He is our Peace

CCI fellowship is focused on reaching God, each other, and the community. They encourage growth in faith and love for the Word of God. Testimonies were shared about God's faithfulness, including financial blessings and provision of needs. The fellowship has been impactful in transforming lives and bringing joy. They also celebrated their 21st year of ministry in Honduras, reflecting on God's faithfulness over the years. Overall, the message highlights the importance of faith and trust in God's provision. Welcome to CCI fellowships podcast. Thank you for joining us at CCI fellowship We are reaching God reaching each other and reaching our community We pray that this week's message challenges you in your walk with the Lord Causes you to grow in your faith and encourages you in your love for the Word of God Well, it's good to see you all Merry Christmas to you Okay, I'll try that again Merry Christmas It is the Christmas season, right Okay, thought maybe I was in the wrong month. I Love Oh Holy Night that there are so many Christmas carols that are so full of The gospel and so full of truth and that one is one of them. There have been many people that sing it well, but to sing it under the anointing and with the Presence of God is something completely different. And so That was wonderful tonight as I talked about last week we want to Have a short time of testimonies This has been our year of double faithfulness Our faithfulness to God and his faithfulness to us. And so I had asked for Testimonies to be sent to us and we have a couple that I'm going to read But we also have three people that agreed to come and come up here and give their testimony So I'm going to ask Paola and Marianne and Josela to come up As they do I'm going to share I Know I said the declaration first and then testimonies, huh? Doesn't matter. It doesn't matter now because I'm up here and this is the way we're doing it. So Come on up The Ranieri sent a message Pete and Angie Ranieri and they said That they had as a result of our time in fellowship group talking about tithes and offerings they had been praying and Made some changes and how they handled their tithes and they're in the States right now for vacation but also visiting churches that support them and it said so, you know, we recently changed our tithe and recalculated it and December 5th, we got notified that someone made a very large one-time donation Ten times what they normally give us Ten times what they usually have given praise God enough for six months of our ministry expenses Then today we received a $200 refund from a bank who miscalculated our 2014 house closing to closing 2014 He says no earthly answer for any of this except for the faithfulness of God Amen So I'm gonna have these three ladies share their testimonies and then I'll read one more Marianne You can do it That's fine In a time when our family was in need God used a wonderful couple to demonstrate his love and provision for us This couple obedience to God's prompting went to the supermarket They purchased precisely what we needed exactly as we would have down to a small details like quantities and brands For example, we always get three cucumbers and that's exactly what they bought My mom had also mentioned our need for soap for dishes clothes and ourselves and that's exactly what God provided through them Among the things we needed they also bought something special Oreos We enjoyed but don't typically sleep by and it felt like God was not only meeting our needs But also bringing us little joy and he cares about the details of our lives and provides us for ways in ways We may not expect Amen Stella I Wish I had mine written down But I don't but I This year has been a really good year for our family. And it's been a year in which we have had to have a lots of faith because we have had lots of different processes going on and One of them when pastor John asked me have you do you have something to share and I told him well in June we realized that at the work that I was at I developed second-hand trauma because I worked at a nonprofit and I was a photographer and a storyteller and so I had to listen to the victim on first hand and so it got used Richard and Yoha to Realize also that I needed to move and switch jobs So as a family and said he was telling me you should quit you should quit you should quit and I was like I was doing all the math and it didn't sum up and then one week in June and Then you told me I think you should put your Anuncia in December and then you should quit on February and I prayed to God and I told him if this is you and You're telling me this, please confirm it in my heart And as soon as we decided that I was going to quit my job one week later they called me from the job that I have right now and They offered me a job, which is twice what I earned in my former job They told me that there was no or audio then that I don't know how to I am Start time or finish you and finish time and I told them thank you, but no Thank you. My family is first and they told me At what time do you want to get out of your work? And I told them 430 They say I will call you back they call me back and they told me yes 430 you will get out of your job at 430 and then they called me again and they say do you want to get pregnant and I told them well I have we don't have another baby because God hasn't allowed us to have another baby and the doctor said we couldn't have more babies But if you hire me at the bank today and adult in the doctor tell me tomorrow that I can get pregnant I will get pregnant and I told that he or they will say no And then I talked to Pastor John in Indiana, and I really thought they were going to tell me that was not the job for me And then they call me and they say it's okay if you want to get pregnant, but they after we hired you And then when they told me that they told me they called me and they say this is how much we offered and we say No, we don't want them and they say how much do you want to earn and I gave the in the amount And they call me back and they said the job is yours So all this to say, I don't know how God is feeling in your life or which state you want God is asking you to take but in our family God has always asked us to Give the first step and then he's always Backing us up. Thank you Well, this is overwhelming I'm a little bit vintage so I print it up Well We declared the entire year. This is the double faithfulness year So what is faith faith is what? Need to believe in what you cannot see For a couple of years. I couldn't see that. I am Lazarus why well, sometimes that could be because of fear because of Religiousness or because of iniquity or sin, whatever the reason I Used to walk with Jesus before a couple of years ago. I used to eat with him hang out with him slept with him And but unfortunately along the way I died I Spiritually died I was an emotional wreck and Then one day in October 2022 my roommate Grace told me hey, I heard about CCI fellowship Let's go check it out. And I'm like, okay, so I came here and So this is the place where Jesus said rise up Bola and Thanks to my fellow friends here and I want to name Special thanks to Adriana Pastor John Pastor Jose Liz Angie Pete and all of you who helped me get on tide Who dressed me up who fed me with the word? Who fed me with God's love that's why I'm standing here. I thank you so much for this I couldn't have done that with without you without God God's mercies. He's wonderful When I came here, I came like a walking dead person like that from right of the TV series Netflix Walking Dead And now I am October 20 2023 I'm alive died Thank you so much. I praise the Lord for my new family in Christ, which is CCI fellowship. Amen and I Praise to him because I'm alive again Praise God. Thank you Thank you very much ladies Um Laura many, you know, Laura She says coming into this year as we considered God's faithfulness He reminded me to have open hands for the things that he wanted to place in them As I remembered how many times he has provided. I trusted that I would again see his goodness and faithfulness this year Seeing fasting become a priority as a corporate body I loved hearing testimonies of ways God broke through and showed us more of who he is In my own prayers, I asked not only for his provision, but that I would see more of his heart as he provided when I learned that my apartment was going to be Sold for a second time in less than a year though frustrated. I knew that God had something in mind When months of searching seemed like they would never end at seemingly the last minute I saw his answer in such a personal way When I didn't think that the previous landlord would return the deposit After willingly giving an offering. I saw the blessing of return of what was already his anyway Time and time again. I have praised as he has faithfully placed things into my hands Sometimes before I knew how he was going to do so Watching him bless so that I can be a blessing and share that testimony has become so much more of a joy for me And I look forward to how he's going to continue to move in this new year Amen praise God For us Who have not yet received the blessing of the new year We have not yet received the blessing of the new year For us For those who don't know these two people that are sitting beside Adriana our kids are with us And we are very excited about that Steven our son is 22 he's at in Tulsa doing his grad school at oral Roberts he's also working for a nonprofit on in as an intake coordinator for foster kids Catherine is a junior at Liberty studying event planning. She's 20 years old and I Give you their ages because today for us is a very special day Today marks our 21st year of living and ministering in Honduras so When I think back to God's Faithfulness over two decades of Missions work two decades of living here. We we see where we are now and honestly I if somebody said how did you get here? I don't know. I don't we just obeyed when God said to do what when and and where and here we are pastoring a congregation of wonderful people with a Leading a missions organization that represents nearly a thousand people working around Honduras Our kids are serving the Lord and He continues to provide and be faithful and do amazing things It is wonderful to recount the faithfulness of God and it reminds us and encourages us that when we look back in moments of Difficulty when we look back and we recount the things that he has done. We can say God you did it before and I know you'll do it again So I would like for us all to stand up and we're going to say our declaration for 2023 One more time as we finish out this year and just in as we have Done before we we have done so proclaiming. This is what it is but this time let's do so in an attitude of Gratitude attitude of thanks for what God has made this year and as as we go through it allow the Holy Spirit to remind you of How faithful God was in this year. Are you ready? Thank you four of you, are you ready? In the power of the Holy Spirit we receive the Word of God which says Now Moses was faithful in all God's house as a servant for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken later But Christ was faithful as a son over his house whose house We are if we firmly hold to our confidence and the boast of our hope Today we rejoice with Jesus Christ our Lord who is faithful as Lord in the house of God whose house we are Therefore we affirm our confidence Fidelity and hope in him no matter what the news says or what happens in the world We affirm our decision and commitment to be faithful stewards of our lives and of the house of God Which is our spiritual house? Our faithfulness will be embraced by divine faithfulness manifesting a double faithfulness Therefore double faithfulness will be the sign that marks our path along this season God will be faithful over his house, and we will be his faithful stewards This double faithfulness will open doors of provision will bring confirming Testimonies and will open paths of victory for our feet in all areas of life Fidelity will accompany us and surround us by day and by night and in every circumstance we will face What happens around us will not alter this double faithfulness from God to us and from us to our God? therefore 2023 we proclaim you the year of double faithfulness amen I Praise God praise God you may be seated Tonight I want to for our sermon our time in the word To talk about he is our peace Ephesians chapter 2 that's not going to be where I'm going to say open your Bible to But Ephesians chapter 2 verse 14 starts exactly with that phrase He is our peace and in fact that verse will be the one that we Tie all this together with sometimes it is Just good to Make a trip through scripture and read things about a certain topic or a certain word and that's kind of what I want to do tonight But what I ask is And my hope is my prayer is that as we read these verses That you would allow the Holy Spirit to speak some things to you that As we go through these verses, I don't have points between the verses or anything like normal We're just going to read what God's Word says I'll make some comments, but really the I'll draw it to a conclusion at the end. But what I Desire for you is that as we read these verses that that the Spirit speaks something to you About the peace of God about Christ who is our prince of peace About having peace with him through Christ That this would be a very personal time Between you and God between you and the Holy Spirit. So open your heart and open your ears and open your eyes and Let's see what God does. So let's pray as we start father. We bless your name We thank you Lord God for peace We thank you Lord God for your presence here and your anointing that is already moving We thank you for your Holy Spirit that works in us that teaches us that that moves upon us And we pray father God Even as I just said that we would have eyes to see Ears to hear and hearts ready to receive what you want to implant upon them in the name of Jesus We bless your name. Amen Amen All right, open your Bibles to Isaiah 9 verse 6 The word peace in Hebrew means completeness wholeness To tie all parts together as to make one it means having integrity like structural integrity Solid having all essential parts United now Friday night. I had the opportunity to preach in the service and I shared this message there and One of the brothers at the end he was talking to me and he said that He had always seen a definition of peace to be something like this. Peace is To be far away from war or peace is the absence of war and he said there there has got to be a better Definition for peace than just that and he said this definition was stuck out to him was all Essential parts united that that is peace and That is the desire of our Heavenly Father for us for you That all essential parts in you which include The divine Godhead living in you He desires for you to be complete to be strong to be whole Having everything tied together Having integrity solid unmovable With all essential parts united Isaiah 9 verse 6 says for unto us a child is born unto us a son is given and The government will be upon his shoulder and his name will be called wonderful Counselor mighty God everlasting father prince of peace and Verse 7 goes on to say and his government and the his peace will have no end His peace will have no end that is an incredible promise There is no end to the peace of God there is no situation that you face That the peace of God cannot infiltrate and take you through it Isaiah 26 verse 3 if you want to turn there you're going to have to turn fast Isaiah 26 verse 3 you will keep him in perfect. Peace that's great, he'll keep me in perfect peace, but there's a qualifier in that verse whose mind is stayed on you because He trusts in you His mind is stayed on you is fixed on you because he trusts you it's not fixed on Circumstances it's not fixed on situations Which is so easy to do it's fixed upon him and our trust is in him alone Isaiah 53 verse 5 But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities The chastisement for our peace was upon him and by his stripes. We are healed if you remember back to All of the sermons through the book of Hebrews this year It says in Hebrews chapter 2 that that the Lord saw it fitting That Christ would suffer So that he would be able to be the perfect Savior will you think Why why did What perfection did Christ needs I think in chapter 5 it says he learned obedience through the things he suffered He's he's Christ. What did he have to learn to obey through? Well, sure. He was Christ. He was also Christ in the flesh and in order to be the perfect salvation the author of our salvation The punishment for our peace was laid upon him Incredible For us to receive peace someone else was punished for us I Don't think that we can actually Grasp that completely We can say yeah, that's what Scripture says and praise God for it We can ask the Holy Spirit for a revelation and I I pray that you do but to really really truly Sense that feel that receive that that he was wounded for us. He was he was beaten for us. He was punished for our Peace and that was the whole reason that he came to this earth. That's the whole reason that he came as a baby It's a whole reason he he was born in a manger in a humble beginnings So that he could be the perfect Savior for you and for me Isaiah 57 Verse 19 says I create the fruit of the lips peace Peace to him who is a far-off and peace to him who is near says the Lord and I will heal him In Ephesians 2 17, which we will read later It says peace to those who are afar and peace to those who are near Isaiah 54 verse 10 For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed But my kindness shall not depart from you nor shall my covenant of peace be removed says the Lord who has mercy on you My kindness shall not depart from you and my covenant of peace Will not be removed God's not going to remove his covenant with us He's not going to say well you you fail too many times You trusted in yourself too many times. I'm just going to withdraw my covenant from you. That's not how he works He says my covenant will never be removed Luke 19 verse 42 says if you had known even you Especially in this your day the things that make for your peace, but now they are hidden from your eyes What are you going through? What are you facing? What what are you? Experiencing in your life that that this verse would speak to you tonight Oh if you had just known the things that made for your peace Your life would change I Tell you that tonight you can know the things which make for your peace and I'm not talking just to those who Maybe if you're you're here, and you're not saved but we as as the ones who have walked with God for a long time even in our maturity as Christians we can find ourself in a place where where we are just so anxious In Fact I found myself in that place over the past month or so and my wife can attest to it I Wasn't sleeping. I was anxious everything set me off my my chest hurt because of the anxiety that I was experiencing But he's my peace and When he was able to minister peace to me oh man, how freeing it was We can overlook Those things which make for our peace Sometimes when we know better we end up in all of our knowledge Forgetting that we actually know better if that makes any sense We forget to employ those things that we know John 14 27 peace I leave with you my peace I give to you not as the world gives do I give to you let not your heart be troubled neither. Let it be afraid I Was listening to the I went back and listened to the other services this weekend and as the Holy Spirit would have it This topic of peace ran through multiple services What God desired to say to us as Iglesias SAE was to be at peace To be at peace My peace I give unto you Bishop Renee preached specifically out of this verse on Saturday And he talked about how the world's peace Comes X from the exterior It's through this thing or through that thing that we try to find peace. We try to console ourselves through different things to the extreme of course would be drugs and alcohol some less extreme things when we want to find peace is food or Entertainment things that distract that's not peace Jesus said I give you my peace Because you're not going to find this anywhere else and that peace comes not from out to in but from in inwardly to out Romans chapter 5 verse 1 therefore having been justified by faith. We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ It's amazing When we realize the peace that we have with God How much that will bring peace to the other situations that we're facing in our lives? If we receive it if we allow it to if we recognize it we can say oh, yeah I'm good with God, but I'm really not good with all these people and that's really what's causing me this anxiety That's really what's causing me this this frustration and this this concern that is on me. I know I'm good with God well, I think I'm good with God, but Many times we'll find that in all of the trouble that we face with each other We may not be dealing well with it because we have not spent the time In right relationship with God or I should say enjoying From God the right relationship that we have from him We get our focus on the people or the circumstances instead of The peace that we have with God through our Lord Jesus Christ Romans 16 verse 20. I Love this verse it makes me laugh and the God of peace Will crush Satan under your feet shortly The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen the God of peace God of peace God of tranquility and calmness The one version in Spanish uses the word a blast are This peaceful God will squash Satan under your feet It's just that the picture doesn't match does it but the truth of it is there The God of peace will crush Satan under your feet under your feet Say under my feet Say it again under my feet He will crush Satan not under his feet. Not just under his throne not just in Eternity, but he will crush Satan under your feet That's the God of peace why would he do that so that you would be at peace Philippians 4 verse 6 and 7 Be anxious for nothing Be anxious for nothing. I've I was anxious And I know you might maybe you're thinking what does it look like for Pastor John to be anxious It looks about the same as everything else But it's there Be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving With Thanksgiving a Common thing said Or at least something that I've heard said multiple times recently is that gratitude and anxiety can't dwell together That They can't exist in the same place and God of course knowing how we're wired encourages us in this don't be anxious, but be grateful The gratitude will Supersede it will defeat your anxiety Man, that is incredible Be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving Let your requests be made known to God and the peace of God Which surpasses all understanding? Will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus Not only will the peace of God come upon you in the situation, but it'll guard you against further times of being anxious And when that that anxiety wants to get upon you again, you can say no, I thank God That his peace is with me. I know I should be anxious right now I know it doesn't make sense why I'm at peace right now, but I am and people around you will want to get anxious for you and they'll want to Condemn you for not being anxious They'll want to Chastise you why aren't you more more worried about this? Aren't you concerned about this? Will it do any good? Will it change the situation? No I'm just thankful for the peace of God. I don't understand it. I don't need to understand it Scripture says I won't understand it. It's the peace that passes all Understanding It's like in Ephesians 3 where we read about that you may know the love of Christ which passes all understanding So we can know the love of Christ But it is too much for our understanding So functions the peace of God. I Don't know why I have peace right now. Don't worry about it. Just have peace just be at peace and That peace will not only calm your heart it'll guard your heart it'll protect you It'll protect your mind from those invasive thoughts from the enemy and from those invasive thoughts of your own doubting That want to draw your focus away from God He will keep him in perfect. Perfect. Peace whose mind is fixed on him We have peace with God Ephesians 2 verse 14. I'm going to read 14 to 18 For he himself is our peace who has made both one and has broken down the middle wall of separation Having abolished in his flesh the enmity that is the law of commandments contained in ordinances so as to create in himself one new man from the two thus making peace and that he might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross thereby putting to death the enmity and He came and preached peace to you who are far off and to those who were near For through him we both have access by one spirit to the father. Now, let me explain these verses When I was reading it and it said peace to you who are far off and peace to you who are near I I Heard in my head Oprah Winfrey and you get a car and you get a car and you get a car She wasn't the one to come up with that That would be God and you get peace and you get peace and you get peace and you get peace and you get peace Praise God Peace for everybody Paul's dealing here in this Letter to the Ephesians about the Jews and the Gentiles and he says you Jews who were considered close to God You had the commandment you had the law you you you had God and Then you Gentiles over here you you you had nothing And when it talks about enmity that's division that is enemies Other workplaces in Scripture it talks about that when we were enemies of God He still sent his son to die for us this verse When it talks about enmity is not just talking about our enmity Between humanity and God is talking about the enmity the enemies that we have one with another and Paul says that through Christ who preached peace to those who were near to you Jews and Preach peace to those who were far the Gentiles he has brought them together to make one new man What is that new man the? reconciled sons and daughters of God He recreated humanity So that we would have peace with him, but not only have peace with him that we would have peace with each other. I Think of You know Disney's Theme is the happiest place in the world and their staff is instructed that if there's anything that goes wrong with Somebody who is there at one of their parts that they're to make it right because they want to uphold This is the happiest place in the world We sing the the Christmas song it's the most wonderful time of the year That in all reality when families get together It's not the most wonderful experience sometimes and In this time of the year will we celebrate the peace of the world? coming in the form of a man We are reminded Not just to thank God for our peace with him But to endeavor to keep the peace one with another So as the worship team comes I want to leave you with these four things If you don't know the Prince of Peace I Encourage you to accept him as your Lord and Savior The difference it will make in your life is unimaginable If you don't know the peace that passes all understanding pray that the Holy Spirit will show it to you Take the situation that you are not finding peace in and ask God ask the Holy Spirit Help me have peace Three of the circumstances of life what is happening around you have you anxious? fix your eyes and your thoughts on God He will guard your mind and your heart And for if you have people in your life with whom you have disagreements and divisions Take the opportunity this month to seek peace with them To seek reconciliation with each other and you know to do that you're going to have to forgive Or maybe to make that happen you're going to have to apologize But when we hold unforgiveness in our hearts, we will never truly Experience the fullness of Christ's peace in us. There will always be something that nags at us So I encourage you in this holiday season forgive And be reconciled Not just to God but to one another Hebrews 12 verse 14 says pursue peace with all people and holiness Without which no one will see the Lord He lays them both in there peace with each other and peace with God Without either of them. We won't see him We want to see him. I want to see him and I want you to see him really do So let's stand as we get ready to sing Let me pray over you Get your Tithes and your offerings ready And at the the right moment, we'll have you we'll say our declaration over our tithes and offerings And then you'll be able to get those Let's pray Father you are our peace Lord I look back over my life over your faithfulness and I know that there have been times where the peace that passes all understanding has darted my heart and mind And I know Lord God that each person here can learn from you Has darted my heart and mind And I know Lord God that each person here can look back and see the same thing We thank you Lord And we pray that during this time Our fellowship with one another our fellowship with family Father I pray that you would You would do a mighty work To bring peace Lord God Bring peace to those who are yours And bring others to you that they might find peace Use us Lord God to be ministers of that peace As we talked about last week this ministry of reconciliation this ministry of bringing back into peace Father I thank you for this congregation. I thank you for those who are our guests tonight. I pray that you would move in us and move through us We glorify you in Jesus name. Amen Thank you for listening to this week's podcast If you are ever in the Tegucigalpa area and looking for an english-speaking congregation Please join us on sunday afternoon at 4 p.m In the main auditorium of Iglesia CCI in Colonial Trepici just off Boulevard Suyaka near Una If you'd like prayer or more information about our church contact us at fellowship.cci At gmail.com that's fellowship.dci At gmail.com or follow us on social media. We hope to see you or hear from you soon. Blessings