Why Worry Philippians 4:1-7

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February 14, 2021 Morning Service of Faith Bible Church, Sacramento, CA Message - Why Worry Philippians 4:1-7

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Okay, well, good morning, everyone. Blessed Lord's Day it is, and glad you're all here, and those that are watching, thankful that you're able to be with us as well.
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Before we begin our service this morning, we have a piano special with Jackie and Johanna.
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And so, ladies, if you would share with us, please, we'd be blessed. Thank you, ladies, that was beautiful, really nice.
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Here I am, Lord. And we're, this morning, we're going to have a little different service, well, the service is roughly the same, but we're being followed by a business meeting as well.
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So the order of service is a little different than you're used to, but that's okay. Still under the guidance of the
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Holy Spirit, we pray. For announcements, again, we do have a meeting afterwards, and for those that aren't here and haven't been able to come in, there will be minutes from that meeting that we can share with you and pass on.
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Ladies' Bible study is the 20th, next Saturday, so ladies, take note of that, make note of that at 10 o 'clock, and do your homework.
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And that was for Barb. She's, I really give her a bad time, but she takes it well.
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And so let's open our service in prayer, okay? Lord God, we thank you that you have brought us here this morning.
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I pray that we might honor you in everything that we do, that we would worship you in spirit and in truth, that Father, we would allow that word to penetrate our hearts,
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Lord, that it would change our lives, Lord, that this is a special time and a time that we can reflect on our own lives, reflect on the life of this church, and Father, just seeking you in all that we do,
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Father. So Lord, bless our time together, and may we honor you, and we commit our time to your care, we pray, in Jesus' name, amen.
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I want to open before we sing from Galatians, excuse me,
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Colossians chapter 316. Let the words of Christ dwell in you richly, in all wisdom, teaching, and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the
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Lord, and whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the
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Father through him. So let's do that this morning as we're singing with grace in our hearts to the
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Lord. Let's stand together and let's do that, okay? We're going to sing, My Hope is in the
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Lord. My hope is in the
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Lord, my hope is in the Lord, my hope is in the Lord, my hope is in the
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Lord, my hope is in the Lord, my hope is in the
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Lord, my hope is in the Lord, my hope is in the Lord. And recognize his work of love, he saved for me.
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He died for me, he lived, and now he freely gives.
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And now we're going to sing the Solid Rock. And it's really, listen to the words, because that's really where our rest and our hope lies is in Christ Jesus.
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Christ will hold me fast.
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When the tempter, he will hold me fast.
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I could never keep my hope. Through life's fearful path.
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For my love is often cold. He will hold me fast.
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He will hold me fast. He will hold me fast.
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For my Savior loves me so. He will hold me fast.
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Those he saves are his delight. Christ will hold me fast.
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Precious in his holy Son. He will hold me fast.
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He'll not let my soul be lost. His promises shall last.
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But by him at such a cost. He will hold me fast.
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He will hold me fast. He will hold me fast. He will hold me fast, for my
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Savior loves me so. He will hold me fast, for my life he bled and died.
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Christ will hold me fast, justice has been satisfied.
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He will hold me fast, raised with him to endless life.
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He will hold me fast, till our faith is turned to sigh.
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When he comes at last, he will hold me fast.
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He will hold me fast, for my Savior loves me so.
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He will hold me fast, he will hold me fast.
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He will hold me fast, for my Savior loves me so.
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He will hold me fast.
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Amen. Please be seated. Pastor John. Amen. I told somebody, it's been a year since I heard
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David sing. And I was all I could do not to cry.
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And then I told, I don't know whether I told Harold or Victor, we need to have a business meeting every week. So, you can all come.
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I mean there is plenty of room here. It is perfectly safe. If somebody is coughing, they are not going to come to church, if they have a temperature, because we love each other, right?
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So, it is a safe place. And it is just great to see everybody here. So, if you have your
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Bibles, turn with me to Matthew chapter 6. Matthew chapter 6.
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This has been a wild week. And you know we have been planning this business meeting for a number of weeks.
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You know some of the things that we were talking about in terms of the future of Faith Bible Church. And you know it is just amazing sometimes when you walk with the
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Lord and you trust in Him, how He will guide. And when you rest in His loving care, in His loving arms,
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He's the Good Shepherd that lays down His life for the sheep. So, there was a particular just thought on my mind, it is
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Happy Valentine's Day, right? So, I should be preaching on love today, right?
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Love among the brethren, and love between husbands and wives, right? Wives, come on. Wives, Pam, yeah, come on you guys, right?
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That's what I should be preaching on. Instead I'm going to preach on worry. I mean there is so much going on in the world right now, and in our country, and in people's lives.
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I read this week, you probably already know this stuff when I give you these headlines, over 100 ,000 small businesses have closed forever in the
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United States of America in the past year. 100 ,000.
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The happiest place on earth, Disneyland, has not been open for over a year.
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I don't know about you, but for me the happiest place on earth is right here. And I'm glad we're meeting.
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So, there's a lot of things going on, whether we're talking about the future of Faith Bible Church, the future of our country.
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And for many people worry is a natural or normal response to the kinds of things that are going on in this country right now.
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And what is interesting is that even Christians, mature Christians will worry, even though the
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Bible specifically tells us to not worry. Christians can worry even in light of what the
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Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world says about worrying.
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Here in Matthew 6, look with me at verse 25. Now, I wish
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I could read the whole passage all the way back, because really the context of this goes all the way back to chapter 5, verse 3.
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But take a look at verse 25, Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life.
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What did He say? And the words are in red, if you have a red letter
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Bible. So, this is the words of Jesus, not mine. Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or what you will drink, nor about your body.
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What will you put on? Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
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Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow, nor weep, nor gather together into barns, and yet your
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Heavenly Father feeds them. Are they not of more value? I'm sorry, are you not of more value than they?
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Which of you by worrying can add even one cubit, one day, one inch to his height or stature?
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Now, if you look carefully at those verses, three things not to worry about, the basic necessities of life that the
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Heavenly Father has promised to provide, things that cannot be changed, and the problems of tomorrow.
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So, Jesus Christ makes it very, very simple, do not worry. Do not worry.
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Do not worry. But if we take a moment and we're honest with ourselves, I think we would all agree that sometimes that's easier said than what?
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Done. A family member is exposed to a virus. The boss says he has to lay us off.
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The blood test comes back with some part of it 500 times higher than it should be.
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The doctor says he found something on the X -ray. A new president is elected.
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And see the point is I think we would all agree that very often not worrying is easier said than done, even though we have
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Jesus Christ saying right here, do not worry. So, on one hand something to worry about.
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But on the other hand, an all -knowing, all -loving, all -powerful
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God that is omnipresent, present with us this very moment, present when we walk out that door, present when we go to the store.
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An all -loving, all -knowing, all -powerful God says what?
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Don't worry. On one hand something to worry about, but on the other hand
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Proverbs 3, 5, and 6, trust in the Lord with all thy heart, lean not on thine own understanding, in all thy ways acknowledge
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Him, and He will make your paths straight. On one hand worry, on the other hand
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Psalm 55, 22, cast your burden or your worry on the Lord, and He will sustain you.
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Listen, He will never allow the righteous to be shaken. But I'm worried.
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Jesus rebuked Martha when He said to her, Martha, Martha, you are worried about so many things.
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Now, go with me to Philippians 6, I'm sorry Philippians 4, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Philippians 4, because I want to speak with you this morning on the message title,
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I Was So Tempted to Use Vaccine, a Vaccine for Worry, but I'm going to change it to an
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Antidote for Worry. Almighty God says simply do not worry, but I know the reality is these three simple words don't necessarily help us when we get the bad news, or when worry comes knocking.
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And it is my prayer that we'll find some real encouragement, and really some shoe leather when it comes to this challenge of not worrying despite the circumstances of life.
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Now, we have a lot to do today. We have this business meeting God has just done, and I don't know to what extent.
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I so appreciate Victor and Harold, and really the labor of love that they have put in the past year, not just in dealing with COVID, but just as we have been praying and searching for a pastor, right?
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I'm the interim pastor, that's all I am. That's all I can be actually, honestly, because of my church, and our lives, and teaching full time, not full time.
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It is full time. I was talking to a teacher this week, and she was telling me how tired she is,
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Barb. And she said, she goes, you see the thing about teaching is you're only teaching two classes, John, but you're thinking about it all day.
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The students, are they here? What are they doing? Is the test? And she says, and I get home.
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And she goes, I hate to tell you this, John. I go, what? We're in the copy room, right?
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She goes, sometimes I'm so tired all I want to do is watch TV. I said, it's okay,
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I won't tell anybody. So, today all we need to know, if you want a short sermon, you ready?
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Yeah, you want to say it. Say, I want a short sermon. Okay. Don't worry, instead trust
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God. That's this whole message right now. Okay?
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Good? Alright, let's pray. So, an all loving, all powerful, all knowing
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God that is literally in control of everything. And please, please hang on every word today.
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An all knowing, all powerful, all loving, present everywhere God is in control of everything, even to a bird that falls to the ground.
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That's what the Bible says, right? But in reality, sometimes it's easier said than done.
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Now, look what the Apostle Paul says here about worry in Philippians 4, verse 6, he says, be anxious for nothing.
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Don't worry about what? Anything. But in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.
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Oh, you've got to love verse 7, and the peace of God that passes all understanding shall guard, guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
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Now, let me break this down for you because in verse 6 the word, be anxious, is an imperative in the
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Greek. It is an imperative. It is a command. And it is attached to a wonderful promise.
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And it gives us some shoe leather. It gives us some things to grab onto.
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Be anxious, or don't worry about anything. Instead, what? Pray. Pray about everything, about buying groceries, about going to that person's house.
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My daughters went to a Bible study last Monday, first time, and they loved it.
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And I drove up to this house in Rio Linda. First of all,
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Rio Linda? I'm going to leave my daughters in Rio Linda? Where's my 9 millimeter?
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Right? So, I pull up and here's this little house, and the street is packed with cars.
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And everybody's out there having a good time, all young people. And then they go in this house.
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And I said to my kids, I said, Well, how big? Joanna said, Dad, it's smaller than ours.
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And they had a blast. And they're fine. Be anxious.
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Don't worry. Instead, pray. And the peace of God that passes all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in spite of the circumstances.
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So, the antidote for worry is what? Simply what? Trust God.
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All right, now how do we do that? Let's pray, and then we'll dig into this passage and be done quickly.
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Father, You know that I can get passionate. I can get excited. I can study.
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I can reflect. I can jump up and down. But it's the Holy Spirit that is our teacher.
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It is the Holy Spirit only that can open hearts to receive Your Word, to plant the
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Word. And it's by faith that we ask You to do that, that it might bear fruit in our lives,
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God, especially in the days in which we live, and where our church is going here, Father, in the coming months.
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So, we give You praise, honor, and glory, in Jesus' name, amen. So, I was looking at Roger's Thesaurus.
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I don't know if you guys remember what that is. Now, you just Google. You go, Hey, Siri, what's the opposite of worry?
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And then Siri tells you. That's an iPhone. For those of you, this is called a dumb phone?
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OK. One guy called it in an email yesterday, a stupid phone. My phone is stupid. I'm not kidding you, that's what he said,
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I have a stupid phone. Anyway, the words opposite of worry, calmness, certainty, cheer, comfort, confidence, happiness.
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Happiness is the opposite of worry. Joy, pleasure, sureness, unconcern, advantage, calm, contentment, peace, reassurance.
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How about that? Over ten words that Roger and Jay say are the opposite of worry.
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So, in the Christian life, and through the lens of Scripture, what is the opposite of worry?
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The opposite of worry is trust, according to Scripture, trust.
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Now, some people, I took a survey at school, some mature Christians, teachers, you know, what do you say the opposite of worry is?
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And they went, faith? So, a couple said faith, but it's really trust.
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OK? Don't worry, instead trust God. Now, in the
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Christian life, whether it's getting saved, or it's living out salvation, or anything else, everything is going to come back to Jesus Christ and the
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Gospel. OK? Everything. Salvation is only by grace through faith in Christ alone.
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Right? We got that. And then believers, according to Galatians 2 .20,
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and many other verses, believers go on living in the Kingdom of God by faith. So, faith and trust, living out
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Christ, and becoming more like Christ, and the road to Christian growth and maturity is also simply by faith.
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We simply trust Christ to save us, and we simply trust
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Christ to give us the strength to live out the Christian life. Now, whether salvation, or sanctification, trials, or joy, or relationships in a believer's life,
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God tells us it's always, always, always, always, always, always, always, always, always going to come back to trusting
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Him. And the verses that we're going to look at this morning, very quickly, basically put shoe leather to this whole idea of trusting
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Him. Now, if you know anything about Philippians, it is a letter that Paul is writing to believers.
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And they were, it's a local church just like ours. And they were being assaulted in various ways.
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There was false teachers in the church. There was conflict in the church between two beautiful, dear sisters.
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Imagine that. Can you imagine Barb sitting way over here, and Debbie over here with their arms folded, and they will never speak to each other?
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I can't imagine that, can you? Well, that was going on in Philippi. Iodia and Sintikki, she sat over there, would have nothing to do with Sintikki over there.
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And there were so many struggles in that church that they had lost their joy, which is why some scholars call
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Philippians the epistle of joy, because they had begun to lose, or had lost the joy of the
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Lord that comes with being a child of God. And remember when we talk about joy in the
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Christian life, we're not talking about happiness. Really the word joy in the New Testament context talks about inner contentment.
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Think about this, inner contentment no matter what the circumstances.
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That only believers who abide and walk with the
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Lord and know about experience. Now, if you look at verses 1 -8 here in Philippians 4, there's eight imperatives, and I want to show them to you.
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There's eight commands in verses 1 -9.
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Verse 1, stand fast. Verse 3, help.
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Verse 4, rejoice in the Lord always. And again I will say rejoice.
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By the way, there are both imperatives in the Greek there, both commands. Verse 5, known, be known.
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Verse 6, be anxious and made known. Both imperative verbs.
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Verse 8, meditate. Meditate at the end of the verse on these things. And then verse 9, these do.
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Do. All imperatives, all commands, all verbs.
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And what is a verb in the English language? An action word. Okay, things that you do.
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Now, if you look in your mind's eye, I'm not going to cover all the verses. Verses 1 -3 are focus on relationships, and in particular this discouraging conflict between Jodea and Syntyche.
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Okay? Then in verses 4 -7 Paul's focus is joy in the
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Christian life. And then when you go to verses 8 -9 the focus is the
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Christian, the believer's thought life. Now, what can we learn in these verses about God's antidote for worry, which is simply what?
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To trust Him. Right? You've got the sermon title. You can go home. No notes today, by the way, sorry about that.
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Because the note is, don't worry what? Simply trust God. Don't worry, trust God. Don't worry, trust
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God. I guess we could turn it into a song somehow. In a word,
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God's antidote to worry is to trust Him. In a word, the antidote to worry is to put off the worry and put on trusting
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God. Now, this is easier said than done. So, how can believers put some shoe leather to this idea of putting off worry and simply putting on trusting the
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Lord? Two points in this message. Number one, put off worry. To put off worry be standing fast in the power of the
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Gospel. So, one antidote, one thing to do in order to put off worry is to be standing fast in the power of the
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Gospel. Look at what Paul says as he addresses this conflict between these two ladies, "'Therefore, my beloved and longed for brethren, my joy and crown,' and here it is, "'so stand fast in the
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Lord, beloved. I implore Yodia, and I implore
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Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord.'"
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Stop sitting there with your arms folded, not speaking to each other, one of you sitting on that side of the
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Church, and one of you sitting on that side of the Church. "'And I urge you also, true companion, help these women who labored with me in the
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Gospel, with Clement also, and the rest of my fellow workers whose names are in the book of life.'"
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Now, I don't have time to break down these three verses about relationships. But in verse 1
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Paul admonishes and encourages the Philippians to stand fast in the
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Lord. Now, in any language you always interpret in context, right?
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You look at the historical. You look at the context. Well, verses 1 through 9 all fit together, ok, grammatically.
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And in those verses the key verb that kind of links all those nine verses together is the first verb that you run into there, the first imperative which is stand fast, ok.
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So, grammatically stand fast links those nine verses together.
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And he says stand fast, and then in verse 9 he circles back, if you look at the things which you learned, and received, and heard, and saw in me, these do, and the
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God of peace will be with you. So, he circles back to this idea of standing fast. Now, listen carefully to the meaning of that word, stand fast.
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In the Greek it means to be firmly committed in conviction or belief.
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Now, let that run over your mind. Here is an antidote for worry.
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Stand fast, meaning be firmly committed in conviction or belief, unwavering in the
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Lord. And it is in the present tense. So, the idea is, listen, it's not just to stand fast right now when you go to the store.
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The idea is keep on standing fast. Be standing fast.
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And notice he says, in the Lord. You cannot miss that.
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Meaning that the strength of the Lord, meaning in His grace and power, meaning what?
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It's Him, not us. Please get that. We cannot save ourselves, right?
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Are we down on that? Doing versus done? I hope you've been watching. Doing versus done?
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Amen. Watch this. Watch this. Watch this. You cannot be standing fast.
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Except how? In the Lord. It's Him and us. So, Paul is emphasizing and saying to take a stand and to remain firm in that position.
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So, what is an antidote to worry, or a vaccine against worry?
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It is to be standing fast in conviction, and belief, and trust in the
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Lord and the power of the Gospel. Point number one.
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Number two, be standing fast in the power of the
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Gospel in your disposition. So, another aspect to this antidote for worry is this, be standing fast in the power of the
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Gospel. So, Paul moves in verses 1 -3 to dealing with this relationship issue. And now he talks in verses 4 -7 about our attitude and our disposition.
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He says this, instruction number two, rejoice in the
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Lord always. And again I will say rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to all men.
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The Lord is at hand, or near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer, and supplication, and thanksgiving.
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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.
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So, when it comes to our disposition or attitude Paul says a number of things. Remember all the way through here we have to be standing fast, right?
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Be standing fast, committed to these truths on an ongoing basis.
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This is part of the medicine. This is part of putting shoe leather to what it means to trust the
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Lord. And he says a couple of things here. Number one, he says to rejoice in the
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Lord always. And he says it twice. So, disposition constant rejoicing should be an integral part of the believer's inner response to life's pleasant and difficult situations.
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This is why James says, count it all joy when you face various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.
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God is at work in these trials. And the idea that Paul would actually repeat it twice in the form of an imperative, and use the adverb, always, proves this principle of this ongoing decision to keep standing fast.
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And notice he says again, I mean I'm so slow, don't ask my family.
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It is a joke in my home how slow I am. Sometimes you've got to take a two by four, and you've got to whack me up the side of the head, because look what it says.
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Please, verse 1, stand fast in the Lord. Verse 4, rejoice how?
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In the Lord. D 'oh! A Christian can rejoice in the
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Lord instead of worry because he knows that he saves. He knows that God cares. He knows that God is working out
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God's sovereign plan for His glory, for the spiritual good of His people, which is why
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Paul says in Romans 8 .28, God causes all things to work together for our good.
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Virus, job, flat tire, we're trying to sell our car, no bikes, put it on Craigslist, one call in 30 days, going to put it back on.
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God's causing all things to work together. I don't know. Right? But why worry? Are you with me?
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Even elections, and impeachment trials. So, first rejoice in the
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Lord. Second in terms of disposition. I can't write any books about this. Be gentle.
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It's talking about being reasonable. This is why this is the shortest part of a sermon. Being reasonable.
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Forbearance. Goodwill. Now, this one
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I can do. Have a friendly disposition. I got that one down. But a person who is gentle bears trouble calmly.
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They're never going to offer us a reality TV show. I spilled my milk this morning at 515.
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Is that what you want to do when you pour your first cup of coffee is spill your milk? I'm glad,
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I mean you know God was there with the paper towels on the floor.
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It doesn't just stay on the counter with me. It has to go on the floor, and it has to go down the drawers.
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Why me? See this is what
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Euodia and Sintiki needed. So, that's. But here's another one. This is so fantastic.
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Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.
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Think about this. In the midst of this conflict between these two ladies, in the midst of these people losing their joy, and false teachers coming in,
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Paul just flops this in. The Lord is at hand.
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The Lord is near. Do you want an antidote for worry? You understand that when a
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Christian is looking up and ahead to the Lord's return the tendency will be not to be brought down by looking around or back.
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Right? That's why Paul says, run the race. Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith, not the narrative that's out there about whatever is out there.
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You know what else? Look at this. Think about this. There is one commentator, more than one, that say when
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Paul says the Lord is at hand he's talking about the omnipresence of God. The Lord is at hand.
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The Lord is near. He's right there holding your hand. How about that?
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Hallelujah. You're not alone. Yea, though I walk through the valley, the shadow of death, I will fear not.
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With me thy rod and thy staff they comfort. Thou art where?
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With me. It's exciting.
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Another antidote for worry. Believers are never alone. So, standing fast in the power of the
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Gospel, when it comes to disposition believers by faith rejoice. By faith they are gentle.
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They live and they walk being alert to the Lord's presence. And then he says, man, he drives it home, be anxious for nothing.
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Jesus says that a person should not worry. Paul says don't be anxious. That word anxious there means don't be apprehensive.
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Don't have anxiety. Don't be unduly concerned. Hey, if my car is running out of gas, and it's on E, and that little light comes on, should
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I be a little concerned? Yeah, I'm not going to be like, oh, I don't care, I'm in the middle of Highway 50 driving through Nevada, 50 miles from a gas station, and I've got my lights on,
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I'm just going to trust the Lord. No, He doesn't say that. Don't be unduly concerned.
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In Matthew chapter 6 Jesus says, don't worry about the basic necessity of life.
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Don't worry about the things that cannot be changed. And don't worry about tomorrow. 1 Peter 5, 7 says,
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Therefore humble yourselves unto the mighty hand of God, that He might exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, because He cares for you.
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Are you worried about something? Cast all your care upon God, because He cares for you.
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Psalm 37, 5, Commit your way to the Lord. Trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass.
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He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday.
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Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him. Be anxious for nothing.
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Instead, you ready for this one? You know it. You can preach this now yourself. Go home.
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You don't even need notes. Be anxious for nothing, but what? Pray about everything.
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Pray about everything. Shoe leather.
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Action we can take. Paul instructs, be anxious for nothing. And here's the contrast.
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Be anxious for nothing, but instead in everything pray. And then he gives this like mini model, this mini paradigm for prayer.
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Requests, right? Let your requests be made known to God.
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Requests are simply petitions addressed to God. For example in James 1 he says,
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If any of you lack wisdom, ask of a God who gives abundantly and upbraideth not. Prayer is just this general idea of talking to God, and asking
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Him, and worshiping, and adoring. Supplication is the idea of really crying out to the
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Lord, which we've been doing by the way. The elders are, I'm going to share part of the business meeting with you.
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You ready? We have two viable candidates to be the pastor of this
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Church. You know how long we've been praying for that? You know how much Victor, how many phone calls, letters, right?
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We don't know if they're God's men. That's supplication.
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God, God we don't want to close the doors of this Church. We want to continue as You give us grace to be a lighthouse, open doors, close doors, guide us.
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That's supplication. That's how these men have been praying. And finally, look what else he says.
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He says, with thanksgiving. You see there is this attitude and this disposition of thanksgiving.
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And if a believer is anything they should be thankful. They must thank
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God for answers to prayer. Thank God for His loving concern. Thank God that He is always with us, that He never leaves us nor forsakes us.
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Be thankful and keep on being thankful. And then finally look at this, this wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, wonderful promise in verse 7, as we live this out, the peace of God which surpasses all understandings will guard your heart and mind through Christ Jesus.
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You see when a person has joy within, and there is gentleness abounding and prayer above, he will experience peace.
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And Paul refers to this very specifically. Please don't miss these little nuances in the
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Word of God. Notice what he says. He says the peace of what? God.
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Man, it takes me a while to get things. It's not the peace that we come up with because we've reasoned this out.
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It's what? Peace of God. We can't get this peace ourselves.
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Do you understand what I'm saying to you? It's the peace of God.
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When a believer has been justified by God, Romans 5 .1,
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Romans 5 .1, therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our
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Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians 2, verse 14, for he himself is our peace.
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See, when Paul talks in Philippians 4 about the peace of God, he is talking about a divine peace, and the source is
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God, and it manifests itself in the attributes of God's eternal being.
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And notice that he says this peace will surpass all understanding.
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You see this is the kind of peace that is foreign to the experience of an unsafe person.
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When a believer rests in, and I had an experience this recently, it's not anything big, but it's something that God allowed in our life.
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And I cannot explain the peace, but it is a peace that passes all understanding.
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One person said that the peace here, that this peace of God, let me give you this quote because it's fantastic.
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I'm not this articulate. It excels and surpasses all our own intellectual calculations and considerations, all our contemplations and premeditated idea of how to get rid of our cares.
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And one of my children is a great example for me on this.
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Excels and surpasses all our own intellectual calculations and considerations, all our contemplations and premeditated ideas of how to get rid of our cares.
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We had a big conversation about politics one night at the dinner table, and one of my children, so?
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Well, don't you understand where this country is going? Well, God's in control isn't
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He? Okay.
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Do you want to preach next Sunday? I can't, I'm a woman. Look what it says, it will guard your hearts and minds.
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You know the word guard is from a Greek word. It means to see before or to look out.
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It is a military term that talks about how a guard guards a military base.
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The same verb, look at how it's used in 1
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Peter 1, same word. 1 Peter 1, I'm going to read all the verses.
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Verse 3, it's actually in verse 5 but I want to read them all. Blessed be the
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God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in Heaven for you.
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Here it is, who are kept, guarded, protected by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
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Back in chapter 4 of Philippians Paul says that this
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God will guard our hearts and our minds. Believers can enjoy emotional and mental stability if they rest in God's divine protection.
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And in case we are a little slow, like some people we know, do you notice the tag at the end of verse 7?
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He will guard your hearts and minds, how? Through Christ Jesus. Circling back to what?
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The power of the Gospel. Believers that dwell in the secret place of the
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Most High, Psalm 90, can claim the promise of His peace.
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So, peace instead of worry. Assurance instead of worry. The believer has the guarantee, and promise, and assurance, and confidence that the
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God of peace will always be with us. Dear friends, when I started studying for this message earlier in the week, this business meeting was going to go a particular way.
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And that has all changed. I cannot wait to hear from Victor and Harold this morning. God told us,
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Jesus told us, not to what? Worry. So simple.
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Be standing fast. And then look how
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He ends it in verse 9. The things, you want, can
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I paraphrase this and give you the John Cain translation? Ready? Look at verse 9, the things which you learned today, and received, and heard, and saw, go out and do them.
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And my dearly beloved members of Faith Bible Church, the
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God of peace will be with you. Wow!
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I loved it when Pastor Stan said, wow. Remember that? He would say something, and he'd go, wow.
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He would come over like this. He had that style, right? He'd carry this around. He was always fixing the pages when they blew.
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And then he'd go, wow. Remember that? And he'd look at you, wow.
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And you'd go, what did I do? Remember that look?
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Scared me. Paul emphasizes that the
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Philippians believers needed to practice what they learned, what they received, what they heard, and what they saw.
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The Gospel is powerful. God's Word is always going to take us back to the cross and faith.
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And the same should be true for the circumstances of our lives.
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Circle back to the cross, whether in relationships, verses 1 -3, whether in attitude or disposition, verses 4 -7, or whether in our thinking, or what's going to happen in our church, or our country.
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Believers must, by faith, purpose to be standing fast, to keep standing fast in these
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Gospel truths. I close with verse 8, finally, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue, if there is anything praise worthy, what?
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Meditate, and keep on meditating on these things. Let's pray.
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Father, thank You so much for Your Word. As Harold said, one of my favorite songs, beautiful song,
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He Will Hold Me Fast. He will hold us fast.
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Thank You for Your Word today we pray, in Jesus' name, amen. For our last song, and as the musicians are getting in place for the business meeting, the church meeting,
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I encourage anyone under this roof, stay and listen, and be a part of that.
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Members vote, but it is for God's Church, and you will be edified by staying.
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So, I encourage you to do that. You are all welcome. So, if you've never been in a church business meeting, maybe this is the time to see what goes on in those meetings.
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So, and I know Lozano wants us to keep it short, he's not like, let's not drag this out, let's get to it.
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So, we'll try to get to it. >>[music on stage, singing and music in the background.]
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Standing on the promises of Christ my King, through eternal ages let
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His praises sing. Glory in the highest I will shout and sing, standing on the promises of God.
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Standing, standing, standing on the promises of God my
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Savior. Standing, standing,
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I'm standing on the promises of God. One more verse.
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Standing on the promises that cannot fail, when the howling storms of doubt and fear assail, by the living
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Word of God I shall prevail, standing on the promises of God.
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Standing, standing, standing on the promises of God my
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Savior. Standing, standing,
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I'm standing on the promises of God.
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Excellent singing. Please be seated. John, I can't help myself. You said we ought to write a song about this portion.
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When I was a kid about 1945 John Peterson was in our church.
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His brother was our pastor. And we had a lady, Mrs. Hilton, who was always worrying.
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So, he sat down, and my parents said he sat down and wrote this song thinking of them. So, you have to put up with me, ok?
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>>[laughing in the background.] Why worry when you can pray? Trust Jesus He'll be your stay.
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Don't be a doubting Thomas. Rest fully in His promise. Why worry, worry, worry, worry when you can pray?
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>>[laughing and clapping in the background.] Sorry about that.
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You have to put up with me. I love it. Thank you, Victor. That's why we love our church.