On one occasion, the Roman Emperor Augustus heard about a gentleman who had enormous debt, but still slept quietly The stress of his debt didn’t bother his soul whatsoever. The Emperor was envious and ordered his servants to buy the bed that the man slept on. Needless to say, it was a useless purchase for the great emperor. It didn’t bring him the peace he desired. Many people are like Augustus. We are looking for peace in all the wrong places. The place to find it is in a person: Jesus. John 20:19-23 has 4 reasons why we can have inner peace in Christ.

In the 1950’s, when J. Robert Oppenheimer, “the father of the atomic bomb,” appeared before a Congressional Committee someone asked him, “Is there any defense against these weapons?” He replied, “Peace.” Peace is the only hope we have against atomic bombs because once those missiles take off, the world will be destroyed. But how in the world can we have peace on Earth? World peace seems so elusive, doesn’t it? Well, did you know that God has a plan? And it involves you. Ephesians 2:11-22 contains 3 steps for us to take so that we are agents of God’s peace in the world.

Many people remember what Neil Armstrong said as the first one to reach the Moon, “That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” But the motto of the mission was a different phrase: “We come in peace for all mankind.” What’s so ironic about that slogan is we human beings aren’t good at peace! Not good at all. We fight. A LOT. Wherever humans are, conflict is sure to follow. The Sea of Tranquility on the Moon was so tranquil, because there never had been any humans there to disturb the peace. And this aspect of who we are, that we are prone to fighting, no doubt, disturbs God. 1 Thessalonians 5:12-24 describes 4 ways Jesus grows peace in our relationships.

There’s an old poem about peace that goes like this: In the center of the whirlpool, while the waters rush around; there’s a space of perfect stillness, though within turmoil it is bound; all is calm, and all is quiet, scarcely even a sense of sound; so with us-despite the conflict-when in Christ his peace is found. It’s easy to get negative in this world, but God wants Christians to be messengers of his peace especially when we are experiencing discord. Here are 4 actions from Philippians 4:2-9 that we can take to be the calm eye in the middle of a raging hurricane of conflict.

Picture a massive CAT5 hurricane raging over the ocean. On the surface of the sea the violent winds whip the water into giant waves and create a scene of havoc and chaos. Yet if you go 100-150 feet below it, there’s little indication that there’s any disturbance above. The deeper you go, the calmer it is. During conflict, our tendency is to focus on what’s going on around us, but the best way to have peace is to deepen on our understanding of Jesus. Like the ocean, the deeper we go, the more peace there is in us. Isaiah 9:1-7 has 4 titles to help us learn more about the Lord so that we can have more peace.