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Sermon Notes for December 7, 2025

Luke 2:8-14 + Philippians 4:6-9

The Dawn of Redeeming Grace Brings Peace

Pastor Jim Thomas

The Latin word adventus means “arrival” or “coming.”

During the Advent season we look back in time, reflecting upon the first arrival of Jesus Christ in the first century, and we look forward in time, anticipating His second coming, when He has promised to return and set the world to rights.

With the Dawn of Redeeming Grace we experience:

• The unquenchable hope of God in Christ
• The unwavering peace of God in Christ
• The unshakable joy of God in Christ
• The unconditional love of God in Christ

“If we stand any chance of answering the question of what is wrong with the world—much less of being saved from the answer to that question—we must begin with understanding the complexity and multifaceted nature of sin and end with understanding the unfailing love of a God who chooses to save us from it.”
Timothy Keller, What is Wrong with the World?

Advent and Christmas are holy day observances, annual reminders of what God has already done and still intends to do about what is wrong with the world.

Top 10 ways to become a more anxious person:

• Ruminate on all your anxieties.
• Wallow in all your guilt and shame.
• Bang your head in frustration over your repeated failure to control all the outcomes.
• Ignore your relational conflicts and bitterness.
• Feed your addictions to noise, hurry, busy-ness or isolation.
• Worship lots of false idols.
• Indulge false identities and demand validation from everyone.
• Surrender to spiritual opposition.
• Acquiesce to moral or spiritual drift.
• Cultivate unbelief.

Unbelief = Forgetting who God is

Bible terms translated into English as “peace”:

• The Old Testament Hebrew word shalom appears 237 times
• The New Testament Greek word eirēnē appears 92 times

Philippians 4:6-9 gives us:

• The proscription for peace
• The prescription for peace
• The promise of peace
• The Prince of Peace

“You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You. Trust in the LORD forever, for the Lord GOD is an everlasting rock.”
Isaiah 26:3-4 (ESV)

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid”
John 14:27

What is the difference between fear and anxiety?

• Fear is usually our heart’s immediate reaction to a real and present danger—something staring us in the face right now.
• Anxiety, on the other hand, is when we ruminate on a threat—whether it’s real or only imagined, past or still far off.

“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change and though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea.”
Psalm 46:1-2

“Casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.”
1 Peter 5:7

“I’m not suffering from anything a good resurrection can’t fix.”
D.A. Carson

The Bible speaks of four kinds of peace:

1. Peace with God
2. Peace of God
3. Peace with others
4. Peace within

“There is no peace like peace with God. It is peace with God as an objective fact which is the foundation of the peace of God as a subjective experience.”
John Stott

1. The Proscription for Peace:

• “Be anxious for nothing…” v. 6

From Scripture we learn that we can honestly lament all that has gone wrong in the world while still placing confident trust in the God who will one day make all things right.

“Your mind follows what you focus on. Neuroscience shows that repeated thoughts form stronger neural pathways in the brain (neuroplasticity is the brain’s ability to change with practice). This is why God tells us to take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ. He knew how our minds work long before modern research confirmed it.”
Dr. April Joy, DNP, PMHNP-BC

2. The Prescription for Peace:

• Pray about everything v. 6
• Pray with thanksgiving v. 6
• Pray bringing your requests v. 6

Prayer is the beginning of an uprising against the disorder of the world. Prayer refocuses our attention on God. Prayer reminds us of how great God is and that we belong to Him. Prayer is God’s antidote for anxiety and anger.

Let your mind dwell on Paul’s six “whatevers” (v. 8)

1. Whatever is true
2. Whatever is honorable
3. Whatever is right
4. Whatever is pure
5. Whatever is lovely
6. Whatever is excellent/well thought of/of good repute

3. The Promise of Peace

“And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds…”
Philippians 4:7

4. The Prince of Peace

“…in Christ Jesus. The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.”
Philippians 4:9

“Restlessness and impatience change nothing except our peace and joy. Peace does not dwell in outward things, but in the heart prepared to wait trustfully and quietly on Him who has all things safely in His hands.”
Elisabeth Elliot

“There is no peace like the peace of those whose minds are possessed with full assurance that they have known God, and God has known them, and that this relationship guarantees God’s favor to them in life, through death and on for ever.”
J. I. Packer

With the Dawn of Redeeming Grace we experience:

• The unquenchable hope of God in Christ
• The unwavering peace of God in Christ
• The unshakable joy of God in Christ
• The unconditional love of God in Christ