Thursday, June 08, 2017

Joining God's Peace Movement (includes retreat download link)

3-Hour Self-Guided Retreat on Peace download


Then Peter replied, “I see very clearly that God shows no favoritism. In every nation he accepts those who fear him and do what is right. This is the message of Good News for the people of Israel—that there is peace with God through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. (Acts 10:34-6, New Living Translation)

As Peter proclaimed to a Roman family, God initiated a great peace movement through Jesus Christ, who went to the cross to die so that, by his sacrifice, we were given forgiveness of our sins. In Romans Chapter five, the apostle Paul pointedly states that we were once enemies of God, and that God made peace with us through the death of Jesus Christ. Christ’s broken body and spilled blood . . . Christ’s death, removed God’s wrath from us. And if Christ’s death removed our enemy status . . . in fact, it made us part of God’s family . . . then Christ’s resurrected life assures us that we have life and peace with God. This is the great Good News: Peace with God . . . forgiveness of sins . . . a relationship with God that will last forever . . . are all a reality for those who have faith in Christ.

God initiated the peace movement. Peace moves into your live through Jesus Christ. Peace, from the biblical perspective, is a sense of wholeness or well-being in individuals and groups, that comes from a real relationship with God.

The great Good News is that peace can move into the lives of every single person. God accepts every kind of people. What shakes up our world, like it shook up Peter’s, are the consequences of God’s acceptance. If God finds all people acceptable, well it’s quite possible that our view of the world is going to get shook up a little, too.

I write these words as Britain is reeling from a terrorist suicide bomb attack that killed 22 people leaving a concert. The world we live in is not a very peaceful place. Even finding personal peace is getting harder to come by. Christians have the challenging call of conveying the Good News of God’s peace through Jesus Christ to people . . . even to the people we consider untouchable. We’re called to join God’s peace movement. And like Peter with Cornelius . . . our actions may just speak louder than our words.

Joining God’s peace movement means change at a personal level. It requires some personal rewiring. All the things that separate us one from another—jealousy, envy, a critical spirit, stubborn pride, comfort, tradition--anything that alienates us from others . . . they’ve got to go if we are going to be meaningful members of God’s peace movement.

One of the most powerful testimonies to the power and peace of God is a community of faith that is modeling acceptance and forgiveness. We’ve been caught up in God’s peace movement and it has been our salvation! It’s God’s forgiveness and acceptance that has been extended to the world. Let there be God’s peace on earth and let it begin with you, let it begin with me, let it begin with us.

3-Hour Self-Guided Retreat on Peace download

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