If You’re Anxious, This Is How God Gives You Peace

Today, we're continuing in our series, we're calling it battle ready. And it really is a series is designed to help you and I know how to stand against the schemes of the devil, our enemy and can I just tell you, he hates your guts. All right, you need to know that you need to know he doesn't like you because you're made in God's image, you bear the image of God. And he hates God. So he hates you. And the closer you get to God, the more you follow the ways of God, the closer you are in relationship with God, the bigger the target gets on your back from the enemy. Welcome to following Jesus, everybody. Alright, that's what it's about. You need to know it. And you don't have to fear though. And you don't have to fret. You don't have to worry and you don't have to falter. And you definitely don't have to fall you can actually stand against the schemes of the devil if you're battle ready. Everybody say battle ready. Battle ready. That's what we're learning. That's what we're learning in this series of messages. We're learning how to be battle ready every day, not just on Sunday, but how to be battle ready every single day. And we're learning it from the Bible. We love, love God's Word. And it's so practical and relevant to our lives. And there's actually a theme scripture we're using all series long. My goal is by the end of our six weeks of this series, you're going to you're going to be so familiar with this scripture, you'll be real close to memorizing it. And I'd love it if all of us could work on it together. In fact, today I'm going to read the scripture with you. And I'm going to invite you to read the underlined words along with me and I've taught you all series. This is not a scripture that you can sit down to read. This is not one of those. This is like an action scripture. So I know

you just sat down and I know you're just getting comfy. But I'm gonna return you to your Catholic roots. Why don't you stand up with me again, everybody? All right. And, and we're gonna read this scripture. You just read the underlined, bolded portions of our theme scripture together. It goes like this. Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power, put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore, put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground. And after you've done everything to stand, come on, put your hands together for the word of God, everybody. So powerful. And you can be seated and you can get comfy all over again, because today we're going to jump right into talking about how to stand when the enemy desires to attack. And if you're going to stand against the schemes of the enemy, you got to put on the full armor of God. Now, in case you've missed the first two weeks of this series, the imagery of armor that we're talking about is really being inspired by that of a Roman soldier. The Apostle Paul, who writes this letter, this epistle, called Ephesians, is actually writing it from a Roman jail cell. He is likely chained to and being guarded by a Roman soldier. And so, as Paul writes about our struggle, he references the struggle that a Roman soldier may have. He's literally looking at a soldier probably wearing 70 pounds of full on body armor. He would have looked something like this. By the way, this is an image that we, a picture that we took on Friday night at our men's

night, because we got some jack dudes in this church, let me tell you. And as the Apostle Paul looked at the soldier guarding him, he does this awesome, powerful visual metaphor that he ties into us. Just like the guard, the soldier, is wearing physical armor to protect him in his physical fight, Paul says that there is some spiritual armor that as a soldier of Christ, as a follower of Jesus, some spiritual armor that you and I need for our spiritual fight. And so far, we've talked about two of those pieces of the six pieces of armor. We've talked about the belt of truth. That was week one. Last week, if you were here, we talked about the breastplate. of righteousness, and today, today we're gonna get to Tabitha, my wife's favorite piece of armor. It's the third piece of armor. If you're taking notes today, you can write it down. Paul calls these the shoes of peace. Come on, ladies, the shoes of peace. Mama needs a new pair of shoes. The shoes of peace. You can actually tell a lot about a person about the shoes they wear. Don't you think about that? We're gonna have a little fun with it. We're gonna have a little fun with it. I'm gonna show you a famous pair of shoes, and I want you to shout out who wore them. All right, this will be a fun little game we can play. Online, you can jump over in the chat and participate.

I'm gonna show you a famous pair, and as soon as you recognize it, you just shout it out. Who wore these famous pair of shoes? Let's start with these. These are the ruby reds. Who wore them? Dorothy wore the ruby reds. You see how the game works? Okay, here's another one. This is a glass slipper. Who wore it? There you go. Now you're getting it. Now you're getting it. I'll give you another one. Who wore these? Oh, the GOAT, the greatest of all time. Michael Jordan. Okay, yeah. All right, these next ones, these next ones, you'll recognize right away. Come on, McDonald's, let's go. Let's go, Ronald McDonald. The next ones might throw you a little bit. Who wore these? Every 40-year-old father wears these. Now the last ones, I don't really expect you to know, but these are called Caligas, Caligas, and these are the shoes that Paul is referencing in Ephesians.

These are the shoes worn by a Roman soldier. They would be more like half boot, half sandal. They were strong, solid, military-style shoes called Caligas. They would have been made up with soles of several layers of leather. They would have had hollow metal studs, like cleats, along the base to provide a firm grip into the sole. And as Paul is writing, these are the shoes that undoubtedly grabbed his attention when he wrote these words. He said, for shoes, put on the peace that comes from the good news so that you will be fully prepared. Another translation says it like this. With your feet fitted, with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. Paul says there is something that you could put on your feet, something that will allow you to stand when the enemy attacks, something that will keep you from faltering, that will keep you from wavering, that will keep you from doubting, something that will keep you from falling when the enemy attacks. Paul says, put on peace. And that's what many of us need today. In fact, there are a lot of us today who would say, it is the one thing that is the most important thing missing in my life, the idea of peace.

You're consumed with anxiety. Your spirit is unsettled. You're at odds with someone. There's disunity in their family. There's division in your marriage. There's stress. There's turmoil. There's chaos around every corner. You're not sleeping. You're not resting. There's some circumstances that have you shook or have you rattled or have you on edge and there is no peace. And you need to know that's an attack of the enemy on your life, that the enemy is coming for your peace. And Paul says, stand, and you say back to Paul, I can't stand because the one thing I need the most, I don't have, it is called peace. And Paul would say, you don't have it because you haven't put on the shoes of peace. I want you to know today that the enemy's target is often your peace. That's what he's going after. I taught you last week that the enemy wants to steal, kill, and destroy. It's called the figure three, the steal, kill, and destroy of the enemy. And what he's doing is he's trying to steal, kill, and destroy your peace.

Peace is at the top of the list for the enemy. And he usually does it by intentionally stirring up things like discord and he stirs up division and he stirs up disruption and he stirs up Disturbance and the reason he stirs it up is because he believes it will knock you down That's what the enemy is trying to do He wants you to feel unbalanced Unstable Unsettled and uneasy And so he will create circumstances and he will use people and He will create division And he will use sickness And he will use somebody's words He'll use the news cycle and and he'll use even comments on Facebook. Hello somebody He'll use it and it'll start to steal away rob away Pull away our peace He'll use people who love you people who hate you he'll use people with good intentions people with bad intentions He'll infiltrate your thoughts and create scenarios in your mind that keep you on edge And it's all for the purpose of stealing healing and destroying your peace In fact, you can write this down as a truth today wherever peace is lacking The enemy is working You can look around your life wherever there's no peace. It's the enemy's work Where wherever there's there's chaos turmoil. It's the enemy's work You can know it with certainty if there's listen if there's no peace in your marriage The enemy is working in your marriage Some of you wives are like, oh, I know I know his name is Jimmy. He's my husband. I married him. He's working Let me let me help you out let me help you out because if you don't know this you'll always be mad at Jimmy But Paul said Paul said our enemy is not flesh and blood That our struggle is not our we wrestle not with flesh and blood enemies. There is an enemy behind Jimmy

So don't be mad at Jimmy love Jimmy hug Jimmy kiss Jimmy If your name is Jimmy you better give a good offering today because I'm hooking you up bro, I'm just saying Don't be mad at Jimmy You're fighting with the wrong person There isn't there's a real enemy Stirring up real division stirring up real strife all in an attempt to try to rob you of your peace And and Paul says no, no, you got to put on the shoes of peace If you're gonna be battle-ready if you're gonna be armored up Some of us Have lived so long Without peace. We don't even know what it is. So let's start there Can we just start by by defining peace? the word that Paul uses for peace is Is the Greek word Irene Irene? It's it's got a Hebrew parallel though That's probably a little bit more familiar with you to you. It's it's the word Shalom, you've heard that word before Everybody say with me. Shalom. That's the Hebrew word for peace and it does not mean the absence of chaos Rather it means this and overall deeply entrenched sense of harmony health and Wholeness in the midst of chaos Give me some of that Sign me up for some of that in my life. Yeah, I want shalom. I want harmony health and wholeness But don't miss the end in the midst of chaos so this this is not like this is not like the easy button There is no easy button when it comes to our Christian faith

These are not like magic shoes You know, I mean, you don't put on the shoes of peace and magic happens Who would know when I was a kid? They they they came out with these shoes They were high tops and and they and they had a little pump on the side of them and if you pump them up You could jump higher. That's what they that's what they told you. They were like magic shoes. The commercial was very compelling because it showed a fat little chubby kid like me who Who could dunk the basketball when he was wearing the the pump-up tennis shoes. It was awesome These shoes of peace are not like that These shoes of peace don't allow you to walk into situations and change circumstances These shoes of peace don't get put on your feet and suddenly give you superpowers to change the situation around you These shoes of peace don't stop the attack around you. But when you put on the shoes of peace It's not like you're going to be able to walk out of a room and it's not like you're going to be able to They keep the attack from getting in you. That's the goal. Priscilla Shira, in her study on the armor of God, she wrote it like this. She said, true peace is best detected and measured against the backdrop of commotion and confusion. When instability abounds, yet you remain steadfast. When disappointment and confusion are near, yet you're still capable of walking with spirit infused confidence, stability, and steadiness. That's how you know your feet are fitted with the shoes of peace. And Jesus promised a peace like this. Jesus said to us, peace, I leave with you. My peace, I give you. I do not give as the world gives. This is a different kind of peace. Don't let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. Look at what Jesus is saying. Jesus is saying trouble and fear will disrupt your peace. And so Jesus says, I'm going to give you something that will overcome trouble and fear.

I'm going to give you peace and peace will fill your heart and flood your life. I'm going to give you peace, Jesus says. But know this. Anytime Jesus gives us something good, the enemy comes along with a counter and gives us the opposite of what Jesus gives to us. He offers to us something as a counter to what Jesus wants to offer. Jesus offers peace. So the enemy comes along and offers fear and trouble. And what happens for a lot of us is the peace that Jesus wants to flood our hearts gets stolen away or robbed away or replaced with fear and trouble. And now fear and trouble has flooded your heart and life. Fear and trouble has consumed you when ultimately Jesus says, no, I want, I want my peace to consume you. I want my peace to override the attack of the enemy. While we're defining peace, let me, let me add to that two types of peace. I think this will bring clarity for a lot of people. The Bible describes peace in two different ways. There are two different types of peace. If you're taking notes today, write these down. I want you to, I want you to meditate on these, considering them throughout the week. The first type of peace the Bible talks about is peace with God. This is the most important type of peace, peace with God. This is the peace you get when you say yes to a relationship with Jesus Christ, you get peace with God. Maybe you've talked to somebody, this, this is usually somebody a little older, somebody maybe who's, who's walking through a difficult time in life, facing maybe the end of life. And you might hear somebody say, I made peace with my maker. Have you ever heard that? I've made peace with my maker. It's not, it's not exactly accurate.

You see, let me, let me explain why, because all of us, every single one of us are enemies of God. What? Yeah, we're enemies of God. We are born as sinners. The Bible says that all of us have sinned. So none of us measure up to God's standard. And so as a result of that, we are not at peace with God. We are actually at war with God because, because we're sinners. We don't meet his, his standard, but God in his love, the Bible says, while we were still sinners, God in his love offers to us a means by which to make peace. And that means is through the blood of Jesus Christ. That's why Jesus came to die on the cross to pay the penalty for our sin. And so we don't necessarily make peace with God. God came to make peace with you and with me through his son, Jesus Christ. And he offers to us a free gift called peace. It's offered through a relationship with Jesus. I'll show you how the Bible says it. It says, therefore, since we have been justified through faith, let me explain that word justified. I'll give you the best definition. Justified means this, just as if I had never sinned. That's what it means. You just think just as if I had never sinned. It means that when God looks at a person who has a relationship with his son, Jesus Christ through faith, he sees you just as if you had never sinned. So since we have been made just as if we had never sinned through faith, we now have peace with God, how? Through our Lord Jesus Christ. That's awesome. By the way, that's awesome.

This is the peace. Peace that we get with God is a peace that every person in the world needs. If you're here today and you're at odds with God, I beg of you, receive the peace of God through faith and you can be at peace with God. And when you're at peace with God, you get settled in your spirit that this earth is not our home. When you are at peace with God, you know these worldly circumstances, this hurt and pain and discouragement and disruption and distraction, this is not all there is. When you're at peace with God, your past is wiped clean. Your sins are forgiven. You've been given new life, new purpose, new meaning, a new significance as a child of God. This is a peace that stabilizes you and grounds you and shifts your perspective from temporary to eternal. It is the peace we have with God. Can we just take like a five second praise break and thank God for peace with God? Thank you, Jesus, for making a way for us to have peace with God. It's awesome. But peace with God leads us to a second type of peace. Now you can't have the second type of peace if you don't have the first type. Peace with God leads us to number two, the peace of God. You have peace with God. He wants you to have the peace of God. You'll never have the peace of God if you don't have the peace with God. And here's what breaks my heart for so many of us today. So many of us, we're good with God. We've received through faith justification. We are good with God, but we are not good with what's happening within us. And that's because you're missing the peace of God. The apostle Paul says, this is how it's supposed to work, Paul says, and the peace of God,

which transcends all understanding. That's an awesome phrase. It transcends all understanding. In other words, even when it doesn't make sense to have peace, you can have it. Even when the world is chaotic around you, even when the circumstances are crazy around you, even when it feels like I can't have any peace. Oh, yes, you can, because this is a peace that transcends all understanding. People will look at you and be like, how can you have peace in a moment like this? And you'll be like, I don't know. It's only the peace of God. It transcends all understanding. And what will it do? It will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. And so this is why you got to learn to put on the shoes of peace, because peace is the weapon that guards my heart and my mind. And if you feel unsettled, unstable, unrested, uneasy, disrupted, disunified, divided in your heart and in your mind, it's because you haven't put on the shoes of peace. And it's a weapon, which means you got to use it. What good does a weapon do if you don't use it? Huh? What good? What good does the weapon do if somebody breaks into your house and you got the bat under the bed and you never reach for it? I got a bat under my bed. Yes, I do. Just so you know. I'm just saying, what good does the weapon do if you don't use it? And peace is not passive. And there are way too many of us who are approaching peace with passivity, like, oh, either I got it or I don't, either I feel it or I don't, either it's here today or it's not.

That's not the way it works with a weapon. You got to put on the shoes of peace. You got to tie them up, lace them up, cinch them up tight, cover your little piggies with the shoes of peace, y'all. Which means you got to be intentional and put some effort behind it. And I want to show you how. Like literally today, I want to, I want to show you how anytime the enemy comes to steal your peace, you can thwart the attack of the enemy by putting on the shoes of peace. This is what, this is what Paul is trying to teach us. That you don't have to walk around in anxiety. You don't have to be crippled by fear. You don't have to lose sleep at night over worry, concern, you don't have to, that there's actually a way that you can lace up some shoes and stand firm, even though the attack of the enemy is coming against you and you can hold on to peace. It's a gift from God. Jesus said, I'm giving it to you. So don't let the enemy have it. You protect it. And the way you protect it is by putting on the shoes of peace. I'm going to teach you three scriptures today. These three scriptures are going to provide for us the means by which we tie up our shoes. This is how we put the shoes of peace on, three scriptures. And if today for you, peace seems elusive, it seems out there somewhere, like I could never have it, then I want you to do more than just receive these three scriptures. I want you to write them down. I want you to take them home. I want you to print them out. I want you to put them around your house. I want you to read them every single day. I want you to start to get them into your spirit.

I want you to start to memorize them. I'm serious. I really want God's word to show you today how to stand against the scheme of the devil when he tries to steal your peace. Three scriptures. They'll be on the screen for you. You can follow them along. This is the first one. It's Philippians chapter four, verses six and seven. We just read a portion of it, but let me read the whole thing to you. The first scripture, do not be anxious, do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God and look at what happens and the peace of God. Here it is, which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. That's the first scripture. Here's the second scripture. It's Colossians 3.15. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts. Let it rule there. The little phrase rule is equivalent to how we would talk about an umpire ruling a game. So the peace of Christ rules like an umpire calling the shots in your heart. Not feelings, not emotions, and not circumstances. Those things don't rule. The peace of Christ rules in my heart. Since as members of one body, you are called to peace, and would you read this last part with me? And be thankful. Come on, every voice and be thankful. I'll give you a third scripture.

This one's from the Old Testament, Isaiah 26.3. It's a promise about God. You God, you will keep in perfect peace. I love that phrase, perfect peace, perfect peace, complete, total peace. All who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you. And so based on these three scriptures, we got like a one, two, three knockout punch coming. When the enemy attacks, these three scriptures teach us to do three things. And I want to teach you these three things based on those three scriptures. And you can do these three things anytime, anytime you start to feel turmoil, anytime you start to feel anxiety, anytime you start to feel a lack of peace, you do these three things based on those three scriptures, and God's going to give you his peace. It's going to thwart the attack of the enemy. Some of you, anxiety is coming off your life today. Peace is coming in your heart and you will not lose it if you hold on to these three things I'm telling you. So based off the first scripture, what do we do? Number one, the moment we start to feel like peace is leaving us, we pray, we pray, we pray. Please don't roll your eyes at me because all that's so simple. It's not that simple or else you'd do it more often. Why is it when you wake up in the middle of the night, your mind's racing? The first thing you do is grab your phone. Why? That's the worst thing to do. The first thing to do is pray. Pray is how you put your shoes on. It's how you get shoes a piece. The first thing you do, the first thing you do when things start to go crazy at home and your kids are going out of control, you don't start yelling, screaming, throwing stuff around.

No, you pray. The first thing you do when you get to work and your inbox is full and you start to feel anxious about everything you got to do and you'll never get it all done today. You stop and you pray. It's how you keep your peace. You stop the attack of the enemy by praying. You just pray, God, help me to have peace in this moment. Give me your peace, Jesus, in this moment. The second scripture taught me to do this though. After I pray the second scripture taught me to be grateful. You got to have gratitude There's something about gratitude that silences the attack of the enemy against your peace So gratitude moves us from being the victim to being a victor. It moves us from being entitled to recognizing we are blessed And so so whatever the situation is You stop you pray and then you're grateful You're grateful if it's the kids that are trying to steal your peace you stop and you pray God Help me to have peace in this moment and thank you for these awesome kids If it's your trouble at work God, thank you Thank you for an incredible opportunity to have this job Thank you God that I have breath in my lungs to be able to get up today and make it to work You've found something anything if it's Jimmy God, thank you for Jimmy And after you're grateful Then you got to work on something else number three. The third scripture taught us to work on our thoughts Because your thoughts matter more than you realize and What the enemy loves to do is plant little seeds of doubt little seeds of questions little seeds of negativity And he tries to control your thoughts He'll plant little scenarios in your mind He'll he'll he'll put conversations in your mind that never happened, but you'll think they did He'll make you believe something about someone else and that's never even crossed their mind But now you're assigning motive and you're assigning intention and you're assigning mood to a simple text message

They sent you. Oh, they put three periods dot dot dot. Oh, they must really hate me No, they just got fat thumbs oh They use all caps they must really be mad no, they're just old they don't know how to use not all caps it's stuck They don't know how to get it off This is what the devil does and you got to control your thoughts Instead of letting your thoughts control you Because if all you do all you do is start focusing on circumstances on situations on problems on people on Negativity on the gloom and doom of the news cycle. If all you do is focus on your lack of peace. You'll never have peace But if you put your thoughts on God After you pray and you're grateful God is going to give you his peace Guaranteed it's gonna happen every single time. It's how you put the shoes of peace on and it's how you stand So you got to be intentional you got to take up the weapon you don't get it for free You got to go after it. You got to want it but you can have the peace of God and You can stand Now now let me let me let me end with this because Paul intentionally Calls these the shoes of peace He could have called him so he could have called him the wristband of peace or the ring of peace, you know but he calls them the shoes a piece for a purpose Paul is saying you need peace in your feet for a purpose I don't own it. I want to end by teaching you the two purposes why we have These as the shoes of peace. There's two reasons Write them down before we're done. Here's the first one the shoes of peace Calls you to stand firm in Any situation that's why he called him the shoes of peace because he wants you to stand firm in any situation. I Told you these shoes were

like cleats They had those metal nubs on the bottom of them they allowed the soldier to Get his footing and To stand firm with his footing in place in any situation in any battle and Then that's what the shoes of peace are gonna do for you Whatever comes your way Whatever result the doctor report gives you Whatever whatever it cost To fix that car Whatever Division that crazy family members trying to stir up Whatever crazy idea the enemy tries to bombard you with When you have peace in your feet, you're not gonna fall over You're not gonna topple. You're not gonna waiver you're not gonna doubt, you're gonna stand firm. So Paul says, you can be stable no matter what comes your way. You can be stable even when the enemy attacks you. He can create chaos around you, but he can't create chaos within you because you're standing firm with peace in your feet. That's why he called it the shoes of peace. That's why he called it the shoes of peace. You gotta stand firm. Here's the second reason he said these are the shoes of peace, because number two, the shoes of peace calls you to carry peace into any battle.

Those soldiers wore those sandals so they could advance the mission into any battle. They could walk with confidence into any battle knowing they had the right shoes on for the battle. The shoes you wear matter. It matters. You don't play golf in dress shoes. You don't play basketball in Crocs. If your feet look like mine, you don't play anything wearing flip-flops. Y'all listening? Because the shoes you wear matter. And the soldier wore these shoes so that they could walk into any battle. And I'm saying God wants you to wear shoes of peace so you can go into any battle as a person of peace. God wants you to carry peace with you into any battle. When you show up, you don't bring division. When you're on the scene, you don't create chaos. When you open your mouth, you don't sow disunity. You don't bring unsettledness. As a follower of Jesus wearing the shoes of peace, you bring peace. Look at me, look at me. When you comment on social media, you bring peace. Not division. Hello? You're a person of peace. When your friend calls and says, I have cancer, you walk with them as a person of peace.

When your kid wakes up in the middle of the night with a bad dream, you walk in their room and you pray over them as a person of peace. When your teenager comes and says, I'm struggling, mom or dad, with this or that, you don't lose your mind, you bring peace. When your boss or your coworker says, oh man, everything's going bad, everything's going wrong, we got so much to do, you don't join in the griping and complaining and the negativity, you bring peace. You're a person of peace, not chaos, not disunity. In fact, right now, I don't know, maybe God's calling somebody today to step into a situation and it might not even be your situation. But there's a situation around you that lacks peace and God wants you to step in to bring peace. Your presence, your presence should bring peace. Men, when you walk in the door after a long day at work, your presence shouldn't create chaos. Kids shouldn't walk around on eggshells because dad's in a bad mood, no, you bring peace. You bring peace. Ladies, when you get overwhelmed with so many things happening all around you and you just wanna tell everybody the way it is, oh my gosh, when you do this, no, no, no. No, no, no, you settle down and bring peace. Put on the shoes of peace. It's who God's called us to be. And that's why he calls them the shoes of peace

because when you step into any situation, your presence will thwart the attack of the enemy if you got on the shoes of peace. Discord, division, disruption, disturbance, it's all from the enemy, but peace is from Jesus. And you can have it and you can carry it if you put on the shoes of peace. It's a little bit like this today. If I told you, I know your shoe size, I know your style, and I know your favorite pair of shoes that you've been wanting, and I've got them for you in the lobby for free. I've got them for you. I got them for you in the lobby for free. But all you gotta do is stop by the lobby and pick them up. How many of you by show of hands, how many of you would actually stop by and pick them up? If I told you they were your size, your style, how many of you? I know a bunch of you, I know a bunch of you wouldn't because you're hard-headed. You don't play my little silly games. I know, I know. You can put your hands down. One more time. If I told you, I know your shoe size, I know your favorite pair of shoes that you've been wanting, I had your style and your size, your favorite pair.

and I've got them for you in the lobby for free. How many of you would stop and get them? Really, seriously, let's be honest. If I told you they were your size, your style, I mean, come on, you'd get them, you'd get them. how many of you? I know a bunch of you wouldn't because you're hard-headed. You don't play my little silly games. I know, I know. I got good news. I got them. I got your size. They're gonna fit you perfectly. I know your style. And I know you've been wanting these for a long time. I got them for you. You're welcome. I got them for you. They're awesome. And you don't even have to stop in the lobby to get them. Because I just told you how to get them. I just told you. Put them on. Put them on. They're called Shoes of Peace. They're better than any shoes I could buy for you. They're better than any shoes you got in your closet. They're better than any shoes that you could ever put on your physical feet.

Because they are spiritual shoes that will give you what you want and need the most. Peace of God. Peace of God. Receive it today. And tomorrow morning when you wake up, you put that belt of truth on. Hey, before you get out of bed, before you put on your physical clothes, you put on the belt of truth. You put on the breastplate of righteousness. And you strap on the shoes of peace. And you watch and see. Because the enemy can't take that from you. Now I wanna pray for three groups of people today before we're done. Some of you are here and you don't have peace. I mean, it is, there is chaos in your heart. But today I'm gonna pray for the peace of God in your life. Some of you, second group, are gonna get an assignment today from the Holy Spirit to carry peace somewhere, into some relationship, into some situation. You're gonna be the person of peace. And I want you to say yes to that assignment when the Holy Spirit speaks to your heart. I'm gonna pray for you to have boldness. And then the third group and probably the most important today. There are some of you here today

and you are not at peace with God. You are an enemy of God because you have never, never received Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior. I'm gonna pray with you to make Him your Lord and Savior today. So would you bow your heads? Would you close your eyes? If you fall in that first group today and you need peace, would you just open your hands toward heaven to receive peace like it's a gift from heaven towards your life today? Whatever circumstance or whatever situation, it may not change, but your heart will change today with the peace of God. So we start with prayer. Father, we thank you. We thank you that you are a God of peace and you offer peace to your kids today. So fill our hearts. For every open hand, fill our hearts with what we need the most, peace. And as we pray, we're grateful. We're grateful today for your love, for your kindness. We're grateful today that we know with confidence you hear us. We're grateful today that we have breath to breathe, to usher this prayer out of our lips and toward heaven. And we pray today with gratitude that you would fill us with what we need the most.

Receive the gift of peace today. We fix our thoughts on you, God, and nothing can take that away from us. We replace anxiety, fear, fretting, and worry with your peace that passes all understanding. And now for the second group of us, if today God's giving you an assignment, receive it. God, I pray that you would impress upon your people to be people of peace. God, that we would carry peace into every situation. And God, specifically for some of us today, call us to a specific relationship. Call us to a specific assignment where our presence will thwart the attack of the enemy because we will bring peace with us. Use us, give us boldness to step into that situation knowing our feet are fitted with the gospel of peace. May we step into it today in Jesus' name. And finally, if you're here today and you don't have peace with God, this prayer is for you. And I want you to pray it from your heart, but really mean it. I want you to repeat these words after me, just silently from your heart. God's listening. Just say, Jesus, I wanna know you. I want my sin forgiven by you. And I wanna live my life for you. So come into my life and be my Lord and Savior.

God, thank you for moving in our hearts and our lives today. Thank you for your word that is alive and active. Thank you it never returns void, that it will have the purpose you intended. be planted in the good soil of hearts today. In Jesus name, we pray. Amen. Amen. Come on, everybody. Thank God for his word today.