Prayer and Praise belong together

He calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, Rejoice with me,

for I have found my sheep which was lost.

I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner

who repents than over ninety -nine just persons who need no repentance.

Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp,

sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it?

And when she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbors together, saying, Rejoice with me,

for I have found the peace which I lost.

Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one

sinner who repents.

Why do we do what we do?

Why is the gospel preached week in and week out

for one?

Nobody knows who's going to be saved or lost but the Lord.

Charles Spurgeon said if we could paint a yellow stripe on the back of the elect and lift up their

shirt tails to recognize them, we would do that.

But we do not know who God calls into salvation.

Jesus told Nicodemus, the wind blows where it wants to blow,

and so is the Spirit that way.

And so our purpose in going through the Scriptures and proclaiming the gospel

message week in and week out, the reason that April gets up here and leads us in song

week in and week out, the reason that Kenny teaches us in Sunday school week in and week

out, because there is that one that might well hear the

gospel message.

There is that one that may be brought to

newness of life, who God may quicken and regenerate that cold, dead,

stony heart that every man is born with and that God may breathe into them

His breath of life.

That's enough reason for me.

And so let's pick up in the text this morning in the book of Philippians chapter 4.

We left off week before last in Philippians chapter 4 and we read down through

verse 3 previously.

We're going to pick up and read verse 4, 5, 6, and 7 this morning and try to

preach to you the message that the Lord has given unto us that we want to communicate from the

Scriptures so that you can draw and glean the truth from the Word of God.

Philippians chapter 4 beginning in verse 4 and we'll read through verse 7.

The Scripture says, Rejoice in the Lord always.

And again I will say, Rejoice.

The King James says, Let your moderation be known to men.

My new King James says, Let your gentleness be made known to all men.

The Lord is at hand.

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.

Heavenly Father, I thank You for being so gracious, for

being so good, for being so merciful, for being so kind.

And God, I thank You for being so stern, dear God.

I thank You for being so, I'll call it from my life, so forceful,

dear God, for who You are, that You are my Heavenly Father.

I thank You for that.

And this morning, my request to You is simply this.

Help me to preach the Gospel today.

Help me to keep myself out of the way, dear God, that we may lift up Your

blessed and Your holy name, dear God, so that in Your cross being raised

high, God, that hearts and minds would be drawn unto You.

That You would get the glory, God, that You and You alone deserve in Your church today.

For it is in Jesus' name I pray.

Amen and Amen.

The Apostle Paul, just to give you a recap from verse 1, 2 and 3.

If you'll remember, well, we'd actually read from verse 20 in chapter 3 down, and read those five verses there

and preached week before last from that.

Paul's encouraging the saints at Philippi along with the bishops and the deacons.

By the way, if you're saved by the grace of God, whether you're a pastor, whether

you're a deacon, whether you're a Sunday school teacher, whether you're a song leader, whether you're

a member that faithfully and regularly attends, you need encouragement.

But you need the encouragement that comes from the Word of God more than you need

anything in your life.

Paul reminds the church that our citizenship is not in

earth, but in heaven.

From whence we look for the Savior, the focus is on the Savior.

In verse 21 he says that our bodies are going to be transformed.

We sing and we preach of hope because our hope is not in a dead man,

but our hope is in the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ.

And so he goes on and he says in verse 1 of chapter 4, Therefore my

beloved, my longed for, my brethren, my joy and my crown, my beloved I

implore and he implores.

He calls out some dissension amongst the ranks and he says, I implore you, Odea and

Syntyche, to be of one mind, to be of the same mind in the Lord.

That is the focus of everything.

And then he said, I urge you, true yoke fellow, true companions, help these

women who have labored with me in the gospel.

No doubt, probably speaking of Lydia, at the beginning of the year when we

gave you the introduction to Philippians, Paul's connection to the church, the Bible says that when Paul went

into Macedonia, and he went into those regions there about, that there was a group of women that

gathered by the river for prayer on a daily basis, and Lydia was one of those

women who was a seller of purple and Thyatira, who came to a saving

knowledge of Jesus Christ by hearing the word of God that Paul preached.

And so Paul's connection is very personal with the people of Philippi.

And then at the end of verse 3, he calls out to remembrance the fact that their names

are written in the book of life.

The book of life is the Lamb's book of life, that is referenced later on in the book of the

revelation of Jesus Christ.

This is God's book in whom God has written the names of His elect in.

By the way, ain't nobody can sign your name in God's role, or sign your name out of

God's role.

Amen?

That's the work of the Lord.

And so, in this great encouraging statement, what a blessing to consider

this, what a blessing to think about this, and then Paul says this, leading right out of that

statement about your names being written in the book of life, he says, rejoice!

That means to be happy.

That means to be,.

I guess, as April said,.

Almost some people can be happy and are overcome with emotion and we cry.

Some people can be happy and you never know they were happy, it's just how they express

themselves, right?

It's not necessarily the outworking of that expression, it's the fact that the joy of

the Lord from within produces within you worship to God, and

that is where the source of our joy, it is the Lord.

The source of our joy is the Lord.

So Paul says, rejoice in the Lord always.

Again, I will say, rejoice!

You think he's big on repetition?

Amen, he was.

A couple of statements I wanted to share with you.

John Calvin said this concerning rejoicing, let this be your strength and stability to rejoice

in the Lord.

And that too, not only for a moment merely, but also that your joy may be

perpetuated, that your joy may be continual.

I would ask this question to you today first, are you saved?

Have you been born again?

Because you must be born again.

Born from above.

Next question, if you are saved, are you rejoicing in Jesus Christ?

Well preacher, you don't know what I'm going through, how can I be happy?

I'm not asking are you happy, I'm saying do you have the joy of the Lord?

Is the joy of the Lord your strength?

We are not guaranteed happiness, we are not guaranteed health and wealth, we are not guaranteed

truly anything in this life but trouble.

But we have the hope of the Lord to stand on.

We have the hope of the Lord in which we dwell.

Matthew Henry said this, joy in God is a duty of great consequence in

the Christian life, and Christians need to be again and again called to it.

If good men have not a continual feast, it is their own fault.

What a statement right there.

If you do not have joy in your life, I'm talking about beyond your circumstances,

it's not God's fault, it's your fault.

One of the old hymns goes like this, Rejoice, rejoice, O Christian, lift up your heads and

sing, Eternal hallelujahs to Jesus Christ the King.

What a song right there.

It's been said,.

Our joy does not rest in favorable circumstances but in the Lord.

Where does your joy lie today?

Is all hell broke loose in your life?

Join the club.

You got problems at home?

Join the club.

You got problems on the job?

Join the club.

You got marital problems?

Join the club.

You got problems with friends?

Join the club.

You are not unique or special in any way in that everybody endures that,

but not everybody has the hope of the Lord to rest on.

Do you have the hope of the Lord today?

I want to say this, that as we're singing today and praising God like

we have been, and I want to remind you that two things go together according to the Scripture, and I'm staying

with the text here.

I'm not giving you some creative idea that I just thought of.

I'm going with the text of Scripture.

Two things are true.

Prayer and praise belong together.

Prayer and praise belong together.

Always.

If you take one statement away from today, take that.

Prayer and praise belong together.

I'm going to show you from the Word of God.

Psalms, chapter 43.

If you would turn to the book of Psalms, chapter 43.

Keep your finger there.

Philippians, we'll be going back there.

So the book of Psalms, chapter 43.

Listen to what the psalmist says in this psalm concerning his hope in God.

Beginning in verse 3 of chapter 43, the psalmist writes,

Oh, send out your light and your truth.

Let them lead me, let them bring me to your holy hill and to your tabernacle.

Then I will go to the altar of God.

To God, my exceeding joy.

And on the harp, I will praise you, O God, my God.

And then he says in verse 5, Why are you cast down, O my soul?

And why are you disquieted within me?

Hope in God.

Sometimes you've got to talk to yourself.

And you've got to remind yourself.

It's a discipline, by the way, to do this.

To remind yourself that if you are saved, you have hope.

No matter what's going on.

My hope is in God.

For yet I shall praise Him.

He's the help of my countenance and my God.

He had problems.

He had issues.

But he had hope in God.

Go back a book in the Bible to the book of Job.

Chapter 19.

Job chapter 19.

And let's read what Job says.

Just to give you context on Job here.

Remember, Job was a man who was righteous before the Lord.

Who Satan had weeped before God.

And had asked God and told God.

Satan said that if you let me touch his home.

If you let me touch his family.

If you let me touch his own body.

He'll deny you and he'll curse you.

He won't be so faithful to you.

The Lord gave Satan permission.

Because guess what?

Know this, Satan is not all powerful.

Satan is subservient to the Holy God.

Just so you know this as well.

There is no cosmic battle going on between good and evil.

Where evil might overcome good.

God is sovereign.

Evil will never overcome good.

Satan asked the Lord permission.

He touched Job.

He touched Job's family.

He touched everything Job had.

He destroyed it all.

And yet through it all Job praised God.

Matter of fact, Job's own wife said.

Why don't you go ahead and just curse God.

And die the shape that you're in.

Job said you're speaking as a foolish woman.

Job called her bluff on the matter.

And he addressed the issue.

But then we see throughout the book of Job.

Job's friends coming to Job.

And accusing Job.

And making Job.

Instead of encouraging Job.

Instead of just shutting up and being there with Job.

They continued to run their mouth.

And run their mouths.

And run their mouths.

Now this is not the King James commentary on this.

This is just Claude Ramsey's English version translation.

That I'm giving you of this.

Read it to make sure I'm telling you the truth.

But they came to Job.

And Job was just getting more distraught.

And more distraught.

And Job even began to take a little bit of pride in himself.

But at one point.

The Bible says here in chapter 19 of Job.

Verse 23.

We see something that Job said.

Job said this.

Oh that my words were written.

Oh that they were inscribed in a book.

That they were engraved on a rock.

With an iron pen.

And led forever.

For I know that my Redeemer lives.

His hope was in a living God.

Amen.

We do not serve a dead God.

We do not serve a God of idols. A God of stone. A God of wood. A God of rock.

We serve the true and the living God.

Amen.

Job said I know that my Redeemer lives.

And he went on to say this.

And that he shall stand at last on the earth.

He went on.

After my skin is destroyed.

He said this may be it.

And after the skin worms eat my flesh.

You know this.

You are not physically going to live forever.

Because of sin every single one of us are going to die.

And because of sin every one of us unless the Lord returns first. Will be laid in a grave.

And our bodies will rot.

And our bodies will decay.

And the skin worms will destroy our bodies.

But Job said after my skin is destroyed.

This I know.

That in my flesh I shall see God.

How many hundreds of years this was.

Before the apostle Paul preached the message.

That one day after a while.

That God is not only going to complete the work that he began.

In salvation through sanctification.

But that one day our bodies will be glorified.

Job had this hope before Christ ever came.

Because it was the same God.

Johnny.

How many gods are there?

One God.

Hannah.

In how many persons does this one God exist?

Three persons.

Who are the three persons?

Father.

Say it.

Father. Son.

And the Holy Ghost.

Amen.

Right?

Three sons we worship as we sung in those songs at doxology.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

Praise Him all you creatures here below.

Praise Him above you heavenly hosts.

Praise Father.

Praise Son.

Praise the Holy Ghost.

We serve a triune God.

Job said I know I shall see Him for myself.

And my eyes shall behold and not another.

You do not nor cannot nor should you try to live vicariously

through anyone other than Jesus Christ.

I'll just get by on April's praise this Sunday.

I just enjoy watching her praise God.

You need to worship God yourself.

For the scriptures teach us that we are called to worship God in spirit and in truth.

No one can worship God for you.

Nor are you going to get by on the worship of others.

Nor are you going to get by on the coattails of anyone else's salvation.

Father, daughter, sister, mother, husband, father, whatever the case may be, brother, you

must be born again.

So our hope is in the resurrected Christ.

As the song says, because He lives, I can face tomorrow.

Because He lives, all fear is gone.

Because I know He holds the future and life is worth the living just because

He lives.

The apostle Paul here is communicating as he began his letter to the church of

Philippi this sense of awareness, this sense of alertness, this sense of

discernment concerning the fact that though the times are hard, though their lives are in danger

for preaching and proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ, that they have a living hope that they can

lean upon come life or come death and that is the sovereign holy

Lord of glory.

He is resting in the sovereignty of God here.

He goes on in verse 5.

Actually, I don't want to skip over verse 5, but I'll come back to it.

Verse 6, He says, He makes this statement, Be anxious for nothing.

Be anxious for nothing.

When we get anxious, we get anxious, whether it's myself or any of you, it's because things

get beyond our control.

If you're a controlling person, you like to be in charge of everything.

You like to know when this is going to happen and when that's going to happen and when this don't happen like it should have happened

or this happens instead of that happening, all of a sudden we get tore up and we get upset and we get

distraught and many times we lose sight that God

is still sovereign, that God is still in control of all things, no matter the condition

that we see the things to be in.

That God divinely orchestrates all of life to this one end for His glory

and for His honor.

For His glory and for His honor.

So, jumping back there to verse 5, He said this, Let your gentleness, let your moderation be

known to all men.

Remember what's being said here, He's already encouraged Syntyche and Euodia to

be of the same mind in the Lord.

And so He's teaching, He taught them earlier in the book of Philippians to let this mind be in you which was also in

Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God did not think it robbery to be equal with God but

made Himself of no reputation and He took upon Him the form of a servant and He came in the likeness

of men and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself and He became obedient unto

death, even the death of the cross wherefore God has highly exalted Him and He's given Him a name

which is above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven and things

in the earth and things under the earth and that every tongue should confess that

Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

He was resting in the sovereignty of God.

But He said let this gentleness, let your gentleness, let your moderation be known

to all men, period.

There's a period there.

Whether you've got the new King James or whether you've got a King James, there's a period there, right?

Let your moderation, let your gentleness be known to all men.

A period means that's the end of that sentence.

Not necessarily the end of that thought but that's the end of that sentence.

And that moderation, that gentleness, that spirit of love toward one another, He was

encouraging the church at Philippi to let this continue to be seen, to let this

continue to be made evident amongst all men.

And then He said this, the Lord is at hand.

Jesus is coming.

I brought the song but boy Chris I'm glad you had a sing it song today.

261

In the great triumphant morning when we hear the bridegroom cry and the dead, the ransomed dead in

Christ shall rise will be changed to life immortal in the twinkling of an eye

and meet Jesus in the skies.

In the great triumphant morning what a happy time it will be when the Lord descends in glory,

sets His waiting children free and we meet Him in the skies.

And in that song that is a great hymn of faith and that is the great message that the

Apostle Paul is communicating.

He's communicated to the other churches in the letters that he wrote that Jesus Christ will one

day return.

And so as Christians we are to live our lives in expectancy of

His return.

How many of you have ever, if you were a kid, how many of you have ever been a kid?

I'm looking at everybody here.

You've ever been a kid?

How many of you when you were a kid your parents were away and you'd done something you wasn't supposed to do?

But you knew that at some point in time they was going to return.

And when they returned, guess what?

It was going to be hammer time.

Right?

It was going to be bad.

Rosie, this sound familiar to you?

Right?

Well, we as Christians are to live our lives in such a way that we look for the coming of

Jesus Christ that we are not ashamed when He returns.

The church ought to be found doing the work of God.

The work of God is proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ to anybody and

everybody that will hear it and even to those that won't hear it just because we don't know if they're going to hear it.

So, he says, the Lord is at hand.

And then he says, be anxious for nothing but in everything by

prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known

to God.

Matthew Henry said this, we must not only keep up stated times for prayer but we must pray upon

every particular emergency.

We need to be praying always.

Praying always.

He went on to say this, in everything by prayer when anything burdens our spirits when

we must ease our minds by prayer when our affairs are perplexed or distressed we must seek

direction and support.

Prayer is a privilege.

Prayer is the privilege given to the saints by our Heavenly Father.

Do you know this?

That if you are not saved by the grace of God you do not have the privilege to go to God in

prayer.

Prayer is a privilege that was bought by the blood of Jesus Christ given to

His children.

That is what the scriptures teach us.

Prayer is a privilege given to the saints of God.

And to think about this, that God the Father from eternity past wrote our

names in His book of life.

He is the very one that took upon Himself the likeness of sinful flesh who was

crucified, who was buried and who rose again.

He has given us the privilege of prayer.

That is what Hebrews teaches.

Therefore let us come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy

and find grace to help in time of need.

Prayer is a great privilege.

And so the Apostle Paul teaches the church at Philippi this truth that prayer is a privilege,

that our trust and our hope needs not to be placed in the circumstances of our life but in the

resurrected coming soon Jesus Christ.

Prayer and supplication with thanksgiving.

Prayer and praise go together.

Prayer and praise go together.

With prayer and supplication let your requests be made known unto God.

And then he says this, And the peace of God which passes all knowledge or which

surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and

mine through Jesus Christ.

Remember, the work of salvation is not in you.

The benefit of the righteousness of Christ does not come from within you.

It comes from outside you, from Jesus Christ.

A man is justified by faith in Christ alone, not by the works of the flesh.

And so Paul says the peace of God, he speaks of this peace, this surpassing peace.

And some may say, well, what's the big deal?

It's easy for somebody to talk about peace.

Paul was riding from the jail cell.

Paul was riding having been beaten, tortured, mishandled,

misquoted, misappropriated.

He had everything done to you that you can imagine all for the sake of the gospel.

And yet he says, do not be anxious, church.

Do not worry about your life.

Jesus told the disciples in the gospel, do not worry about what your life, do not worry about what you shall eat or

what you shall drink, but seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,

and all these things shall be added unto you.

That's what Jesus said.

So the peace of God, this overwhelming peace, which comes only from God, that goes beyond the

understanding, goes beyond your imagination.

He says this, it will guard your hearts.

It will set, the peace of God sets as a

guard outside of the doors of the prison.

It sets in guard so that none may go in and none may go out without

His permissive grace.

It is wonderful.

We think about the guards and know this, that in Roman times, in the

Bible times here, it was a serious thing for a guard to lose a prisoner.

It was a serious thing for a guard to fall asleep on duty.

We see at the grave of Jesus Christ, at the tomb of Jesus Christ, the Bible says that when the

angel came down from heaven and rolled the stone away, the guards became as dead men.

And so they were naturally, it was as though they were literally knocked out.

And so they could themselves be put to death for falling asleep, whether it was caused

by the angel of the Lord coming down or not.

They didn't care about that.

They could have been put to death for that.

And in Paul's day, when Paul was in prison, the guards would sit outside in one place in the book of Acts, and

we'll bring this to a close.

In one place in the book of Acts, we see there Paul and Silas were in prison

for preaching the gospel, for there was a soothsayer who

followed them around, mocking them, saying, these are the servants of the Most High God.

This little girl mocked them.

Paul rebuked the devil that was in her.

She got born again.

By the grace of God, they were thrown in prison because she no longer brought her master's gain by

doing the evil wickedness of soothsaying.

And so there in the prison, the Bible says in the inner prison, at midnight, Paul

and Silas did the two things that go together.

They prayed and they sang praises to God.

And the scripture says the foundations of the prison were shaken, so much so that the

doors flew open, and the guard, recognizing that he was

probably going to be killed himself for this thing that took place, he burst in.

He saw Paul and the other prisoners, and the scripture says, Paul said,

because the guard drew his sword and would have killed himself, Paul said, do yourself no

harm, for we are all here.

And the man was amazed, and he said, what must I do to be saved?

And the apostle Paul said this, and this is what we're going to close on today.

Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved.

And the scripture says he believed.

He believed.

He brought Paul and them to his house, and not only the jailer was

saved, but his whole family got saved.

And Paul baptized them that night as a demonstration of their faith and commitment

to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Today, no one knows your hearts.

Your husband, your wife, don't know your hearts.

I necessarily don't know your heart.

The only thing I can tell you about your heart is it's just like mine.

It is, according to the Word of God, it is wicked and it is deceitful.

It will trick you and it will lie to you.

You cannot trust your heart.

You cannot trust yourself.

You can only trust in the Lord Jesus Christ today.

Lord, I thank You, I praise You for this privilege and this honor of being in Your house today.

I thank You, God, and I praise You for this privilege that we have to

open up Your Word.

I thank You and I praise You for Your faithfulness and Your truth.

And Lord, I would ask this at this time.

Lord, I thank You for helping us preach the Gospel.

Now, Lord, I would ask that You do the work only You can do in the hearts of the men

and women in this place today.

Turn hearts.

Turn lives unto Yourself.

Give eternal life today, Lord.

Lord, help us all to remember that Your Word says that

our life is but a vapor.

It's here today and it's gone tomorrow.

And as Your people, those who are redeemed, saved by the grace of

God, that we would redeem this time that You

have given us.

Make the most of it.

That we would walk upright in this world.

And dear God, the grace of God that You have given unto us, that You would

help us to make this known to all men that we come in contact with at

home, at school, at work, wherever we might be.

That as the Apostle Paul commanded the Philippians, we are commanded to do so,

to let our moderation be known to all men.

For Lord, we look for Your return.

We eagerly anticipate when You come, God,

and You change our bodies.

Dear Lord, I thank You so much for every person in this room today.

I love You, Lord.

For it's in Jesus' name I pray, Amen.

Amen.

Next Saturday, this coming Saturday April, is that the next women's Bible study?

This coming Saturday at our house, women's Bible study at 10 o 'clock in the

morning, Saturday morning.

Men's Bible study will be Monday after next.

Monday after next at 6 o 'clock at Kenny's house.

Men, Kenny encouraged us this morning.

If at all possible, make a point to come.

Make a point to be there.

It will do you good to fellowship with the other men of the church.

It will do you good to dig into the Word.

Ladies, I encourage you to do the same.

Let you press into this.

It's important.

It will help you.

It will encourage you as you go along.

Anybody else, let's pray for Sir.

I know he's had to work these past several weeks.

I know he's going to be very, very tired in his body.

Pray for his encouragement.

If you've got his number, send him a text.

Tell him you love him.

Tell him you're thinking about him.

Send him a funny picture of yourself.

Do whatever, what you want to do.

I can't tell you that.

But do pray for him.

Do encourage them.

Remember Ma 'am's family.

As they're going through this time with Granny Tip, that the Lord encourages them and helps their hearts

as well as hers.

She's ready to go home.

But that's up to the Lord.

I love you all.

I thank the Lord for you all.

Natalie, I didn't ask you a question earlier, did I?

Let me ask you a question.

Well, you may not have learned this.

Does she?

Why did God make you?

Did everybody hear that?

Why did God make you?

For his own glory.

That's right.

How can you glorify God?

Amen.

By loving him and doing what he commands.

Amen.

Adults?

These are clues we're giving you when we ask these questions out loud.

You need to know these questions.

All right.

I love you all. God bless you.