• Romans 5:1 says that therefore having been justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ Peace In this passage means the end of hostility not Tranquility of mind it’s not that we have ceased to be hostile to God but that God ceases to righteously be hostile toward us did you know that the Bible says that because of our sin God has to be hostile to us Isaiah 59:2 says your iniquities have separated between you and your god this piece that Jesus brings changes the image of God from a fisted hand with
• a gavel to an outstretched hand of a friend God’s anger at us because of our sin is put away our separation from him is overcome God adopts us into his family and from now on all his dealings with us are for good good he will never be against us he becomes our father and our friend and we don’t need to be afraid anymore the Prince of Peace is just one of 250 names given to the Lord Jesus in the New Testament when he appeared for the first time on this Earth in a Manger in Bethlehem the Angels announced his arrival as you
• remember with these words glory to God in the highest and on Earth peace Good Will toward men the world in which Jesus was born had a very different idea of Peace our English word peace originates from an old French word which means to be reconciled or to have an agreement with or to have the absence of hostility but the Hebrew word Shalom has a much richer meaning that’s the only Hebrew word I probably know to say out loud would you like to have a privilege of speaking Hebrew this morning let’s say the word Shalom out
• loud together shalom shalom this word is found 355 times in the Old Testament and its basic meaning is to be whole or safe or sound Shalom designates a condition in which life can best be lived a review of shalom in the Old Testament reveals that it never refers to Inner psychological or emotional peace Shalom is the condition of everything being set right it’s about the total wellbeing of the person and the community it’s one of the deepest longings of the human heart say it again Shalom Jesus is the one who brings the
• deepest longings of our hearts for peace to satisfaction but if we are honest we can easily become discouraged when we see so little peace in our world and in our hearts we long mostly for international peace but Jesus I believe cares more about individual peace internal peace yes the world needs to come to peace but how many of you know if peace comes to our hearts pretty soon it comes to our culture and so you start where you need to start and that is with the importance of individual peace so there are three major ways that

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