At The Family Church here in Gainesville, our senior pastor Philip Griffin continued his Christmas series of Sunday morning messages, this one titled Irrational Peace. The scripture references are Isaiah 9:6 and Ephesians 2:13-18 ...just click on one and you can read it through Bible Gateway...
Pastor Philip structured his message around the meaning of the kind of peace that comes from God and not from our own reasoning. God's peace has a purpose: to create a new humanity, a true unity...not just the absence of conflict. As a matter of fact, Philip pointed out conflict is one of the important, necessary stages in developing relationships...after the "honeymoon" period...and needs to be worked through in order to attain the ultimate goal of true relationship and community. Peace, of course, is a person: Jesus Christ, the prince of peace prophesized in Isaiah, and who has destroyed the barrier between us and God. And finally peace has a process, which Philip broke down into three stages. One, reject self-righteousness, which falsely elevates the self and causes division. Two, receive what Jesus died to gain for us...this actually comes first, for it is through the Holy Spirit by faith in Jesus that we are empowered to reject self-righteousness. And three...as our pastor emphasized...respond to the Father's invitation and let it recreate our hearts...
Maybe peace that is divine is irrational, but so is mindless hostility. Conflict that irrationally embraces hostility can result in all sorts of negative results, but conflict that irrationally embraces God's peace will empty our hearts...to be filled by God's presence and point us to true relationship and community...
You can experience Philip's sermon for yourself by clicking on the following link to the church's YouTube video site: [link]. The Family Church is at 2022 SW 122nd Street and holds its weekly Sunday morning services at 9;30 and 11...although those times will shift to 9 and 10:30 starting next year. The message, worship music, fellowship, prayer...it's all very good...
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