Wednesday, November 2, 2022 PM

Sunnyside Baptist Church

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I told your dad I could just stand at the door let's go ahead and open up with some prayer father in heaven blessed be your name we thank you

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Lord for your loving -kindness your compassion your mercies Lord which are new every morning thank you

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Lord for the comfort that you bring in the deliverance that you bring Lord thank you for this text tonight Lord we pray that we would listen to you as we read it

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Lord and as we think on Christ Lord may your spirit open our eyes to help us to see and to live out your word tonight father please bless our pastor and please bless his family during this time please bring healing and peace to him it's in Christ's name that we pray amen so we're in the book of Philippians tonight it's one of the epistles of the

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Apostle Paul and he writes the Philippians very thankful for them he is confident that the

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Lord will complete the work that he has begun in them and he's also confident that the

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Lord will supply all of their needs according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus I think his main exhortation of the letter is found in chapter 1 verse 27 only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ he then and go it goes on to encourage them to be united in mind to have the same mind in Christ to not complain to avoid false teachers and to think heavenly thoughts as they are citizens of heaven and at chapter 4 near the end of his epistle he gives a set of instructions and inside that set of instructions we have our text for tonight verses 6 & 7 so let's go ahead and read that and think on this text

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Philippians 4 6 & 7 be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication 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 through Christ Jesus so the first thing we notice about our text is be anxious for nothing worry and anxiety is not a characteristic of the

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Christian faith it's not a part of our Christian walk but it's contrary to our walk it's not anything we should hold on to or give any space for our minds or our lives we should put it off and continue to put on Christ Matthew Henry had a really good quote because when we talk about be anxious for nothing when we consider that in the

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Christian life we kind of like ask ourselves well does that mean we'd be completely carefree and not really have any concern for anything is that what this phrase means and Matthew Henry had a great quote and bear with me here guys there is a care of diligence which is our duty and consists in a wise forecast and due concern but there is a care of diffidence and distrust which is our sin and folly which only perplexes and distracts the mind that's what

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Matthew Henry wrote and he brings up a good point in that there's a difference between godly concern and sinful worry and we think about Paul himself as he's writing to all these different churches in the

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New Testament times and he's seeing all these false teachers come into a bunch of these churches and he's not like I'm not gonna worry about it they'll be fine

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I'll just you know pray and trust the Lord but no he's he's concerned about them and he writes to them to address these concerns however we must not let our gaze and our focus be lost from Christ and upon the cares of this world around us and I think that's the line we cross when we go from godly concern into sinful worries when we take our focus and our eyes off of Christ and rather put them on the cares of this world around us and let that be our first and foremost thought so focusing on the cares of this life rather than on our

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Savior and Lord Jesus Christ so we saw Paul's concern for the churches that's godly concern we also have the story of Martha when

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Jesus comes to Martha's household and is enjoying time with Martha and with Mary and Mary sits at the feet of Christ and hears his word but then

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Martha is off serving and she comes to the Lord with her complaint speaking to speaking about her sister and why isn't she helping and Jesus's response is very interesting she he says to Martha Martha Martha you are troubled and worried about many things those many things seem to be not really sinful acts or anything of bad reputation but Martha lost her focus off of Christ and decided to put it on serving on the cares around her and so Jesus says that she was troubled and worried about many things so I think that's a great example of when we shift our focus off of Christ and rather put them on the cares of this world and that's our main focus and that leads into ungodly fear anxiety and worry and we see in Philippians be anxious for nothing the

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Apostle Paul is very good to give us lists a lot of times in his epistles and we can think about Galatians when he gives us the list of the works of the flesh and the list of the fruit of the

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Spirit and here he gives us a very complete and exhaustive list for believers to be worried about what things to be worried about for a believer things to be worried about it's a blank list the believer is not to be worried or not to be anxious about anything in life whether big or small we're to keep our focus on Christ and move forward focusing on him and it's

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Jesus and Jesus himself spoke on worry during his earthly ministry talked about don't worry about what you're going to eat what you're going to drink what you're going to wear he said look at the birds look at the flowers of the fields

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God takes care of them and God knows your needs he knows your needs better than you know them yourself he knows all of our needs more than we do so Jesus says don't worry about tomorrow rather seek first the kingdom of heaven seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness so he says

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Jesus says don't worry but rather have a kingdom focus and to have a kingdom focus we should have a focus on the

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King for where the King is there is the kingdom so Jesus Jesus our captain our

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Savior the author and finisher of our faith says do not worry and here we see it again by the hand through the ministry of the

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Holy Spirit by the hand of Paul so be anxious for nothing our

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Lord commands it and that's the direction we've been given and this text also in Philippians 4 says but in everything and that's a really huge contrast a really huge switch isn't it from don't be anxious about anything but in everything in every situation in every life happenstance you find yourself in with whatever you face in everything pray and the

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Apostle Paul gives us some aspects of prayer on how to pray when we're tempted to be worried or to be anxious about the life and the cares around us so he first says but in everything by prayer isn't that what we're talking about though isn't prayer prayer aren't we talking about that here well the word actually means to come before the

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Lord in prayer with worship and so to pray to the Lord with with worship when we're tempted to be anxious or to be worried worship our intended state as human beings created in the image of God how are we to best deliver lives in a state of worship to him and the

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Apostle Paul says when you're tempted to be anxious or worried about stuff rather come back to your intended state as a human being and worship that's what we were made for and I appreciate the quote by Martin Lloyd -Jones he says before you make your requests known unto

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God pray worship adore come into the presence of God and for the time being forget your problems focus on the

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Lord have a orientation toward the Lord toward God in your prayer not on the problems not on the cares around you at first speak to God about those things but have your focus be on the

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Lord and worship in prayer the Apostle Paul also says and supplication and I for the longest time never knew what that word meant so what is supplication mean well it's a earnest petition that you give to God for your heartfelt needs your heartfelt needs an earnest petition to God for your heartfelt needs it's being honest and transparent with the

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Lord and talking to him about what is on your mind what is tempting you to be anxious and to be worried to be honest with the

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Lord and transparent and we have an example in the Old Testament of that when Hannah the mother of Samuel is she's stricken by these fierce words of the other wife of her husband and she's provoked by this other wife and she goes to the

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Lord in prayer and she says Lord please give me a son her heartfelt need was expressed and she pours out her heart to the

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Lord pouring out the heart to the Lord there is supplication being honest and open with the

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Lord and letting him know what is your heartfelt needs at the moment what's on your mind what's troubling you he wants us to bring everything to him everything that's on our minds everything that might tempt us to be troubled or to be worried to bring it all to him and to give it to him to cast all of our cares upon him for he cares for us he cares for us another aspect of prayer the

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Apostle Paul talks about with Thanksgiving that's something we oftentimes neglect when we pray isn't it especially when we're tempted to be worried or anxious is we don't really stop and think about what the

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Lord has done we don't stop and counter blessings we don't stop and think about how the will still deliver us but it's good to continue to keep an orientation on God and to be thankful and to remember yeah the

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Lord helped me through those times the Lord has given me all these blessings and even though I'm faced with something that I'm tempted to be worried or anxious about I can be thankful to the

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Lord and count my blessings and I could remember the faithfulness of the Lord and how he's brought me through all all the days long so we can be thankful in our prayers and we can again this will help us keep an orientation to God and to keep our focus on him rather than on ourselves and our own problems so a couple of I guess encouragements to you guys is when you go to the

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Lord in prayer and you seek to enter into worship sometimes it can be difficult when you're tempted to be worried or anxious and so how exactly to you stir up your heart to worship well one thing that can help you is to pray

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God's Word back to him to use God's Word to stir up your heart to worship and some passages

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I really enjoy some that come to mind is Romans 11 verses 35 through 36 after the

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Apostle Paul is talking about the sovereignty of God and considering that in his writings he says in that passage for who has known the mind of the

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Lord or who has become his counselor or who has first given to him and it shall be repaid to him for of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be glory forever amen that passage is a great job of thinking on the majesty of God and how he's so big we can't comprehend his sovereignty who he is his character another passage

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I think about is is the very end of Job and we won't read all of that because it's a lengthy passage but it's a great one and that the

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Lord responds to some of Job's comments and he basically reveals himself to Job and talks about his greatness and his glory and remembering these passages and praying them back to the

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Lord can stir our hearts to worship and warm our heart to the affection of toward God affection toward God and we shouldn't use the

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Word of God and like a very strict ritualistic kind of formula like pray up the the

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Word of God and therefore get the blessings of God but we should rather use these relying upon the

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Holy Spirit to stir up to fan the flame of worship within us so that's something to help us as we seek to worship in prayer is to remember

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God's Word and pray it back to him when we go to the excuse me when we go to God with our supplication and we talk to him about everything that's on our minds we have to be careful and cautious that we don't enter into complaining to the

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Lord and that's one thing that the Apostle Paul went over with the Philippians in chapter 2 verse 14 he says do all things without complaining and disputing that you may become blameless and harmless children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation we should never complain as Christians and we should never complain to the

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Lord our God about what we are dealing with or what we're faced even though there might be hard situations that we might be tempted to be anxious or worried we should never complain to our

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God about the situations we find ourselves in it's it's good to be honest with the

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Lord and to pour out our heart to him but never to complain and to continue to be thankful to God with thanksgiving and to let your requests be made known to him to let your specific requests be made known to him and to give him again all of our cares to cast all of them upon him and every one of our requests every one of our requests that we have throughout our week to give those to God even though they might be very specific or very general give those requests unto the

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Lord and again he wants us to bring all this stuff to him as a loving father he wishes that we would come to him as his children and talk to him about everything that we go through in life and so we can offer up all of our requests to God so be anxious for nothing but in everything to pray with worship with supplication and with thanksgiving letting all of our requests be made known to God and now in verse 7 there's a blessed promise there's a blessed hope that God gives to his people when we're tempted to be anxious and to be worried but we choose rather to keep our focus on Christ and to pray

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God says that the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus and yes this is a blessed hope and the biblical sense of hope at least for the most part as far as I've seen it isn't like a wishful type of hope like I hope this is going to happen it might happen the best illustration

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I've ever heard of biblical hope is it's like a sunrise you you know it's going to happen the next day if I ask you will the

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Sun rise tomorrow yeah I I know it's going to happen now we as believers know that the

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Lord is coming back and even something like the next Sun rises not a hundred percent in his sovereignty and his his will but we know a hundred percent though that God's promises are sure even more so than the next

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Sunrise and we have the blessed hope the blessed promise that the peace of God which is supernatural which is divine which surpasses all human understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus it will guard it will garrison the inner man which is where anxiety and worry attacks isn't it it's not an outward struggle it's an inward struggle that comes to us and the peace of God seeks to enter into the inner man and to cast out worry cast out anxiety and then edge around the inner man protect it garrison around it so that worry and anxiety don't come back the peace of God that can keep a believer going in any situation however hard it is and the believers response it is well with my soul the peace of God which surpasses all understanding so Philippians 4 6 & 7 do not be anxious about anything but in everything pray with worship with supplication with Thanksgiving letting all of your requests be made known to unto

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God casting all of your cares upon him for he cares for you and God promises the peace of God will be with you throughout all of our days and we can let the peace of God rule in our hearts through Christ Jesus and now at this point