All I Want For Christmas, Week 2: Peace

(Luke 2:9-11)(NLT) Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people.     (Luke 2:12)(NLT) The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.”   (Luke 2:13-14)(NLT) Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying, “Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.”   Jesus didn’t come to bring peace on earth, He came to the earth to bring peace.    (John 14:27) (NLT) “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.   (Psalm 120:6-7)(NIV) Too long have I lived among those who hate peace. I am for peace; but when I speak, they are for war.   Losing Peace:   ·      Distance.   ·      Walls.   ·      Escalation.   ·      False belief.     ·      Hostility.   Hostility isn’t the emotions you are feeling toward the other person, it’s actually revealing the condition of your heart.    ·      War. 
   (James 3:14)(NIV) “But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth.   (James 3:15-16)(NIV) Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.   (Ephesians 2:12) (TLB) “Remember that in those days you were living utterly apart from Christ; …You were lost, without God, without hope.   (Ephesians 2:13) (TLB) But now you belong to Christ Jesus, and though you once were far away from God, now you have been brought very near to him because of what Jesus Christ has done for you with his blood.    (Ephesians 2:14) (NIV) For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility,        Pursuing Peace   1. I’ll find peace when I make peace.   (James 3:17–18) (NIV) “But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness.”     (Matthew 5:9) (NLT) “God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God.   2. I make peace through reconciliation.   (1 Corinthians 13:5) (NLT) …Love, …keeps no record of being wronged.   (2 Corinthians 5:18) (NIV)  “All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting menʼs sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christʼs ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christʼs behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”   3. I can’t reconcile until I’ve been reconciled.   (Romans 5:10) (NIV) For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!   (Proverbs 16:7) (NKJV) When a man’s ways please the Lord, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.   (Romans 8:31) (NIV) If God is for us, who can be against us?