Your Problem Isn't Them (It's You) | Artificial Intelligence | Week3

All right, Churchill. Hey, if you got a Bible, I hope you do. James chapter four is where we're gonna be today. James chapter four. As you're turning there, right now, hey, we are in this series called Artificial Intelligence. And here's what we're doing. We are taking what is real and we are placing it up against what is artificial. Why? Because let's just be honest. We live in a world today where it is really easy to fake a whole lot of things. But the reality is is we cannot fake transformation. And so we're looking at this. In the last couple of weeks, we've talked artificial parenting, right? What does God say about parenting versus what does the world say about parenting? Last week, we talked artificial intimacy, which by the way, if you weren't here last week or if you haven't listened to last week's message by Pastor Jim, like if you get bored today, just like go out in the lobby and watch that one. Like I'm telling you, it was one of the best sermons I've ever heard on sex and sexuality. And so I wanna encourage you to watch that if you haven't already. But today what we're talking about is we are talking about artificial peace.

What does God say about peace versus what does the world say about peace? Why? Here's why I think this is a really important conversation for us to have. Because it is possible for you to manufacture something in your life that looks like peace, right? Like you can quiet the noise. You can avoid the conflict. You can cut people out of your life. You can numb the anxiety. You could scroll or eat to your heart's desires and you can call that peace, right? Like we can convince ourselves, I'm fine. Everything's good. I'm experiencing peace. But here's just the truth, right? You didn't find peace. You just learned how to avoid your life. Let me just tell you what this kind of looks like for me and my family right now. My wife and I, a couple months ago, we found out that we're gonna be having twin girls, okay? So exciting, yes. Now hang with me here. Here's what this means. This means for me, I'm gonna have three girls under the age of two. Now, when I think about peace for my future, is that like what comes to mind?

It's like, I don't feel a lot of peace. But here's what's messing with me, right? Like why don't I have peace? You know, it's like we prayed for this. Maybe not this specific situation, but it's like we prayed for a family. We prayed to have kids. And then not like, but yet I feel so anxious. I feel so overwhelmed. Here's what I'm learning. Maybe you can relate to this. See, I think it's because I don't know if I actually want peace. I think I just wanna be in control. And so here's the question I'm asking myself. Here's the question we're gonna wrestle with a little bit together today. If peace is not something I can control, if it's not something you can control, then what is it? And how do I have it? How do I get it? Listen, one of the most powerful intangible strengths that you will experience in this trouble filled life is peace. But you have to understand, the Bible doesn't seem to talk about peace in the same way that we do. Listen to what Jesus says. We're gonna start here, Matthew chapter five, verse nine.

He says that, blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Now notice here, Jesus says, blessed are the peacemakers, right? Now this is a verse that's often misunderstood. It's weaponized because here's what we've done. We've replaced peacemakers with peacekeepers. There's a difference, right? A peacekeeper, here's what a peacekeeper will tell themselves. Hey, as long as there's no conflict, as long as there's no drama or pain, then I have peace. But that's not real. That's artificial, right? Because avoiding or ignoring when something is broken is not peace any more than a volcano that's currently belching fire, smoke, and lava would be considered safe, right? Like it's only a matter of time until this thing explodes and then we sit and we act surprised. Think about it like this. I got really into those crazy animal documentaries like Tiger King, you know, where like people think it's a good idea to have a wild animal as a pet, right? But here's what's crazy about these documentaries. Every single one of them, there becomes a point, there comes a point where one of the animals turns on the human being and either kills or hurts them,

right? And then the craziest part is that a person will then get in front of a camera, dead serious, and say, we just never saw this coming. It's like, I did, you know? It's like you have a wild animal trained to kill as a pet. But listen, like we do this in our own lives. We do this with our money and our debt. We do this with our families. We do this with our past. We do this with sin in our lives. We think, hey, it's fine. Let's avoid it. Let's not talk about it. Let's keep the peace. Why? Because we might hurt somebody if we actually wanna get really honest. So it's better if we just avoid it. But then what happens? Sin does what sin does. It destroys lives, it hurts people close to us, it leaves us broken, and then we act shocked. I can't believe this would happen. But understand, a peace that is built on let's pretend that nothing is wrong, it cannot last. And so this is why Jesus calls us not to be peacekeepers, but to be peacemakers. A peacemaker wants to bring truth into the light. Peacemaker understands that to experience true peace,

it might require some pain. Now, here's what we're gonna talk about. To be a peacemaker, it starts with you. It starts with me, right? What is the war that is going inside, going on inside of you, all right? So that's what we're gonna talk about today. James chapter four, verse one. I would imagine most of us in the room today, you would raise your hand and say, I want peace. James is gonna show us why we don't have it. Here's what he says, verse one. What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Now, let's just get on the same page here. Raise your hand if you've ever been in a quarrel or a fight, right? Okay, most of, we got a couple of liars in the room, but you know, it's like we got most of us. Now, keep your hand raised if your most recent fight or quarrel was with the person you're sitting next to, you know? It's like, I'm just kidding, you don't gotta do that. Here's the thing about fights or quarrels, right? If I were to invite any one of you up on stage right now and say, hey, here's a microphone, explain to the room your most recent fight or quarrel, almost every single one of us is gonna start our story out the exact same way, right? You're gonna start explaining some things, and then you're gonna get to the part where you go,

and my wife, or my husband, or my kids, or my boss, right? Like, we all do this, you know? It's like, we were sitting there being perfect, minding our own business, then they walked in, started saying some crazy stuff, made us angry, and so when James writes, hey, what causes fights or quarrels among you, you're like, James, I'm really glad that you asked. You wanna know what causes quarrels and fights among me? It's those people, right? Like, they're the reason I don't have peace, to which James would respond to you and say this. Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? Uh-oh. Now, if you got a Bible, underline that word passions right there, because the word passions, the Greek word for that is where we get our English word for hedonism, which hedonism is really when what we want becomes what we worship, right? John, in the Bible, he would call this the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life. Like, these become the things that we pursue. These become the desires within us. Now, let me pause here for a moment, because any time in church or in the Bible when it talks about, like, desires or passions, it can get confusing. Like, you're like, so, like, everything within me is bad? Like, what am I supposed to do with this?

Let me hear you really clear, or I want you to hear me really clearly. Not, because most passions or desires within you are not necessarily a bad thing, right? Like, I wanna be loved, I wanna be respected, I wanna feel secure, I want to be successful, right? Like, these are all good things for you to desire. For example, like, one day, I will desire for my little girls to be respected, right? And if they're not respected, there's gonna be a fight or a quarrel. If you take it to the extreme, I'm gonna take it to the extreme. And I can be like Paul, I'll preach in prison. That's fine, if you know what I'm saying. But, like, so, but hear me when I'm talking about this, because, like, sometimes we can get caught up in this when we talk about desires or passions. What we are talking about today, it does not apply to abuse or toxic environments, okay? Please hear that. Not everything in your life that happens to you is your fault, okay? That would not be from Scripture. But, with that being said, there are legitimate desires of I wanna be loved, I want to be respected, I need safety. But here is the problem. And this is what James is getting at. Somewhere along the way, those passions and those desires within you, they stop becoming desires

and they start becoming demands. Here's what I mean by this. See, now it's, I don't just want respect, I need it. So if you don't give it to me, I'll take it. Now it's, I don't just wanna be heard, I have to be heard. And so I'm gonna get louder, I'm gonna get sharper, I'm gonna get harsher. Now it's, I don't just want things to go my way, they should go my way. Now it's, I don't just want a connection, I actually need attention. And so I'm gonna do whatever it takes to get it. Now it's, I don't just want a good marriage, I actually need you to just meet my expectations. And if you don't, I'm gonna shut down. See, listen, when a desire becomes a demand, you will fight for it. You will fight people, you will fight circumstances, you will even fight God. Why? Because we believe the lie of the 21st century that says that you are the center of the universe. You are an idol to be worshiped. So do whatever you want, whenever you want, with whoever you want. And if anyone gets in the way of that, they are the ones who are actually stealing your peace. And so we think the problems out there, but like if these people would just straighten up, get their act together, treat me better,

if they would agree with what I think, then I could finally have some peace. But listen, Scripture tells us the opposite. The real problem is this, there is a war going on within here. There is a pride, there is a hedonism, there is a do you not know who you are talking to stirring up in here. I mean, think about it. There's one common denominator. Every fight or quarrel in which you've ever been in is you, it's me, right? Like every single time I've been involved. Now this next line, you're not gonna like it. I didn't like it because it's exposing, it's uncomfortable. But like when I wrote it this week, I kind of just like stared and looked at it for a couple minutes because I hated how much it was true. You might wanna take a picture. Every fight I've ever been in is proof that something inside of me is demanding to be worshiped. I'm gonna say that again. Every fight that I have ever been in is proof that something inside of me is demanding to be worshiped. And maybe if you were willing to be honest today, the same might be true for you, right? Like just think about your last fight. Think about your last argument,

the one where your tone changed, the one you replayed in your head all day, the one where you kept building your case, like you're a lawyer about to go in front of a judge, right? What were you actually fighting for? Because it probably wasn't just the dishes, you know? It probably wasn't just what they said. It was about what you felt you deserved. Respect, control, being right, whatever it was, the second you didn't get it, it wasn't just annoying to you, you went to war. This is what James is wanting us to see. Hey, if you really want peace, not this artificial peace, let's avoid it, let's get everybody to just agree, like not this artificial, but this real peace, then something in here is going to have to die. And so he goes on, verse two. James is gonna keep building his case here. He's gonna get more and more invasive. Here's what he says. He says, you desire and you do not have, so you murder. Seems a little extreme, right? But here's what James is doing. James is referencing his brother, Jesus, from the Sermon on the Mount. James is wanting you to understand, this is how serious anger is, especially unresolved anger. And so he references his brother in Matthew chapter five. I'm gonna read this. This is what Jesus says in Matthew five, verse 21.

He says that you have heard that it was said to those of old that you shall not murder, and whoever murders will be liable to judgment. Makes sense, right? But verse 22, but I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother, they'll be liable to judgment. Whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council, and whoever says you fool will be liable to the hell of fire. In other words, if you've ever said you fool to anyone, it is like murdering them and being sentenced to the hell of fire. That is what Jesus is saying. That is the standard in which Jesus is setting. Now, let's just be honest. None of us really believe that, right? Like surely Jesus can't mean I've murdered everyone who's trying to merge on I-25. You know what I'm saying? Like he can't mean that. But you gotta understand, here's what both James and Jesus are trying to say here. Again, the problem is not people that are driving slow. The problem is not the argument that you had. The problem isn't the world is crazy and life can be scary. The problem isn't that if people would just treat you how you're supposed to be treated or how you think you're supposed to be treated, then you could experience true and perfect peace.

No, the problem is there's passions, there's desires that are stirring up in here. So James and Jesus are both saying this. Hey, pay attention to what your heart is doing to people. Right, like when you cut someone down, when you label them, when you dismiss them, when you write them off, right? Like you probably don't want that person physically dead. Right, like we can agree on that. But let's be honest, in the moment, you've decided they don't really matter. And so here's what you've done. In your eyes, an image bearer of God is now just a problem to you. They're an obstacle. They're an annoyance in your way to which both James and Jesus would say, hey, be very careful. This is actually where murder starts. Now, here's some good news because that's like a scary thought. That's scary to think about. I got that in me. Like you're telling me that's within here? But here's some good news. You don't actually have to guess what's going on in your heart. So check this out. I want you to turn in your Bible just one chapter over, James chapter three.

James chapter three. James is, he's gonna write to a group of people very similar to the people sitting in this room right now. And he's gonna write and he's gonna say, do you know that your mouth will actually tell on your heart? The things you say when you're tired, when you're frustrated, when you're annoyed, they are not random. Your words actually reveal something. So check this out. James chapter three, verse two. He's gonna, James, he's gonna keep getting in our business, more and more invasive. For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man able also to bridle his whole body. So James is saying, if you can control your mouth, your entire life will go right. In other words, the person who has perfect speech is in fact the perfect person. Now, here's the problem. There's only one person in human history who could probably claim this. They're not in this room. They're sure as heck not on this stage, right? Like, in fact, I told my wife when I was gonna talk about taming the tongue a little bit, I told her this and here was her response. She just laughed, right, like that was her response to me. Because she knows it's easy for me

to be sharp with this thing, especially when I'm angry. But here's what I wanna do. I wanna make excuses for it. I wanna get defensive. I wanna claim, hey, you're misunderstanding me. You're taking my words the wrong way. But here's what I'm learning. Here's what I'm learning from James in this text. My words are not just me having a bad day. It's not just me making a mistake. It is actually a window into my heart. To which James goes on, verse three. So if we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. Look at the ships also. Though they are large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder so that wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. Now, I wanna make a time out here because I've read this passage a number of times and I noticed something these last couple weeks for the first time that I think really speaks to where we are in our culture today. See, both examples, both metaphors that James uses here to help us understand our tongue and our mouth, both examples he uses, the horse and the ship, these are objects in motion, right? So a horse or a bit serves a horse that is moving.

A rudder directs a ship that is moving. Now, here's the temptation for us today. We think, I don't wanna upset anybody with my words, I wanna try to keep peace, and so I'm just not gonna say anything at all. I'm gonna sit this one out, right? Like we live by the words from Albert Hubbard that says there's only one way to avoid criticism, which I think you could replace, hey, there's only really one way to keep the peace and that is to do nothing, say nothing and be nothing. That's how we live our lives, right? But understand, there are things in our life that are already in motion. Like you don't need me to tell you this, but the enemy, right, he's coming after our families, he's coming after identities, he's coming after our kids, but instead of pushing back against darkness, we think that keeping the peace is just deciding to sit on the sidelines and be Mr. Get Along to Go Along guy, right? Like here's how this plays out. Let me get really practical. Like maybe you got a buddy who starts cheating on his wife and instead of saying, hey, that's wrong, you're just saying, oh, that's reckless, that's crazy. Why would you do that? Or maybe you got a child who spends hours upon hours on social media and then they begin to start talking about how they hate how they look and they hate their body

and they hate certain things about themselves and you just kind of chalk it up to they're having a bad day and you never speak truth over who they are or how God sees them. Or maybe you got a friend who's drowning in anxiety or addiction and you kind of just tell yourself they'll reach out if they really need something. Or maybe you got a daughter and you know your daughter is stepping into things she is not ready for and what she really needs is she needs a dad who will step in, protect her and remind her who she is but you don't wanna step in because that might be an awkward conversation. Or maybe it's your marriage is getting colder and colder and colder but you don't wanna say anything, you don't wanna bring it up because you know it might start an argument or a fight. Or maybe it's you watch what God calls evil get celebrated, joked about, even normalized and you don't participate in it but you also don't say anything or speak up because you don't wanna offend anyone. Now listen, I'm not throwing stones here. Let me just tell you what this looks like for me, how this plays out for me a lot of times. A lot of times, I'm afraid to speak up when I know I need to because I know if I do speak up, it's just gonna come out as anger, right? Like anger towards those people, anger towards this situation, anger over the fact that I don't have control over this.

And so my intention is good, right? Like I wanna keep the peace, I don't wanna blow up on somebody with my words but here's the reality and this is what James is saying, this is what he wants you to see. I actually don't have the option to not say anything at all. Like I don't have the luxury to call time out on life, let me get my words all figured out and then resume play. Why? Because there are things in your life that are already in motion. And so whether you speak recklessly or you don't say anything at all, the result is the same. It will bring destruction, confusion and chaos. Hey, listen, this is what artificial peace will tell you. You can keep quiet so that you avoid conflict, drama or pain. But real peace, real peace will tell you, it might tell you, you need to speak up even if it's painful, right? Like recognize there is a difference between a painful conversation and a hurtful conversation. So speak up on behalf of your family, on behalf of your kids, on behalf of your marriage. Speak up on behalf of what God's word says to be true. Speak up when it would just be easier to hide and avoid. But listen and do not miss this, how you do it matters. How you do it will steer the direction of your life and the lives of those closest to you.

And so let's ask the question, how do we do it? So James is gonna tell us, verse seven, he goes on. For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind. Here's the good news, not really. But no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. In other words, here's what James is saying. We need help. We can train a bear to ride a unicycle, but we cannot tame this tongue. Which, by the way, if anyone has ever told you God won't give you more than you can handle, you should probably show them James three. Right, like, literally it's like, hey God, God gave me a tongue, and I can't control this thing, I got no hope. And so listen, the solution to this is not, I gotta try harder, be better, I gotta change my words. No, the solution to this is that we need somebody to do for us in which we cannot do for ourselves. We have to bend our knee to Jesus. That's where it starts, okay, hold on to that. He goes on, verse nine. So with it, right, with this tongue, we bless our Lord and Father. So we do what we're doing right now. We come to church, we sing praises. So with this tongue, we bless our Lord and Father,

and with it also, we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. Now you gotta ask yourself a question. How do you think God feels about that? Right, like that with the very same tongue, we can show up to church and sing, oh God, my God, I need you. And then we can walk out of here and we can curse an image bearer of God. Like I'm a new dad, and I get this, right? Like if you were to walk up to my daughter and curse over her, but then speak a blessing to me, it doesn't matter what you said to me. You said this to my daughter, yet we do this with God. Right, like we'll come to church, we'll speak blessings to his name, and then we will leave and we will speak curses over sons and daughter in which he shed his blood for. And so he goes on, verse 10. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, my sisters, these things not ought to be so. For does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? The answer is no. Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives or grapevine produce figs? The answer is no. So neither can a salt pond yield fresh water. Here's the point, here's why I bring this up. Here's why James brings this up.

Because out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks. The only thing that can come out of you is that which is in you, right? Here is why this is a good thing. The fact, in fact, if this is true, this is really God's grace on our life, why? Because I don't have to guess what's going on in my heart. If jealousy, anger, negativity, a lack of contentment is what is constantly coming out of my mouth, it's because it's what's in my heart. Now again, this is good news, because if I'm just willing to get honest with myself and get honest with God, I can begin to let God do some surgery on my heart. I can begin to let God cut it out of me before it kills everything around me. And so I just wanna ask a question that's gonna maybe do some surgery on your heart today, allow you to get honest with God. Here's the question. What does your mouth say about what's really going on in your heart? What does your mouth say about what's really going on in your heart? If I'm being honest, if you're being honest, what does it reveal? Is it bitter? Is it negative? Is it defensive?

Do the people closest to you have to brace for impact every time you feel tired or stressed? What does your mouth say about what's really going on in your heart? So James is gonna continue. We're gonna jump back to James four, one chapter over again. He's gonna keep building his case. He's gonna keep building an argument. So he says, what causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you, for you desire and you do not have, so you murder, and also you covet and you cannot obtain, and so you fight and you quarrel. Which, anybody else just feeling beat up by James yet? Here's what he said up to this point. He said, you think you're the center of the universe, so here's what you do. You murder with your words and you covet in your heart, and the greatest problem is that you can't fix the problem because you are the problem. What do we do with that? How do you respond to a text where it's like, man, this is invasive. It feels like I'm just getting punched in the face over and over again by James here. What do we do? How do I have peace? Do I need more control to have peace?

Do I need better behavior? Do I need my circumstances and my life to change? Does everyone else around me need to get their act together? Do I need to cut these people out of my life so I can get in your peace? What do I do about this situation? No, listen, what we need is someone to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. We have to get a solution outside of us. to take what is broken, to take what is sinful, to take what is selfish in here and make it new. This is the good news of the gospel. And so James goes on, he says this, verse three, he's gonna start getting into the solution. He says, you do not have because you do not ask. And you ask and you do not receive because you ask wrongly to spend it on your passions. And so here's the solution. It starts with prayer. Now, I get it, we're in church, it's a churchy answer. Most of us are gonna probably lie a little bit and be like, yeah, of course I pray about my fights and my quarrels and the lack of peace that I feel. But let me just ask you a question. Do you pray with the same intensity to God in which you bring to your fights and your quarrels? Like, do you bring that same intensity to him? Like, you know you can, right? This is why James says, you ask and you do not receive

because you ask wrongfully. You just ask because you wanna spend it on your passions. In other words, here's what James is saying. Hey, most of the time when we approach God in prayer, here's what we're doing. We don't want God, we just want control and we'll hope he'll co-sign on it. But what if instead, right? Like, what if our prayers could change to, hey, these passions and desires within me that go unmet, these things I desire, these things that I fight for, these things that get in the way of the peace that I wanna feel, what if I actually honestly brought those things to God? Like, what if a prayer looked like this? Hey, God, I actually really want this and I don't know if I'm supposed to want this. I don't know if you want me to want this and if you do want me to want this, I don't know how I'm supposed to get this. Like, what if that was our prayer? Like, think about Adam and Eve, you know, all the way back in the garden, Genesis chapter three. Like, what if they would've went in prayer, had a conversation with God and say, God, hey, listen, I know you told us not to eat from the apple in the center of the garden, but can I be honest? I really want it, I want it. Like, do you think God would meet them in that? I do, because the primary teaching we hear on prayer

in all four gospels is this, pray and pray and keep on praying, knock and knock and keep on knocking, ask and ask and keep on asking, seek and seek and keep on seeking. In other words, wherever there is a gap in those desires and those passions within you, wherever there is a gap, Jesus is saying, you can bring it here, let's talk about it. Listen, this is where real peace is found, when we can begin to understand that he and he alone is the one who meets our deepest desires. When our prayer becomes this, God, not my will, but your will be done. In fact, let me just give you a really, really practical way to pray. This is a hard way to pray, but this is what I'm leaning to right now. We see this straight from Scripture, the book of Daniel. Here's a prayer for you. God, I know you can, I believe you will, but even if you don't, I won't take back control. I trust you. I'm gonna read that again. I want you to just read it along with me, okay? We're gonna read it together. God, I know you can, I believe you will, but even if you don't, I won't take back control. I trust you. Listen, when we look to people or circumstances or money or whatever it is to bring us peace,

it cannot bear the weight of that cross. Why? Because you have been created as an image bearer of God, and we have a God who is infinite and eternal. So what does that mean for you? It means that your soul has been created to run on the fuel of a relationship with Christ and Christ alone. Nothing else will satisfy. Nothing else will meet those passions and desires within you. Now, here's maybe just a conversation you've been having with me in your head throughout this message, right? You're like, okay, Aaron, sounds great in church. I get it. This doesn't really work in real life. Like, you don't understand my marriage. You don't understand, like, you seem kind of naive. You don't understand what's crazy and going on in the world right now. You don't understand my anxiety, my past, my situation. You're right, listen, I get it. None of this feels natural. Like, it doesn't feel intuitive. Everything in us has been trained to believe that peace actually comes from control. I gotta go get it. I gotta take it. I build my own peace. And so for most of us to step into real peace,

what we see in Scripture, it's going to be a new tool that we have to learn. Why? Because let's just be honest, right? Like, some of you, you grew up in a house where, like, your dad would just kick the crap out of you. And you decided in good, like, a good decision, I'm not gonna be like my dad. But you overcorrected, and now you're not willing to have any hard conversations with your kids. They just run around and do whatever. And you call it peace. Right, like, others of us, man, like, we're gonna have to relearn this because you don't avoid any conflict. at all, like you dominate it. Your goal in every conversation is, I'm gonna put somebody in their place. And so you raise your voice, you sharpen your tone, you dehumanize so you can name call, and you call it just being honest, right? Some of us, it's like, this is a new tool to relearn because for most of our lives, here's what we've done and we've called it peace. We've just shut down. You don't see resurrection on the other side of this for your marriage, for your family, for your situation, whatever it may be, right? And so you just avoid it.

You push it to the side and you call it peace. Some of us, we're gonna have to relearn what this looks like because everything for you has just been kept surface level. Like your response to every question is, yeah, I'm fine. Yeah, it's good. So there's no hard conversations. There's no truth. There's no depth. Everything is fine. And so we don't have to deal with any brokenness that we're actually feeling. We think pretending is actually peace. But listen to me, none of this is peace. That's control, it's fear, it's survival. So let me just put this on the bottom shelf for us real quick. Most of us in this room, right? Like we are not experiencing peace because we're trying to just take control. And the reason we want control is because we wanna be able to manage outcomes so that we don't have to experience any pain. But listen to me, real peace is not pain-free. In fact, I would argue there is no path to peace that doesn't go through pain. That doesn't go through surrender. Just look at our Savior, right? Look at Jesus. What does he do?

Through the cross demonstrates there is no way to experience peace without pain. This is why Jesus, before the cross, he goes to the garden and he prays to his father. He prays so intensely that blood is dripping out of his face. He's pleading with his father. God, if there's any other way, if there's any other way to get to peace without the pain of the cross, let it be so. But there wasn't any other way. And so what does Jesus do? He responds, okay, Father, not my will, but your will be done. And then Jesus walked straight into the pain of the cross. And on that cross, what does Jesus do? He took everything in us that needed to die, our sin, our pride, our need for control. He paid for it. Why? So that the war inside of you could finally be settled. So let me just ask you a question today. Do you need peace? This Hebrew word for peace that we see throughout scripture is this word, shalom. The word shalom, it means this, literally, to be put back together. Heart, soul, mind, and strength. Now, you gotta ask yourself a question. Why do I need to be put back together?

Because understand, sin didn't just make you guilty. It separated you from God. Like your soul was disconnected from your creator. And so what happens is things start to get out of control. Things start to feel chaotic. Things start to break. This is why peace doesn't start with you fixing your circumstance. Peace doesn't start with other people just getting their act together. Peace starts with your soul. And so here's the invitation. It's the same invitation that took Jesus to the pain of the cross. It's the same surrender he's asking from you today. It's a simple prayer. It's this, not my will, but your will be done. See, listen, on the cross, Jesus didn't just pay for your sin. He did, but not just that. He also paid for the right to lead your life, which means I don't have to keep carrying what's crushing me. Like you don't have to keep trying to control what was never yours to control in the first place. The war inside of you that you're trying to manage, that you're trying to present to the world as peace. Jesus has already stepped into it and said, hey, it's actually finished. What's finished? Your need to control your life in order to have peace.

Jesus took that pride. He took that hedonism. He took that within us. He took it to the cross so that we could finally surrender and trust him with our lives. This is where real peace is found. And so church, what if today you just stopped fighting? What if you stopped trying to hold it all together and just surrendered to Jesus? This is where true and perfect peace is found. I'm not trying to clean up. I'm not trying to figure it out. I'm just being honest. Jesus, I'm tired. Like I'm tired of trying to control everything. I'm tired of pretending I have peace when I don't. So here, like have it all. Not my will, but your will be done. Listen, like I would imagine for most of us in this room, right, myself included, we do not have peace because we don't get what we want. But here's the problem. What we want can only be found in Jesus. Jesus, and so today the invitation is simple, bend your knee to Jesus, why? Because the only thing that might be standing in the way of you in peace is what you are not willing to surrender. So here's how I wanna end, what is that? Right, like what we're talking about is not hypothetical, you know, it's like we have a real Jesus

who died on a real cross, and when you believe that counted for you, here's what happens, it changes everything about everything for your life, including where we find our peace. So what is it, right, like what is the thing that is standing in the way of you in peace that you are not willing to surrender? So I'm just gonna, the band's gonna kinda play for a second, I'm gonna give us like one or two minutes, and this might be awkward, I don't know, but we're just gonna be still, and I want you to think about it, I want you to approach God with the same intensity in which we bring to fights and quarrels and just ask him, God, what is it within me, what is the brokenness in here that I need to lay down that is keeping me from peace with you? So we'll do that, and then I'll read a passage over you this morning. Thank you. ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ It's in Jesus' name we pray, amen.