The Passionate Pursuit of Peace (Hebrews 12:14) | Worship Service

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The Passionate Pursuit of Peace (Hebrews 12:14) | Worship Service This stream is created with #PRISMLiveStudio

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Good morning and welcome to Kootenai Church.
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Would you please stand? As we begin our service this morning, we're going to open with a reading from Psalm 93.
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Yahweh reigns. He is clothed with majesty. Yahweh is clothed and girded himself with strength.
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Indeed, the world is established. It will not be shaken. Your throne is established from of old.
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You are from everlasting. The rivers have lifted up, O Yahweh. The rivers have lifted up their voice.
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The rivers lift up their pounding waves. More than the voices of many waters, than the mighty breakers of the sea,
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Yahweh on high is mighty. Your testimonies are very faithful. Holiness befits your house,
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O Yahweh, forevermore. We're going to sing a new psalm this morning to the tune of Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee called
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The Lord Reigns. The Lord reigns and he is robed in majesty and strength divine.
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He has armed himself with strength and does with splendor fully shine.
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The world is established firmly. It cannot be ever moved.
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Your throne is established ever. From all ages you are
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God. Seas have lifted up,
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O Lord. The seas have lifted up their voice. Seas lift up their pounding waves, but greater than their thunderous noise.
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Mightier than the seas' great breakers, God the
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Lord on high is born. Holiness adorns your house,
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Lord. You're lost and forever shorn. Come, Thou Fount of every blessing, to my heart to sing
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Thy grace. Streams of mercy never ceasing call for songs of loudest praise.
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Teach me some melodious sonnet sung by flaming tongues above.
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Raise the mount, I'm fixed upon it, mount of Thy redeeming love.
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Hitherto Thy love has blessed me, Thou has brought me to this place.
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And I know Thy hand will bring me safely home by Thy good grace.
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Jesus sought me when a stranger, wandering from the fold of God.
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He, to rescue me from danger, bought me with His precious blood.
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Oh, to grace how great a debtor, daily I'm constrained to be.
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Let Thy goodness, like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to Thee.
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Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the
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God I love. Here's my heart, oh, take and seal it, seal it for Thy courts above.
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Oh, that day when, free from sinning, I shall see
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Thy lovely face. Full of rain and blood -washed linen, how
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I'll sing Thy sovereign grace. Come, my Lord, no longer tarry, bring
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Thy promises to pass. For I know Thy power will keep me till I'm home with Thee at last.
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I once was lost in darkest night, yet thought I knew the way.
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The sin that promised joy and light had led me to the grave.
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I had no hope that You would hold a ramble to Your will.
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And if You had not loved me first, I would refuse
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You still. But as I ran, my help appeared indifferent to the cause.
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You looked upon my helpless state and led me to the cross.
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And I beheld God's love displayed. You suffered in my place.
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You bore the wrath reserved for me. Now all I know is grace.
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Hallelujah! All I have is
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Christ. Hallelujah! Jesus is my life.
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Hallelujah! All I have is
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Christ. Hallelujah! Jesus is my life.
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I would be
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Yours alone and live so almighty. The strength to follow
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Your commands could never come from me.
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O Father, use my ransomed life in any way
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You choose. And let my song forever be, my only boast is
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You. Hallelujah! All I have is
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Christ. Hallelujah! Jesus is my life.
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Hallelujah! All I have is
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Christ. Hallelujah! Jesus is my life.
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Hallelujah! All I have is
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Christ. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Jesus is my life.
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You may be seated. Will you please turn in your
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Bibles to Psalm 34? Psalm 34.
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And we're going to read this entire Psalm together. The introduction to the
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Psalm says, Psalm of David, when he feigned madness before Abimelech, who drove him away and he departed.
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I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul will make its boast in the
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Lord. The humble will hear it and rejoice. Oh, magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt
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His name together. I sought the Lord and He answered me and delivered me from all my fears.
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They looked to Him and were radiant and their faces will never be ashamed. This poor man cried and the
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Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear
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Him and rescues them. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is with you. The Lord is good. How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him.
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Oh, fear the Lord, you His saints. For to those who fear Him there is no want. The young lions do lack and suffer hunger, but they who seek the
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Lord shall not be in want of any good thing. Come, you children, listen to me. I will teach you the fear of the
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Lord. Who is the man who desires life and loves length of days that he may see good?
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Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit. Depart from evil and do good.
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Seek peace and pursue it. The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and His ears are open to their cry.
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The face of the Lord is against evildoers to cut off the memory of them from the earth. The righteous cry and the
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Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
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Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers Him out of them all. He keeps all
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His bones, not one of them is broken. Evil shall slay the wicked, and those who hate the righteous will be condemned.
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The Lord redeems the soul of His servants and none of those who take refuge in Him will be condemned.
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Will you stand with me as we pray? Bow our heads.
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Our Father, we thank You that You are a God of deliverances, that You have delivered us first and foremost from our sin and the wrath that our sin deserves.
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We thank You that You have set us free from the power of darkness, from the kingdom of darkness, from the
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Lord of darkness. We thank You that You have made us Your own. You have drawn us to Yourself.
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You have granted us faith and repentance and opened our eyes that we may behold Christ and see Him as precious and come to Him for the forgiveness of our sins and the righteousness that He has earned on behalf of all who trust in Him.
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So we thank You for these rich blessings that You are a God who has delivered Your people from not only the power of sin in this life, but for all of eternity the very presence of sin.
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So we thank You and rejoice in that and we pray that as we lift our hearts in prayer, in singing, in adoration to You for Your great works on our behalf, that You would strengthen us and unite our hearts together in the truth.
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Give us a love for Christ and we pray that You would help us to see with the eyes of faith the great grace that You have bestowed upon us and that You would help us by Your grace to walk in obedience and holiness and the truth.
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We pray that You would do these things not just for the sake of Your name now and here, but also for our eternal fruit and blessing for all of eternity and for the glory of Your name for all of eternity.
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For it is in the name of our King, the Lord Jesus Christ, that we pray. And all God's people said, Amen. From heaven
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He came and sought her to be His holy bride with His own blood
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He bought her and for her life He died
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He left from every nation yet one more all the earth
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Her charter of salvation one
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Lord, one faith, one word One holy name she blesses partakes one holy food and to one hope she presses with every place endure with toil and tribulation and tumult of her war she waits the consummation of peace forevermore till with the vision glorious her longing eyes are blessed and the great church victorious shall be the church at rest
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Yet she on earth hath union with God the three in one and mystics we communion with those whose rest is one
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O happy ones and holy Lord give us grace that we like them the meek and lowly on high may dwell with Thee like them the meek and holy on high may dwell with Thee Ephesians chapter 3 verses 17 to 19 it says so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith and that you being firmly rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and the length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God we're going to end our music this morning by singing speak
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O Lord Speak O Lord as we come to you to receive the food of your holy word take your truth planted deep in us shape and fashion us in your likeness that the life of Christ might be seen today in our acts of love and our deeds of faith speak
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O Lord and fulfill in us all your purposes for your glory teach us more full obedience holy reverence true humility test our thoughts and our attitudes in the radiance of your purity cause our faith to rise cause our eyes to see your majestic love and authority words of power that can never fail let their truth prevail over unbelief speak
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O Lord and renew our minds help us grasp the heights of your plans for us truths unchanged from the dawn of time that will echo down through eternity and by grace we'll stand on your promises and by faith we'll walk as you walk with us speak
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O Lord till your church is built and the earth is filled with your glory you may be seated and now if you'll please turn to the book of Hebrews to chapter 12
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Hebrews chapter 12 and let's pray together before we begin our father it is our prayer that you would speak to us through your word for that is where you have promised to reveal yourself in your sure and certain word we pray that you would open our eyes and our hearts to understand your truth to understand your word and what our responsibility in obeying it is we pray that you would use your word to sanctify us and conform us to the image of Christ to motivate our hearts and energize them in service to our king and we pray that you would be glorified through the proclamation of your truth for the glory of Christ our
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Lord in whose name we pray amen Hebrews chapter 12 beginning at verse 12 we'll read through verse 17 therefore strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble and make straight paths for your feet so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed pursue peace with all men and the sanctification without which no one will see the
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Lord see to it that no one comes short of the grace of God that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble and by it many be defiled that there be no immoral or godless person like Esau who sold his own birthright for a single meal for you know that even afterwards when he desired to inherit the blessing he was rejected for he found no place for repentance though he sought for it with tears there are many areas of the
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Christian life in which we must walk in a balanced fashion holding as it were two truths or two principles two ideas in our minds and our hearts at the same time without erring on either side of these things and excluding one over the other for instance we hold and believe that God is absolutely sovereign and that man is responsible for his sin we hold and believe that God wrote scripture
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God wrote this book we refer to this as the word of God and yet we also refer to Paul's writings and Peter's writings and John's writings and we talk about the human authors of scripture so we believe that both
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God wrote this book and that men wrote this book we believe that God has chosen some for salvation from eternity past and yet we also believe that the gospel is to be preached passionately indiscriminately and as prolifically and widely as we are capable of doing we believe that repentance is a gift of God sovereignly granted by him and yet all men are commanded to repent we believe that faith is a gift that God sovereignly grants to those whom he has chosen and yet scripture commands men to repent and to believe the gospel see these are truths when we are balancing them we can fall into a ditch on one side or the other and fall into extremes and we always have to avoid that and here is another one how about your growth in holiness is that God's work or is that your work that God's work or is that your work now there might be some here who are inclined to say well that's my responsibility you see
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God has done everything that he is going to do and now he has left the rest up to me it is my job to mortify sin it's my job to apply the promises of scripture it's my job to passionately pursue holiness
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I need to do better I need to be better God has done everything and now he has left the rest to me so if there is any growth in holiness to take place it rests entirely in my hands in my life it is up to my effort to accomplish this there might be some who would say that and to that I would say really?
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you think you can accomplish that? you think you can kill the sin resident in your heart?
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you think you can transform your corrupt nature? you think you can mortify your flesh and master your sin and tame your lusts?
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you think it's possible within the power of your own flesh and self effort to mortify and kill the flesh?
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you really think that? and then there might be others who would be inclined to say it's not all my work it's all
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God's work he does all of it in fact the minute I begin to get involved in my own application of holiness in my own pursuit of holiness that's when things will go off the rails
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I'm likely to mess it up if I get in there and try and be holy if I try and mortify sin the best thing to do is just to let go and let
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God have you heard people say that? let go and let God that is one of the stupidest and worst phrases that you could possibly utter it sounds spiritual it does let go and let
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God that sounds like man I'm just if anybody is spiritual in the room it's me I'm just letting go and letting
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God and to that I would say really? there's no effort to it whatsoever?
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you don't have to do anything? there's no sin for you to kill? there's no temptation for you to resist?
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there's no work that you need to do? you just sit back and coast? there's no striving? no labor? no effort?
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no cost? no work? no denying? nothing to obey? you're just going to sit back and think that God himself all alone is going to make you holy?
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see neither of those answers sounds right does it? and it's because to answer one way or the other is not right because in reality it is a combination of both of those things it is the work of God and it is something that we apply ourselves to so pursuing holiness and becoming sanctified progressing in sanctification is something that yes
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God does it and at the same time we do it it is a work in which we cooperate with God in the sense that we apply his grace and we obey him and it is
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God who himself is doing the work of transforming us and sanctifying us and the means that he uses is our application of his grace and our pursuit of holiness so these two things go together you cannot do it without him and he will not do it without you you cannot do it without him and he will not do it without you he has commanded us to obey he has commanded us to work at it and so these two things go together we have to balance both of these it's
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God's work and it's my work and let me give you three passages of scripture real quick this is just before we get into Hebrews chapter 12 three passages of scripture where you hear the apostle
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Paul explain this Philippians chapter 2 verses 12 through 13 these are going to be familiar to you you don't need to turn there
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I'm going to read them so then my beloved just as you have always obeyed not as in my presence only but now much more in my absence listen this is your work work out your own salvation with fear and trembling for it is
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God who is at work in you both to do and to will for his good pleasure you work out your own salvation
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God is at work in you to do and to will for his good pleasure Galatians chapter 2
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I've been crucified of Christ it's no longer I who live but Christ lives in me but the life that I now live in the flesh
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I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me I've been crucified Paul says I'm dead it's no longer
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I who live but Christ lives in me so you ask Paul who's living your Christian life for you Paul he would say it's
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Christ I've died Christ lives in me but the life that I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the
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Son of God so who's doing the living Paul or Christ it's both Paul says
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I've died yet I live yet I don't live Christ lives in me he's the one doing the work and yet I'm exhausted
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Paul would say 1st Corinthians 15 10 by the grace of God I am what I am and his grace toward me did not prove in vain but I labored more than all of them yet not
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I but the grace of God within me Paul's comparing himself there to the other apostles he said I've worked harder than all of the rest of those who saw the
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Lord before I did I have labored I have strived I have worked I have endeavored I have endured I am exhausted
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Paul would say and yet it's not me but it's the grace of God within me and you have it here in Hebrews chapter 12 verse 14 pursue peace with all men and the sanctification or holiness without which no one will see the
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Lord in this context we have seen that God is the one who is disciplining his children for their good for their holiness
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God is the one who is doing this so that we might share his holiness chapter 12 verse 10 he is doing this to produce in us the peaceful fruit of righteousness chapter 12 verse 11 so God is the one who is doing the work he is the one who is causing us to share in his holiness he is the one who is preparing us for that and he is the one who is producing the fruit the peaceful fruit of righteousness in us through discipline so who is doing the work in Hebrews chapter 12 who brings the discipline
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God does God is the one who is doing that work right so what are we to do let go and let
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God no chapter 12 verse 14 pursue peace with all men and the holiness or sanctification without which no one will see the
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Lord so what is our response to that God is doing the work I'm not the one who assigns my own discipline
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I'm not the one who chooses what my disciplined life looks like or what difficulties and trials and tribulations afflictions are going to come into my life
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I'm not the one who gets to choose that you don't get to choose that for me or for you so God does that work and yet we are commanded to pursue holiness in the midst of that discipline and that command to pursue holiness is the third of five imperatives that come in this list of commands in verses 12 through 17 of things that you and I are to do in the midst of and as a result of God's discipline we're to strengthen our weaknesses verse 12 we are to straighten our paths or our ways verse 13 and we are to pursue peace and holiness verse 14 and the next two we are to guard against bitterness verse 15 and verse 17 we are to know the danger of apostasy these are the five things that we are to do today we're looking at the pursuit of peace
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God does this work through discipline so that you and I may share his holiness and yet we do the work of pursuing passionately peace with all men and sanctification without which no one will see the
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Lord notice in verse 14 that we have before us two things which are the objects of our pursuit peace with all men and sanctification or holiness peace with all men and sanctification or holiness and I'm using those words synonymously and interchangeably so as I talk about holiness pursuing sanctification or holiness you can know that these two words are describing the same thing two different words for the same concept notice also that one of these is oriented toward my fellow man pursue peace with all men and one of them is oriented toward God I am to pursue holiness without which no one will see
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God so I have a manward focus something I am to pursue in terms of my relationship with others and something
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I am to pursue in terms of my relationship with the Lord and these two things are not at odds with one another they actually go together as you're going to see notice the command to pursue that's the first word of the verse verse 14 pursue peace with all men and the sanctification without which no one will see the
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Lord the word translated pursue there is a word dioko it means to run after to chase to pursue to strive after it's sometimes translated press forward it means to put to flight or to hunt something the word is used 45 times in the
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New Testament and interestingly the bulk of its usage it is translated as persecute and not as pursue persecute you could translate it persecute peace with all men and when
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I say persecute I mean the exact kind of persecution that you envision when I say the word persecute to chase after something and try and lay hold of it to seize it it is used by Paul in fact to describe his own act of persecuting the church
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Acts chapter 22 verse 4 I persecuted this way to death binding and putting to death both men and women putting them into prisons
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Paul says in Romans chapter 12 verse 14 bless those who persecute you bless and do not curse same word 2nd
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Timothy 3 verse 12 all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted it's the same word pursued chase put to flight it's used by Jesus in Matthew 5 verse 44
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I say to you love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you who pursue you and chase you now the author when he says persecute peace he doesn't mean look for peace and when you find it go and attack it and kill it that's the opposite of actually what he means he's not describing what we're to do to peace in terms of putting it to death or ending it but he is describing the focus and determination and intentionality with which we are to pursue peace with all men and holiness without which no one will see the
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Lord it is sometimes translated as press on for instance this word is used three times in the book of Philippians Philippians 3 verse 12 not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which
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I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus Philippians 3 verse 14 I press on toward the goal of the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus the third time it's used in Philippians it's actually translated persecutor as to zeal a persecutor of the church
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Philippians 3 verse 6 so Paul uses interestingly in Philippians he uses this word pursue three times once to describe persecuting
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Christians and twice to describe pursuing something else so he says there was a time when
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I pursued Christians to lay hold of them and to seize them and now I am pursuing
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Christ and his righteousness and his prize see Paul went from pursuing one thing to pursuing something else it's also translated as it is here as pursuit or to pursue 1st
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Corinthians 14 1 I'll just give you a couple other examples of its usage pursue love and 1st
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Timothy 6 verse 11 pursue righteousness godliness faith love perseverance and gentleness this word describes our our chase like a hunter chases its prey it describes us hunting something going after something running it down pursuing it you know to chase holiness and peace like a persecutor chases after someone if you want some idea of what this looks like and think in terms of the persecutors of the church think in terms of Saul of Tarsus himself before he was the
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Apostle Paul he describes his own persecution of Christians so how did Paul go about that as a persecutor what characterized him well
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Paul went and he got letters from the chief priests to persecute Christians he went from city to city and from house to house persecuting them he was zealous in his pursuit consumed with passion he had a plan and a purpose and a goal he was intentional about it when
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Paul wasn't going house to house he was thinking about going house to house he was anything but unintentional and approached it in any way except for just an occasional or sort of a come as you may approach to persecution he was very passionate about it you would never hear
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Saul of Tarsus say something like I blocked out next Tuesday to persecute some Christians not this
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Tuesday but Tuesday the next not this coming Tuesday but a week I've got a lot of things going on I have a lot of people in my life my friends want me to come over I have a lot of dinner appointments but I do have some time in my schedule in a couple weeks time to go and persecute
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Christians you'd never hear him say that and it was anything but accidental or unintentional his persecution of Christians you'd never hear
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Saul of Tarsus say I went down to the marketplace to buy some shawarma ingredients and kind of got caught up in the crowd and one thing led to another and next thing
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I know I'm sitting there holding a bunch of coats while they stone Stephen I just kind of got myself caught up into the emotion of the moment no he was passionate, intentional deliberate and principled in his pursuit of Christians that is how you and I are to be in our pursuit of peace with all men and holiness without which no one will see the
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Lord. Pursuing in this sense is something that occupies your vision your focus, your affections your heart, your desires your goals, your plans your thinking all of it is geared toward executing that pursuit like a hunter chases its prey, like a persecutor chases his victims almost like a runner running his race for the prize and we come full circle back to the beginning of chapter 12 run with endurance the race that is set before you what does that look like?
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it looks like the pursuit of holiness and this verb is in the present tense which means it describes an ongoing present pursuit of peace and sanctification it's not something that is occasional, it's not something that we stumble into, it's not something that we find time for if we're not doing anything else, it is something that must occupy our attention in an ongoing and deliberate sense pursue what are we to pursue?
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Peace with all men and holiness let's look first at peace now this seems like a bit of an odd command in the context, doesn't it?
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I think about this the author has talked about those who have persecuted them back in chapter 10, he gives the list of heroes of the faith in chapter 11 gets into chapter 12, talks about running a race and then the discipline that God brings into your life and in the midst of all of this teaching on discipline, which you're well familiar with by now, you've been immersed in that for far too long as it is, in the heels of all of that, the author says pursue peace that's kind of odd what might you expect him to encourage us to pursue?
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You might expect him to say you should pursue righteousness, after all it is the peaceful fruit of righteousness which the
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Lord is producing in your life so if God's going to produce that fruit, you should pursue righteousness. Now he kind of is saying the same thing when he talks about holiness without which no one will see the
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Lord it's a little bit of a different idea there or we might expect the author to say you should pursue intimacy with God in the midst of your discipline, because you're going to feel as if heaven is closed and you're praying against a glass ceiling and heaven is not listening, the
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Lord's ears are not attentive to you, you're going to feel at times like the psalmist who cries out and says, Lord why will you turn a deaf ear to my cry, why will you not hear me, why will you not act why will you not do something in the midst of this that's how you're going to feel in the midst of discipline so we might expect the author to say you should pursue intimacy with the
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Lord in the midst of discipline, but he doesn't say that we might expect him to say that we should pursue humility so that we might learn from discipline if after all the
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Lord wants us to submit to his loving fatherly hand in the discipline then we might expect the author to encourage us to pursue humility, so that we might learn everything in the midst of discipline that we should be learning, or we might expect the author to say, look in the midst of affliction and suffering and pain, some of which is brought on you by an unbelieving and hostile world, they're persecuting you, you should pursue safety and security from your persecutors but he doesn't say that, instead he says peace, meaning the cessation of hostility or the absence of conflict and strife and peace does go with righteousness,
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Hebrews 12 verse 11 the Lord is producing for us the peaceful fruits of righteousness so if God is producing something peaceful in our lives, namely the fruit of righteousness then the peace should be something that we express, it should be something that we pursue, peace should be something that we enjoy, and so how do we do that?
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We do that by pursuing peace with all men pursue peace with all men, and then that way we enjoy the peaceful fruits of righteousness this peace that we have begins with a peace with God, we are born at war with God, and this by the way is why men are at war with each other men are at war with each other because they are at war with God, but once a man is brought to peace with God and all of the causes of hostility and enmity and strife are put away with and dealt with in the cross and by Christ then men can be at peace with one another but you and I are born in a state of hostility and enmity with God in which we are darkened in our minds and in our hearts, we have sinned against Him and heaped up a helping of His wrath that is unimaginable and unbearable, that is our lot by virtue of all of our sins that we have committed against Him, by sinning against a holy and benevolent and gracious God, so we are at war with Him, but then in salvation, the great burden of our sin all of the depth and the weight of that is removed from us by the cross of Christ and His work, and all of the righteousness of God's dear
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Son is imputed to us on the basis of faith and faith alone, so that our sins are forgiven and taken out of the way and we are made righteous by God through faith so Romans 5 verse 1 says, having been justified that is declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our
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Lord Jesus Christ, that peace that we have with God is something that is affected for us by virtue of the work that Christ has done on the cross, through His death,
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His burial and His resurrection, you and I have peace with God when we turn from our sin, repent, and we believe savingly upon Jesus Christ, we are declared righteous, all of our sins are forgiven, and our sin and the weight of it is taken out of the way 1
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Thessalonians 5 verse 23 says, now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete without blame at the coming of our
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Lord Jesus Christ, Hebrews 13 verse 20 likewise refers to God as a God of peace so because we have peace with God we can be at peace with our fellow men once again when the cause of hostility and animosity is removed and the cause of strife is taken out of the way, which is namely sin, and all that that creates, when that is removed from us, then we can be at peace with one another, both those who are inside and outside the church, because in the death of Christ, men are reconciled to God, they are therefore reconciled to one another, so in the church there is no room at all for ethnic hostility or ethnic division or what the world calls racism
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I reject that term, it's ethnic hostility and ethnic animosity so there's no room for that in the church there's no room for a grievance culture or resentment or ethnic hostility or division that is based upon superficial characteristics like the color of our skin or our hairstyles or the shape of our eyes or anything else there's no room at all for that, why?
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Because men have been brought together into one body so now we are in one body with one Lord, one faith, one baptism one cup, one communion, one sacrifice one intercessor, one common home, we are one bride of Christ and so all of the causes of ethnic hostility have been removed as God reconciles
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Jew and Gentile all men into that one body which is inside Jesus Christ when we are in Him, there is no more room for ethnic hostility and those who are within Christianity who perpetuate that ethnic hostility, they deny the gospel, they destroy unity and they do damage to the body of Christ once sin has been atoned for and the justice of God has been satisfied, then you and I can be at peace with all men, why is that?
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Because there are those who are unbelievers who will sin against us and I can look at that unbeliever who has sinned against me and say, either that unbeliever at some point in his life is going to come to saving faith in Christ, in which case all of his sins, including his sins against me, will be paid for and atoned for and taken out of the way and removed so I can have no hostility against him, or that unbeliever is going to die in his unbelief and is going to perish everlastingly and the wrath of God is going to be poured out on his head, in which case all of his sins including his sins against me, will be paid for under eternal wrath either way the justice of God is going to be satisfied concerning his sins against me and so if that is the case then on what basis do
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I hold a grudge or on what basis do I refuse to be reconciled with somebody who is even a non -believer in the case of those who are believers the person who sins against me who is a believer,
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I can say to myself that person is a believer and so that sin that he sinned against me has been taken out of the way it is paid for on the cross and because it is paid for on the cross
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God's righteousness is satisfied, his wrath is satisfied concerning that sin against me and God himself will not require any further payment from that person than what he has already paid for in the death of Christ because that sin now is fully paid for so on what basis do
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I refuse to be reconciled with that person who sinned against me since God holds no further penalty over that person's head, how can
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I hold a penalty over that person's head is my sense of justice more scrupulous than God's am
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I smarter than God more righteous than God more holy than God so how then can
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I refuse the payment that has already been made and on that basis I can be at peace with all men, with whom all men this makes it easy because I don't have to worry about who qualifies for this aren't you glad this is made easy you look at somebody with whom you're not at peace and you say does this person qualify well
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I go to Hebrews chapter 12 verse 14 it says all men and that's not a gender specific term, that's a humanity inclusive term men and women so you qualify, you're part of the human race, you qualify as one with whom
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I am to be at peace, all men so does that include Christians, certainly does, non -Christians certainly does, how about those of other ethnicities or nationalities my neighbors magistrates, those in authority, employers employees parents extended family siblings spouses
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I guess all those would qualify that's all men let's break it down for simplicity's sake into two groups, unbelievers and believers in terms of unbelievers, who might the author specifically have in mind in the context of Hebrews chapter 12, who do you think
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I think he has in mind specifically those people who are causing his readers such affliction and such suffering at their hands that he describes back in chapter 10 after being enlightened you endured a great conflict of sufferings partly by being made a public spectacle through reproaches and tribulations and partly by becoming sharers with those who were so treated for you showed sympathy to the prisoners and accepted joyfully the seizure of your property knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and a lasting one so there were people in their lives, unbelievers who were making their lives miserable because they were
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Christians throwing some of them into prison reproaching them, causing them great conflicts of suffering, tribulations some of them were prisoners, some of them had their property seized and they accepted that joyfully so these people were suffering at the hands of unbelievers, hostile unbelievers even in their own neighborhood so they are to pursue peace with them, which means you and I are to pursue peace with those who are hostile to us on the outside, that would be persecutors, and by doing so we're doing two things, number one we're making it difficult for them to remain at war with us, making it difficult for them to remain at war with us you kind of want to approach this in such a way that you leave them no excuse it becomes obvious to everybody watching that this person doesn't deserve this hostility this person has been so nice to you, why would you treat them that way, make it difficult for the persecutor, the unbeliever to make your life miserable and to cause you suffering and the second thing that you do is you demonstrate the grace of God as a testimony to them that you represent a
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God of peace who has reconciled you to all men so the mindset is that the person causing me the suffering if I remember that that person is
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God's gift to me in my life and that the suffering that God is allowing and bringing into my life is intended for my good and is ultimately just going to create more and more glory and more and more rewards and this is
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God's way of doing that and teaching me and sanctifying me and making me closer to Him if I can remember all of that then the person who causes my suffering
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I won't see him as my enemy instead I'll see him as a tool in the hand of a sovereign God, a loving
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Father who intends this for my good and since God intends this for my good I can be at peace with this person
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I don't have to respond with curses and calumnies upon his head, instead
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I can be at peace with him now what about those, because we do live in a fallen world, what about those who refuse to be at peace with you and this could be anybody in the category of all men what about those who refuse to be at peace with you you do everything you can but the reality is that there are some people who will not be at peace with you no matter what you do that's true what is your responsibility then sometimes we feel like the psalmist in Psalm 120 listen to his lament, he said, too long has my soul had its dwelling with those who hate peace
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I am for peace but when I speak they are for war ouch there's the psalmist saying
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I do everything all I want is peace but there are just some times when you will run into people you will have people in your lives that will do anything but be at peace with you no matter what you do what do you do then remember the apostle
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Paul, was he at peace with all men no, the Sadducees and the high priests and the
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Pharisees when he came to Jerusalem they had him arrested, they beat him on the steps of the temple, they made false accusations about him and his intentions before the commander of the troops that was in Jerusalem and then the commander of the troops shipped him off to Caesarea, those people pursued the apostle
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Paul to Caesarea Maritime, where they brought false accusations against him before Felix then before Festus and before Agrippa and that wasn't enough, see it wasn't enough for them to simply stone him and drag him outside the city and leave him for dead or run him out of their own city, they pursued him at days travel many days travel just to pursue him and get him out and then when they finally got a hold of him in Caesarea, he appealed to Caesar, went to Rome and they pursued him to Rome to bring false accusations against him, did the apostle
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Paul do anything to warrant that? No he didn't, he did everything as possible with him to be at peace with all men but there were people who would never be at peace with him no matter what, because he believed and practiced and preached and loved the truth so they wouldn't be at peace with him, what do you do in such a situation?
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Romans chapter 12 verse 18 if possible, so far as it depends upon you, be at peace with all men there is an amount of seeking peace with all men that depends upon you, that's your bucket everything in that bucket is yours if possible as much as it depends upon you be at peace with all men knowing that there will be times when men will not be at peace with you, but still you keep the offer out you're peaceable, you're peaceful you're reconcilable and you attempt reconciliation and peace and show grace and bless those who refuse to be at peace with you, this is the characteristic of a child of God, blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the sons of God so what about believers?
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if there is any environment where you as a believer in Jesus Christ can be at peace with other believers it's inside the church if there's any group of people we should say on the face of the planet with whom it would be easiest for you to be at peace, it is fellow
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Christians, peace is the fruit of the spirit, Galatians 5 verse 22 we serve a
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God of peace we have been brought into a kingdom of peace and the savior that we serve is the prince of peace everything about him and his people is to be characterized by peace
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Romans chapter 14 the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the
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Holy Spirit for he who is this way serves Christ for he who in this way serves
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Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men so then, Paul says, we pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another
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Colossians 3 verse 15 let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts to which indeed you were called in one body and be thankful, that is not describing some peaceful condition some peace that you feel in your heart when you're wanting to make decisions, instead he is saying that the peace of Christ that peace which
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God has made with you in terms of your relationship to him that cessation of hostilities not a feeling of tranquility, the cessation of hostilities should characterize the body of Christ because we've all been brought into one body
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Psalm 29 verse 11, the Lord will strengthen give strength to his people and the Lord will bless his people with peace peace is a blessing beautifully, peace is a blessing that we can pursue and that we can bring to pass in our own lives and in the lives of others it's not a blessing that God would choose or not choose to give to us, it is actually a blessing that we should pursue and when we pursue it and seize it what a joy and delight it is like oil running down the beard the psalmist says that may not sound attractive to you but in ancient cultures it certainly was it's that delightful and that glorious and you see how this can be done in the body and it should be done in the body just when you read through the various commands in scripture everyone in the body of Christ, every believer should be pursuing peace as much as depends upon them with everybody else in the body of Christ and we do this when we willingly forgive one another when we strive together for the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace, when we look out for one another and love one another and overlook petty grievances and defenses when we seek the good of others looking out not only for our own interests but also for the interests of others considering others as more important than ourselves and serving one another that is how peace is affected a case study in the exact opposite would be the
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Corinthian church striving and divided up in their own little schisms and their cult personalities, personality cults seeking their own self aggrandizement wanting their own way and assisting upon their own preferences, they were suing one another and overlooking sin in their body they blatantly tolerated blasphemous sin in their midst, they lacked love and didn't pursue love and sometimes peace within the body of Christ is a difficult thing to strive for I think it's more difficult in churches or environments where doctrine does not itself unite people around a common core of faith essentials, when you have an amalgamous group of people who just believe almost anything under the sun and they come together in a church, you can't have peace there, you can't have true unity there but it can be affected in environments where doctrine is clear and the word of God is preached and we all gather around that one central truth, the gospel and the close implications and the essentials of the gospel, where that is you can have unity, even if we might disagree on various other things we can still be at peace with one another
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Paul said to the Ephesian church therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called with all, and here are the essentials humility, gentleness patience, showing tolerance for one another, in love being diligent to preserve the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace sometimes it's difficult in churches
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I don't think it's difficult here this is not intended in any way as a reproof of this body but just simply to acknowledge that there are times when it is difficult to be at peace with every
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Christian in your life, but as much as it rests with us, this is what we are to pursue, passionately like a hunter chasing prey we go after peace the lack of hostility and strife and contention with everybody around us, everybody in our lives there are a number of hindrances to peace including an aptness to quarrels just run through this in your own mind of yourself or people you know do you have an aptness for quarrels or a pugnacious spirit there is a selfishness that infects all of us, unrealistic expectations, nursing grievances, an unwillingness to overlook offenses a readiness to provoke and to be provoked keeping a list of wrongs and injuries that others have done to you this is exactly how you produce the bitterness that is warned about down in verse 15 see to it that no one comes short of the grace of God, that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble and by it many be defiled there is a bitterness that can well up when you are unwilling to pursue peace with all men you want to nurse grievances are you ready to be provoked do you have a pugnacious spirit you're always looking for a fight that in itself is something that needs to be repented of so we have a responsibility to pursue peace in the world and I'm not talking about world peace
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I didn't clarify this earlier but it just occurred to me this doesn't mean putting a world peace bumper sticker on your car, this doesn't
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I'm not talking about the UN, none of that stuff can be affected, there is never going to be peace in the world amongst worldlings because they do not have the ability or the capacity to know or enjoy peace world peace is an impossibility until the prince of peace rules and reigns the world then we will have peace, but not before that so chasing after world peace among nations, not interested in that in the least,
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I could care less about it, I don't like to see innocent people killed in war I'm not pursuing war either just understand that we're not talking here about peace among nations or among pagans so we have a responsibility to pursue peace in the world in terms of with worldlings, unbelievers we have a responsibility to pursue peace in the church amongst us as believers but let's make it even more personal we have a responsibility to pursue peace at home in our homes some will strive for peace and tranquility in their work with their bowling league in their
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HOA in their business, in their softball rec league, amongst their neighbors their fishing buddies their hunting buddies, they will pursue peace in all of those environments avoiding conflict seeking to be at peace with all of those people but then at home they are the most unforgiving pugnacious, grievance nursing petty foggers that you would ever not want to meet friends, this ought not to be if there is any place in the world where we have it within our ability to enjoy true peace, it is at home why would we nurse strife in the place where we should most be enjoying the blessing of peace why would we be so kind and compassionate and caring and forgiving and gentle and understanding to people who are the furthest away from us with people that we spend the least amount of time with and care the least for and then be at war with the person with whom we share a bed or a house or a home why would we do that how can you possibly be happy if you are at peace with acquaintances but at war with your own flesh, the person with whom you are one flesh what good does it do you to be exempt from fighting battles on foreign battlefields a million miles away if the cannons are smoking in your own living room and the casualties and the collateral damage is spread throughout your entire house does that make sense if there is any place on the planet where the rich gracious blessing of peace can be enjoyed it is in our very homes pursue peace with all men in the church in the world and in the home do not rest until you have humbled yourself and repented of your sin and sought peace give no rest to your eyes until you have asked for forgiveness confessed your sin and as much as lies with you do everything you can to enjoy peace with all men going above and beyond, bending over backwards it is a precious possession so chase it, pursue it put it to flight, persecute peace in your own home, don't persecute your spouse, persecute peace in your own home sit down with the person that is in your house and say
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I want to enjoy the blessing of peace in the midst of this how do we do that together, striving together for this, pursuing this together go after it like you are hunting prey, chase after it like you are a persecutor and do not let up until you have seized the prize
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Psalm 34 verse 14 depart from evil do good, seek peace and pursue it let's pray our father we thank you for the blessing of peace with you that you have removed from us every excuse for our hostility, our animosity our contention, our striving, our strife we are truly as those blessed by a god of peace as those who have been brought into a kingdom of peace and to those who have come to peace with you we are grateful that you have done this and we are able in a unique way to enjoy the peace that you bring through Christ and through your word so we pray that you would do that we ask that your blessing would rest upon every family and household here every relationship and that we may truly strive as much as rests with us to pursue peace with all men and the sanctification without which no one will see the lord be glorified through this as we seek to obey you in it we pray in Christ's name will you stand and sing to the lord with me
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I love you lord and I take joy in my king may it be a sweet sweet sound in your