Keep sharing good news without ads.
Dr. Myron Golden
You know, the Bible is such an awesome book. I hate that I forgot that it was Memorial Day weekend. So I don't have a Memorial Day message, but it'll be something you can use on Memorial Day, I'm sure.
The Bible is such an awesomely complete book. And it gives us all the answers, even when we don't know what questions to ask, which is amazing. And there's so much that the word of God has to say about our mind and about the way we think.
And so much happens in the arena of thinking and the mind. I was thinking about a verse this morning in Matthew chapter 22, where it says, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy soul and all thy heart and all thy mind.
How do you love the Lord with your mind? Have you ever thought about that? How do you love the Lord with your mind? You know, we can just go home and think about that the rest of the day. Have you ever thought about thinking?
You ever think about thinking? Have you ever thought about what it means to think? It's an amazing, like, we are so fearfully and wonderfully made. And we have this mind that we have to be very intentional about, because if we're not intentional about it, if we're haphazard about our thinking, then the enemy can come in, and he can corrupt our thinking, and he can get us going in a direction that is not in our own best interest, and it's not in the best interest of those we love, and certainly not in the best interest of our Lord.
We have to be very, very aware of the intentionality around our minds. And there's a verse in scripture that I believe is one of the most, it's one of the most misapplied. It's one of the most quoted verses by church-going folks that they have no earthly idea what it's saying.
And I almost wanna, so I'm gonna read the verse to you, and then I'm gonna tell you what I almost named the message, which I didn't name it that, but I could've. So I'm just gonna read one verse, and then we're gonna go back and look at it.
This is a verse that's been taken so out of context. And by the way, when you take a passage of scripture out of context, then you're basically making up doctrine. There are no isolated doctrines in scripture.
There are no isolated teachings in scripture. All scripture supports the rest of scripture. So if you take a passage and you lift it out of its context, and you try to make it exist in a vacuum, then it doesn't mean what you're making it mean.
So really, it doesn't mean anything to you because you're assigning meaning to it. People say, well, yeah, it means one thing to you, and it means another thing to me. Here's what's important. It doesn't matter what it means to me, and it doesn't matter what it means to you.
It only matters what it means to the author, and that's God. It only matters what God says it means, right? And so I'm gonna read the verse to you. And this is one of those verses that people love to put on T-shirts.
People love to post it on Facebook, you know, and they love to talk about it. They love to tweet it and retweet it, right? But most of the time, when this passage, when this verse is used, it is used out of context.
So we're gonna bring this passage back into context today. It's Philippians chapter four. I bet y 'all can guess what verse. Verse 13. And it says, I can do all things through Christ who has strengthened with me.
And it's amazing to me how people attempt to use this verse in a vacuum. And when I hear people use it, I wanna say, ah, ah, ah, not so fast. Not so fast. You can't claim 13 unless you're practicing four through 12.
Right? 13 is, it's a crescendo, right? It's a climax. And you can't claim verse 13 unless you're practicing verse four through 12. So what we're gonna do is we're gonna look at how we can begin to practice verses four through 12 so we can come to verse 13 and nail it.
Amen? Father, thank you for your word. Thank you that it is truth. We pray that you'd open our eyes and we behold wonderful things out of your word. And we pray that you'd give us the willingness to yield to your word and apply it.
And we thank you in advance for the work that you will do in us and the work that you will do through us as we apply this word to our lives. In the name of Yeshua, our King, our Messiah. Amen. All right, so I can do all things through Christ who has strengthened with me.
People act like, well, where are you going? I'm gonna go skydiving without a parachute. No, you shouldn't do that. No, no, I can do all things through Christ. I mean, that's how people do it, right? Right?
Like that's how they attempt to make it like it doesn't. Like I can do anything I wanna do because Christ strengthened. It's not what it's saying. It's not what it's saying. So let's go back to verse four.
And this is where it begins. The whole, like Philippians, the book of Philippians could be called the good attitude gospel, amen? Like Paul is writing this from prison. Like, I don't know if you've ever been to prison or not.
I've been to prison, fortunately to speak there or not. And it's like, that's not where great attitude's about. Can I get a witness? But Paul's writing to a church and he's writing to followers of Christ who are being persecuted.
Like in one of the earlier chapters, Paul says, beware of dogs, beware of concision, beware of evil men. Paul knows that the people are going through some circumstances. He knows they're going through some situations, but he's still writing them this good attitude gospel.
In fact, in chapter three, verse one, he says, finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. These are people that are being persecuted. Hey, now we can pretend that when our boss doesn't like us because we quoted a Bible verse that that's being persecuted.
That ain't the kind of persecuted they were. People were being killed. People were being arrested. People were being put in prison for preaching the gospel, right? And Paul writes from prison, says rejoice in the Lord.
And so let's look at verse four. It says, rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say rejoice. Now, this is one of the most redundant verses in the Bible. We have to understand when we're looking at the word rejoice, the prefix re means to do again, right?
So rejoice means again, have joy in the Lord. And then it says always. And then it says, and again, I say rejoice for again, I say again, have joy. So I'm gonna say it like that. So you can really wrap your mind around what the Apostle Paul, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit is telling us to do.
He said, again, have joy in the Lord always. And again, I say again, have joy. Wow. I know you're being persecuted, but again, I say, again, have joy in the Lord. And again, I say again, have joy. Amen.
I know some of you are sick, but again, have joy in the Lord always. And again, I say again, have joy. I know I'm writing to you from prison, and I know you miss me, but again, I say, again, rejoice. Again, have joy in the Lord always.
And again, I say again, have joy. You say, Brother Myron, what's your point? Why do you keep saying this? Because I want us to understand that what the scripture is telling us to do here, as followers of Yeshua HaMashiach, Jesus to Christ, we are supposed to live in a state of perpetual joyfulness.
Joyfulness is our, it's our identity. Joyfulness is our ability. Joyfulness is our infusion of strength. And the scripture tells me that I'm supposed to live in a state of perpetual joyfulness. Why? Because only when I am living in a state of perpetual joyfulness do I have any strength at all.
How do I know that? Because the scripture tells me what? That the joy of the Lord is my what? Okay, so the joy of the Lord is my strength. So he's not just telling me, walk around and pretend that you're happy, even though things are going wrong.
First of all, when we say things are going wrong, when we say that things are going wrong, we're assuming we know what right is. And what we mean when we say things are going wrong, what we really mean is things are not going the way I would like them to go.
But that doesn't necessarily mean they're going wrong. Right? How many of y 'all know that sometimes, okay, I've talked about this, that Samuel anointed David, where? In the presence of his brethren. Why does it tell us that?
Because when the anointing came, when God sent the prophet to anoint someone, that anointing was an announcement. It was an announcement. It was a pronouncement from God. This is this person's purpose.
And he was revealing that person's purpose to them and to the people around them. Right? So, when God sent Samuel to anoint David, we know that the anointing was for an appointing. Right? The anointing was for what?
An appointing. Talk to me, church, was for an appointing. So, in our human brains, sometimes, we are so kindergarten-esque in our brain, right? Because we think that because the anointing is for the appointing, as soon as I receive the anointing, that must mean I'm ready for my appointing.
And here's what God said. Not so fast. Because God has ordained that there is a season between the season of anointing and the season of appointing. That's called the season of disappointment. That's where Saul, King Saul, chased David for probably 13 years before David ever sat on the throne.
Why has God ordained that for all of us, we've got to go through disappointment before we have our appointing? Because the disappointing is where God prepares us for what he has prepared for us. See, the disappointing is where God gets us ready for what he already has ready for us.
The disappointing is the place where God makes us strong enough to stay there when we get there. You know, I can only think of one person, I'm not saying there's only one person, but I can only think of one person in scripture who went straight from anointing to appointing with no disappointment in the middle.
You know who I'm talking about, don't you? King Saul. Remember King Saul? He got appointed, he got anointed, next thing you know, he's sitting on the throne. What happens next? Next thing you know, God rejects him, why?
Because he didn't go through a season of disappointing to make him strong enough to stay there when he got there. So here's what we've got to learn how to do. We've got to learn how to apply, everybody say apply.
We've got to learn how to apply James chapter one, don't we? What's James chapter one? My brethren, count it all well. Joy, when? When you fall into diverse temptation. He didn't say if you fall into diverse temptation, you know why?
Because he said when, because it's coming. It's either here, it's been here, or it's on its way. You can count on it. And then the reason God set it up that way is because when you go through that season of disappointing, that's where you get to practice rejoicing in the Lord all the way, and again, I say rejoice.
Not happiness, I'm talking about joyfulness. I love what my brother Mike says. My brother Mike was a pastor in Pennsylvania. He says, see, God never tells us to be happy. He said happiness is based on happenings.
But see, joyfulness is based on your position. The joy of the Lord is my strength. See, see, well, I'm gonna get to it. So the next, so it says rejoice in the Lord all the way, and again, I say rejoice.
So again, have joy in the Lord all the way, and again, I say again, have joy. Like, like, I'm gonna make this statement. When we are not in my life, my life has to bear witness of my words. A testimony is not just the things we say with our mouth.
They're backed up by the things we live in our lives. And when the things that we say are not backed up by the life that we live, we're called what? We are a non, what? Non-credible witness, right? See, just because somebody jumps on the witness stand in trial doesn't mean that their testimony is gonna be taken seriously.
If they've perjured themselves in the past, if they've lied on their oath in the past, if they've lied on the stand in the past, if they've not demonstrated that they are a person of character, then they are not a credible witness.
See, when I'm not operating in joyfulness, I am not a credible written witness of Christ. My joyfulness is what, is what, is what, Christ, my joyfulness in all things. Okay, we're getting there. So, so, cause he's not just, he's like, one of the things I love about the word of God, God never gives us a command without giving us the capacity to fulfill the command.
He never gives us an assignment without giving us the ability to fulfill the assignment. He never tells me to do something without me having the ability to do the thing he told me to do. So if he tells me to do it, I can automatically know I can do it because he told me to do it.
Cause he, God's not in the habit of frustrating his children. He doesn't tell us to do things we can't do. How do I know this? Well, over in Philippians chapter two, verse 13, what does it say? For it is God that worketh where?
In you. Both to what? Will, that's the desire, and to do, that's the power of his good pleasure. God's the one that gives me the desire and the power to please him. So he's not telling me to do something he's not empowered me to do.
Okay, next verse, verse five. Then it says, let your moderation be known unto all men for the Lord is at hand. Now that what moderation means, it means appropriateness, self-control, let it be known unto all men.
I was so confused. Like, this is one of those passages we memorize in ACE school when I was a teenager. And when I memorized it, I said, what does self-control have to do with joy? What is, what is, what is, I don't get it.
Well, it says, all you gotta do is keep reading, right? It says, it says, it says, let your moderation be known unto who? All men. Do you understand that I'm supposed to let other people see my appropriate, gentle, self-control?
How do I do that? Well, it says, let it be known unto all men for the Lord is at hand. This is so good. How do you do that? Let joy be known unto all men? By reminding yourself, potentially, you have to be welcoming.
You're appropriateness. You use your moderation. The Lord is at hand. At hand. Where's at hand? Right here. Why do I use my self-control to remind myself that the Lord is present? Because in his presence is?
Finish, jerk. Joy. Was able to, rather than to enjoy the pleasure of sin, for as easy as you are, see him who is invisible. You understand, every time, every time you face those, you're like, you know what I mean?
You are aware of something other than Jesus. I just said, some of you people have faces so long you can throw it out the window and use it for a fire escape, and so on. You ain't thinking about Jesus.
Because when you're thinking about Jesus, Jesus, like when you're aware of his presence, he's present. The Lord is at hand. He's present. He's right here with me. Hey, do you remember some young fellows that were, they were eunuchs, they were slaves, and they were on a flag called Babylon, and the king said, everybody bow down when you hear the news.
And thousands and tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of people bowed with their faces to the false idol, and in the sea of humanity, that is prostrated on the floor, bowing down to a false god, three people were standing up.
You understand me? They were more aware of the presence of the Lord than they were of the presence of the king. That the expression on our face, all it's doing is proclaiming our awareness. Not doing anything.
Anything else. Lord, hear me. That way, that means when David's in the presence of Goliath, and Goliath, everybody else is running from Goliath, because they're more aware of Goliath than they are of the presence of the Lord, David can run at Goliath, toward Goliath, because David's more aware of the presence of the Lord.
David. Lord, I wanna say a word to you. Because the Lord, the Lord's looking, David's like, shh. I'm gonna feed your carcass this day to the birds in the air. I'm gonna take your head for you. Like, what are you thinking about?
Stop letting the news control your thoughts. You gotta stop letting movies, and other people, and people that don't like you, at the end, you gotta stop letting them control your thoughts. You gotta make sure that you use your discipline to remind yourself of the Lord's hand.
Did you say you fired? I did. But the Lord heard it too, because he's in the air. What'd you sign? He's in the air. The doctor's like, did you hear what I just told you, that bad news? He said, what's that?
You're with the Lord in the air. In your mind, you're in a great position. In my mind, he's in a great position. Do your thing. I'm more aware of the presence of the Lord than I am of the presence of anyone or anything.
Why? Because that's where the joy, that's how we can be professionally joyful. If I am not aware of the presence of the Lord, I have no ability to be professionally joyful. If I'm not professionally aware of the presence of the Lord, I don't have the ability to be anything but professionally joyful because in his presence, his fullness of joy.
There's so much joy in the presence of Christ, I can't help myself but be joyful. What duties can we do without a clue? If they don't do this, figure it out on the way. I didn't say that. What's the next verse say?
It says, and be careful for nothing. It's one of my favorite passages of Scripture. Be careful for nothing. That word careful there, isn't careful like if you're walking on an edge and a cliff, you're careful.
The word careful there is have anxiety. Don't have anxiety over anything. There's so many places in the Scripture that tell us not to have anxiety because anxiety is the thief of everything that's good that God has for you.
The enemy knows he can't take it from you but he can get you to reject it by giving you anxiety by making you more aware of the presence of somebody else before you. Be careful for nothing. What's with that word nothing?
Oh my God, nothing. But the doctor said nothing. There's nothing. That could be the name of this message. There's nothing to worry about. I mean, there's just nothing to worry about. What do you mean?
The Bible says have anxiety over nothing. Let me give you, I'm going to give you a definition of anxiety. Well, I'm going to tell you what anxiety causes you to do. Then I'm going to give you the definition of anxiety.
So, so anxiety, this is the, this is the definition of anxiety. Anxiety is wasting present energy on a future outcome that's undesirable. I'm going to say it again. Anxiety is wasting present energy on a future outcome that's undesirable.
Do you know, did you ever notice nobody, anxiety and worry are the same thing. Nobody ever worries about the past. Even if people think they're worried about the past, they're not really worried about the past.
They're worried about how the past is going to affect their future.
Nobody worries about what's happened, why it's already happened. So you don't need to waste it. You get it? You don't need to waste it on that. I thought it was going to be a disaster but it turned out it wasn't that bad after all.
Oh, I'm so glad he gave us the word.
Are y 'all picking up what I'm putting down? Hey, hey, hey, the Bible says be careful for nothing. That means we ain't supposed to worry about our finance. We ain't supposed to worry about our health.
We're not supposed to worry about our family. We're not supposed to worry about anything. Jesus said it in Matthew chapter six, same thing, didn't he? Jesus said, take no thought for tomorrow. That word take no thought is the exact same words, be careful for nothing.
Same words, same words. Be careful for nothing. Take no thought for tomorrow. Don't worry about tomorrow. Why did he say don't worry about yesterday? Hey, don't worry about tomorrow. Because Jesus knew to only pick the time somebody worried about tomorrow.
Nobody's worried about right now. I'm just thinking right now might not be that good. Right now is just right now. It is what it is. Jesus said don't waste today's energy worrying about tomorrow's problems.
In fact, as we said, take no thought for tomorrow for tomorrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day of the evil error. Don't waste today's energy worrying about tomorrow's problem.
Use today's energy to solve today's problem because when tomorrow gets here it's gonna have some brand new problems all on its own. So Jesus, here's what Paul said. Paul said, be joyful. Be willful. Willfully what?
Willfully aware of the presence of the Lord. Then he said don't be careful. Be prayerful. That's what he said. He said, you know, prayer is probably another one of those really misunderstood. So he said be careful of nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving.
So anxiety. Here's what anxiety does to us. If I have anxiety, how many of y 'all have ever seen somebody have an anxiety attack? You don't have to say it, it's all in the mirror now. I just have the iPod with me and it says way too much information.
Okay, so what happens when a person has an anxiety attack, right? Their heart starts pumping. Their heart starts beating really fast, right? They get shallow in their breathing. And guess what? They're not even doing anything.
They're just sitting down. How do I know they're sitting down? Because they're wasting so much energy and they don't have the strength to do anything but sit down. You're like a car. Like a car with a 500 horsepower engine sitting in the driveway in park.
Vroom, rev, full blow. Vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom. Going nowhere. What's gonna happen if you do that long enough? You're gonna blow the engine. People have heart attacks, worried about stuff.
What are you gonna have to do anyway? Let me ask you a question. Is God in control or not? Yes, he is. How much of it is he in control of? All of it. Okay, so I'm gonna tell you, like a good friend told me, when his daughter went off to college, he was all worried about her and stuff.
He's a pastor of his day. He's all worried about her. He said one of the deacons came to him, he said, Pastor, I'm not even worried about your daughter. He's gonna be up all night anyway. She might wanna look at you.
Wasting all this energy. We can see so clearly the thing that we don't desire to have. We see it so clearly that in our mind, in our body, we're having a physical reaction to this thing we don't desire, as if it's already happened.
How many of y 'all know what I'm talking about? Give me a minute, somebody say amen out there. Let me know I'm in the right church. I'm in the right church. I'm in prayer. He said, be careful for not worrying anything about prayer and supplication.
He said, don't worry about anything in prayer at all. He said, why worry when you can pray? He's so faithful. You don't feel it. On my Wednesday morning Bible study, I'm teaching on truth versus tradition.
I love the word truth in Hebrew. The word truth in Hebrew is spelled aleph, men, pah. And aleph is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet. It's the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet. And it always represents God, because God is first, he's number one.
And it means strong one, right? So aleph is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Men is the middle letter. Pah is the last letter. And it's showing us that truth, you can't understand the truth about anything unless you can look at the beginning, the middle, and the end.
Then that's the only way you can know the truth. In fact, the word for falsehood is the word sheker. Now, the word sheker is really interesting, because the word sheker is shem ko-resh. And all of those letters are right beside each other in the Hebrew alphabet.
But in the word sheker, they are out of order. When you're looking at something from a really small perspective, and it's out of order, you can almost assuredly count on that thing being false. When you're looking at the beginning, the middle, and the end of everything, then you know the truth.
By the way, who's the only one who can know the beginning, the middle, and the end of everything? Who? God, why? Who did he say yesterday in the day of prayer? What's a moving picture to us is a snapshot of God.
The past is no different to God. It's all present in him. That's why he's the I am what I am, not the I was what I was, or the I will what I will. He's the I am what I am. Why? He's ever-present. We are in time.
Time is in God. I don't have to understand if you are, because I can trust him, because he is the God. He, God himself, calls himself the God who cannot lie. Why does he call himself the God who cannot lie?
Because the word truth, aleph, mem, tau, the letter aleph represents God, the letter mem represents might, the might of the ocean.
What's more mighty than the ocean? I can't think of a very good thing on Earth that's more mighty than the ocean, right? Might.
So God's might, or might, and then the last letter is tau, which stands for across or covenant. So the word truth and evil is God's might and covenant. What is that might and covenant? You know what a covenant is, right?
A covenant is two people entering into an agreement, and they swore by their own existence, they swore on their own life, to keep their word to the other person. So God is a God who keeps his word because he didn't.
He would have to die, and if he died, everything would cease to exist. So God is a God who cannot lie, because if he lied, then the whole universe would, like, explode.
Talk about a big day, okay? Hey, I'll get that on tape.
So what I'm saying is we don't have anything to worry about. Why? Because God who cannot lie has already promised us he's got us. He's saying the same thing to us in 2018 that he said to Abram in Genesis chapter 15, verse one.
It says, the word of the Lord came unto Abram, saying, fear not, Abram, I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward. He said, I'm your protection, your shield, your exceeding great reward, I am your provision.
You have nothing to worry about, and we are provided for. Don't worry about anything, pray for, don't be careful, be prayerful. He said, with thanks, he said, but in everything with prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, he said, be thankful.
I'm gonna tell you something. He says, in the last days, that one of the characteristics of the end times is that people will be unthankful. Yeah, I get it, there's gonna be wars and wars and wars and all that stuff, but unthankful?
Unthankful. See, when you're thankful, that means you realize that everything that you have is what? It's a gift. If it was a gift, I don't have it because I'm so awesome. So awesome. In fact, I'm thinking about giving myself the awesomeness of the year award.
No, no. I got a call from my beautiful daughter. You know, when you have children, how many of y 'all know when you have children, you and your children are not always on the same page? Hey, I'm gonna tell you something.
Sometimes when you have children, you and your children ain't always in the same book. Me and John were just sitting here talking about how awesome. I said, what brought that about? She said, I don't know, I was just thinking about it, you know, I got this and I got that and I got this and I got this just because I'm so awesome.
She said, you know, people live in love. This is what she said, my daughter said, people live in love, people live in love. She said, people live in love. And she said, I have all these great things in my life, all these blessings in my life because of you.
And I just wanted to call and say, you're awesome. She said, if you're like me, you think I have all this awesome stuff in my life because I'm so awesome, but I really have it because of your source. I'm gonna tell you something.
We all really need to sit down and just give God a dollar and say, Lord, I just wanna come to you and thank you because I realize all this awesome stuff I have going on in my life, it's all because of you.
I could be a lava lamp and think it's just, well, you know, I just work really hard.
And I study really hard and I can manage my opportunities. And, you know, I'm just a man. Sounds good, but it just ain't true.
Everything, the scripture says it's clear. What do you have, what do you have that you did not receive? I just throw them, I just throw them at you. You need that strength. You can kind of do that in a library.
If you have eyes that can see, do you understand there are people in this town from Port Stanton, Port Stanton, Port Stanton, Port Stanton, that have their people in this town with their eyes can't see.
Did you make their eyes see today? Have you ever made your eyes see? People have ears made weird, hands can't function, legs can't walk. What do you have to try to give? Everything you have is here. We all need to walk, every step, thank you, oh, thank you.
Oh, thank you, oh, thank you, oh, thank you, oh, thank you. That's really, realize that it's all a gift. Reading a book one time, and this guy said, well, I was with this really rich fella, and we were walking through the parking lot, and he got down on the ground, and he had a pen.
He looked at it, smiled, he looked at the pen, he's got business, he's got money coming. I mean, he don't even, he's worried about money ever. He said, son, I don't want to ever miss out on the opportunity.
Purpose of prayer, we think the purpose of prayer is what? To get his will out of the book. Okay, well, I'll do one of these, two of those,.
Three of green, one of blue. I need mine next Thursday now, and not the next Thursday, but day after. Be careful, remember, when everything in our prayer is supplicational, it's thanksgiving. I don't think that means it's supposed to be.
The answer is no. Do you thank God when you have that desire, but it's so much, and you can feel it, and you desire it so much that it's like, oh, it's almost there. He said, the answer is, you're not ready for that.
Be careful, don't be careful, be prayerful, be thankful, and then he says, and the peace of God, which passes all understanding, here's what he said. He said, you can be peaceful, even when you don't understand, you can be at peace.
You know what this is showing us? This is showing us what the manifestation of the kingdom of God looks like in our lives. What does the Bible tell us in Romans that the kingdom of God is? The kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but it's what?
It's righteousness. What else? It's peace, and it's what? Joy in the Holy Ghost. See, when we are walking around in joyfulness, all we are doing is we are demonstrating that the kingdom of God is coming to our lives.
We have recognized that God is the king of my life, and he's the king of everything that's going on in my life. I got no worries, like I don't have a worry in the world. Now, Satan wants me to believe that I have a worry in the world.
Satan's a master at distracting our attention and getting us to shift our focus and to look in the wrong direction, right? Y 'all do know that magicians don't really do magic, right? Right, so magicians, like somebody does a magic trick, you do know that it's not really magic.
What's it called? It's called sleight of hand. They get you to look over there and they do something over here. Get you looking at this hand, they do something with this hand, right? That's Satan, Satan got Adam and Eve focused on the wrong thing.
He got them looking in the wrong direction because Satan knows when you change what you see, it changes what you say. Okay, I'm gonna stay on track. I am on track, y 'all, trust me. It may not seem like it, but I really am, okay.
Don't be careful, be prayerful, and be thankful, and you will be peaceful. The peace of God, which passeth all understanding. You'll have peace even when you can't understand. You'll have pain, but guess what?
You'll have peace in the pain. You'll have problems, but you'll have peace in the problems. You'll have peril, but you'll have peace in the peril. Paul said, I'm in prison, but I have peace in prison.
Y 'all are being persecuted, but you can have peace in your persecution. How do you do it? Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I say, again, have joy in the Lord always. And again, I say, again, have joy.
How? By reminding yourself that the Lord is at hand. And don't worry about anything, but pray about everything. With thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God and the peace of God, which passeth.
It's greater than understanding. It'll guard your hearts and your minds by Christ Jesus. So good. Do you understand? If you don't know Christ, this is not even possible for you. We have the ability as followers of Christ to live in a state of perpetual joyfulness.
People who don't know Christ can't do it, and we either do know Christ or don't do it. Okay, I'm gonna keep reading. Verse eight, this is so good. Then he says, be mindful. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things.
He's telling us. Now, he's already told us. He's already told us. And then he said, finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are lovely. See, here's what the apostle Paul understood thousands of years ago that we don't understand today.
That when you get a fact in your head, that fact in your head will always send a feeling to your heart. And that feeling in your heart will always produce a function in your hand. People, I don't understand why I do it.
What, the reason you do it is because you felt like it. We do the things we feel like doing. Now, the question we have to ask is, what makes me feel like doing the things I do? What are the things I think?
How do I know this is what the Bible teaches? Well, because Paul said, you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which we delivered you. Obey, that's the function in the hand. Where from the heart, that's the feeling in our heart, that form of doctrine which was delivered you, that's in the head.
So it goes from the head to the heart to the hand. It's a fact, it's a feeling, it's a function. Are y 'all picking up what I'm putting down? Paul said, he's talking about the very same thing. He said, I want you thinking right.
He said, if you'll think right, you'll feel right. If you'll feel right, you'll do right. He said, finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest. So true, honest, just, and pure.
Now, I want you to notice, true, honest, just, and pure, those are character words, right? It's talking about your character, it's talking about doing the right thing. True, honest, just, how much emotion is in that?
None yet, right? True, honest, just, I mean, true, honest, just, and pure. And then he says, and then whatsoever things are lovely, and whatsoever things are of good report. Then he named the aesthetics last.
Let me tell you something. One of the, we have all these churches, a lot of times people are, we have all these churches, and they're really big churches. We think that big is great. Big can be great, it doesn't necessarily mean bad, but it doesn't necessarily mean good either.
Sometimes churches are big because they're better at doing marketing than they are at teaching truth. I preach the word. I preach the word. I preach the word. It's my word. You don't listen to people.
You only lie to me. I'm gonna lie to you, I'm gonna lie to you, I'm gonna lie to you, I'm gonna lie to you. You're gonna hurt me. I'm gonna lie to you, I'm gonna lie to you. I don't feel good, son. We start with the lovely and the good report.
We start with what's over here. You know what's really interesting? Over in James, it says the wisdom is from above, is what? First, pure, then peace. The pure, see, we believe, well, we have to make everybody feel good first, and then we make them feel good, and we give in, and then we start coming in and teaching the Bible.
This is the Bible. God said, look, we're gonna come across first through a head of peace. Purity is more important than peacefulness. I didn't write the Bible. I just didn't erase it. It was already in there.
All I'm saying is we need to get back to God's word. So what's our, you know, every morning I think about, I want you to think about things that are, I want you to think about things that are true. I want you to think about things that are honest.
I want you to think about things that are pure. I want you to think about things that are just. Then I want you to think about things that are lovely and things that are good report. Things that are pretty, nice to look at.
There are things that sound good, that are good and important. Let's start out with what's true, with honesty, with purity. Because in God's economy, full function, being a character, is more important than form in beauty and aesthetics.
I'm not saying aesthetics aren't important. They are. But when you think on it, you always want to remember to think on it. Okay. So then we get down to verse number nine. And then Paul starts talking about how, okay, I'm not just telling you to do this.
This is stuff you've seen me do. This is stuff you've heard me do. You've watched me live this. So you know I'm not just, I'm not just preaching. Paul's saying, I'm not just preaching a sermon. Look what it says.
Those things which you have both learned and received and heard and seen in me do. Paul's saying, don't just do like I say, do like I do. He said, you can watch, you don't just, don't, hey, don't just live the sermon you hear me preach.
Live the sermon you watch me preach. Seen in me do. Where was I? Verse nine. And the God of peace be with you. He said, but I rejoice greatly now that in the last, your care of me hath flourished again, wherein you were also careful, but lacked opportunity.
By the way, that word careful is not the same word careful that was in verse six. This word careful means you were just attentive. It means that you were aware of the stuff I was going through. And because you were aware, he said, in these last days, man, you've been taking good care of me when nobody else gave anything to me, you gave to me.
I'm in prison. You made sure that while I was in prison, I had a blanket. You made sure while I was in prison, I had a coat. You came, you took care of me while I'm in prison. By the way, he said, I'm not saying that because I want to receive something from you.
That's what he said in verse 11. Not that I speak in respect of want. In other words, not because I'm, I'm not telling you this because I'm lacking something and I want you to give it to me like these preachers today that are selling blessings for $58 at a pop.
Tell you what, you just send me $60 and I'm going to send you a blessing of anointing oil and a prayer cloth. And God's going to bless you with a 58 fold blessing. Beware of preachers that have blessings for sale.
Okay, anyway, just thought I'd throw that out there as an aside. Okay. He said, he said, I rejoice in the Lord greatly that now at the last, your care of me have flourished again. In other words, you're taking care of me again when you were also careful.
In other words, you wanted to do it in times past but you lacked opportunity, but now you have the opportunity. He said, not that I speak in respect of want. I'm not saying this because I want you to send me something.
Another verse people take out of passage, out of context. Not that I speak in respect of want for I have learned whatsoever state I'm in there with to be content. Paul said, if I got something, I'm content.
If I have nothing, I'm content. People, people try to use this verse to justify being lazy, right? Well, I don't really care that much about blah, blah, blah because I've learned over. No, don't take the passage out of context.
Paul said, in the next verse, he said, I know both how to be abased and how to abound. He said, I know how to do with little, I know how to do with a lot. So if all you've done is with a little, then you don't know how, you don't know, you ain't been in enough states to know if you can be content in all of them or not.
If you only have a lot, you only, you haven't been in enough states. Paul said, I know whatsoever state. If I have a lot, I'm content. If I have a little, I'm content. Why is he content? Because he's content in the presence of Christ.
So I know both how to be abased and how to abound. Everywhere and in all things, I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. And then he says, I can do all things through Christ with strength of me.
Do you see how he built up to all, he's like, you gotta build up to it. You gotta practice the presence of Christ. You gotta live in a state of perpetual joyfulness. You gotta be mindful. Don't be careful.
You can't be worrying. Can't be worrying about tomorrow. And to walk around talking about, I can do all things through Christ. No, no, no, no, no. Don't get it twisted. He said, I can do all things through Christ with strength of me.
Notwithstanding, you have well done that you have communicated with my affliction. Communicate means you've given to me when I've been in affliction. The last thing Paul's saying, he's saying be bountiful.
In other words, give. Like give. Like look for opportunities to give to somebody other. God does not have a desire for us to be consumed with ourselves. By the way, the other thing, besides the fact that we're not aware of Christ, when we, you know, we got our face on upside down, right?
Besides the fact we're not aware of Christ, we're not aware of anybody else. The only person we're aware of when we have, we're only aware of ourselves. What do we have to do? We have to be more aware of Christ and more aware of others.
The presence of Christ brings me joy and the serving of Christ, of God's people brings me fulfillment. If I'm not serving God's people, that's why I don't feel fulfilled. I mean, look at what it says down in verse 19.
I'm gonna jump down. Here's what it says down in verse 19. Verse 18 and 19. But I have all and abound. I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you and the odor of sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to God, but my God shall supply all your need according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus.
He said, if you will be bountiful, you will be plentiful. Here's what he said, and I'm done. I'm gonna wrap it up. Be joyful, happy, perpetual, be woeful, be prayerful. If you'll do that, you will be peaceful.
That's the promise. You'll do those things, you'll be peaceful. Be mindful. He said, if you'll be mindful, get down to verse 13, you can be powerful. I can do all things through Christ's strength in me.
And then if you will give, if you will look out for somebody other than yourself, you'll be a giver, not just a taker. He said, he that soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly. He that soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.
The Bible is so full. It is all connected. So from now on, when we get ready to quote the verse, I can do all things through Christ's strength in me, let's make sure we do it from a position of perpetual joyfulness, not from a position of worry, doubt, and anxiety.
Father, I thank you for your word. I thank you that it will do what you intended it for it to do in your church today. And we bless you for being the God who's in charge of everything. There's not a maverick molecule in this entire universe.
I don't have anything to worry about because you don't have anything to worry about. And we bless you for who you are and who we are in you. In the name of Christ, our savior, amen. Brother Dave.