Why Can't I Feel God's Peace?

Well, Merry Christmas from my family to all of you. And as we prepare our hearts to celebrate the birth of Jesus, I wanna give you a moment just to look within, and I'm gonna ask you kind of a reflective question, and start with, have you ever noticed that in this amazing Christmas season, that Christmas can be a multiplier? Whatever emotion you feel, it tends to multiply it. If you got positive emotions, it multiplies it. If you got difficult people in your life, oh, it's a multiplier. And that's why what I wanna do is I wanna ask you to look back over the past month and think about what emotions did you feel most often? What emotions did you feel most often over the last month? I did a very scientific study where I walked out of my office and interviewed 30 people. Very scientific study. And I asked them, what emotions did you feel most often? It was really interesting what I heard. There were a lot of people that were just like excited, excited, some of you are those people. You're so excited, you've been listening to Christmas music since October. There's some excited people. Honestly, there were some people that were kind of stressed and anxious, they were kind of like going, oh, Christmas party's here, and you gotta go Christmas shopping, and money's tight, and there's so much to do, I don't know,

how am I gonna get it all done? I talked to a couple of people that said, permission to be honest? I said, yeah, please be honest. And they said, I actually feel emotionally heavy. And they used words like depressed a little bit, lonely. And so I pressed a little deeper and going like, are you not around people? And they said, no, we're actually surrounded by people, and yet sometimes we feel unseen, or unloved, or unnoticed. I talked to a couple of people, and my heart goes out to you all, that are feeling grief, that have experienced deep loss. And for some of you, this Christmas will be very different from the last, maybe because there's not someone there because of a divorce, or because of another type of loss. What's interesting is I talked to all these amazing people, almost all of them true followers of Jesus, and I ask about the emotions they felt. No one said peace, no one said peace. And maybe you step back and remember, Jesus came to bring us peace on earth, and yet when I look around in our culture today, there are not a lot of people who would say they have a lot of peace in their hearts. And so today as we celebrate the birth of our Savior, I wanna try to answer a question. Why does God promise us peace, but so many of us don't yet feel it? Would you pray with me today?

Heavenly Father, we thank you for the birth of Jesus, a Savior born into this world, the Lamb of God, to be slain for the forgiveness of sins. We ask God that by the power of your spoken word and the presence of your Holy Spirit, that you would bring the peace on earth that you sent Jesus to give. No matter what someone is feeling, whatever heaviness or burden, God, we ask for your peace that goes beyond our human ability to understand, and we pray this in Jesus' name. And to everyone who agreed at all our Life.Church locations, would you say amen? And amen. Are you ready for the word today? If you're ready, kind of give me some love. Give me some Christmas love. Shout it out loud. Say, I'm ready. Are you ready? I'm ready. We're wrapping up the message series called He Will Be Called. And 700 years, it's amazing to think about, 700 years before the birth of Christ, the Old Testament prophet Isaiah prophesied looking straight into a world much like ours, filled with fear and grief and anxiety.

And 700 years before the birth of Christ, he prophesied the amazing news. For to us, Isaiah 9, verse six says, for to us, a child is born. To us, a son is given. And the government will be on his shoulders, and he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace. Seven centuries before. Before Jesus was born, the prophet declared that God would send a child, not a soldier, not a politician, not a king on a throne, but a baby born into brokenness to bring us a peace that brokenness couldn't touch. And fast forward from that prophetic declaration 700 years later, and guess what God's people were doing? They were still waiting, many afraid, some feeling forgotten, living in a time where there was no real peace and no stability until one night in a place called Bethlehem, when everyone thought God was silent, heaven started singing. Luke chapter two, verse 13 tells us this. Suddenly, a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God in heaven and saying, glory to God in the highest heaven. And on earth, what's the next word? Say it with me, all of our churches. And on earth, peace to those whom his favor rests.

An angel appears and says, there is one who's coming to deliver peace on earth. And Jesus came the prince of peace, which raises the question, how in this world, in this moment, in this crazy time, does Jesus, the guy born 2,000 years ago, actually give us peace on earth? And what I wanna do today is I wanna show you three scriptural truths that no matter what you are facing today, I pray God would use to speak directly to your heart. How does Jesus give us peace today? The first thing I want you to notice, and it's really good news, we call it the gospels, why Jesus came, and Jesus came to give us peace with God. He came to give us peace with God, which is really important, because all of us, we want peace, right? We want a peace of mind. We want peace in our crazy homes. We want peace in the world. And yet, you can't have peace from God if you don't have peace with God. So important. Some of you, if we just sat down and had a conversation and I asked you, like, where do you stand with God? You might say, like, I'm not sure, I don't know. I mean, I've tried to be kind of good. I know I've been kind of bad. I don't know where I, I really don't have peace with God.

This is what the apostle Paul said in Romans chapter five, verse one. He said, therefore, since we've been, and he uses a legal term, he says, since we've been justified through faith, we're not justified through religious works, we're not justified by trying really, really hard. We're actually justified through faith, faith in the perfect work of Jesus. We're justified through faith. Because of that, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. This is amazing news. We've been justified by faith, and through that faith, we have peace with God. Notice that peace with God doesn't come from our religious efforts. It doesn't come from us trying harder. I don't care how good you are. Maybe you played a whole round of golf and didn't say a single naughty word. Even if you can do that, even if you came to church and like you were holy all the way there and didn't say, you know, hey, we're gonna come to church and worship God and then yell at your kids, like, don't make me pull this car over, no matter how good you are. Peace with God doesn't come from our religious efforts, but it comes by being justified through faith in Jesus. And the word justified in the Greek,

it comes from a legal term, which means one who is declared righteous. One who's declared, not that you are righteous, but you're declared righteous. I'll give you an example. How many of you are old enough to remember having to go to traffic court? Raise your hands. Yeah, God bless you. You can type in the comment section, I remember traffic court. Now you just pay online. Do you know why you used to have to go to traffic court and not pay online? Do you know why? Because there used to not be online. That's why. I got pulled over one time for an expired tag, license tag, I didn't renew the little tag. Had to go to traffic court, sit there for like two hours with all these people that did really bad crimes, like drove 95 in a school zone, and I'm sitting there with an expired, and all these people are going up before this judge and he's saying like, what'd you do? And they say, well, I'm innocent. It wasn't my fault. I didn't really do it. And I go, they're all innocent, it's amazing.

I'm going, I'm dumb. I just had a stupid tag. So I came up at the end and the guy's like going, hey, what's your name? He goes, Craig Rochelle? I'm like, uh, no, maybe, yes, I guess. And he said, what'd you do? And I said, well, I'm an idiot, I forgot to renew my tax. And he said, you're a what? And I said, well, I'm not very smart, I forgot to. No, no, he goes, that other word, that other word. I said, I'm an idiot. He goes, I think you are an idiot. And I was like, well, thank you. And the guy started looking at me, but he wasn't being, he was actually being playful. He said, like, can you say that louder? And he looked at me kind of like he was saying, like, work with me. So I'm trying to feel this out, you know, like I'm just paying the ticket, you know? And I'm like, okay, I'm like, I'm an idiot. And he said, are you a really bad, bad, dumb idiot? And he's looking at me, and I go, okay, well, I'm a bad, bad, I'm a dumb, dumb, bad, bad idiot. And he took his little gavel, and he thinks, he banged it down, and he said, I need you to get out of here right now. I don't want your guiltiness to rub off on all these other innocent people.

You're forgiven. No ticket for the gross, yeah, yeah, no ticket. I'm going out of my car, and this is the funniest thing, like going, yeah, I mean, I was guilty, guilty, guilty. I didn't pay for it. I was completely guilty. And legally, just as if I'd never sinned, he dropped the gavel, and though I deserve to pay the penalty, he declared that I was innocent, and that's what God does when you put your faith in Jesus. Like literally, I hate to break it to you and tell you you're guilty, but you are, and so am I. The Bible's real clear. This isn't just a feel-good Christmas message. We'll get to the feel-good baby Jesus part later, but the not feel-good stuff is the Bible said you sinned. All of us have, every single one of us, and you know you have because you told a lie, or you're cheating, or you thought a bad word, or you got jealous of somebody, and you might've done it even on your way into church. Like now, judge somebody like, who's she looking so holy? I know things about her. We've all sinned, every single one of us. And even though we are guilty, when you put your faith in Jesus, you're justified and the debt is cleared. Because when you put your faith in Jesus, you can have a very real peace with God.

And I'll tell you straight up, so much of my life, I was worried I wasn't good enough. So much of my life, I was worried I wasn't good enough. And I was the guy that went to Christmas Eve services. I loved them. I mean, I loved the little nativity scene outside, and I loved the candlelight thing. And I went to church, just like many of you, with a very real head knowledge of who Jesus was, but it never really put my faith in him. And it was in college when I was hurting, lost in the middle of a bunch of dumb, bad, college-like sins. You could say I was building my testimony. Well, I was building up. And I read about the grace of Jesus, and I knelt down all by myself, and I called out on him. And in that moment, I became what the Bible calls new, that I was forgiven. And it's still amazing to me that I did nothing to earn forgiveness. It's only by the grace of God. And I want you to feel that. I want you to feel it. Jesus, by faith in him, gives us peace with God. The second thing I hope you'll understand is this, that Jesus gives us peace from God. It's so powerful. He gives us peace from God. You see, once you have peace with God,

you can actually receive peace from our good God. And it's the kind of peace that only Jesus can give. In fact, this is what Jesus said in John 14. Jesus said this. He said, peace I leave with you. Now, notice what he said, not like any old peace, but whose peace is it? Jesus said, my peace I give you. And then this is so powerful. He said, I do not give to you as the world gives, so don't let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. Peace I leave with you, Jesus said, it's my peace. It's not just peace with God, but it's peace from God. And what's powerful about this kind of peace is it's not something that you find, or it's not something that you achieve, but it's something that only God can give. And it's very, very different from worldly peace, circumstantial peace, when you've got a bubble bath in your favorite drink. That's not that same kind of peace. Peace from God is different, because worldly peace is based on what's happening outside and around you. But God's peace is based on what's happening inside of you when God does a work that only he can do. do. And again, I hope you notice that Jesus doesn't just give you a peace, he says, Jesus said, I give you my peace, my peace.

In other words, the very same peace that calmed the storm, that peace is the peace that can calm your heart. And it's not found whenever the world is quiet and everything is just the way you want it. His peace is found when Jesus is close. He came to give us peace with God. Jesus, the Savior came to give us peace from God. And the third thing is that Jesus came to give us the peace of God. Notice this, the peace of God. It's not just peace with God, it's not just peace from God, but you can experience the peace of God. And from a Roman prison, awaiting possible execution, the Apostle Paul penned these words in Philippians chapter four, verse six. He said, don't be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your request to God. That's a word for somebody here today. Don't be anxious about what you're anxious about. Take it to God, if it's big enough to worry about, it's big enough to pray about, take it to him. Right now in prayer. And when you take it to God in prayer, the Bible says the peace of God, not peace with God, not peace from God, but the peace of God, which transcends all understanding. In other words, it's so heavenly

that you can't even explain it on earth. The peace of God, which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. This peace goes beyond our ability to put English words and have it make sense. Why? The peace of God, it literally guards your heart. The word for guard in the Greek is a military term. It means like to stand guard. It's like peace stands guard outside of your heart. It's not a passive peace. This is an active peace. It literally, it doesn't just comfort you, but it protects you. Whenever fear tries to come along, peace says, you can't come here. You don't belong here. God has not given us a spirit of fear, but a power of love and of a sound mind. If anxiety comes in, peace says, oh no, no, no, no. I cast my anxiety on him because he cares for me. You don't belong here. Anytime shame tries to come in, peace stands guard. It says, no, you can't come in here, shame. There is now therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Peace literally stands guard against the outer workings of the enemy in your hearts. It is the peace of God. And perhaps one of the most profound examples

of this kind of peace that I experienced was in a moment on earth that we never wanted. I've got six kids. People say, you must love kids. I really liked their mom a lot, a lot. 35 years of, I mean, just like really godly blessed marriage. And that results in kids until we figured out what caused it. Then we didn't wanna quit. And that's a whole nother story. So anyway, six kids. My, I'm sorry, Merry Christmas. Trying to be on my good behavior for guests, like, sorry. I'm just a guy. I used to be a man. Then I became a pastor. Still a man, I'm sorry. Redeem me. What was I saying? So six kids, my oldest daughter, Katie, was pregnant and about to give birth with her second child. And that would have been her first daughter. And I won't go into all the details. One, I'll get it wrong. And two, I'm not a doctor. But this time, she would have had to have a C-section based on her past. And the baby at the hospital came faster than they were ready for. And so when they would have been doing a C-section,

the baby actually started to come out naturally and got stuck in the birth canal and was in there for too long. And so when she ended up delivering naturally, they took the baby out of the hospital and rushed out. And the family was just standing there. And we didn't know if we should be excited or nervous. And they kept the baby for a long, long, long, long time. And the doctor came back in and said, well, we've got really sad, hard news. Our whole family's there. All the kids. and the spouses and they're all there and the doctor said, I've got really bad news. And said your little girl was in the birth canal for too long and didn't have oxygen to her brain for extended period of time and she's gonna have significant brain damage. And at that moment, just pastorally, I'll tell you, I have been with enough families that have had bad news about their children and have seen the ramifications, the blessings and the ramification of the blessings of loving a child with complications and the challenges of loving a child with complications. And so my mind fast forward to a fourth grader with brain damage and a ninth grader with brain damage. And I wasn't in a good place. And my daughter, Katie, I always told her, I said, no matter how big you get,

you're always gonna be daddy's little girl. I looked over there at my little girl and she was more my little girl than I can describe to you. She was just like, she looked like a little girl who just gave birth to a little girl. And she was trying to comfort me. And she was trying to comfort everybody else in the room. And I wish I could remember exactly what she said, I don't, but it was something like, Jesus loves her and Jesus loves us and it's gonna be okay. And she just kept saying something like that over and over again, like in smiling, like this real innocent, like just real faith, like daddy, Jesus loves us and Jesus loves her and it's gonna be okay. And she just kept saying that over and over and over again. And like, she literally believed it. And I'm going, the doctors just said, well, they said, we gotta metaflight the baby and evidently metaflight means put them in an ambulance, but metaflight sounds cooler. And so they metaflighted in an ambulance, the baby to another place to freeze her brain to try to reduce the swelling and hopefully limit the certain damage. And when they got there, they called, I don't know, an hour later and said, well, we can't quite explain this and we don't know how to explain this, but she was brain damaged and now she's not.

And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. This girl in her mid-twenties, and it seemed like she had regressed to like a little child. Jesus has this, Daddy is gonna be okay. What I didn't realize is that I had regressed and she had progressed. She had progressed to what Jesus would call like the faith of a child that just believed that Jesus would do it. And because of her faith, she had the peace of God when her baby, her child was pronounced definitively to have brain damage. She sat right there in the presence of God, a little girl who grew up knowing God intimately, and she had the peace of God. There were two miracles that day.

There were two miracles. One was that God healed a little baby. The second one was that in the middle of horrific news, a little girl with faith in Jesus had the peace of God. We celebrate when God does miracles, and he does many, but he doesn't always do miracles the way that we'd want him to. So I'm gonna tell you right now, there are other situations in my life right now that are not resolved like that. If I told you where we stand, you wouldn't clap. You would say, oh, we better keep praying. And that's what we're gonna do. But I will tell you right now, after years and years and years of walking faithfully with God and knowing his character and his nature and his goodness and his power and his glory and his faithfulness, and that his promises are true, that he never leaves us, he never forsakes us, that he's always good, and he's working in all things to bring about good to those who love him and are called according to his purpose. Even though there are some things in my life that are not the way I'd want them to be right now, I'm genuinely experiencing the peace of God. And you can too. You can too. Not because things are the way you want them to be, but you can have peace because our good God is close. It's the peace of God.

You can't think your way into it. You trust your way into it. And so here's what I want you to hear and feel and believe. You can have peace with God that settles your eternity. And you can have peace from God that strengthens you today. And you can live with the peace of God. of God that guards your heart every single moment and gives you a peace that you don't even have the ability to explain. So if you're hurting today, maybe you feel alone, maybe you're stressed, maybe you're anxious, maybe you're doubting God or struggling emotionally, what do you do to find this peace? I want you to think about the moment that the virgin gave birth to a son and Jesus was born and this young couple was holding the Savior of the world in their arms. And very few noticed, but heaven couldn't stay silent because peace had come and peace had a name and his name is the Prince of Peace. His name is Jesus and peace has a name. Jesus himself, the Bible says, is our peace. And so no matter what you're facing, a diagnosis that you didn't want or your marriage has gone cold or a child that you love is running the wrong direction, you're trying to pray them back or you've got anxiety that you can't handle or fear grips your heart, Jesus didn't come to give you a peace that you could lose.

Jesus came to give you a peace that the world can't take away. It's peace with God, it's peace from God, it's the peace of God. And it's available to you today, not from this world, but through a child who was born of a virgin because God became flesh and dwelt among us and whosoever believes in him would not perish, but have eternal life. The good news is God sent his Son to bring peace into the world. And this kind of peace is better than anything the world ever offers and is only found in the Son of God whose name is Jesus. So Heavenly Father, we pray today that you would do a work in the hearts of those who need you. Today at all of our churches and those of you online, man, I'm sitting there looking at some of my friends that I know are in experiencing deep grief for a very real loss of someone that we love and care about. I know many of you right now, Christmas is a magnifier. And if it's good, it's really good. But for some of you, there's a mixture, there's some good and there's a lot of pain, a lot of hurt, maybe some depression, loneliness, people having thoughts that you don't wanna have right now and you need the peace of God. Today at all of our churches, for those of you that are followers of Jesus,

there may be chaos in your marriage, maybe in your family, maybe financially you feel stressed, maybe emotionally there's just too much, maybe you're dealing with complicated issues, maybe you're afraid of something, maybe it's anxiety, maybe it's doubt, depression, whatever it is, if you need peace from God, we're gonna pray and believe that the presence of God is gonna give you what only he can give. If you need peace today, just be honest, lift up your hands toward heaven, just lift up your hands and say, yes, I need peace. Lift up around, you may be here for the first time, you're welcome, just lift up your hand and say, yes, I need the peace of God in my life. You can type in the comment section, I need God's peace. And we're gonna pray. If you wanna leave your hands up, just kind of like in worship you can or just be comfortable however you want. And Father, we thank you that your word is true, that we can come before you in prayer and petition, asking for your presence, your power, your goodness, your faithfulness, and God, you promise us that as we bring our request before you, that you'll give us a peace that goes beyond our human ability to understand. God, for those who are grieving, give them peace. Those who are doubting, give them peace that you're real. God, for those who need provision,

give them peace that you're always their provider, your peace that you are the healer. God, even in the middle of a storm, would you just speak peace, be still. God, thank you for a peace that goes beyond our human ability to understand, found only through your son, Jesus, who is our peace. As you keep praying today, not looking around, some of you would be, if you're really honest, you'd be like me when I was growing up. I'd go to church, I'd do the Christmas Eve thing. I'd even go some extra times, but I did not know God. If you'd ask me, are you at peace with God, I'd be like, I hope so, I'm not sure, I'm trying, I'm trying. I just didn't. Understand why Jesus came. Scripture said this, for God so loved the world that he sent his one and only son, Jesus. Born of a virgin, what is the whole virgin thing? What does that even mean? Well, Jesus was born of a virgin. He didn't inherit the sin nature from an earthly dad, but instead he inherited the heavenly nature from a heavenly father. Therefore, he was like all God and all man. He was the Lamb of God, the perfect sacrifice. He was born of a virgin so that he could be without sin and he lived without sin, faithful in every way. Who did he come for? He didn't come for the righteous.

He came for the broken. He came for the sinners. He didn't come for those who had it all together. He came for those who needed help, who needed healing, who needed forgiveness. And Jesus loved people exactly where they were. And the Bible tells us that anyone, and this includes you, it doesn't matter what you've done, anyone who calls on the name of the Lord that you would be saved, your sins forgiven, you'd be made brand new. There are those of you, you are here today. It's not a coincidence, not an accident. You're here by the divine providence and power and love of God because today is the day that you experience peace with God. How are you made right with God? You're justified with God by faith in the perfect work of Jesus. Today, you step away from your sin. You call on Jesus. When you call on him, he hears your prayers. He forgives your sins. He makes you brand new today in all of our churches. Those who say, I don't know where I stand with him. I need his grace. I want his forgiveness. Today, I repent of my sins. I give my life to Jesus. Jesus, be my savior, the Lord of my life.

That's your prayer. Lift your hands high right now, up now. All of the room, say yes, that's my prayer. Right there, God bless you, and up there as well. Others say yes up here in this section. Jesus, be the Lord of my life. Praise God for you. Oh, both of you right there. Others say yes, Jesus. I surrender to you, be the Lord of my life. Right back over there. Praise God for you. Ah. Right back over here, right back over here. You are loved, you are loved, you are loved. Online, type in the comment section, I'm surrendering my life to Jesus. Would you pray with those around you? Pray, Heavenly Father, forgive all of my sins. Jesus, make me new. Fill me with your spirit so I could know you and serve you for the rest of my life. My life is not my own. I give it all to you. In Jesus' name I pray. Church, could you celebrate today, worship God. Welcome those born into his family. Thank you, Jesus. Hey, it's Pastor Craig and Amy Groeschel with Life.Church. And if you just made the decision

to give your life to Christ, this is the most important and life-changing decision that you'll ever make. And all of heaven is celebrating right now because of your decision, That's right. And we want you to know that God sees you. He's with you and he loves you. He has a purpose for your life. And incarceration, it doesn't define you. It doesn't confine you because you are free in Christ. You are new in him. Chains have been broken today. And so as a follower of Jesus, God wants us to be on this journey together. And I want you to know you don't have to do this alone. And that's why we, as your church family, we're here for you and we want to help you grow in your faith and find your next steps. So first of all, just keep joining us for church every single week and worshiping through the Pando app. We're so thankful that you're here. When we draw close to God, he draws near to us. And so I would also encourage you, read God's word if it's available to you. And as you do, just start to pray and invite God into every single aspect of your life. And then if you feel led, you might even share your decision with somebody else. There might be a family member or a friend,

and they're gonna want to hear your story and your spiritual journey. We'd love to hear it as well. And you can send us a letter if you'd like to. The address is on your screen, and our team will write back to you and help you grow in your faith with Jesus. And so we'd love to mail you some content about who Jesus is and help you grow in your relationship with him now that you've chosen to follow Jesus. And God's plan for your life, it's greater than anything that you could ever imagine. In fact, Ephesians 3.20 says, God is able to do abundantly more than we could ask or imagine. Trust him with your whole life. You will see him work in ways you have never thought possible. Congratulations on this decision. We are your family, and you're part of the family of God. You're a part of the family of God. And God is able to do abundantly more than we could ever imagine. Trust him with your whole life. You will see him work in ways you have never thought possible. you Congratulations on this decision. We are your family, and you're part of the family of God.

Congratulations on this decision. God is able to do abundantly more than we could ever imagine. Trust him with your whole life. You are a part of the family of God.