In the last episode, we established that God is the God of hope. In Christ, we have the hope of eternal life, glorified bodies, and the permenant friendship of God. In this episode, we are looking at the God of Peace, and how we can find peace even amidst the chaotic busyness of the Christmas season.

Though the holidays and the Christmas season is often seen as the merriest of seasons, there are plenty of stressful aspects that can quickly become overwhelming. People are rushing to meet deadlines. There are presents that need buying, wraping, and delivering. There are family get-togethers that may be awkward or frusturating or any assortment of unpleasant emotions. How, in light of all these things, can we live as Christ would have us live, full of peace? He is, after all, the Prince of Peace.

The answer to this question is found in remembering Jesus Christ. Only he can give us lasting peace. There is no amount of effort that can carry us undisturbed through the turbulence of the holdiays, nor any tradition that will deflect all the stress that assails us. It is only through Christ, the little child of Bethlehem, who has come to give us peace on earth.

More than just a helpless baby, Jesus is our powerful saviour. He can and will protect us from all real harm in this life. More than a frail, needy child, He is our great provider. In good times, in hard times, Jesus watches over us and will make sure we have all we need. We have no need to be afraid.

Jesus Christ was the perfect gift. He gives us all we need. He is not short of gifts, as we will see in the next two weeks. He loves us. More than his own mother Mary loved him, Jesus loves us. He is the visible image of the invisible God, and He came to show us the love of the Father and to bring us peace.

Let this podcast be an encouragement to you as you go through this Christmas season. Let the memory and truth of Christ be the source of your peace. He will keep you. He can comfort you. You have nothing to fear because your God is a God of power, and He loves you.

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"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. "

God is the God of hope. He desires to fill us up completely with hope, that we would abound with peaceful, joyful hope. In Christ, this is not just a fanciful wish, but a reality. The sentiments of hope are never closer in our minds than at Christmas. The birth of Christ is the basis of Christian hope. Jesus is the hope of our salvation, the hope of our bodily resurrection, the hope of redemption from our sins, the hope of eternal righteousness and eternal life.

Not only is Christ the hope for our future, but he is the hope in our present. In every difficulty, every trial, Christ is there to provide our every need, for He said "I will never leave you nor forsake you." He is the hope of provision, the hope of healing, the hope of fulfillment.

There are seasons of life where we feel full of hope, and there are seasons when hope seems a million miles away. Sometimes we feel like the Psalmist who said, "Why are you downcast, o my soul, and why are you in turmoil with me?"

When we need hope, we must look to Jesus. In this episode, we will look at the nature of hope, the basis of our hope, what to do to regain our hope, and all of the benefits of hope. May this season and God's Word reveal God's desire for you to experience abundant hope.

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In this episode, we are looking at God's loving discipline for us. Sons of God must be disciplined by their Heavenly Father.

"It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. " - Hebrews 12:7-8

The purpose of his discipline is that we might share in his holiness and produce the peaceful fruit of rigtheousness. (12:11)

The peaceful fruit of righteousness strives for holiness and peace with everyone, ensures that no one fails to obtain the grace of God, that no root of bitterness springs up amongst the believers, that no one is sexually immoral or unholy, trading temporary pleasures for future blessings. (12:14-17)

It is not easy to be disciplined, but there is no other way to experience the fullness of God's blessings. Imagine that living your life is akin to building a castle. Each step you take, every hard decision, every sacrifice you make for the Lord's sake is like placing another brick on the magnificent monument of your life. God wants your life to represent Him well, so we must strive to produce the most beautiful life we possibly can. This can only be done when we are disciplined.

But God is gracious, and He transforms us into the people we are to become, if we only submit to Him. He will renew our minds by the Holy Spirit. He will give us opportunities to serve Him and bring glory to His name. He will give us the desires of our heart as our will aligns with His.

I hope this episode encourages you to seek the Lord with even more passion and excitement!

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There is something exquisitely beautiful about friendship. It ought to be treasured and protected at all costs. In this episode I mentioned how I did not have many friends as a child. While that is true, I do remember my very first friend. His name was Quinn. He had blond hair like I used to and a soft nature like mine. We went to preschool together, and since he lived next to the preschool, I would watch him walk over by himself in the morning sometimes. I don't remember what games we'd play or what made him a good friend, I just remember feeling very privileged to know him. After preschool, I never saw him again, but I can still identify him as my first frind because he made such a positive impact on me. Maybe you have had a friend like that, maybe you haven't. In this episode, we're going to look at what makes for a good friend and what doesn't.

Proverbs 13:20 - "Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools suffers harm."

You need to know what makes someone wise or foolish before you choose friends.

Jesus said "Whoever hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man..." and "Whoever hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man..." (Matthew 7:24,26)

Those who follow Jesus daily, diligently, and sacrificially are wise men, and those who ignore him are the fools.

Psalm 1 promises us that if we stand on God's word rather than standing in the counsel of fools, we will surely be blessed. Our lives will be fruitful and evergreen.

Look at yourself to see if you consistenly follow the teachings of Jesus and surround yourself with others who do. Be assured that you cannot maintain bad company without it corrupting your character. You can try, but you will fail.

It is a true blessing to find friends who can be lifelong companions, who pray for you, encourage you, support you in myriad ways. Ask God to lead you to those special people who will spur you on to love and good deeds.

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Of all the crazy things that people did in the Bible, Peter volunteering to walk on water might be the craziest. I don't know exactly what he was thinking, but I don't think that thought would have even crossed my mind.

This request is physically impossible to satisfy, but in the presence of God, nothing is impossible. Even though it was Peter who asked to walk on the water, it was Jesus who extended the official invitation. He invited Peter into something impossible.

God loves to perform the impossible, and include us in it. He involved the entire nation of Israel in the "impossible" parting of the Red Sea. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego got to experience the impossible by surviving in the king's great furnace. Gideon experienced the impossible when God helped him defeat an army of 135,000 with 300 men.

God is not shy about asking us to do impossible things. Luckily, because He is with us, we only have to trust and obey what he says, and they will be done.

But He is not going to do all of the work for us, we still have our part to contribute. When you face an impossible challenge, God will downgrade it to something that is only extremely difficult. Isn't that kind of Him? But then He will give you the strength and wisdom to accomplish that difficult thing.

There are 3 principles that will guide you along so that when you encounter a difficult challenge from the Lord, you are already prepared to accomplish it.

1. You must be willing to do hard things. God is looking for volunteers. Sometimes he does choose people out of a crowd, but often he looks for those who already desire to take up a challenge, like Peter. If you are not willing, you will not get very far at all into what God calls you. Like a sailor going through Navy Seal training, it is better when you decide that doing something hard is what YOU want. It will lead you to actually accomplishing what God desires for you.

2. You have to be consistent. When you start doing the work of God, it is easy to become frusturated and discouraged and give up. But we must remember that the pain and the waiting is all worth it. You will never know what God could have done through you if you don't keep pushing, keep going, keep perservering. At the end of the day, when you look back on the trials and the disappointments, they will just be feathers in your cap, adornments of the wonderful story God has written in your life.

3. You must develop a yearning for difficult things. Peter had this yearning. He saw the opportunity to experience something incredible with Jesus and he decided to go for it. When you come across a challenge, you have two options: you can avoid it, hoping it will go away, or you can face it head on, seeing it as an opportunity to grow in your faith. Let us all develop the desire to grow in faith in Christ.

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It's not a question of if, but when. You WILL encounter people who are difficult to work with. The question is, how will you treat them?

In this episode, we will be looking at how Jesus handled difficult people. The saviour of mankind was not always happy with the people He was working with, but He always acted righteously. Even when He was flipping tables, His anger did not cause Him to sin. We, on the other hand, have anger inside of us that doesn't produce the righteousness of God (James 1:20). He never gave up on people, but we are quick to write people off. He was extremely patient, but our patience melts like snow on a hot summer day whenever we run across someone who treats disrespectfully. All of this to say, we must be intentional about putting on the character of Christ whenever we deal with difficult people.

The Holy Spirit desires to give us love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. We ought to prayerfully lift our eyes to the hills from whence our help comes and ask God to give us everything we need when we deal with those who frusturate us. When we do, we are able to act in wisdom and kindness towards others.

There are 5 specific pieces of advice I'll be sharing.

1. We must be pateint with difficult people.

2. We must love difficult people.

3. We must forgive difficult people.

4. We must be firm with difficult people.

5. We must try to maintain unity and peace at all times.

I hope that this episode gives you practical tools to help you in your next encounter with a difficult person. Remember that God loves them as much as He loves you, so you also must love them, no matter how much they bother and frusturate you. I pray that God would enlighten you to the strength that is available to you through the Holy Spirit so you may act in such a way that is pleasing to God at all times.

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Whether you are in highschool, freshly graduated, or have been out for years, it is never a bad idea to think about what you would have liked to know back in those years.

What stupid thing would you have avoided doing? Would you have had the same friends? How would you have spent those countless hours of free time?

As a young person matures into an adult, they must go through a time of great change. This change must be handled with care. Children must experience the weight of responsibility and power in order to be transformed into mature adults.

In this podcast, I would like to give you a taste of responsibility and perspective as I reveal my 5 best pieces of advice I would give to myself back in high school.

1. Think about your career.

In terms of how to provide financially for a family, it has taken me a long time to realize what was required and what I was capable of. As I have grown, I have learned that there is hardly anything stopping a young person from pursuing much of what they would like to do. If you plan on having a family, a wife, kids, a house, then you ought to put some thought into how you are going to support yourself and others.

2. Read your Bible more.

If you lack confidence, the Bible will help you find some. The Bible tells you everything you need to know about yourself, the world, and others. It will tell you about what God desires, and what traits are desirable for men to have: justice, wisdom, strength, humility. If you want to build confidence, build your knowledge of the Word of God.

3. Read interesting books.

There is much knowledge and even wisdom to be gained from books. If you have an interest about anything, there is certainly a book out there that will help you learn more about it. That is how you grow in maturity. You can learn about marriage, business, history, how to handle social situations, how to know God better. Don't let anything stop you from learning more about the things you are interested in.

4. Help you parents with a cheerful attitude.

It is God's explicit command that you obey your parents. Though you may be 16, or even 18 or 19, it is important that you recognize the very, very special role your parents play in your life, which is to help you develop and mature. They see you from a perspective of love and care that no one on earth can match, so be diligent to obey them and watch as your life prospers. It will not always be easy. It will certainly not be convenient. But the character and humility you attain through helping your parents is both irreplaceable and invaluable.

5. Be yourself.

This is a dangerous phrase if one lives without the solid foundation of the teachings of Jesus Christ, but to those who have that firm foundation, this is one of the most empowering ideas that a young person can hear. How comforting to hear that God made you intentionally, that the person you are is the person He wants you to be. Your looks, your character traits, your talents are all meant to reflect Christ in you, and that means that you can pursue many things that come naturally to you for God's glory without feeling envious or insecure about those traits you do not possess.

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Maybe when you get older. Maybe when you get a better job. Maybe when you get a girlfriend or you get married. Maybe when you buy a house and settle down and get everything that you've ever wanted. Or maybe not. Could it be that you are wasting your life right now because you're too distracted by where you want to be?

In this episode, I hope to give fresh perspective on what we call waiting seasons. We all have to wait for things, but you can wait in two ways, either wastefully or fruitfully. If you want your days to mean something, if you want the precious hours to be redeemed, then you need to learn how to wait successsfully.

God tells us many times that we are to wait on Him. That is hard. It can feel like God is slow, or He is purposefully trying to slow us down and hold us back because He wants to deny good things from us. We cannot allow ourselves to think like this. It will not end well for us.

What will end well for us is trusting in God's goodness and His timing. In this podcast we will examine the life of a man named Joseph who waited on God and saw His goodness. He had to wait 13 years, but I bet if you asked him, he'd say it was worth it. If you want God to do something special in your life, you may just have to wait a long time for it. You may have to experience some hard things. You may have to be subject to evil and oppression and unfair circumstances, but at the end of it, you will be able to say that was was meant for evil God used for the good. Trusting in God and waiting on Him is when life begins for all of us.

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