Turning on the Lights! – Tuesday, December 10, 2024. Be a Peacemaker!
Good Morning, Good Morning my brothers and my sisters and welcome to Tuesday December 10, 2024.
Blessed are the Peacemakers is a favorite Christian verse, but does it mean that we just sit back and bask in the peace of the Lord?
Or does it mean that we live the life of a disciple of Christ, meaning that we have made peace with our Creator, and seek to share the Good News so that others can find peace as well?
I think that today is a good conversation that is worth a listen. You can help others find it my liking and sharing this video on YouTube and/or subscribing, rating and reviewing the podcast!
THANK YOU! And, as always, KEEP LOOKING UP!
This is a video recorded copy of the FaceBook Live event of Turning on the Lights! – Tuesday, December 10. Watch here via the YouTube link!
This is an audio recorded copy of the FaceBook Live event of Turning on the Lights! – Tuesday, December 10. Listen here or through your favorite podcast app!
This is a transcript from the audio of this episode of Turning on the Lights! – Tuesday, December 10
Here we are again. Dare I say good morning, good morning my brothers and my sisters. I have been working diligently. I don’t know what the glitch is, but there seems to be a bit of a glitch. But good morning, good morning my brothers and my sisters, and welcome to Turning on the Lights at the Church Town Church of God. You are looking at the altar of the Church of God, of the Church Town Church of God, I should say. It hasn’t turned on any lights because I’ve just been sitting here messing with Facebook trying to go live. They’re making it difficult, I don’t know. They change things all the time. And so there’s probably something that they’ve done. They have to go and try two or three or four times in order to get online, in order to go live streaming. I thought they liked live streaming, but maybe they don’t. Let me turn off the fan here, get rid of that noise. I’ll set you up to take a look at the sanctuary. If you’re watching live, or if you’re watching now on YouTube, you get to see the wonderful Christmas decorations. See all the Christmas, just simple. I think it’s very simple and tasteful. That’s what I like. And then we have our tree and our wreath and they light up and they spin around and they do all kinds of fun Christmassy things. And there’s the altar where we put a couple of poinsettias. Here’s the great debate. Poinsettia or poinsettia? Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, howdy, everybody. Welcome. I’m happy to be with you this morning after such a mighty struggle. Let me grab my Bible and we’ll talk about a couple of things here this morning that will be very fun. I think they will be very fun because it is peace week. We have been taking a look at peace. Good morning. Let me flip this around here. You see my mug, my new glasses. Yes, I’m feeling better. It has been a long three weeks. The illness and all of the craziness in the church. And then last Monday, finally getting diagnosed because I was like I told you, I told you before I know I didn’t want to be of two minds. I wouldn’t want to say, oh, you have a great excuse. You’re sick or whatever. I wanted to focus and I wanted to get down to it and I wanted to get things done. So we did that. Last week was about both the symptoms and the medicine because the medicine side effects are no joke. Now, I think I’m feeling. Better. I’m afraid. I’m afraid to say better. Father, we pray that your word will go out this morning with the strength, the power of your Holy Spirit behind it, penetrating hearts and minds and changing the world. One confession of faith at a time. In Jesus name. Amen. This year’s Advent preaching. Is all based around Romans. 7, 8, 9 and 10. We started actually in five. I did a little reading of five and talk about that again this morning. But I don’t like to take the. Oh, it’s hard to say generic peace scriptures. Dare I say that the usual peace scriptures that you bring out of that venue say peace, peace, peace, peace, peace, and then you leave. We want to really talk about what peace in your heart is and last week we talked about peace in your heart because you have peace with the Lord. You are born an enemy, but you through Jesus Christ and the completed work of the cross have an avenue. To create peace between you and the Lord. Now, if you want to know peace, know the Lord and we talked about to the second point. If you want to know who you are, know the Lord. Paul. Reinforces this. To colossi over and over again who Jesus is your cornerstone of faith is Jesus Christ. This is who Jesus is. Don’t forget it. Cling to it. Meditate upon it. Tell it to each other every time that you gather. If you want to know who you are as an individual. If you want to function in relationships, the best way you possibly can in your home, in the church, outside of the church, whatever the case may be, then do not be conflicted. Meaning what? Meaning do not be one of the created who is still at war with your creator. Who is still rejecting your creator. We talked about that and one of the spinoffs of that is what you see every day. With so many lost people. You saw that with the political division in this country. A person is elected president and people are screaming and losing their minds and saying all of these insane things. Because they’re lost. They don’t know who they are. Their identity is in a political party or a political ideology. Not in Jesus Christ. Perhaps your identity is in an economic reality. Not in Jesus Christ. Now you see the enemy of humankind telling people that your identity is up to you. You’re a man and you want to be a woman. You’re a woman and you want to be a man. You’re a person and you want to be a cat. That’s a thing. Well, I identify as who cares what you identify as. And I don’t mean that coldly like go, you know, whatever. What I see is a lost individual who doesn’t identify as one of the special creation. Of Yahweh. What I see is a spiritual being who is not only born in rebellion, but now is living in that rebellion. Not only born an enemy, but now absolutely behaving like an enemy of God and God’s people. Now, this is nothing new. Nothing new. When Moses went up to Mount Sinai, he was gone for 40 days. And what happened to the people? They lost their identity. Now, they have a very tenuous hold on their identity, although they had seen such miracles and the plagues and the deliverance from Egypt and all of those things. But as soon as that concrete example wasn’t there. They lost their identity and they began to worship other gods and they melted down all of the jewelry and they made idols and all these different things. And so nothing is new under the sun, but we must understand that to be at peace with the Lord will mean that we are enemies of the world. To be at peace with the world, so to speak, will mean that we are enemies of the Lord. Yeah, it’s Tuesday. And that’s what we talked about on Sunday. Right, born enemies. You once were enemies, but through the completed work of you have been made. There is peace now between you and your creator. So we want to talk about peace and I wanted to take the angle this morning about peacemaking. What does it mean? Is Jesus Christ a peacemaker? Well, yeah, we just talked about that. And Paul talks about it in Ephesians, in Colossians, in Thessalonians, in Romans. He talks about how a way has been made for God’s creation to be reconciled unto him. And peace will be made. Jesus Christ himself, particularly in the gospel, according to John, talks about. Right, you will you actually want me to go? Because when this is completed, I will send the Holy Spirit unto you. And Holy Spirit will instruct you in all truth. Regarding everything that you are witnessing, everything you will witness. And everything that you are to do moving forward. When you speak, it will be with the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ. It will be the truth of God. He will direct your learning and understanding. He will direct your wisdom. But remember that once this happens. When you believe and you submit, you are reconciled unto God. There is peace now between you and your creator where there was once enmity. And when that happens, the coin flips, because again, as Paul talks about in Romans, you’re regenerated. Romans 12, do not conform to the norms of this world, but be transformed into who God knows you are. And when that happens, you are no longer friends with the world. We operate in the world, of course, obviously, this is a deep spiritual condition. This is not superficial behaviors. Oh, I’m a follower of God now, I’m going to go and behave extremely poorly like an enemy of everybody else who isn’t. No, we’re talking about your deep spiritual condition, your spiritual foundation. We’re talking about your, say it with me, identity. Now you are strong in who you are. Now you know who you are. And one of the greatest joys as a pastor is when you watch somebody come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, submit themselves, and then you get to help them walk with them, teach and watch this transformation. And where they are at once, we’re at war with themselves and their self image, or their egos, whatever their pitfalls were, whatever their stumbling blocks were, you see peace, you see an individual overcoming all of what they thought were obstacles that were in their way. All obstacles in my way, I just said, I can see clearly now, I see the light. It is a great joy. And then when you’re with that person, like, hey, you know, how you doing? There’s a function in the fellowship hall or we’re having a bonfire, maybe just talking after church and you’re in the presence of that person. And now you really sense something different. And you’re not the person that I met a few months ago, a year ago, whatever. You’re a child of God, and you are emanating that presence of God. It’s really cool. So what does it mean? Was Jesus Christ a peacemaker on that level? Absolutely. We know that. But let’s take a look at some of the behaviors and actions that when he teaches, when Jesus Christ begins his ministry, some of the first words out of his mouth are in the Beatitudes, Matthew 5, blessed are the peacemakers. For they will be called children of God. And again, we talk about that word blessed, and it’s a very difficult translation. It’s easy to say blessed. In the English, but the word is more encompassing than that. It means something along the lines of you are in the best. Spiritual condition to know the power of God. You’re in the best condition. When you are a peacemaker. What does that mean? You’ve submitted yourself. You’re in the best condition. To understand and know and be a peacemaker. Well, let’s look at the example of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ goes through his ministry and his ministry has ups and downs and there are times that people are gathered around absolutely cheering for him, so to speak. And there are times when people absolutely abandon him. Whether it is the Romans, John six. Do you guys want to go to know Lord? Where do you think we’re going to go? We’ve been following you for a long time now. You are the ones that have that has the words of eternal life. Or, and the very end when they all abandon him. Where is everybody else? We always talk about Peter. These Peter was hanging around. You see what I’m saying? At least Peter was hanging around where the other ones and he says before. This all happens. You will all abandoned me. So we see that he has great highs and great lows in his ministry. We see that there are times when he is moving through and souls are being converted and reconciled. Bodies are being healed. Spirits are being healed. Demons are being released. And it is extremely, but still think about that in the context of what we just talked about. The people that he is touching. Spiritually, physically, but ultimately spiritually, even though he may touch and lay hands on her paste in the eyes or whatever the case may be physically. All those are being reconciled were at war. They were enemies of Yahweh. And now he is showing them making that way for them to be at peace. So as he moves through and he heals a generation of people. Spiritually and physically, a generation of people, people keep coming to him. He can find no peace, if you will. We’re looking at all of that conflict that those people were in. Disappearing. Now, when we talk about our own conversions, we talk about that we just did. Believe in your heart that he was raised from the dead, profess with your mouth of Jesus Christ is Lord. You will be saved. You are saved in the power of the Holy Spirit comes upon you and dwells you. And now. You are at peace. Your rebellion has ended. You have ended that through him. Obviously, I do not want to be a rebel. I do not want to be an enemy of my Lord and Savior. Lord, I believe. So we see that there is a great deal of conflict that Jesus needs to go through in order to create ultimate peace, at least the pathway to peace through his ministry. It is one demon after another. It is one questioning Pharisee after another. It is one questioning Sadducee after another. They are his friends questioning him. It is almost constant conflict with the spiritual forces of evil. And it is almost constant conflict with the ego and the wrong thinking of man. So we see then ultimately he is in great conflict with the world, isn’t he? The world ends up torturing, beating, murdering him. Now, I put that in air quotes because we understand that this is the plan of God. And just as he tells pilot, you’re like, my life is not yours. To take, I am giving myself up willingly. But we witness that he knows he is going to have to jump right into that world and this is the way it has to happen because humankind is going to demonstrate its enmity toward God. It’s hatred. As Jesus Christ gives himself up as a sacrifice. When there is an animal sacrifice, the animal sacrifice is to be pure. It is to be spotless. No bones broken. Now we know that the prophecy of no bones broken is true. But you don’t whip and beat and scratch and bite and pull the hair out of your sheep before you killed it. But Lord Jesus Christ steps into that hatred. He steps into that conflict. And he willingly sacrifices himself so that a way may be made to end such conflict between God and man. So we see blessed are the peacemakers. Be careful what you pray for it, Lord. As I pray the Beatitudes, I want to be in the best condition. Right that word blessed. I want to be in the best spiritual condition to. Be a peacemaker. To understand my spiritual poverty. To walk in meekness, knowing that I have the power to destroy, but I choose to follow your will. I intentionally follow your will. All of those things. Be a peacemaker. You may have to endure the conflict in order to get to the peace. And we know that because we have the example in Jesus Christ. We have the example in Paul himself. We have the example in other apostles who moved out. Preaching the good news, the gospel of peace and stepping into the hatred in order to preach the gospel of peace. And paying the ultimate price for it, and you would think hate wins every time all I need to do is take a sword and cut your head off. No, that’s not the way the gospel works. The gospel of peace is way the light, if you will. Overcomes the darkness, even though there will always be individuals who sit in their darkness, because as we learn in scripture, people love the darkness. They love their wicked ways. They’re addicted to their sin. The gospel of peace will never be. Diminished in any way. Will never be squashed. The more pressure that comes down, the more the gospel goes out. It’s always been the case. But being a disciple of Christ and wanting others to be reconciled unto Christ, wanting to be a peacemaker, I see an individual who is not reconciled to Christ. I want them to find peace. I want to be a facilitator. I want to be a peacemaker in their lives. Going to probably have to go through some conflict when we do that as missionaries to people groups or to nations. You’re walking into the lion’s den, if you will. Right. You’re now operating. You’re now a forward operating base from the kingdom of God. And you’re going to have to go through a lot of conflict if you want to bring peace to the hearts of those who you long for. Families at the dinner table don’t talk religion or politics. Why not? Don’t you want to be about not going to touch the politics part? That’s whatever you. But don’t you want to be a peacemaker in their lives? Don’t come at me with all of that Christian B.S. Mom, dad, nephew, uncle. Can’t we just have a decent meal? Oh, yeah, you’re not going to sit there and just hound them and become a stumbling block to their faith. But do you continue to pray for them? Do you continue to lead by example? I said something very harsh last Thursday. And but it’s true. And like I told the folks at church down on Sunday, if you don’t want to hear truth, don’t come. Because we’re not going to coddle each other here. We’re going to open up the scriptures and find out what it means to be a disciple. I said this, you know, in a couple of weeks, we’re ending a 52 week series on Jesus Christ. The first week of January, we’re beginning a new 52 week series on Jesus Christ. If you don’t want to hear about Jesus Christ. And I think half the council said with me, then don’t come. Yes, that’s it. We preach Christ in him crucified. And I said something harsh on Thursday. I said the number one reason why regular churchgoers don’t go to church, particularly at Christmas and Easter, is because family is in town. You know, I’m believing family. I hope. Hey, here’s everything that you need for breakfast. But you know that we are Christians and we’re going to worship. Oh, my goodness. We would love for you to just come and hear the word. It’s a great place to be. Hang out. But instead of the light. Being more aggressive in the darkness, shall we say, the darkness. Says, no, you know, the person feels guilty for going to church or whatever the case may be. Harsh but true. Well, I don’t want them to think this of me. I don’t want them to think why the very power of God that raised Christ from the dead lives in you and you’re afraid. But they’re my son. They’re my daughter. They’re my I understand that. How much do you love them? How much do you want to bring peace to their hearts? And again, not to the point of being a stumbling block, you’re not standing there in your living room chair, preaching and throwing Bibles at your family until they absolutely hate you. But you are going to live the life of a Christian disciple in front of them. But but but what if they don’t come? But but but what if they say this? Get your big Christian butts out of the equation. Live the life of a disciple, live the life of a peacemaker. If you have peace. And things go sideways. Then you must go through that conflict in order to reestablish the peace. Being a peacemaker is a call to action. It’s not just the peace of God be upon me. Oh, I feel the peace of God is being a peacemaker is a call to action. And yes, it’s wonderful when I have a congregation full of believers and they’re nodding their heads and they’re being touched by the word of God and they’re being strengthened and edified. But man, is it also wonderful when I’m either in front of a. An audience that I have no idea, like at somebody’s funeral, I have no idea where people stand or I’m in one on one conversation with somebody who is not a believer. That’s wonderful. Because as a disciple, I’m called to be a peacemaker. I want to bring peace between them and their creator. So you’re picking up what I’m putting down today. It is an encouragement, because even though he calls us to be peacemakers, even though he calls us into action. Yes, even though he calls us knowing it will be conflict to be at peace with God is to be an enemy of the world. He has given us everything that we need is his disciples to do what he wills us to do, whether it be in front of a large audience, whether it be in a one on one conversation, whether it be as a missionary to another people, group or nation. Whether it be simply as the example in your family of a Christian disciple. Be a peacemaker. That’s the message for today. Thursday will probably get into something else if you have an idea. I love hearing your ideas message me. Feeling better. Last week, I think I was on fire because of the prednisone I was on that stuff makes you go. But I’m on fire now because the Christian Church has this idea that we build these walls and live in a bunker. The Christian Church is not a bunker. It is a warship. War ship. It is a battle ship. It is a forward operating base in the kingdom of God. We are called to action. All of that language is in scripture. Why do you think it’s there? The armor of God, the offensive weapons that are given to us and the defensive weapons that are given to us. Why do you think Jesus says the gates of hell will not prevail against the kingdom of God pressing in? That is action. That’s not the gates of hell beating on the kingdom. That’s the kingdom beating on the gates of hell and the gates of hell will not prevail because there will come a day when all evil will be vanquished from the earth. The gates of hell will break. And the kingdom of God will be fully established. Amen. That’s what we hope for. Hope. Peace. This week we’re going to talk about joy. And then love. Father, we do pray that your word. Penetrates the hearts and minds of all who hear it. You may be hearing it live right now. Maybe hearing it on the podcast. Maybe hearing it, watching the video on YouTube. Wherever this word goes, whenever this word goes, it may be months from now. But we pray that your word will, as it always does, because it is the divinely inspired infallible word of God. It is the living word of God empowered by your Holy Spirit to change hearts and minds. We pray that hearts and minds will be changed in Jesus name. Amen. Speaking of that, hey, go to the podcast. You know, like it, rate it, do whatever. Go to the YouTube channel. Look it up. Church Town Church. At Church Town Church. And look at the videos and like them and stuff and share them. That way the word will go out to more than just our turning on the lights community. That is when the algorithms say, “Whoa, people are watching this. Whoa, people are listening to this. Whoa, people are sharing this.” Maybe more people want to hear it. That’s how they work. And I can tell you what, even though in my feed, on my socials, it’s Christian stuff. Now, like I said, I run the gamut on Christian stuff because I want to know what’s out there in Christendom. I want to know what’s out there in Christian culture. But still Christian stuff. But Facebook, Instagram, whatever, they know I’m a guy. I get the same kind of garbage. That garbage is being presented for a reason. Because other guys around the globe are pressing those buttons. “Oh, let me see that girl. Let me do this.” That’s why I get it. Same as I get Christian stuff, good Christian stuff as well because people like it and they share it. And I get to learn something that day because it pops up. There’s a lot of good stuff out there. So God bless you. Good Lord willing and the river don’t rise. We will see you Thursday morning. And Facebook works. I don’t know when. It might be 8.20. It might be 8.25. It might be 8.30. I don’t know. But lately I’ve been having to try three or four times before the broadcast goes live. I’ll try to get start earlier and get on time. God bless you and we’ll see you Thursday morning for Turning on the Lights.
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