Peace Perfected

Transcript

Hello radio friends! How in the world are you? You doing all right? Bless your heart, I trust everything’s okay at your house. Yes this is your friend, Dr. Cook. I’m glad to be with you, feeling great, happy in the Lord, feel as though I would live to be 100 today. It’s great isn’t it? Thank God for good health and a happy heart that’s at peace with God.

Well, He says, “Have salt in yourselves”, that’s the last time we got together, we talked about God’s very direct assertion that you, it is up to you and to me to be resource persons within ourselves, and I gave you some ideas about that. Incidentally, you don’t have to stay the kind of person you are, you can change your attitude and the direction of your life by meditating on the Word of God and obeying Him.

Second, you can improve your human skills by giving thought to it and working at it. If you need to develop tact you can develop the ability to deal with people tactfully, instead of being a human bulldozer. If you need to do know how to manage, if you need to know how to sell, how to persuade, you can learn these things. You can learn to be considerate and thoughtful, so that the idea of being a resource person is not merely that of praying and meditating and being religious, all of these things are important, all important, primarily important it is that you be right with God, but in the second place let’s work on the idea being easier to get along with, reasonable, attractive personalities, tactful, thoughtful, loving, kind, useful, helpful. These are some things that you and I can work on to be resource persons. “Have salt”, said He, “in yourselves”. Then as a result He said, “and have peace, one with another”.

Isn’t it interesting that when the more God takes control of your life, the more you are at peace with people who love and worship Him. Have you thought about that? The more God is in control of your life, the more you have peace with those who also are controlled by Him. “Have peace, one with another”. That means keep on having, keep on having peace one with each other. It isn’t just something that you have now, period, this minute, but it’s a durative, linear term, means keep on having peace. Let’s think about that for a moment, shall we?

Now, first of all, all of this grew out of the idea, who’s going to be the chairman of the committee, verse 34 Mark 9, “They had disputed”, had an argument about it see, “They had disputed among themselves who should be the greatest”. Said, “The way to greatness is humility, the way up is down, the way to be great is to be childlike”, and then He dealt with this idea of exclusiveness. John said, “We saw somebody that was doing good work casting out demons and we forbade him because he isn’t following us”, doesn’t want our group. Jesus said, “Don’t forbid him”. And then we took up this idea of, what is the basis of true cooperation? Loyalty of the Lord Jesus. Love for His little ones, consideration in other words for other believers. A desperate desire for holiness and the reality of the Holy Spirit of God in the Word of God working in your life. Salt. You find people like that, you can work with them right? Now, He said, “As a result of all that”, He said, “have peace, one with another”. You don’t have to argue about who’s going to be the greatest.

Now, there’s some benefit in having lived a while. One of the benefits is the realization that God sees to it that you get all the recognition you can stand, all you have to do is be faithful. All you have to do is to be faithful. I remember a day back and in the 1940s I guess, early 1940s. I sat alone in an office. I was upset. I was upset, well I was angry to tell you the truth, and so I was complaining to God. I tell God about things, do you? And so, I was saying God, here I’m working so hard, and nobody gives me any credit, nobody is thankful, nobody ever says thank you, everybody else is getting the sunshine, and I was is complaining and frankly griping to God. Can’t you see it? Well, when I stopped, you know it’s a good thing when you get through praying, just to wait for God to talk to you. Do you do that? When I stopped talking to God and began to listen, here is what He said to me. I remember it so clearly it is as though the Savior placed a nail-pierced hand on my shoulder and spoke in my ear, so clearly, He said, “You just do what I told you to do. I’ll take care of the sunshine”. “You just do what I told you to do. I’ll take care of the sunshine”. You don’t have to worry about who is chairman of the committee. You don’t have to worry about whether or not you’re getting recognition.

Remember the young man who said to his team, “When you get the ball, pass it to me because I’ve got to look good”. No, you don’t have to look good. You don’t have to look good. All you have to do is to be faithful, “Be thou faithful unto death and I will give you the crown of life”, our Savior says. Well done, good, and faithful servant.

Oh, would you learn that again with me? I have to relearn it every day of my life. The Lord is awfully patient with me because there are some lessons I just have to keep on learning. You don’t have to be recognized. You don’t have to seek for recognition. Just be faithful. That’s all, that’s all. He will take care the rest. So you can have perfect peace in this matter, you can be perfectly relaxed if you’re busy obeying what God told you to do. Good idea?

He says, “Have peace, one with another”. You can get along with a person who wants to honor Jesus, who’s desperately in earnest about personal holiness, who wants to win souls and take care of believers, and who has the evidence of the Holy Spirit of God in his or her life. You can work with him alright, and you don’t have to worry about the sunshine. God will take care of you. Well He says, “Have peace, one with another”. The peace that you read about in God’s Word, starts when you come to Calvary, doesn’t it? “Therefore being justified by faith”, you read in Romans 5:1, “We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ”. The war is over, you’ve raise the white flag of surrender, you’ve come to God and received His free pardon and forgiveness and then in infinite mercy and grace has He not only forgiven you, but adopted you, and your now become a member of the family of God. Peace with God. What else? Well, there is the peace that comes from having your mind fixed upon Him, “Thou wilt keep him”, Isaiah said, “thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee because he trusteth in Thee”. A lot depends on where the focus of your attention lies.

Some of these race drivers that drive the racecars at such tremendous speeds, averaging, averaging that is around 200 miles an hour, means they have to go much faster than that in the straightaways, now and again are distracted by something and it results either in an accident or in their losing their position in the race. You see this on television, now and again, don’t you? What happened? Well, he said, “I was doing pretty well. I was drafting”, that means riding so close behind another person that the vacuum formed by his proceeding through the air helps you, so he says, “I was drafting”, and then he said, “I saw in the mirror somebody else coming up behind me and momentarily I lost my concentration”. He lost the race because he fell back and the other person went ahead, and he lost the race because of it. A lot depends on where the focus of your attention is, doesn’t it? “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee because he trusteth in Thee”. What is important, beloved, is not what’s happening, but who is making it happen. If your mind is on God, you don’t worry so much about what’s going to happen next because you know He’s in control. Perfect peace, why? Because you know that God is still in control.

Back in the 1930s, I was on the radio live every morning, live that is, every morning at 7 o’clock, and I used to come on singing. Can you believe it? Aren’t you glad I don’t sing now? I used to come on singing, “God is still on the throne, He never forsaketh His own. Though burdens oppress us, and trials distress us, He never will leave us alone. God is still on the throne, and He will remember His own. His promise is true, He will not forget you. God is still on the throne”. Yes, I used to sing it, I just quoted it, but singing it or quoting it or whatever, it’s still true. Hallelujah! The Lord God omnipotent reigneth, Jesus is Lord and all the legions of hell have to tremble when you take your stand with your blessed Lord, and you worship Almighty God, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace”. The focus of your attention, then, “Great peace have they that love thy law, nothing shall offend them”. Operating on the basis of God’s Word instead of on the basis of other opinions or so-called truths. A lot depends upon the premise on which you are preceding, you are proceeding through life.

You see, it depends on whether you are looking at what is happening currently, or whether you have in mind an objective based upon a known truth, all right? “Great peace have they that love thy law, nothing shall offend them”. Now, to become offended means to be hurt, to be discouraged, to be held back in gaining your objective, that’s generally the meaning of the word, and you won’t be hurt, you won’t be discouraged, and you won’t be delayed in gaining your objectives in life if you’ve got your mind on the eternal Word of God, because that’s what makes living work. Well, we get at this the next time we get together.

Dear Father today, may we have the presence and power of God and His Word in our lives, in Jesus’ name I pray this, Amen.

Till I meet you once again by way of radio, walk with the King today and be a blessing!