Curt Harlow [00:00:00]:
Hello, my friend, and welcome to the Bible study, as always, with Dena Davidson, the frontal lobe of Thrive College. And we're joined again by the founder of Bayside Church, one of my close friends, Ray Johnson. Ray, thanks for being back.
Ray Johnston [00:00:11]:
Glad to be back.
Curt Harlow [00:00:12]:
Merry Christmas, everyone. This is 12-24-25 that you're watching this on, and I hope you're having a great Christmas. Way to be a Bible person on Christmas. That's right. That's. I'm more of a pie person. I should be a Bible person on Christmas, too. All right, we have.
Ray Johnston [00:00:27]:
Do they. Do they. Are they. Will you all able to respond to what we're talking about?
Curt Harlow [00:00:31]:
Yeah, they can leave comments mostly on YouTube. Right, Bri?
Ray Johnston [00:00:34]:
Spotify.
Curt Harlow [00:00:35]:
And Spotify.
Ray Johnston [00:00:35]:
And Spotify. We just want to see what was your favorite Christmas present this year that you got? And what's the favorite Christmas present this year that you gave away? Be really interesting to see this.
Curt Harlow [00:00:45]:
And which Christmas present are you going to return immediately? No, don't put that in the comments.
Ray Johnston [00:00:50]:
And what are they going to. What are we all going to get Curt and Dino for Christmas?
Dena Davidson [00:00:52]:
Christmas. Thank you. Thank you.
Curt Harlow [00:00:53]:
All right, like, if you've been following, and I hope you have, we're doing an Advent series on the podcast, and we're doing an Advent series on all of our Bayside campuses. This podcast is based on our sermon prep team that meets every Wednesday, and we preach the same passages. We're doing four weeks. We're starting with Hope with second episode. I hope you go watch it. We just talked about Joy, and today we're going to talk about something everyone needs at Christmas. We're gonna talk about peace. And then we'll finish up next week on love.
Curt Harlow [00:01:23]:
Bri, who's coming with us next week? Do we know?
Bri Lynaugh [00:01:28]:
Oh, you're doing a bonus episode next week.
Curt Harlow [00:01:30]:
Bonus episode.
Dena Davidson [00:01:31]:
Bonus episode.
Curt Harlow [00:01:32]:
Okay, look, I don't know what we're doing. Bri knows what we're doing. All right, Dena, let's get into it. Go ahead and read the Christmas story, Luke 2, and we're gonna pull out what God means about peace on earth from this story. Go ahead, my friend.
Dena Davidson [00:01:48]:
So good. All right, we're going to pick up in verse eight of chapter two in Luke. And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks. At night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people, they. Today, in the town of David, a savior has been born to you.
Dena Davidson [00:02:15]:
He is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you. You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger. Suddenly, a great company of the heavenly hosts appeared with the angel praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest heaven and on earth, peace to those on whom his favor rests. When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has told us about.
Curt Harlow [00:02:45]:
So peace on earth. How in the world should we understand this passage? Why are the angels announcing peace on the earth? Oftentimes the question that gets asked with this passage is, why is there no peace on earth even though the angels announce peace on earth? Pastor Ray, what do you make of all that?
Ray Johnston [00:03:05]:
I think we should ask Dena first.
Curt Harlow [00:03:07]:
Okay.
Ray Johnston [00:03:08]:
If we were voting in this group who seems like they're the most peaceful person in this realm.
Curt Harlow [00:03:13]:
Wow.
Dena Davidson [00:03:13]:
Thank you.
Ray Johnston [00:03:14]:
So what do you.
Dena Davidson [00:03:14]:
My gracious.
Curt Harlow [00:03:15]:
Yeah, you have a. You have a full peace vibe.
Dena Davidson [00:03:17]:
Well, Dena.
Ray Johnston [00:03:18]:
Yeah, you do. Curt and I get up to speak, and.
Curt Harlow [00:03:21]:
Oh, it's Frank.
Ray Johnston [00:03:22]:
Everybody goes.
Curt Harlow [00:03:23]:
I make me nervous.
Dena Davidson [00:03:25]:
I make me nervous. That's amazing. Well, thank you for saying all those nice things. I now want to increase the drama of this question.
Curt Harlow [00:03:32]:
Okay, let's go.
Dena Davidson [00:03:33]:
Let's increase the stakes. So he, Jesus came to bring peace on earth. And yet in Matthew 10, he says this. Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace. Merry Christmas, everyone. But a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father and a daughter against her mother.
Dena Davidson [00:03:51]:
Hello, Christmas. And a daughter in law against her mother in law. And a person's enemies will be those of his own household.
Ray Johnston [00:03:57]:
Well, everybody's sitting there living with all these relatives going on now, oh, okay.
Dena Davidson [00:04:00]:
That daughter's gonna do me. I just. I want to say Matthew 10 often is what it feels like today, as opposed to what Luke prophesied or said Jesus was coming to give to us. And so essentially, I want to start just by saying there is acknowledged biblical tension here. This is not something that the Bible is surprised by. It's not like the angel said all these great things would happen, and they don't match what is happening. The Bible says. But both.
Dena Davidson [00:04:28]:
The Bible says that Jesus came to bring peace, and he also did not come to bring peace. So how do you live in the middle of that biblical tension? First, you Read the whole Bible. Anytime there seems to be a conflict, a clash between what the Bible says and what you see in the world, you have to say, all right, is there a part of the biblical story that I'm missing? And the simple truth is that we are living in the here and not yet. So there is part of the peace that was promised these shepherds. That has happened, but also there's a not yet a promised peace that we are still waiting for. And so I know that phrase. Curt, the here but not yet is one of your favorites. George Eldon Ladd, tell people what that means, that we live in the here.
Curt Harlow [00:05:15]:
The best way to explain why peace is for sure going to happen because of this announcement, but why we're still in battle is to use the analogy of World War II. So after Patton went across Italy, liberated France, and came up to the very famous last battles, including the Battle of the Bulge, after that, we were for sure going to win. In fact, most strategic thinkers say, once we took Normandy, that was. It was over. Then it was just, how much would it cost? So you go up to Germany, it's winter, you're short on supplies, you're in a trench, you have no socks, it's winter. And your commanding officer tells you, boys, we just heard from the generals, we're going to win. Does it feel like you're going to win? No, it doesn't feel you're going to win at all. In fact, the Battle of the Bulge, one last desperate attempt.
Curt Harlow [00:06:12]:
The guys that were in that battle had the full force of the German army against them, even though across the whole front, Germany was collapsing. But in that battle, at the Battle of the Bulge, it felt like we were losing that, that the Nazis were going to win the whole world. That's what it felt like. But it was the last desperate. The. There's a biological term for this. It's kind of like the last burst of energy an organism puts out before it's it completely and entirely extinct. And we are in that battle.
Curt Harlow [00:06:48]:
The announcement that peace has come is the fulfillment of a prophecy that was said 500 years ago by Isaiah, which he says, a king will come, like David. Well, when was David? He was 500 years before Isaiah. So this is just the culmination of God's plan throughout salvation. And now we're in the final battle. And so peace is coming. We're just at the Battle of the Bulge.
Dena Davidson [00:07:13]:
But also peace on earth has come. Like the here part. The announcement has been made, and the greatest deposit of its fulfillment has already taken Place which is not peace amongst human beings, but peace between human beings and God.
Curt Harlow [00:07:30]:
Yeah. And the peace on earth is Jesus on earth. So when the, when Isaiah 9 says he's the prince of peace, we often think of that of like, you know, Jesus is going to come and he's going to make me feel peaceful inside. And there is a truth to that. There is a comfort from the Holy Spirit. There's a comfort in obedience to Jesus. But they would have heard this much different than that. They would not have thought it from the personal psychological point of view.
Curt Harlow [00:07:57]:
They would have said, the prince of peace is the guy who turns every enemy. That means the tribes that are attacking me or the city states that are attacking me are the empires, like the Roman Empire that's attacking me. He turns those enemies into allies. He either conquers them outright or he sues for peace and they submit. So what would it be like to have peace on earth? He's a person who says, your dad doesn't have to go to war anymore. That's what this means to them, that there's no army coming to your front door, knocking on the door and conscripting your 13 year old son.
Ray Johnston [00:08:31]:
Wow.
Curt Harlow [00:08:31]:
This is what that means, the peace on earth is Jesus saying, I'm putting an end to the war of the world. This is, this is Revelation. When the swords are beaten into plows, this is what this means. So yes, it is a personal. God's with me and I feel peace. Yes, it is that, but it's so much more profound than that. It is the end of the sinful conflict of mankind in violence towards each other. This is what will be put on.
Curt Harlow [00:09:01]:
And that's because Jesus, the peace was literally here on Earth.
Dena Davidson [00:09:05]:
So good. Your turn, Pastor Ray.
Ray Johnston [00:09:08]:
Y' all are very profound. I'm sitting here thinking, okay, so let me ask you this question. In the last four or five years, okay, I went through cataclysmic cultural crazy stuff.
Dena Davidson [00:09:21]:
It's been so peaceful.
Ray Johnston [00:09:22]:
No kidding. Did either one of you have a bunch of sleepless nights?
Curt Harlow [00:09:28]:
Oh, yeah.
Dena Davidson [00:09:30]:
Yes. But because I had a baby, I had two babies in the last four to five years.
Ray Johnston [00:09:33]:
Those are the ones keeping you awake too.
Dena Davidson [00:09:35]:
Different reasons.
Curt Harlow [00:09:36]:
Definitely a lack of peace. Yes.
Ray Johnston [00:09:37]:
No kidding. Yeah. And because we're all running ministries, right. And we all had people go crazy, crazy. And then when they went crazy, they attacked us or each other or whatever. And I'm going, I remember having sleep asides, all of that kind of stuff. And then I read the stuff about peace in the Bible and then I Feel guilty.
Dena Davidson [00:09:57]:
Did you know how?
Ray Johnston [00:09:58]:
Cause I'm stressed. Does this make any sense to any of you? And so I've had a bunch of those kind of nights. And then you'll have a long stretch where it's not the case, and then something else. You know, a lot of it's staff around here. If you do what we do, okay? And like any outside attack, like when we got picketed and sued for building a church, all this kind of stuff, I lose the sleepless night. I was like, no problem. If a staff person goes off the rails, that's a hold of a ballgame. And that then crushes me and stuff like that.
Ray Johnston [00:10:32]:
And so I started thinking, wait a second. I don't want to live as a victim of my circumstances my whole life. So I started thinking about this a little more deeply because I like this. Mary treasured up and pondered these things in her heart. I'm going, what I'm pondering in my heart determines what I'm pondering, determines whether I'm going to sleep or sleep. Less so true, you know, and so, like, I think it's not so much about circumstances. It's about focus, like, on my circumstances and like, even. And my focus generally is ultimately, what am I listening to? Am I listening to my fears or am I listening to the problem? And some of it all I need is like, sometimes you and I would talk and I'd go, okay, 30 minutes.
Ray Johnston [00:11:19]:
I'm good, right? You know, so sometimes it's built some support, right? But on this one, I look at this and I go, it's very interesting to me. It says, when the angels left them and went back to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that's happened, which the Lord has told us about. So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph and the baby who was lying in a manger when they had seen him. And they spread the word concerning. I mean, and it says. And all who heard it were amazed. Mary treasured these things up. In other words, their focus was on God for a while.
Ray Johnston [00:11:55]:
Then their focus was on talking about God for a while. And they had joy. And I think my focus is on watch some terrible news program. Focus gets on what a disaster everything is, you know, in other words. And I sort of realize as I get older, which is old, I have to pay way more careful attention to what I'm focusing on, or Satan's going to go, I'm going to make sure something's going wrong at all times. So I can distract you, make you miserable, and your kids and your grandkids won't be attracted to the Christian faith.
Curt Harlow [00:12:30]:
You just gave me a great thought. What were the shepherds talking about before the angels appeared? Because these are the night shift shepherds.
Ray Johnston [00:12:38]:
Absolutely.
Curt Harlow [00:12:38]:
So shepherds are. They smell like sheep and goats. So, you know, there's a lot of herding communities in the Mediterranean that for years, not just the first century, you couldn't stay in a hotel if you are a shepherd. They had their own hotels, their own hostels because they smelled like their livestock. And so these are low, low labor positions then. Not only you low, just the whole profession. You're the night shift shepherd. You don't.
Curt Harlow [00:13:08]:
The veteran shepherds are not going through the night. They're home in their bed. So these shepherds. I worked a night shift job once in a lumber mill, and I guarantee you what I would talk about with my co workers at the break at 3am I want to go to sleep. I did not want to be here. It's cold here. These sheep stink. The second I go to sleep, I know that there's going to be a.
Curt Harlow [00:13:29]:
A wolf or a bear show up. And they were having these mundane conversations, I bet. Not positive.
Dena Davidson [00:13:35]:
Yeah.
Curt Harlow [00:13:36]:
Then to your point, afterwards, all of that's gone. I had this job, I had the lumber mill. I had this guy, I worked next to me and I could not, if I worked hard. He'd say, what are you doing? You're making us all look bad. If I slow down, he'd go, you're lazy. You and your whole generation are lazy. And I realized he hated me because I was going off to college in a couple weeks and he was stuck at this job and he just abused me. And one day I'm in the parking lot.
Curt Harlow [00:14:06]:
I'm like, lord, I'm not going in there. I don't care if you've provided this job. I don't care if it's going to pay my tuition. I can't do it. You got to get me another job. And all of a sudden, does God ever speak to you when you don't want him to? He just drops this idea. He goes, harlow, you're not here for your tuition. You're here for that guy.
Curt Harlow [00:14:23]:
You think I. You think I didn't know you would be next to that guy all summer? And so I just decided, this guy was so rude. I just decided there's no way to offend him. So I'm just going to go in there and be the most obnoxiously Confident Christian ever. And I'm going to. Everything he says to me, I'm going to tell him the gospel back. So he'd be like, you're working too hard. And I'm like, you know who worked for us? Jesus Christ.
Curt Harlow [00:14:44]:
He did all the work. So we don't have. We're not saved by works. And I just, I just went for it with this guy. All of a sudden I started looking forward to every day. I started going and going, this is great. This is incredible. All the manual label, all the night shiftness of it.
Curt Harlow [00:15:00]:
I was like, I'm going after this guy. And sure enough, like three days before I left for he goes, hey, so tell me about this Jesus. Tell me about this Jesus. I've been telling about Jesus for two months. What he was really saying is, I want to become a Christian. Let them to the Lord in the break room. This is what happened to these guys, man. They have peace.
Curt Harlow [00:15:22]:
Because they went from the mundaneness of the everyday low position to all of a sudden. It reminds me of the verse in Ephesians, live a life worthy of the calling you have received. All of a sudden, they were no longer just shepherds. They were ambassadors to the greatest news ever. Amen. What a great life. What an incredible life.
Dena Davidson [00:15:42]:
Yes. And they were the ones on whom his favor rests.
Curt Harlow [00:15:46]:
Yes.
Ray Johnston [00:15:47]:
That.
Dena Davidson [00:15:47]:
That's crazy. That was a crazy thought for them. We're the shepherds. We're the ones on whom his favor rests. Well, I think we can brave tomorrow whatever lack of peace it brings, because that is a peace that passes understanding.
Ray Johnston [00:16:00]:
Yeah, that's well said. When. When I look at what happened to the shepherds, and I never noticed this poor. It says the shepherds. I mean, they're seven. A lame night, which was every night for a shepherd. We've been around shepherds over in Africa and they are not the elite. And it says, the angel said to them, come back to that.
Ray Johnston [00:16:23]:
And then it says, suddenly a great company of heavenly hosts appeared with the angel praising God. And I went. Two things altered their inner life. One was they were in a setting where they were hearing God speak. Second is they were in a setting where God was being worshiped. And there's something about, in my ordinary life, making sure I'm in an environment like church where two things are happening. You're hearing God speak, speak. And there's the God is being worshiped.
Ray Johnston [00:17:01]:
And somehow that altered everything on the inside. And whatever they were stressed about got smaller and their view of God got bigger and their view of their future got Bigger. And I just think it's interesting. Like, that's why I would say, hey, it's Christmas. New Year's is coming, if you're going. What one thing could I do in the next year to have more hope, less stress, more peace, less grinding anxiety? It would be put yourself in a setting every week, and your couch doesn't count. Put yourself in a setting every week where if God is worshiped and a pastor delivers the word of God, God speaks and God is worshiped. And put your phone away and just be all there.
Ray Johnston [00:17:58]:
You transform these guys.
Curt Harlow [00:18:00]:
You've had this experience many times, right, where someone tells you their story. How did you come to Bayside? How did you get committed? And I'll tell you this story. Well, so and so invited me, and I walked into the room.
Ray Johnston [00:18:15]:
Yes.
Curt Harlow [00:18:16]:
And it hit me. I didn't even have the language for it. I didn't know what worship was. I didn't know why people were raising their hands. I walked into the room, and that atmosphere of God receiving glory. And when you're speaking, you can see it when you're speaking. And the worship has been incredible. You look out there, you could see the softness in people's spirit.
Curt Harlow [00:18:39]:
You could see the softness in their heart. And then the other experience that I have every week now was Covid four years ago or whenever. Who knows when it ended. It was a million years ago, and it was. Yes. Yesterday. Every week to this day at my campus, I'll be shaking hands as people are leaving church, and I'll say, ah, I'm new. It's our first time here.
Curt Harlow [00:18:58]:
Oh, great. I'm so glad you're here. How did you come? Well, and I hear this the most. My student brought me. This is the adult their student brought. And they said, you know, we've been stuck on our couch.
Ray Johnston [00:19:11]:
Yep.
Curt Harlow [00:19:11]:
And then a lot of times, they'll get emotional and they'll go, I didn't realize what I was missing. That something about loving each other and loving Christ. When those two things collide, powerful, powerful stuff happens. And then I want to say one more thing, Dena, because you brought it up. On Earth, peace. There's a qualifier to those on whom his favor rests. So there's never a claim here, that there will peace on every place on earth. It's only peace to those on whom his favor rests.
Curt Harlow [00:19:47]:
Now, here's the good news. Who can receive the favor of God?
Dena Davidson [00:19:52]:
Everyone.
Curt Harlow [00:19:53]:
Those who ask. Those who humble themselves and say, my own favor, what I can earn with my own favor will not get me to Heaven will not make me live the life I was meant to live on this earth. And so God's offering peace. He's not forcing peace. He's taken all the steps except for the very last step, which is you saying, no, I need that peace. And I just. You know, sometimes people make this argument. Dean, I know you've heard this.
Curt Harlow [00:20:24]:
Well, Paul talks about grace, but Jesus never talks about grace. And that Paul changed Christianity. This is Romans, this versus Romans. And on earth, peace to those whom the. What is grace's definition? The undeserved favor of God and those whom his favor rests.
Dena Davidson [00:20:47]:
Amen. I want to read you two passages from Jesus because I think if we're going to end this ultimately by talking about peace, acknowledging that there is trouble in this world, Jesus says to us in John, 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. And then in John 16, he says, I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart. I have overcome the world.
Dena Davidson [00:21:21]:
And isn't that the essence of Christmas? Is that the Jesus baby that was born into the world, he has overcome the world.
Curt Harlow [00:21:30]:
He has.
Dena Davidson [00:21:30]:
He has initiated the peace process where his kingdom will ever be expanding. And where the kingdom of Jesus goes, peace goes with it. So we live in the right here, where his kingdom is ever expanding, and we know the final result. But we get to live in this moment while though we don't fully experience that fullness of peace, still we get to experience inwardly the peace of Christ which rules over our hearts and that I pray that that word in these passages color the rest of our year, because we need peace as Christians if we have the hope to take peace to the world.
Curt Harlow [00:22:09]:
Amen. Pastor Ray, how would you apply this? You gave some great practical advice one episode ago. There are some people out there that right now what they're doing is they're worrying about a very, very scary, scary monster that's going to show up in at their house in about a week called their Visa Bill. And they have. They have told themselves, please come forward. They have told themselves that every Christmas party. I'm not. I'm just gonna have fun, but I'm not gonna eat.
Curt Harlow [00:22:41]:
And they went home and ruined their diet. And they have a mess of. They have so much wrapping paper and cardboard in their house or apartment. They're overwhelmed. Speak. How do you. How do you actually live into peace after the Exhausting way that we celebrate Christmas.
Ray Johnston [00:23:01]:
Okay. So I can give you maybe a grown up guide to this. And the first. The first thing is this. Respond instead of react. The. And what I realized is sometimes I'm in settings and I'm my best self, and other times I'm in settings where I'm not my best self. Because of what we all do, you can't afford to be in that setting very often because it does not create stability or joy or health.
Ray Johnston [00:23:34]:
And so about 10 years ago, I don't remember, I read something or talked to somebody one time. And what I do, like, I'll do it several times a day. Okay. Or almost every time before I go on stage. Now, I'll just take. I'll take one breath, I'll just relax for a second, and then I'll go, who do I want to be in this situation? And I be that guy. Instead of getting sucked into the emotions of any situation, it's transformative. Sometimes I'll be in a room where we're having conversation about stuff and it's all direction and it all matters, and I'll feel myself get a little bit hot and I'll go, I'll just back out of this for a second.
Ray Johnston [00:24:17]:
I'll just take a deep breath. I'll just kind of look around and I'll go, okay, who do I need to be in this situation and be that guy? So sometimes I think a great spiritual discipline to be is to like, occasionally go like, back out, just take a breath. I mean, you're gonna have dinner tonight at your table. You sit down that dinner and go, all right, who do I want to be in the dinner? I did that on Thanksgiving.
Curt Harlow [00:24:42]:
Okay?
Ray Johnston [00:24:44]:
The day before Thanksgiving, I just kind of went, who do I want to be? And then I went, wait a second. And it took me about 10 minutes. And I got stock paper like this for those. This is called paper. I got stock paper like this. And I printed a thing, a verse on Thanksgiving, drew a box, and it said. It said, they told all the things the Lord had done for them. So all these folks are at our house, so in different bedrooms.
Ray Johnston [00:25:09]:
So I put it all in the bedrooms and I just said, before dinner tomorrow night, fill in here.
Curt Harlow [00:25:14]:
I love this.
Ray Johnston [00:25:15]:
What are some of the good things God has done for you, your family? And then when we were around the Thanksgiving table, everybody brought it out and shared it. That doesn't happen if I'm frantic. So take some time. Like you have dinner coming up a couple hours or whenever, take a breath and go what could we do around the table that would be really good? So for me, that's one. Another one was, I learned this a long time ago from Corrie Ten Boom who was in concentration camps. Her sister was killed in the same concentration camp she was. And then she had this unbelievable, great Christian speaking career until she was 80 something amazing lady. And her book the Hiding Place is a must read.
Ray Johnston [00:26:01]:
And I remember I'd become a Christian and then I tend to bounce back pretty fast. I got really discouraged. I've been a Christian about a year, got really discouraged and I got down and stayed down. No joy, no peace, no hope. And, and I stayed that way. And then, you know, you know, go to church. Got to church, they worshiped on Christ and somebody gave a quote from Corrie 10 boom and they said here was her prescription for life. And this is genius.
Ray Johnston [00:26:38]:
She said, look around and be distressed. Look inside and be depressed and look at Jesus and be at rest. That is genius. Look around and be distressed. By the way, go ahead, turn on the news for five minutes, see what happens to you. Go online, look around. Matter of fact, most people aren't looking at God anymore. They're looking around.
Ray Johnston [00:26:59]:
Look around and be distressed. That was me. Look inside and be depressed. That was me. Because I'm never the person that I want to be or look at Jesus and be at rest. And it snapped me out of it.
Curt Harlow [00:27:11]:
That's great.
Ray Johnston [00:27:12]:
So those two things because. And I've gone back to that over and over and over and over again. Those two things have helped me a ton.
Curt Harlow [00:27:18]:
Okay, so I have a really challenging application for this passage. And I, I love what you just said. Glory to God in the highest precedes peace on earth. We give glory to God in the highest. We get, we get peace on earth and maybe even peace in our family or peace in our workplace. So my, my exhortation to the Bible, believing Christian at Christmas time at any holiday is because God gives you peace. The peace I give you, it's not like the peace the world gives. The peace God gives is not circumstantial.
Curt Harlow [00:27:53]:
It's forgiveness for eternity. It's relationship for eternity. I give you my peace because Christ gave you his peace. Be a peacemaker. And by that I mean what happens. People say, I'm exhausted, I'm exhausted. Why are you exhausted? You're working too many hours. And I don't think that's what I've worked 80 hour weeks doing something wonderful and not been exhausted.
Ray Johnston [00:28:21]:
Absolutely.
Curt Harlow [00:28:21]:
Or been exhausted in the right way. Where you went to Bed and went, that was great. That's the way I feel around here at Christmas. I'm exhausted. But that was great, you know, Is it. Everything is broken and going bad? Well, yeah, maybe a little bit. Everything's broken and going bad all the time. Like, there is no.
Curt Harlow [00:28:41]:
Especially in our job as pastors, there is not a week that goes by where I don't hear about a marriage in crisis, a health crisis, especially those cancer, all of that. There's always bad news. I think what really wears us out more than anything, more than our jobs, more than the news, more than the circumstances, is drama between each other. Like you were saying earlier, when a teammate gets out of alignment with us, it is so hard and it is so discouraging. It's so very discouraging. So maybe you'll have more peace if you go call your brother that you haven't Talked to in 5 years and you commit to not having to resolve the problem. You commit to not having to win the argument. You just tell them, you know, I miss you and I wanted to talk to you, or for many of you, it's going to be your dad, and he doesn't deserve it.
Curt Harlow [00:29:36]:
But you didn't deserve the forgiveness Christ gave you. And we don't give honor to people that have earned honor. If you do that, you're not going to give out any honor. We give honor to help people become honorable. And so right now, people are thinking, whenever I say this sort of thing, a name comes up. Well, that's the name. And I realize it's going to be really hard in some situations and really hard at the holidays. And if you can't do it, God still loves you.
Curt Harlow [00:30:07]:
But can you pray about not being able to do it? Can you talk to someone about not being able to do it? Because I guarantee you, once you get on the other side of withholding peace, once you get on the other side of that, you're going to experience a lot of the grace and peace of God. More. Because we're called to be. We're called to give the peace we've received.
Ray Johnston [00:30:30]:
Yep. And the instant. Sometimes things happen instantly. The pastor that had been just criticizing me, criticizing Bayside, all of this kind of stuff. Relentless, you know, just on and on and on and on and on for years. And generally it wouldn't bug me, but occasionally it would. Somebody. Ah, you know, so I finally went, called the guy and said.
Ray Johnston [00:31:01]:
I text him and said, hey, got a minute? I want to call you. So I texted him and I just said, we have this conference Called Thrive. I'd love you to come and do a couple leadership seminars at it. He was blown away. So he came over, did all this kind of stuff. But it was interesting because it had been bugging me. And the second I called him after talking, I hung up. I was like.
Ray Johnston [00:31:26]:
It was like. It was like. It was like gone.
Curt Harlow [00:31:30]:
Right.
Ray Johnston [00:31:31]:
It never came back.
Curt Harlow [00:31:32]:
Love it.
Ray Johnston [00:31:32]:
Okay. And. And so I think sometimes you're right. You just like reach out and they may not change, but that's not our job.
Curt Harlow [00:31:42]:
Yeah. Dena, got any last thoughts for us in the application? You had a pretty good one before Pastor Ray.
Dena Davidson [00:31:50]:
It's a weirdly practical one, but turn your phone on grayscale. So our phones have been engineered to keep our attention. And so one of the ways that we can push back against the manipulation that's going on with screens is to just, if it's for an hour out of your day or perhaps a day of your week, or maybe you just fall in love with it.
Ray Johnston [00:32:12]:
My phone's working right now.
Dena Davidson [00:32:14]:
Then you can just Google how do I turn my phone on grayscale? You can actually create a shortcut.
Curt Harlow [00:32:19]:
I didn't know that.
Dena Davidson [00:32:20]:
For me, I have a control panel, like swipe down and I just put it on grayscale. And I. For this Christmas season, I've been keeping it on grayscale because I am just trying to make my world less noisy. And my screen, with all its bright colors and its flow, flashing lights, it's very noisy and I'm trying to make it less noisy.
Ray Johnston [00:32:38]:
Unless you're listening to this on your phone.
Curt Harlow [00:32:40]:
In this case, sitting on the couch. And phones, which some people are sitting on the couch right now on their phone. Remember, Pastor remembers this. You will not remember this too young. But we used to have phones and they had giant cords, like 40 foot cords.
Ray Johnston [00:32:54]:
Oh, yeah.
Curt Harlow [00:32:55]:
And the only way to talk to your girlfriend on the phone was to take the 40 foot cord. Go get in the coat closet. What if this Christmas I just glued a cord to my cell phone?
Dena Davidson [00:33:05]:
Wow.
Curt Harlow [00:33:05]:
And I could only take it so far.
Dena Davidson [00:33:07]:
Like you couldn't unplug it, by the way.
Ray Johnston [00:33:10]:
I'm not doing any of that. But so it is interesting though. I was with 20 or 22 of the sharpest 30 year old leaders we have. Every future leader in our church is in this group. And these are sharp, I mean, bright, motivated 30 plus year olds. And I said, if you all could uninvent the iPhone, would you? And they all went, absolutely not. We like keeping in touch. We would uninvent the Internet.
Ray Johnston [00:33:42]:
Yes, because they all said it is designed to separate, divide, make you angry no matter what side you're on. And they said we would uninvent the Internet and we stay connected to each other. That's a pretty dynamite. We want a goal for the year as much as possible, except for, of course, this show. Stay off the Internet and deeply connect with people. You're gonna be a lot happier.
Curt Harlow [00:34:11]:
Our time's up, and Merry Christmas, you guys. And I really, really appreciate the fact that you're on this journey with us. We're a Bible church. Unashamedly a Bible church. And we love Bible people. We love people that get the truth of it and get the grace of it and try to live out both of it. So well done, my friend. And the next time I see you, it's Bri.
Curt Harlow [00:34:30]:
It's going to be the new year. We got one more episode before the new year. Okay, New Year's bonus episode is next. Tell someone about the Bible study we'll get on this journey of rightly handling the word of God and seeing how it changes our lives. So. All right, thanks for watching.