WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.280 Today, we are going to take a posture of peace 2 00:00:03.280 --> 00:00:07.480 by letting peace rise up within us. 3 00:00:08.600 --> 00:00:11.000 Posture is a short, audible fist bump 4 00:00:11.000 --> 00:00:13.880 to remind you God is with you in everything. 5 00:00:13.880 --> 00:00:15.880 Together, we're going to be emboldened 6 00:00:15.880 --> 00:00:18.400 to take a daily posture of perfect peace. 7 00:00:22.400 --> 00:00:24.700 I'm gonna be reading from Ephesians chapter two today. 8 00:00:24.700 --> 00:00:26.000 And just a quick side note, 9 00:00:26.000 --> 00:00:30.880 Ephesians is a wonderful book to dive deep into. 10 00:00:30.880 --> 00:00:34.480 Ephesians highlights the beauty of our kingdom identities 11 00:00:34.480 --> 00:00:39.480 and just how unique and counterculture the kingdom is 12 00:00:39.480 --> 00:00:42.240 compared to the world, compared to religion. 13 00:00:42.240 --> 00:00:44.840 It is such a freeing, empowering book. 14 00:00:44.840 --> 00:00:47.000 And Ephesians chapter two, 15 00:00:47.000 --> 00:00:48.000 in the beginning of the chapter, 16 00:00:48.000 --> 00:00:49.640 it's talking about grace through faith, 17 00:00:49.640 --> 00:00:51.200 which is super empowering. 18 00:00:51.200 --> 00:00:52.600 And then at the end of the chapter, 19 00:00:52.600 --> 00:00:54.520 it's talking about our oneness in Christ. 20 00:00:54.520 --> 00:00:57.780 It's talking about unity empowered 21 00:00:57.780 --> 00:01:01.200 by nothing other than our kingdom identities. 22 00:01:01.200 --> 00:01:02.900 It's awesome. 23 00:01:02.900 --> 00:01:05.200 So I'm gonna be reading from Ephesians chapter two, 24 00:01:05.200 --> 00:01:07.160 verses 19 through 22. 25 00:01:07.160 --> 00:01:08.200 It says, 26 00:01:08.200 --> 00:01:13.200 "'So then, you are no longer strangers and aliens, 27 00:01:13.740 --> 00:01:17.440 "'but you are fellow citizens with the saints 28 00:01:17.440 --> 00:01:20.260 "'and members of the household of God, 29 00:01:20.260 --> 00:01:24.660 "'built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, 30 00:01:24.660 --> 00:01:28.600 "'Jesus Christ himself being the cornerstone 31 00:01:28.600 --> 00:01:32.780 "'in whom the whole structure, being joined together, 32 00:01:32.780 --> 00:01:36.420 "'grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 33 00:01:36.420 --> 00:01:40.680 "'In him, you are also being built together 34 00:01:40.680 --> 00:01:45.680 "'into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.'" 35 00:01:45.780 --> 00:01:47.540 Now, many people today, 36 00:01:47.580 --> 00:01:48.420 they live as though 37 00:01:48.420 --> 00:01:51.260 they have a visitational relationship with God, 38 00:01:51.260 --> 00:01:55.340 and therefore, they have a visitational relationship 39 00:01:55.340 --> 00:01:59.460 with who they are in God, their kingdom identities. 40 00:01:59.460 --> 00:02:01.340 They have a visitational relationship with the kingdom, 41 00:02:01.340 --> 00:02:03.280 meaning it comes and goes. 42 00:02:03.280 --> 00:02:05.980 Based off of how they're behaving that day, 43 00:02:05.980 --> 00:02:07.820 based on their own performance, 44 00:02:07.820 --> 00:02:11.580 they live as though they are the initiators 45 00:02:11.580 --> 00:02:13.540 of their relationship with God, 46 00:02:13.540 --> 00:02:15.900 as if it's up to them to get to God 47 00:02:15.900 --> 00:02:17.980 by their own effort, by their own works, 48 00:02:17.980 --> 00:02:20.740 by their own rituals. 49 00:02:20.740 --> 00:02:25.100 But you are not the initiator of being with God. 50 00:02:25.100 --> 00:02:28.380 There's no place to get to in him. 51 00:02:28.380 --> 00:02:31.180 That's actually an Old Testament mindset 52 00:02:31.180 --> 00:02:33.980 that robs us of the relationship with him 53 00:02:33.980 --> 00:02:38.580 that he promised us and that he initiated with us. 54 00:02:38.580 --> 00:02:42.140 It's really an old way of viewing how God is with us, 55 00:02:42.140 --> 00:02:43.460 how God relates to us, 56 00:02:43.460 --> 00:02:46.420 that he would only visit us in a temple, 57 00:02:46.420 --> 00:02:50.580 in a particular place, or in a particular moment of time 58 00:02:50.580 --> 00:02:54.140 when we have finally proven ourselves worthy. 59 00:02:54.140 --> 00:02:57.180 But because of Jesus, we are new covenant people. 60 00:02:57.180 --> 00:03:01.020 We have a habitational relationship with God. 61 00:03:01.020 --> 00:03:04.460 We abide in him, and he abides in us, John 15. 62 00:03:04.460 --> 00:03:06.700 Now, Ephesians chapter two, it's telling us here 63 00:03:06.700 --> 00:03:08.180 that the dwelling place of God 64 00:03:08.180 --> 00:03:09.860 is no longer in brick and mortar. 65 00:03:09.860 --> 00:03:11.740 It's on a physical location 66 00:03:11.740 --> 00:03:14.620 that we can only visit every once in a while. 67 00:03:14.620 --> 00:03:17.620 No, the dwelling place of God is flesh and blood. 68 00:03:17.620 --> 00:03:19.860 He dwells in us. 69 00:03:19.860 --> 00:03:24.260 And that means all of who he is is now in us. 70 00:03:24.260 --> 00:03:28.380 And the most powerful news is that he never leaves us 71 00:03:28.380 --> 00:03:29.940 nor forsakes us, the Bible said. 72 00:03:29.940 --> 00:03:33.700 So we always have his presence in us. 73 00:03:33.700 --> 00:03:37.020 This means we don't have a visitational relationship 74 00:03:37.020 --> 00:03:39.200 with any part of God. 75 00:03:39.200 --> 00:03:41.520 This means his very nature, 76 00:03:41.520 --> 00:03:44.360 his very characteristics dwell within us. 77 00:03:44.360 --> 00:03:47.920 So let's think about the implications of that for a moment. 78 00:03:47.920 --> 00:03:51.260 That means peace doesn't come for a visit. 79 00:03:52.280 --> 00:03:57.120 Jesus said in John 14, 27, my peace I give to you, 80 00:03:57.120 --> 00:04:00.720 not as the world gives do I give to you. 81 00:04:00.720 --> 00:04:04.200 Now, peace in the world is gained, 82 00:04:04.200 --> 00:04:07.840 influenced by external means. 83 00:04:08.040 --> 00:04:09.400 It's somewhere out there. 84 00:04:09.400 --> 00:04:11.920 We've got to figure out how to grab it, bring it to us, 85 00:04:11.920 --> 00:04:15.000 and then hold onto it as long as we possibly can, 86 00:04:15.000 --> 00:04:16.800 which usually is not very long 87 00:04:16.800 --> 00:04:19.360 because in a broken, troubled world, 88 00:04:19.360 --> 00:04:22.380 there's always something to be anxious about. 89 00:04:22.380 --> 00:04:27.120 But in the kingdom, peace is already in us. 90 00:04:27.120 --> 00:04:31.240 So we must allow it to rise in us. 91 00:04:31.240 --> 00:04:33.940 We don't have a visitational relationship with peace. 92 00:04:33.940 --> 00:04:35.440 We have a habitational one. 93 00:04:36.400 --> 00:04:38.760 Peace is dwelling within us. 94 00:04:38.760 --> 00:04:43.760 So let's practice letting peace rise in us today. 95 00:04:44.280 --> 00:04:45.840 How do we do that? 96 00:04:45.840 --> 00:04:49.480 Well, Colossians 3, 15 says, 97 00:04:49.480 --> 00:04:54.480 let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts. 98 00:04:55.840 --> 00:04:59.600 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts. 99 00:04:59.600 --> 00:05:00.440 Can it really? 100 00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:05.440 be that simple. Well that's what I've been practicing. I've been practicing letting peace 101 00:05:06.240 --> 00:05:14.320 rise within me, resisting, in rest, the anxiety, the fear, the temptation to panic, 102 00:05:14.320 --> 00:05:21.040 the temptation to worry about the future, and instead letting the peace of God rule my heart, 103 00:05:21.040 --> 00:05:26.720 not letting the anxiety of the world rule my heart, rule my mind, rule my emotions, 104 00:05:26.720 --> 00:05:34.000 rule my thoughts, rule my words, rule my actions. I'm letting peace rule. And so I just want to 105 00:05:34.000 --> 00:05:40.560 encourage you today. Peace is not coming for a visit. Peace lives in you. It's time that we learn 106 00:05:40.560 --> 00:05:59.040 as kingdom people to allow and let the peace of Christ rise up within us.