Finding Hope for a Restless Soul in Christianity

Understanding restlessness in Christianity and its opposite, godly peace.

The meaning of peace in the Old and New Testament.

Jesus' promise of peace and reconciliation with God.

Growing in Christ and developing a close fellowship with him to overcome restlessness.

Music Music Our message today is called, Is There Hope for a Restless Soul? As a believer in Jesus Christ, there is no doubt that there are seasons of restlessness in our growing and maturing years as a Christian. Restlessness or discontentment comes as part of our package and nature as a human being when we are born into this world. We need to look at the word restlessness according to the Webster's Dictionary. It means lacking or denying of rest, uneasiness, continuous moving, unquietness as a restlessly. Restlessness is characterized by the manifesting of unrest, especially of the mind. And it means to be changeful and discontented and ever-changing. Well, we learn as we grow in Jesus Christ that restlessness becomes less and less because God does not want us living in a state of discontentment, milk, contentment, or sorrow that comes with the package when we were born into this earth. You see, restlessness is the opposite of godly peace. Nelson's Bible Dictionary defines peace in both the Old and the New Testament for us. An overview of the Old Testament meaning of peace was completeness, soundness, and well-being of the total person. This peace was considered God-given, obtained by following the law, as described in Psalms 119, verse 165, which declares, Great peace have they who love your law. Nothing shall offend them or make them stumble. Or in Isaiah chapter 32 verse 17, which tells us the effect of righteousness will be peace internal and external. And the result, the fruit and conclusion of righteousness will be quietness and confident trust forever. Well, continuing in Nelson's definition of peace, he says, peace sometimes had a physical meaning suggesting security and contentment, prosperity, and absence of war. The traditional Jewish greeting, Shalom, was used for peace. Well, now in the New Testament, peace often refers to inner tranquility and poise of the Christian whose trust is in God through Jesus Christ. and this understanding was originally expressed in the Old Testament writings about the coming of Messiah. The peace that Jesus described of when he spoke when he was on the earth was a combination of hope and trust and quiet in the mind and soul brought about by a reconciliation with God. Such peace was proclaimed by the host of angels at Christ's birth and by Jesus himself in his sermon on the mount and during his ministry. Jesus also taught about this kind of peace at the Lord's Supper shortly before his death. And lastly, Apostle Paul later wrote in Romans 5.1 that such peace and spiritual blessedness was a direct result of faith in Jesus Christ. Romans 5.1 Therefore, since we are justified, acquitted, declared righteous, and given right standing with God through faith, let us grasp the fact that we have the peace and reconciliation to hold and enjoy peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ the Messiah, the Anointed One. So, all in all, we see Christian spiritual peace is founded in our Lord Jesus Christ. Now moving on, we learn according to God's word that if restlessness and discontentment continue in our lives, we should examine the reasons for it, because both of these are opposite of peace. And this kind of spiritual peace, remember, is found only in Jesus Christ, who is the Prince of Peace. Discontentment with a lukewarm state of Christianity and sorrow because of our own lack of commitment or a sense that God is preparing us for something else and something bigger can all cause a person to become restless and discontent. I remember a time a number of years ago when we were visiting a church. We were asked by the pastor to pray for the people who wanted prayer. So I stepped up to pray for a lady who did ask for prayer. She told me she wanted me to pray for her to have a million dollars so she could do the work that God had for her to do. I told her that she needed to grow in the knowledge and grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and develop a close fellowship with him, and then he would show her what he had for her to do. You see, many people want to put the cart in front of the horse. She was like a wandering soul looking for things that would satisfy her soul's desire with worldly possessions. She could not rest or have peace in Christ her Savior and be content to grow and mature in him, as the scripture directs in Colossians 1.28, which tells us, Him we preach and proclaim, warning and admonishing and instructing everyone in all wisdom, comprehensive insight into the ways and purposes of God, that we may present every person mature, full grown, fully initiated, complete, and perfect in Christ the Anointed One. As I mentioned, people who have discontentment with the lukewarm state of Christianity and sorrow is basically twofold it is because of their own lack of commitment to grow in Christ their Savior or is that they have a sense that God is preparing them for something else something bigger and all can cause a person to become restless and discontent but guess what dear listener each of these causes has a solution God does not want his people to live in a continual state of restlessness when his answers and roadmaps for all seekers of the truth are written in his book of life. Jesus has promised us peace. And this we must understand first of all things. In Matthew chapter 10 verses 34 through 42, Jesus said, Do not think that I have come to bring peace upon the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to put asunder a man from his father, a daughter from her mother, and a newly married wife from her mother-in-law, and a man's foe they will be of his own household. Verse 37, he who loves and takes more pleasure in father or mother more than in me is not worthy of me. And he who loves and takes pleasure in son or daughter more than in me is not worthy of me. Verse 38, and he does not take up his cross and follow me, cling steadfastly to me, conforming wholly to my example in living, if need be, and in dying also, is not worthy of me. Verse 39 Whoever finds his lower life will lose it, the higher life. And whoever loses his lower life on my account will find it, the higher life. He who receives and welcomes and accepts you, receives and welcomes and accepts me. And he who receives and welcomes and accepts me, receives and welcomes and accepts him who sent me. Verse 41 He who receives and welcomes and accepts a prophet because he is a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward. And he who receives and welcomes and accepts a righteous man because he is a righteous man will receive a righteous man's reward. And whoever gives to one of these little ones in rank or influence, even a cup of cold water, because he is my disciple, surely I declare to you he shall not lose his reward. Hallelujah! And in Micah chapter 7 verse 6 For the son dishonors the father and the daughter rises up against her mother and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law a man's enemies are the men members of his own household. Well, God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ have shown his people who have ears to hear that he separates the sheep from the goats. Those who are hungry for the truth will grasp the fact that Jesus Christ would bring peace into their poor, wretched, wandering soul and give them rest. Isaiah 9.6 declares, For a child unto us is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. During his lifetime, Jesus gave his peace to those who believed on him. Peace I leave with you. My own peace I now give you and bequeath to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. Stop allowing yourselves to be agitated and disturbed, and do not permit yourselves to be fearful and intimidated and cowardly and unsettled. John 14, verse 27. Jesus distinguished his peace from peace as the world understands it. Peace in Jesus Christ is likened to the absence of war on the earth. And we can certainly see and distinguish the difference in peace today in our world in this year of 2022 as the times of uncertainty grow dimmer and dimmer. For instance, the wars around the world and the horrible atrocities that we read about regarding human slavery, children being stolen and used for human pleasures all around the world, rampant pedophilia even amongst the so-called pastors and church leaders. We see wars that are instigated for personal monetary gain by our own government, disease that was created by sick masterminds in laboratories and spread around the world. They even had patents on these vaccines that were given years earlier before the release of the man-made pandemic. the plan with this whole sick thing was to murder, maim and injure people until they eventually died of the poisonous injections which they forced people to have in every nation now the last one I will mention is the sick and vile involvement of so-called leadership in the church who join in with the world by forcing their congregations to take the vaccine before they could come back to church and then to find out these churches were being paid off by the government to enforce this mandate and many of these churches even provided and administered the vaccines right in their own churches. No, there is one more thing I will mention. Now with the overturning of Roe v. Wade ruling by the Supreme Court, we now have church leaders joining in with the protesters who are for pro-abortion. Think about that. They are even in favoring of murdering precious little babies in the womb and also even after the fact when they are born. May I tell you why? Well, even if you don't want to know, I am compelled to tell you because the world needs to know about the great inhumane atrocities that are being performed on God's precious innocent little human souls. The abortionists sell these baby parts for human consumption by putting them in foodstuff that are sold by some of the leading name brand companies that you and I have used and purchased. The leading companies have been around for years, and they are compromised and complicit with the cabal, which is the secret devil-worshipping society, and they are people who are guilty of crimes against humanity. You need to do your homework and learn about what they do with the blood of these little children who are born and immediately murdered on the abortionist table, also those precious ones who are kidnapped and put into DUMBS beneath the earth. DUMBS is an acronym for Deep Underground Military Base and the word for you to search out is ADRENOCOME A This is definitely not a conspiracy theory This is the truth, and God hates it with a passion, and people who are going to burn in hell for their wickedness and horrible crimes against humanity. First known use of adrenochrome was in 1940. Can I tell you additionally that many church leaders are involved in human trafficking and sex slave business with women and children and infants? You can do your own homework here. God's word in Lamentations 4, verse 14 declares, the false prophets and priests wander staggering in the streets as if blind. They had so polluted themselves with blood, it was not lawful for men to touch their garments. Isaiah chapter 56 verses 10 and 11 tells us, Israel's watchmen are blind. They are all without knowledge. They are all dumb dogs. They cannot bark. Dreaming, lying down, they love to slumber. Yes, the dogs are greedy. They never have enough. And such are the shepherds who cannot understand, they have all turned to their own ways, each one to his own gain, from every quarter one and all. Jesus in Matthew chapter 15 verse 13 declared, Let them alone and disregard them. They are blind guides and teachers, and if a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall in a ditch. Many of the compromise leaders in the church today are just as those in the days of old and used the masks of Christianity to hide behind. Many of the so-called men and women of God have written many books related to Christianity. Jude 13 declares, all they leave behind them is shame and disgrace, like dirty foam left along the beach by the wild waves. They wander around looking as bright stars, but ahead of them is the everlasting gloom and darkness that God has prepared for them. Deuteronomy chapter 28 verses 28 and 29 declares, the Lord will smite you with madness and blindness and dismay of mind and heart and you shall grope at noonday as the blind grope in the darkness. You see these kind of people can recite scripture and can talk and preach like a But they have no genuine foundation or love or attachment to Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Dear Church, Jesus brought reconciliation between God and man. Paul in Romans 5.1 declares, Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with our God through our Lord Jesus Christ. so we have peace only with God through faith through our relationship and fellowship with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ faith is the requirement for this supernatural God-given peace in a believer's life peace is the opposite of discontentment in a wandering soul restless soul people have sold their souls to Satan's system called the world will have no rest for their soul, no matter how many sermons they have preached or books they have written. They are spiritual adulterers and are likened to blind bats and blind men. There is no hope for a wandering restless soul such as these because they have sold their souls for the world's pleasures. Because the peace that Jesus spoke about was a combination of hope and trust and quietness in the mind and soul and is brought about by the reconciliation of God. Deuteronomy chapter 28 verse 29 declares about spiritual adulterers, You shall grope in the bright sunlight just as a blind man gropes in the darkness. You shall not prosper in anything you do and you will be oppressed and robbed continually and nothing will save you. you see some sell their souls outright to satan for the gratification of their lusts they're like esau who irrevocably sold his birthright for a bowl of savory meat something that tantalized his taste buds and sensual pleasures in first kings chapter 21 verse 20 so my enemy has found me Ahab exclaimed to Elijah, Yes, Elijah answered, I have come to place God's curse upon you because you have sold yourself to the devil. The Lord is going to bring great harm to you and sweep you away. That is the Living Bible translation. You see, those who have sold their souls to Satan, the devil, there is no hope for their wandering and restless souls. And when we talk about hope for a restless soul, we're talking about those who profess to be a believer in Jesus Christ, not about those who wear a mask and parade as a follower of Jesus. Jesus taught that war will be waged within the church. Dear listener in Jesus Christ, we now have a state of spiritual warfare in the church of the living God right now in this day in which we live. Jesus taught in the books of the four gospels that war would be waged within the church by saying that there would be false shepherds and false sheep and there would be wheat and tares and there would be good and bad fish and he taught as well in Matthew chapter 5 verse 8 that those who are single-minded in their devotion and love for God are blessed by God. Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. At the same time within the church, Jesus taught, there will be those who would satisfy the pleasures of the flesh. They would be the proud, worldly, and backbiting ones. But take heart, the return of Jesus Christ will fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah for the future peace when the unrighteous will be separated from the true believer and will be destroyed. Matthew chapter 13 beginning in verse 35. Jesus declared that it might be fulfilled which were spoken by the prophet saying, I will open my mouth in parables I will utter things kept in secret from the foundation of the world The parable of the tares explained Jesus sent the multitude away and went into the house and his disciples came with him saying Explain to us the parable of the tares in the field. And he said to them, He who sows the good seed is the son of man. The field is the world, and the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, But the tares are the sons of the wicked one. The enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is at the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels. Verse 40. Therefore, as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth, and then the righteous will shine forth as a sun in the kingdom of their father. He who has ears, let him hear. Now, back to our title, which, remember, is entitled, Is There Hope for a Restless Soul? One of the great promises that we have as a true child of God is that God will restore the brokenhearted, which also means he will restore our souls. Psalms 23 in verse 3, he declares, He refreshes and restores my life, myself, and he leads me into the paths of righteousness, uprightness and right standing with him, not for my earning it, but for his namesake. Hallelujah. And it is for sure that the healing within a broken heart and the soul is truly a supernatural work of the Holy Spirit. David recognized God as a shepherd and the one who loves him and cares for him. You know, sometimes God uses unusual circumstances to bring a restless, wandering soul back into a sheepfold. And there's a testimony of a mother's love and yet the love of God demonstrated in her search for her wayward daughter. This is much like the parable of the prodigal son. And the story goes, a mother whose daughter had behaved very badly and at length had run away from home, thought of a singular plan in order to find the wanderer and draw her back to her home again. After having exhausted the ordinary means, she had her own picture placed and fixed on a large flyer or a poster and pasted it all around the walls of town where she supposed that her daughter would be hiding. The portrait without name had these words, I have loved you always. Crowds stopped by and looked at the strange flyer trying to guess its meaning. Days went by and the young girl at last passed by and lifting her eyes to the flyer thought, Can it be? Yes, truly, it is a picture of my mother. Those eyes of hers are full of tenderness. I know them from childhood. Why is it here, she thought. She approaches near and reads, I have loved you always. And she understood this was a message for her. Her mother loved her and forgave her and pardoned her. And those words transformed her. and never had she felt her sin or ingratitude so deeply. She was unworthy of such love. My mother always loved me, she cried out loud. And if ever she doubted that love, if in moments of distress she feared to return home, these doubts were all gone now. She set out for home, and at last she crossed the threshold and was in her mother's arm. Oh, my child, my daughter, cried the mother as she pressed her precious, repentant daughter to her heart. I have never ceased to love you. Can we know, dear church, this is how our Heavenly Father feels about His beloved children. And the restoration of the restless soul depends solely upon one's relationship with Jesus Christ. this mother stood in the gap by prayer and doing what she could do for her young daughter and the good ending is that this girl repented of her sinful ways and her ingratitude and returned home the darkness of separation from God Almighty is overcome through Jesus Christ in John chapter 1 verses 4 and 5 the word says In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness does not overcome it. Those who may wonder, how can my soul be restored? Dear one, the focus is on God's work in our lives. We cannot restore ourselves, because restoration comes by way of God through Jesus Christ. Yes, we can stand in the gap for the restoration of wayward souls, such as our loved ones, our children, family members, and of course those who have never accepted the wonderful and priceless call of salvation. For those who are discouraged because of the signs of the time, make your focus on Jesus Christ and keep your eyes fixed on your Heavenly Father, and He will renew your life through His Word as you study it daily and draw your nourishment from it. He will even enliven your hope and your joy regarding life now in him and will empower you for the anticipation of your life in eternity with him which is forever. We have the mandate through God's word in 1 Peter 1.14-16. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance, but just as he who has called you is holy. so be holy in all you do for it is written be holy because I am holy let us set our affection on things above and not on the things of the world and remember dear listener let us be faithful in our prayers for the lost and the dying in the world this is our part as a true believer in Jesus Christ Thank you.

Playlist coming soon.