12/10/2023 Church service

周日礼拜

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Advent Week 2 - PEACE
Romans 5:1,2
“We’ve got work to do to put right what has gone wrong, to heal what is broken, to mend the relationships, and to prepare for the company that will come.”
- Advent Week Two Liturgy.

peace: freedom from disturbance; tranquility. wholeness. shalom

Augustine: “Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee.”
without peace our souls cannot rest

“Storm in My Heart” - Colin Hay
I used to wonder As I lie on my bed
Can I hear thunder Or am I confused By what lies ahead?
And I got Storm in my heart Tearing me apart Storm in my heart

“Have you made your peace with God?”

We need God’s peace in our lives (all else is less than adequate)
“Be anxious for nothing…”

We try to find peace – and we may use all types of resources to achieve that, and still find ourselves coming up short

Rom 5:1 – “Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.”

This peace is “because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.”

That sounds like Grace to me

Eph 2:8 - For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift

…and yet – when we find ourselves seemingly far away from God (something of our own doing) there are things we can do to help us get back to the father and find that peace again.

“Make every effort”
2 Peter 1: make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.

So (NOW) let us not forget – instead, let us remember our so great a salvation – and in so doing, live in God’s Peace.

“Our faith in Jesus transfers God’s righteousness to us and He now declares us flawless in his eyes. This means we can now enjoy true and lasting peace with God, all because of what our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One, has done for us.”

Practical Christianity
Church in Santa Rosa Beach
People come to church for real help – for real answers

? So, what should we do to re-establish the Divine Peace that is ours through Jesus?

Jesus taught that we “should always pray and never give up.”

1 Thess 5:17 – “Pray without ceasing”
TPT: “Make your life a prayer.”

Twice in my young adult life (in my twenties) I had seriously heavy time when I felt far away from God and sought the support and advice of Christian brothers that I knew and respected.

Both times, their advice was to PRAY.

Not fancy prays, but open-hearted honestly with God.
To just wait in His Presence and listen.
That is actually good advice for ALL of us today.

Not a deep theological prayer, but an open-hearted approach to the throne of Grace

We are saved by grace through faith and that is how we always should come to Him


Phil 4:6: Don't worry about anything, but in all your prayers ask God for what you need, always asking Him with a thankful heart.

AMP: Do not be anxious or worried about anything, but in everything [every circumstance and situation] by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, continue to make your [specific] requests known to God.

(by faith – trusting in God’s grace) Rest in His love. Rest in His Presence.

James 4:8 -Move your heart closer and closer to God, and he will come even closer to you.
Clean up your lives, you sinners, and clear your minds, you doubters.
(double-minded)

2 Peter 1: 2: May God give you more and more grace and peace as you grow in your knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord.

Single-mindedness is Peace

We must have faith in the completed work of the cross.

Only Jesus can speak to the storm in your heart and say, “Peace Be Still.”

So – what are we putting our faith in?

Romans 4 tells us: Now when someone “works,” the “reward” they get is not calculated on the basis of generosity, but on the basis of what they are owed. But if someone doesn’t “work,” but simply believes in the one who declares the ungodly to be in the right, that person’s faith is calculated in their favor, putting them in the right.

It goes on to say: “David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the one to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:
‘Blessed are those whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.
Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord will never count against them.’”

Heb 11:6 - And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

Only by salvation through the cross – through Jesus Christ – can we have peace.

Without that confidence, each and every day can be a struggle.
Without this assurance, our heart is not fixed.

If we are double-minded, we cannot live in this Divine Peace.

“A double-minded man is unstable”

? Are we saved one day and lost the next?

? Have you made peace with God?

You must come to the conclusion of the matter.

By faith, you have to believe, receive and let the truth be established in you.

Romans 8:1,2: Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

If you are seeking a refuge from the storm

If you are seeking peace today, there is only one true answer.

His name is Jesus.

Our answer (to the storm) is a new heart.

Eph 4:24: “ …take on an entirely new way of life—a God-fashioned life, a life renewed from the inside and working itself into your conduct as God accurately reproduces his character in you.”

You can take that step of faith TODAY.

Rom 5:1 – “Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.”

This peace is “because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.”

Hillside United Methodist Church
3739 US 80
Phenix City  AL  36870
United States
Pastor: Mike J Koger

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