So look at somebody near you and give them a fist bump and say, "Thank God for the rain. Thank God for the rain." Anybody else grow anything, any plants, any vegetables? I got a garden and we were... God bless Elijah and some of these boys back here. When it was so dry, our well is not a very good well. Some of you know about our well struggles. So we were hauling five gallon buckets of water from the pond about a quarter mile away, something like that. And aren't you glad we're not hauling water this week, Elijah? Aren't you glad we're not hauling water? Yeah. I'm not here to talk about rain or water or plants. I want to tell you the story of Greg Boyle. Greg Boyle grew up in Los Angeles, California. He studied English in school, but the Lord called him to do something very different. The Lord called him into ministry and he was a missionary in Bolivia in South America. And the poverty and the violence that he saw in Bolivia, really it shaped his understanding of justice, compassion and peace. A few years later he returned home and became pastor of Dolores Mission Church in one of the most gang ridden neighborhoods in East L.A. The church building was located between two very violent housing projects and it was at the center of a territory dispute between eight gangs. This was in the 1980s and early 90s when L.A. was known very much for gang violence. Thousands of people were being killed in gang attacks each year. And Greg officiated at the funerals of many of these young men whose lives were cut short by this violence and gang activity. And the mothers would come to him afterwards and beg him to do something about it. And the Lord moved his heart. He prayed about some way to bring peace in his neighborhood. Some way to bring peace to these young men and the Lord gave him a new mission. And I want to finish that story a little later. But right now I want to talk about what we have in our world. I would love to tell you that there are no gangs in this area. They're around but they're under the surface. It's not obvious. It's not like in some bigger cities. It's around. It's under the surface. But what we have that we see all the time is we just don't have peace in our world. We live in a world that is anything but peaceful. Anxiety and turmoil seem to be the norm these days. And there's so much animosity, so much bitterness, so much division among people of all walks of life. I mean, my goodness. And I don't, this is zero percent political and you guys know me, that is not what I do. But we did have a pretty major leader who almost got assassinated and it didn't even feel so surprising. It's like, huh, yep, that sounds about the way our world is. It didn't even seem that surprising. What a world we live in. This world needs peace and it's not just society. It's you and it's me. It's in us. It's growing more and more difficult to find peace in ourselves. Where are we going to get some peace? Where are we going to get it? Where are we going to pin our hopes on political leaders? Pin our hopes on an improved economy? Pin our hopes on the idea that humans are all basically good and human goodness will went out in the end. How's that working for you? You ever raised a kid? Did they come wired for human goodness? Come on, I even love, my kids are good kids, they're good kids, but they weren't wired for human goodness. If true and lasting peace could come through any of those things, we'd have it by now. Peace on earth will not come from earth. Peace within us will not come from within us. The peace we need cannot be found in politics, economics, philosophy, cannot be found in social media, it cannot even be found in religion. Peace is not a condition. Here's what I want you to remember this week. Take this to heart. Peace is not a condition. Peace is a person and his name is Jesus. We're going to stop right there and we're going to pray. Heavenly Father in Jesus' name, we do pray for peace. We pray for peace in our world and peace in us. Lord, there's only so much we can do about all the difficulties and negativity and lack of peace in the world. But we surrender ourselves to you that if nothing else, we might be people of peace and spread peace. In Jesus' name, amen. Jesus said in John 14, 27, "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give you, not as the world gives do I give to you, let not your heart be troubled, let it neither be afraid." Now notice he makes a distinction, if you go to the John 14, 27, he makes a distinction right away. His peace is not like the world's peace. The world does offer a form of peace and some of it is kind of okay, but Jesus offers a kind of peace that is beyond all of that, that is beyond worldly understanding. Years later, the Apostle Paul gave a further explanation in Philippians 4, 6 and 7, man, these are some of my verses. Let me tell you, I had a completely different message planned for you guys. You're like, "What? Why aren't we in the book of Mark?" We've been working in Mark because the preacher couldn't get no peace this week, okay? So I can only preach to you what God preaches to me and he had to say wait, just put, "Mark will be fine. Mark's been sitting around for 2,000 years. Mark will be okay," said Mark aside and let's talk about peace because I need peace. So I hope that's okay because I can only give you what God's given me. I can't, I can't fake it. I can't forge it and if I try, you'll figure it out real quick. So that's why we're doing this. Now, Philippians, if you're the kind of person who posts Bible verses in places who like has things on the wall or just scribbles them down on a post-it note, this is one that should be there. I don't care who you are, where you're from, what you're dealing with, this one should be there. Philippians 4, 6 and 7, be anxious for nothing, easy, right? This would be anxious for nothing. But in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus, amen and amen. The peace that comes from Jesus is not only different from the temporary peace offered by the world, it cannot be understood from an earthly frame of reference. So if you have never experienced peace through Jesus, you literally don't know what you're missing. You can't. And if you have ever experienced the peace of Jesus, you'll soon figure out there's nothing else that can touch it. Even the good things of life cannot touch it. We're told that if we just get our hands on enough money, we'll have peace. If we improve our situation, we'll have peace. If people around us would stop being crazy, we would have peace. If all the people in your life would just stop acting up, don't look at them. Don't poke them. If they stop acting up, then you could have peace. If the right people are in charge, oh, we can have peace then, we're told. If we just learn to chill and go with the flow and not bother about things, then we can have peace, we're told. A newer generation is being sold alive that if they get a platform, if they get recognized, if they get followers on social media, then they can have peace. If we're told that if we can get promoted, if we can get justice, if we can get revenge, then we can have peace. If we can have things our way, then we can have peace. But there's a problem with that. There are several problems with that. But maybe the biggest one that comes to mind is, suppose you get it. How long will it last? How long will you be able to keep the peace that you get in those ways? They're all temporary, but every one of them, you can maybe get them, but they all get messed up or taken away or can be. There is no doubt that something like money can make your life easier. I know what it is like to be struggling hard to pay the bills and have enough money to pay the bills would help with some peace. There's no doubt about that, okay? But there comes a point where money does not buy more peace. Once your bills are paid and you've taken care of the necessities and you've got a whole lot more than that, what you begin to see is, I mean, in theory, I don't know this by experience, in theory, you begin to worry about losing what you got. That's what we've seen, what we observed in the world. Once you have enough, once you have way more than enough, then what you worry about is losing it. And where is it? I went to peace. It's gone now. Boy, can it go away in a hurry. I will say this much. When I was in my early twenties, I had a sales job, I was an insurance salesman and I made a lot of money for a very, very short period of time. And during that short period of time, I thought it was going to last forever. So I accumulated the kind of bills that you have when you're making better money than you should when you're in your early twenties. And then the sales dried up. Ever had a sales job? That was my last sales job. Next to last. No, third, I should probably stop getting sales jobs. Yeah, some of them have gone better than that, but it dried up and I was working all week the same amount of time and the paychecks were commission based. So I was making about enough money to fill up a tank of gas in my car. So yeah, that was rough, rough, rough times. If you're counting on positive circumstances to bring you peace, I hope, I hope good things happen for you. I hope you get it, but you might not. You might get it for a little while. You know how it is with life. Things are like, whoa, everything's peaceful, okay. And then your check engine light comes on. Mine went off this week. Thank you, Jesus. Mine went off. We got the right parts to put it on. Your check engine light comes on, or then people in your life start acting up, or you do something dumb and you know one of my rules for life, I tell my kids, dads rules for life. If you do stupid things, help me out, kiddos. If you do stupid things, stupid things will happen to you. That's not perp. Sometimes you'll get away with the stupid things. Sometimes stupid things will happen to you when you've been smart. But if you do stupid things, stupid things will happen to you. Same goes for the rest of this stuff. It's nice while it lasts, but it doesn't last. One of those sounds kind of noble, right? Like just learn to do chill and go with the flow. I've never quite figured that one out because I'm not chill enough. Learn to detach, to not get bothered by things. Just like to not think about it, just to kind of go somewhere else. But is it actually healthy to deal with difficulties and tragedies by training yourself not to feel them? That's called dissociation, brother. That is a clinical problem. It ain't healthy. The peace the world promises you will fail you. And you know this in the depths of your heart and the depths of your soul because it has failed you so many times before, but you tell yourself this time will be different. And you take the false promises of peace back in, this is like that significant other who says, "Oh, I've changed this time. I've changed this time. You take them right back in." I know a source of peace that will never fail you. A source of peace that never ever breaks promises. A source of peace that is unshakable even if the foundations of the earth crumble peace that can be yours when you have nothing else, peace that stays with you through the joy and pain, peace that does not depend on peaceful conditions, true peace is not a condition. Peace is a person and his name is Jesus. How can we have peace when the world is not peaceful? Philippians 4.7 says, "The peace of God surpasses all understanding." It doesn't add up, not in the natural mind. The peace that comes with Jesus, you can be in a situation where you should be falling apart, but you're not falling apart. You ever had a day like that where you were like, "Wait a minute. I should be falling apart right now, but I'm not falling apart." Or people look at you and are like, "Hmm, you don't seem to be falling apart," which makes them worry that you're quietly, secretly falling apart on your own time. There can be a peace that we can't explain. And you know, I eventually get there in my life. Like when things first start going bad, I don't usually start out peaceful. Okay? I usually don't. When the check engine light first comes on, I make a noise that maybe you guys make. It's like, "Ahh, I'm not the only one." Okay. Then we drive up here to advance, get them to plug it in, say, "What is wrong?" And then let's go fix it. I don't start there. That's what I usually end there. And then when you're actually doing the auto mechanics work, some of y'all probably really good auto mechanics. I'm okay. I can do quite a bit of stuff, but it's like, thing about like auto mechanics and plumbing, you will grow spiritually through that because you will have to pray. You will have to repent. And you don't have to say, "Lord, I do not understand why it's got to be this heart. Why won't this nut come off? I will get the torch, Lord. Do you want me to get the torch, Lord? If it's liquid, it cannot be tight. We'll get the torch. I don't have a torch. I have a little butane torch, buddy. I ain't going to cook that. It's not going to happen with that. I eventually get there, and I say, "Lord, why did it take me so long?" Please understand that the piece that passes all understanding is not, it doesn't mean you don't feel the pain or the grief. It doesn't mean you pretend bad things aren't happening. Some people think that's what this walk with Jesus is, you know. There's some people out there who think that living for Jesus means you're just got your pie in the sky, head in the sand, and you're just like pretending, "Oh, everything is great. Everything is awesome when everything is not awesome. Sometimes life is very hard. God doesn't ask you to pretend that bad things aren't happening. We acknowledge the suffering, yet we acknowledge the greater truth of the sovereignty of God. It seems impossible to know peace sometimes, and it is impossible, earthly speaking, but all things are possible through Christ. He's got this. Jesus is peace. This kind of peace is a guard over your hearts and minds. I love that line. They're in Philippians 4-7, if you'll put that up, Janaya. It guards your heart and mind in Christ Jesus. And man, do we ever need a guard for Jesus to stand guard over our mind because anxiety can destroy everything good in your life. It will destroy relationships, opportunities, progress. Anxiety will provoke you to self-sabotage until there's nothing left. I've seen that play out. Oh, man, have I seen that play out in lives of people I love? And you know what? I've had my moments where I'm like, man, why am I doing this damaging thing? And it's like, okay, this, I don't have peace. There's anxiety that is driving this. We've got to deal with it. We have such a deep, spiritual, physiological, psychological need for peace that if we don't get it, it will gnaw away at us. So there ain't much left, the peace of Jesus is the guard against that, the guard against self-destruction. We dare not make it our way through this world without Jesus standing guard over our hearts and minds. Don't do it. Don't try it. And I had to have a little reminder of that this week. I'm driving the work on Friday saying, Lord, I need some peace. I don't have any peace. And I turned on a preacher that I don't normally listen to and he was preaching on peace and I'm like, wow, I don't even usually like this preacher very much because he, I don't know, just didn't connect, but he was preaching on peace. And that is exactly what I needed to hear. And I don't remember if he used this verse or not, but it came to mind. And as soon as I got to work, I looked that up and needed that very badly. Even if our circumstances are peaceful and the peaceful conditions last, surprise, woo, it's been good for a while, it could be peaceful on the outside and chaotic on the inside. You know that, right? We cannot count on our circumstances to bring us peace because a lot of the time they won't be peaceful. And even when they are, it doesn't make us peaceful. We have to have Christ, peace of Christ to be a guard over our hearts and minds. Where we find a peace? Well, part of it is, is verse six, please be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, make your requests be known to God. We take the crushing weight of anxiety. We give it to God and it's the world's, the history's most one sided trade. We give Him all our anxiety and He gives us His Son, Jesus in peace through Him. I know the phrase let go and let God has become a cliche and a cop out almost, it's like something you put on a coffee mug, what happens when you drop the coffee mug, it's let go and let God. Yeah, but you're going to have to get down there and clean up the coffee. I get it. It sounds way too simple. But let's not forget the middle part of the verse, be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God. See, thanksgiving is the part of prayer that is easy to miss, but it is a powerful part. I believe with all my heart, that prayer changes things. I have seen it. I have experienced it. I've lived it. I've received that, but prayer doesn't just change things. Prayer changes us and it's the thanksgiving part that changes us. We say to the Lord, Lord, I know you, I can trust you with this. I'm giving it to you. I praise you in advance. I believe you'll work it out. You might work it out in some way that I didn't see coming, but I will trust you. And if you pray like that, it is powerful. I've had to pray that way lately. My family's been through a lot for a long time. Some of you guys don't know our story. My wife started getting sick in like 2012 and was desperately ill for about 10 years, and a lot of ups and downs, a lot of heartache in between. We've been through some heartache this year too, some real, just real gut level pain. We try so hard to trust God through everything. So many opportunities to trust God when there's nothing else to do. Hey, one of the silver linings when you're going through bad days is you run out of other things to trust. Everything else falls over and God's still standing. And you're like, why didn't I go to God in the first place where we get there? Hey, I'm still bleeding some. Some of the heartaches haven't healed. I'm still looking for answers to prayer that haven't come. I've prayed for people and I've prayed for myself, prayed against burnout and discouragement and despair. And yet I know this is true. The peace that passes understanding is real. I have felt it. I've experienced it. Do I walk in it all the time? I wish, but I'm learning more and more. When it comes down to it, you can trust God. You can. Jesus offers surpassing peace. Peace is not peaceful circumstances. Peace is not a condition. Peace is a person and his name is Jesus. Man, I don't have to understand how everything is going to work out, though I'm wired to want to understand. I don't have to. I just need to know that I can trust God and I can bring it to him with Thanksgiving and he will work it out to what is best, even if that's not what I envisioned happening. Hey, I promised to tell you the end of Greg's story that I left you hanging there at the beginning. So after years of working with youth and gangs, Greg stood up to the violence there in East L.A. in a way nobody expected. He opened a bakery, Homeboy Bakery, it was called. This was the early nineties, Homeboy was a word that you used unironically. We also said cowabunga and things like that. It was a weird time, strange. I could go on, but I won't. Homeboy Bakery, he called it and he hired these kids who were trying to get out of gangs and gave them some other way to make a living and some opportunity for a fresh start, some opportunity to step away from the gang life. From there, it grew. It grew into educational opportunities and counseling in case management, practical things like legal assistance, like work readiness, like free removal of the gang tattoos that would they would carry for the rest of their lives and it would cause them complications. They set up an alternate alternative school, a daycare, job training and more. They opened a cafe that called this one Homegirl Cafe because we got to keep it, you know, we got to balance it out. Homeboy Bakery, Homegirl Cafe, they opened up a screen printing business and they even make salsa based on one of the Homegirl Cafe's operators recipe. They make salsa. So if you're ever in the LA, look for Homegirl salsa or maybe it's Homeboy salsa, I don't know which one it is. They provided an exit ramp out of the multi-generational cycle of violence. And today, Homeboy Industries, as the big company is called, Homeboy Industries is the largest and most successful gang rehabilitation and reentry program in history. Every year, 10,000 men and women get a chance to overcome their past and reimagine their future. And in May of this year, Gregory Boyle was awarded the Congressional Medal of Freedom, which is the highest honor the U.S. government can bestow upon a civilian. Where did this come from? Greg Boyle is motivated by the peace of Christ. You know, spiritual, he's coming from a little different place than I am spiritually. You know, me and him would probably have some theological differences. But this man was motivated to create peace by the peace of Christ. And the peace of Christ is not like that which the world gives. It is peace that passes understanding. It's peace. When you grow up in a world full of gang violence, you can break away from that. That's a miracle, by the way. Maybe you didn't grow up in gang violence, but you grew up with your stuff and your traumas and your omens. You know what I'm talking about. You can break away from that too. You can have peace. A person full of the peace of Christ is a world changer. You don't know the impact that you can have. If you just got that peace in Jesus, in the chaos and pain of this world, it's difficult to have peace. If you look for peace in people, even the good ones will eventually let you down and it's gone. They cannot look. I hope you got some people in your life who you love and love you and hope you got a good thing going, but they cannot do for you what only God can do for you. I don't care how good they are. If you expect that of them, you are setting yourself up for pain. If you look for peace in circumstances, man, I hope your situation is good. I hope it improves. You know what? I'll give God the glory for that. I hope you get your promotion and your better pay. I hope you get whatever it is you're looking for. That's a good, wholesome thing. But understand this, even if you get it, it will not give you peace. Other circumstances will not give you peace, number one, because they can change so fast. And number two, because peace is in something inside of you. Peace is inside out, not outside in. If you think money and stuff will bring you peace, well, bless your heart. If you get it, good for you, but it will not give you peace. I hope you get your bills paid. That's good. That will give you some peace. Can your bills pay? That's good. But being wealthy as this world considers wealth won't bring you peace because then you're worried about losing it. And if you go with that stoic approach of, "I'm not going to let anything get me, I'm so tough, I don't, real men don't cry," you know, "I'm trying to be that guy," please understand that you're setting yourself up for a pretty catastrophic crash, eventually. And all of that that you're holding inside will come out at some completely inappropriate moment in front of someone who did not deserve a bit of what you just gave them, or most of it. Look, you can get temporary peace for what the world has to offer, but it will never ever last. You will lose it at some point. Even if it's at the end of your life, understand peace is not a condition. Peace is a person, and his name is Jesus. And I've said that about 10 times now, but that's what you need to remember. Peace is not a condition, conditions change, peace is a person. His name is Jesus. He doesn't change. So I'm going to give you some action steps. It's not going to be on the board. It's just some action steps. Number one, stop looking for peace in the world. Again, I hope your situation is good. I wish you happiness and joy and good times, yes. But stop looking for your peace in the world, because even if you find it, you won't be able to hold it for long. Number two, look to Jesus for peace. Have you trusted in Jesus as a savior? If you have not, you don't know peace yet. You need to trust in Jesus. Number three, spread peace. This world needs some peace in it. There's enough evil and anxiety and animosity and anger and division. We need some peace. We need some people of peace to be ambassadors of the peace of Christ that surpasses all understanding. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father, I pray in Jesus' name that you would make us people who know your peace, who know peace in Jesus. Lord, forgive us that we so often look to the world to bring us peace when it just can't. God, I pray for anyone receiving this message now who has never trusted in Jesus as a savior that they would do so. They would cry out to Him and be saved. And Lord, make us people who spread peace in our world in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Hey, God bless you guys. Mark your calendar with those things we got going on. We'd love for you to be a part of it. We'll see you next time.
