God is requiring peace!

WARNING
Don’t allow spiritual pride to keep you from spiritually growing.

Word of the Year
This is a year of required fruit.
It's a Luke 13 year.

Luke 13:9
Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.

QUESTION
What spiritual fruit do you need to grow in?

Love is relationship with God.
Joy is the result of encountering God’s mercy and the evidence of abiding in Him.
Peace is when you feel the presence of God and He becomes the primary focus of your attention.
Patience is a confidence [trust] in the mercy of God.
Kindness is mercy in action.
Goodness is godliness from a life that honors God.
Faithfulness is continual faith and trust in God.
Gentleness is strength under control; being submitted to God.
Self-Control is when your will is submitted to God’s will.

QUESTION
What is the fruit of the Spirit?

Your ability to operate in the gifts of the Spirit is not evidence of a relationship with the Lord.

Are you sowing seeds to please your flesh or seeds to please the Spirit?

Peace is when you feel the presence of God and He becomes the primary focus of your attention.

Hebrew: Peace: shalom – completeness, soundness, wellbeing, peace.

Greek: Peace: eirene – one, quietness, rest, to join, to tie together into a whole; wholeness – when all essential parts are joined together; peace.

Four Counterfeits of Peace
1. Drugs

Pharmakeuō - "administer drugs"

Four Counterfeits of Peace
1. Drugs
2. Alcohol

As a leader, whatever you do in moderation, everyone else will do in excess.

Alcohol provides counterfeit peace.

QUESTION
What’s ruling you?

Are you being governed by the peace of God or by counterfeit peace that comes from alcohol?

PRACTICAL ADVICE
Consider laying down alcohol for a season.

Four Counterfeits of Peace
1. Drugs
2. Alcohol
3. Witchcraft

PRACTICAL ADVICE
Don’t allow any witchcraft in your life.

QUESTION
Are you in hot water?

Four Counterfeits of Peace
1. Drugs
2. Alcohol
3. Witchcraft
4. Absence of War or Turmoil

Four Enemies of Peace
1. Unrepentant Sin

Word of the Year
It's a Matthew 3:8 year.

Matthew 3:8: Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.

It's a year of repentance.
It's a year that you will bear fruit by keeping with repentance.

PRACTICAL ADVICE
Tell God you’re sorry.
Ask Him for His forgiveness.
Turn from your ways.

Four Enemies of Peace
1. Unrepentant Sin
2. Naval Gazing

Four Enemies of Peace
1. Unrepentant Sin
2. Naval Gazing
3. Anxiety

Anxiety - mérimna - a part, separated from the whole

merizō - "to divide" or "to separate."

Surpass = huperechó: To surpass, to excel, to be superior, to rise above, higher

Guard - phrouréō - to guard (keep watch)

PRACTICAL ADVICE
Take time in your daily encounters to give your cares to God.

Four Enemies of Peace
1. Unrepentant Sin
2. Naval Gazing
3. Anxiety
4. Offense

WARNING
If you’re constantly offended, you probably have a peace problem.

Peace is when you feel the presence of God and He becomes the primary focus of your attention.

PRACTICAL ADVICE
So what do you do if you’ve shared your offense with someone?
Go make it right.

Word of the Year
PROPHETIC WARNING:
We are entering a season of the Accuser of the Brethren.

Revelation 12:10
...for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.

The cultivation of the Fruit of Peace comes from history with God – remaining in Him.