Real Peace. Real People.

Does God care about your happiness? He cares about your salvation, he cares about your physical body, he cares about your mental state… how could he not care about your happiness, right? But what happens when the things that make you happy run contrary to what God wants for your life? Today at Peace, we dive into the idea that happiness in circumstances and joy in Christ are fundamentally different ideas… and one is much more important than the other.

When preparing for guests over the holidays, you are likely meticulous in your preparation. Things don’t slip by you if the company coming to visit you is important or dear to you. When preparing for Christ to come, are we as meticulous? In a time when it seems like all our preparations are “buy this” and “clean that,” how can we get our hearts ready for the arrival of the most important guest? We’ll use the words of Isaiah to explore just that!

What do you think of when you hear the words “judgment day”? People think of all of the ominous pictures that come with those words. In fact many people, even Christians, are left feeling afraid when they think of judgment day. But can we look at it from a different angle? Rather than with fear of a verdict, might we see judgment day in a different light. Let’s dive into Matthew 25:31-46 to understand how we ought to feel about this “final” day.

In Isaiah, the people give God their best. However, it seems as if their best isn’t enough for God. In our sermon based on Isaiah, we’re going to talk about what exactly makes our service to God faithful. How can we know that we are living God pleasing lives? Isaiah gives us a path.

Jesus says that his followers will endure tribulation. Paul tells us that Christians will put up with all sorts of hardships. In our reading from Revelation 7 for this Sunday, we see what the ending looks like. It might be difficult to see how all of this turns out okay… so God gave John just a glimpse of what to expect from eternity with him. Let me tell you: it’s as good as it gets.

There are things that it is okay to be uncertain about, but your eternity isn’t one of them. Throughout Christianity, there are denominations whose teachings cause their followers to say, “I think my relationship with God is good.” But that’s not good enough. No, based on Scripture, we should have some certainty in our relationship with God.

“Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.” Great. Now all we have to do is figure out what is Caesar’s and what is God’s. As we look at the words of Jesus in their context and we look at what Paul has to say on the matter, we find out that although church is certainly not the place for politics, God does call us to live a certain way when dealing with those in authority. So what should we give to our authorities and what should we give to God? We’ll explore that question in our sermon…

Who would say no? There are invitations we receive that are just too good to pass up. Who would say no to going on an all expenses paid vacation? Who would say no to a free meal at the finest restaurant in town? In fact, these offers likely seem too good to be true. Jesus tells us a story about inanely refusing an offer that is too good to pass up. But the offer isn’t for dinner or a vacation… this offer has eternal consequences.

How long is God willing to deal with us? I hope we would ask that question in an effort to understand his mercy rather than to test it. God was willing to bear with his people for generations as he sent prophet after prophet to bring them back to him. Finally, he sent his Son who was rejected. This begs the question: Is God too patient with us?

No one wants to be a hypocrite. That word cuts people to the core simply because it is an attack on someone’s entire character. Being fake in your dealings with people is a mistake. Being fake in your spiritual dealings… that’s just dangerous. So how is it we can be spiritually sincere? What do we need to “be real” about our faith life?