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The Well Church | Rockville, Maryland
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We begin with Galatians 5:22-23: "The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law."
Father, in the name of Jesus, we declare peace in this atmosphere right now. We uproot every spirit of fear and anxiety. Any depression that has walked in will slink back from whence it came. We thank you that as we listen to the word of God, there is life and light being transmitted to your people, and we will be changed into the image of your son.
I want to share a personal story. My husband recently gifted me two expensive Bose headsets—he has expensive taste, and the holidays are tough on my pockets! When I put them on, I was transported into an oasis of silence. As an introvert, this was exactly what I needed. But almost immediately, something unexpected happened. An anxiety began to creep in. I found myself wondering: what am I missing?
All the thoughts I had suppressed came rushing back. My insufficiencies loomed large. My long to-do lists returned. The frantic prayers I had been praying came back to me. I found myself worrying about the chaos of the world. What was meant to feed me became a bondage.
And here's the truth: we are allergic to deafening silence. We are allergic to peace. We are allergic to quiet. Because of that, we confuse peace with isolation. When things aren't going our way, we isolate ourselves—not to get better, but to run and hide. We confuse stillness with self-protection. We call self-protection stillness, but in reality, we're just hiding from true peace and hiding from the accountability needed to reach it.
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If we haven't allowed ourselves the vulnerability of enjoying the peace that God gives, our world—whether wearing expensive headsets or not—remains chaotic. Our internal world is chaotic. Our outside world is chaotic. Everything is making sound. Yet God has invited you into a space where he exists and he can quiet what you are hearing.
Listen, church: if we know that peace is a beautiful state of calm, tranquility, and harmony, and if we recognize that it comes from a relationship and fellowship with God, why are we not embracing divine peace?
I get a holy anger—a righteous anger—whenever I hear someone is not in peace. It makes my short self bubble up. There is an invitation this morning to engage in holy anger where you are tired of the lack of peace in your life. You're tired of engaging with depression more than you engage with the peace of God. You're tired of pseudo-peace—peace that only comes when you sleep for thirty minutes, but the rest of the time you're awake because of frantic thoughts.
This is an invitation today to get rid of what you assume is peace, but is actually self-protection and self-preservation. God is calling you to actively walk in the fruit of the spirit called peace.
Peace is a supernatural power that flows through us and pushes out turmoil, worry, and anxiety. The fruit of the spirit is the work of the Holy Spirit to produce a personality that conforms to the image and example of Jesus. That means my anxiety is not part of the personality of Jesus Christ. So why am I claiming it in my life? Why is depression a part of me and I've accepted it as normal?
Peace is another major evidence of the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. If you don't have peace, you may not be flowing the fruit of the spirit. You may not have the evidence of the Holy Spirit like you think you do.
John 16:33 says: "I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth, you have many trials and sorrows."
Just because you practice peace does not exempt you from trials and sorrows. Let's step away from this gospel of convenience where we preach: "Jesus, I have prayed five times. I have fasted ten times. I have read my Bible consistently for thirty days. Therefore, the trials and circumstances of my life should end." It's as if we're doing a transaction with God. Jesus is saying: just because you have made those sacrifices for me, it doesn't exempt you from experiencing sorrow and trials because you are in this world.
But take heart. He has overcome the world.
There are four dimensions of peace:
Philippians 4:7 says: "And the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."
Transcends means to go beyond the range and limit of understanding. A sense of peace and well-being is part of who you are even with chaos. It doesn't make sense. Things are falling apart. Your kids are losing their minds. Your husband has lost his mind. Your job is losing its mind. But yet you are steady. You are stable. You have peace.
It doesn't make sense. Why aren't you complaining? Why aren't you crying? Why aren't you afraid? The government has said it's shutting down. But I got peace. It transcends your thoughts, your imagination. Nothing shifts your peace. Come what may, I am steady.
This peace comes from a revelation of our relationship with God. This peace isn't something you go and find somewhere else. We do not consult alternative mediums for peace, because that's counterfeit and you're actually putting yourself in more danger.
The enemy does not provide peace without a return on investment. A lot of you are making transactions with the enemy thinking it's going to sustain you, but it's going to bite you in the future.
This peace is a revelation of your relationship with Jesus Christ. It can only come from him and him alone. If you find it in another source, you're going to pay at another time. It can't come from a relationship with a man or woman. It can't come from your job. Nothing on this earth can give you peace that he alone is supposed to give to you.
Consider Paul the Apostle, the author of Philippians. He was writing this scripture from a prison, under house arrest. He was locked up in jail, and what he is saying in Philippians 4 is that the peace of God will transcend—will go beyond—everything. He was in jail encouraging free people that the peace of God will transcend their imagination.
Paul took a page from the Roman guards that guarded him. He's saying that the peace of God is like a watchful guard, protecting you.
All the enemy can do is make suggestions. You are responsible to receive those suggestions. It becomes a stronghold and leads to depression and anxiety once you have come into covenant with those suggestions.
We're giving the enemy too much control and too much credit for what you could have repelled with the peace of God. Paul was saying: the peace of God will guard against you with suggestions, whether they come high or low or from behind with a sneak attack. Many of you are falling prey to sneak attacks. You say, "It's my anxiety." No. So Paul is saying: it doesn't make sense. The government has shut down, but you got peace.
It doesn't make sense. You were talked about, lied on, abused. It doesn't make sense that the enemy has come to take your health. As soon as the doctor gives their report—what doctors do is show you where their education has reached. What God shows you, he steps in and transcends what they have said.
We received a report a couple weeks back. A young person dealing with sickle cell—you know that is a life sentence in most instances. The long and short of it: ain't no sickle cell going on in that body. The enemy tells you: you are born this way. You will die this way. Your mother is like this. Your father is like this. This is who you are. You repel it and reject it. You don't accept it.
We adopt the anxiety of the people around us. You are so porous to the suggestions of the enemy that he will use somebody else's weakness. All he does is suggest. He doesn't know you are not made in his image. He just suggests and sees which one will attach. Because he has known you for generations, he knows what you might be susceptible to.
But when you are bought with the blood of Jesus Christ, your bloodline changes immediately. You tell the devil: no way. My blood has changed. You can't recognize what I have been through because my blood is Jesus's blood. The efficacious blood of Jesus Christ bought me back, and now I live in a different atmosphere, a different reality. My reality is not the reality here on earth. My reality is the reality of heaven.
Romans 8:6 says: "The mind of the flesh is death." We are subscribing to dead thoughts. I can examine what you are subscribing to by what you say. You say, "This has always happened. I don't understand why I'm being tormented like this." Your thoughts are dead. You got to change how you're thinking.
Your perception is not always the truth. Your perception is just your own thoughts that have been mixed up and mashed up, and now you call it truth because you believe your own perception. You believe what you say to yourself.
The mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the spirit is life and peace.
Ephesians 2:12-15 says: "At that time ye were without Christ, being alien from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world. But now in Christ...ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. He who has made both one and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us, having abolished in his flesh the enmity even the law of command contained in ordinances. For to make in himself of twain, one new man, so making peace."
Jesus paid the price for our peace. Tell your neighbor: "My peace is expensive."
Let me help you understand. Jesus went to the cross. He died and was resurrected and he gave you peace for free. Then anxiety, fear, depression, all the things come knocking and tell you that there is a tariff, a tax on your peace. And then we are quick to pay what was given to you for free.
It's almost as if you live in a house and someone comes to you. You have the deed to the house, but someone comes knocking at your door and says, "Hello, you owe on this property." You have the proof that the house belongs to you. But because you are afraid of what they are saying to you, you now rebuy what already belongs to you. And then you blame God: "God, where are you?"
This is where the fruit of the spirit becomes active in your life. He gave you the fruit of the spirit's peace at salvation. Now you got to walk it out. You got to build on top of it.
This is where you use the active word of God to command your peace, command your morning, command your day to follow after him.
Many of us are allowing our days to be dictated by the circumstances and situations of our lives. But your peace was expensive. It was bought by blood. The precious blood of Jesus Christ bought your freedom.
Here's what's so interesting: the man who paid for it is named the Prince of Peace. That means he is the administrator general of peace. That's who shed his blood for you. He administrates peace. He is peace.
He requires you to just accept that the peace he gave you is sufficient. There is nothing, nothing—mark my words—that you can add to the finished work of Christ. There is nothing you can possibly do to add to the finished work of Christ on the cross of Calvary. Once he said, "It is finished," it was finished.
That means: my healing—finished. My restoration—finished. My right mind—finished. My ability to produce and do good work—finished. My good name—finished.
Stop being bullied by the enemy. You got to look the enemy square in the eye and let him know that your peace was already paid for. Yes. And he's coming knocking at a door where he shouldn't belong. Technically, his peace is at risk. In fact, it has been determined from the foundations of the world that he's going to lack peace forever. Now he's trying to confuse you to get you into alignment with him.
Isaiah 53:4-5 says: "Yet it was our grief he bore, our sorrows that weighed him down, and we thought his troubles were a punishment from God for his own sins. But he was wounded and bruised for our sins. He was beaten that we might have peace."
It makes sense that in John 14:27, "Peace I leave with you." He knew you guys would trip and forget, so he wrote it down again.
Peace I leave with you. My perfect peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid. Let my perfect peace calm you in every circumstance and give you courage.
Some of you need some courage. Let me show you how you can practically put this in step.
I'm a little bit of a short bully, and it speaks to how I confront the enemy spiritually. I back up just a little bit. I want to see what you're working with. Why? I want to make sure that I've properly dealt with bloodline patterns. I want to make sure that there's no sin in my life that is allowing the enemy to come with its suggestions.
So when I back up, I ask the Lord: "Okay, God, wash me clean. Make me clean. Make me new again because I'm about to step up to the enemy and he better not find any fault in me."
All right. So when I step back up to the enemy, it's with confidence and courage. My peace was paid for. What do you want? Do you want your peace to be taken? This is not the fight you want to have.
Colossians 3:15 says: "And let the peace, soul harmony which comes from Christ, rule, act as an umpire continually in your hearts, deciding and settling with finality all questions that arise in your mind, in that peace state to which, as members of Christ, one body, you are also called to live and be thankful."
In one instance, peace is a guard. In this instance, peace is an umpire. An umpire is an official who watches a game closely to enforce the rules and arbitrate on matters arising from the play.
Let peace act as an umpire in your hearts to discern the will of God for your life. Peace should be a checkpoint in your heart for every single decision. If you don't have peace, your discernment is off. And peace is not what you want to do—peace is gotten from the presence of God. Even if that decision is contrary to your feelings, you will still obey. That's peace.
You can't tell me that you have made a decision for your life and you lack peace and you're seeking affirmation from other people. You've got to get peace in the presence of God and let the Holy Spirit be the umpire of your decision making. And then follow it up quickly with thanksgiving.
Let me tell you why. As soon as he acts as an umpire and you say, "God, I thank you, Lord. I thank you for the outcome of my prayers. I thank you that you're giving me the kind of job that will give me flexibility. I thank you for the promotion. I know the government has shut down, Lord. I thank you that you are my provider." What begins to arise is faith to believe that God will do it again.
It's almost as if it comes back again and says: "Okay, that discernment was right. Keep believing in faith. Keep trusting him. Keep thanking him." That's what thanksgiving does. And it affirms your decisions.
A lot of us just need to say thank you. Don't ask God for another thing. Don't ask him for another darn thing. He already knows what you need before you even ask. But let's concentrate on thanksgiving. Let's build our faith. Let's get to a position and a posture that it doesn't shift regardless of the circumstances or situation.
God, I thank you. I thank you that I'm healed. I thank you that I walk in freedom and wisdom. I thank you that I have the mind of Christ. I thank you that I make the right decision all the time. I thank you.
Isaiah 26:3 says: "He will keep in perfect peace all those who trust in him whose thoughts turn often."
Often—meaning I think more about the peace of God than my problem. That's it. That's it. Meaning I spend more time in his presence, about his peace, than I do about my circumstance. Meaning I table my concern and stand up with thanksgiving, spending time often in his presence saying, "Thank you, Jesus."
Some translations make this word "perfect" by doubling it: "Peace, peace. Shalom, shalom." It's like squaring a number. When you spend time often thinking about the goodness of God, thinking about his faithfulness, thinking about the peace that passes all understanding, he doubles your peace. He increases your peace. He takes your peace to the next level.
It means that as you think and spend time on the peace of God, it becomes Psalm 23:5: "You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. Then you anoint my head with oil."
Let me help you. The first piece is the table. God sets up the peace of God for you and sets a table and invites you to sit down. In a previous time before Jesus Christ, you were the one serving. But when you concentrate on the peace of God, God then creates a table before you in the presence of your enemies.
Meaning you're not the only one invited to that table—your circumstance and your situation are invited to the table. They're invited to watch you eat. He sets up a table in their presence, meaning that they're not allowed to eat off of that table with you. So they got to watch you eat.
Now, he sets up the table before you in the presence of your enemies. And here's what he does with the table: he puts options on the table. Some of you think God is one-dimensional in your life. You have set up your career for yourself and it's you're thinking that's the way that God intends to bless you. But then God is saying: peace. There are multiple streams of income I intend for you to walk in, but don't be so myopic. The table has been set and there's a buffet on it.
And then he anoints your head with oil. That's the second piece. The shepherd in David's time would anoint the heads of the sheep to keep away flies and gnats, to do some healing where there are sores, to do all those things. So he would anoint those sheep heads so that they're not perturbed by the enemy.
When the second piece kicks in—those little flies of depression and anxiety—they hit a wall because they can't stick. They can't stick onto you. Every depression and anxiety that tries to latch on loses its feeling. In fact, it dies in the oil. Dies. Loses its power in the oil.
God, I want peace. Peace. Anoint my head with oil.
Some of you just need to ask God: give me a second dose of peace. God, the gnats have been flying. The gnats have been talking. They've been telling me about who they think I am. They've been telling me about what they think my destiny is. But he wrote about me in the pages of the book. It is not for the gnats to determine my future because he holds my future in his hands.
So peace, peace, peace, peace. You get a notification. Peace, peace. You get a result. Peace, peace. You get laid off. Peace, peace.
He anoints my head with oil. My cup runs over. What you didn't expect to happen begins to happen. And it doesn't just happen to you. It happens to everybody around you. You become contagious. Your peace becomes somebody else's peace. That looks like a tribe of peace people. Peace.
Matthew 6:25 says: "Therefore, I say to you, be not anxious. Do not be anxious for your life or what you shall eat, what you shall drink, nor yet for your body, what you shall put on. Is not the life more than the food, and the body than the raiment? Behold."
Whenever there's a behold, he is trying to give you a new perspective. He's trying to put glasses on your eyes.
Behold the birds of heaven. They sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly father feedeth them. Are not ye of much more value than that?
You don't know your value. God anoints your head with oil and then gives you something to pour over. You are valuable.
Philippians 4:6-8 says: "Do not be anxious...Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, it honorable, just, things that are pure, things that are lovely, things that are of good report. If there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things."
Nuts and flies are attracted to dead things. Jesus, could it be that the way you think attracts the nuts and the flies? There is opportunity.
He's saying: whatever thing that is good, pure, holy—think on these things. But you're spending your time thinking on unholy things, thinking on dead things, and then you're asking God for peace. I tell you, he can't deal with gnats and flies. Change your thinking. Change what you process.
I remember one time I was dealing with a bad mind. I had negative thoughts. We are all susceptible to negative thoughts—forget about the pastor thing. I'm a human being. I have negative thoughts. I have to forgive my husband daily. No, he's a great person. Really, he's going to heaven. But I'mma need to be scraped in sometime. But I had issues with my mind.
God, I actually wrote it down every time I had a negative thought. Naen, it was every second. And it was about me. I was thinking about myself. Some of us pursue things because of stinking thinking—thinking that those things will get you out of your stinking thinking. What it reinforces is your ineptitude. Then you're back in that negative cycle.
But when you think about the goodness of God, I spent time writing down every negative thought that I had and I told myself that I will verbally tell myself to shut up every time a thought would come. I was telling myself to shut up a lot. Sir John, it was embarrassing. And you would think I'm spiritually mature, but you enter into certain seasons and the enemy uses a slow season against you, helping you, and makes you think that God has gone on transfer as if you've been left behind.
All of your mates are having children and you're waiting. And then your thoughts are filled with: what's wrong with me? Did I sin? You begin to use scripture to unjustly justify your negative thoughts. Jesus.
Well, if you happen to—I am not in the Bible. I'm not the patriarch. I use the scriptures as an example, not as me. And I had to write down every negative thought and then tell myself: first of all, shut up. And then go back to scripture to negate the thing I was thinking about myself.
By the time I was done, my hand was tired. I was tired. But that's the work some of us have to do. And it's not just one time—it's many times, until the word of God is formed on the inside of you. Your revelation of peace is as good as the word of God. You cannot use another thing as a justification for your peace. So I had to use the word of God to get my attention because you have to know the word of God.
Psalms 119:165 says: "Great peace have those who love your law, and nothing can make you stumble. If you are stumbling, you don't love the word of God."
Jesus. Jesus. Nothing can make you stumble.
I remember my mother. She was born with only one kidney, and at the age of 70, God gave her two brand new kidneys in her system. I watched a woman who was healed of cancer two times. I watched a woman who had three children unassisted when the doctors told them that they had zero, negative zero percent chance of having three children. It got to the point where she said, "God, I've had enough. I'm good."
I watched a woman who suffered with high blood pressure, almost dying. I remember in high school at the age of 16—I was the medic in that time—and I would take her blood pressure and it was so high she was on the verge of stroke. Then she said, "Amby, read to me Mark chapter 4." And I read Mark chapter 4 from the beginning to the end four times. And I watched this woman get up from her sick bed, go downstairs and start to walk the treadmill. And after one hour, she came back. She said, "Check, check again, check again." And her blood pressure dropped lower than mine.
Jesus, the word of God is a shield and a buckler. The word of God is alive, is sharper than any two-edged sword. The word of God is alive.
Don't let somebody else's story be your rate limiter. What is that thing? What is it?
Yes. So you're dealing with sickness. I've watched dead people rise back to life. What is it? You are alive and you're in this atmosphere. That means you have a better chance than a dead person. Go back. Eat the word of God. Quieten your mouth of complaints. Read the word of God until it becomes life.
Read the gospels where Jesus began to do and to teach. Read how Jesus set the captives free. Raise the dead. Open blind eyes. And then watch yourself walk through the streets of Galilee imagining that you are the woman with the issue of blood.
You move around. You come with your power. You perform miracles. There is nothing, there is nothing, only because you made a way.
We've been doing confessions, and I want you to repeat after me:
