What does Tribe teach about finding peace?

At Tribe, the teaching on finding peace starts with a simple image: staying in the shade. In the message 'Stay in the Shade,' Brian Hunter traced the story of Israel being led through the wilderness by a pillar of cloud and pillar of fire in Exodus 13, and brought that picture forward to ask what it looks like to live under God's leadership today. The cloud was not decoration. It gave shade against brutal desert heat, warmth against the cold of the night, and enough light to travel when traveling would have otherwise been impossible. Pastor Brian's point was that peace is not found by managing your circumstances or choosing the shortest route. It is found by staying close to the One doing the leading.

Pastor Brian was honest that God's leadership does not always feel like relief in the moment. Israel was taken the longer, harder way through the wilderness, not the direct route, and he said that served three purposes: protection, development, and giving the people time to learn what they needed to learn. His own instinct, he admitted, is to throw a fit when he senses God leading him away from where he wants to go. But he held out the idea that being able to say thank you for the long way around is a mark of real maturity. And for anyone who fears they have wandered too far out of the shade to find their way back, Brian says, "You can never step back into the shade because you've missed it and you've blown it. Let me tell you that is a lie of the devil."

The cloud in Exodus points to the Holy Spirit, which is what Pastor Brian said the congregation has today in place of that visible pillar. The peace Philippians 4:6 gestures toward is not the absence of hard roads. It is the presence of a Guide who, as Brian put it, "knows you better than you know yourself," and who stays with you through the circuitous route, not just the easy one.

Taught from Exodus 13:17-22 · Philippians 4:6 · Isaiah 63:11-14 · 2 Thessalonians 3:16 · Galatians 5