¿Dónde Puedo Encontrar la Paz? || Victory Church

Hola chicos, si aun no han escuchado la noticia, nuestro dios reina, esta es la buena noticia, nuestro dios reina. Vamos, buenas noticias, días buenos, días malos, nuestro dios reina, economia arriba, economia abajo, nuestro dios reina, miedos por el hoy, preocupaciones por el mañana, nuestro dios reina, sea lo que sea que este dando vueltas en tu mente, sea lo que sea que este dando vueltas dentro de tu corazon esta mañana, nuestro dios reina, lluvias. Pase lo que pase, la tumba sigue vacía y Jesús sigue vivo, la sangre no ha perdido su poder. Vamos, que alguien venga, he leído la ultima pagina del libro y todo va a estar bien. Me encanta como Adobo Tozer lo dijo, el dice que aunque parezca que las cosas estan fuera de control detras de escena, hay un dios que no ha renunciado a su autoridad. Dios todavía esta en el trono y hemos estado hablando de eso durante las ultimas semanas, que nuestro dios reina, ese es el evangelio, que es el evangelio, evangelio literalmente significa buenas noticias, entonces cuales son las buenas noticias, es que nuestro dios reina de principio a fin, de arriba a abajo, por todos lados, sobre todas las cosas, nuestro dios reina y hablamos sobre el hecho de que estamos llamados a ser portadores de esas buenas noticias, hablamos sobre el hecho de que nuestro dios reina sobre nuestro dolor, hablamos sobre el hecho de que nuestro dios reina sobre nuestro espiritu de orfandad para adoptarnos como sus hijos amados, y luego la semana pasada voy a retroceder un poco, la semana pasada en la primera semana de adviento encendimos lo que se llama la vela de la esperanza y celebramos el hecho de que nuestro dios reina sobre nuestro futuro, cuantos de ustedes saben eso, eso son buenas noticias, y no importa cuan oscuro se ponga estamos celebrando el que jesús es nuestra esperanza y hoy estamos encendiendo la segunda vela de adviento que es la vela de la paz y nos estamos recordando que nuestro dios reina sobre nuestro caos y que jesús mismo es nuestra paz, vamos podemos decir paz, cuantos de nosotros podríamos usar un poco más de paz en nuestra vida, muy bien aproximadamente un tercio de ustedes, muy bien entonces pueden los otros dos tercios aconsejar al tercero porque aparentemente lo lograron, hombre hagamos algunas estadísticas, necesitamos algunas estadísticas sobre la paz, bueno aquí está el primero, el 21% de los adultos tienen síntomas de depresión, el 16% de los adolescentes tienen un trastorno de ansiedad diagnosticado, el 43% de los adultos están más ansiosos este año que el

pasado, el 73% de las personas dice que el estrés afecta su salud mental, entre el 43% y el 74% de las personas tienen problemas para dormir debido al estrés, me gustan las estadísticas porque creo que la gente está tan adormilada que no sabe cómo responder, es una estadística extraña y cuando lo piensas verdad la paz probablemente sea la última palabra que usaríamos para describir nuestro mundo hoy en día cierto, porque la gente está tan estresada, preocupada, agotada, la salud mental está por los suelos, vamos ataques de ansiedad, todo el mundo está medicado, no te estoy criticando hoy si estás medicado porque a veces eso es físico, a veces es químico pero muchas veces también es espiritual y especialmente hoy en nuestro mundo es circunstancial porque el mundo está en llamas, así que todos están enojados por todo, todos son sarcásticos con todo, todos son pesimistas con todo, todos son violentos con todo, la sección de comentarios está que arde verdad no hagas click en los comentarios tu día acaba de empeorar mucho sin embargo en medio del caos del mundo las palabras de Jesús siguen resonando y aquí está Juan 14-27, él dice la paz os dejo, mi paz os doy, yo no os la doy como el mundo la da, no se turbe vuestro corazón ni tenga miedo, él dice no os doy el tipo de paz que el mundo os da, porque escucha la única paz que el mundo puede dar es probablemente algo de dinero y algo de tiempo libre y algunos de ustedes dicen quiero decir si tuvieran que elegir saben a qué me refiero, elíjeme pero ahí está el problema, me lo quedo, lo tomaré dos veces el lunes, sabes a lo que me refiero pero esa es una paz muy frágil la ausencia de violencia, la presencia de un poco más de dinero, eso está muy bien hasta que puede desaparecer en cinco segundos y por eso Jesús nos ofrece algo mucho más profundo que eso, algo mucho más verdadero que eso, algo mucho más real que eso, Jesús nos ofrece una paz en la que realmente podemos apoyar la cabeza en la almohada y descansar Jesus offers the type of peace in which you can enter a service in the church and not feel condemnation. Come on, the voice of the accuser is not in your ear because you have peace. Jesus offers us a peace in which even sometimes when your life is on fire, your soul is still at rest. And that is something very important for today. That is because peace is not just something that He gives, peace is who He is. Look, Pablo would write it like this, 1 Thessalonians 5.23 He said that the same God, the God of peace, sanctifies Him completely. Can we say together the God of peace?

The God of peace. Pablo really writes that. That identifier for God, maybe he uses it five or six times in his letters. He says that He is the Lord of peace. He is the God of peace. In fact, in each letter, I noticed this last week, in each letter that Pablo writes, all the letters of the New Testament that Pablo writes, he begins with, Grace and peace to you, grace and peace to you, grace and peace. Each of the letters, grace and peace to you, grace and peace to you. There are more than 500 verses in the Bible about peace. So that brings us to the question, guys, here it goes. Si Dios es el Dios de paz, y nosotros somos su pueblo, y se supone que debemos ser el pueblo de paz, ¿por qué parece que tantos cristianos tienen tan poca paz? Así que alguien hoy solo necesita decir, hoy es el día en que recupero mi paz. Vamos, vamos, dilo conmigo. Hoy es el día en que recupero mi paz. Vamos, mira a tu vecino. Dile, hoy es el día en que recuperas tu paz. Mira al otro. Sea como sea, probablemente, probablemente para ti. No sé. Es una tarea difícil, ¿sabes? No, tú también lo vas a conseguir. Hoy es el día en que recuperaremos nuestra paz. Así que aquí está la pregunta. ¿Cómo sucede esto? ¿Cómo recuperamos nuestra paz? ¿Cómo recupero mi paz?

Vamos a explicarlo paso a paso. Bueno, aquí está lo primero. ¿Qué necesito hacer para recuperar mi paz? Lo primero es que tenemos que identificar qué nos está robando la paz, ¿verdad? Así que aquí está el asunto. Si te preguntara por qué no tienes paz, la verdad es que algunos de nosotros diríamos, Echen, no, estoy bien. Y ya, la realidad es esta. Hemos estado girando tan rápido durante tanto tiempo y nuestra mente y nuestra ansiedad están tan fuera de control que hemos olvidado lo que es tener paz. Ni siquiera nos damos cuenta de que nuestra vida ha sido invadida por lo que yo llamaría bandidos de la paz. Me los imagino con pequeños pañuelos y como en una caravana del viejo oeste, ya sabes, ese tipo de cosas. He estado haciendo esto el tiempo suficiente. Con el tiempo he identificado lo que yo llamaría los 10 principales culpables que roban la paz de las personas. Y de nuevo, vamos a repasarlo. Entonces, ¿qué estamos permitiendo que nos robe la paz? Aquí está el primero. El principal culpable, el trabajo incesante, ¿verdad? Lo número uno que veo que ocurre en la vida de las personas y que les roba la paz es el trabajo sin límites, el trabajo sin fronteras. ¿Sabes cómo es eso? Te vas del trabajo, pero el trabajo no te deja a ti, ¿verdad? Y tu jefe siempre tiene acceso a ti. Existe una regla, ya sea escrita o no escrita,

de que siempre estás disponible. Siempre estás disponible. Siempre tienes que estar revisando si llega el próximo proyecto a tu correo, a tu mensaje de texto, a tu WhatsApp o a lo que sea, ¿verdad? Y esto es lo que he visto una y otra vez. Deja a Jesús. Deja de ir a la iglesia. Permite que tu matrimonio sufra. Tus hijos no te han visto en un mes. Tu salud se está desmoronando, pero nunca dejes que tu trabajo sufra. Nunca dejes lo que sea que hagas. No has salido en una cita en tres meses. Tus hijos ya se olvidaron de cómo se ve su papá. No has salido de vacaciones en seis años. Está bien. Ni siquiera has ido al médico en cinco años, pero tu trabajo va bastante bien. Y lo que pasa es que esto invade y siempre estamos en movimiento. Siempre estamos acelerados y eso nos roba la paz. Aquí está el segundo gran culpable, las distracciones. Podríamos simplemente decir teléfono. Solo escribe teléfono en 2025. Eso es lo que es, el teléfono. ¿Alguna vez te has sentado con alguien? Ahora, hoy soy un portador de paz, así que Midtown, Hamlet's Mill, Northrop. No descodazos porque probablemente está sentado al lado y tal vez sea tu pareja, novio, novia, tal vez tu hijo o algo así. ¿Alguna vez te has sentado con alguien

y le estás contando sobre tu día? Como si todo estuviera bien, ¿verdad? Como que estás completamente presente. Es increíble. El arcoíris está afuera. Los pájaros cantan. Y de repente... ¿Y sabes que los perdiste? All of a sudden, they're like... Right? Right? Because there are distractions everywhere. In fact, the statistics would say that the average person actually takes their phone between 100 and 200 times a day, right? During the hours you're awake at the top, that means that approximately every 5 minutes they interrupt you from whatever you're doing. And that's just to pick up the phone. I verified it. Okay? I verified it. So, this last Tuesday, here at Victory, Tuesdays are like, really, like everyone is here. It's just work, work, work. On my phone, I had 174 notifications. On Tuesday. And most of mine are disabled. Really, most of mine are disabled.

104 of those were text messages. I verified it. If you have an iPhone, after the service, not now, because you're going to get lost in that. It will become a distraction for you. On your phone, you can see your screen time and look at your daily report, and it will show you how bad you are, how distracted you are. In fact, it will probably open your eyes because you think, no, I'm fine. And then you realize, oh my God, right? And what happens is that we're surrounded by things like beep, beep, do, do, do, do, do. That's going to happen 100 times during this service. It's okay, everyone. Feel free to laugh every time it happens because it's everywhere. I'm not making fun of you. It happens to all of us. It's something common to us. We're used to being interrupted at this time. We're always connected. There's always another text message, always another Snapchat, another thing that comes, whatever, another call to answer. And if none of that works, then as soon as we get bored, we have to crush some candies.

Or are the candies going to crush on their own? I see all those invoices coming in. I receive an invoice almost every day from the summer email on the iPhone for Candy Crush. Sorry, I just felt that we needed group responsibility. But not just for a second. It's true, we're surrounded by distractions all day, everywhere. Okay, the third one. Social media, social media. Hey, I don't know if you're old enough. Do you remember life before social media? Oh, man, I was thinking about this last week. Okay, okay, come with me on this. Whenever it was, like in 2006, 2007, do you remember? Oh, man, do you remember how it was not knowing absolutely anything about what your friend had eaten for dinner? Really? And yet life was still good in some way? Really? But now we have FOMO, right? Fear of losing something. It's as if we were offended. We see our friends go out and we think, well, I wouldn't have gone, but you should have invited me. You know what I mean, right?

It's like being aware of everything. Direct messages arrive. There's the news cycle. We don't go to news sites anymore. It's as if they hit us, hit us, hit us. And the problem is this. We've talked about this before. But it's like, hey, don't forget, politics in Washington is on fire. And if you still haven't found out, Christians are killed in Nigeria and there's war in Ukraine. Don't forget Southeast Asia. China is advancing, and I don't even know what Georgia is doing. Have you seen what's happening in the county of Gwinnett and Fulton and, man, in your family and all that? And what's happening is that we're completely overwhelmed and they tell you that you have to worry about everything. You have to be a defender of everything. If you don't publish about it, silence is violence. You have to worry. You have to put it out there, guys. And here's the truth. If you need to be reminded, you were never supposed to know all that. That's God's territory now. You can't worry about everything. God is the only one who can worry about everything. And what happens is that it gets in. It gets in.

It fills your mind and keeps going around. Oh, I have to open it again. I have to update it again. What's my number of followers again? And we're always going around, around, around, around. And that blue light keeps us awake at night. It steals our peace. And in reality, social media is the main contributor to the fourth point. Comparison. Comparison. You know, especially girls, they thought they were fine until they opened Instagram and saw her. Now I need to make some arrangements. You know what I mean? I thought I was fine, right? And you guys thought you were fine until your neighbor bought a new truck, a new house, whatever. And you think, wow, now I'm insufficient. And what happens is that comparison steals our peace. Because mercy with contentment is great. But when we don't have contentment and only mercy, we begin to desire more and more and more. And that simply activates our heart, which leads us to the fifth point, finances. And maybe today you think, I don't earn enough. Let's be honest. You don't earn enough to pay for the things

you've made bad decisions about. That's a whole sermon apart, but let's talk about that for a second. It's not that you don't earn enough. You don't earn enough to pay the monthly bills for the things you've bought. When you were very excited and comparing yourself to your neighbors, right? And then what happens is that you put your head on the pillow and all the worries begin to appear, right? Like, I'm going to be able to pay my bills. It will be enough, right? They're going to come knock on my door. Or have you ever met the guy who is always with extra work because he wants to have more money, because he wants to buy more things? Have you ever met someone more stressed than the guy with extra work? Because he's always on the move. He's always thinking. He's always thinking. He always has to move. And what happens is that you're always on the move. You don't have time to slow down. And that steals your peace. And that leads to the sixth point. Only worries, right? Decisions you have to make. What's going to happen at work next week? Fear of what might happen in the future. Man, can I really bring a child into this world?

If I have a child, what school should I go to? I don't know. Are they going to harass him? When should I let them have social media, right? And you're always worried. But who can add a single hour to their life And the worries of tomorrow are stealing our peace today. Number seven. Simply people. People. It's going to be people. Do you know what I mean? And I think it's crazy to think about it, but some of us have given another person the ability to control our peace, right? You know the guy who, if he and his girlfriend are okay, he's okay. If they're not, he's really not. You know, you find him and he's in a bad mood, like, well, I think we all know what happened. He acted like a fool again. You know, he ruined his week. Some of you had a bad day of thanksgiving with your in-laws or your family or whoever, and you haven't slept since then. Hey, we prayed for this yesterday morning. I have to be honest. Some of you have given Donald Trump the control of your peace.

He lives in your head without paying rent. I can't believe that guy. I don't even know what he's doing, but it's not good. Let's talk about that. Let's get angry about that. Let's tweet about that. Let's go. Let's gossip about that. Let's take it to our little group. Can you believe it? I don't even know what's going on today, but it's bad. And you're all upset about that because you gave someone else the control of your peace. By the way, we also do this in traffic. You're having a good day until you get to 85, 75, 285. Don't get into 285. Do you remember when 285 had a speed limit of 55? That was the big joke in Atlanta. You're having a good time until someone gets to 40 in the fast lane. And we simply gave them the control of our peace. He stole our peace. Here's the eighth, our past. Our past. Things you've done, things that have been done to you are repeated in your mind, especially when you slow down and put your head on the pillow. Negative internal talk.

The angel here and the devil here in your ear all day. Number nine, let's go there. Sin, sin. And the truth is this. You can't walk in God's peace if you don't walk in God's will. Disobedience will tire you. It's exhausting, Serjonas. God tells you to go to the right. You go to the left. And then you ask yourself, why? Why am I not in peace? Because you're not in God's will. You'll never be able to rest if you're having an adventure. Because the Holy Spirit will not allow you to stay in a place that is dangerous for your soul and that is harming another person, right? The Holy Spirit will never allow you to stay in addiction, whatever it is. And there's an old saying that says that there's no pillow softer than a calm conscience. And that's true. Obey God and you'll have peace. And here's the tenth. Here's a big one. Idols. So last year, Sam and I went to an event in Mexico. And a very beautiful place, a very beautiful hotel.

When we returned after the activities of the day in our bed, the hotel had actually put us in our bed. This doll, right? We thought, what is that? No, kids, do you know what I mean? It's like a doll, this big, and there was a small sheet of paper next to it, and it was from the hotel. And it said, Hey, we want to give you this doll that will help you protect you from the evil spirits. And in fact, you can put it under your bed or your pillow, that when you sleep, it will absorb your worries and it will take them out of your life towards it. And if you know my wife, she grabbed that doll, opened the sliding door of glass and threw that thing on the floor. And she said, I'm not going to leave that in the trash can. I'm not going to put that in our room and leave it here. And so, listen, I know that some of you think, man, I would never have an idol. This is the truth. We have such a diverse church that we have to talk about this. Because some of the cultures in which we grew up have things that are very anti-Christ. And I love how Bishop Meeks says it, who is one of the supervisors in my life. He says, take your culture and pass it on through the Bible.

And what you have left, you can keep that. There are beautiful things in your culture, but there are also demonic things and broken things in your culture. So let me tell you, those dolls have to go. Hand in hand, they have to go. The evil eye is bringing evil to your home. The crystals are welcoming demons into your life. Your meditation music, your little dum-dum-dum-dum, right? That is stealing your peace. Relics, tablets, jigsaw, dream catchers, the little witch things that your mom or aunt sent you from wherever, right? All that garbage doesn't protect you. In reality, it exposes you to more things that are going to steal your peace. And let me tell you, here is our problem. We want Jesus. Jesus and anything else will steal your peace. Because as soon as it is Jesus, and Jesus says, no, no, no, it's okay. I don't have roommates. I'll let that thing take care of you. As soon as you bring something else, he says, no, no, no, I'll let that be your God. Because clearly, that is what you want. And this is what the Old Testament is full of. The Old Testament doesn't show the Israelites saying, I don't want God. No, they said, I want God. And that is called syncretism. And what they wanted was God and high places. They always refused to take down the idols. The great sanctuaries in the high places. No, they wanted God. And I tell you, Jesus plus crystals is nothing. Jesus plus the hand of Fatima is nothing.

And if you want peace, you have to expel the idols from your life. Because God doesn't have roommates. So let's leave this here for a second. Let's leave it here, okay? Very good. Take 30 seconds and ask the question. Say, Holy Spirit, examine me. Are we allowing him to steal our peace? Are we allowing him to steal our peace? Okay, I think the key word is allowing. He can't make it happen. No, are we allowing him to steal our peace? And there may even be more, okay? Maybe the number 11 for you is health. Right? Yesterday it was revealed to me that the number 11 for me is sometimes American football. American football? University football? Okay, we won, so I have peace, but I'm just saying. Normally we don't win that game, so I don't have peace. Do you know what I mean? That's why God is revealing things about me. Very good. Are we allowing him to steal our peace? That's very important. Identify it. If it's something else, write it down. Take out your phone. I give you permission to take out your phone. Turn off your notifications, but then write it down. Very good. So here's the thing.

What do I need to do to regain my peace? First, I need to identify what is stealing my peace. Second, I need to set a limit to protect my peace. I need to set a limit to protect my peace. So in July 2019, our family did what we call our favorite holidays. We went to the West, we went to San Francisco, we went to Yosemite. Finally, we ended up in the Grand Canyon, in Las Vegas, the Hoover Dam, all of that. But my favorite place, the place I investigated the most, was the Sequoia National Park. And it contains the largest trees on the planet, the giant sequoias. And this is literally on the side of the road. Those are not the trees you're going to see. It's like, oh, we're going to bend the car. Esos son nuestros chicos. Solo detente ahí. Eso no fue editado con Photoshop. Eso es real. Puedes ver que el árbol se cayó ahí. Eso es solo una parte de la raíz. Y de nuevo, eso es solo un árbol. No es como, oye, ven a ver este árbol. No es como, oh, wow, mira eso. Entonces orillamos. Sabes, no hay letrero al respecto. Es solo eso. Así de enormes son estas cosas. Y luego finalmente vimos lo que vinimos a ver. Se llama el árbol General Sherman. Bien, entonces el lado izquierdo de esa foto es el árbol, ¿de acuerdo? Es difícil entender lo grande que es eso. Así que mira el pequeño recuadro, ¿de acuerdo?

¿Ves en la parte inferior de esa foto esas cositas azules? Esas son personas. Esas son personas. Ahora vuelve a mirar al lado izquierdo. Bien, así de alto es. Mide 275 pies de altura. Y una parte se ha caído. Aún así, sigue teniendo 275 pies de altura. Es casi tan alto como un campo de fútbol americano. Se estima que pesa 3 millones de libras. Y tiene más de 100 pies de circunferencia. Se estima que tiene 2,200 años de antigüedad. ¿Ya tenía 200 años cuando Jesús caminaba por la tierra? Así que hicimos lo que cualquiera haría. Nos tomamos una foto con Él. Ahí está nuestra familia. Bien, ahí estamos. Y luego empezamos a pensarlo. Y fue como, hombre, realmente me gustaría tocar ese árbol. ¿Por qué no puedo tocar el árbol? Y hay una valla en el camino. Y luego nos preguntamos, ¿por qué hay una valla? Porque no es como si lo pudieras robar. ¿Sabes lo que digo? Yo solo pienso, llévatelo y plántalo en mi jardín. Es todo tu patio, eso es. Y entonces llegó el guardabosques y contó la historia. Y la versión rápida es que originalmente no había vallas. Y así la gente simplemente caminaba por el parque. Y parece que, inofensivo, ¿verdad?

Quiero decir, son árboles enormes que han existido durante miles de años. Y luego un día regresaron y había un árbol cayéndose. Y luego otra semana después, otras dos semanas después, había otro árbol. Como árboles de 2,000 años, simplemente cayéndose. Y ellos dicen, ¿qué pasa? Luego, al investigar, descubrieron que el sistema de raíces de estos árboles es poco profundo. Así, a medida que la gente camina entre ellos, aplastan el sistema de raíces. Lo aflojan tanto que cuando sopla el viento, madera. Pero entonces a alguien se le ocurrió esta idea brillante. Dijeron, oí, he oído hablar de cosa loca llamada cerca. Y cuando pusieron límites, escuchen, eso mantuvo a la gente alejada de las raíces. Y ahora los árboles están sanos y prosperan porque eso es lo que hacen las cercas. Mantienen las cosas malas fuera y las cosas buenas dentro. Y esto es lo que quiero decir. Déjenme conectar los puntos. Hemos estado permitiendo esa lista de 10. Hemos estado permitiendo que cualquier cosa y todo entre en nuestra vida y pisotee en nuestro sistema de raíces. Hasta el punto de que vivimos agotados, vivimos estresados, vivimos preocupados, vivimos quemados, hasta el punto de que cuando soplan los vientos de la vida, incluso miras a los cristianos más fuertes y te preguntas, ¿cómo cayeron? Porque no tienen límites y no tienen paz. ¿Podemos poner la lista de 10 una vez más en pantalla? Está bien. Hemos permitido que el tráfico de esas 10 cosas como malas hierbas se infiltre en espacios donde no deberían estar. Y si simplemente hubiéramos tenido una cerca para mantener un espacio saludable, para mantenerlas en el lugar correcto, estaríamos bien. Pero esto sucede. Esas cosas entran donde no deberían. Ahora, esto quiero decir. No digo que estas cosas no sean importantes. Lo que digo es que algunas son reales, como las personas.

No puedes simplemente deshacerte de ellas. No, pero escuchen gente. Es cierto. No estoy diciendo que la economía no importe. Lo que digo es que la economía allá afuera importa. Pero la economía aquí adentro arruinará tu vida. Hablamos de esto antes. Que los discípulos en el Nuevo Testamento estaban con Jesús en la tormenta y la tormenta llegó, pero en algún momento la tormenta que estaba a su alrededor entró en ellos. Entiendes que puedes estar en la tormenta, pero que la tormenta no esté en ti. Ellos permitieron que la tormenta a su alrededor realmente entrara en ellos y eso los corrompió. Les causó pánico y ansiedad. Les robó la paz. Jesús estaba en la misma tormenta, pero Él dormía con la cabeza sobre una almohada, porque puedes estar en la tormenta, pero que la tormenta no esté en ti. En el momento en que permitimos que esas cosas entren en nuestra alma, ahora están en territorio de Dios y han ido demasiado lejos. Y como no tenemos límites, nuestras raíces están siendo pisoteadas We have no peace. And so our soul is worn out. We are seeing people burn. We are exhausted. Always in motion. We look for the next distraction. Why? That is the question. Why? At the end of the day. Why are we going, going, going, going, going? Because now it is at the point that when we decelerate, it is almost like an 18-wheel truck when you step on the brakes.

All the things in the back are like, keep going, keep going, keep going, keep going, keep going. Because it has been so long since we decelerated that all these things that we were supposed to discover while we were going from one place to another, have now accumulated. And now, as soon as there is a little peace in your life, the trauma returns. Loneliness begins to arise. Oh, I thought I would be married, but oh, the worries about oh, and you. Everything begins to appear. Boredom in our soul. And then what do we do? As soon as the pain appears, we grab the phone. We get distracted. Click, click, marathon of another series. Keep watching, keep watching, keep watching, keep watching. Right? Drink another energy drink. Come on, someone. You have a teenager. As soon as the pain arrives, that's why we go to the porn site. That's why we drink another bottle, whatever it is. And what is happening is that we try to silence the inner noise, keeping ourselves occupied on the outside. And we are using sin and distraction as medication, but it is not healing us. In reality, it is delaying our healing. And it is delaying our call.

Because we continue to avoid our healing by keeping ourselves accelerated. However, all the time, at the door of our life, there is the good pastor saying, hey, let me take you to green pastures and calm waters. I want to give you a little peace. Isaiah 30. This is how God says it. This is so powerful. He says, this is what the sovereign Lord says, the saint of Israel. In repentance and rest is your salvation. In quietness and confidence is your strength. But you did not want to know any of that. None of that. You said, no, we will run away on horseback. Listen, God says, slow down, stay away from your sin, keep silence and trust in me, and I will give you true life. And we say, no, I have other things to do. See you later. I will see you at church on Sunday. You and I will not have peace if we keep moving fast and allowing ourselves access 24-7. We have to slow down and draw a line of limits around our life. So this is what is happening today. I am putting a machete in your hand, empowered by the Holy Spirit, to cut the weeds,

to reduce that list of 10 things that have entered your life. Come on, someone. This is what is happening. You just have to say, my ex no longer has power over my peace. My job no longer has power over my peace. That judicial process no longer has power over my peace. Donald Trump no longer has power over my peace. Politics no longer has power over my peace. There is no traffic. Come on, someone. And you have to push that thing back. I am not saying that it should disappear. What I am saying is that it is there now. It is no longer here. And I am not talking about being rude. I am talking about establishing healthy limits. I am going to give you a gift. Here you have it. Oh, oh, oh, this could be the best thing you get today. Okay? Keep your hands up. Keep your hands up. Here is the gift. I am going to give you a word. No. Well, there it is. Can we say it together? No? Everything. Okay, it's two letters.

North. Someone needs to take notes. Oh, good. If you don't know how to write that, some of you are like, what is that, English? Pig Latin, where does that work? Some of us don't know how to say no. And that is why we are always turning around. We are always, this is what I want to say. There are people with whom you have to establish limits because personally, they themselves don't have limits. And if you don't establish limits with people who don't have limits, they will control your life. Because they are altered. They don't have peace. Why have peace if they don't? So they will transfer their lack of peace to you and no one will have peace. Some of us need to take a break from social media. Delete the app. Or go into the settings and just turn it off, right? Turn off your notifications. Here, I promise you this. You don't need to know when Macy's has a one-day offer. Your phone has six reminders for it. You think, I don't know, maybe I'll go. I got a 4% discount coupon. Do you know what I'm talking about? Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. Put a screen time on your phone.

In other words, you can say, I only have access to 30 minutes of an application. You can set the screen time on your phone. By the way, you can set the screen time on your son's phone if you didn't know. Regret the sin, push it back. Let's say, up to here and no more. Up to here and no more. Push those things out of your life. And listen, if you have to start somewhere, let me give you an example of an amazing limit. It's a time limit called Sabbath. And Saturday is the only of the 10 commandments that is not repeated in the New Testament. And I'll tell you why in a second. But Jesus himself calls it a gift. Everyone says gift. And I don't know about you, but if God has a gift for me, I want it. I want it. And if you don't know, Shabbat comes from Shabbat. Shabbat means to cease, to stop, to abstain. It means to move away from. Saturday is to take a day off per week, not per year, per week. In other words, I don't work today. This happens. This is our life. In other words, I'm not available on this day. I'm only available to God, my family, my friends. I'm not available to work on this day,

called Saturday. And the three levels of understanding of Shabbat, I don't have time to explain everything in detail, but here it goes. The first is to rest from your work, which seems pretty simple, right? But then there's another level, which is to rest even from the thought of work. Do you know how that is? You're not working, but you're working. You're not thinking about what you have to do. You're thinking about the next presentation. On Sunday, you're getting ready for Monday, right? And some of you think, well, there can't be more than that. Yes. Rest as if all your work had already been done. How would it be if one day a week, and this is for those who ask, how do you achieve a sustainable rhythm of life? God gave us a gift called Shabbat, which every seven days makes us stop and establishes a rhythm of peace in our lives. It's like the waves of the sea. What would happen if every seventh day, or whenever you do it, you faced it as if it were your first day of retirement, right? And here's the idea, okay? And this is very important. Exodus and Deuteronomy both speak about Shabbat.

Exodus says that we must rest on the seventh day because God rested on the seventh day. So Shabbat is our reminder, listen, that you didn't create the world, and everything will be fine if you don't work today. Because it's not you who keeps the world spinning, it's Him, okay? That's what Exodus says. Deuteronomy says that you must rest because you're no longer a slave. And I know that some of you think, I've never been a slave, okay? When was the last time you took a day off from work? You didn't think about work. You didn't check your email. If it's been a while, I'm sorry to tell you, you're a slave. So what is Shabbat? You take a day off and you wake up that morning. Listen, open your eyes. You wake up on a day that you didn't create. And in fact, today I won't create anything. I'll just rest in the presence of God. I'll raise my hands like a free son of God who has been freed from slavery by my good father, the King. And I found Him again. I reconnect with the people I love. I reflect. Why? Because at the end of the week, God looked back and said, hey, it's good.

What would happen if every seven days you looked back and said, hey, the last six days were good? If not, change it. If it was good, celebrate it. And I'm convinced that's why so many people have middle-aged crisis. Because they don't live an examined life. And what happens is that you're made to examine yourself every week. But what happens is that we don't do it until we're 50 years old. Right? Oh, I thought it would be much more advanced than this. Here, there, this is what happens. Listen, what happens when you deviate a degree? Good, and then you realize after a week, you can recalibrate. What happens when you deviate a week? I mean, you deviate a degree and then you're like this for 50 years. You end up in the middle of nowhere and you ask yourself, how did I get here? And God says, exactly. ¿Qué habría pasado si simplemente hubieras recibido mi regalo para ti? Y cada siete días te dieras la vuelta y dijeras, ¿esto estuvo bien? Si no, corrígelo, cámbialo, vuelve a la línea central. Tienes que hacerlo, los niños están creciendo tan rápido. Bien, entonces toma un día de descanso. I don't know what I'm supposed to do about my call. I hate my job. Well, then rest. Take a break.

Receive what God has for you. So let's do it right now. We can put this question up here. What limit do I need to set to protect my peace? Take 30 seconds for that. Very good. Think about this. Think about the list of 10. Think maybe about the number 11 you added, whatever it is. And maybe you just need to say, Hey, I don't even know where to start. But rest sounds like a good option. What limit do I need to set to protect my peace? What do I have to do to recover my peace? I have to identify what is stealing my peace. Then draw a limit to protect it. The third thing is this, the last one. Then invite Jesus to reign as my Prince of Peace. Invite Jesus to reign as my Prince of Peace. What I do when I identify what is stealing my peace and then draw a limit to remove that is to clean the throne of my life. And I'm saying, Jesus, come and take your legitimate place as the Prince of Peace. This is really what I'm saying. This is what I'm saying to Jesus. Jesus, I honestly thought I would find peace by increasing my number of followers on social media. I thought I would find peace by improving my life so that it would be a little better than my neighbors'. I thought I would find peace by being always busy

to look important. I thought I would find peace by getting that increase, finally getting that promotion, winning that trophy, getting that title. I thought I would find peace in the bottom of a pill bottle. I thought I would find peace on the other side of that place. I thought I would find peace in the crystals. I thought I would find peace in the horoscopes. But now that I've tried all that and I've seen that it's disgusting, I know that there are only thieves and liars who don't give peace. In reality, they take away peace. So Jesus, my declaration of faith today is that you are the Prince of Peace in my life. So come and sit on the throne of my peace. And the point is that the commandment of the day of rest is not in the New Testament. Hebrews. I think it's Hebrews 4. You can review it, okay? It's because, listen, the Sabbath at the end of the day was never a day. The Sabbath was about allowing a day to take you to a person because peace at the end of the day is not found in a day. Peace is not found in a technique. Peace is not found in listening to a certain type of music. Peace is not found in attending a Tony Robbins seminar because peace is not in a program. Peace is in a person and that person is Jesus. So listen, friends. My peace is not in politics. My peace is not in the elephant. My peace is not in the donkey. My peace is in a person. My peace is not in meditation.

My peace is in a person. My peace is not in my girlfriend, my boyfriend, my husband, my wife, my children, or whatever. No, my faith is in a much bigger person. My peace is not in a bottle of pills. My peace is not in any technique that this world can offer me. My peace is in a person and his name is Jesus, the Christ. He is life. We are the wings. His peace flows from him to our lives while we remain in him. Jesus is ours. Saturday. And our soul finds rest only in God. Jesus gives me peace with God through the cross. Jesus gives me peace with myself because my sins are forgiven. So now, therefore, there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. He gives me peace with other people because now we are part of the same family and we can forgive 70 times 7. And he gives me peace. The world. Because now I am at peace. And listen, Jesus never promises us a life free of storms. But he promises us that he will be with us in our boat in the midst of the storm. Because peace is not the absence of conflict. It is the presence of Jesus in the midst of conflict. And let me tell you, peace, I know you are feeling it. You are savoring it right now. But peace is not in attending church. Peace is not in memorizing a scripture. Peace is not in any of these things. Because peace is only found in one person. And how do you get close to that person? Through prayer and worship.

It is through trusting actively. Let me give you one last scripture. Isaiah 26 verse 3. It says, God, you will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are firm. in you. He says, You will keep in perfect peace all who attend the church. You will keep in perfect peace all who are addicted to. It's not trust. It's something active. And you can trust God because He is alive. You're not trusting stained glass. You're not trusting someone. This is an act of Christ. You know, Philippians 4, right? It says, Do not worry about anything. On every occasion, pray to God. And the peace of God that transcends understanding will keep hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. We love to quote, God, give me the peace of God that transcends understanding and keep my heart and mind. No, no, no, no, no. That has a condition. Present your petition to God. And then the peace of God. What he's saying is trust.

I trust. I trust. I'm getting closer to Him. I'm giving Him my word. Some need to say, God, I'm afraid of... God, I'm so worried about... And I promise you that when you give Him that, then His peace will flood you. How do I access the peace of God? Connecting with a person. I do that mainly through prayer and worship. That's where I rediscover friendship. That's where dead things begin to come back to life. So let's do it. Bow your heads. And let's talk to a person. God, at this moment, we draw a limit around this moment. In fact, listen. Here on all campuses, if necessary, literally, put your phone on silent mode. Just for a minute. Just for a minute. God, we're making a commitment not to think about what's next. We're going to think about what's happening now. And at this precise moment, we're completely available just for you. Oh, dear God. Can we do this? Can we breathe?

Father, we confess that we've been busy. God, we've been moving so fast that we forgot to remember to breathe. We've been running. We've been full of caffeine. We've been distracted. We've allowed idols, people, politics, and mundane worries to come in and completely steal our inner peace. And we look back. We have a moment of sabbatical rest right now. We look back at this last season, and there were many good things. But there were also many things that weren't. So right now, we repent. And we go back to our principle of peace. We confess that we're tired, exhausted, and broken. But we run so fast that we don't realize it. But right now, we hear the call again. Come to me. All of you who are tired and truly burdened. And I will make you rest fully. So we come to you. We put our faith in you, Jesus Christ, as the Son of God. Yes, to completely forgive our sins. And through that, to give us a deep peace with the Heavenly Father. Also right now,

we put you on the throne of our life as Lord, as Savior, and also as our Prince of Peace. And now, thanks to the cross, we are forgiven of our sins. And we come to you as free sons and daughters, no longer trying to gain your approval. We are no longer slaves. Sons and daughters. And we are here right now to receive from Jesus what only you can give. Because you give as the world could never give. You give true peace. So can we do that? Can we just extend our hands? Just as if we were going to take something. Can we say it together? I receive your peace. Let's say it together. I receive your peace. Say it again. I receive your peace. One more time, please, I'm asking you. I receive your peace. In this moment... Listen, in all fields, the Alabanza team will come out and guide us in a moment. This is what I would say. It has been a while since some of us have been still. Here is the power of being still. Be still and know that He is God.

Where is the stillness? Where is the silence? I find it here for the first time in a long time. Draw a line of the limit around this moment and say, right now I belong only to God. And so while the team plays, many times, you know, I know there is pressure. That when the lyrics appear up there, I feel that I also have to sing. Maybe this time, He only receives. Of course, you can stand up, you can sing, you can do whatever you want, but I encourage you to let Him be the vine, that you be the branch and allow His peace to enter your life today. As a beloved son of God, let us worship together. So send us a letter and tell us things like what God is doing in your life, how we can pray for you, or even what content you would like us to create in the future. We just want you to know that we see you, you are important to us and we would love to continue creating things in the future that bless you. So send us a letter and we look forward to hearing from you soon.