February 7, 2010 : The Peacemaking Church Sermon Outline #1 - Real Peace

Key Text: Colossians 1 :15-20¹; He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. ¹⁶For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. ¹⁷He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. ¹⁸And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. ¹⁹For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, ²⁰and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

Purpose: To inspire believers to see God’s priority and passion for peace, and to firmly establish the gospel of Christ as the foundation of real peace.

Key principle from Small Group Study #1: Conflict is an opportunity. Sermon Outline:

People are hungry for peace! (Jer. 6:14)

Illustration: To get a taste of how hungry people are for peace, try typing “peace” in on the website search engine, Google. You will be astounded to find that there are millions and millions of websites devoted to this topic. To search for real peace we don’t need a website search engine. God knows we hunger for peace, so He has given us a feast of information on the subject in His Word.

1.        Real peace is a Priority² to God (Col 1:15-19; Matt. 5:23-24)

2.        Real peace is Expensive (Col 1:20; John 3:16; 1 John 4:9-11; 1 Pet. 5:6; Matt. 7:3-4; Phil. 2:3-4; Eph. 4:32)

3.        Real peace requires an Ally (Col. 1:19-20; Phil. 2:13; Eph. 1:18-20)

4.        Real peace is found only at the Cross (Col. 1:20; Acts 4:12)

5. Real peace has Eternal consequences (Col. 1:20; John 6:47; 2 Cor. 5:17-20; John 13:34- 35; Luke 6:27-36)

Conclusion: Conflict is an opportunity to show others how to find real peace!

Challenge: Think of someone in your life with whom you need to make peace.

1 Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture is taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version^®.

2 The underlined text in this outline completes the blanks on the provided bulletin insert.