Proverbs - Wisdom For Troubled Times

Please open your bibles up. You have a bible with you this morning. If not, the readings will be on the screen. We're going to read from a a couple of chapters in proverbs, and then we're gonna flick forward to 1 Peter.

I'll try and give you some time to get the passages open, but if not they are on the screen. First of all, Proverbs chapter 15, We're going to read from verses 13 to 19. Provverbs 15 verse 13. A happy heart makes the face cheerful, but heartache crushes the spirit. The discerning heart seeks knowledge but the mouth of a fool feeds on folly.

All the days of the oppressed are wretched but the cheerful heart has a continual Better a little with the fear of the lord than great wealth with turmoil. Better a dish of vegetables with love than a fastened calf with hatred. A hot tempered person stirs up conflict but the 1 who is patient calms a quarrel. The way of the sluggard is blocked with thorns, but the path of the upright is a highway. And then, flick forward to chapter 16 verse 8.

Better a little with righteousness then much gain with injustice. And then flick forward again to chapter 17 verse 1. Better a dry crust with peace and quiet than a house full of fee sting with strife. And then 1 Peter chapter 1 versus 1 to 9. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ.

To God's elect exile scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Capadocia, Asia, and Bifinia, who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God, the Father, through the sanctifying work of the spirit to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood. Grace and peace be yours in abundance. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In his great mercy, he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. And into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade.

This inheritance has kept in heaven for you. Who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In all this you greatly rejoice though now for a little while you may have to have you may have to have to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire. May result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

Though you have not seen him, you love him. And even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy. For you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls. Well, good morning. My name's Pete Woodcock.

I'm pastor of the church. Great to have you with us. Just to remind you about those Christmas events, Do invite people to them. And on on the Saturday when we're in Kingston, come and bring children along as families come in, you know, get the in or something so you don't have to park. And then and come and let's go through that because that will help us with getting people through.

It's very exciting to be able to to open the good news of of Christ to Kingston again. It's very very great to be able to be there. Let me pray. Father help us now as we look at these amazing little proverbs, bless us, challenge us, encourage us, and point us to the lord Jesus Christ we pray in his name, amen. Now we're going through the book of Proverbs.

I think this is the last for a little while, but we've been working our way through Proverbs. We'll probably stop here and we'll come back some other time. But what I wanna do right at the beginning here is is to show you a clip from from actually probably the best film that's ever been made. I think this is the best film. It's certainly the best Christmas film and it's certainly the best family film.

It's called Muppett's Christmas Carol. It's December so we can begin to watch it. I don't know how many times I've seen it but it is a fantastic film. Let me just introduce it, and then we'll see a little clip from it. The scene we're we're gonna see is at the Crochets House, and it's their Christmas dinner.

And the the cratchits are come at the the frog and miss piggy and their family. They are poor. They have the youngest son who is extremely ill and close to death. They have very very little to eat, but the seed is is portrayed like a great feast. The ghost of Christmas present has brought scrooge, who is a who who is a very rich man, but a miser and a very cruel boss.

They brought him to observe this Christmas dinner scene. Let's just watch this. God blesses everyone. Why this full of sweet surprises every day is a gift. The sun comes up and I can feel it lift my spirit fills me up with laughter, fills me up with song, I look into the eyes of love and know that I belong bless us all who gather here.

The love you family Oh, dear. No place on earth compares with home. And every path will bring me back from where I roam. Lesses all. As we live, we always come forward and form you We have so much that we can share.

We those in need. We see around us everywhere. Let us always love each other, lead us to the light. Let us hear the voice of reason singing in the night. Let us run from anger, and catch us when we teach us in our dreams and please Yes, please.

Bless us all with playful years, with noisy, gains and joyful tears. We're rich for you, and we stand tall. And in our prayers and dreams, we ask you, bless us all. We reach for And we stand at all. And in our prayers, dreams we ask you, bless us.

It's all thickest things now. Is that dinner? Excuse? Tell me if tiny Tim will live. Who loves that film?

Who's never seen that film? Oh my word. You really, really must watch it. It's a very very faithful rendition of of of of the Christmas Carol. And so I hope you know what I'm talking about.

The reason why I showed that is because actually that little scene sums up the proverbs that I want us to look at really, really well. Let me just read the proverbs out that we're looking at. We're looking at chapter 15 and verse 15. Listen. All the days of the oppressed are wretched but the cheerful heart has a continual feast.

Verse 16, better a little with the fear of the lord than great wealth with turmoil. Verse 17, better a dish of vegetables with love than a fattened calf with hatred. Chapter 16 verse 8, better a little with righteousness than much gain within justice chapter 17 verse 1. Better a dry crust with peace and quiet than a house full of feasting with strife. Back to the Christmas Carol.

What Dickens has done in that scene and and as I say, the muppet's interpreted so well, is to bring you into the feeling of a very very cheerful loving family. You saw it in the song. Everyone works Everyone is a team. They're all working together. And even though there's a very small amount of food, there's unity, there's a sharing spirit, There's massive love, there's massive sense of belonging in that scene.

It's warm, it's exciting, They have very, very little on the table, but they have big thanks in their heart. They have grateful hearts. Now, when you see that scene, you just wanna be there. That's that's where I wanna be on Christmas day. And I think the truth is, if you did turn up, They'd not only share the little that they have on their table.

They would share it with thanks and they'd be absolutely thankful that you were there. They would share it with thankful, grateful hearts. So the scene has a feeling of this amazing feast. It has a sense and as the camera goes through and you see them singing, it has this sense that even though they've got very little on the table if you looked few carrots, few potatoes, a scrawny little goose. Nevertheless, it's like the biggest feast you've ever been to.

The warmest most accepting feasts you've ever been to. And that's meant to compare with scrooge who was looking on there, who is filthy rich, is a miser and an in just cruel boss. There's no love in his heart. There's only a dry piece of bread when he eats his Christmas meal. He's cold.

He's lonely. He's in a dingy little room. No warmth, no light, no laughter, no joy, no family. And we're meant to compare that. We're meant to compare what the rich has, the miserly scrooge and what the poor have.

What Dickens has done and I think what he does so well in the Christmas Carol is to picture the outward representation of the inner heart. It's like he's gone through the outer circumstance. To see what the heart is. And so you've gone through them the difficult circumstances of the crutches. And you see this warmth.

And that's what these these proverbs do. And I hope that scene helps. As we come back to it again and again looking at these proverbs. Here's my first point. A cheerful heart.

That's what they had. A cheerful heart. Chapter 15 verse 15. All the days of the oppressed are wretched, but the cheerful heart has a continual feast. You see what the problem's done?

It's gone through the outward circumstances, a wretched oppression. It's gone through the outward circumstances to the heart, a sheerful feasting heart. That's what Proverbs has done. The words here are pressed can simply just mean poor. It can mean oppressed by some kind of outward government or vicious boss.

It could simply mean humble or lowly position. Someone in need, it can mean someone afflicted. The word wretched can simply mean just, you know, unpleasant circumstances or it can mean evil. Evil is happening to you. Unpleasure things, bad, things sometimes evil.

So here's the picture in this proverb of a person who on the surface on the outward if you were looking at just looking at them from the surface, there are nobody. They're going through hard times. They're going through difficult times in their life. Perhaps even evil times. Perhaps there's an oppressor.

Perhaps it's just dull and boring times. That they're going through. And they're going through this for the whole of their lives. They're not to be envied these people. These are the poor, the sort of unimpressive, dull people that haven't got much in their life.

That's the outward, but Inwardly, there's light and life and feasting. Scratch the surface and you get the second part of the proverb. The cheerful heart has a continual feast. That's that's the cratchit house. Poor, ill, mistreated, but a feast The cheerful heart and a thankful heart are there.

How can you do that? How can you have a continual feast in your heart? How how how can that actually be? How can we transcend bad, unpleasant, Even dull or evil circumstances into feasting. How can you turn your heart to be the place of a feast when life is a beast?

How can you do that? Have a look at the verses that we read from from 1 Peter. What's going on it here is Peter is writing to a group of people that he says are under great grief, grief in all kinds of trials. And then in other parts of the letter, you find out that these Christians are missed treated. They're outcasts.

They're strangers. They're foreigners in this world. They're they're rejected. They're the ones to be looked down upon They're the ones that no 1 really cares about. They're not the rich and influential.

In other words, they're the first part the proverb verse 15 of chapter 15. All the days of the oppressed are wretched. That that that's where they are in their outward status. But Peter is writing to them and he understands it's tough. He's not belittling their tough, the tough things that they're going through.

But listen to the but Listen to the but of the second half of the proverb, but the cheerful heart has continue feast. Let me just read from verse 3 of 1 of 1 Peter. Listen to it. Listen to the word. Praise.

Be to God, to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In his great mercy, he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that can never perish or spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by god's power until the coming of the salvation. That is ready to be re revealed in the last times. And then listen to verse 6, because verse 6 is prophecy 15 verse 15 but the other way around.

Look, in all this you greatly rejoice though now for a little while you may have to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. That's the proverb. But then listen, these have come so that the proven so that the proven genuineness of your faith of greater gold, which perishes even though refined by fire may result in praise glory and honor when the Lord Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with listen, an inexpressible and glorious joy for you are receiving the end result of your faith the salvation of your souls.

Now there's tons of stuff there but do you genuinely get the picture? The heart has the reality of heaven in it. Which is 1 of inexpressible joy of love for the Lord Jesus Christ whatever the earthly circumstances in the heart is the the reality of heaven. Now, you see that? Last week, I was quoting Adele, and I was trying to show you how she was explaining to her son how she's broken the home up.

1 of the things I read about her, was really interesting because what she said was that she actually wasn't that unhappy in the marriage. She actually wasn't that unhappy, but she worried that she might be unhappy in the future. And because of the potential unhappiness in the future of her marriage, she felt trapped, and therefore, it made her unhappy. Do you see what's going on there? It's the exact opposite that what's what's going on here in 1 Peter.

The exact opposite. The Christian future is so wonderful, is so bright is so utterly secure for all eternity that it produces a living hope. It's living. It's a a vibrant, a live hope that results not in just perseverance sticking at it and saying, oh yeah, well, I'll stick at being a Christian even though it's tough. But actually results in not just perseverance but joy, a cheerful heart, an excitement that I haven't seen Jesus yet and I love him.

And I can't wait to see him on the wedding day. I'm looking forward to see my lover. That's it? Who said that? Build.

A continual feasting and joyful heart my lover. Do you want to say it again? No. She's bored now. Love that wonderful lover, the continual feasting on the sense that there's a great feast I'm going to.

Peter shows us this. He reminds us, look at these verses again. He just reminds us who we are in Christ. So you can have a cheerful heart in whatever circumstances. Listen to the the first words.

It should be the next slide, I think. Hello? There it is. This is Peter introducing his book, Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to God's elect exxon exars scattered throughout providence provinces of Ponchus, and Galatia, and Asia and Bisenia. Who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father through the sanctifying work of the spirit to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood.

There's so much there it's hard to get hold of but you've got the eternal family. You've got God the father. You've got got the spirit and you've got the the Lord Jesus Christ. This great eternal family and grace and peace be yours in abundance. You've got that.

That's who you are if you're a Christian. Look what he says in chapter 2. He reminds us who we are again. But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. God's special possession that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. That's who you are in Christ. You're the people of God You've received mercy once were nothing, but now you're the people of God. You see that? When you know those truths, your outward circumstances, however bad, you can still have a cheerful heart.

That's my first point. A cheerful heart. And that leads me now onto the next load of proverbs because they're better It's all about being better. Let me just show you. That's my second point.

Better. Let me show you. First, 15 chapter 15 verses 16 and 17. Look, 16 better, a little with the fear of the lord. Than great work wealth and turmoil.

First 17, better, a dish of vegetables with love than the fattened calf with chapter 16 verse 8. Better a little with righteousness than much gain with injustice. Verse 17 verse 1. Better a dry crust with peace and quiet and a house full of feasting with strife. Better.

Better. Better. You see that? 21 times in the book of Proverbs is the word better, and it means wonderful things. Got a depth of meaning, it's all positive.

It means good, merry, pleasant, desirable, usable, agreeable, generous, festive beautiful. We live in a world that thinks that more is better. Where the person that has the most toys is the winner, where the person has the biggest jewels is to be envied. Where the family with the most elaborate house is to be celebrated. Where where people with power and influence are the cool people, where if you have more brains and better look at a higher education, you'll be noticed and you'll be able to climb the ladder and reach the top.

That's the world we live in. These proverbs say there's something better than all of that. There's something more agreeable, more desirable, more beautiful, Better. Better. Better.

Better 4 times. Better Little. Better vegetables. Better little. Better, dry crust.

If you have, the fear of the lord which means you thing here, you'll you know him. If you have love, if you have righteousness, if you have peace, If you have the fear of the Lord, if you have love, you have righteousness, you have peace, you are most desirable position. You're in a better position than anybody else. Better than great wealth, fat and calf, much gain, house full of feasting. Because what comes with that is turmoil and hatred and injustice and strife.

Better. So let's look at these proverbs then. 1 at a time, we're gonna have a quick whiz through them. First 1, verse 16. Little but with the Lord is better to have little but to be with the lord is better.

Look at verse 16. Better a little with the fear of the lord than great wealth with turmoil. To have great wealth and great treasure, but to have great turmoil is not a good turmoil not a good life. It's just not a good life. It's not a good life.

But it's amazing how how we will willingly put ourselves through turmoil. Whether it's mental turmoil and there's plenty of that going on, physical turmoil for great wealth. It's amazing what we put ourselves through. For great wealth or great position or or great power or great importance or great job or great appreciation or fame. Better to fear the lord.

Better to walk consistently with the lord. Better to trust the Lord and put your energies into loving him and loving the Lord's people. Better to walk with the lord, because you're doing the thing you were made for. That's where you'll find freedom. Better to fear the lord and walk with God and know his ways than to have great wealth and turmoil.

The turmoil that comes here I think is that you get when you're not trusting the lord. In order to get great wealth or great position, sometimes we sell ourselves. Don't know whether we ever talk like that anymore, but some people sell their souls to the company, to the boss, to the position. You sell your soul. They rule you.

They rule your day. They rule every moment of your time. You even dream about it. You can't go on holiday without the mobile phone or the emails. They rule you.

They rule you and they bring great turmoil. You never relax. You can't even go for a walk without some business deal going on. Now, I wanna tell you, Proverbs isn't against great wealth. And Proverbs isn't against great hard work to get great wealth.

You know, it's always against the slug art. We even read 1 of the things. The slug god that has no ambition and he's lazy and doesn't eat anything. And that does nothing. But but hard work and ambition that takes you away from trusting the lord and puts your energy into your own trust.

That will always bring turmoil. Better a little with the fear of the lord and great wealth with turmoil. Jesus, when he's talking to a man that interrupted him, and asked Jesus to sort out a wealth problem with him and his brother, told this amazing story of a a rich farmer. And at the end of it, he says this. Watch out.

Be on your guard against all kinds of greed. Life does not consist in the abundance of possessions. Life does not consist in the abundance of possessions. And then he says, be rich to all god. If you wanna be rich, be rich to reward god.

Probably is the universe. Well, if you gain the whole universe, it'll never satisfy yourself. We're we're living in a in a world that we have so much stuff that we have to hire storage firms to keep the rubbish that we will never look at for 10 years. Something wrong with this, isn't it? Better to have little.

Better to have little, and the fear of the lord. 1 of the most terrific stories in the new testament is about this sort of stuff is Zakius, the story of Zakius. And he's a man that I think shows us the hard repentance and getting out of the wealth tool turmoil cycle. Because we get into these cycles and You just can't get out of it. But he did.

He was a man who went for great wealth He dismissed the Lord and the Lord's people. He wasn't gonna live for the Lord and the Lord's people. He was a very wealthy man He had a very high power position. He was a chief tax collector in the whole area, and he comes to Jesus. Or rather Jesus comes to him.

And Jesus comes into his house and Jesus comes into his life and you pick up the story here, it should be up here. Zachius stood up and said to the Lord after Jesus had come into his house, look lord. Here and now I give half my possessions to the poor and if I've cheated anyone out of anything which he had, I will pay back 4 times the amount. Jesus said to him, Today, salvation has come to this house because this man too is a son of Abraham for the son of man, that's Jesus, came to seek and to save the lost. Here was a man who lived for great wealth and clearly had great turmoil.

But when Jesus came into his life, he wasn't living for wealth anymore. Give half of it away. 5 diddled anyone, I'll give them 4 times the amount back. I'm not living for wealth anymore. Why?

Because salvation had come to his house. And we're told that Zakius welcomed Jesus with gladness. Terminal change to gladness. Better A little with the fear of the lord. Better.

A little with the fear of the lord than great work wealth and more, which brings me to the next proverb, vegetables with love is better. Vredibles with love is better. Right? Meet teachers are you listening? Vegetarians are all sitting forward here.

Look at verse 17. You're going to the church lunch and you're gonna sit on a purina and purina table. They're vegetarians. You think, oh, flip. Lown it here, aren't I?

Can't they can't they log a sausage in? Yeah? Better. Or you're you know, there are other vegetarians here. You sit on their table and you think, oh, no.

My word. Or you sit on a table with someone who brings those horrible little sausage rolls. You see, I just I've got a lovely meat hot pot here. I don't wanna share with them. Better, a dish of vegetables with love than a fattened calf with hatred.

Now, you gotta get this. In the ancient world, you know, most people just had that's all they had is vegetables. In fact, the word could be used vegetables here with just herbs despite just herbs. So you would have some very bland sort of potato y type thing or yam type thing with maybe a little herb to just make it have a little bit of flavor. Meat was off the menu for anybody poor.

It was it was an expensive thing to have. And if you did have it, you would only ever have lamb or goat or something like that. You'd never have beef. Very very rare. So vegetables here is seen as a very poor man's, poor poor meal.

You know, it's just it's it's something for the poor man and the fatted calf, well, that's like going to Michelin Star Restaurant. Better. To have a vegetable samosa from the corner shot and sit on a park bench with the 1 you love then go to a Michelin star Gordon Ramsay. Restaurant where he swears at you. Better.

That's what this proverb is saying. The presence of love makes up all the difference even if it's vegetables. It makes up all the difference. You can live on a humble diet if you've got love in the family. Or you may enjoy a extravagant meal.

But if there's hate there, it's unenjoyable. Who needs a t bone steak if there's no love? Who wants shrimp and lobster and caviar if there's only hatred. What good is it to have bigger and better home if there's no harmony in the home? Love is the center.

Look at these verses. From the bible. This is 1 John. God is love. This is how God showed his love amongst us.

He sent his 1 and only son into the world that we may live through him. This is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins, dear friends. Since God so loved us, we ought to love 1 another. No 1 has ever seen God. But if we love 1 another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

God loved us that he gave his son an atoning sacrifice gave his son. It's extraordinary. If you know the love of God like that, You can walk tall in a world that despises you. If you know the love of God, it doesn't matter that everyone hates you. God loves me.

You could be the most famous person on earth. Everybody recognizes as you go down the street, is nothing compared to the creator of the universe who created every single person in the universe if he loves you. And he'd shown his love for you by giving his son, his precious son. Love makes you walk tall. Love makes you feel comfortable.

Love makes you feel at home. Here's spurgeon. On the home, which shows you that you're comfortable in that place of love in the home. He says, cold potatoes, on my own table taste better than roast meat at my neighbours. When you're out, friends do their best, but still it's not home.

Make yourself at home they say because everyone knows that feel to feel at home is to feel at ease feel at ease. East and West Home is best. Why at home, cis Virgin? You're a home. What else do you want?

Safe in his own castle. Like a king in his palace, a man feels himself somebody and is not afraid of being thought of proud for thinking so. Every cock may crow on his own dungill. A dog is a lion when he's at home. Every bird loves its nest.

The owl thinks the old ruins are the fairest spot under the moon. The fox is of the opinion that his hole in the hill is remarkably cozy. When you know love, you're at home if you know the love of God, there's a there's a security there. Back to Christmas Carol. Do you remember the song?

Bless us all. Bless us all who gather here the loving family I hold dear. No place on earth compares with home and every path will bring me back from where I roam bless us all. And as we live, we always comfort and forgive. We have so much that we can share with those in need.

We see around us everywhere. That's love. Better, better to have that love with little vegetables or a mush with a little flavoring, better to have forgiveness and kindness This church, Cornerstone, we may just be a vegetable church. We may not be a fat and cough church We may be a vegetable church, but if we've got love, it doesn't matter. Love is what counts.

Love for God. And love for God spills out as we love and forgive each other. We've come a long way some of us together. We've had some times and maybe some arguments. But if there's love there, wow, it's a place to be, isn't it?

I want a vegetable church with love. I'd rather have you all vegetarians if there's love here. That's a big thing I'm saying here as you can see from my my figure. I'd rather I'd rather sit down on a vegetarians table and there be love. That's what the prophet said.

Which leads me on to my next proverb. Hope you're with me. I know it's quite a lot of stuff. 16 and verse 8. Little with righteousness is better.

Look at 16 verse 8. Better a little with righteousness than much gain with injustice. What do you really get from injustice? Well, you become a scrooge, really. Scrooge was the 1 who was unjust and unkind and lied and stole people's time and all that sort of stuff.

But what do you get? If you've lied and stolen and cheated and you've got an increase in your bank account, what do you actually really gain? Does it make you more successful? It make you more intelligent, more diligent, more hardworking, worthy of respect, What do you gain by cheating for gain? What do you gain by treading on people for gain?

What do you gain by manipulating truth for gain? What do you gain? What do you gain from trampling on people? From being unforgiving and unkind and uncaring for living a life that is not just. What do you gain?

What actually do you gain? Can you sleep at night? What do you gain when you manipulate things in the office for your own benefits? When you lie, when you exaggerate? What do you actually get?

Can you look in the mirror in the morning and be honest with yourself? What do you actually gain? Better a little with righteousness than much gain within justice. Jesus says in Matthew chapter 6 in his great sermon on the mount, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well. He's saying that righteousness is the thing that you should seek above everything else.

If you really wanna gain in this world, then you seek righteousness. And when you seek first God's kingdom and fear God and seek his righteousness, Then the other things that you might seek will be put in their place. Look what he says. So do not worry saying what shall we eat or what shall we drink. Or what shall we wear?

For the pagans run after these things and your heavenly father knows that you need them. But seek first kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of his own. If you don't seek righteousness in the kingdom of God first, you'll be prone to trust not God but yourself.

If you're prone to trust yourself, you'll be prone to worry How am I gonna get this? When am I what am I gonna do about eating and clothing? If you're prone to worry, you'll be prone to do unjust events to put people down, to stamp on people, to get the food and get the clothing. Because you're worried because you're relying on self. Get righteousness in your heart.

Get right with God. Fear the Lord. And better a little with righteousness than much gain with injustice. Which leads me on to the last proverb. 17 verse 1.

Dry crust with peace is better. A dry crust with peace is better. Look at verse 1 of chapter 17. Better a dry crust with peace and quiet than a house full of feasting with strife. Remember we're going internally here.

Peace and quiet here, by the way, isn't isn't low noise level. It's not like saying, well, you know, I come to the hub for the church lunch and it's so noisy. I wish it was peace and quiet. It's not that peace and quiet. It's it's a lack of trouble.

It's a lack of of of fighting because contrasted with strife here. It's peace in the heart. Peace within yourself. Peace. When you look around at the world, you very you see very little peace.

There are so much war, there's so much turmoil. But you just look around and you hear what's going on. With with young people and older people. There's so much lack of peace. Jesus says, I'm the prince of peace.

Jesus says I leave with you peace I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled or afraid. The peace, the peace that God gives The peace that Jesus brings is worth more than all the world's feasting. You think of the turmoil and the strife that goes in getting things for a feast. You think of the strife to pay for and to put on and to to invite people to a feast or to feast yourself.

Better a dry crust and know that you are right with God. Then all of the feasting of this world, then all of the stuff the world can give you. Look at Paul here in Philippians 4. We we looked at this quite a lot in lockdown, and I I think we need to keep reminding ourselves of these things. Because we're living in a world of not peace, and we need to trust the Lord here.

Rejoice in the Lord always. See the cheerful heart again? I will say it again rejoice. Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.

The Lord is near. Know that and you'll be able to rejoice. Then it goes on. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation by prayer and petition with thanksgiving present your requests to God. See, here's someone who's fearing the lord.

That's what it is to fear the lord. That that that In every situation, they pray, they petition God. He's the lord. They have thanksgiving in their heart, and they bring their request, and then look look at verse 7. And the peace of God, the peace of God.

Which transcends all understanding will guard your heart and minds in Christ Jesus. The peace of God. Put your head on the pillow at night and know that you have peace with God. To know the peace of God, that you're made right with God through Jesus and God's peace living in you. Is there anything better All the turmoil, all the lies of the world.

I mean, we're at Christmas time, and so those redful adverts for perfume come out. They're always dreadful, aren't they? They're always some self absorbed stupid woman climbing a pile of red things. And they they have all the famous actresses, you know, in the middle with the with the hair blowing and they're just smiling like this and that are on a horse riding away, treating men horribly. And the perfume does this.

That's what they do. They're all like that. They're all so self absorbed and taken up and and you think I you know, some of them, some of the women that put this perfume on. I'm thinking, run, man. Run.

She looks like a tarantula spider. She's gonna eat me. I'm gonna run. I'm gonna run to God. I'm gonna hide behind him because that woman for goodness sake, I need the peace of God that transcends all understanding with this Tarantula coming at me.

With that perfume she puts on, If I ever smell it, I think I'll be sick. The peace of God. The peace of God all this nonsense of the world. Get this, do this, achieve this, all of the pressure we put on people. Get this exam.

You've gotta do this. You've gotta find this. You've gotta step on people. It doesn't matter whether you're in just It doesn't matter whether 27 people drown because we're rich and we don't want them in our country. That doesn't matter.

We need this. We can't have little, we've got to have more, we can't share it with those people. We close our borders, we keep our riches, we want our lot fill up our storages with more and more crap and toys that we even forget that we forgotten. It's amazing. But the peace of God comes in our heart, transcends all of our our life.

Better. Better. Better. Better? Will we listen to this?

Better in this life and the life to come. This is the blessed life now. A cheerful heart, the fear of the Lord, Love, righteousness, peace instead of turmoil, turmoil I can't even say the word now, hatred. And injustice and strife in this world. What's in the heart now will be revealed in heaven, physically.

Now oppressed maybe, but not then. Now little, but not then. Now vegetables, but not then. Now little, but not then. Now a dry crust, but not then.

There will be feasting in heaven. Little now, lots then. Lots now, little then.