My Peace I Give Unto U ( the Path to Peace)

[Speaker 1] Churches and fellowships cannot be more spiritual than the individuals and families that constitute them. God waitly desires a godly home front. These are words of restoration and instruction in righteousness from Family Tent Ministry. May you be blessed as you listen. [Speaker 2] And it was in the midst of this kind of situation that Jesus spoke to them, "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." And we noticed also last week, following our focus, not as the world gives, that Jesus was emphasizing to his disciples that he was giving them a peace, a peace that is not like the one the world can give. And there is therefore a need for them not to be troubled, neither to be afraid. And we considered the background, why they should not be troubled. We saw that Jesus was saying that God is not a man that he should lie, neither the son of man that he should repent. We also saw the impossibilities of God, that the ability of God is boundless and his possibility, they are limitless. These were the things we considered last week in looking at the topic, "My peace I give to you." We take a word of prayer now as we move on on the matter again today. Our Father, we thank you for this evening. We commit ourselves into your hands. Our God, we pray that by the power of your Spirit you will speak to our personal situations in the name of Jesus Christ. Lord, you will meet us each and every one of us at the points of our needs in the name of Jesus. Lord our God, the Bible says the entrance of your word gives light and understanding. Let there be an entrance of your word. Let there be light, let there be understanding in the name of Jesus Christ. Thank you, Eternal Father. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Today, still under the series "My peace I leave with you," we want to consider another important dimension to this matter, which is Path to Peace. We noticed last week that the kind of peace that God gives is a peace that is possible in the midst of trouble. The kind of peace that the world can give is a peace that is attainable when everything is peaceful. But the peace that God gives is a peace that is possible, that is present, that you can be at perfect quietness in the midst of troubles all around. And that is why, like I said last week, the Psalmist could say a thousand to this side, ten thousand to the other side, yet it will not come near me. You can understand the kind of peace we are talking about. How will you be in a situation where one thousand is falling this way, ten thousand is falling that way, and you are just at rest that it cannot come near you? That is something peculiar. That is something unusual. The Psalmist said again, he said, "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil. I shall fear no evil." I am just trying to make you see this kind of peace we are talking about. It is a peace in the midst of storm, a peace in the midst of trouble, a peace in the midst of fear. It is not the type of peace that the world can give. The world cannot give you such a peace. Once there is trouble, the world will tell you to be alarmed. The world will tell you to be alert. The world will tell you to fear. But God can tell you that even when you walk through the midst of trouble, when you walk by the shadow of death, you need not fear evil. Even while death is present, God is saying there is no evil to fear. It is God that can give such a peace. And our concern this evening is the path. How do we come into this type of peace? How can human come into this type of peace? And I am going to begin from the very fundamental. The first thing I want you to know and that I want you to understand is that the price for our peace had been paid by Jesus. The price, if you look at Isaiah 53, Isaiah chapter 53, Path to Peace, that is our concern today. And the first thing I am trying to make you see is that Jesus had paid the price for our peace. He had paid that price. And so it is something that you should understand, that Jesus has paid the price for our peace. He has paid that price. Look at Isaiah chapter 53 before we come to Ephesians chapter 2 verse 14. Look at Isaiah chapter 53. I read from verse 1: "Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; and when we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected, a man of sorrows acquainted with grief. And we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised and we did not esteem him. However," the Bible says, "surely," that is with all certainty. It is not a delusion, it is not a deception, it is a reality. "Surely, he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. Verse 5: But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed." It is important for you to know that our griefs, our sorrows, and the price for our peace, all of these had been paid by Jesus. That is why when you come to Ephesians chapter 2 verse 14, Ephesians chapter 2 verse 14, you will see how the Bible explains some very important things for us. And I would like to take it from verse 11. I would like to take it from verse 11. It says, "Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision made in the flesh by hands—that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in this world." That is a very pitiable state. It is a very pitiable state that as Gentiles, we were having no hope and we were without God in this world. It says, "But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made both one and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in his flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, that he might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. And he came and preached peace to you who were afar off and those who were near. For through him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father." Praise the Lord. The point I am trying to make you see is that there is no basis, there is no reason why man should have peace. There is need for price to be paid. Until man is reconciled to the Prince of Peace, then there can be no peace for man. Man cannot enjoy this kind of peace. And so there was a need for the price for peace to be paid. I am talking of this peace that Jesus gives. Not as the world gives. This peace that is beyond human understanding. This peace that can be there in the midst of storm. This peace that when you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, you can fear no evil. Look, one thing that the Psalmist said that every time I read it always gets my attention, is what he said when he said, "The Lord is our refuge, a very present help in the midst of trouble. He said even though the earth be taken away, we will not fear. We will not fear." And so the price for this peace, it is important for us to know that it had been paid by Christ. It was paid by Christ. The implication is this: fundamentally speaking, this type of peace is not possible for a man who has not encountered Jesus. We are talking about the path to peace. The first thing about this path is that a price was paid to make the peace obtainable. Somebody paid a price. And he paid that price to make this peace obtainable for man. Now having paid that price, the next thing we saw in the New Testament is that he himself is that peace. And that is why when you come to Matthew chapter 11, that very popular scripture, Matthew chapter 11, the last three verses, 28, 29, and 30, you will notice that Jesus said, "Come to me. Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." The NET says, "Then Jesus said, 'Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.'" Come. The rest, the peace is not outside him. And the import of this, let me take that again in the NIV translation, it says, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." The point I am making is that Jesus is the peace. Jesus is the one who can give it. And so somebody paid the price number one to make the peace obtainable. In making it obtainable, it is obtainable by coming to him. It is obtainable, you must come to him. So the first point I want to make for everyone hearing me is that if you have not experienced conversion, if you have not given your life to Jesus, if you have not accepted him as Savior and Lord, if you have not had a personal experiential encounter, if you don't have a walk with Jesus, may I first announce to you that it is impossible to get this kind of peace that we are talking about. It is not possible. So the first thing is that you must come to him. That is the first thing. Somebody paid the price to make it obtainable. To make it obtainable, it is in him that it can be obtained. It is not anywhere. And that is why he was telling the disciples when he was speaking with them. He said, "My peace." I want you to note that word, "my peace." It is not peace I give you, my peace. The peace belongs to him. It is not a general peace. It is not a peace that is obtained by any other sacrifice. It is not a peace that is obtained by tying one thing around your waist or around your hand. It is not a peace that is gotten by any other means. It is not a peace that you can get in angels. It is not a peace that you can get by whatever means. This peace that he is talking about, it is his own peace. The peace that is possible in the midst of storm is that peace that only belongs to Jesus. And that is why Jesus said, "my peace." The peace is his own. Why is that peace his own? He is the one who paid the price for that peace. And so to obtain that peace, we are seeing the first thing: he said, "Come to me. Come to me. Come to me." Every day the world is talking about peace movement, peacekeeping force, peace conference, peace this, peace that. But I want to ask you, have you seen peace? Is there peace in the world? Is there peace in the world? There is no peace. There is no peace. There is no peace because nobody that is talking about the peace movement, the peace talk, the peacekeeping forces, none of them had been able to obtain any peace. They did not pay, which peace do they want to give you? A peace that they don't have? Can a man give what he does not have? A man cannot give what he does not have. Does government have peace? They don't have peace. They are only trying to bring peace, but they don't have it. And that is why we have come with all kinds of government: democratic government, military government, monarchical government, all forms of government. Yet there is still no peace. But I am showing you a path, that there is a peace. Somebody purchased that peace by his blood, by his death, by his blood, by his suffering, his blood and his death. He obtained that peace. And when he obtained that peace, he himself became the peace. And his offer to man is number one, "Come to me. Come to me. Come to me." And so the first thing I am asking you under our focus this evening is have you really come to him? Have you come to him? You cannot have this peace that is peace amidst storm. It is not possible until you come to him. Come to him, surrender to him. Surrender. What is that thing that is troubling you today? What is that thing that is challenging you? Can you come to him and truly surrender? Note, Jesus did not say come to church. He did not say come to fellowship. I am not confusing you by what I've just said, but I am only saying, I am not saying becoming a member of a church will give you peace. No. You may be a member of a church and not still experience this peace. You may be active in a fellowship and yet you don't have this peace. The peace is not by church activity. The peace is not obtainable by church membership. The peace is not obtainable by giving tithes and offering. That's not how you obtain the peace. Jesus declared the path to it. He said, "Come to me." Come to me. There must be a personal experiential encounter between you and Jesus. There must be a knowing, a personal knowing, a personal connection between you and him. There must be a total trust in the finished work on the cross. There must be a complete reliance on what he did by his suffering, his death, and his resurrection. He said, "Come to me." And having said that, Jesus moved yet further. He moved yet further. He said verse 29, he said, "Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your soul." Are you following this discussion? Are you seeing some important emphasis that the Lord is making? We are trying to look at the path to peace. And we are talking about the peace that Jesus gives, not the peace that the world gives. And we are realizing that the first thing we need to do is to come to him. And again we are seeing something further. What are we seeing further? He said, "Take my yoke. Take my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart." Then what will happen? He says, "You will find rest for your soul." There is a rest, there is a peace that Jesus gives when you come to him. But there is another one. And that is the one that is the focus of this series that we are considering. This other one is the one that comes to the level of your soul, the one that touches the state of your mind. When he said, "Don't let your heart be troubled. Don't let your mind be troubled." That's the one we are addressing. He said, "Take my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your soul." So our understanding, or what we should understand from this passage, is that if a man must come into this peace, this rest for the soul, this peace of mind, this peace in the heart, this rest in the heart, there are two important things that the man must do. Number one is that the man must take the yoke of Jesus. Number two, the man must learn from Jesus. If you don't take the yoke of Jesus and you don't learn from Jesus, you cannot get this kind of peace that we are talking about. You cannot obtain it. And let me explain to you. It is this scripture that is explaining why there are several believers today, yet some individuals who truly came to Jesus and of course had experiential personal encounter with Jesus, but till as I'm speaking with you now, they have not been able to find rest for their soul. Because when you look at that scripture, there are two level of rest in that place. So this peace that Jesus gives, we are looking at how do we obtain to it? How will the peace of God take over my heart? How will there be trouble and I'm not troubled? How will there be wasting all around and there is no fear? Why will there be all kinds of trepidations going around me and yet I am at peace, I am at rest? Look at how the Psalmist put it again in Psalm 27. He said, "The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?" He said even when my enemy, when they come against me, they will stumble and they will fall. He said even if a host encamp around me, against me, I will not fear. I will not fear. What is the basis? How do men get into this kind of things? It's what the Lord is teaching us. He said, "Take my yoke. Take my yoke and learn from me." And what I want to begin to do next is to begin to show you the connection between taking this yoke of Jesus and learning from Jesus. Taking this yoke and learning from him. The way I want to take it is to make you look at particular instances in scriptures and see how God dealt with different situations in the life of people. And you will see that indeed if we don't learn from him, if we don't take his yoke, there will be we can never there is no path to peace. We can't be in the path of peace. So let's look at a matter. You know Jesus said something in the conclusion of that chapter. After he has said, "Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, you will find rest for your soul." In concluding that statement, he said, "For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. My yoke is easy, my burden is light." Ordinarily, I want to ask you when we are talking about the yoke of Jesus, the burden of Jesus, for the purpose for the purpose of this particular discussion, I want to simply tell you that look at the yoke of Jesus or look at the burden of Jesus simply as doing whatsoever he tells you to do. Just simply look at the yoke of Jesus like that. Simply look at the yoke of Jesus as doing whatever he tells us to do. And I want to take that, I want to show you where that definition is coming from. I want to show you something in John chapter 2, the marriage at Cana. The marriage at Cana. Let's look at what happened in that story. Let's see something there. May the Lord help us, those of us who have already encountered Jesus. If you have not encountered Jesus, the first step is to encounter him. But if you have encountered Jesus, my prayer that may you come to this point where you can do whatsoever he tells you to do. Because what I want to show you that it is taking this his yoke and burden, that is the path to your peace. If you really want peace, it's just do whatsoever he tells you to do. Do you know that peace comes? Peace comes if you can just know what he is saying and you can do what he is saying. Do you know that peace, peace comes when we take his own yoke? What was the yoke Jesus gave them? What was the yoke he gave them? He said go and fetch water. Pour the water inside that place, just fetch water there, pour it into the bottles, just close the bottles and then serve it. You would discover that hardly will you find a believer that could even wait enough to hear the Lord at that level, not to talk of even carrying out such an instruction. And I can show you in several ways, in several ways. Let's take this example about this marriage scene. A man is looking for peace in his marriage and his pathway to that peace, the way he's looking for it, the way he's looking for the peace, the way he's looking for the peace is not by following Jesus' pattern. Jesus said, "Husband, love your wife. Don't be bitter against them." But many times a man is looking for peace in his marriage and he's looking for it, he's looking for a wife that will be obedient to him for him to love her. The same way you find with women who are looking for peace. What I am trying to say is that many times, our not having peace, our not having peace is coming from our inability to take the instruction of the Master. Our inability to take the instruction of the Lord. Our inability to follow what the Lord is saying. Our inability to do as he is speaking to us. To do what he is telling us to do, to do as he is telling us to do so. We find it difficult to take his yoke. We find it difficult to follow his instruction. And what I want to do this evening is I want to show you one simple thing that I will be building on next week. Let's look at these very simple scriptures. Philippians chapter 4. Philippians chapter 4. We are talking about taking the yoke of Jesus and learning from Jesus. And I said for the purpose of this discussion, please just take the yoke of Jesus simply as doing whatsoever he tells us to do. What is it that the word of God is instructing us to do? What is it that the word of God is asking us to do? What is it that the word of God is saying we should do? What are the clear instructions in the word of God? Let's look at this Philippians chapter 4. Look at this simple path to peace. Look at this simple path to peace. It says, "Be anxious for nothing." I want to ask you as a Christian, look at this simple instruction, "Be anxious for nothing." Be anxious for nothing. Don't be anxious about anything. Don't allow anything to make you to be anxious. It's a very simple instruction. But I want to ask you, check your life. Check your life. Look into your life. And I want you to be sincere. I'm talking about take his yoke, the simple instruction that he gives us, the simplicity of the word of God. Look at how he just told those people, "Okay, there is no wine. Okay, put water inside that, fetch water there, put it inside the pot, take it again, go and give the man." Simple instruction. He did not tell them, "Close your eyes now, Angel Gabriel, appear with wine." That would look something that they can easily believe. That would have looked something dramatic. That would look something spectacular. If he had said, "Look up into the heavens," and then you just see six pots or seven pots coming down from heaven and descending, and then he says, "Hold those pots. What is inside is wine." That would look very spectacular. That is what some of us are waiting for, for us to be able to follow Jesus. But I'm showing you that the yoke of Jesus, look at what he said, "My yoke is easy, my burden is light." It is the easiness and the lightness of that burden that is making the peace that comes from those instruction to escape our life. We are looking for some spectacular things. But look at this simple instruction: Path to peace, "be anxious for nothing." And if I ask you, what is nothing? Does nothing have any other definition than nothing? Is there any other definition for nothing than nothing? I don't think there's another definition for nothing than nothing. Nothing means nothing. Now, check your own life, how many things are you anxious about? Now, he did not stop there. He said, "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything," you see, be anxious for nothing. Instead of being anxious about anything, rather take everything by prayer and supplication, but in everything, that is anything at all. Just think of anything, whether spiritual, whether physical, whether financial, whether marital, just think of anything. He says be anxious about nothing. Do you know that one major reason why many of us are not at peace is that we cannot just leave it in a place of prayer? He says, "Take my own yoke. Please. The yoke," he said, "my own yoke is easy. My burden is light." Which is easier: tell it to God and leave it with him and be going your way, and carrying it until you die of hypertension? You die of anxiety, you die of worry, depression. He says leave it, leave it. Just tell me. Can you just tell me and leave it? That looks like something too heavy to carry for us today. That is too heavy. You know the easier one for us? The easier one is for us to worry. Is that not what we do easily? But look at what he said, "Leave it with me. Leave it with me." And look at what happens when we leave it with him. I want to close with this place. I'm closing with this place. I will pick this matter from here next week. I'm trying to make you see the path to peace. You must understand this path. The peace we are talking about, Jesus paid the price. This peace belongs to Jesus. And you can only get it on the basis of the way Jesus said you can get it. There is no any other way to it. There is no any other way to this peace. And in looking at path to peace, I'm showing you this part. Look at what he said. When we do that, what will happen? He says, "And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will guard your heart and mind through Jesus Christ." Are you seeing something? Do you see that just like he told them, "Fetch water into the pot, go and serve the master of ceremony," and when they did that, was there problem again about wine? There was no problem. Look at what he is telling us. He said, "If you can just tell me and you leave it with me, I am going to do something. I will do something. I will bring a peace that you cannot understand." Hallelujah. I want you to know something which is very crucial here. The response of God to telling him is not that he will change the situation, but that he will change you. Your first problem in life is your attitude to your problem. So the first thing that God wants to solve about your life is to change you. Is to change you. So there is a peace that God will bring to your mind. It is not a peace that man can understand, but you successfully leave it to the Lord. He said, "Then the peace, the peace of God," not the peace of man. I want you to note that, not the peace of man, the peace of God. This peace is beyond human understanding. There is a peace like that. Take it the peace I've been talking to you about. That's the peace I've been speaking about. The peace in the midst of storm, the peace in the midst of trouble. A thousand is falling here, ten thousand is falling there, yet you are not afraid. You are just at peace. Hey, do you hear that such and such thing is happening? Do you hear that this one died? Do you hear that that one happened? Yes, you are at peace. Ah, do you know that along this path, nobody goes and comes back? Yes, you are at peace. Because there is this peace that passes all understanding. Path to peace, I'm saying take his yoke. And what I'm trying to make you first see in this place is doing what he tells us. And the first thing I'm trying to show you is how leaving our matters with God by prayer brings peace to our mind. And I'm going to show you with biblical example that this is how God dealt with our fathers of old. This method is not a new method. I'm going to show you scripturally. And I pray that we come into this method. It's a method of God. It's a method of God. May your prayer life not be a weak one. May your prayer life not be a shallow one. May your prayer life not be a dead one. May your altar be living. May your altar be real in the name of Jesus Christ. Let's go ahead to pray this evening. Let's pray this evening. I want you to talk to the Lord. Look at this simple yoke, "Be anxious about nothing." Can you take this yoke? Can you leave this meeting taking this yoke? Can you leave this meeting? Can you make up your mind that as I'm leaving this meeting, I am leaving taking this yoke upon me? I'll be anxious about nothing. I'll just tell God and leave the matter. Can you leave this meeting taking this yoke? Can you leave this meeting? Precious Father, we thank you for this evening. We commit ourselves into your hands. Lord, that you will fill us more and more and more with the knowledge of your will, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, so that we may walk worthy of you, in every way pleasing, being fruitful in every good works and increasing in your knowledge, in the name of Jesus Christ. Thank you, Eternal Father. Blessed be your holy name, our God. In Jesus' name we pray. Let's share the grace together. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us now and forevermore. Amen. [Speaker 1] This message is coming to you from Family Tent Ministry, a Christian ministry involved in reaching the lives of singles and married through preaching and teaching of God's word, discipleship, family life enrichment, social and community development and mission heat. Our regular activities are discipleship class every Monday 5:00 PM at Life Camp by the first bridge, Ilere community, opposite Very Joy filling station along Idjare road, Akure, Ondo state, Nigeria. Adolescents and singles club every first Saturday of every month at 10:00 AM. Marriage forum second Saturday of every month at 10:00 AM. Family life seminars, regular school outreaches and everyday counseling. For further counsel, you can reach us through our social media handles: familytent@yahoo.co.uk, familytentministry01@gmail.com, www.familytentministry.org. Our phone numbers are 08033861136, 07033613848. God bless you all.