The Selected Sermons of Dr. Roger Bourland

Jesus didn't advise and counsel peace. He didn't give them a prescription for peace. He didn't suggest that his men should cool it, relax, just be peaceful. He bestowed it upon them. He seemed to have been able to put it inside of them. He gave them peace of his own that was to become their own. It was not advice, it was bestowed. It's a beautiful gift especially when you realize what peace meant to Jesus. Peace for him, for them or for us is not the absence of conflict, war is not the opposite of peace. Peace to Jesus was inner serenity. Peace to Jesus was peace of mind. Peace to Jesus was peace of soul. Peace to Jesus is what a keel is to a sailboat. Peace to Jesus is what roots are to a tree. - Excerpt from Dr. Bourland's Sermon from the Global Radio Broadcast of The Protestant Hour, "The Gift of Peace: A Sermon on Galatians: 5:16-26 There come points in every life when everything that has gone before is eclipsed. That is how God works. It's the way life is. It is generally at these points that the most important things in life happen to us. It is vital that we do not let ourselves plateau - level out - drift. No single level of living is sufficient. No maturity is complete. So we must enter into moments of creative waiting. These are times of expectancy and hope and searching. What has gone on before is no longer part of us. It hasn't yet been revealed what is to come next. God nudges us and we know that it is wrong to just stand there on the mountain, looking up with mouths wide open. We find ourselves in an interim phase. But it is a phase that points beyond itself. There is one thing wonderful about that. We come to see that this type of thing has always been a part of God's eternal plan for his people. We watch and hope as God's Spirit ebbs and flows about us. - Excerpt from Dr. Bourland's Sermon: "A Time to Wait, A Time to Hope: A Sermon on Acts 1:1-14