Psalm 37:7-9
"Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him; do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass.
Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; do not fret—it only causes harm.
For evildoers shall be cut off; but those who wait on the Lord, they shall inherit the earth."

Isaiah 26:3-4
"You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You. Trust in the Lord forever, for in Jehovah, the Lord, is everlasting strength."

Message:
The great hymn of the Church should reveal the condition of our heart and mind in perilous times.....
When peace like a river attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,
"It is well, it is well with my soul."

Another hymn sings these words.......
"I am resting today in this wonderful peace,
Resting sweetly in Jesus' control;
For I'm kept from all danger by night and by day,
And His glory is flooding my soul."

What a treasure I have in this wonderful peace,
Buried deep in the heart of my soul;
So secure that no power can mine it away,
While the years of eternity roll."

THE WORD OF GOD HAS ADMONISHED US...
"But mark this; There will be terrible times in the last days."

Terrible, times are the results of the acts of wicked men...
"Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed. innocent blood; their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity;
Wasting and destruction are in their paths.
The way of peace they have not known, and there is no justice in their ways; they have made themselves crooked

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paths; whoever takes that way shall not know peace. Therefore justice is far from us, nor does righteousness overtake us;
We look for light, but there is darkness! For brightness, but we walk in blackness!
We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes; we stumble at noonday as at twilight; we are as dead men in desolate places.
We all growl like bears, and moan sadly like doves;
We look for justice, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far from us.
For our transgressions are multiplied before You, and our sins testify against us; for our transgressions are with us, and as for our iniquities, we know them: in transgressing and lying against the Lord, and departing from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood. Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands afar off; for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter." (Isaiah 59:7-14)
Evil men, terrible times, man's hearts filled with fear, violence everywhere........ these are the conditions of our world! And our hearts cry out for peace!
David knew where to find peace:
"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, even though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though its waters roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with its swelling.
There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God. The holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High. God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved; God shall help her, just at the break of dawn.
The nations raged, the kingdoms were moved; He uttered His voice, the earth melted.
The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah
Come, behold the works of the Lord, who has made desolations in the earth. He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two; He burns the chariot in the fire.
BE STILL, AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD: I WILL BE EXALTED AMONG THE NATIONS. I will be exalted in the earth!" (Psalm 46:1-10)

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Many of the conditions in our world today were mentioned by Jesus when He was asked to discuss the signs of the end of the age for this world.
Matthew 24:3-14
Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, "Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and the end of the age?"
And Jesus answered and said to them: "Take heed that no one deceives you.
"For many will come in My name, saying, "I am the Christ, and will deceive many.
"And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
"For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences and earthquakes in various places.
All these are the beginning of sorrows.
"Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name's sake.
"And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another."
"Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.
"But he who endures to the end shall be saved.
"And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come."
JESUS ADMONISHED US THAT WHEN ALL THINGS WERE TAKING PLACE, AS BELIEVERS, WE ARE NOT TO BE TROUBLED....
Peter wrote about the end of the age and how we should respond as believers.
2 Peter 3:10-14
"But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.
Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, WHAT MANNER OF PERSONS OUGHT YOU TO BE IN HOLY CONDUCT AND GODLINESS, looking for and hastening the coming

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of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat?
Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
THEREFORE, BELOVED, LOOKING FORWARD TO THESE THINGS, BE DILIGENT TO BE FOUND BY HIM IN PEACE, WITHOUT SPOT AND BLAMELESS.
In this passage, Peter is speaking of the New Testament doctrine of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, but he is describing it in terms of the Old Testament doctrine of the Day of the Lord.
The Day of the Lord is a conception which runs all through the prophetic books of the Old Testament. The Jews saw time in terms of two ages—this present age, which is wholly bad and past remedy; and the age to come; which is the golden age of God.
How was the one to turn into the other?
The change could not come about by human effort or by a process of development, for the world was on the way to destruction.
As the Jews saw it, there was only one way in which the change could happen; it must be by the direct intervention of God. The time of that intervention they called the DAY OF THE LORD. It was to come without warning! It was to be a time when the universe was shaken to its foundations. It was to be a time when the judgment and obliteration of sinners would come to pass and, therefore, it would be a time of terror.
"Behold the Day of the Lord comes, cruel with wrath and fierce anger, to make the earth a desolation and to destroy its sinners from it" (Isaiah 13:9). "The Day of the Lord is coming, it is near, a day of darkness and of gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness." (Joel 2:1-2). "A day of wrath is that day, a day of distress and anguish, a day of ruin and devastation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds, and thick darkness" (Zephaniah 1:14-18). "The sun shall be turned to darkness and moon to blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes" (Joel 2:30-31). "The stars of the heaven and their constellations shall not give their light; the sun will be dark at its rising and the moon will not shed its light. Therefore I will

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make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken out of its place, at the wrath of the Lord of hosts in the day of His fierce anger" (Isaiah 13:10-13).
What Peter and many of the New Testament writers did was to identify the Old Testament pictures of the Day of the Lord with the New Testament conception of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. Peter's picture here of the Second Coming of Jesus is drawn in terms of the Old Testament picture of the Day of the Lord.
The one thing in which Peter is supremely interested is the moral dynamic of the Second Coming. If these things are going to happen and the world is hastening to judgment, obviously a man must live a life of piety and of holiness.
If there are to be a new heaven and a new earth and if that heaven and earth are to be the home of righteousness, obviously a man must seek with all his mind and heart and soul and strength to be fit to be a dweller in that new world.
To Peter, as Moffatt puts it, "it was impossible to give up the hope of the advent without ethical deterioration."
IF WE BELIEVE THE WORDS OF CHRIST AND ALL THE SCRIPTURE THAT THIS WORLD IS HEADED FOR JUDGMENT, then this belief will directly affect the way we live our lives every moment of every day.
John writes: (1 John 3:1-3)
"Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.
Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.
AND EVERYONE WHO HAS THIS HOPE IN HIM PURIFIES HIMSELF, JUST AS HE IS PURE."
And Peter has just told us that if we really believe that the end is near, and that the coming of Jesus Christ is at hand, we are going to live lives in holiness and godliness!
And he adds.....(v.l4)
"THEREFORE, BELOVED, LOOKING FORWARD TO THESE THINGS, BE DILIGENT TO BE FOUND BY HIM IN PEACE, WITHOUT SPOT AND BLAMELESS."

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BE DILIGENT TO BE FOUND BY HIM IN PEACE
Peace WITH God......the peace OF GOD! Peter is telling us that since this world will be dissolved and the end of the age is coming...make sure that we have made peace with God.
Romans 5:1-2
"Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, WE HAVE PEACE WITH GOD THROUGH OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, through whom we have gained access by faith into His grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God."
Here is one of Paul's great lyrical passages in which he almost sings the intimate joy of his confidence in God. Trusting faith has done what the labor to produce the works of the law could never do; it has given a man peace with God. BEFORE JESUS CAME, NO MAN COULD EVER BE REALLY CLOSE TO GOD! It is only when we realize that God is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ that there comes into life that intimacy with Him, that new relationship, which Paul calls justification. Through Jesus, Paul says, we have an introduction to this grace in which we stand. The word he uses for introduction is a word describing someone being ushered into the presence of royalty! And, it is the regular word for the approach of the worshipper to God. It is as if Paul was saying, "Jesus ushers us into the very presence of God. He opens the door for us to the presence of the King of kings; and when that door is opened what we find is grace; not condemnation, not judgment, not vengeance, but the sheer, undeserved, incredible kindness of God."
There is also another word picture in the word that Paul uses in this passage when he says...we have access by faith into His grace..." In late Greek, it is the word for the place where ships come in, a harbor or a haven. If we take it that way, it means that so long as we tried to depend on our own efforts we were tempest-tossed, like mariners striving with a sea which threatened to overwhelm them completely, but now that we have heard the word of Christ, we have reached at last the haven of God's grace, and we know the calm of depending, not on what we can do for ourselves, but on what God has done for us.

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Psalm 29:11
"The Lord gives strength to His people, the Lord blesses His people with peace."
Psalm 119:165
"Great peace have they who love Your law, and nothing can make them stumble."
Isaiah 57:20-21
"But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace," says my God, "for the wicked."
PEACE WITH GOD COMES THROUGH TRUSTING IN THE LORD JESUS CHRIST AS OUR LORD AND SAVIOR.
Col. 2:13-14
"When you were dead in your sins and in your uncircumcision of your sinful nature. God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us, and that stood opposed to us; He took it away, nailing it to the cross."
Col. 1:19
"For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through His blood, shed on the cross."
Romans 5:9
"Since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through Him."
PEACE WITH GOD COMES TO THE HUMAN HEART THROUGH THE RECONCILING WORK OF JESUS CHRIST.
2 Cor. 5:17-19
"Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ, and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them."
WHEN WE ARE AT PEACE WITH GOD, HE GIVES US HIS PEACE!
John 14:27
"Peace I leave with you, my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not be afraid."

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Phil. 4:7
"And the peace of God which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus."
Isaiah 53:5
"But He was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed."
"THEREFORE, BELOVED, LOOKING FORWARD TO THESE THINGS, BE DILIGENT TO BE FOUND BY HIM IN PEACE, WITHOUT SPOT AND BLAMELESS." (1 Peter 3:14)
Romans 14:17
"For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit."
Galatians 5:22-23
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, against such things there is no law."
Romans 8:6
"The mind of sinful man is death, ...but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace."
BE FOUND BY HIM IN PEACE....PEACE WITH GOD....AND PEACE WITH OUR FELLOW-MAN.
Ephesians 4:2-3
"Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace."
Peter 3:8
"Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another, be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble."
1 Corinthians 1:10
"I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought."
A WORD TO THE WISE! Those who find death and separation the most difficult to handle are those who suffer from guilt because of the way they treated the relationships of life before death. Peter is telling us that because the end is coming and judgment is certain, and this old world will soon pass away, make sure we live at peace with God and with our fellow-man!

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BE DILIGENT TO BE FOUND WITHOUT SPOT
Conformity with Christ is the Christian's standard. We are to be diligent, to strive earnestly, zealously, to reflect Christ's own character. The false teachers were 'blots and blemishes' the Lord Jesus was without blemish and without spot. True Christians must conform to the spotless, blameless pattern of God's Son, and the knowledge that soon we will all stand before Him is a powerful spur to keep us abiding in Him, that, when He shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before Him at His coming.
Ephesians 5:25-27
"Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself, a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish."
Colossians 3:8-17
"But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth.
Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.
Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another, even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.
But above all these things, put on love, which is the bond of perfection. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body, and be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

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James 1:27
"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."
Romans 12:1-2
"I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God."
IT WAS DAVID'S PRAYER:
Psalm 19:13
"Keep your servant also from willful sins, may they not rule over me. Then will I be blameless, innocent of great transgression."
Matthew 5:8
"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God."
PRAYERS FROM A PURE HEART ARE HEARD BY GOD!
Psalm 24:3-5
"Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the god of his salvation
Job 11:13-19
"If you would prepare your heart, and stretch out your hands toward Him; if iniquity were in your hand, and you put it far away, and would not let wickedness dwell in your tents;
Then surely you could lift up your face without spot; Yes, you could be steadfast and not fear; because you would forget your misery, and remember it as waters that have passed away. And your life would be brighter than noonday. Though you were dark, you would be like the morning. And you would be secure, because there is hope; Yes, you would dig around you, and take your rest in safety. You would also lie down, and no one would make you afraid; Yes, many would court your favor."
WHEN WE OUR DILIGENT TO LIVE OUR LIVES WITHOUT SPOT...
..We would live our lives without fear and be steadfast
..We could lift up our face in prayer and not be ashamed

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..Life's miseries would fade in importance
..Light, life and joy would fill our hearts
..Darkness and gloom would leave
..A sense of safety would surround us
..Those around us would treat us with favor!
THESE ARE THE PROMISES TO THOSE WHO HAVE MADE THE ALMIGHTY, CREATOR GOD....THEIR GOD! AND JESUS CHRIST, HIS SON, THEIR LORD AND SAVIOR!
Here is the secret to be at peace in a world that is turbulent and filled with strife and tension.......
Make sure you have made your peace with God.
Live at peace with your fellow man.
Strive to live godly and righteously in this world.
And again the promise....
"You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You..
Trust in the Lord forever, for in Jehovah, the Lord, is everlasting strength." (Isaiah 26:3-4)