Perfect Peace | Sunday, November 30, 2025

Amen. Praise the Lord. Thank you, Anthony and team. Good morning, Cross Connection. It is so good to see you all here. You can have a seat if you would.

Man, it is quite a trip to already be singing Christmas songs, but time goes by way too quickly. Here we are at what I think is the most wonderful time of the year. I hope that you agree. As the Christmas season has now fully come upon us, we are shifting gears here at Cross Connection Church to prepare our hearts for the celebration of Christmas by revisiting some important themes. We do this every single year at our church. We take some time to think about themes that Christians and the church have been focusing on during this time of year for centuries.

This time of year has traditionally been referred to as Advent. Advent comes from the Latin word "Adventus," which means a coming, an approach, and an arrival. Of course, we are coming close to the remembrance and celebration of the arrival of the King of Kings when Jesus arrived 2,000 years ago as the little baby in Bethlehem.

I know almost every single year someone will reliably inform me that we are not sure Jesus was born on December 25th. You are right. If you are that person who is going to come and let me know, we don't know that for sure. However, it is a good time for us to remember, especially since it is close to the longest dark day of the year, near the solstice.

I know there will be someone who will tell me, "Well, don't you know this was a pagan holiday?" You know what? We now own it. We took it over on purpose. This is what we do, right? It is good to remember that at a time of the year when darkness is the longest, the light came into the world. That is what we are celebrating and remembering.

It is a good time to refocus. The four Sundays leading up to Christmas have been referred to as Advent during this whole period of time. A lot of times, the church will focus on various themes, especially within the Protestant church. We will focus on themes like the fullness of joy, which we are going to talk about, the arrival of the abundance of hope, and the fullness of love that comes as well. Because when we celebrate the arrival of Jesus, we are not only celebrating the fact that a little baby child was born in Bethlehem.

Two thousand years ago, we celebrated what His birth means and what His birth brings. The fullness of joy, the abundance of love, and the arrival of hope are all themes that the church has contemplated and discussed for a long time. We return to these same themes every year during Advent, even though it may seem repetitive. If you've been a part of Cross Connection Church for any length of time, you will hear some things that you have probably heard before. This is by design.

Peter, in one of his New Testament letters, said, "It is good that I stir you up by reminding you. I will not be negligent as long as I am in this tent." He emphasizes that in this body, he will do the work of reminding us of these things. Therefore, we will be talking about the fullness of joy, the abundance of love, and the arrival of hope.

Today, we will focus on the first of these four themes. Point number one, if you're taking notes: the birth of Christ brings the blessing of peace. I believe this is an important topic to discuss every Christmas season, which is why I take the time to talk about something I have shared many times before and expect to share many times in the future. The coming of Christ, or the birth of Christ, brings the blessing of peace.

I am convinced that this subject is crucial because we live in an anxiety-producing culture, and anxiety seems to be at an all-time high. A lot of research has been conducted to determine the causes of this phenomenon, and we have seen a significant change over the last 15 years. Many points indicate that this change is related to the arrival of the smartphone.

One reason for this is that, back in the days of flip phones, when the workday ended, you probably didn’t know much about what was happening at work until you returned to your computer and checked your email the next morning. Now, you are notified instantly by text messages and emails. If you don’t check your email, you might receive a text message saying, "Did you check your email? I sent you an email five minutes ago. You need to check this."

I apologize if you have emailed me; I have been terrible at responding to emails for the last year, somewhat on purpose. In fact, someone asked me yesterday, "Hey, did you get my email? You didn’t open it." And I was like, "Oh my gosh, now..."

They know I didn't open the email. I said, "I'm really sorry. I've been kind of bad at email lately." Part of it is that we feel like we're incessantly on call. More than that, we are notified about things that are happening half a world away constantly. It wasn't very long ago that if some terrible thing happened in another country or even another state, you didn't really know about it so much. But now you know instantly about what would be considered a relatively small thing. As a result of constantly having these things given to us, we find ourselves experiencing anxiety.

Since 2009, I have had the privilege of serving with the fire department here in Escondido as a chaplain. As part of that, I went through a lot of training on cumulative stress and post-traumatic stress early on to be able to provide peer support and chaplain support for the fire department. One of the things you see with people who are in law enforcement, emergency medical services, or even those who work in the ER or the ICU is that they experience secondhand trauma from the things they see other people go through. The cumulative stress of that over time affects you in a big way.

We know that there are actual physiological responses to this as well. When you are in a traumatic situation, your body releases hormones, notably cortisol. That cortisol in your system has a lot of devastating effects on the arterial walls of your circulatory system and on your digestive tract, among other things. We see people in our culture being affected by this, not just those in emergency medical services, law enforcement, or healthcare in high-stress situations, but also by the mere fact that you are affected by the secondhand trauma you receive through news media or social media on a regular basis. These things affect us.

It's no wonder that we live during a time of heightened anxiety and stress. We see it across our culture, from very young children to senior adults. People are experiencing this incessantly. One of the sad realities is that you may not realize this, but the content you receive, both in the form of the news feed in your news apps and in the social media feeds, is influenced by advanced machine learning. These companies have been using algorithms for decades to figure out the right things to keep you attached to those platforms.

Instagram, Google News, and similar platforms have a common product: you. They sell your attention to advertisers and generate revenue through advertising. To keep your eyes locked in, their algorithms, which are computer systems trained on human psychology, have discovered that the number one thing that keeps people attached to social media is anger and outrage. If they can keep you angry and outraged, they can maintain your engagement.

A well-known cognitive psychologist from New York University, Jonathan Haidt, has conducted extensive research on this topic. He found that outrage and anger are significant factors in keeping people engaged. We often wonder why so many individuals are on edge, outraged, and angered, and much of it can be attributed to social media.

When we discuss the need for peace, I believe there is not a single person, whether Christian or not, who does not recognize within themselves a desire for peace. The birth of Christ brings the blessing of peace. When I talk about peace, especially during Christmas time, I like to remind you that the peace described in the Bible is far superior to the peace of this world.

The peace of this world is good, but it typically refers to the cessation of hostility and the end of conflict. We often seek a ceasefire or at least a reprieve from hostility, but we recognize that such peace is momentary. We are grateful for these brief pauses in conflict, yet we understand that peace accords, treaties, and plans we have witnessed throughout our lives—whether we are older or younger—are often temporary.

When I mention peace, many immediately think of the Middle East, where we have seen numerous peace agreements. Recently, within the last two months, there was another ceasefire agreement, but we know these arrangements are always provisional. They do not last forever and are often partial. While we are thankful for these moments of peace, we have seen the headlines and the outcomes of various accords, such as the Oslo Accords and the Camp David Accords, and we understand their limitations.

Sort of things that are happening include the Abraham Accords. You can go down the list of all these different things. They are provisional and temporary; they don't last forever, and they are partial. They don't cover everything.

We are thankful for what's happened recently between Gaza and Israel, and we hope that it extends. We are also hopeful that we might be able to see a similar thing happen in Ukraine after several years of war there. Additionally, we are prayerful that we could see the same thing happen in Nigeria. There are many other places in the world where we are praying for and hoping for peace.

However, every one of these peace agreements that the world offers, where there is a cessation of violence, is provisional and partial. The peace that the Bible talks about, which we are introduced to in the Scriptures, is so much greater than just the cessation of hostility. One of the best descriptions of it comes from a theologian and philosopher by the name of Cornelius Plantinga. He wrote a book a number of years ago called Not the Way It's Supposed to Be.

In the early pages of his book, when he discusses peace, he notes that in Hebrew, the word for peace is "shalom." He explains that in the Bible, shalom means universal flourishing, wholeness, and delight. It is a rich state of affairs in which natural needs are satisfied and natural gifts are fruitfully employed. It is a state of affairs that inspires joyful wonder as its Creator and Savior opens the doors and welcomes the creatures in whom He delights.

Shalom, in other words, is the way things ought to be. Every person, whether they go to church or not, looks at the world and says, "Things are not as they ought to be." I guarantee you will probably have conversations this week with people who will complain about something. You can likely picture a person in your mind, thinking, "Oh yeah, I'm going to have that conversation, and they're going to complain about the same thing they always do."

You might find yourself looking for an exit, thinking, "How do I get out of this conversation?" Here’s what I want to encourage you to do: encourage their complaining. You might be surprised. Say something like, "Yeah, it's terrible, isn't it? Yes, it's so bad. Oh, it's horrible. If only there were an answer for it." Just plant a seed there. You can say, "I think there is an answer for it because things are not as they ought to be." We all recognize that things are not as they ought to be in every aspect of life.

We look at the world as it is. We see the brokenness that exists and realize that this is not the way it is meant to be. Shalom, or peace, as the Bible describes it, is more than just the end of hostilities, though it includes that. It is more than just the dissolution of enmity. Shalom is the way things are supposed to be, what every heart longs for. The birth of Christ brings the blessing of peace because Jesus is the Prince of Peace.

This concept comes from one of the most well-known Christmas passages. You will likely see it on a Christmas card or two this season. If you have your Bible, you can open it to about the middle, where you will find the Psalms. Then, start turning to the right until you find the big book of Isaiah. Isaiah is a long book with 66 chapters. Turn to Isaiah chapter 9, verses 6 and 7. Even if you've never read the book of Isaiah, you have probably encountered this verse. As I mentioned, over the next several weeks, these two verses might appear in some of your Christmas cards.

The prophet Isaiah, 700 years before Jesus arrived on the scene, predicts His coming. He says, "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given." This is in the context of the people of Israel going through a very dark period, looking for hope and light to come into the darkness. That is the context of the opening five verses of Isaiah chapter 9 that lead up to this prophecy. Isaiah declares that hope is coming, greater than any hope the world could offer.

He explains how this hope will arrive: a child will show up. "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given." When He comes, He will usher in a new kingdom. The government shall be on His shoulder, and His name will be called—not just specific names, but names that reflect His nature. What is the nature of this child, this son who will come and bring this kingdom? His nature is that of a Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace. That is the very nature of Jesus; He is the Prince of Peace.

Of the increase of His government and peace, there will be no end. He will sit upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order and establish it with judgment and justice from this time forward, even forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will

Hosts will perform this. He is the Prince of Peace. The peace that the world gives is provisional and partial, but the peace that Jesus brings is increasing forever, increasing and everlasting. Who does not want a peace like that? It's not just a temporary reprieve from violence; it is an enduring peace that is increasing with no end.

Notice it says when He brings His kingdom, He will order and establish it with judgment and justice. Our culture is so longing for these things. I know that in the last 20 years or so, the idea of justice, especially the concept of social justice, has been infected or twisted in such a way that people get spun up on this whole idea. But understand this: the idea of justice is a very Christian concept. The concept of social justice actually came from a Baptist theologian in the 19th century.

I know the term "social justice" or even just the term "justice" kind of freaks some people out today because it's connected with things that are woke. But here, understand this. How many of you are bothered that there seem to be unequal balances of justice in our culture? Some people seem to get away with things that they should not get away with, while others do not. How many of you are bothered by that? You have a problem with injustice. We do. That's not a bad thing. God, who made you, made you in His image, and He is perfectly just. He has imprinted His desire for justice upon you.

So, you say that's just wrong when someone seems to get away with something that they should not get away with. I spent some time with seven firefighters and four cops the other night because there was a hit-and-run accident that resulted in the death of an 11-year-old kid in our town. They were on the call, and what were they upset about? It was a hit-and-run. The guy got away, and they hadn't found him yet. They were angry. They want justice, and that's what we want. We want justice. He will order and establish His kingdom with judgment and justice. What heart doesn't want that? A lot of our anxiety and our lack of peace comes from the fact...

We see a world that seems to be unjust. However, God promises that He will bring a government of peace that brings justice, which will increase and be everlasting.

Point number two, if you're taking notes: the peace that Christ brings is everlasting and increasing. This is a simple point, and you've heard it here before. If you've come here during our Christmas season over the last several years, I will keep reiterating this point until the Lord says, "No, I don't want you to be a pastor of this church any longer." Whenever that comes, I will continue to share this truth because we need to hear it, and you and I need to be reminded of it. Our Prince of Peace, our King of Kings, has dispatched you and me to be His ambassadors, carrying peace into this world.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, "Blessed are the peacemakers." He has called you and me to be peacemakers. That can be tough, especially during the holiday season when you may find yourself around people who rob you of your peace. Maybe it's a family member or a family friend you only see during the holidays, and they disrupt your peace. God wants you to be a peacemaker. You may need to pray, "God, give me Your peace. Help me to be an ambassador of peace in this situation."

The peace that Christ brings is the peace we desire—not just as Christians, but for non-Christians alike. It is the peace that we need, especially because we live in a world affected by the fall. Through one man, sin entered the world, and death through sin. Death has spread to all humanity, bringing hostility, wickedness, evil, division, and death that we see on a regular basis, fed to us through notifications. All those horrible things are the result of the fall, and the Prince of Peace came to deal with those issues.

We should never be okay with wickedness and evil. May it never be that we reach a point where we simply accept that this is just the way things are. No, it is not the way things ought to be. This is a real challenge because we are living in a moment in our culture where people are twisting things, calling evil good and good evil.

Evil. In Isaiah chapter 5, it says, "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter." When he says "woe," the idea of that word, the actual Hebrew is "oi." It's a term of exasperation, but it's also connected with the idea that judgment is coming.

When you find yourself in a culture that calls evil good and good evil, and we are living in a culture like that right now, it is a challenge. We should never be okay with it, and we should never capitulate to it by simply saying, "Well, I guess it's just the way things are." No, it's not the way things ought to be. When we feel that this is not how things should be, we are yearning for, calling for, praying for, and desiring the coming of the Prince of Peace. His arrival means the arrival of peace.

And how does this peace come? It comes by His grace. Grace and peace are linked together constantly, especially in the New Testament. In fact, probably the most connected word to grace in the New Testament is the word peace. We see it 17 times in the New Testament letters from both Paul, Peter, and John.

Paul opens all of his letters almost identically. Let me show you. In Romans chapter 1, verse 7, it says, "To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." In 1 Corinthians 1:3, it states, "Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." In 2 Corinthians 1:2, it again says, "Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."

Do you see a rhythm? In Galatians 1:3, it repeats, "Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." It's the same in Ephesians 1, Philippians 1, Colossians 1, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Titus. Even Peter and John pick up on this as well. The most closely linked word to grace is peace. God has given us the gift of His grace, and connected with that is peace.

When we celebrate Christmas, we are refocusing on the grace and peace of Christ, rejoicing in God's gracious gift of peace in Jesus Christ. Point number three: in and by Christ, we are blessed with peace from God.

Resulting in peace with God and one another, through one man, sin entered the world, and death through sin. Death has spread to all humanity. Because of sin, we are separated from God; we are in enmity with Him, in hostility against Him. We are also divided from one another, estranged and separated.

Jesus comes to this world in His first coming to restore us back to God and one another. He has the ministry of reconciliation, as beautifully pictured for us in Ephesians chapter 2. In Ephesians 2:8, it says, "For by grace are you saved through faith, that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God ordained beforehand that we should walk in them."

Then, four verses later, Paul says in Ephesians 2:14, "For He Himself, Jesus, is our peace." He doesn't just do peaceful things or bring peace to the party; He is, by nature, the Prince of Peace. He is our peace who has made both one and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity that is the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace.

We were separated from one another by sin, going all the way back to Genesis chapter 3. All the hostility, all the tribal warfare, all the conflict, and all the family feuding that you see in our time or throughout all of history goes back to sin. Jesus comes to restore warring parties and reconcile them back together once again as one in Christ Jesus.

Look around this room. This is the body of Christ. You are one in Christ Jesus, and you have been united together with people that you probably would never have associated with apart from Jesus. Ten years ago, fifteen years ago, they were the kind of people you would have thought, "I'm going to cross to the other side of the street," because that guy's a Dodger fan. Just look at his microphone over there. But in Christ, He breaks down the middle wall of partition.

And that he might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross. He joins us together as one in Christ and then restores us in relationship to God the Father. How? By the cross. Where was the peace treaty signed? On the cross at Calvary. The last words he cried were, "It is finished." We were reconciled to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. He came and preached peace to you who were far off and to those who were near. For through him, we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.

Some of you remember very clearly what it was like to be far off from God, without hope in this world, alienated from the covenants and promises of God. He came and preached peace to you who were far off. He is our peace, the Prince of Peace. By him, we have peace with God, and through him, we have peace with one another through his finished work on the cross.

In Romans 5, Paul says, "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we also have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God." We are saved by grace through faith. Through that grace, we are also given peace with God and peace to have a restored relationship once again with one another.

Again, back to Romans 5:6. For when we were still without strength, in due time, or as the New International Version says, at just the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man, someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates his love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having been justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.

For if when we were his enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. Not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have received the reconciliation. The Advent, the coming of Jesus, which we celebrate every year in December, makes all of this available to us— all of these blessings.

We are blessed with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places. Paul says in Ephesians chapter 1 that all of this is by His grace, His love, and His redemptive forgiveness. Through this, we have peace with God, and we are reconciled to one another.

This ministry of reconciliation, which Jesus came to preach, is committed to you. You are given as His ambassadors the ministry of reconciliation to take to this world. What a great gift! We celebrate Christmas in our culture by giving and receiving gifts. The greatest gift that you could give is the reconciliation of the gospel, bringing it to those who are far off. You were once far off, without hope in this world, and now you've been given peace from God so that you can have peace with God.

That kind of judicial relationship is significant. Jesus dealt with the punishment of sin and the wrath that would come upon sin in His body on the cross. There is that judicial peace that we have with God, but it's so much greater than that. This is what Plantinga, the theologian, was talking about when he said that what God wants us to experience is universal flourishing, wholeness, and delight—the way things ought to be. That's what He desires for us.

So, how do we experience that? Looking out here, I know that many of you have received the grace of God. You have been made a new creation. If anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation. All the old things have passed away; behold, all things become new. You become new in Christ, but you may still feel anxious and weighed down by many things.

How then do you experience a release from that? Paul says in Colossians 3:15, "Let the peace of God rule in your hearts." We actually have to allow God's peace to be at work and to rule in our hearts.

If you're taking notes, point number four is that peace from God brings peace with God, resulting in the blessing of the peace of God in our lives. From, with, and of. How do we experience this peace? God wants you to experience it—universal flourishing, wholeness, delight. We receive it by receiving peace from God so that we have peace with God.

We can experience the peace of God in our lives, and Advent Christmas celebrates all of these things coming to Christ. We were without hope; we had no peace and were in enmity with God in the world. Then, the Prince of Peace came to rescue and redeem us back to Himself. By His death, He abolished sin and death, dealing with the enmity and the warfare. All these things are important to think about, and I believe it would be time well spent this holiday season to contemplate these realities.

As we reflect on these truths, some practical considerations arise. First, it may be that you have not yet received the grace of God. You have not yet received His peace. So, the question is: How do I receive grace and peace from God? That is the first practical consideration.

The second practical consideration is that many of you may already be Christians. You have received grace from God; you have been redeemed and forgiven. However, you still find yourself anxious. How do you begin to fulfill the command that Paul gave in Colossians chapter 3 to let the peace of God rule in your heart?

To address the first practical consideration—how do you receive God's grace so that you might be redeemed? We need to be justified by God. How is that accomplished? Paul gives a simple answer in Romans chapter 10, verse 9: "If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved." Justified. This is that judicial work where He deals with the punishment of our sin because He took care of it on the cross when He said, "It is finished."

With the heart, one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation. The scripture says, "Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame." In verse 13, it states, "For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved." That word "whoever" is so important. I think of the image of Jesus walking on the water and inviting Peter to walk out as well. When Peter begins to sink, what does he say? "Lord, help." That is a simple and effective prayer. You might need to pray that today: "Lord, help."

And what does Jesus do? He does not say, "Ah, you can figure this out. Sink or swim." No.

Reaches and grabs him. Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. So that's the first answer to the first question: How do I receive grace and peace from God? Call upon the name of the Lord. You can do it right now in your own heart where you're at.

The second question is, having received salvation by grace through faith, how do you let the peace of God rule in your heart? I have to return to the same text that I frequently refer to here at Cross Connection, and I talked about it at the end of my message last Sunday. You could open and look at it if you'd like, or just listen along from Philippians 4.

Paul, in Philippians 4:6, says, "Be anxious for nothing." Yeah, easy, Paul. You must not have ever gone through anything difficult. Let me remind you, he wrote this from prison as he was facing execution. And he says, "Be anxious for nothing." You might think, "That sounds good, but how?" Well, he tells us, "But in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God."

And what will the result be? "And the peace of God, which surpasses understanding." It has no earthly explanation. That's what that means. I can't explain it in earthly terms. The peace of God that surpasses understanding will do what? It will guard your hearts and your minds through Christ Jesus.

What are your heart and your mind? Those are words that we use to describe this part of you where you experience anxiety, and that's in your soul—what the Bible would call your soul. The peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds through Christ Jesus.

I come back to these verses frequently because I think they're so crucial, especially for us living in anxious times. You cannot experience shalom—peace, universal flourishing, wholeness, and delight—the way things ought to be, while also being filled with anxiety, fear, and stress.

So Paul tells us how to let the peace of God rule in our hearts: "In everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God." Point number five: The peace of God is available to you as you come to God in faith and prayer. That sounds too simple. At least that's my initial reaction to it.

It seems so simple, and in one sense, it is. It is simple to comprehend the idea of theology, the concept. The hard part is applying it and accomplishing it in our lives. So, how do we do this?

One of my favorite words from Jesus comes from Matthew 11:28: "Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." Jesus invites us to come to Him.

King David, a thousand years before Jesus, in Psalm 55, says, "Cast your burden on the Lord, and He will sustain you." We are encouraged to take all of our concerns and burdens and everything that we are carrying and bring it to the Lord in prayer, laying it down before Him. You might wonder, "How's that even going to help?"

There is a great story illustrating this in the book of Isaiah about King Hezekiah. Forty-two of his cities had been destroyed by Sennacherib, king of Assyria. Now, the armies of Sennacherib were surrounding the last major city, Jerusalem, where Hezekiah was held up under siege. The commander of the Assyrian army came and brought a letter that outlined the terms of peace, which were horrendous. The terms were essentially that they had to come out and sign their lives over to Sennacherib as his slaves, and then they could have peace. That does not sound like a good deal.

So, what does Hezekiah do? He takes the letter, goes up to the temple, and lays it out before the Lord, saying, "God, I don't know what to do. You have to take care of this." Do you realize that God took care of it in a very miraculous and powerful way that is still unexplainable in earthly terms? King Sennacherib's army, 185,000 of them, were killed in one night by what the Bible calls an angel.

You might think, "Come on, that just seems like Bible folklore." However, Sennacherib's own histories are well-documented. You can see the annals of Sennacherib in the British Museum of History. He talks about all of his exploits and all the kings and cities that he destroyed until he gets to Jerusalem. All he simply says about Jerusalem is that they shut up Hezekiah like a bird in a cage and put a tax upon him. Why does he change his tune? You don't think that if he loses 185,000 people, it would have an impact?

Going to talk about that in his annals, he's just going to say, "Well, we just made him pay a tax." But God defended and protected His people. Cast your cares upon the Lord. Peter says in 1 Peter 5:7, "For He cares for you." Do you realize that God cares for you? He wants you to bring your cares to Him. Advent and Christmas are times for us to remember that Jesus, the Prince of Peace, has come, and He will come again. He will bring justice, judgment, and peace. We look forward to the day when He comes.

But in Christ now, God wants you to know peace from Him and peace with Him, and to have the God of peace rule in your heart. Is it as simple as prayer? Well, there's one more important key. How can I be anxious for nothing? Prayer is a big part of it, but then there's one more important key: Philippians 4:8. Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is anything virtuous, if there is any praiseworthy, meditate on these things. Think on these things.

Prayer and meditation are the keys to experiencing peace. Now, the peace of God in your life today guards your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus. When I talk about meditation, I know that there's always the question, "What exactly is that? I don't know what that is." I'll tell you, biblical meditation is totally different from Eastern meditation, which some of you were a little bit into decades ago. Biblical meditation is different.

Here's the key that I think is so helpful: If you know how to worry, you know how to meditate. How many of you know how to worry? Be honest. You're doing it right now. You're like, "When is he going to get done?" You know how to worry. What is worry? It is consuming your thoughts with all of the troubles of your life or this world. Many of those troubles will never come to pass because we worry about so many things that are imaginary, that might happen, but probably never will. We worry about a lot of things that we...

We could never fix the problems we face, even if we had the opportunity, because they are so far out of our reach. We have nothing, yet we worry about these issues and consume ourselves thinking about them constantly from every angle. We hear every commentator talk about them and listen to all the different people give their ideas about these problems.

Go down the list of the people you listen to. I don't know who your chosen person is—maybe it's Megyn Kelly, Ben Shapiro, Matt Walsh, or Don Lemon. Regardless, you listen to these individuals, and they just tell you about the problems all the time. You might find yourself thinking, "I can't believe this stuff." You think about it constantly and end up feeling anxious. You might wonder, "I don't know why I'm anxious." Well, I can tell you why you're anxious.

You've been meditating on these issues incessantly. You come and listen to the Bible for 45 minutes on a Sunday, but then you consume all this other content for 70 hours a week or some crazy amount of time. And you wonder why you're anxious. Worry is a form of meditation.

I want to encourage you to worry about what is true, good, lovely, praiseworthy, and virtuous. Consider how it might affect you if you spent even 10% of your worrying time focused on those things instead of the Federal Reserve, the stock market, your retirement account, or that business deal. I know some people have finals this week; maybe just a fraction of the time you spend worrying about those things could be redirected toward what is true and good.

What does Paul say? "These things which you have learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you." How many of you would like the God of peace to be with you this week? Let me tell you something: one of the greatest evangelistic tools you have is to show peace to an anxious world. There is not a single family member, coworker, neighbor, or friend in your life who does not deeply desire peace. They see the world and think, "This is not the way it should be."

And I should say you're right. It's not. There's only one answer. His name is Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Let's stand and close in prayer. God, thank you for these reminders. And that's what they are. None of the things that I've shared today are novel. Everything I've shared today, I've shared before and will share again in the future.

Lord, we need to hear it. It's good for us to be reminded of these things because we are so given to anxiety, worry, and fear. Jesus, you commanded us not to worry. Lord, it's so hard for us. We confess our anxieties and bring them right now. You see the deepest areas of our hearts where those cares, concerns, and worries are. We just hold them out to you.

Maybe you need to do that right now. Just lift your hands to the Lord, as if you are lifting them to Him. Lord, we give you our concerns. We give you our fears. We give you our cares. We don't even know what to do with these things, but they weigh us down. You said, "Come to me, all you who are burdened and heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

Lord, we want to know your rest. We want to live in your rest. We want to be able to display that peace and that rest to the rest of this world because you've called us as your ambassadors to be peacemakers. God, help us to be that.

Lord, we give our cares and concerns to you now. We rejoice in you. We thank you that you came 2,000 years ago as the Prince of Peace. We thank you that you've promised you will come again to bring peace one day. Of the increase of your government and peace, there will be no end. We rejoice in that.

It's in your name we pray. Amen.