#84 Peace of Mind Through Possibility Thinking I(06/07/03)

By Robert H. Schuller

We've planned a series of four sermons this month of June. I hope you'll invite your neighbors and friends, relative's back. Because the series is entitled, "Peace of Mind Through Possibility Thinking." With the conflicts that we've experienced in the country and in the world, to say nothing of conflicts that still seem to swirl around in a turmoil in human personalities, it's time for us to listen again to what our Lord said. Jesus said it,

"My peace I give to you, not as the world gives, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."

I sense a tremendous amount of fear and anxiety and in the world. Part of it is terrorism and part of it is the war in Iraq and there are lots of reasons for this. Part of it is that the fear that the emotional and moral and spiritual underpinnings in our nation are in danger and are weakening. So we're going to talk about peace of mind through possibility thinking. Before I begin this morning, I want to tell you I found it so exciting to follow the national spelling bee, which I've done for years. And what an exciting time it was this week when Sai Gunturi from Texas won first place. To remind you, that in 2000, four years ago, he entered and he landed up 32nd. But he didn't quit. The next year he went back and he ended up 16th. And then last year, he came back again and he ended up 7th. This year he found himself positioned to win first place if he could spell this word correctly. And the word was pococurante. Now you all know what that means. I never heard of it before. But pococurante means to have a calm attitude of indifference to some of the turmoil that swirls around you. And there's some spiritual value to that lesson. We've got to learn how to let things go when we can't make a difference for good.

Well, speaking of spelling, I heard the story the other day of a man who died and went to heaven and he said to Peter, "What do I do to get in here?" and Peter said, "Simple, just spell the word right. Spell this word, love." "Oh," he said, "That's a snap, I'm in. L-o-v-e" and he was in. When he lived on planet earth, he had a business competitor and the two hated each other. He wasn't in heaven more than a week when he should look out and see coming through the front gate that competitor whom he hated. Couldn't believe it. He ran up and said, "What are you doing here?" The guy said, "I was so bored not having you to fight with, that I died." "And here I am, now how do I get into this place?" And his old buddy said, "Simple, all you have to do is spell a word right." "Oh good, what's the word?" "Czechoslovakia." Oh well.

Well I want to give you four words and you know how to spell all four because it's what at my stage and age of life, I'm experiencing in my life with Jesus Christ. Call it an updated testimony if you will. Jesus Christ provides four basic qualities in my life. And they all begin with the letter "S" first its serenity. And then it is security. And then it is stimulation. And finally it is satisfaction.

Serenity is the closest thing I know to what people would call peace of mind. You know, it's a matter of learning how to let go. I heard the story just this morning, 11 people were hanging from a rope from a helicopter, they were being rescued but 10 men and 1 woman. Well, the rope couldn't sustain them all, it would be destined to bust and they'd all die. So, one of them had to at least get off and the woman at the end came forward. And she looked at the ten men, all hanging on for dear life and she said, "Relax, I'm going to let go because all my life I've been let go by men. All my life I had to make the sacrifices. Never got any thanks. I'm used to it. So I'll let go." And with that, all ten men applauded. Okay.

Serenity it's learning when to let go. You know, because the truth is we're all over burdened, we're all over whelmed. We're all surrounded by more notes than we can answer, more calls than we can return. You know serenity is knowing how much you can carry. Seems to me that everybody is getting forgetful today. You know I get forgetful. And my kids get forgetful. My grandchildren get forgetful. Why is this? We were never designed as a human brain we were never designed to carry all the material that's put into it. We are over loaded. When God created Adam and Eve and put them in the Garden of Eden, guess what forms of communication they had. This: a mouth and ears. Period. They didn't have telephones. Didn't have radios, didn't have television sets, didn't have mail. No post office. No. They didn't have e-mail. What am I forgetting? Hello? I mean the material that comes to us today is outrageous. I was led to believe that when e-mail came, we wouldn't have much paper to deal with. Am I unique? Are you getting as much paper yet as I'm getting? Through the fax machine? And my problem with paper is that I get a paper, it's very important. I put it down, I have to put up the next one. Read that. That's important, I put them down. Another thing I look, pretty soon what's number four in the pile I forgot what it is. We are overwhelmed. Know what to let go.

It is an amazing thing how we overload ourselves trying to prepare for anxieties that may never come and in the process emotionally we get tired. I'm hoping that today and in the next three weeks, the next month actually, through this series of peace through possibility thinking I'm hoping that some of you can pick up some tips that surely have worked for me. How to let go. Serenity.

Second word: security. I have an inner security that Jesus Christ gives me. And it is in the state of mind that you call subconsciously secure that real peace of mind begins to evolve. And what is the basis of my security and this is a testimony. It's easy to be secure if you know what the rules are. It's easy to be secure if you know what the standards are. It's easy to be secure if you set boundaries. And then live by the rules, live by the standards and you can look at yourself in the mirror and you're not going to be emotionally disturbed by sub conscious guilt or the fear that someday maybe one of these black secrets is going to come out. Real security is self respect, self esteem, the knowledge of your self worth, it's knowing that you don't have to be ashamed of what you're doing and how you're doing it.

Then you live by it. The statue of Moses on these grounds is a remarkable piece of art. And the title of that statue with Moses coming down with Ten Commandments, the title I gave from one of my books. It's called, "God's way to the good life." You bet. If you know what the rules are, and live by them, you won't be negative and oppressed and say, oh I wish I had freedom to do what I want to do. Wait a minute. That's a sure path to turmoil. Do what you want to do? And you'll be in trouble. Morality is doing what's right. Not what necessarily you might want to do. Simple. Security. Know the rules. Live by them.

Security. Serenity. Go to bed, put your head to the pillow every night and talk to God and you can see Him smiling. He's happy you checked in again. You're not going to be ashamed or embarrassed or intimidated to talk to the Holy one because you know you're un-holy. Serenity. Security. Wow.

Third word is stimulation. What is peace? Absence of tension? No. No. If you could live without any tension, without any stress, let me tell you. It would be boring. More than one person has retired, don't have to answer the phone anymore. Don't have to answer letters anymore. You don't have to go out to lunch with these people anymore. You're free! Free of stress. Don't have any more projects that you have to work on. Guess what: without stimulation, there's boredom and I submit that boredom is probably one of the toughest of all tensions to deal with. It is the single reason behind drug addiction, sexual promiscuity, and alcoholism. So Jesus Christ keeps me stimulated. Wow.

Fourth word is satisfaction. You live this way with serenity, security, stimulation and as you move along in life, with every passing year, you'll have a greater sense of fulfillment. And I have tremendous sense of satisfaction. But, nothing that really compares to the satisfaction I had last night. We have 18 grandchildren. First of all my wife and I have five children, we're proud of them. None of them rebelled. None of them ever got into drugs and sexual promiscuity, and all that stuff. They all lived with the moral standards of the church. Not the high school. They lived with the moral standards of their family. Their father and mother. And they all married Christian spouses. And in the five families of my five kids they all pray. They all read the Bible. All 18 grandchildren go to Sunday school and church. They're all following the steps of their father and mother and grandfather and grandmother. So it all looked good but then you hope and pray they marry right. And last night my first grandchild got married. Robert Schuller the third, I call him, got married. He met this woman and Hannah Presley. Unbelievable girl. I'll tell you I look at her and I'll say she is what my wife Arvella was at 21. Talented, intelligent, creative, loving, affectionate, wow. That marriage I am sure was made in heaven.

The wedding was here in the Cathedral, it was wonderful. I enjoyed it because I didn't have a thing to do. Here's the guy that had to remember his lines. Robert Schuller one; relax, Robert Schuller married Robert Schuller three. And that was, I had a good time.

The wedding was fantastic. And I met Hannah's father and mother and family for the first time. They flew in from Oklahoma. Guess what: Mr. and Mrs. Presley, he's an optometrist. But he is something else. When he saw his son sleeping in church, he said to his son, why don't you invite your friends to our home this weekend. Tell them I'll give them all free pizza. So his son invited his friends and about 10 of them showed up for free pizza. He's been averaging 300 every weekend. Three hundred every weekend. He ought to own his own pizza gallery. But he has, and he has all of his kids turned on to help share the faith of Christ with all of these kids. Many are unchurched. Five boys. One girl. Hannah, they're only daughter got married yesterday. Her brothers told her that if she was going to get interested in a guy, she should get interested in this Robbie Schuller. She did. Her brother set it up and she fell in love. But the family flew in and I was so impressed with how quiet and calm they were and visiting. Christ lives in their hearts and in their homes.

And I think that's where some of you have to come in this morning. Some of you have a vague belief in a God but it's kind of vague. And some of you are what's called the new age movement. Talked to my daughter Carol is in ministry in Colorado and she was manning a booth at a parade last week to display Christian literature. And one lady came up to her, and said to Carol, "Are you a Christian?" And Carol said, "Yes." Oh, she, and Carol said, "Are you?" "Yes," she said, "I am now." "What does that mean?" Carol said. Oh, she said, "For years I was nothing. Then I could sense there was this spiritual something missing out of my life. But I didn't want to get caught in all these religions and all these denominations and all these churches. And on there's Buddha and there's Muhammad and there's Jesus and there's so many others.
"So" she said, "I joined what's called the new age movement." Carol said, "How is that?" Oh she said, "Things I really liked about it. First, we didn't argue about doctrine." And she said, "it was calmness, peace, interested in green grass, still water." She says, "a lot of nice things about it. And the feeling that there's probably a God." But she said, "after a few years in that, I felt I was living in a fog. It was a nice fog. But she said, "finally I stepped out and I accepted Jesus Christ" and Carol said, "did that make a difference?" "Oh yes," she said. She said, "it was liking stepping out of a fog into full sunlight. There was the sun. I could see it, I could feel it. It was real. That's meeting Jesus Christ when you step out of the vague fog."

Maybe you can relate to that, some of you. If so, I take a moment to invite you now to step out of the fog. Step into the beautiful book called the Bible. Come with us here week after week as we discover that in Jesus Christ, we are given power. He gives us serenity. That's not the absence of stress. But it's a calmness through the stress. It's pococurante. Two, it is security. You'll know who God is when you look at Jesus. That's good enough for me. And then, He will stimulate you. He'll make you realize you are a beautiful person. Yeah. Then, He'll give you satisfaction. And finally, real contentment, "My peace I give to you, He said. Not as the world gives give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." Amen.

BENEDICTION - RHS
RHS: Now may the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you. And may God give you His peace. His peace. In your going out and in your coming in, in your lying down and in your rising up, in your labor and in your leisure, until you come to stand before Jesus and you will someday. And you will live in light and life forevermore. Amen.