Philippians 4:1-9 with Brother Josiah Shipley - THE PEACE OF GOD, THE GOD OF PEACE

We're gonna be in Philippians 4 guys you guys can go ahead and turn there we're gonna be in Philippians chapter 4.

I do want to go back to something that we normally do on Sunday nights we're meeting together. I don't know exactly how it'll work but normally on my

Sunday night class what we do is the last 10 minutes or so we save for questions.

They can be questions about what we talked about. They can be questions about any part of the Bible and I will do my best to answer them.

We get some oddball questions sometimes that's okay I like working with those. We had a good one from from Johnny last night during the

Q &A and I like doing that kind of stuff. So Char's gonna kind of be looking out for me in the comments but if you have a question that you want me to answer towards the end of class with 10 -15 minutes left

I'll stop wherever I'm at and we'll try to answer that question as best we can on the spot and if we can't for whatever reason then what

I normally do is I write it down and then next week when I come on I start by answering that question before we continue in the passage.

So again if you have a question put in the comments Char will be on the lookout for me and we'll either answer it at the end of the lesson tonight or at the beginning of the one next week time permitting okay.

So just keep that in mind especially if you guys are like me when someone's talking and preaching I often have questions come up in my mind and write them down put them in the comments at the end.

Alrighty well let's go ahead and get to reading guys Philippians chapter 4.

I don't think we're gonna get through the whole chapter tonight. Alright Philippians chapter 4

I'm gonna read 1 through 9 and then we'll talk about that. I'm only read 1 through 9 and we'll talk about that.

So here we go Philippians chapter 4 now remember those you already hear who wrote

Philippians put in the comments I'm ready I want to I want to interact with you guys a little bit I know it's a little bit of a delay who wrote the book of Philippians first one to put it wins normally it's either

Sadie's or Vicki I don't see Sadie's right now who wrote the book of Philippians someone put it on there.

Those of you just joining in we're in Philippians chapter 4 I need to know someone tell me who wrote the book of Philippians yes very good mr.

Mike okay Mike my wife got it so I'm gonna say she got it first sorry man yeah there we go

Paul wrote it okay and how many letters did Paul write how many letters did Paul write

New Testament has 27 books how many of them did Paul write you already knew I was gonna ask that question so someone go ahead and put it down how many did

Paul write no you don't win a haircut oh

I tell you what Mike if you tell me how many letters Paul right and you're the first one to say it I'm not gonna promise you a haircut cuz you probably don't want a haircut for me close close we're getting close a little less it's pretty good though no it was

Mike first it's okay I didn't agree to anything yeah Paul wrote 13 guys Paul wrote 13 letters

Philippians is one of his prison epistles okay it's one of the ones he wrote why he was in prison right Philippians Colossians Ephesians and Philemon okay that was a good guess so here we go we are on the last chapter of Philippians so far

Paul's talked a lot about unity a whole lot about unity and unity unity being in Christ as brother

Jeff talked about this morning he's talked a lot about who Jesus is and then at the name of Jesus on that day every single knee will bow and every tongue will swear allegiance and confess we talked about how that passage is a quote from the

Old Testament from Isaiah and that it says at the name of Yahweh every knee will bow and every tongue will confess conclusion of course was

Jesus was God Jesus is God we talked about the striding and straving and working out your own salvation we've talked a lot about sanctification both positional progressive and perfected so now we're here in the last chapter of Philippians and that's enough of all that time to read

Philippians 4 1 through 9 therefore my brothers whom I love and long for my joy and my crown stand firm thus in the

Lord my beloved I entreat you Odiah and I entreat Syntyche to agree in the Lord yes

I ask you also true companion help these women who have labored side by side with me in the gospel together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers whose names are in the book of life verse 4 rejoice in the

Lord always again I say rejoice let your reasonableness or gentleness be known to everyone the

Lord is at hand don't be anxious about anything but in everything through prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will keep and guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus verse 8 finding my brothers whatever is true whatever is honorable whatever is just whatever is pure whatever is lovely whatever is commendable there's any excellence and if there's anything worthy of praise think about these things what you have learned received heard and seen in me practice these things and the

God of peace will be with you amen all right guys let's go over those nine verses before we move forward

Paul starts Philippians 4 with saying therefore or so then no church when you see the word therefore always ask yourself what's the word therefore therefore why does it say so then because it wants you to keep in mind what was just said so you can know in context what's about to be said so when it says so then or therefore let's look at the very last part of chapter 3 so I'm gonna read chapter 3 because remember guys the

Bible is not original originally written in chapters and verses this is a letter we added the chapters and verses in later as reference points to help us find things right think about the book of Isaiah as long as it is if we didn't have chapters and verses we would never be able to find a certain passage we're looking for it's hard enough with chapters and verses those were put in to help us as reference guides much like when you see the line numbers on a poem right much like that so since this is a letter it's important for us to remember that Paul never intended it to be broken up where that's chapter 3 this is chapter 4 and they have nothing to do with each other so let's read the end of chapter 3 so we know the context of chapter 4 you with me so chapter 3 verse 20 but our citizenship for true believers our citizenship is in heaven where we await a

Savior of the Lord Jesus Christ notice our citizenship is in heaven even though we're in earth right now that's why

Peter calls us foreign residents it's amazing how Peter and Paul writing two different things to different groups of people and they come to the same conclusions almost like the same spirit was inspiring them both our citizenship is in heaven and we await a

Savior of the Lord Jesus Christ who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body it's like our conversation from last night by the power that enables him to subject all things to himself okay did you catch that since we serve a

God who can subject all things to himself and our citizenship is already in heaven even though we're not there yet our citizenship is already in heaven okay and we await our

Savior for that day for a final saving since you know that he can subject all things to himself we can according to verse 1 chapter 4 stand firm so therefore my brothers whom

I love and long for my joy in my crown stand firm thus in the Lord because our God has the power to subject all things to himself and he will on that day keep in mind guys we often sing praises and we should thinking about that day where at the name of Jesus every knee will bow and every time we'll confess for those who do not believe that will be an awful day he will subject all things to himself we can stand firm because that's the kind of God that we serve notice he says my brothers whom

I love and long for my joy in my crown my beloved even in prison

Paul's love for his believers what's giving him joy his love for Jesus and if you love

Jesus you're gonna love the children of God you're gonna love your brothers and sisters in Christ gives them joy even imprisoned verse 2

I entreat I beseech I beg you Odea and Syntyche I'm pronouncing those the best

I can guys so Paul is begging these two women to agree in the

Lord okay so here we have Paul correcting two women not overly harshly remember

Paul has the authority to command them to do right and Paul does that sometimes but instead much like in the book of Philemon Paul humbly and lovingly corrects these women to agree not with each other but to agree in the

Lord okay now this disagreement at the church at Philippi the congregation

Philippi must have been pretty severe because Paul from hundreds of miles away is writing a letter and names them by name okay now

Paul does this a few times in his letters sometimes he's vague about it he's like there's someone in your congregation that's doing this there's some but when

Paul calls you out by name you know it's serious enough to call his attention it's time for somebody to get right okay hey miss

Carrie so Paul calls these women out by name okay and from what we're about to read

I think it's pretty clear that within the church someone's already tried to correct these women and they weren't hearing it so this disagreement

Paul calls him out by name but he says I beg you I entreat you he doesn't humbly and lovingly to agree in the

Lord notice again and pastor Jeff did a great job of speaking about this this morning not agree with each other but agree in the

Lord now I know my little drawing is backwards because I have the selfie came on but here's what we got we have you and we have me we have two believers right here okay and the top part says

Jesus I know it's backwards it's not Greek it's just Jesus you and me now guys the answer to us being more unified is not for us to try to draw closer together that is not the answer the answer for us being more unified is as it says here to be unified in the

Lord to agree in the Lord if we both have one common goal like team sports like pastor

Jeff mentioned this morning we both have a common goal notice the more each individual draws near that goal the closer we come together you see that the more you and I both press on towards Jesus and strive for Jesus the closer you and I get together okay you see that we become more unified when we have a common goal a common prize a common a common end goal that we're both straining for that we're both striving for and the more we strain and strive for that common goal the closer we get together just like the triangle right so when

Paul tells these women to agree in the Lord he could have just said agree but that's not good enough for believers agree in the

Lord if you're both seeking making your attitude that of Christ Jesus Philippians 2 5 like we read a couple weeks ago if we're both trying to make our attitude if we're both trying to make our desires if we're both trying to make our lives pattern after Jesus Christ then we're gonna grow closer together remember and I said this before guys

I love I love my fellow believers I love my local congregation at win you know that's something

I don't have to pretend Josiah Shipley loves his fellow believers at his congregation and it's not and I said this last week it's not because we have a lot of things in common on an earthly standpoint okay like we've talked about before it's because we both have a common goal the thing that matters most in life we share in common we're all striving to that end not because we all said some prayer at some point when we were a kid but because every day we're all striving for the same thing that's what teamwork is right

Paul is telling these women to put aside their individual differences in their heart and both strive for God in doing so they'll come closer and closer together these women have worked side -by -side with Paul before along with Clement now

Clement is not mentioned anywhere else in the New Testament he is mentioned outside the Bible there is a

Clement who was a pastor the bishop the elder of the church in Rome later on in the first century we have a couple letters attributed to Clement don't know if that's the same

Clement it could be it very well could be but the point is these are believing women and they're acting a little silly these aren't lost they're acting a little silly we can act silly even after being saved can't we church and that's when we need somebody to come and correct us like Paul is doing here and notice it says in verse 3 yes

I ask you also true companion that word syzygous maybe actually someone's proper name some of your

Bibles might say true partner or loyal companion that may be someone's proper name his name his name translates as companion that may be his name but Paul is urging probably a leader in the church to help these women who have labored or strived side -by -side with me in the gospel together with Clement and the rest of my fellows workers whose names are in the book of life real quick on the book of life okay no not a silly

Disney or Pixar movie or whatever it is the book of life right now

John in Revelation speaks explicitly about the book of life Luke 10 mentions names recorded in heaven there is some allusions to the book of life you can study for yourself

Psalm 69 Daniel chapter 12 but it's not super explicit so someone may ask well how did

Paul know about the book of life clearly if John had written Revelation yet my answer is well he could have read

Psalm 69 and Daniel 12 and figured it out by then you know the allusions but quite honestly simply the reason real reason he knew it is because God because God wanted to reveal that to him and him included in here guys remember please how the

Bible was written okay 1st Peter chapter 1 verse 20 and 21 is one of the most helpful passages to think about how these guys wrote the

Bible now it's obvious when we read it they all have their own writing styles they have their own personalities but the

Bible says no prophecy has ever come from the will of man but men spoke as they were carried along by the

Holy Spirit you know what that means if it's in this book that God wanted to be in there so even the passages where Paul talks about someone bring me my favorite cloak and some parchment paper and whatever we read

God wanted in here for a purpose right verse 4 rejoice in the

Lord always again I say rejoice not what you think about this when we talk to people we repeat themselves a lot those who sit under my teaching know that I repeat myself a lot because repetition helps people remember things

Jesus repeated himself a lot truly truly I say unto you amen amen verily verily I he who has ears to hear let him hear again

I say he who has the ears to hear let him hear but when you're writing it's not often that you would repeat yourself because they can just reread it it's not like they missed it and didn't hear it think about how important the idea of rejoicing is for Paul I mean that's how

Paul started chapter 3 right finally my brothers rejoice in the Lord and then chapter 4 he's gonna say rejoice in the

Lord always again I say rejoice in chapter 4 verse 1 that we just read he says they're his joy and his crown seems like the word rejoice and rejoicing the

Lord is a big idea for Paul since we have this letter for Philippians it's only four chapters long and he wanted to repeat this so many times he must think it's pretty important now rejoice in the

Lord okay what does it mean to rejoice in the

Lord well we're gonna read more about that later in chapter 4 but basically it means in any and all circumstances to find your joy not in anything earthly but in Jesus set your mind on things above not on things below you know it's like in chapter 3 and all this stuff where Paul talks about being a prisoner for Lord in Ephesians where he says

I urge you to walk worthy of the calling right our joy is in the Lord because that's the only true satisfying joy there is that is the true satisfying joy and that's the only source of it everything else is fleeting okay the kingdom you know the little one verse parable in Matthew Mike actually talked to me about this before man finds a treasure in a field it goes and sells all he has to buy the field for that one treasure he found buried and he did it for the joy that lay before him

I want you to think about that the kingdom of heaven is like that that man sold all his earthly possessions and in exchange for all the things of the world the kingdom of heaven it was a good trade now of course that's not teaching you buy your way to heaven the point is that all earthly possessions on this planet as Paul has already mentioned before compared to the joy of knowing

Christ Jesus more and more every day is as filth as rubbish as dung as King James says all the treasures on the planet all the happiness joy the best job everything compared to knowing

Christ Jesus knowing him it's worth surpassing more than everything else the surpassing value of knowing him is worth all of that let me just read it so I don't so I don't uh misquote anymore chapter 3 and I'll read yeah let me read verse 7 8 9 this chapter 3 verse 7 8 9 whatever

I gain I've count as loss for the sake of Christ indeed I count everything as loss in view of the surpassing worth of knowing

Christ Jesus my Lord for his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that I may gain

Christ and be found in him not having a right just my own that comes from all the one that comes through faith in Christ the righteousness from God that depends on faith that I may my goal is to know him and the power of his resurrection guys the point is this we're back in chapter 4 the point is this guilty in the law join the

Lord amen Bill Paul says everything he's ever accomplished on this planet in view of knowing

Jesus more and more Paul in his old age knows the Bible if you will more than all of us combined says his goal is to know

Jesus more and more every day and knowing him more sir is worth more surpassing value of everything else infinitely more than everything else that's the kind of joy that you have in Jesus that he is worth the loss of all things cuz all this is fleeting rejoice on the

Lord always again I say rejoice this is the day this is the day the

Lord has made I will rejoice and be glad in it ever thought about that verse that Psalm 118 24 the part of that verse that kind of gets you this is the day the way it's worded tomorrow when you wake up guess what that's the day the

Lord's made it's time to rejoice to be glad in it and the next day when you have trouble at work that's the day the

Lord's made let us rejoice to be glad in it it's written in the present tense guys and the next day when that happens when something whatever trials come your way that's the day the

Lord has made let's rejoice and be glad in it this common repetition in James and Paul and Psalms of rejoicing in hard times is because we're shifting our focus on things above and not on things below and if our focus is on him though we'll experience trials and tribulations we can count it as all joy because it's worth it if we're obeying

Jesus let your reasonableness and your gentleness be known to everybody says the verse 5 let your reasonableness and gentleness be known to everybody okay guys here's a question apparently the dissension caused in this chapter by these women is through words right they're arguing is what it says but if the reasonableness and gentleness is gonna be known to everybody well words aren't gonna do it because they're not gonna get talked to everyone it's got to be through action right think about it the disagreement and the problem excuse me that these women have stirred up was through words but it's gonna take action to fix it they can't just say we agree in the

Lord people have to see it people have to see them agreeing in the Lord if their reasonableness and gentleness is gonna be seen and shown and evident to everyone who just looks at them we quote this verse every week guys

Matthew 544 let your light so shine among men that they can see your good works and glorify your father which is in heaven maybe words are the catalyst for this disagreement but action is required to mend it and restore it first John 318 little children we must not love in word or speech but in truth in action okay very good verse 6 and 7 here we go let's spend a little time on verse 6 and 7

I've got two pages of notes just on these two verses I need everybody including myself to hear what

God's words about to say to you if you don't hear another thing I want you to hear these two verses Philippians 4 6 & 7 do not be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication or petition with Thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus of course there are different types and anxiety or worry this type of anxiety and worry mentioned here is the type that keeps you from acting it keeps you from trusting in God so think about Matthew 6 don't worry

Matthew 6 33 and 34 seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and then all these things will be added to you don't worry don't be anxious about tomorrow for tomorrow worry about itself each day has enough trouble on its own so think about that logically for a minute the type of worry or anxiety that Paul is talking against here is the type that keeps you from acting on what's in front of your face

Matthew 6 34 like we just said don't be so anxious about tomorrow you're not worried about the trouble that's in front of you today sufficient today is the evil thereof or each day has enough trouble on its own so this type of anxiety or worry is the type that keeps you from acting and trusting in God here's an analogy

Deuteronomy 31 6 is one of many places in Scripture where it says fear not have courage fear not have courage now at first it sounds silly because there's no such things as there's no such thing as courage if there's not an aspect of fear right you can't be courageous if you're not at first afraid so what does the

Bible mean when it says fear not have courage it means even though you're don't afraid don't let that fear keep you from doing what you know you're supposed to do ie don't let that fear keep you from obeying having courage guys in God is not saying it's a sin if you have fear in your heart the sin the wrongdoing the messing up is when you allow that fear to keep you from obeying what you know you ought to do and the same thing here when it says don't be anxious it doesn't mean if you get stressed out you're sinning against God what it means is if you allow that stress worry anxiety whatever to keep you from obeying

God then that's what he's telling you to fix and how do we know that because it says right here be anxious for nothing but instead in everything through prayer and petition or prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving let your requests be named known unto

God it's not the wrong is not in worrying or or being anxious in and of itself but it's allowing that worry anxiety keep you from trusting in God now look again in everything

Church it says in everything just in the good times not just in the bad in everything with prayer and petition or prayer and supplication now

I want everyone to hear this I've never caught this until recently prayer and supplication prayer and petition what's the difference you see sometimes all of our prayers are really supplications or petitions all of our prayers really the second part that's when you ask

God for something right which is not wrong the Bible is commanding you to petition to ask

God right the Bible is commanding you to do that right here but I have a question for you is that the only time you pray to God is when you need something is your only type of prayer a petition is that the only time you pray see it says with prayer and supplication prayer and petition guys your prayers should not only be requesting a need no it is not wrong for you to pray for individual needs the

Bible tells you to right here that's not what I'm saying but if your only idea of prayer is asking

God for things I would encourage you to rethink your idea of prayer prayer and petition think about the

Lord's prayer Jesus's prayer right when you pray pray like this he starts our Father who is in heaven hallowed honored be your name notice where he starts his prayer

God you are way higher you are way more important you are way more worthy of honor and glory than us this is who

I am that's who you are there is a separation there is a holiness that you have that I don't there starts with a proper view of who you are in relation to who

God is right he's not a genie in a bottle that's right Richard so yes exactly

Mike exactly so Jesus starts with a proper view who God is in relation to who man is your kingdom come your will be done on earth where we are your will be done as it is in heaven right so guys the prayer starts off like that right and then it gets on to the petitions

I'm not trying to suggest you there is a certain order in your prayer that you must follow for God to hear your prayers

I'm not saying that at all right I am NOT saying that at all okay not every prayer is modeled exactly in that word order in the

Bible there's numerous examples my point is this sometimes God we need to praise

God for who he is not just for what he does for us yes we are to praise

God for the grace for the for the mercy for things he's given us we are to praise God for that the Psalms speak of that a lot but the

Psalms also speak of praising God for who he is God you are creator God you are holy

God your name is above every name praise him for who he is not just for what he has done what he has done and also for who he is if God gave you nothing you should still praise him for who he is because we don't deserve anything we don't deserve anything it's by his grace we receive anything at all every good and perfect gift is from above we thank him for who he is and what he's given us still in verse 6 but in everything by prayer and petition with Thanksgiving have you noticed the

Thanksgiving is already present before he's answered your prayer let me say that again the

Thanksgiving is already present before he's answered your prayer you're supposed to pray with Thanksgiving already in your heart interest courts with Thanksgiving in your heart

I'm sorry interest gates with Thanksgiving your heart into your courts with praise that sound like a song to you and we will say this is the day the

Lord has made Psalm 100 Psalm 118 so Psalm 100 is where we get that song from right we come into his gates with Thanksgiving already in our heart and enter his courts with praise we already had that Thanksgiving in our heart well if he hasn't answered our prayer then what am

I thankful for guys remember what we said about the proper view of who

God is in relation to who we are it's by the very mercy and grace of God that any person on this planet is breathing right now acts 17 says he gives life and breath to every creature at this moment guys real mercy is not you not going to hell when you die you deserve hell now

I deserve hell right now we all deserve hell right now it's by the very mercy of God that anyone on this planet is breathing right we're experiencing his grace now guys

I've said this every week but it bears repeating if your only idea of grace is a one -day idea at your conversion or God showed me grace one time if your testimony starts and ends with the day you got saved

God you need to rethink your testimony you need to rethink your testimony and I don't mean to offend anybody but listen to me for a minute if your testimony is about one day that happened 20 years ago and God hasn't done anything in your life in the past 20 years you may want to reconsider what happened 20 years ago cuz guys look

John said this is the testimony this right here what I'm writing to you right now is a testimony of what

God is doing in John's life as he's writing it's not just about what God did a long time ago right it's about what

God's doing in your life right now he's molding you he's sanctifying you right he is molding you into the image of his son we've used the analogy many times before and it was actually mentioned this morning by brother

Jeff we're all being knitted together in the body of Christ and each person has been made into whatever body parts of the

I can't say the year I don't need you and you know I've used the analogy of my MCL when I hurt my MCL in high school right

I'll briefly mention it again because of that one body part that was injured the rest of my body suffered guys as the body of Christ when you don't pull your weight the other members feel it right but I mentioned this in the comments this morning yeah we bear one another's burdens and we feel the effects when our other brothers and sisters are not pulling their load but if we're sin abounds grace abounds even more how much more do you think our brothers and sisters will feel the effects of our obedience and our sacrifice if they can feel the effects of our wrongdoing but we're sin abounds grace abounds even more how much more will they feel the effects right of our obedience of our conforming to the image of God we've gone over many examples like this before but just to the

Bible in Genesis 6 7 8 says there was one righteous man but eight people got on the boat you know why no

I because God blessed Noah and showed mercy to his family Rahab had faith remember

Rahab at Jericho had faith in Yahweh not the gods of the Canaanites or whatever and her whole family was saved because of her obedience right now was saved from the conquest

I mean of course so Thanksgiving is already in our heart a proper attitude of who

God is in relation to who we are okay but Josiah why would I make my requests known to an omniscient

God verse verse 6 says let your requests be made known unto God why am I gonna make my requests known unto

God because it's not for his knowledge silly you don't make your request known unto

God so that he's aware of them right the effects of making these requests known are for you what's the effects of making your requests known to God verse 7 the peace of God guys

Proverbs 3 5 & 6 trust in the Lord with all your heart lean not on your own understanding in all your ways acknowledge him he already knows what your ways are he already knows he already knows what will happen he he already knows the hairs on your head he knows from he declares things from the beginning he declares things that have not yet been seen he's already declared them right nothing on this planet happens outside the hands of our sovereign

God nothing our God has never been surprised and he never will be so why make our requests known to him for our benefit for our benefit and when you do that the peace of God comes into your life and you feel the peace of God when we acknowledge him what that means of Proverbs 3 5 & 6 is that you give credence that he's in charge and I'm not that he is

God and I'm not that his ways are higher than my ways that his words are far higher than my words right as the heavens are above the earth so we acknowledge that he is

God in every situation we acknowledge that he is sovereign in every situation in every situation in every situation that he is sovereign not us guys we have got to rid ourselves of the idea that okay

I'm gonna give God this I'm gonna give God this and I'm gonna let him see this but this is in my control guys you should have such a view of God that remember what we've talked about in James you shouldn't even say

I am gonna go to this town tomorrow and I am gonna do this and I'm gonna do this and I'm gonna make a profit

I'm gonna do this and I'm gonna just be you say if God allows if the Lord wills because he's in that much control and what better type of God to serve than a sovereign

God who in Matthew chapter 10 oh man are not two sparrows sold for one penny and not one of them falls to the ground ie dies without your father's will and the very hairs on your head are numbered therefore don't be afraid because you're worth more than many sparrows

I know it may seem awkward to some of you but I want to repeat that verse again this is in Matthew chapter 10

I believe 10 31 and 2 are not two sparrows sold for one penny and yet not one of them falls to the ground without your father's consent but the very hairs on your head are numbered therefore because you know that not a meaningless bird in anywhere on the planet falls to the ground or dies without God's without without God's notice and how much more for you you don't have to be afraid therefore because you're worth more than many sparrows you have been redeemed from the empty way of life not with gold or silver perishable things but with the precious blood of Jesus Christ God holds you in high value he gave his life to redeem a people for his own possession you're part of that people if you're a believer knowing that what type of father when a son asked for bread gives him a serpent or stone guys he hears our request and praying to him is not so he'll be aware of it the prayers of a righteous man do a lot of good right and we understand that but it doesn't change the character of God verse 7 here we go when you do that and make your request known to God and acknowledge him in all your ways in everything please don't miss the word everything in verse 6 not just when you're feeling down but in everything with prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving late request be known to God and then the peace of God which surpasses all understanding the peace of God that surpasses all understanding the human mind cannot comprehend the peace of God if you're a believer you know what

I speak of pastor been the other day in one of his timeouts in the morning and if you haven't seen those yet they're on YouTube Whitney ministry they're awesome they're real short and they get your day started right every day at 10

Monday through Saturday he spoke about Ephesians chapter 3 verse 20 I want to read that real quick Ephesians chapter 3 verse 20 it says this now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think or above and beyond all that we ask or think according to the power at work within us now once you think about this

God can do above and beyond all that you can ask or think about think about something

God can do the Bible says he can do far more abundantly than what you just thought of that's the kind of guy we said guys this is not just a book this is the

Bible this is the Word of God so when it says he can do far more abundantly than all you ask or think

I think it means he can do above far more abundantly than all you can ask or think of that God wants you to make your request known to him and when you do the peace of God why because you know the sovereign

God you sir the peace of God that surpasses all understanding all restlessness all things that keep you up at night surpasses all that will guard your heart and your mind your heart the seat of your emotions your inner core who you are and your mind your personality your brain right we'll keep and guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus to my unbelieving friends no not just atheist but anybody who has not submitted their lives to the

Lord Jesus Christ remember if he's not your Lord he's not your Savior to to any unbeliever out there

I tell you this guys and I say this in love we heard it this morning speak the truth in love if I love someone

I'm gonna tell him the truth it says will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus you will never experience unbeliever if you're not in Christ Jesus the level of peace described here outside of the

Lord Jesus Christ you can't do it those of you that remember your life before conversion know what

I speak of you will never experience real true lasting eternal peace outside of Lord Jesus and I don't mean to say that when you get saved you're never going to experience trials and tribulations the

Bible says you will the Bible says and you know Jesus said to his disciples I've told you these things

John 16 33 so that in me you can have peace I have a tattoo of this verse in this world you will have tribulation but be of good cheer

I've overcome the world that peace that's watching over you protecting you guarding you it's guarding the hearts and minds it's protecting the hearts and minds of those that are in Christ Jesus well how are you in Christ Jesus the sovereign work of God guys how are you saved by faith not by works believe on the name of the

Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved for whosoever calls on the name of Lord shall be saved what does that mean real simple have an understanding what the word

Lord means he's master what was mentioned this morning a prisoner of Christ Jesus he's master he's

Lord you were a slave to sin now you're a slave to Jesus but this slavery is freedom for the first time in your life you serve your

Lord who has set you free John chapter 8 speaks to this we're gonna get into this in just a second but John chapter 8 says those who the

Son has set free are free indeed no Hillsong and whoever else didn't come up with that it's from John chapter 8 we're gonna get in that in just a minute

Titus 3 5 he saved us not by works of righteousness that we have done but according to his mercy to the washing and regeneration of the

Holy Spirit very good brother Richard hey Matt guys this piece the reason that we can smile in whatever may pass and whatever lies before us it's because we know the

God we serve if you don't know that peace please

I beg you hear me submit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ obey him and you will know a piece that you have never experienced before ever and the more questions you have about that I urge you to go to his word reach out to us if you have questions go to the inbox go to messenger don't go another day don't go another day without submitting to a

Lordship of Jesus Christ verse 8 hmm okay we have 10 minutes left and I don't mind continuing but but first off let me stop here let's try this for a minute does anyone have any questions even hey

Rhoda and Rhoda's here even if they're not doing with Philippians 4 if anyone has any questions this is normally when we're together when

I stop and I answer any questions anyone may have or I thought of and I mentioned this at the beginning

I want to get back to doing this on here it'll be a little tougher but if anyone has any questions this is normal where we stop and answer those put them in the comments and we'll answer those as we continue or we'll even stop and answer those so put them in the comments

I'll try to see him Char be on the lookout for those if anyone has any even if it has nothing to do with Philippians 4 guys

I don't care I'm here to help look I am here to help okay I am no master

I'm just a beggar showing another beggar where to find the bread but if you have any question you want to answer we got 10 minutes left put in the comments and I'll try to answer it okay so I'll be looking at those as we continue and I have no problem stopping this and answering that question because we can continue this later

I want to read verse 8 to you are the women mentioned oh here's a question are the women mentioned in verse 2 mentioned anywhere else no these women are only mentioned here all it says is that they've worked side -by -side with Paul so they have met

Paul in the flesh before but no these two women are not mentioned anywhere else so again guys we have 10 minutes

I don't mind continuing but this is normally in my class my class in our class

Sunday night forgive me our Sunday night Bible query these last 10 minutes normally where we open up for questions does not matter the question even it has nothing to do with Philippians 4 so if you have one put in the comments now and we'll try to answer it with the time we have remaining

I'll read verse 8 while I wait for anyone the type of question verse 8 says this finally brothers it's like the second or third time

Paul has said finally he's like a Baptist pastor finally three more points later finally brethren whatever is true whatever is honorable whatever is just whatever is pure whatever is lovely whatever is commendable there's any excellence and there's anything worthy of praise think about or dwell on these things verse 9 what you have learned have received have heard and seen in me practice these things and the

God of peace will be with you we'll get to that part more next week but notice the peace of God is given to you in verse 7 and the

God of peace will be with you it's not just his peace but the God who is over peace will be with you we'll get to more than that in a minute okay

I'm not seeing any more questions so I don't mind continuing word by word in verse 8 but stop me guys again this is normally where I do it stop me if you have any questions about anything even if it's in a whole different book

I don't care okay spiritual gifts I may have missed the context

I'm not sure what you mean there but yes okay finally brothers whatever's true all right let me just stick on that word for me because there's a whole list here you know true pure a lovely commendable if anything excellent praiseworthy think about these things okay whatever's true you know what does it mean when it says in Philippians 4 8 whatever is true what is truth well it's funny

Bible answer man I am NOT Bible answer man don't do that to me I just like answering people's questions it's funny when you ask what is truth that was asked of Jesus a lot in the

Gospel of John in John chapter 18 pilot you can go read this for yourself write it down if you need to and John chapter 18 pilot asked

Jesus point -blank what is truth and then he walks out doesn't wait to hear the answer makes me wonder pilot already knew the answer because Jesus had already said it before but pilot and John 18 asked

Jesus point -blank what is truth and then he walks out and goes back to the crowds well in John chapter 8 the believing

Jews not the Jews that ignored him but the believing Jews asked

Jesus what is truth I'm gonna read that passage for you I'm not seeing any questions right now

John chapter 8 read this for just a minute

John chapter 8 I'm gonna start in verse 31 so Jesus said to the

Jews who had believed him these are believers if you abide my word you are truly my disciples and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free okay now anyone who's used this to show their children or whatever that you're not supposed to lie well that's true but this verse goes way far beyond telling the truth with your words and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free verse 33 and they answered him we're the offspring of Abraham we've never been slaved to anybody yeah okay how can you say we'll become free

Jesus answered him truly true I say to you everyone who practice sin is a slave of sin the slave does not remain in the house forever the

Sun remains forever so if the Sun sets you free you will be free indeed okay so the people that believe the

Jews that believe will know the truth and by knowing the truth they will be set free well then he says if you know the

Sun you will be free who the Sun has set free it's free indeed he says even more plainly in John 14 verse 6

Thomas says Jesus show us the way and Jesus says I am the way

I am the truth I am the life no one comes to the father but by me no one comes to the father but through me

I am the way I am the truth see when pilot and John 18 asked Jesus what is the truth he asked the wrong question he should have said who is the truth because the answer is

Jesus Christ Romans 3 4 let God be true and everyone else be a liar I love that verse

Jesus is the truth God is the truth let God be true and everyone else be a liar I am the way

I am the truth Jesus says he told that to the Jews he told that to pilot that's who the truth is so whatever is true is whatever is of Jesus talked about truth and love this morning amen whatever is true is that which is of Jesus okay all right we're gonna stop there in verse 8 so we're gonna pick up in verse 8 next week if there's any more questions type them in guys we can try to answer a quick one

I love answering questions one of my favorite things to do okay we'll pick up there in verse 8 we might finish the chapter we've got a lot to do next week please read the rest of Philippians 4 starting in verse 8 to the end of the chapter it's not that much more and there's some familiar verses in here in particularly verse 13

I would ask you to read it with fresh eyes read it for what Paul has to say not how some people take out a verse out of context and want it to mean okay so we can have people who love

Philippians 4 13 but don't believe don't believe what it really teaches okay so read the rest of Philippians 4 in context let the

Holy Spirit speak to you and we'll go over that more next week are there any more questions that I need to answer or announcements or anything like that got a couple minutes if I remember right brother

Jeff is not on tonight this will be our last live post of the day any more questions so it's okay if I go a little over because I'm not gonna be bothering anyone so any more questions

Thank You brother Mike Thank You sure good that is correct finally

I said something right that's nice I know some of you joined late obviously you can go back and watch

Andrew our music minister normally post all the lessons on the

YouTube page normally by the next day edited and all that makes it look nice and all that stuff and the

YouTube page is Witten Media Ministry now for those you familiar with YouTube you know the more subscriptions we get the more things we can do with it so if you haven't yet make a

YouTube account and just subscribe to Witten Media Ministries you know

I like using YouTube you can change the playback speed to watch things a little faster if you're driving to work or whatever what's after Philippians Char ask what are we gonna do well

I think we'll be in Philippians next week maybe one more I don't know what's after Philippians I haven't decided I was asking to let you guys tell me what you want and we can look at it that way but I've got a couple things of mine maybe another

New Testament letter maybe an old who knows would the origin of the

Bible be a study for this class one day it's fascinating well

I'll tell you what depending on what you mean by the origin of the Bible I have no problem talking about that after Philippians we could talk about that if you guys wanted if you guys like Mike's idea like that comment and I'll know that people like you

Mike said with the origin of the Bible be a study for this class one day it's fascinating if you want to study that guys like that and I'll know or something else just put in the comments okay well if there's nothing else guys

I love you guys very much I really do those you who've been watching our question -answer sessions on Saturday nights keep putting questions in the message box and we try to get to as many as we can we've done we've done a couple already

I think they've been you know pretty good we've been of course still getting used to doing the things live we're not all fancy and used to this but guys look we're believers who study

God's Word and want to share what we know with other people that's what we want to do that's what we're about okay we're not fancy we're just genuine believers who love

God and love our fellow believers and we just want to share what we have found in God's Word with other people that's all we are

Witten is doing a lot of things with this we have Wow moment with Vicki and Mercedes on Thursdays we have pastor bands timeouts 10 o 'clock

Mondays through Saturdays Jeremiah's been doing roundtables he's our youth director on Wednesday nights and yeah

I mean of course pastor Jeff does his a lot of good stuff him histories with Andrew those are always pretty cool so yeah there we are with that guys

I love all you guys I'm gonna I'm gonna end in prayer okay that okay with you guys we're going to whether it is or not so God thank you for giving us forgive us where we fail

God we really do love you we want to love you and want to know you more

God I pray that everyone who hears this including myself I pray this prayer that our love will keep on growing and knowledge and every kind of discernment so we can improve the things that are superior and be pure and blameless in the day of Christ Jesus I want to hear well done thou good and faithful servant or we fail convict us of our sin lead us to repentance

God thank you for grace and mercy we pray for those who are sick we pray that this shut down this virus this pandemic and soon so we can be back together

God we love you and praise you in all things amen bye guys