 

How do we do that?  This is where we pick up today. 

The peace of Christ rules, the word of Christ dwells.  3:16

It takes up residence in our heart.  This is a sanctification passage.  It is a beautiful sanctification passage and one that will introduce an idea which we have not considered yet.  We will get to that in a moment.

I would like us to consider our friend that Jesus met at the tombs.  He was not at peace.  He was not at peace with God, he was not at peace with the people in the town where he lived and he absolutely was not at peace with himself.

Can you imagine living like this?  He wore no clothes.  He was a wild man and not in a good way.  He had not lived in a house.  He was out of THE town at the tombs. 

He was supernatural in a bad way.  So, it appears they tried to put shackles and chains on him and he would break them.  He was a prisoner and would have these fits and break off the chains and break free and go to the desert.

He was possessed by a demon(s) and when they saw Jesus, just the sight of him, they come in order.  “Please, do not destroy us.  Do not send us into the abyss.”

“What is your name?” Jesus asked.  “Legion, for we are many.” 

The legion was a Roman military unit (1,000 soldiers).  SO the answer was, there are tons of us in here.

Jesus sent them into the pigs and notice what happened. 

“The people went out to see what had happened and they came to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had gone, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind and they were afraid. And those who had seen it told them how the demon possessed man had been healed.” Luke 8:35-36

Peace. Clothed and healed, sitting at the feet of Jesus

For the first time in only God knows how long, this man had peace.

He was not in the jail curious, when will the next episode hit?  I hate being like this and there is uncertainty when it will happen again.”  He was at peace.  The peace of Christ was ruling . . . and it ruled the demonic right out of this man’s life.

How about us?  Our cosmic war.  Our cosmic treason.  How quickly we forget. 

We get distracted by all those things in our lives. The very things that threaten to take away our peace (remember the rocks).  Distract us. 

We forget that the war is over.  We are at peace.  This man is forever changed.  He will never be the same.

This is what fuels me.  It really is.  I can not express enough how grateful I am Jesus for completely changing my life.  It is bittersweet for on the one hand I was not ignorant of the Scriptures. 

I knew them in my head – I did not know them in my heart.  Scriptures were handy when needed but I could not let them get in the way of what I truly loved: myself, the world.

There came a time when all that changed. This is in my life peace with Christ. 

Can you remember a time in your life when you had no peace with God?  Compare that to now. 

This man in the tombs, can you picture yourself there?  You were not demon possessed, this much is true.  But you were in a baren deserted place and you had no peace.  I was right beside you.

This man would be forever changed.  Nothing else needed to be written of his story, we know how it ends.

We should be just like him.  Forever changed.  Yet this is NOT the experience for most Christians. 

Now that the peace of Christ rules in us we also see that the word of Christ should dwell.  Teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms, and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

The word of Christ dwelling in us is sanctification.  The process of growing more holy.

We have discussed this sanctification in this sermon series in Colossians.  Some months back we looked at the fact that sanctification is something that is instant and also something that is ongoing in the believer.

We are to be growing in holiness.  This is a “set apart for holy use.” This is what it means.  We are to, as long as we have air in our lungs, forever to be growing in holiness. 

Dwell In You

Is the word of Christ dwelling in you?  

That word for dwell is oikos.  Sound familiar?  It is not in reference to the Greek Yogurt.  Let the word of Christ be like Greek Yogurt?  No.  Oikos means dwell, inhabit to take heart. 

How much time do you spend in this word? 

Some may say, “Pastor I read through the Bible a time or two.  Is there anything else for me to learn?”  Another may say, “well we are not a teacher in the church and we are not a pastor, you are calling us to read this like you.”

Dear friends, if I lived 500 years and read through this Bible every year twice- I would never plumb the depths of this word.  I am serious.  I am not just saying this. 

There is nothing like God’s word. 

Let me ask the question again: How do you view the time here with your Church family?  Are you coming here because you can’t live without it or because it is a habit or obligation? 

I am certain the man who left completely free of a demon was motivated NOT by obligation but passion. 

All head & little heart

Often the world has more passion for the things that it loves than we do for Christ and His church.  They show love for teams and musicians and concerts and actors.  Even though there is nothing wrong with supporting your team, those in the world know more fully how to show love with all their heart.

That same passion that causes the men who are fans of teams to take their shirts off when it is 9 degrees.  That is passion.  There is nothing wrong with liking your team.  Support the team.  Support the TEAM.

But find a passion for Christ!  Find a passion for HIS church.   We have the OUTSIDE stuff down pat.    

THE OUTSIDE STUFF IS WHAT THE RELIGIOUS LEADERS IN JESUS DAY HAD PERFECTED.

Over the past few weeks a repeated though which is repeated in Dt 11:18 “You shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.”

This is God’s advising them with a picture.  By the time of Jesus in the Gospels, these frontlets were small boxes tied to the head.  Small passages were placed in these boxes. 

What good does that do?  Is this how God was leading these people?  Is this the expectation?

It is insane.  Yet that was the religious peer pressure of Jesus’ day.  Put the passages in the little box. 

God was saying, “My word is so important, so life giving, so needed, so saving, so wise, so perfect, you need to put this word in you.” He says this painting a picture as if the word was tied to their head.  Know the word like this.  Have the word in you like this!  Plumb the depths of my word.  Let me lead you.

And the Apostle Paul here was encouraging the people of the church in Colossae to know the word of Christ and to encourage sanctification.

LET THE WORD OF CHRIST DWELL IN YOU RICHLY.  Teach and admonish one another with Psalms and hymns and Spiritual songs, singing and making melody with all your heart. 

Have this in your heart.  Dwell (OIKOS) on it.  Then share it.  Share it with each other.

God has sanctified you in Christ at salvation – You are continually growing IN Christ – and as a body of believers, this church is a part of your sanctification. 

We are to be teaching and admonishing.  It is my job as a pastor, to shepherd this church and grow it, but I am not the only one.  You are here for each other. 

What do you know with all your heart?  Do you know Jesus with all your heart?

Dear friends, I do not want you hear if you are here because you feel obligated. (checking the box)  I want you hear because you want to love Jesus more.  I want you here because you can’t find anywhere else what you can find here. 

I want you here because you want to help me grow.  You and I have the peace of Christ ruling in our heart, and we want the word of Christ to dwell within our hearts.

Our praises will change.  The way we praise WILL change.

Day 26: 31 Days in Proverbs

Questions to Ponder

  1. How does the behavior of the sluggard in verses 13-16 apply to modern day procrastination?
  2. Verse 12 warns against thinking oneself wise. How can one stay humble and open to learning?
  3. How does Proverbs 26 speak to the importance of our words and actions aligning?
  4. How does the proverb “As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his folly” (v11) encourage personal growth and learning from mistakes?

Day 25: 31 Days in Proverbs

Questions to Ponder

  1. How does the analogy of a king refining silver apply to the role of leaders in society today?
  2. Why do you think the text emphasizes humility in a leader?
  3. In what ways can we display reliability and sensitivity to others in difficult times?
  4. How can the metaphor of a city with broken walls be applied to personal situations involving self-control?
  5. How does this chapter depict the role of wisdom in governance and leadership?

Day 24: 31 Days in Proverbs

Questions to Ponder

  1. How does this chapter emphasize the importance of not envying the wicked? How can we apply this lesson in our lives today?
  2. What can we understand about the nature of God as the ultimate judge from Proverbs 24?
  3. How does the advice in verses 17-20 guide us in dealing with our adversaries?
  4. How does the concept of retribution or ‘karma’ justice play out in this chapter?

Day 23: 31 Days in Proverbs

Questions to Ponder

  1. In what ways did these collection of proverbs change you?
  2. What does Proverbs 23 teach us about the pitfalls of accepting generosity from individuals with ulterior motives?
  3. How does Proverbs 23:26-28 help shape our understanding of moral integrity?
  4. What are some strategies you can use to avoid wasting wisdom on people who won’t appreciate or heed it?
  5. What is the importance of discipline as taught in Proverbs 23, and how can you apply it to your life?

Day 22: 31 Days in Proverbs

Questions to Ponder

  1. How can you apply the principle of valuing a good name over wealth in today’s materialistic society?
  2. What might it look like to “train up a child in the way he should go” in modern society?
  3. In your opinion, why does the Bible advise against mingling with a hot-tempered person?

Day 21: 31 Days in Proverbs

Questions to Ponder

  1. How does Proverbs 21 demonstrate the concept of divine control over human affairs? Can you see parallels in modern society?
  2. Analyze the statement “The King’s heart is in the hand of the LORD.” How can you apply this understanding to today’s political leaders?
  3. Discuss the assertion that righteousness and justice are more valuable to God than sacrifices. How can this inform your daily actions?
  4. Why do you think the text refers to haughty eyes and a proud heart as the lamp of the wicked? How does this apply to today’s culture of pride and self-promotion?
  5. What does the text mean when it says the one who strays from wisdom will reside in the assembly of the dead?

The Peace of Christ: Lord’s Day 42

Date: October 19, 2025

Lord’s Day: 42

Series: Colossians the Mystery of Christ

Title: The Peace of Christ

Text: Colossians 3:15-17, Psalm 103:1-14

Confession:

Christ, by his obedience and death, did fully discharge the debt of all those that are justified, and did make a proper, real, and full satisfaction to his Father’s justice on our behalf1. Jesus was given by the Father for us,2 and his obedience is accepted in our place3; these are freely given to us. We are not forgiven or       justified by anything in us but our justification is only of free grace4; thereby   making us perfectly just so that God may be glorified in the justification of        sinners.5

                                                adapted from Westminster Confession of Faith 11:3

This is the Reading of God’s Word

Colossians 3:15-17

15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Psalm 103:1-14Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name!
2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, 3 who forgives all your iniquity,
    who heals all your diseases, 4 who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, 5 who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

6 The Lord works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. 7 He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel. 8 The Lord is merciful and gracious,
    slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. 9 He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. 10 He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. 11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
    so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; 12 as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. 13 As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.
14 For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust.

Introduction:

“Let the Peace of Christ rule in your hearts” is the beginning of our text.  I have a question and I want you to think about it for a moment.  The answer to that question, I want you to carry it with you through our time together.

Right now, in your life, where do you have little to no peace? (give substantial time to let them reflect . . . as them maybe to write them down)

You are bringing burdens here today – When I say burdens I am not referring to what Krista was showing us a few weeks ago.

I do these little sight illustrations.  Because I want you to see reality.  I do not just want to say thing like, you are bringing burdens, things that disturb the peace in your life. 

You can affirm that.  You can sit and hear me say that very thing and confirm in your mind, that yes.  But often, when we see something, it hits a little better. 

I stand before you and know in some cases you peace has been disturbed so long that you only think on them when you are confronted with it in quiet times.  But these burdens, these things that destroy your peace, are always there.  What are these things? 

POINT: We all bring these burdens with us, these things in which we are not at peace.  BIG CHUNKS OF ROCKS THAT DISTURB THE POND OF OUR LIFE.

There are many images when we hear the word peace.  One of the most recognizable signs is the 1960’s VW van.  There was a lot of Tomfoolery with this old van – (recall 1990’s driving between Springfield and Columbus and the Grateful Dead traveling circus. I saw 50 of these vans pulled over mostly at the rest stop there at the county line).

These vans represented peace.  Protests for the PEACE Vietnam War. 

We had:

  1. World War 1 = the war to end all wars
  2. World War 2 = Period called the Long Peace (not true)
  3. Gov’t and historians get around it by calling it a conflict (still not peace)
  4. Pax Romana = 200 years of no war (still conflicts Jewish Roman/Hispania)
  5. 26 days of peace since end of WW2 in 1945
  6. NYT reported in last 3,400 years there have been only 268 years of peace
  7. 1776-2020 USA at peace for 15 years.

When we read, “Let the peace of Christ rule,” HOW SIGNIFICANT is this?  I am uncertain if we really are aware that there was a time of cosmic treason where we were at war with God.

Not many like to hear this.  We have not grasped how seriousness of this war. We know things were BAD but COSMIC WAR?  War with God? Is it that bad?

 (Illustration of friend who went afoul of the law.  His words, “I knew what I was doing was wrong.  I just did not know how wrong it way.”) 

POINT: When I say cosmic treason it is not an overstatement. 

Yet our text says we have peace with Christ.  How can that be?  How can we get this peace?  What can this peace of Christ do for us in other areas where we have little to no peace?

You may be like my old friend who was afoul of the law.  If you are in Christ now, you may look back and be tempted to think, “I was not that bad.”  There is a sense in you know you needed Christ but things were not that bad.

Without Christ you have no hope.  Without Christ you are doomed. WHAT WAS OUR HOPE? JUSTIFICATION IN CHRIST ALONE

508 years this month Martin Luther posted on the door frame of the church in Wittenburg (sound familiar?) 95 thesis.  He did this on October 31, the eve before All Saints Day.  It was, in our term today, a marketing decision.

There would be a ton of traffic to come look at relics on All Saint’s Day.  His decision to do this would have its greatest effect and exposure.

He was protesting the thinking of the day.  A protest that could lead him to jail, even execution.  It did lead to execution for several who agreed with Luther. 

The voice of the day said: You can give money and spring your family member from purgatory: Luther was there to say, no, it is by faith alone.

The voice of the day said: You have to place yourself in a position to be saved, if you do not, you will not be saved: Luter was there to say, no, it is by faith alone.

The voice of the day said: You must bring something to be saved: Luther was there to say, no, it is by faith alone.

There were so many who lost their lives over this concept.  Nicholas Ridley and Hugh Latimer were burned at the stake for their confessed faith in these doctrines.  Luther himself was in the Wartburg Castle for a year to avoid being killed and imprisoned for his support for these thoughts.

Luther, and so many other Reformers, were upholding the doctrine of Justification by Faith alone.  Why is this important? 

The wages of sin is death.  This was the wage spoken to Adam.  As soon as you eat of the forbidden tree, you shall die.  Yet, after eating from the tree, there was no death.

Our brother David writes in Psalm 103, a reading from earlier,

“Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.”  What benefits?  “Who forgives all your iniquities, who heals your diseases, who redeems your life form the pit.” Xx Does this sound like you were doing okay?  Iniquities?  Pit?  Disease?  What disease?  Cancer?  Deep Bone Thrombosis?  Arterial Disease?

In one sense, yes.  IN one sense these things have come upon us since the rebellion of Adam.  We have suffered birth defects and illnesses too many to count.

In one sense, yes, but don’t limit it there.  Don’t you dare limit it to just our illnesses.  God says in Exodus 15:26 “I am the Lord, your healer.”  What healing we needed is the healing He provided.

David continues, “He satisfies you with Good. . . The Lord works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed. . . The Lord is merciful and gracious.  Slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.”  xx

Thank you, Lord.  Thank you so much for being slow to anger.  I get faced with some of the people who take peace from my life and I am not as patient. He is not only patient, He is loving. 

“He did not deal with us according to our sins.  He did not deal with us according to our sins.  HE DID NOT DEAL WITH US ACCORDING TO OUR SINS: nor repay us according to our iniquities.  For as high as the heavens are above the earth so great is His steadfast love toward those who fear him. . . As a father shows compassion on his children so the Lord shows compassion on those who fear him.” XX

This is our peace!  This is our peace!

Here is what our Savior has done.  He was perfectly righteous.  Jesus became the second Adam.  The first Adam was unable to be righteous.  Jesus was righteous.

Even more, He did not just give us righteousness, He gave us His obedience.  You are at peace because Jesus gave you HIS perfect obedience. 

I do not stand before you today on my own merits.  Those of you here who are in Christ, we are not in Christ on our own merits. Yet, we are at peace.  We are at peace with God in Christ Jesus.  Without Him you have no hope.

What did this passage mean for those to whom Paul was writing.  You have this group of people in 3:11.  What a diverse group of people! 

This congregation was a mixture of so many. (list them, explain them)

Then Paul says this thing: Christ is All and in ALL.  What a peculiar thing to say.

Christ is all we need.  Christ is ALL.  And Christ is in all.  Every person in the world?  Is Christ in every single person?  No, just all race groups.  Just these south enders.  These Scythians.   These Barbarians.  All age groups.  Male and female.  Christ is in the rich and the poor (slave and free). 

This is why they have peace.  Similarly, this is why we have peace. 

PERSPECTIVE!

But what about our wagon.  How does Christ give us peace over these things?

YOU SAY TO ME – I have serious concerns.  This sometimes wakes me up at night.  Sometimes I shed a tear because I think of this.  I have no peace in this relationship. 

Look at this chapter.  Look at what lies behind us and look at what is ahead of us.

You find 3:15 near the exact center of the passage.  This chapter represents a thought.  Chapters and verses were added later and not a part of the original text.  It was meant to be helpful. 

But take the number chapter 3 out.  This whole section represents a thought. In this thought, there are 260 words before it and 220 words after it.

This is the center of our lives: For the Christian the ultimate Goal is peace with God.  Everything revolves around this.  Christ is the foundation of our lives. 

For those who are in the Proverb study you may grow tired of me speaking about building our life on the foundation of Christ. 

It was Jesus who said, “He who hears these words of mine and puts them to practice is like a wise man who built his house on a rock.  The rains come and the streams rise and the winds blow and beat on that house and it does not fall because it is founded upon a rock.

Christ is the rock who helps us deal with our rock.  Can you place your trust that our peace, Jesus, will work all things for good?

The peace of Christ is our ability to live.  The peace of Christ is the ability to live out the first part of this passage. . . .and the remaining part of this passage. 

Because Christ has taken our place, we are at peace with God.  Paul is pointing to the peace in Christ as the means by which to accomplish his instruction.

The peace of Christ is the ability to:

  •  set our mind on things above
  • Put to death what is earthly in us
  • To put off the old self
  • Put on the fruits of the spirit
  • Praise Him in everything
  • For wives to submit
  • For husbands to love wives properly
  • Children to obey.

This peace is right in the middle of his instruction.  Because of the peace of Christ we can do these things.

We can be wise and build our house upon Jesus, our peace, or continue driving this bus . . . seeking peace. This bus did NOTHING to bring peace – NOTHING

Christ brings peace.  Peace between us and God – peace in how to wisely handle life.

There is turmoil all around us.  We get reports from the doctor and we are disheartened.  Some of you have children that are not in the faith and I know you are hurting, I know there is no peace in your life because of this.  You take this seriously and you have prayed and possibly fasted on this.

Understanding the peace of Christ and coming to terms with the peace of Christ is A KEY to growing in Christ. 

Let the peace of Christ RULE. 

Day 20: 31 Days in Proverbs

Questions to Ponder

  1.  How do verses 2-3 illustrate the importance of self-control and discernment?
  2. How can you practically “draw out” the deep water of counsel in your heart as mentioned in verse 5?
  3. How can you apply the advice against engaging in gossip or unwholesome talk in verse 19 in your daily life?
  4. How does the idea of “man’s steps are from the LORD” in verse 24 guide your understanding of life’s unpredictable turns?

Day 19: 31 Days in Proverbs

Questions to Ponder

  1. What does Proverbs 19:4-7 tell you about the nature of friendships influenced by wealth? How can you apply this understanding to your relationships?
  2. What are the dangers of bearing false witness as depicted in Proverbs 19:5, 9?
  3. How can the teachings about laziness in Proverbs 19:15 be applicable in today’s digital age?
  4. What steps can you take to gain wisdom and understanding, as encouraged in Proverbs 19:8, 20?
  5. In Proverbs 19:24, the writer uses the metaphor of a lazy person who is too lazy even to feed himself. How might this metaphor apply to spiritual laziness?