Synopsis of Sermon 7.7.24

Delivered by Bishop Joseph W. Walker, III 

John 16:33 
These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

I.          INTRODUCTION

1. Peace is not the absence of tension. It is the ability to recognize the presence of God in the midst of all that you go though, and the maturity to respond instead of
2. Of all the things that Jesus could have left, He chose to leave us peace. When you have peace, it allows you to remain centered. It gives you a tactical advantage over the events that happen in your life.
3. There will always be forces that try to impede our progress. The need for peace is great, because so much is coming at us, all the time.
4. We should never go through life anxious or Anxiety is an enemy of peace. “There is no path to peace. Peace is the path.” – Mahatma Ghandi. Peace is the way to life.
5. It is important to know that in the midst of all that’s happening in your life, you need to know that God is about to bring peace over your life. You can’t appreciate this, until you have gone through some stuff. Thank God for peace!
6. In order to understand this word that Jesus speaks; the context must first be understood.
   1. In John 16, it is about Passover Peace. This story takes place during the feast of Passover which was a celebration of their liberation from their slavery in Egypt.
   2. Judah is under Roman occupation. The Roman Emperor was Nero, but he was called Caesar. This was not a name; it was a title. Pilate was the Governor. There was hostility going on concerning Jesus, because they felt that he was breaking Roman culture.
   3. Jesus came saying that He had come to establish His kingdom. They didn’t understand that His kingdom wasn’t of this world. All the people that followed Jesus had left the temple to follow Jesus. The religious leaders were angered to the point that they wanted to bring Jesus before Caesar to be crucified.
7. Disciples Expectation – When Jesus said he was leaving, the disciples were worried about dealing with what Jesus had left behind for them, particularly the danger. Jesus told them that he was going to leave them the peace of an Overcomer.

II.          HE GAVE US HIS PROMISES

• These things I have spoken to you… – God’s word is always a promise. He never sends His word without a

A.  Whatever He Tells You Is For Your Benefit 

1. Jesus was aware of what the disciples would encounter, so He gave them what they needed, to get where they were going.
2. Whenever you get a word, put it in the deep freezer. There will be a time that you will need to go back and recall that word.
3. God gives us His word for your benefit.
4. It Is Prophetic(expectation) – He’s getting you ready for what’s about to happen.
5. It Is Preparatory(equipping) – He equips you to deal with what will happen.
6. It Is a Paradigm(example) – He shows you how to get though it.1 Corinthians 10:11 NIV says 11 These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come.

B.  His Word Does Not Change When Your Situation Does 

1. God is immutable. This means His words are
2. The word of God stays constant. It lasts forever.
3. God’s word is the same from generation to generation. Stay with the Word! No good thing will He withhold from you!!
4. His words are the only thing that kept you. Everything you have is because of the word.

III.          WE HAVE GOD’S PRESENCE

• He says in me, you’re going to have peace:
• You have to have a desire to have a relationship with God. This is the only way to really appreciate this.

A.  The More You Grow In Him, The More You Know In Him 

• Jesus took ordinary men on an extraordinary journey. Any relationship with Jesus in it, is always progressive.

1. You Have An Anointing 
2. Jesus said greater works than Him shall we do. When you grow in Him, you realize what you have in Him.
3. The anointing is the presence of God on you.
4. You Have Access 
5. Romans 5:2 says through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
   
   
6. Access was only given to priests in the old days. When we know who we are in God, we don’t need a middleman.
   1. If nobody comes to pray for us, we know that we can lay hands on our own children and we can pray over our own house.
7. You Have Authority 
8. You have to eventually get over what happens. You have to walk in your authority.
9. We have the authority to run demons out of our presence.

B.  No Him, No Peace—Know Him, Know Peace 

1. Peace does not exist without problems. You come to understand the peace while in the midst of the storm.
2. Peace is my ability to remain calm in this storm. I act like a thermostat, not a thermometer. Thermometers react to the changes in the atmosphere. Thermostats can change the atmosphere!
3. When you know what you have in Him you know about what Roman’s says. Romans 8:28 NKJV says “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” – When I look at how I respond now, that means that I have grown to respond to what I know and not what’s happening.
4. Problems know how to fly. They will try to follow you wherever you go.

IV.          WE WILL GO THROUGH PROBLEMS

• In this life, you will have problems:

Know that all your problems won’t stop, just because you’re in relationship with Christ.

A.  Nobody Escapes Trouble 

1. Nobody escapes trouble. You have to have empathy. It is so easy for you to say, “That’s good for them”, when someone is going through problems, but know that everyone gets a turn to have troubles. You might be next.
2. What you put out there, will come back into your own life. Everyone gets a turn at having trouble.

B.  Just Because You Have Trouble Doesn’t Mean It Has You 

1. Overcoming peace looks like this, “I have the peace to understand why the trial came. Nothing happens in your life without God allowing it!”.
2. It doesn’t happen, unless there is a lesson in it. No matter what happened, you survived it, so if you have a pulse, you ought to have praise!
3. We Know It’s Just A Test – It lets you know where you are in your faith.
4. We Know It’s A Part Of Our Trajectory– It happened so that you would be pushed into the direction God needed you to go.
5. We Know It’s Temporary– It won’t last forever.
6. How do we prove these 3 things?
7. Test: Do you know how astronauts prepare for a mission? Before a mission, they undergo several tests and exercises designed to prepare them for where they are going.
8. The countless things God is taking us through has nothing to do with our right now. It’s all about what God is taking me to.
9. He has to train you on this level, for the next level. James 1:2 NKJV says 2 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, – Trouble produces the ability to be able to hang in there and do it.
10. Trajectory – Before a launch, every detail must be taken into consideration. A lot of numbers determine the path of the ship. Everything that happens goes into putting the ship on course. If God gave back some of things you lost, you would not be going to where you are and you might not be on the path that you are on.
11. It is temporary in nature. No one stays on the space station forever. It is never terminal; it is to get you back home.
12. Our affliction is only for a moment.

V.          WE ARE GUARANTEED TO PREVAIL

• When we overcome, it is because He overcame:

A.  He’s Already Defeated What’s Trying To Defeat You 

1. There is no stone he has not conquered. There is no cross God has not conquered. He’s already overcome it. Therefore, you have to act like you know that you are going to overcome it.

B.    You Will Get Through This With Victory 

1. God wants you to protect your peace. You stay up all night, because your anxiety won’t let you sleep.
2. It’s not how fast you go through it. It’s how well you get through it.
3. You don’t realize that God has toughened you up for it.
4. You are an Overcomer – Revelation 12:11 says And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.
5. How do we overcome it? It is because of:
   1. The Blood Of The Savior– Jesus was the example. When Jesus died on Calvary, he shed his blood. This made him overcome death.
   2. God told the Children of Israel to put blood on the door posts, so that when the death angel came, it would see the blood and pass over them. The same blood in the Old Covenant, manifested in the New Covenant.
      1. That time you fell asleep behind the wheel and didn’t have a wreck was because of the blood! That time you beat cancer was because of the blood!
   3. The Blessing Of Our Stories– Revelation 12:11 KJV says 11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.- He has overcome, that’s why we know that we will overcome.
   4. The enemy doesn’t want you to tell your story, because it will liberate someone else.
      1. We have this navigational app called Waze. It not only tells us where to go, it also tells us if there is a car on the side of the road or a pothole up ahead. It does this by use of Satellite.
      2. We wonder however, how the satellite can tell the difference between a car or a pothole? The answer is, because someone ahead of us reported it.

• If you will notice, Waze will ask you, “Is the car still there?” Or “Is the pothole still there? We have an obligation to answer this. What you are doing is warning the person behind you, because you benefited from the report of someone that has already gone through what you are going through. In like manner, we have an obligation to tell our story, because we have already gone through what someone behind us is going through now! We have the peace of an overcomer.