The Gift of Peace

by Pastor Bob Rasmussen

The season of Christmas is upon us! If you are looking for a gift for our church, we do welcome online gifts. I do this once a quarter as a reminder that you can go to our website, www.janesvilleapostolicministries.org and on the right and down just a little, you will see an orange button called Givelify.

It takes you to another page where you can choose a set amount or you can choose “other”. It could be $5 or $5000 – whatever your heart would cheerfully give to support this ministry.

Now, I know things can be very busy

Family
Friends
Work

Things can be very stressful and expensive

Bills
Expense of gifts

Expense of entertaining – Jeff has twenty something at His Christmas and many of us have double digits as well
Things can be a little difficult emotionally
The absence of those we have lost
The first holiday missing someone is something that is never easy
Or sometimes, it can be loneliness – not having anyone around us – when it seems that everyone else does
It can be difficult and can cause depression and desperation

But during this time, we can have some peace in the season. That is my prayer this morning, that we are reminded of the peace that we have with Jesus

When Adam and Eve did what they did, it caused a break in the relationship between mankind and God. We did not even make it out of the book of Genesis. And what did God say to the enemy, the serpent?

Genesis 3:14 And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: 15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

Many scholars say that this is the first messianic prophecy of the bible, meaning that Jesus would be coming. And we see many scriptures that speak of the promises of a Messiah, a Savior. My favorite is this one.

Isaiah 9:6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

That word “peace” comes from the Hebrew word say-lome and it means completion and fulfillment and it can also refer to entering in a state of wholeness, unity, and a restored relationship.

A restored relationship between God and His people, hallelujah.

Another prophecy is Isahiah.

Isaiah 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

Immanuel, which is God with us. Thank you, Lord!

And when God is with us, when we have received Him as our Lord and Savior, what is the consequence of that?

Galations 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

And the peace the Word is talking about is a peace that passes all understanding.

Philipians 4:6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. 7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

There is no Christmas in the bible, that is true. But there was a birth some 2000 years ago. It was not “just another baby” is a message Pastor Jeff has done, it was something that generation after generation after generation had been praying and hoping for.

Ever since the fall with Adam and Eve, there was something missing in the relationship between God and man.

Luke 2:8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. 10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. 12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, 14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

How amazing is that? An angelic army declaring that there is now this peace offering in the world, that the Lamb of God that would take away the sins of the world – so that there would be peace between man and God.

There may be some who listen this morning that may not know or may need to be reminded that there was a separation, there was a divide, between God and mankind because of that original sin that was passed down generation after generation. It was a broken relationship

Sin was that wall between man and God. But in this moment of scripture, we hear the angels declaring that the solution for what had existed for way too long was now in the world.

God’s peace offering was Jesus. God’s solution to get back to the relationship was now going to be on the earth. So that man, and woman, could walk again with God.

I need to remember that – that in the old testament, people could not be in the presence of God – and it was not God that would kill them, it was their sin in the face of His righteousness. But now, with the birth of Christ Jesus, not only can we walk boldly into the presence of God, His Holy Spirit can live within us, hallelujah and amen

Peace with God is where real peace begins, amen? Without peace with God, there can be no real peace, amen?

There are some weeks, at least for me, that are less peaceful than others, amen. That’s life. Jesus told us life would be like that. But when I am going through turbulent times, sometimes that word of God can just help bring peace into the situation, amen?

One of those verses is found in Romans Chapter 5.

Romans 5:5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. 6 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.

And the moment you get that it is God saying these things and you can believe this is coming from God himself. You can have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ has done, not based on your good works, not based on your perfect obedience, and not because you’re worthy. But because of Jesus

How many times does the devil get up in our head that you’re not good enough? Look what you just did. You just failed again. All these reasons are why we’re back at enemies with God, and yet here the Bible just reminds you that you have peace with God.

And I love that it says that we have been made right in God’s sight. Not one day you’ll be made right. Not one day when you get to heaven, you’ll be made right. But you have been positioned into right, standing with God. So you can talk to him, today, you can hear from him, today.

He can get involved in your home, and all of the goodness that God is, he can bring that into your home because you are in right Standing, not one day in the sweet by and by, but you’re in right, standing with God in the here and now.

In this life, there are struggles, there is pain, there is death. But with the peace of God the Word of God becomes so alive and fresh with that understanding.

Psalm 23 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. 3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. 4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. 5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. 6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

Because of what our Lord Jesus Christ has done, because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege, where we now stand. You can go and talk to the God of the Universe. You can go and receive the mind of Christ when you have questions and you need answers.

His name shall be called what? Counsellor! Are there things going on and you do not know what to do? Well, I know a guy, and He already paid the price, so you can go to Him anytime with whatever issue you might have so that you can have peace. Just ask Jesus. He is our Counsellor!

The undeserved privilege to be able to carry the power of God, the same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead dwells in you and in me. That resurrected power runs in our veins too!

But here is the thing with this peace with God, you have to receive that gift – it is not an automatic thing. We quote this scripture a lot. We believe in this scripture and we do not do that out of repetition or carelessness, it is intentional.

In this season of gift giving, the greatest gift that you can receive is Jesus in your life. It’s not the latest game, or phone, or piece of jewelry, it is God Himself.

Acts 2:37 Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?

38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. 39 For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.

When you haven’t asked Jesus Christ to be your Lord and savior, you don’t have peace with God. You have to receive it through faith, repentance, baptism, and the filling of the Holy Ghost

God doesn’t want to be your enemy. God doesn’t want you at odds with him, and he’s created a peace pathway, a peace offering to bring you into a place closer to him than you could possibly imagine. So that we can have access to him, so that you can have peace in this world.

And peace about what’s coming after this world when our physical bodies pass on.

John 14 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

And jumping to verse 6

6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Will you receive that gift of peace? Some of us think our dark pasts are so dark that there is no point. We think that because of some of the things we have done, we can never have this gift of peace, of love, of Jesus. My friends, not a single one of us has ever been good enough and it is time to stop disqualifying yourself from the family of God. Especially when we receive that declaration from His Word

Luke 2:10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

That scripture does not say, I bring you tidings of great joy, just for the McClain Family, or I bring great tidings of joy only for the Lyle family. It says “which shall be to all people”.

Colossians 1:19 For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell; 20 And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. 21 And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled 22 In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:

Yes, before Jesus, there was no hope. Before the birth there was separation. Not just for you, but for me and everyone that can hear this message. But with the birth of Christ, because of His sinless life, through His death, and praise God, through His resurrection, things were made for a new life with God – amen!

God with us! God is not against us! The greatest gift and the true meaning of this holiday season, amen?

The peace that comes is not just a paycheck, a job, or food on the table – I am grateful for all of that. But it’s the fact that God is with you in the middle of whatever it is you’re going through. There may be people that oppose you tomorrow, but it doesn’t matter that they oppose you tomorrow because of Immanuel, God is with us.

God is with you and he’s with you not based on your perfection, it is based on the perfection of Jesus – because he promised he’d be with you because you put your faith in Him.

Immanuel? God is with me, not God will be with me, not God was with me. God IS with us, God is with us. This week it really blessed me, thinking about the idea of Immanuel, because I thought about the times that God has been with me, and times that I have been struggling.

Hebrews 13:5 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. 6 So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.

Thank you Lord for being with each and everyone of us. Let us remember the peace that was paid for with such a high price. You know, there is one more area where peace is important as well, and sometimes it is one of the most difficult. And oftentimes it kind of rears it’s ugly head during the holiday season.

Now let me say I am preaching more to myself on this next part, but maybe you may need to hear it too. We can have peace with God, and we can have peace within ourselves because of God, amen?

But with family and friends, sometimes at this time of year there are things that have happened, things that were said, things that were done and we are carrying unforgiveness in our hearts. That does not create a very peaceful environment, does it.

Forgiveness is one of those things that we love about God, and it washes us clean and we feel all of that relief. But when God tells us to forgive – nope, that’s too hard.Nope, what they did was so bad, how can I forgive them!

Matthew 6:14 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: 15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Colossians 3:12 Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; 13 Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. 14 And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. 15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.

Friends, this may be one of the hardest things that we have to do. But with Immanuel, God with us, He can help us reveal who we need to forgive and how to forgive. And it can be hard. Some people may not receive it. I have experienced that in my life. I have tried to make the most sincere, deepest apology I could , and it was rejected – but there was a peace that came over me knowing that I did what I could.

However, their unforgiveness is not my issue if I have done all I can do, amen?

And I have also forgiven some people, but I was not able to reconcile the relationship. But the important thing for me is I did what Jesus wanted.

When I was struggling to forgive someone at one point in my life because I thought what they had done was unforgivable, I remember I was reading the Word, and I was in Matthew 18. If you are not familiar, I will kindly summarize it for you. Jesus has just said you have to forgive not 7 times, but 70 times 7 – and I was like really Lord, are you kidding me.

And then Jesus speaks a parable in Matthew 18 of how a King wanted to settle some accounts. There is one brought to him that owed 10,000 talents. Looking at various resources 10,000 talents is anywhere from 10 million to 225 million now – regardless, it is a huge sum.

The slave falls to his knees and begs for forgiveness of that debt, and the king lets him go and forgives his debt. The slave goes free and then finds a guy that owes him 100 denarri (which is about $7,000 by some accounts), a pittance of his debt that was forgiven, and that slave begged him like the man that was freed, but now he has no mercy to forgive and has him thrown in prison. The King finds out and what happens?

Matthew 18:32 Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me: 33 Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee? 34 And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. 35 So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.

Ouch! That scripture hit me like a punch in the stomach, but I love that Jesus lets us know what he wants from us and we can discern it from His word, amen. With the Holy Spirit that is living in us, it makes us want to be better and to change and be more like Him, amen? Forgiveness brings peace – what better gift to give this holiday season, amen?

And let me say this – I am saying I need to forgive, but I do not need to forgive and get back into that abusive relationship. I can forgive, but I can be strong enough not to be put into that situation where someone will definitely need forgiveness again.

Believe me when I say that I know some people who will use that to continue their bad behavior. We have to have boundaries with some folks, and other folks I can forgive them and honestly – I can forget them.

I don’t need toxicity in my life. I don’t need witchcraft or any of that evil stuff. No where in the bible, to my knowledge, does it say in the bible forgive and let yourself be abused, coerced, spiritually or emotionally damaged. It is the opposite.

2 Corinthians 6:14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? 15 And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? 16 And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you. 18 And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

“It’s a good and healthy thing to draw the line between forgiveness and abuse. While we are commanded to forgive others of all sins against us, we are not commanded to remain in abusive relationships. To the extent that forgiveness allows us to stay, for the sake of the other person, then we ought to. Maybe through our patience and apparent love for them the other person will repent and clean up their act. However, if all else fails, then do as God allows you to – separate.” Ed Collins

Wow Bob, that took a little bit of a dark turn. Yes, it did. Last week, if you remember, I asked for testimonies.

My wife Diana responded and hers is now on the website. Thank you, baby! Thank you Pastor Jeff, Jeffery and Kim for yours as well.

It reminded me of when I first met Diana and some of the things she was going through, but the most powerful thing is, her testimony is about what God has done in her life, amen? How God has healed her, how God has encouraged her, how God has blessed her. How she has found peace. Where she had victory over darkness. All glory to Jesus!

And I know that she is not the only woman to have been through some things, and I think it is important that we bring these things up and talk about them. There may be someone watching this morning and hearing these words – and hopefully they have been encouraging and challenging. But maybe you need some help or encouragement.

And we have, unfortunately, several women in this church that have been through some stuff that can help. Sometimes you need to get help from someone who has been through it, amen?

If that is you, you can send an email to jamjanesville@gmail.com or we have a contact us page on our website. We will do whatever we can to assist. You are not alone.

God is greater. He is a healer. He will restore. He will help you overcome it. You are the desire of His heart, and He loves you. He can give you that peace that you are so desperate for, like no one else can, amen? He can give you peace from your past. He can give you peace in the present. And He can give you peace for a future.

As you go through this week, take the peace of Jesus and let us be cognizant of those around us – let us look for those opportunities to pray and encourage people.

Let the forgiveness in our hearts create a new opportunity for peace.

The altar open