Introducing the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering Goal - $50,000.00
Lottie Moon was sent as a Southern Baptist missionary to China from 1873 to 1912. She saw firsthand the world's greatest problem — LOSTNESS. Meeting so many people who had never heard the gospel compelled her to write letters to American churches describing the need for a greater missionary presence.
She pleaded for increased prayer and financial support to send and sustain more missionaries. This challenge became known as the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering®.
Did you know that 59% of the world today is considered unreached? This means Jesus is not known or named among 4.5 billion people. Today, hundreds of thousands of people will die without the hope of Jesus. The International Mission Board (IMB) exists to address this problem, the world’s greatest problem, lostness. We send missionaries to the nations to share the good news of Jesus. 100% of your gifts to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering enable gospel transformation among the unreached.
We know that the scripture speaks of a peace that surpasses all understanding. A peace that will guard your hearts and minds. Where do we find that peace?
Factors found to contribute greatly to emotional and mental stability from a Duke University study are:
All these things are valuable but where does true peace come from? Maybe it is best illustrated in this story.
An elderly woman was badly crippled by arthritis, but when asked, “Do you suffer much?” she responded, “Yes, but there is no nail here,” and she pointed to her hand. “He had the nails; I have the peace.” She pointed to her head. “There are no thorns here. He had the thorns; I have the peace.” She touched her side. “There is no spear here. He had the spear; I have the peace.” (Ralph Turnbull, “If I Only Had One Sermon to Preach”)
True peace is only found in Jesus Christ because He is the PRINCE of peace.
“For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this.” – Isaiah 9:6-7
Let’s talk about what it means that Jesus is the Prince of Peace.
FIRST - Our Prince of Peace Resolves our Estrangement with God
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.” – 2 Corinthians 5.17-19
SECOND - Our Prince of Peace Resolves our Estrangement with Others
“And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger." And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!" – Luke 2:8-14
John 14:27 says, “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.”
THIRD - Our Prince of Peace Resolves our Estrangement with Self
As Prince of Peace, Jesus came to bring us into harmony (shalom) with God, others, and within ourselves.
"Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." – Philippians 4:4-7
Think about the question: “What is your standard?”
Every day a man used to walk by a jewelry store, stop and set his watch by the big clock in the window. One day the jeweler happened to be standing in his doorway. He greeted the man in a friendly way and said, "I see you set your watch by my clock. What kind of work do you do that demands such correct time each day?" "I'm the watchman at the plant down the street," said the man. "My job is to blow the five o'clock whistle." The jeweler was startled. "But...you can't do that," he blurted out. "I set my clock by your whistle!"
When Hitler and the Nazi party came to power in Germany in the 1930s, Dietrich Bonhoeffer had the opportunity to leave Germany. He chose to stay and resist. He wrote, “Christians in Germany, will face the terrible alternative of either willing the defeat of their nation in order that Christian civilization may survive or willing the victory of their nation and thereby destroying civilization. I know which of these alternatives I must choose; but I cannot make this choice in security.” Bonhoeffer chose to follow Christ, and it brought him into conflict with his world. He vocally opposed the Nazi regime and its policies, spent two years in a concentration camp, and was executed a few days before the Allies liberated the camp.
When the Nazis occupied Holland, Corrie ten Boom was a middle-aged woman who lived with her father and sister and worked with them in the family watch shop. She made no particular decision to become a part of the underground. She made lots of little decisions to follow Christ. She helped to place hundreds of Dutch Jews in hiding in the countryside and there were several Jews living and hiding in her home. Corrie ten Boom chose to follow Christ in the face of opposition. Eventually, she was imprisoned, first in Holland and then in a concentration camp in Germany. She survived, though her sister, her father and her nephew did not. Only one of the people who had been hiding in her home was ever captured; the rest survived the war.
Thousands of other Christians, whose names we will never know, in Germany and other parts of Europe, made little decisions to follow Christ, accepting the cost and it made a difference. What if more had?
Apart from Him, there is no peace. This truth goes without saying: prior to Jesus, the world was far from peaceful. While we don’t have perfect peace yet in terms of our world, what we do have is hope! I love how Isaiah speaks of Jesus’ ever-increasing kingdom, because the truth is, His kingdom is always growing and expanding. God’s love and His peace are spreading throughout the entire world. Light is reaching dark places and it’s so amazing that we get to be a part of it all!
