Give Peace A Chance Series

GIVE PEACE A CHANCE

A STUDY OVER THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT: PART III

INTRODUCTION: The world around us is in search for this peace, calling it inner peace. Sometime ago there was a beauty queen from Virginia, Tracy Lyperd. Shortly after crowning her successor she drove to her ex-boyfriends house to seek revenge for jilting her and marrying another. Upon arrival she met his new father-in-law, she faked car trouble and asked to use the phone. Upon entering the home she struck the father in law with a hammer, stunning him. She then pulled out a pistol and tried to shoot the father in law, what she did not know was that the father in law was ex CIA. The mother in law joined in the fray and they wrestled her to the floor holding her until police arrived. When she was questioned she confessed that she was moved to revenge to find inner peace.

BIBLE VERSE: Matthew 5:9

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God.

TRANSITION:

1. BIBLE VERSE: Philippians 4:2-3 PEACE WITH ONE ANOTHER

I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche to agree with each other in the Lord. Yes, and I ask you, loyal yokefellow, help these women who have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel, along with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.

A. Argument Among Believers: Here we are almost, 2000 years later, and we hear of an argument between two believers that for some reason God allowed to last forever. Funny, we don’t have the foggiest idea what they are arguing about: worship? Roles of their husbands? Potato salad? We haven’t got a clue. But we do get an idea how to handle it.

B. What Paul Doesn’t Do:

He Doesn’t Take Sides. “Syntyche you’re right, Euodia you’re wrong. Euodoia get out of here.”

He Doesn’t Pull Rank. “I’m the Pastor, so here is how it’s going to be. Not like it.”

C. What He Does: The solution is simple. He asks them to agree, find common ground. And then he appoints a 3rd party (a loyal yokefellow) to work with them to bring them back to good standing). You see, solving problems sometimes has very little to do about right or wrong, but instead has to do with “wanting to come together.”

D. Marriage Problems: Former Pastor Steve testimony about how he assisted a young couple who were close to divorce (for other leaders, use a more personal story of seeing a broken relationship mended back together, if one cannot be recalled, then do the opposite by using a story of how a relationship broke up because there was no intent to reconcile).

2. BIBLE VERSE: Philippians 4:4 PEACE WITHIN

Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice.

A. Brian Slawson Story: My nephew has a major problem, a major problem. He has an unusual sleep disorder, which as I understand it, is sort of like insomnia. But, he has had it for years. Literally, he has only slept like 3 hours a night for like 2 years. It has gotten so bad that it has completely shut down his thinking at times—he cannot remember events that just happened, sometimes he cannot do his college work, he’ll just stare at a computer screen for 3 hours and not be able to comprehend a thought. Wow, huh? So in talking with him, I wanted to cheer him up a bit, so I told him two stories, and here are the two stories for you.

B. The Hurricane & The Bridge: There was an East Coast town across a river that was completely dependant on their bridge. Well, a hurricane was coming through. More than likely, the hurricane would knock out the bridge, which would end their town. So one of the townspeople offered a suggestion, why not put the train on the bridge? Maybe the shear force of the train would weigh down the bridge enough to make it stronger, and quite honestly, without the bridge the train was worthless anyway. The plan worked, the bridge held. And that is why God has to put a ton of weight on Christians at certain times, so we will be able to handle the toughest storms.

C. Thank You God For the Fleas: There was a holocaust camp where the people starving were also infested with fleas. The people in this particular cabin began to thank God for the fleas, even though every ounce of emotion they had was more like “it’s bad enough that we are starving and we are so weak death is always close, but we cannot even sleep ever because bugs crawl on us all day and night.” But as it turns out, when the whole conflict was over, they were the only cabin that wasn’t wiped out completely. When they asked the guards why, it was because the guards wouldn’t go near it—they didn’t want to catch fleas.