How To Be A Peacemaker - Hope Carpenter

I am so glad that you decided to join me tonight. I don't know where you're coming from, but I'm glad you're here all over the world. Glad you're on Facebook, live, YouTube, however you are joining, thank you so much. I have a powerful word for you tonight. It's a little tough one, but, you know, those are the ones who just shake us and shift us and change us. So sit back, get your notebook, call your friends, text somebody, tell them to join in. Here we go. How to be a peacemaker. How to be a peacemaker. Have you ever lived in chaos, confusion, strife, anxiety? It causes health problems. You can't sleep, you're paranoid. You just stay upset and anxious all the time. Well, Matthew 5, 9 says this. He says, blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. Wow. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. Well, have you ever lived in peace? Many of you say not one day, but if you've ever lived in peace, the opposite happens. You're calm, you're content, you can rest at night. You get a full night's sleep because you're not tossing and turning and just full of anxiety. And it. Listen, you might not always agree with everybody in your household, but there's no fighting, there's no cussing, there's no throwing plates. Talking about a peaceful environment. And what is the one thing that can throw all of the gas on the fire? What is it? Come on, talk to me out there. What is the one thing that can just throw the gas on the fire and start strife and arguments? It's what comes out of our mouth. Oh, these tongues. Words are the vehicle through which we communicate our thoughts, but the tongue is the driver. Words are the vehicle through which we communicate our thoughts, but our tongue is the driver. How many of your tongues are a bad driver? Come on. How many of you need to go back to a get your degree again in learning how to drive? When it comes to your tongue and your mouth, everything can be going just fine. Then they start talking about your mama, right? Or they start talking about how you didn't do all this right, or how you don't treat them right, or how you don't call enough or listen or call you that one name that they know infuriates you. Listen. Proverbs 6 list. It lists seven things that the Lord hates, that the Lord detests. And one of them is a man who stirs up dissension among the brothers. That's verse 19. The Lord hates that. He said, There are seven things that the Lord hates. And one of them is a person who always is stirring the pot, always getting something going, always getting people sideways with each other, always picking up that phone. Come on. Got the telecare ministry. But Ephesians 4:3. Paul urges us as believers. He begs us as believers. He says, keep the unity of the Spirit. How? Through the bonds of peace. Keep the unity of the Spirit through the bonds of peace. Satan's job description in John 10:10. What is it? We all know this scripture. He comes to kill, to ste, steal and to destroy. He is the author of confusion. But he is not running around your house doing it himself. He uses people. He uses the people in your life, the people you come in contact with, the people that lives under the same roof. Your boss, your co worker, that person on the road. He's always using people to stir the pot and to cause confusion. And listen, these are the people who have not given their life to the development of fruit. Galatians 5 and 22 says, but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control. And this does not happen naturally. It just doesn't. It doesn't happen naturally. There's no one out there who just is born into this world full of the fruit of the spirit. There's no one out there who is just naturally patient. There's no one out there who is just naturally long suffering. They just love to suffer a long time, right? This does not happen naturally. Those who bear these fruits, these characteristics. It comes with a long process of an intimate relationship with the Lord. It's when you spend time together that you start to take on his nature and his characteristics. It's like being married. My husband and I have been married almost 31 years and people say that we look alike. We can even finish each other's sentences. Why? Because we've spent so much time together, so we've taken on one another's characteristics. Basically, you have to work at it. You just have to work at it. And Satan wants you to take the bait of these offenses that he dangles in front of you through your job, through your co worker, through your stepmom, you, through your husband. Come on, Satan. That's what he's doing. He's just trying to get you to take that bait over. Sometimes it's even harmless statements. He wants you to read more into what they said. He wants you to wonder, oh, did they really mean that? Or did they have an ulterior motive and Conflict and offenses are just a part of life. The Bible says this. It says it is impossible for offenses not to come into your life. But it's how you choose to handle them. It's how you. How you choose to. What you do with it is what determines whether you live in peace or whether you live in chaos. Because offenses are going to come, okay? Offenses are going to come. And you cannot say this. Listen. You cannot say, you made me lose my temper. That's a lie. Nobody has that amount of power. You don't go into a trance, into a third heaven and something else takes over and you lose your temper. You chose to lose your temper. You chose to call them that name. Right? Have you ever used your mouth on purpose to cause division? Have you ever used your mouth to stir the pot? Call your friend. You know what I heard today, you know what I heard so and so say today at the office? Or what about this one? Because I love you, I gotta tell you what they said. Come on. Somebody knowing that it's gonna cause trouble, knowing you stirring something up, knowing that you're causing division. Or what about just having a plain old sour attitude, just a bad attitude all the time. And you know you got one, you woke up with one, you don't deal with it, and you walk into the office, sour attitude, bite people's head off for no reason. Rude replies and belittling comments. Jesus said, as children of God, we are to be active agents of God's peace. Write that down. We are to be active agents of God's peace. What does that mean? How do you be an active agent? It means that you have to be a peacemaker on purpose. You're a peacemaker on purpose when you're in the middle, when you in the heat of it, you don't go in to say, I want my way, I want to win. You go in with the whole attitude of, I am going to just dissolve this thing and I'm going to give up my right to be right, and I am going to be a peacemaker. Purpose. You wake up with peace as your mission. Good, good, googly boogly. You wake up with peace as your mission, knowing arguments are going to come, knowing strife's going to come, knowing that people in your office are going to grate your nerves, knowing that your mama's going to be petty, knowing that your kids are going to fight and somebody's got to be a referee. You wake up with peace as your mission, being an active agent of God's peace. Lord help us. Let's go back to Ephesians 4. But let's go back to verse one. Let's start at verse one. I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation where you were called. Oh, he's laying it out. I beseech that you walk worthy of the vocation, of the call which you were called. With all lowliness and meekness, with long suffering, forbearing one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit, the bond of peace. It basically says, you are not worthy of the call of God on your life if you don't do this. Oh. And to do this, you have to humble yourself, suffer a long time, and put up with one another in love. Whoo. That's a full time job description right there. Full time. But this is how you keep peace and keep the unity of the Spirit. Without unity, the oil can't flow, the anointing can't flow in your life. What's the anointing? Isaiah 10:27 says, it shall come to pass in that day that his burden will be taken away from your shoulder and his yoke from your neck, and the yoke will be destroyed. Why? Because of the anointing. How many of us are walking around with chains around our neck, bound burdens on our back, sickness in our body? Because the anointing is not flowing in our life. And why is the anointing not flowing? Because we're not peacemakers. We're not peacemakers. The burden and the yoke is destroyed. By what? By the anointing. The anointing. What is the anointing? The origin of the anointing was from a practice of shepherds, because lice and insects would get into the fur of the sheep, and when they got near the sheep's head, they would burr into the sheep's ears and the sheep would end up dying. So ancient shepherds would take oil and they would pour them all over the sheep's head. And it made the hair and the wool slippery, making it impossible for the insects to get near the sheep's ears. The insects would just slide off. And from this, anointing became symbolic blessing. Listen. It's symbolic of blessing, protection and empowerment. Blessing, protection and empowerment. So without unity, there's no blessing, there's no protection, there's no empowerment. Without unity. Say it again. Hope for the people in the back. There is no blessing, There is no protection, and there is no empowerment. There is no argument that you should want to win so bad that you're willing to forfeit the Anointing. There is no argument that you want to win so bad that you're willing to forfeit the blessing and the protection and the empowerment of God in your life. God help us. So back to the tongue, back to the vehicle, back to the driver. Arguments. This is what the tongue does. Creates arguments. There's slander, there's gossip, there's lying, there's meddling, there's belittling, there's accusing, complaining, harsh, harsh talk. Cynical, condescending, dividing. And all of this the Bible says God hates. He hates it. Why? Because it causes disunity, which stops the anointing. He don't hate it just because he hates it. He hates it because he knows what it stops, what it quenches. It stops the anointing from flowing in our life. Stops the blessing and the protection over your life. So how, how do we walk and live as peacemakers? Number one, peace has to be your mission. It has to be your mission. Winning is not the mission. Pieces the mission. Say it again. Winning is not the mission. Peace is the mission. And this is not just one and done. It's an every single day pursuit. Number three, you have to own your own bad behavior. Okay? You got to make a list. You got to be honest with yourself. You got to say, you know what I am crude with my tongue. You know what? I'm just rude. Yeah, I'm pretty rude. You got to be honest with yourself. You gotta say, yeah, I'm that one who picks up the phone. I stir the pot. That's me. John 8:32 says this. It says, ye shall know the truth and the truth will make you free. You got to know the truth about yourself before you can be free. You got to know who you are. And then number four, pursue godly talk. Read books that teach you how to communicate. You say, you know what? I wasn't taught. All I saw was my mom and daddy cussing and fussing and throwing something. Get you a book. There's thousands of them out there. On effective communication. Learn how to communicate. Search the Bible. Search out in the Bible what God says about godly speech and. And what corrupt communication is. Isaiah 40, Isaiah 50 in verse 4 says this. It says, the Lord has given me. This is so good. The tongue of the learned. Oh, I want that. The Lord has given me the tongue of the learned. That I should know how to speak a word in season to him who is weary. Thank you, Jesus. He awakens me morning. By morning he awakens my ear to hear as the learned Scripture tells us that he Awakens me morning by morning. God will teach you. If you're willing to learn, ask for wisdom. The Bible says if you lack wisdom, ask. He'll give it to you. God will teach you. And how does he want you to speak? How does he want us to speak? Not in all these other ways that I've talked about earlier tonight, but he wants us to speak a word in season to those who are weary. A word in season. Season to those who are weary. My goodness. The tongue is supposed to be used to uplift and encourage and bless others. Not to tear them down. Not to tear them down. And when does this learning take place? Morning by morning. Remember, it's not one and done. It's a daily process. Morning by morning. And if you do these things, I guarantee you that your tongue will become a well spirit, spring of life and not a tool of division, a blessing, protection, empowerment. It will surround your life because the anointing is free to flow because you have chosen to be a peacemaker. Every argument, every situation go in saying, I'm going to be the one who calms this down. I'm going to be the one who. Who brings the peace and watch the anointing. Follow your life.

Whoa.

I thank God for his instruction manual for my life. The Bible tells us how to live, and he wants you to live in peace. You can live in peace, but you are the person who is called to bring the peace into every situation in Jesus name. You got this. You can do it. I promise you can. It's not too hard. God bless you. I love you. Hey there.

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