The Coming Peace | Sunday, December 13, 2020

Good morning, Cross Connection Church family, and welcome to church online and at home for this Sunday, December 13th. Christmas is just around the corner, and we've got a great service prepared for you this morning. Before we cut over to Pastor Anthony for some great Christmas music, would you send out an invite to a friend or a group of friends on social media or through a text message? Just send them that link: live.ccchurch.com.

Now, over to Pastor Anthony.

Heavenly Father, we come before You, Lord, on this day, remembering Your birth and the season. We remember that You came; You were born to die. Lord God, we thank You for that. We honor You, and we delight in these songs. Let's sing about that miracle, and we delight in You, Lord God. Have Your way in us, Lord, as we minister to Your heart. Lord God, would You come near to us and minister to us? We ask this in Jesus' mighty name. Amen.

Sing glory to the newborn King! Peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled. Joyful, all ye nations, arise! Join the triumph of the skies with angelic hosts proclaim: Christ is born in Bethlehem. Hark! The herald angels sing.

Glory to the newborn King! Glory to the Prince of Peace! Hail the Son of Righteousness! Light and life to all He brings, risen with healing in His wings. He laid His glory by, born that man no more may die. Born to raise the sons of earth, born to give them second birth.

Hark! The herald angels sing, "Glory to the newborn King!" Glory to God in the highest! Peace on earth, goodwill to men. Glory to God in the highest!

The newborn King brings peace on earth and mercy. My God, and sinner's wrecked, joyful nations rise! Join the triumph of the skies with angelic hosts proclaiming, "Christ is born in Bethlehem." Hark! The herald angels sing, "Glory to the newborn King."

Hey, Cross Connection! Welcome, and thanks for tuning in. We're glad that we get to bring you church at home today. If you don't know me, hi! I'm Pastor Garrett, and here at Cross Connection Church, we're all about living life in connection with God, one another, and the world through Jesus Christ.

Part of living life in connection is encouraging you to be in prayer. We want to be praying with and for you, so we offer an online prayer portal at prayer.lifeinconnection.com. You can submit your prayer requests immediately, and you will be prayed for. Our big prayer team and pastoral team love you guys and pray for you all the time. If there's something going on, we want to lift that up to the Lord. He is faithful to us; He hears us and answers our prayers all the time. So definitely check that out at prayer.lifeinconnection.com. We need to be in prayer now more than ever. Every single day, we should be praying. The Bible talks about prayer without ceasing, so we want to be praying with and for you again. Just check it out at prayer.lifeinconnection.com.

Before I hand it over to Pastor Anthony, I have a couple of quick announcements. Tonight, we would love to see you out on the porch at Cross Connection Church at five o'clock. We're going to have a little service, a time of worship, and a message. We would love for you guys to be there. We're going to have some heaters out, but definitely bring a jacket, and you're going to have a great time. It will be good to get some fellowship in, and you will get to worship the Lord and hear a message from Pastor Miles as well. We hope to see you tonight at five o'clock.

Also, set your calendars for December 23rd. It's Christmas Eve, and our service will be at five o'clock here outside at Cross Connection Church. We want to encourage you guys to come, bring your family members, and bring some friends. It's going to be an awesome service outside, and I would love to see you all there. So again, December 23rd, that's a Wednesday at five o'clock.

5:00 p.m. So just go ahead and mark your calendars in advance for that. We'd love to have you here. With that, I'm going to hand it back to Pastor Anthony, and he's going to be leading us in a time of worship. This is a time where we worship the Lord with our giving.

There are a couple of different ways that you can do that. First, you can text the number 84321 on your phone. Alternatively, you can go to give.lifeinconnection.com. Third, you can simply bring your offering here at five o'clock during our Sunday night service or mail it to the church here in Escondido at 1675 7 Oaks Road.

This offering is important. People who call Cross-Connection Church their home church are involved in ministry all around the world. One of the ministries we want you to be praying for is our missionaries, Deodi and Lena. They are in East Asia, close to Shane and Anna, whom we mentioned last week. Please be praying with and for them as they are trying to figure out some details with their 18-year-old son, who may need to fly back to the Philippines and go through the whole quarantine process.

Keep them in your prayers. Deodi and Lena are doing amazing work. As I say, those of you who call Cross-Connection Church your home church, God is saying you are faithful, and we are expanding the kingdom around the world through all these missionaries that you are supporting through Cross-Connection Church.

God bless you all. Thank you for praying with and for them. Now, I'm going to hand it back to Pastor Anthony. God bless you all. We'll see you next week.

Merry Christmas! All the world awaits the promise of His birth. Open up the gates; heaven come to earth. A host of angels sing, a Savior here to dwell, the King of every king, Emmanuel. Hosanna! Hosanna! Hosanna! He has come to save, to take away.

Our sin, He freely gave His life. The highest brings glory to the newborn King.

He is the heaven-born Prince of Peace. Hail the Sun of Righteousness, light and life to all. He brings glory to the newborn King. Hosanna, hosanna!

The highest hosanna and the highest hosanna to God! Yes, Lord God, we cry that out, Lord. All praise to the King of Kings. Come save us, Lord God. You are the Savior. We love You, God. We praise You in Jesus' mighty name. Amen.

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon His shoulder. His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

The other day, Pastor Garrett sent me a link to a tweet from the Gallup Research Firm. Gallup is one of the leading global analytics groups, and they have been conducting a number of ongoing studies for decades. One of them has to do with mental health, and their most recent studies on mental health in the United States are interesting.

I'm sure it would not be a surprise to you to learn that individual self-assessments of mental health have gone down in 2020. According to the study, overall, only 34 percent of Americans rate their mental health as excellent in 2020. That's down from 43 percent in 2019, which is a 21 percent decrease year over year. If you were the financial controller of an organization and your revenue dropped 21 percent year over year, you'd be scrambling to stop the bleed of that organization.

In some respects, our culture is trying to figure out how to deal with the mental health deficits that have resulted from COVID-19, but even more than just from the virus, from the associated governmental responses to the virus. So, none of us is surprised by the findings from Gallup as it relates to overall mental health scores.

What is fascinating about their findings is this: Democrats and frequent churchgoers show the least mental health change. Now, of course, the mental health of self-declared Democrats would be drastically different.

The situation was drastically different just 45 days ago, but it would have been even more devastated if the presidential election had not gone the way that some wanted it to. I think that you could scratch Democrats off this list in the findings by Gallup.

However, here's the intriguing tidbit from the study: from 2019 to 2020, of those studied by Gallup, only one group rated their mental health as having gone up during that year. Every demographic group saw their mental health decompensate in 2020, save one. Those engaged in weekly religious services saw their mental health increase by four points from 2019 to 2020. In contrast, Democrats, Republicans, independents, men, women, whites, non-whites, married or unmarried individuals, those living in households making more than six figures, and those making less than six figures—all age groups from 18 to 65 and up—saw a decrease in their mental health, except for those engaged in weekly religious services. Surely, there's no connection, right?

I can tell you that my feelings of well-being, which is my own personal mental health, saw an increase in the last 72 hours or so. Both my wife and I are done with this last semester of school, and this next week is the last week of school for our kids before Christmas break. I know a number of you can relate to this feeling of your well-being going up in the last several days.

I've talked with several people over the last week or two who have been going through finals or approaching finals, and they have been a little bit stressed. But now, hopefully, as of Friday, those things are done, and there’s a little bit of a weight that's lifted, leading to an increase in well-being.

I know there are those watching who have experienced that, and there are some of you as well who are parents to young kids. You have been guiding them through at-home learning for the last 15 or 16 weeks, and now they are off for a couple of days. They have a break, and you have a break, so you’re probably happy about this. There is a relieving of some of the burdens of all the things that have been going on.

There have been many issues affecting our country, including the elections and where the country is headed, as well as the ongoing challenges posed by COVID-19. Mental health issues have been impacted by all of these factors over the past several months. One of the classes I took this last semester focused on cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT for short. I have been doing a lot of research, reading, and writing on issues of mental health and well-being.

It is a concerning reality that mental health disorders, particularly anxiety and depression, have been on the rise. These issues were already increasing prior to 2020, but like many other trends in our society, the events of that year have accelerated them. The increase in anxiety, depression, and general mental health issues has been startling to those who study these matters. We have seen trends such as the rise in online shopping, retail closures, and decreased attendance in churches, all of which have been exacerbated by 2020. Similarly, the trends of depression and anxiety have also increased.

According to findings from Gallup, it is unfortunate that people have been decreasing their engagement with religious services. I do not think it is coincidental that mental health disorders have been on the rise over the last couple of decades at the same time that people have disengaged from church attendance. These issues are certainly connected. In one way, this connection affirms the truth of the Scriptures. Being part of the body of Christ, attending church, reading through the Scriptures, and setting our minds on things above have a positive effect on our well-being and mental health.

Nearly 3,000 years ago, the prophet Isaiah observed this in Isaiah 26:3: "You, God, will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You because he trusts in You." I do not know anyone who does not desire to have peace. Everyone who wants peace in their life would very much like to experience not just peace, but perfect peace.

When we talk about peace, I think it is worth recognizing that peace, as the Scriptures speak about it, is not merely the cessation of violence, hostility, or conflict. While it includes those aspects, it is much more than just not having conflict in your life. I have shared this with you before, but I think this quote I want to read encapsulates the concept of peace as the Bible speaks about it in a very helpful way. It is from theologian and former president of Calvin Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Cornelius Plantinga.

He wrote about the peace that the Bible speaks of, particularly in the Old Testament, where the word for peace is "shalom." When we read in Isaiah 26:3, "You will keep him in perfect peace," the word "shalom" is used for peace, and actually for perfect peace, it is "shalom, shalom" in the original Hebrew. This indicates an amplification of the peace spoken of in Isaiah 26:1-4. God wants us to have this kind of peace.

According to Cornelius Plantinga Jr., in the Bible, shalom means universal flourishing, wholeness, and delight—a rich state of affairs in which natural needs are satisfied, natural gifts are fruitfully employed, and a state of affairs that inspires joyful wonder as its Creator and Savior opens doors and welcomes the creatures in whom He delights. In other words, shalom is the way things ought to be. I love that: shalom is the way things ought to be. It is the way that God wants us to experience life.

When He created us and breathed into humanity the breath of life back in Genesis chapter 1 and chapter 2, it was God's intent that we would experience this kind of fullness of life. This is the very thing that Jesus talks about when He came. He speaks about it in John's Gospel, chapter 10, but that's for another study.

I have been asked several times by a few people close to me, "What do you want for Christmas?" Maybe you have asked that question to your kids or have been asked that by a family member. People will ask us what we want for Christmas, and if they could give it to me, I think that this kind of peace that Plantinga describes is what I would desire.

Talking about the scriptures, they speak of this kind of shalom. This is what would be on my list, and I am sure that absolutely you would want the same thing: flourishing, wholeness, and delight universally. Not just for you, but for all people. Who would not want for all people to have their natural needs satisfied and taken care of? We deeply desire full human flourishing, wholeness, and delight.

I think a lot of people in our culture, those who demand change and want social justice, are actually seeking this perfect peace. They may not realize that this is what they are looking for. They may not understand that the shalom of Isaiah 26 is what they desire, but that is indeed what they are hoping for. They have no idea how to practically make this a reality, but it is what they are yearning for.

I think they may naively believe that politicians and new policies will bring this about. However, you only have to live through a few presidential election cycles to know that such thinking is juvenile. It reveals your naivete or immaturity when you cry out for political systems to bring the perfect peace that we desire.

The interesting thing about this desire for peace, biblical shalom, is that the late psychologist Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of human needs is essentially a visual representation of this desire for shalom. He illustrates that this is not just a desire; it is actually a need. For human beings to experience flourishing in life, they need the satisfaction of all these things taken care of.

We desire and need the perfect peace that we read of in the scriptures. It is not just a desire; it is a necessity for us to experience human flourishing and total well-being. We need what only the scriptures speak of.

As God is the source of these things, it is our desire for this perfect peace that drives us. We want it, and the question is: when? So many people are looking for it and desiring it. This shalom, this perfect peace— is it unrealizable? Are we desiring something that is effectively unobtainable? That's a valid question. Is this really even something that we can grasp?

We want it, we need it, and we're constantly seeking it in all kinds of different places, whether it's in riches, pleasure, politicians, fame, or whatever it may be. We think that if we just obtain those things, then we will achieve the satisfaction of our desire for perfect peace. However, we realize that we don't find it when we acquire those things. So, is it unobtainable by us?

I have quoted C.S. Lewis many times before on the issue of desire, but I think it's worthy of consideration again. In his book, Mere Christianity, which you should really consider reading if you haven't already, C.S. Lewis writes about desire. He states that creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists. If I find in myself a desire that no experience in this world can satisfy, the most plausible explanation is that I was made for another world.

If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy this desire, it does not prove that the universe is a fraud. Probably, earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy these desires but only to arouse them, to suggest the real thing. Therefore, your desire for something that might be unobtainable by earthly means does not mean that you desire something that is wholly unobtainable. It just means that you're drawing from the wrong well.

We are trying to get from the wells of this world, attempting to pull up things that this world can't ultimately offer and satisfy. Anything that only partly gratifies this desire only serves to arouse it more fully; it doesn't completely satisfy it. Thus, we are left with this abiding desire.

There is a need for perfect peace that cannot be satisfied by anything earthly. If God is real, why would He allow us to be unsatisfied in this desire for something that He apparently has the ability to give? I would suggest to you that He allows us to remain unsatisfied in this way so that we would be compelled to search for and seek that which we deeply desire and need. God can allow us to remain unsatisfied in this desire because He knows that if we seek the satisfaction of it, if we seek to fulfill this need and desire for perfect peace, then we will always be brought back to Him.

God will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Him because he trusts in Him. Perfect peace is possible, but it is only found in one place. That is why I began this morning with those words from Isaiah 9:6: "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon His shoulder. His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and then those last words of Isaiah 9:6, Prince of Peace."

This child that is born, this son that is given, is the Prince of Peace. The prophecy of Isaiah is nearly 2,800 years old at this point. The prophecy of Isaiah is a promise—a promise of the child, a son who would bring perfect peace, shalom, that full human flourishing that Plantinga talks about.

So, the son, the child of Isaiah 9, is the one who brings that perfect peace of Isaiah 26:3. He brings it to those who are in darkness, those who are burdened and in bondage. His coming is the advent of peace. We talked a couple of weeks ago about Jesus' coming being the advent of joy. We talked last week about His coming being the advent of hope. Now, here in this passage, Isaiah 9 and Isaiah 26, He is the one who brings peace. His coming is the coming of peace; He is the very personification of peace.

Peace is an aspect of the nature of God. Jesus brings perfect peace. The perfect peace that Jesus brings is not complete for us in this life, but we have the prophetic promise of the fulfillment of this in Him. We can experience perfect peace in Christ. This means that if you receive Christ as your Savior and your Lord, you begin now in this life to experience His peace, with the promise of the full realization of that peace when you are with Him in His kingdom.

This peace from the Prince of Peace is possible in Christ because of what we read in another familiar passage or prophecy from the prophet Isaiah, specifically in Isaiah chapter 53. Some of you have read Isaiah 53 before; it is a passage that we normally read when we are coming up to Easter, not necessarily a Christmas passage. However, Isaiah 53 is that amazing prophecy and promise of the coming suffering servant.

It is the very same passage that, if you go and read Acts chapter 8, you will find about the man who was on the chariot whom Philip ministered to. He was from Ethiopia and was reading from the scroll of Isaiah, what we know as Isaiah 53. From that passage, Philip preached Christ, and there we read about the suffering servant.

Isaiah 53:6 speaks about Jesus, 700 years before He came: "He is despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and we hid, as it were, our faces from Him. He was despised, and we did not esteem Him." Surely, Jesus has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.

But He was wounded—note this—He was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for our iniquities. Here is the main focal point that I want you to look at: the punishment or chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord God, the Father, has laid upon Him, Jesus the Son, the iniquity of us all. Isaiah, living 2,800 years ago, was looking forward hundreds of years into the future to the coming of the Messiah.

The child and the son of Isaiah 9:6, "Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given." He is looking forward to that, and that son and that child of Isaiah 9:6 is the suffering servant of Isaiah 53. Jesus was born to be wounded for our transgressions. He came to be bruised for our iniquities, and he was punished on the cross so that you and I could have shalom peace. We could experience that now in this life, in part, maybe not completely and wholly, because we are still in a broken and fallen world. However, we will experience fullness and completion when we are in His kingdom.

In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul speaks about something very similar when he writes this in Ephesians chapter 2: "But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were afar off, separated from God, have been brought near by the blood of Christ." He was wounded for our transgressions, as Isaiah 53 says, for He, Jesus Himself, is our peace. It is not just something that He gives or brings; He is the personification of peace. He is our peace who has made both one and has broken down the middle wall of partition or separation. Perfect peace is found in Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace.

If you read the third book of the Bible, you will find passage after passage in the book of Leviticus, filled with peace offerings and sin offerings. In just a few weeks, when we start the new year, there are a number of you who will probably try to read through the Bible in a year. You can get through the 50 chapters of Genesis and the 40 or 45 chapters of Exodus, but so many people struggle to get through Leviticus. However, if you read Leviticus, you will find page after page of peace offerings, sin offerings, wave offerings, and all these different things. All of those were prophetic foreshadowings of the coming of Jesus. They were all pointing to Jesus because He is the fulfillment of the peace offerings of Leviticus.

As our peace offering from God, Jesus makes peace with God possible. Once you enjoy peace with God through the justifying work of Jesus Christ, then peace in His future kingdom is sure, and peace in this life is possible. We know that there are many people right now who are struggling with experiencing peace. We've seen...

The decline in our country, as it relates to mental health, is concerning. We see that depression and anxiety have increased from kids on up through adults. Many people are not experiencing this peace. However, for the Christian, just like Gallup found, those who are engaged in religious services and connecting with God and one another in His church have had relatively good mental health. It may not be great, but it has been pretty good, even through challenging difficulties. This is because they have peace— not perfectly, not completely, but they have this peace which is possible in Jesus Christ. They are looking forward to a peace that is sure and complete in His kingdom.

In 2020, people who engaged in church and connected to God and His body, the church, were doing better in terms of peace of mind and heart than others. Whether you are white or non-white, rich or poor, male or female, on the right or the left, or in the middle politically, or whether you are young or old, none of those things ultimately give you peace. Peace is ultimately found in Christ. This is one of the things that we need to remember at Christmas time. Christmas is all about the coming of Christ into the world, but His coming is also the coming of joy, as we saw two weeks ago, and hope, as we considered last week, and peace.

As we come to a close this morning, I want to finish up with two questions. First, have you received the gift of peace from the Prince of Peace? His peace is available to you as you put your trust in Him. By faith, when you receive His peace, you are receiving Him. He came and died so that you could experience His peace. It is my prayer that this Christmas you would receive the Prince of Peace by putting your faith in Him and that you would begin to experience the fullness of this peace. In this life, we may never fully lay hold of His peace entirely, but as a Christian, as you put your trust in the Prince of Peace, you can begin to experience it.

In an increasing capacity, the joy we receive from Christ is a joy that increases unto abundance for eternity. The same is true about the peace that the Prince of Peace gives. Jesus, the Prince of Peace, died on the cross so that you could receive peace with God, peace with one another, and experience this fullness of shalom. This peace means not just the cessation of violence, hostility, or conflict, but that you would experience total well-being. This is what God desires for you.

If you have never received the gift of peace from the Prince of Peace, I want to encourage you to read through the Gospel of John and see what the Scriptures say about Jesus. Then, put your trust in Him and receive His grace by simply praying and asking God, "Would you come into my life, forgive me of my sins, and fill my heart with Your Spirit and Your presence?" This way, you can enjoy His joy, hope, peace, and all the things associated with the coming of Jesus, which Christmas points to and represents.

So, the first question is: Have you received the gift of peace from the Prince of Peace? If not, that is freely available to you because of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The second question is: If you have received Christ as your Savior and Lord, are you laying hold of this peace in your life today? You may be wondering, "I received Christ last year, five years ago, or even fifteen years ago." You've been a Christian for a long time, but you might be having a hard time with peace right now. I think a lot of people are going through that.

If you're feeling that way, I can understand because we are in difficult and distressing times. Maybe not comparatively to other people in other parts of the world, but for us, it has been a challenging season and a challenging year. You may be wondering, "I received Christ a long time ago, but I'm having a hard time with His peace right now." If He is the Prince of Peace, why have I not experienced His peace?

Well, Jesus said to His disciples, as recorded in John's Gospel, chapter 16, "In the world, you will have tribulation or trouble." This is one of those passages where the prosperity, name-it-and-claim-it, health-and-wealth teachers of our culture really run into Jesus. He states that in the world, you will have tribulation and trouble. It's not just a possibility; it is an absolute. It's in the indicative mood in the original language.

Jesus is indicating that this is the reality: you will have difficulties and troubles in this world. In John 16:32-33, He says, "In the world, you will have trouble, but in Me, you may have peace." There is trouble in this world, and Jesus is honest about that. However, even in difficult and troubling seasons, we can have peace. Troubles in this life are certain, but peace, even in the midst of distressing and troubling times, is possible in Christ.

If you're a Christian, you can lay hold of this peace. But how do we lay hold of this peace that Christmas speaks of, coming in Jesus? First, we need to recognize that this peace is one of the benefits of having the Holy Spirit dwell in us. We return to this often, but it's so important. Galatians 5:22-23 talks about the fruit of the Spirit, or the evidence that God's Spirit is dwelling in you. It tells us that the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. One of the fruits of the Spirit is peace; peace is a byproduct of the presence of the Holy Spirit of God.

I want to encourage you to draw near to God through prayer, worship, His Word, and fellowship with other believers. Even if it's fellowship through Zoom calls, if you don't feel comfortable interacting with people during this season, you can still draw near to God and experience the presence of His Spirit as you pray, worship, and spend time in the Scriptures.

I want to encourage you to do all of those things during this season. At the same time, I want to encourage you to pray a very specific prayer. Maybe you've never prayed this prayer before as a Christian, but it's a prayer that Jesus encourages us to pray. Jesus' disciples came to Him in Luke 11 and asked Him about prayer. One of the things Jesus taught about prayer is found in Luke 11:11: "If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will the father give his son a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will the father give him a serpent instead of a fish? Or if he asks for an egg, will the father offer him a scorpion?"

If then you, being evil, know how to give...

Good gifts to your children! How much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask? If you're anything like me, I'm a dad with four kids who are all still fairly young. My oldest is 12. You've probably heard a lot of wants and desires this holiday season, with your kids asking you for all kinds of different things.

As a dad, my wife and I have talked about this before. We want so much to give many different things to our kids. Of course, we want to try not to completely spoil them; sometimes we probably do spoil them. I know I was spoiled when I was a kid. They have so many different wants, and when they come to us with a request, there is so much of us that wants to be able to provide that, even if we can't.

According to the Scriptures, we are fallen, sinful, and evil. I know we’re not evil in the sense that you could probably find someone who is worse than you—absolutely, hopefully you can find someone who is worse than you. But still, as it relates to God's perfection, we're pretty far below that. We know how to give good gifts to our kids. How much more will your perfectly holy, righteous, and good Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to you who ask?

I want to encourage you to ask God, "Give me your Holy Spirit and give into my life the evidence that the Holy Spirit is with me. Lord, give me your peace, give me your joy, give me your patience, give me your self-control, give me your love." All of those nine things that are spoken of are the evidences of the Holy Spirit. I want you to pray and ask God to give you those things.

So that's the first thing: pray and ask God to give you His Spirit and all the associated gifts or fruits that come with the presence of His Spirit.

Second, in Philippians 4, Paul describes how this peace of God can rule in your heart and in your mind. Your heart and your mind—that's what we would call the psyche. There are a lot of people who are experiencing psychological problems during this period of time; they are distressed in heart and mind. Paul has given us a command in this passage that we have read so many times before: "Be anxious for nothing." The way to fulfill this command is also given by Paul in that passage. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication. Supplication is a prayer asking God for supply, just like Jesus taught.

In the Sermon on the Mount, and in Matthew chapter 6 and Luke chapter 11, Jesus talks about asking God to give us our daily bread. This is an example of supplication. We are instructed to be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let our requests be made known to God. The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

The gift of perfect peace can rule your soul through prayer. This is absolutely certain; I have experienced this in my life many times. I have counseled others with this for many years within the church. When our anxieties are heightened—and many of our anxieties have been heightened—one of the best ways we can apprehend or lay hold of the peace of God that guards our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus is through prayer. The gift of God's perfect peace, shalom, can rule your soul through prayer.

The peace of God is yours; it is a gift that God has promised us in Christ. He is the Prince of Peace, and if you have received the gift of His grace by faith, then His eternal peace is yours. In His kingdom, you will experience the fullness of His eternal peace when the Prince of Peace rules and reigns. That kingdom hasn't come yet, but it will. You can enjoy His perfect peace in part now, even during difficult times.

In the world, you will have troubles, tribulation, trials, and difficulties, but you can have peace, shalom, as you let the peace of God rule in your heart. Again, Philippians 4:6 states, "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God." The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Finally, brethren, brothers and sisters, here is the final thing: 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 anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received, Paul says, and heard and saw in me, these do. And here it is: the God of peace will be with you.

The God of peace will be with you. This is an opportunity for you, whether you're a Christian or not, to test what the Scriptures have to say. First, put your trust in Jesus, who is the Prince of Peace. Ask Him to come into your life to deal with the enmity that is between you and God because of your sin and your failures. This way, you can experience peace with God and peace with one another.

For the Christian, it's time to test whether or not God's Word is true. This Christmas season is a great opportunity for you to do just that. You are the Prince of Peace; you came to give peace. If you are going through difficult things that are producing heightened anxiety and affecting your mental health, God wants you to experience His peace through the presence of His Spirit and through the work that He calls you to do—through prayer and by setting your mind upon the Lord.

With that, I’m going to ask you to pray with me. I will pray for you that you would experience this peace this Christmas season in greater abundance. I pray that your family members, co-workers, friends, neighbors, and people you go to school with would see in you this peace and that they would be drawn to the Lord as a result of it.

Father God, we thank You that You promised we can have peace. Jesus, we thank You that You are the Prince of Peace. I pray for anyone who will hear this message, whether it's on the day that it releases, Sunday the 13th, or if it's months from now. God, would You cause Your Word to draw people to come to know You and Your peace?

Lord, guard the hearts and minds of my brothers and sisters during difficult times, as anxieties are high and troubles are many. As people walk through trials, I pray, God, that we would be among those that this Gallup report found—those whose mental health has increased even during difficult times. May they have more joy, more hope, and more peace because of Your Spirit and Your grace.

God, work in Your church, we pray. Draw people to Yourself to experience this peace. Prince of Peace, come again and establish Your peace in the world forever. We look forward to the increase of Your government and peace, in which there will be no end. But until then, Lord, help us, Your church, to be peacemakers. Jesus, You said, "Blessed are the peacemakers." Those are the children of God; they are evidencing Your nature in this world.

Help us to be those who are bringing peace to others during this time, giving the gift of peace. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Peace. Hallelujah.

Silence, night, holy night of God. Redeeming grace. Jesus, Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth.

God, we thank You so much for Your grace towards us and for Your goodness towards us. We pray, God, that You would pour out Your Spirit. I pray that You would pour out Your Spirit upon Your church in a more full capacity today, filling us to overflowing. Let it gush out from us, just as You said, Jesus, that we would drink of this living water and that from our innermost being would flow forth rivers of living water, as You spoke of Your Holy Spirit.

So, God, cause that to flow over, upon, and through us to others, that we would exemplify and display the fruit of the Spirit in this world. We pray for love, joy, peace, gentleness, self-control, and patience— all those things that make life abundant in this season. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

And now, may the Lord bless and keep you. May He make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. May He lift up His face upon you and give you His peace. May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. God bless you all. Say goodbye, Cross Connection. Goodbye.

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