Living in Peace

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Here is the outline for yesterday’s sermon from John 14:15-31 about “Living in Peace”:

1) The world defines peace as: freedom from war, tranquility, mental calm, harmony, peace treaty and law and order.

2) Although there are times when we experience some worldly peace, for the most part it doesn’t happen because life is difficult and the world is full of sinful people.

3) Jesus said He offers us peace but His peace is different from the world’s definition of peace. His peace is “shalom” which means wholeness, completeness, health, security and even prosperity. (Vs. 27)

4) Jesus gives us shalom when we obey His commandments and follow the leading of the Holy Spirit. (Vs. 23-26) One of the reasons we have shalom at this point is because our desire to follow Jesus is stronger than our desire to always be right or to always get our way.

5) One way to let go of our selfishness is to remember this simple formula: Expectations – Reality = Disappointment.

We have expectations about everything in life – from our spouse, children, job, church and God.

Most of the time, reality is different than our expectations so we become disappointed. We then spend a lot of energy trying to make reality match our expectations so we can be happy. (For example, “If my spouse would only ____________, I would be happy.)

What would happen if we used our energy trying to make our expectations come in line with reality instead of trying to change reality? If we did, we would have shalom in many more areas of our lives because, at this point, we’ve given up trying to get our own way and opened the door for Jesus and the Holy Spirit to guide us and give us peace.

Have a blessed day.