Let me give you a verse - if you remember only one thing from today - this is it: Romans 12: 8, “As far as it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” Did you hear that: “As far as it is possible” - because sometimes it’s not - “as far as it depends on you” - you are not responsible for the other person - “live at peace with everyone.” And this is because you have better things to do than walk around being angry or hoping birds poop on people’s cars. You do not have to rent space out in your head to people. You don’t have to let people hijack your thoughts. You do not have to let people steal your peace or make you feel miserable. You may not be able to fix things - or fix them - but you can choose to live at peace. We can’t always - in fact more and more we rarely can control a lot of the things that happen to us - but we can always choose how we respond. And that is important!

St. Peter quoted Proverbs 26:11, but he added, “a pig returns to the mud after a bath.” I am amazed how well Bible writers know me. I finally throw up all the bad stuff I gorged on - and like a dog return to it. God finally gets me cleaned up and I jump back in the mud. Jesus sets me free - and I run back into the cell and lock the door.

The world loves “me-based solutions to all our me-based problems.” How long do you think it will be before we figure out we cannot “hate ourselves into a new person we will love?” Before we realize “tearing someone else down doesn’t make us a better person?” Before we get tired of trying to prove we’re worth something? Before we look in the mirror and not worry about what anyone else thinks about us - but see a unique and unreproducible miracle of God.

What Jesus offered Legion - what He offers us - is more than healing. He offers forgiveness. C.S. Lewis differentiated between the two in his classic, The Problem of Pain, “We have a strange illusion that mere time cancels sin. I have heard others, and I have heard myself, recounting cruelties...committed in boyhood as if they were no concern of the present. But mere time does nothing either to the fact or to the guilt of a sin. The guilt is washed out not by time but by repentance and the blood of Christ: if we have repented these early sins we should remember the price of our forgiveness and be humbled.”

The mystery of Holy Trinity Sunday is this simple: God created you as a unique an unreproducible miracle. Jesus paid for all the junk and mistakes in your life. The Holy Spirit is with you e

You can tell Jesus He is full of demons. You can build all sorts of barriers between you and Him. You can listen to the demon on your shoulder. You can do whatever you want. It doesn't change the truth that God loves you - forgives you - has a place in heaven with your name on it - and is tearing down all the obstacles between you so you can enjoy this life as you get ready for the life to come.

Everytime someone tells me only pastors can preach - I point to this verse. It may be my job to deliver a sermon on Sunday - but you, whether you are male or female, young or old - have a calling to preach. You don't have to be long-winded like me - you just have to tell people what God has done and is doing in your life. And you don't need to go into great detail - sometimes it's as simple as, "I was lower than a snake's belly the other day when I heard my favorite Christian song" or "did you see that sunset - it was amazing" or "how can I pray for you?"

People who through the gift of faith believe the resurrection happened, live in a world where death and satan and evil no longer have any power over them. It doesn't mean death isn't scary. It doesn't mean they don't work to avoid it. But ultimately when death comes - the believer looks it straight in the eye and says, "do your worst - you can't win" because even if you steal my last breath - one second later I will wake up in heaven and get to live forever where you can't touch me anymore.

The difference between a myth and the truth is not if you believe it or not. It's whether it really is true. You cannot change truth just by believing or not believing.

This is why we live by faith. As much as I would love to live in complete certainty - knowing everything without doubt or fear - it is impossible. My brain will not allow me to completely trust God. It works to sabotage me over and over again as it tries to convince me I know more than God and everyone else. My self-deception is a myth that threatens to destroy me.

As we look around, we see signs of a world so deeply loved by God that even as it spirals into nothingness He refuses to give up. And the only thing God said that was worth saving from this world and this universe was you. There will be a new heaven and new earth - and you will get to see it take place. And because I know God - I know you are going to love it - because what you were really searching for your whole life will be found in what is new which as it turns out isn't so new at all because it's always been what you were looking for.