Hey, what's up church? I wanna welcome you today and I want you to do me a favor. For some of you, this is gonna be kind of painful, but I want you to think back in your mind to middle school. Now, some of you that wasn't that long ago. Others of you that was ages ago, and some of you, the first thing that comes into your mind is like an awkward haircut or braces or just an awkward stage of life.

But what comes to my mind, or one of the things that comes to my mind was at my middle school at Rowan Middle School, we had a lot of fights. And I don't know if y'all had fights at your middle school, but when there was a fight at our school, it wasn't long before you heard about it. I mean, as soon as you stepped onto that campus, people were talking about who got in a fight and they're spilling the tea. I mean, all the details of who won the fight and who lost the fight, and who jumped in the fight and who separated the fight. And what I want you to know today, believe it or not, because listen, we want to, we wanna push everything away from middle school that we can, but we're still in a fight today.

Now, the fight today looks a little different than the fight in middle school. The fight today is really simple though, y'all, it's our flesh, all right? It's our flesh against the spirit of God that is in us. Okay? So on this side, we've got our flesh that leads us down certain roads.

I remember my wife teaches, uh, one season of her life, she taught kindergarten and a little kindergartner told her, it's like there's a little red guy on this side and there's a little green guy on this side. And this one always tells me things I shouldn't do. And this one always tells me things I should do. And that's kind of the world we live in. If you are following Christ, now, I wanna give you a, I wanna give you a verse this morning to kind of help you see this picture or this fight that we're in.

And if you're doing the Bible reading plan with us, man, let me encourage you, but jump in with us on this, okay? This was Wednesday's Bible Reading Plan and it's in the Book of John. And it says this, it's really simple. It says, I am the vine. You are the branches.

Alright? Now here's the part we're talking about, if you will remain in me. So if you'll stay connected to him, if you'll walk with him, if you'll be in prayer with him, if you'll be in community with other believers, if you'll be in the word of God, like if you'll remain in me, then I will remain in you. And if you do that, you'll bear much fruit. But then look at the second part, apart from me, you can do nothing.

Now that's the battle that we're talking about, right? When we are not connected, when we don't remain on the vine, it is really hard to experience the fruits of the spirit. But when we do, man, these nine characteristics, these nine traits are present in your life and the present in mind. And so let me give you the text that's kind of been our theme text. And really today, the whole thing of today, I'm gonna encourage you to keep fighting.

I'm gonna encourage you to keep abiding in the vine. Alright? Now here's where all this kind of comes from. We've been studying the book of Galatians and we're in Galatians five. And this is kind of our theme text, okay?

You've heard it for a couple of weeks. Lemme kinda read it over you. And then we're gonna pick one, one characteristics to dive into. And I'm gonna tell you it's a good one today. It says this starting in verse 16.

So I say, live by the spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires. What is contrary to the spirit and the spirit? What is contrary to the sinful nature? That's the fight I was talking about.

They are in conflict with each other so that you do not do what you want to do. But if you are led by the spirit, you're not under the law. Now, the next few verses, Blake kinda talked about 'em last week. Basically it tells you everything that the flesh wants to do. And it's not good, it's ugly, it's all stuff me.

And you have stories about where seasons of our life, this looked like us, okay? No need to go back into that. So we're gonna start at verse 22. Alright? Here's where we want to be.

Here's where we wanna live. But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control against such things. There is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature. That's the fight with its passions and desires.

Since we live by the spirit, let us keep in step with the spirit. Now, I wanna talk about that word for just a minute in step, because the first verse we read, uh, uh, Jesus said it this way. He said, I want you to stay connected. I want you to remain in the vine. He says, I want you to abide in me.

Paul says it this way, I want you to stay in step. Now you, you get it because you've had friendships where you guys were just in step like man, you thought the same, you ate the same. Uh, you, you talked about the same people, you celebrated the same teams. You were just in step, you had similar goals. And then it's like you don't see 'em for a season and and all of a sudden you're just, it's like you're missing now.

You're no longer in step. You, you've experienced in marriage where like, you know, when you first started dating, man, you guys could just talk and it's like everything was alike and you, you had the same goals and then you had kids and it got complicated and now you're just like missing. You see this with teams. I mean, come on. Do we have any Cowboys fans?

Because Dak and cd lamb are not in step. You can see it so clearly. They just, they just hadn't found their rhythm. But the text that we're talking about says it's the same thing spiritually. That there's a reality to being in step with the spirit.

And the warning here is that when you're not in step with the spirit, you don't get to experience the fruit of the spirit. So if you're looking at your life and you're just frustrated because there's a lack of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, self-control, it's, it's, it's, it's because there's, you're not walking with the spirit. Now, I love this picture, okay? I got this from one of our house church pastors and uh, Zach and Katie Ross just started a new house church. It's already full of kids.

They got a lot of kids in their group. And I want you to see what they did on Wednesday night, because I thought this made so much sense. They just took some seeds and planted them, and it's a visual for all their house, church to watch and see the way these seeds grow over time. But here's what I want you to know. If there was no seed in there, there would be no plant, there would be no vine, there would be no fruit.

You would just be looking at an empty cup that would never produce anything. But because the seed was planted in that soul, there is hope for something different to come out of that soul that has never produced without the seed. That's what this series is all about. It's about that there's hope for you and that there's hope for me. Because when you read those characteristics, if you are like me, you get discouraged because it's like, where is that in my life?

But what I'm telling you is as long as the spirit is in you, it is possible. Now, this week we've made it to a characteristic that I think is, uh, very, extremely, very, extremely relevant. We've made it to peace. And how many of you would be brave enough to say, listen, I'd just be honest with you, I I don't have a lot of peace in my life right now because that's just real. And honestly, that's where a lot of us are, man.

We struggle for peace. We're living in a pandemic of peace. There is a lack of peace. The economy, the election, social media, the pace that you and I roll, the plates that we spend, all of this leads to a place where there's a lack of peace. But today, there's hope.

Today I am gonna encourage, and I'm gonna tell you this right from the first I, my goal today, so I don't know if I'm gonna do this, but this is my goal. My goal is to not make you feel guilty for not having or experiencing peace. But my goal is to give you hope because peace is possible because it is a fruit of the spirit and it comes from God. Now here's the, here's the verse, kind of an anchor verse to give you some encouragement. It's found in John John 1427.

It says, peace I leave with you, peace I give you. Now that's an incredible promise. Hold that verse for me for just a little bit because I love that. We need to know that that is the truth of God's word. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give you.

So peace is possible, but I want you to see something. I really want you to see the second half of that verse. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. Isn't that where most of us live? Like when I read that verse, I, I mean I love the promise, but I just, I resonate with the second part because there's seasons in my life where my heart is just troubled, where I live in fear.

Now, nothing robs us of peace more than fear. And can I tell you the two groups that listen, all of us deal with this, but there's two groups that are leading the way. Research tells us for a lack of peace. Here's the first one, it's students. Okay?

So students, man, hang with me today. Here's the second one is parents, I'm a parent. I think parents and students ask this question all the time, what if, and those, what if statements get really, really hard, man, I've got a daughter. What if man, I've got a son that's a 10th grader. What if man, you're in seasons of life as students where you begin to ask, what if this feeling never leaves?

What if this happens in my life? And those what if statements are detrimental to our health? And we spend so much more time on what if than on what is? And so today I'm gonna give you a few things of what is a few statements, a few promises, and I'm gonna ask you to begin to kind of track your thoughts a little bit. And when you see yourself doing nothing but what if statements, I want you to push yourself back.

Remember the fight to what is now here's what is, look at these verses Women we're doing a little bit of, I know we're bouncing on some Scripture today, but I gotta, I gotta get these scriptures in you because these are promises, alright? It starts in Romans, Romans 1533. Look at this declaration of who God is. You ready? The God of peace will be with you.

Man, that's a, that's a huge promise to hold onto. What if I never feel better? What if this anxiety never leaves? Well, here's what we know, the God of peace, he will be with you. That's what is, look at this second one.

And you're gonna, you're gonna hear this one at Christmas time. Can't you just hear the, the Christmas songs already for to us, a child is born to us, a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders and he will be called wonderful counselor. You ready? When I get to the green part, I want you to say it with me. Okay?

Get ready. I'm gonna count you down. And he will be called wonderful counselor. Mighty God, everlasting Father. Ready?

1, 2, 3, prince of peace. That's who he is. He's the God of peace. He's the prince of peace. Now look at the third promise.

Now, may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way the Lord be with all of you. Look at those promises, hold on to those promises. Build your life around those promises. Capture each one of those verses and write them down. Put them on your mirror at home.

Put them on your Kash. Because when your mind goes to what if you need to know what is, he's the God of peace. He's the prince of peace. He's the Lord of peace. The Bible has so much to say about peace, but my goal isn't, again, to make you feel guilty because you're not experiencing peace.

Some of you, you're gonna see those verses and it's like instant gratification, man. It's like, that's what I needed. Craig, some of you, you're gonna see those verses and instead of just feeling better, it's almost like you feel worse because I, I see that that's what he is, but that's just not the story in my life. It may take time. It it may take time for us to begin to retrain our thoughts and for us to begin to experience God's peace because you, you get this right?

Our, our brain, it's like a, it's like a, it's like a cow running down the same path all the time. And he wears that little track out in your thoughts and it's really hard to turn that around and go a different way. I wanna show you some, I'm gonna show you an image here because I think this is where we are. Sometimes when we don't have peace, we feel like the weight of the world is onus. I mean, come on, would you just be honest?

Did anybody feel that way? Thank you. I feel like it's just me. And then I share with you some promises and I share with that Scripture. It's almost like sometimes you can feel more guilty, but here's somehow it's gonna work in a couple of months, as you begin to retrain your mind and you begin to capture those what if thoughts and you replace 'em with what is, and you wake up every day and you see those promises, it's gonna begin to feel like that.

And then in time, this is our real goal in time. Look at this last one. Now this scares me because I know how hard it can be when you don't have peace, how it feels in a few years that that word years is scary and that just feels heavy. And I, I hope that's not the case. But the reality is, man, clinical depression, anxiety does take time.

And I want to encourage you today that there's hope. Now I wanna give you a promise today, and this is one of my favorite verses to kind of walk through. This is one of the ones that just comes to me naturally when I feel those fears kind of coming up in me. And so I want you to hold onto it. It's in Philippians and I love the book of Philippians.

It's just a fun read, okay man, it's not a lot of chapters. You can dive into it really easy, but pausing a season of his life, maybe it's like a season of yours where things aren't good. I mean, my brother's in a jail cell and I want you to see what he writes to you in this letter. Alright? Here's how he starts.

He says, rejoice in the Lord. Always. Now, that's quite a statement when you're in jail, I, the last time you were in jail and you started with rejoice with, okay, you got it. Rejoice with the Lord always. I'll say it again, rejoice.

Now he starts on the inside and then he moves to the outside. Rejoice in the Lord always. I'll say it again. Rejoice. Now go back in here.

Last, last week's message because Blake did an incredible job of talking about joy. And again, joy is one of the fruits of the spirit. So we're not looking for you to try harder to find joy. We're looking for you to connect to that vine and let God give you joy. The next one, verse five, let your gentleness be evident to all.

Now, this is how it works with the fruits of the spirit because that first one was joy, rejoice. And when I read that, I'm like, I, I feel good about that. Like, but when I read the second one, the next little phrase said, let your gentleness be evident all. Can I just tell you I, that's not I, I've gotta work on that one. I, I have never met someone that said, oh boy, I sure do love Craig.

He's so gentle and kind. I mean, it hurts my heart, but it's just true. But here's what I'm telling you is because these are fruits of the spirit, it is possible there is hope for me to be gentle. And that should be encouraging to you meant there is possible, it is possible that there will be a season that you could be described as a person who is gentle, who has joy, who has peace. Now keeps going.

It says the Lord is near verse six. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your request to God. Now let's talk about that word and it's right there in green situation. Does anybody else have some situations going on? I mean, come on, right, let me, I mean, I got a situation right here where my man's about to leave today to take a new job in the golden triangle.

And it's a situation, it's a blessing, but it's a situation. I got college students that are watching today and it's about to be finals midterms. That's a situation. Come on, I got some families that are watching today and you're dealing with some in-laws or I got some students that are watching today and you're trying to communicate with your parents. And it's a situation I got parents that are watching today.

And I think when you become a parent, it's just like, Hey, bring me your situation. It is like you are wearing a sign that says situations wanted and they just come at you constantly. I mean, every time you get home and your son or daughter walks in and you open up that backpack, it's a situation. You go, you go to that school status, it's a situation. You get that text saying, Hey, we need a parent teacher conference.

It's because there's a situation going on. 'Em, situations happen all the time. There's situations when it comes to sports. I went, I went, maybe it was two years ago I think, and I, and I, and I joined, um, Byron and Donna Malone at a Oak Grove football game. And we were sitting there watching Oak Grove play and I was trying to watch the game, but I kept, I kept watching these parents, Byron and Donna, because they were watching their kids, their kids were on the field playing.

And it was like, I was just, I, I was watching the game, I was kind of enjoying the game, but I was watching them watch their kids play football and they weren't enjoying that moment. There was so much stress. Yes, there was so much anxiety, there was a lack of peace. Here's why. Over the last five years they experienced four torn acls in their two boys, five years of football, four torn acls.

Parents, it is so hard to watch our kids do what they love to do. When you're scared and nervous, man, I'm just telling you, sports brings anxiety and sometimes it brings situations. And that's why when we read that verse and did you see how it started? He says, Paul has the nerve to say this. Do not be anxious about anything.

Can I just tell you that frustrates me? Yeah. How? How? What do you mean don't be anxious about anything?

I'm anxious about my marriage, man. I'm anxious about my kids. I'm anxious about these injuries. I'm anxious about school. I'm anxious about work.

Paul, what do you mean? And here's what I need you to know. Listen, because so many you hear that verse and it discourages you. Or you have heard someone say, listen, because you experience anxiety, you're outside of God's will. That's not this verse.

Someone in some point has maybe shamed you for anxiety. That's not the idea. This is a commandment to bring your anxiety to God. Big difference. And I need you to see it because it's an invitation.

This is so cool. Like, you know when you get an invitation, you're like, Hey, well what can I bring? You know, can I bring food? Can I bring a gift? Can I bring money?

Can I bring a gift card? What do you want me to bring to this party, to this moment where we meet up and we come together? He says, bring your anxiety. That's the invitation. He says, I want you to come to me.

Present your request to me. I want you to look up in the midst of your anxiety. Here's, here's my illustration because I love this. Like there's moments in life where we feel like our prayers are just hitting a door and they're coming back to us. Or there's moments when we're trying to pray and it's like we can't break through the ceiling and all we do is just carry anxiety.

We carry our worry, we carry our fears. It's like there's not a breakthrough, but prayer is communicating with God. Bring your anxieties to me. I love it. First Peter says, cast them on me.

And so prayer is like a portal where we, we transfer all of these worries and concerns from us to him. And may, can I just tell you he can carry your burdens? Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you what rest? Where do you find it in his presence? Come to me.

Prayer is a place that frees us from us. Prayer is a place, it's like a restraining order. This is so good. Don't miss this. It's like I'm putting a restraining order on all my cares and fears and anxieties.

Ha ha. Shut the door. I mean, it's that real. That's what prayer is. It's a place to cast it off of us and onto him because he cares for you.

It's that powerful. But that's different than just praying for your food or praying for sleep. I want you to see it's like a battle. And you, you've got the chance to bombard the heavens to shoot a missile. And we're not doing that.

I'm not doing that. I noticed in my life as I got ready for this message, 'cause I'm passionate about this 'cause I want you to have peace so bad. I've seen, I've felt what it's like to live without peace. That's not where I want you. And I've gone over this message probably more than I should have.

I should have just prayed and just kept presenting my request to God kept shooting missiles. God, I want you to hear this. Would you bless this? Would you use this? Like that's what's available to you.

Scripture says, we can pray without ceasing because he knows man, it's meant to be more than just a blessing. The word anxiety can be translated as a divided mind. Fractured, not whole, incomplete and absent, but prayer is how we shift our minds. And if you just feel absent, if you feel distracted, he says, this is the way to be present. Because when you come to me, you open up the door and you cast all those things on me because I care for you.

And then I'm gonna give you the blessing of being able to be present again in your everyday life because I'm gonna carry those things for you. It's shifting our minds. We're shifting our minds from us carrying it and being on our shoulders to saying, God, you can handle this. I'm putting this at your feet. I'm putting this in your hands.

How much more capable is he than us? But we've gotta transfer those things. Then he gives us this great last promise. He says, he says this in verse seven. You ready?

He says, and the peace of God, right? You got the invitation. Once we transfer it over to him, he says, the peace of God, which transcends all understanding. Don't you want that? My goodness.

If you're struggling for peace, you hear that and you're like, Lord, please me. The peace of God will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Now, what I love about that is this is Paul in jail, remember? And so he's locked up, he's chained up to what? To a guard.

So as he's writing this, what comes to his mind? The guy that's creeping on him right here next to him, the one he's been chained up with, the one that's watching his every move, the one that's watching him sleep and eat and go to the bathroom, the one that is with him 24 7. He says, that's the power of the presence of God and the Holy Spirit that is now guarding what your thoughts and your heart. And that's the source. That's where this fear comes from.

That's where the lack of peace comes from. It comes from our heart, it comes from our mind. And he's saying, now you don't have to worry. There's a new guard in town and it's the Holy Spirit. And he is gonna guard those things, your heart and your thoughts and your mind.

I've got two friends, and I mentioned one of 'em to you earlier. He's on the front row, but I've got another friend that's one of our house church pastors. Both of these men have, uh, you know, kids and grandkids and over the last two years they've lost their jobs. I mean, it's a critical season of their life to provide. And, and, and they've, they've walked through a season where they've lost their jobs and there's nothing about that circumstance that leads to peace.

Nothing. But can I tell you, in the midst of those circumstances, both of these men have said we still experience God's peace. Here's the point. The circumstances did not lead to peace, but it's God's presence that leads to peace. Peace is not the absence of something, but it's the presence of God.

That's right. That's where you can find peace. Now here's your promise. Here's the big summary of this whole message, and you've made it, thanks for listening so well. But this is the promise, Philippians four, and it starts in verse five.

This is what you've gotta hold onto because we've said it's not the circumstances, but it's the presence of God that brings peace. Look how Paul started this verse. You've gotta see this. He says, the Lord is near. That's your word, man.

When it gets so heavy and you can't find peace, this is the reminder to hold onto, even if I don't feel it, here's what I know the Lord is near. And if the Lord is near, do not be anxious about anything. Remember that's, that's not, it's not to make you feel guilty. Instead it's an invitation. But in every situation, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your request to God and the God of peace, God, don't you love that?

Lord of peace, God of peace, prince of peace, which transcends all understanding things we can't even understand. How could you have peace in the middle? These circumstances that just don't line up, transcends all understand. That's the one, that's the God that is gonna guard your heart and your mind. That's where the fruit of the spirit comes from.

When we're connected to the vine, he guards us and he protects us. Listen, one of the things I want you to do today is just a minute. The team's gonna lead us at every campus and we're gonna worship and we're gonna worship and we're gonna sing about the name of Jesus. But I'm, I'm challenging you in this moment, man, worship in a way that maybe you begin to step into a strength that you've never experienced like I like. You're really connecting and abiding in the vine.

And just begin to think through this list like which one of these do we need to see God provide in your life right now? And you can just ask him, God, give me joy. God give me love, man, I'm trying to love these people around me. It's not natural for me. I need this.

Give me peace. Next week we're gonna talk about patience. But you may be in a season two, and listen, I mean this. You may be in a season where peace is so hard to find, you can't find words, but you would love someone to pray for you. Can I tell you that is so powerful when you just can't find peace, but you need to borrow someone else's faith and you're in a season where you need to let one of our prayer team members just pray over you.

Maybe it's not you, but maybe you've got a child or a friend or a coworker or a parent, and you know the struggle that they're facing and your role today is to intercede for them. Say God, give them peace. You can come down and take communion. You can come leave something on the cross that for you, it has been robbing you of peace. It's a way of saying, God, I release this to you.

Now, would you begin to guard my heart and my thoughts? Let's pray together. God, I thank you that when it comes to peace, we can look to you that God, when it comes to love and joy, and next week when it comes to patience, that when we abide in you, there's a whole nother level of those things that we may not have experienced yet. And so taste and see, that's my heart for this series. God, I, I want us to taste and I want us to see that peace is possible.

That God you bring peace. God, I pray you would calm the storms. I love that story. When you step in the life of the disciples and you, you just say, woe to the wind and the waves and God there in awe. Nothing about that circumstance screams peace.

But yet your presence, your presence springs peace. So God, we worship you today. We pray for more of the fruits of the spirit to come alive in us. And God, we begin to fight. We fight against our flesh, and we lean into the spirit of God.

God we love you and we worship you. It's in your name we pray. Amen.