The sermon begins with a review of a previous message on the topic of peace. The speaker emphasizes that true peace can only be found through knowing Jesus Christ as Savior. He shares a story of a man who exhibited great peace and trust in God despite difficult circumstances. The sermon concludes with the reminder that worrying limits God's power and challenges listeners to consider the size of their own perception of God.

The message that the Lord has laid upon my heart tonight is a continuation of the Sunday morning message, in case you were here, but so many of them were not here, so I have to give you a brief review. My message began with that wonderful verse in Romans chapter 5 and verse 1, therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. I attempted to speak on the subject of peace, where the beginning of peace, where peace begins, and the fact that none of us really have any peace until we come to know the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior. We are born into this world without any peace. I guess that can be proved because the nurses and doctors tell us that most of the babies that are born start crying, first of all. I wish I had a chance to fool them, but it's too late now. But no baby has ever come into the world that I know of that started laughing and just smiled and just cooed right from the beginning. No, they're crying. It seems as though there's a disappointment as they arrive in the world. Well, at least our Bible tells us that by nature we know nothing about peace. I also call your attention on Sunday morning to the third chapter of Romans, where we have some terrible words. The first time you read them, you would think that they apply to criminals, such as, Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways. The way of peace have they not known. That's a description not of a criminal's heart, but your heart, my heart, everybody's heart. That's the human heart. The Adam nature has no peace with God. This verse tells us that we can have peace with God. There is only one way to have that peace, and that is through our Lord Jesus Christ. Remember that in the second chapter of Luke's gospel, where we have the Christmas story, we have these words. The heavenly host uttered these words, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men. What does that mean, on earth peace? Well, it could include, at least, the fact that through this baby that is now being born, there will come a day when there will be perfect peace on the earth. It certainly may include the time of one thousand years of peace on the earth. In that day, it can be said, now it has come to fulfillment, peace on earth. But I wonder if it doesn't include a number of other things. As much as to say, this baby is going to make it possible for individuals who are born into Adam's family, who by nature know nothing of peace, can have a peaceful life right here on the earth. I would rather think that that is included in these wonderful words, we have peace with God. You have also noticed in the letters that Paul writes to the various churches, in his introduction, many of them speak of grace and peace be unto you. The word peace is used very liberally in the word of God. Emphasis is made on it throughout the holy scriptures. Remember our Lord Jesus Christ was interested in bringing peace on the earth, and especially the unsaved people who are restless and have no peace, the first thing that comes to their minds when they trust the Savior is that evidence of the beginning of a peaceful life. I have seen people who open their heart to the Savior, and I couldn't tell exactly when it happened, but when I see a person who says, I will now accept Jesus Christ as my Savior and follow it with a sigh and a smile, I know what has happened. The first realization, I need no longer worry about my sinful condition, I have peace with God. Our Lord Jesus Christ in his upper room discourse uses this word on a number of occasions. In chapter 14 of John's Gospel, and verse 27, listen to these words. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you, not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. He starts out with the word peace. You will remember, too, that after his resurrection, he meets his disciples in the upper room, and his first word that he utters is, peace be unto you. He is liberal by using that word over and over again, but in this verse he says, peace I leave with you. He's leaving a lot of things with us, but among them, and a very important one, I'm going to leave peace with you. Then he follows by saying, my peace, that's a quality of peace. That may be not ordinary earthly peace, but my peace. It would suggest to me that it's divine peace, a quality of peace that cannot be undone. And then he also says, I don't give it as the world gives unto you. There are moments of peace that we have on earth, which perhaps are the result of circumstances that the world brings to us, but his peace is a continual peace, my peace I give unto you. Let's think, too, of the time that he spoke these words. You would expect, since it's his upper room discourse and the cross is just before him, that he might forget to mention the word peace. He is thinking, I came into the world expressly to die for sinners, and the time is drawing closer and closer and closer. I'm about to leave them, and humanly speaking, you would say it would be hard for him to bring up the subject of peace when he realizes and knows what he is going through. They shall crucify him, they shall spit upon him. He predicted all of this, he knew all the details, and yet he promised them, my peace I give unto you. Not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Two things that are the opposite of peace, and he is suggesting here, my peace will overcome all the troubles and the times that you would be afraid. My peace will take care of you. Also in John's Gospel, chapter 14 and verse 27, John 14, or rather, yes it is, that's the one that I just read, didn't I? Did I give you the wrong reference? I'm sorry. John 16 and verse 33. These things have I spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In this world ye shall have tribulation. Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. Again telling us that in me you will have peace. The only peace that is worthwhile mentioning is that which we get from our Lord Jesus Christ, which is divine peace. He also promises that we're going to have tribulation. I suppose in an evangelist and those who are interested in leading souls to Christ, we are often so anxious for that person to be saved that we leave the wrong impression on them. We don't mean to, but we leave the impression. If you trust my Savior, you will never have any problems after that. And we really can't do that. We should say, you will have a peace or a source of peace that you've never known before. And it will be worthwhile. However, we also ought to mention, you will probably have a lot of opposition. You will have a lot of problems. There will be times when you will be afraid. There will be troubles in your life. You have no promise that you will have a life that is without any problems the rest of your days. So maybe we should be a little careful not to mislead those that we lead to Christ by leaving them under the impression that you will never have any problems. There are a number of people who can honestly tell us that they never knew any problems until after they were saved. Well, you can understand that. As long as they're serving the devil, he shouldn't give them many problems. But as soon as he does the one thing that the devil doesn't want you to do, he becomes your enemy. And God allows him to send problems into our lives. So let's remember that. So we have three things mentioned here, tribulation in chapter 16, and trouble and being afraid in chapter 14. These are some of the things that Christians will have even after they come to know the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior. Then we have also a number of suggestions in the Old Testament. This is not only a New Testament word. I call your attention to Isaiah chapter 26 and verse 3. I think you know it already. And it is, Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee. Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee. In your hymn book, you will find a number of hymns that speak on the subject of peace. And the one that perhaps brings in perfect peace is one that is found in nearly every hymn book written by Edward Bickerstaff. Peace, perfect peace, in this dark world of sin. The blood of Jesus whispers peace within. Peace, perfect peace, by thronging duties pressed. To do the will of Jesus, this is rest. Peace, perfect peace, with sorrows surging round. On Jesus' bosom, naught but calm is found. Peace, perfect peace, with loved ones far away. In Jesus' keeping, we are safe and day. Peace, perfect peace, our future all unknown. Jesus we know, and he is on the throne. Peace, perfect peace, death shattering us and ours. Jesus has vanquished death and all its powers. The last verse. It is enough. Earth's struggles soon will cease. And Jesus calls us to heaven's perfect peace. Many of the Lord's people have sung that hymn, perhaps in days gone by, and have found strength in those wonderful verses. Also, in the book of Isaiah, chapter 48 and verse 18. Isaiah 48 and 18. O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments, then had thy peace been as a river. He is speaking, no doubt, of the nation of Israel. If you had obeyed my commandments, peace would have been just like a river. I think I mentioned Sunday morning the hymn that we love to sing. No doubt, the writer of that hymn probably read this verse just ahead of it. And he wrote, when peace like a river attendeth my way and so on, it is well with my soul. When I was in Emmaus Bible School back in 1980, to speak to the student body, before they introduced me, they said, now let's sing our hymn for this month. And they turned to the hymn that we sing here quite often, too. Like a river glorious is God's perfect peace, over all victorious in its bright increase, perfect yet it floweth fuller every day, perfect yet it groweth deeper every day. Hidden in the holla of His blessed hand never full can follow, never traitor stand. Not a surge of worry, not a shade of care, not a blast of hurry, touch the Spirit there. Every joy or trial falleth from above, traced upon our dial by the Son of Love. We may trust Him fully, all for Him to do. They who trust Him wholly find Him wholly true. And the chorus, state upon Jehovah, hearts are fully blessed, binding as He promised, perfect peace and rest. Look through your hymn book sometime, not now, but look through it and see how many hymns there are that touch on the subject of peace. It's a very wonderful subject in the Bible. And I think perhaps we understand the meaning of the word peace best when we talk about its negative. And if I were to ask you, what is the negative of peace? And I guess we could have a number of answers, but I would like to suggest one of them is worry. W-O-R-R-Y. If you don't know what it means, look it up in your dictionary when you get home and you'll find some good definitions in your dictionary regarding this word. I think someone has suggested that worry is a habit, very similar to drugs, to alcohol, to nicotine. Somewhere in our early days, we formed the habit of worrying. And each time we keep on worrying, the grooves in our gray matter get a little deeper and a little deeper. Eventually, they become ruts, and we find ourselves difficult to give them up. Those who have certain habits and they wish they could like to get rid of them, perhaps have never thought, or we that haven't, those habits that I mentioned, have never thought of worrying being a habit. It's possible that we are unconscious of the fact that we are worriers by habit. We just do it, and the next thing that comes along, we keep on doing it. I don't know, the only way we find it out is by checking ourselves sometimes. I guess you know when you're worrying, and just ask yourself, how did I ever start worrying? What scripture do I have that gives me the right to do any worrying? And I think when we look at the scriptures, you won't find one verse that allows us to worry. Beside that, I think worrying is contagious. We live in a world where there are sinners around us all the time, and, of course, sinners don't have that peace that I've been mentioning about that comes when we trust the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior, so there's nothing left for them but to worry. Now, if everyone around me is worrying continually, it's liable to rub off on me, and I'll hardly notice it, that I am worrying because everybody does it. I think one of the things that God expects of Christians is to get rid of some of those habits that are not pleasing to Him, and worry happens to be one of them. First of all, worrying is harmful to ourselves. If you want to ask your doctor sometime whether he can tell you what worry will do to a person, he can probably give you a pretty good lecture on it. There are certain people who will go to a doctor and they will expect him to diagnose the case just exactly as they have diagnosed it, and when he says most of it's in your head, you fire that doctor right away because you don't want anyone to suggest that you have brought this upon yourself. When a person has an ulcer, and this isn't true of all ulcers, but it is possible that there are a number of ulcers that can be traced to a person who has been worrying just day after day about this problem and that problem. Worrying can ruin a person's health, and also it can cause us to be pessimistic in our dealings with our fellow men. So, worrying is a habit and it is also contagious. It is also harmful to our neighbors. Our neighbors are watching us from the day that we tell them that we are the possessors of eternal life, that we are the sons of God. They watch us, and they want to be able to say they don't have anything that I don't have. They are just like I am. And if we worry with them, they have a right to say that too, don't they? I have noticed that people who are saved have a wonderful opportunity of witnessing by life and by lip. And when I say life, I mean by being able to handle things that unsaved people can't handle in the way that a Christian is supposed to handle it. I may have told you before, but you weren't here when I told it, so I can repeat it. While we were in Chicago, Lester and I having meetings in one of the high schools, a certain lady came up after the service and she had a few questions about the sermon, and I was talking to her, and after we straightened out whatever the question was, I said, I'm interested to know why you came to the service tonight. This was her first time. And she said, I'll be glad to tell you. She said, I moved into a certain area and I found out there were a lot of religious people around there, but there was one lady, Mrs. Duncan, and she was different from all the rest. The children have some problems out there on the street or maybe in the backyard, and it means that the mothers have to come out and find out what the problem is. And in most cases, after we took our children's part, the children went back to playing and we mothers fought it out. It's your son that started that. No, it's your son. And we were in a fight. Mrs. Duncan came out just as cool as could be, and she said, well, I wouldn't be a bit surprised if my son started the whole thing. I'll keep him in the house and I think that may help. I have never seen her blow her stack. All the rest of us do. The religious ones do it. But Mrs. Duncan, when she invited me to come to these meetings, I'm going. She has made a tremendous impression on me. I would like to be able to handle my temper tantrums as she handles them. Now do you understand what I mean when I say the world is watching us and if they can see us calm in the midst of problems. There are health problems and these are not easy to face. But when unsaved people see us face health problems in a calm way, they are impressed with that. I have seen a number of people that I have admired tremendously. I think I should mention one of them. A few of you did know her. She had been in heaven a good many years now, Fannie Brompton. She was a cancer victim and probably the last six months or maybe a year or so she suffered quite a bit. The last month she served on the fourth floor of Watts Hospital for a whole month. And I went to visit her fairly regularly. I never saw her having the blues. She always smiled. And even down to her last day the nurses would come in the morning saying, how are you this morning Miss Brompton? Just fine. And if she may have had the blues sometime, but I never saw her. I admired that. And after her funeral some of the nurses came to me and said, we have seen a number of people face death. We have never seen anyone that faced death as brave and as wonderful and as courageous as did Fannie Brompton. Now that's rather wonderful. Also, I remember when Peter Pell lost his first wife. I expected him to cancel some of his appointments maybe for at least the next two weeks or maybe the month or so. He kept all of his appointments. He was here probably four weeks after she died. He never mentioned her name. I guess some people thought I don't believe he loved her. He was glad to get rid of her. Now that's cruel to draw that conclusion. I believe God gave to him special grace to live and to exhibit the fact that he was resting in God entirely. Just a few weeks ago I heard John Bramhall who is now 87 years of age. He preached a funeral sermon in Raleigh and preached just like he did 30 years ago. No change at all. His wife has been sick for many, many years. As far as I've known him his wife has been having poor health and steadily got worse. And he spent many of his last days with her faithfully. Now she's in heaven and he's just free as a bird. Preaches the gospel clear as a bell. These are the things the world is watching and I believe that these men are leading souls to the Savior by their life. One more reason why we shouldn't worry and that is it hurts our Heavenly Father. I can't help but feel that every time he sees a Christian worrying it brings displeasure to his heart. Our Lord Jesus Christ spoke on that in the 6th chapter of Matthew said, consider the birds and think about the don't what are the quotations? Behold the fowls of the air for they sow not neither do they reap nor gather into barns yet your Heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much more than they? You've heard of bird watchers haven't you? People sit by the hour and watch what birds do and just enjoy seeing it. I have already wondered if there are not some birds that are people watchers and they sit up there in the tree and they talk to each other. Let's think of two sparrows that are looking at people. Look at them driving fifty miles an hour down the road. Where are they going? I don't know. They must be going somewhere. Look at them driving. Look how nervous they are. You know what I think is wrong with them? They don't have a Heavenly Father like we have. Wouldn't that be sad if birds could talk like that? It's possible that we grieve God by limiting His power. I suppose if I were to give a title to my message tonight it might be suitable to say how big is your God? How big is your God? Sometimes I come to the hospital and I meet a person who is facing an operation, never had an operation in a lifetime and they have no idea what it's like, don't know how to adjust to it and I try to comfort them by saying if your case is beyond what your Heavenly Father can do you've got a serious problem. If your case is not too big for Him, if you are sure that He can handle it, you don't have any problem. And on a few occasions that has helped. I don't know if it does every time. It may sound cruel to some of us, but really as soon as you ask yourself the question, you try that the next time if you ever do worry again, I hope nobody ever worries after this sermon, but in case you should disobey and start worrying again, just stop and say how big is my God? Well, He's at least three quarter size. No, He's the Almighty. We believe that in theory. I wonder if we believe it in practice. You have a number of occasions in the Old Testament where you read that David encouraged himself in the Lord. Now, I don't know just what all of that means, but it's possible that it means David had problems and he stopped and said to himself how big is my God? And immediately he said He is the Almighty. I don't have any problems. I turn them over to Him. Now, I guess you want me to say how do I kick the habit? If worrying is a habit, how do I kick the habit? Well, I suppose the best New Testament scripture that I can give you is found in Philippians chapter 4 verses 6 and 7 and Rob spoke on that while we were going through the epistle to the Philippians, but I just want to read it. Be careful or anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God, and the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and mind through Christ Jesus. The only answer to our worrying is to stop it immediately and start praying. Let your requests be made known unto God and ask yourself the question how big is He? Is He big enough to handle this one? Am I sure that He has the ability to answer not the way I want it answered, but He will decide whether this is a good one to answer or whether it should be delayed or even denied. If we come to Him with that confidence, it relaxes us immediately and puts the responsibility on our Heavenly Father and He loves to have that responsibility. He wants us to live daily being able to come to Him and in coming to Him say, first of all, You are the Almighty. There is nothing in my request that I could ask that is too big for You. I also have the confidence that whatever I ask that is not according to Your will, You won't answer it. I have that confidence. If it is according to Your will, You will answer it. And that gives me peace of mind to know that our Heavenly Father is anxious and interested in answering all our prayers. Peter joins us by giving a short verse. Casting all your care upon Him, for He careth for you. And I've underscored the word all. Casting all your care upon Him. He is concerned about every detail of your life. There is not one area that we need to keep to ourselves that He is not interested in. Bring out all those details. Lay them before Him and ask Him in simple faith, Lord, I have done a number of things that, mistakes that I have made. Some of them perhaps I can change and if I can, I want to. But there are some things, regrets that I have that can never be changed. I don't want the devil to torture me by worrying about things that can't be changed. I want to be honest about it and I want to be relieved of that pressure. The devil is a smart actor. If he can keep us worrying about things that can't be changed, things that happened in the past, the people with whom they happened are now dead. Impossible. The devil said, ah, but you did that, you did that, you did that. He wants to keep us upset. God has forgiven us and each one of us can live in the light of that wonderful peace of mind. I suppose there is a difference between being concerned and worrying. You will remember at the grave of Lazarus that Jesus wept. Why did He weep? Did you expect Him to weep? He was sincere in those tears. He wept because He was concerned. Now there is a possibility we can become very stoic as Christians when a person says, I just lost my wife. Well, that's nothing. She's in heaven. Don't worry about it. Now that's a cruel approach and our Lord Jesus Christ wouldn't do that. His tears were sincere. We do need to be concerned about those that have problems around us. But, I still haven't been able to find a verse that allows us to worry over it. To mention it in His presence and to receive the peace that passeth all understanding. That's what each one of us needs. I trust that each one of us will take seriously the privilege that we have of being under the care of a Heavenly Father who never makes any mistakes. I want to give you the prayer requests now and mention them. Leonard Sexton is in the County General. Ruby Sylvia. Hazel Cates, and that's Tom Cates' mother. She had an operation on Monday and the report from that operation is not very good. Rather serious operation. So let's remember Tom Cates' mother. Also, they have asked me to remember a son, Tom's brother, who is not a Christian and has never been interested in spiritual things and they have asked that we pray that perhaps Philip, his brother, might become interested because of his mother's illness. Wayne Nutt has been there for, I guess, three months and still has the effects of that stroke and apparently will not recover. Norma Medlin, of course, is the oldest one, I guess, in the hospital. Walter King and Blanche Howell, Winford Howell's wife, has had heart palpitations or at least the heart has been beating 120 times a minute and should be kept down so she's there for observation. In Duke Hospital, Audrey Remington, who we found much better today but she's still in very serious condition. Also a lady from the JFK Towers, Gertrude Stanford, who is a believer and she is in Duke Hospital. In the Veterans Hospital, Lamar Simmons from Lillington. He is also a believer. And Zelma Elliott and that's Lily Corley's sister. She is probably not a Christian. We might pray for her. Then we have Jim Hackney at home, Jim Redling, Jesse Rich and also Don George. That's Book and Gladys George's son who came to Duke for some examination and will be back again in a week. So let's remember these that are at home who need our prayers. Also Worth Ellis is still continuing the special meetings in Wilmington. Evidently it's closing probably on Friday night. Let's remember those special meetings. Our gracious Father, we thank Thee for bringing to our attention tonight from Thy words