Date: March 11th 2010

Isn't a great feeling when you have a sense of inner peace, even in the middle of hard times? Things around you may be bad and well on their way to worse, but you feel secure on the inside, confident that God is in control and willing to trust him to provide.

That is not a feeling you can just talk yourself into. You can't dial up your "everything is going to be ok" pep-talk and produce peace. The reason is that just the moment you are telling yourself everything is going to be ok, it seems like things immediately get worse.

That kind of inner peace comes, I believe, only as a gift of God. Only as we fix our hearts and minds on Jesus, who he is and what he does, can we experience peace. When we get our eyes off the stuff around us and on Jesus, he drops the gift of peace into our hearts.

That peace is part of what Paul had in mind when he tells us to "fit our feet with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace", the passage we looked at last weekend. We are continuing our look at the armor of God as we find it in Ephesians 6 in our series called "Gear Up!". Inner peace is only found when we focus on Jesus.

But there is another part of that peace as well. When we know Jesus and know the gift of walking with him, we begin to see those around us who don't know him. We develop a hunger to tell them about Jesus so that they too can experience peace in their lives.

I hope last weekend's message left you with two challenges: First, turn to Jesus to experience peace. Second, reach a hand out to those around you who don't know him.

If you missed the message, you can listen or watch by going to our website, www.ehills.org.

This weekend we will look at the next part of the armor, the shield of faith. One way the evil one attacks us is through the tool of doubt. We will learn how we use the shield of faith to repel that doubt.

Just a reminder that it is a time-change weekend. That means that we lose an hour on Saturday night. Make note of that for those of you who worship on Sunday. It will help get you here on time.

We have had numerous families in our church experience a death in their broader family circle. Remember these folks in your prayers.

• Hal & Kathi Pranger in the death of Hal's mom
• Dave & Deb Lammers in the death of Deb's mom
• Cheryl & Steve Kelso in the death of Cheryl's mom
• Wes & Katy Keesen in the death of Katy's step dad
• David & Diana Farr in the death of Diana's father

Looking forward to the weekend!

Blessings,
Pastor Shawn