I liked that. I liked all of
that hymn. We talked about from Mount Pisgah's
lofty heights. That's where the Lord took Moses
up there to show him the promised land. Remember, Moses could not
go in. The Lord took him up there to
bury him. I thought about that recently.
I took him up there and spoke to him and dealt with him kindly
and then took his life. Put him to sleep. And then buried
him. It says nobody knows where that
grave is. The Lord buried him personally.
I like that. Philippians 4. Knowing that most
of you all were out in the world today, at work. A world that like a lot vexes
you. People that vex you, that offend
you, blaspheme your God and so forth, and you're tired, discouraged. I remember that. I remember thinking
about you. I was looking for words of comfort
for you. And this chapter, I began to
read it. It helped me. I believe it will
help you. Verse 1, it begins, Therefore, my brethren, dearly
beloved and longed for, my joy and crown, stand fast, so stand
fast in the Lord, my dearly beloved. He begins, therefore. That's
why we read a little bit of chapter 3. My pastor always taught us,
when you see a therefore, see what it's there for. If you go
back a little bit, he's talking about verse 20, our conversation. Our speech, our walk, our talk
is in heaven. That's what we're looking for. We have here no continuing city.
We look for another whose builder and maker is God, which has foundation,
which is Christ the Lord. Our conversation is in heaven
from whence we look for the Savior. for the Savior to return, the
Lord Jesus Christ. And he says He'll change our
vile bodies. This body of death. That's what
we're looking for in change. That we'll be fashioned into
His glorious body. Verse 21, according to the working
whereby He's able. He's able to subdue all things
unto Himself. So therefore, Therefore, stand
fast. It won't be long now. It won't
be long. So stand fast in the Lord. He
calls us His brethren dearly beloved and longed for. that is greatly desired. He's
talking to the church at Philippi, people like the jailer, whatever
his name was, Mr. Jailer, Lydia and others. And Paul was very fond of these
people, loved them, preached to them. And he said, my dearly
beloved, he longed for, he was in jail right now himself, and
he longed to see them. And that gives me comfort because
hereby we know we've passed from death unto life if we love the
brethren. And I think of you the same way,
don't you? Think of it, dearly beloved. You say that about family, don't
you? Dearly beloved. That's not just a preacher term.
I hate that when preachers use that so much. Dearly beloved,
we're gathered here. This is a precious term between
people that really love one another. My longed for. When you love
somebody, you can't wait to see them. Right? Longed for. How long can you go without?
Not long. My joy and crown. These people,
the Lord used Paul to bring the gospel to them and give them
new birth. The Lord used him, so there was
a special bond there. There always is between the man
you first hear the gospel from. And he said, You're my joy and
rejoice, my crown. I'm not looking for a reward
in heaven, but if I see you, that will be a reward. That's
what he's saying. So stand fast in the Lord. Don't be moved away from your
hope. How often does he say that? How
often is that written throughout the epistles, huh? Hold fast. Stand fast. It's because, you
know, Gone to wander and so forth. Stand fast in the Lord, my dearly
beloved. Verse 2, he says something to
two ladies of the church that apparently had a little, maybe
more than a disagreement, Eodius and Syntica. I beseech them that
they be of the same mind in the Lord. Apparently they had a falling
out of some sort. And he tells them, be of the
same mind. What mind is that? Chapter 2, he said, let this
mind be in you. Don't think on your own thing.
Think on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which
was also in Christ Jesus, who thought it not robbery to be
equal with God, but took upon himself the form of a servant.
This mind be in you, that when he was reviled, reviled not again.
He suffered himself to be reviled and committed himself to the
judge. Be willing to suffer wrong for
love's sake. That's what love does to you. Love is willing to take the wrong. So it says, be of the same mind. Verse 3, I entreat thee also,
true yokefella, he's talking to the the pastor of the church
there, whoever it was, that's who he's talking to, through
Yockfell, I entreat thee to help those women which labored with
me in the gospel. And I thought about this. We're
all yoke fellows, aren't we? The illustration is of two oxen
or two horses or mules. They're yoked together. They're
united together. And they're pulling together
in the same direction. If you're yoked to somebody else,
you're not your own. You can't go where you... You're
in the same together. And if you're yoked, That means
somebody's got the reins, doesn't it? That means you're working
for somebody, not yourself. If you're yoked, you're working
for whoever owns you. Right? And so Christ said, take
my yoke upon you. It's good that a young man bear
the yoke in his youth. But you're not alone. You're
yoked together. We're all in this thing together,
aren't we? Laborers together. And he says
these women labored with him in the gospel. They weren't preaching,
were they? No. You know that. There's absolutely
no instance whatsoever of a woman standing up preaching. But, man,
I've heard many of you women preach to me. Oh yeah. Many of you. And I've got
many good points from my wife and didn't give her credit for
them. You witness, talk to others, labor in the gospel, and you
labor in other ways. Ministering to the saints? My,
my. How did Lydia minister? to Paul. How did she labor in the gospel
with him? Now ministering to him and Silas,
every time Paul went into town, Lydia had them in her home. She
loved the Apostle Paul and Silas and Timothy and others and kept
them in her home. So that makes her just as vital
to the cause of the gospel as those who preach it. Right? Right? Right. That's what our Lord did. That's what He did. He came to
serve. He said, I am as one among you
that serveth. Seekest thou great things for
thyself? Seek them not. Two angels came down from heaven.
Both in the service sent by the Lord in His service. One was
to preach the gospel, the other one was to sweep the streets.
Neither argued over who got what job. They knew that both were
honorable if in the service to their Lord. So, yoke fellows,
those that labor in the gospel, even women. He said, your names
are written, those names are written in the book of life.
You remember that? When the apostles came back and
said, the devils are subject to us. Aren't we something? And the Lord rebuked them. He
said, don't rejoice in that. Rejoice in this. Your names are
in the book of life. Rejoice in that. Your names are
in the book of life. Lydia's name is there. Priscilla. Aquila's wife, Priscilla. Those
friends at Corinth with Paul went with him everywhere. Mary
Magdalene's name is there, isn't it? Ruth, Rahab, Irene, Sherry,
Amy. Oh, yeah. They're there. Yes,
they are. As are all of the daughters of
Abraham. Christ's people. Verse 4. He
says, Rejoice in the Lord always. And again I say, rejoice. He
is telling us to stand fast in the Lord, unmovable. This is
something that will help us stand fast. Rejoice in the Lord. Rejoice in the Lord Jesus Christ
who reigns and rules. If you're worried about things,
you'll be unsettled and unstable, won't
you? If you look at the world and listen to the world and follow
the world, you'll run to the hills or run to here or run to
there. But if you think about thy God
reigning, Your Lord reigns and rules among the armies of heaven
and among the inhabitants of the earth. He reigns and He rules. Now settle you. Now ground you. Settle you. Rejoice in the Lord
who reigns and rules over us. And that same Lord who reigns
and rules loves His people much more than a father can love an
earthly child. Much more. You parents know something
about love. Don't your grandparents? You'd
do anything for it. Scripture says, our Lord said,
how much more? Rejoice. Rejoice in the Lord
who loves us and cares for us. He actually does care for us
more than we can imagine. So let the world fret and worry. Let us who know the Lord rejoice
that He reigns. Rejoice in the Lord who came
He came to this earth to live for us. To establish that righteousness. To present us faultless before
His presence. Who died for us. Put away our
sins. There is nothing on the record
of God's people. Rejoice! Your sins are gone. Here's the greatest cause for
rejoicing. The record is clear. Clean slate? They're all gone. Sins are no
more. Rejoice in the Lord who put them
away. Rejoice in the Lord who died
for us, who arose and ever lives to make intercession for us.
Rejoice in the Lord. He says, because I live, you
live also. These verses in the margin, it
gives a verse in Colossians 3.1, and I read that again. It says,
set your affection on things above where Christ sitteth on
the right hand of God. I read that like it was the first
time I ever read it. Jesus Christ is sitting right
now. A real person sitting at the
right hand of God. A person is sitting there reigning
and ruling like a king on the throne. Reigning and overseeing
his kingdom, his people. And nothing moves and nothing
harms us. Not just while we trust in Him,
but all the time. All the time. That psalm, if
we trust and never doubt, He'll surely bring us out. Well, He
will bring us out of fears and doubts and worries, but whether
we trust Him or not, He's going to bring us out. Right? Oh yeah, because He's faithful.
He's faithful. Rejoice in the Lord always. Sandy, there he is. I'm not used to that. Sammy read
from Psalm 105 tonight. It says he remembered his covenant
forever. He cannot forget his covenant.
Rejoice. Rejoice. He remembered his covenant
forever. Rejoice always. Good times, bad
times. Happy times, sad times. Rich
times, poor times. Rejoice. Where? In the Lord. In the Lord. And again, he said, I say, rejoice. You want to know how many times
Paul said rejoice in Philippians? In Philippians? Ten times. Now let me remind you, he's in
prison. And he's encouraging us. Well,
if he can rejoice, he has learned whatever state he's in, and that's
a bad state, physically speaking. And he said, Rejoice. Remember
Paul and Silas when they went to Philippi? They were cast into
the dungeon of darkness in chains. What did they do? Woe is me. Oh no. Praise the Lord. They began to sing. The chains fell off. Rejoice. Again I say, Rejoice. It was
just like his Lord. The Lord is constantly telling
His disciples, Be of good cheer. Wouldn't it? Constantly tell
peace. He's the one that's bearing all
the trouble. He's the one that's the man of sorrow and the queen
of the grief. He's the one that's taking all our care upon Him.
So he tells us, rest. Rest. Rejoice in the Lord that
He has taken your burden. Take them to the Lord and leave
them there. Verse 5, let your moderation be known unto all
men. The Lord is at hand. Now what's
that got to do with what he just said? In the context, this is
taken in context now, the word moderation means gentle submission. It means behavior fitting those
who claim to believe God. When you think of something moderate,
so much moderate means you're not woo, woo, woo, woo. Right? Moderate. Calm. Collective. Gentle. Neat. Submissive. That's appropriate behavior for
those who claim to believe God reigns. Right? Nothing. Let your
moderation be known unto all men, he said. To all men, you
know, if we rejoice in the Lord, we need to act like it, because
that is honoring to Him. Especially before a world that
is nothing but unthankful and blasphemous and murmuring and
complaining. Isn't it? That's all the world
does, Brother John. That's all they do. If it rains,
they complain about it. If it doesn't rain, they complain
about it. Too much, too little. Too hot, too dry. Too cold, too
wet. Don't let that come out of our
mouth. What did the Lord, the anger
of the Lord finally fell on the children of Israel for what?
Murmuring and complaining. He said, you've forgotten all
I've done for you, all the way that I led you all these years,
and you're still complaining? Okay. But let it not be us. Rejoice. Rejoice. My, my. Rejoice. So that's in
the context. Let it be known unto all men.
That gives honor to our Lord. And vice versa, it brings great
dishonor on our Lord to those who claim to believe Him. Verses
6 and 7. Now, these are the verses that
made me want to deal with this. And you love these, you know
these well. He says, Be careful for nothing, but in everything
by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving let your requests
be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth
all understanding, shall keep your hearts and your
minds through Christ Jesus. Now that's what we need, isn't
it? The peace of God that passes understanding, meaning that it's
not something you can really explain. It must be experienced. It's something too amazing to
be able to put it into words. The world, sir, can't understand
it. And we can't even fully understand it, but we experience it. This peace of God, it says, will
keep our hearts. David said, my flesh and my heart
faileth. This will keep our hearts from
failing us. This will keep our hearts, our
Lord said, from being overcharged with surfeiting and with the
world in our hearts. You can go after something. This
will keep our hearts from... This will set our affection,
our heart on things above. This will keep us from failing. Keep our hearts from breaking
with worry and fear. Keep your minds. This peace of
God will keep our minds from overmuch fear. We'll have fear. We're flesh and blood. But it
will keep us from too much fear, too much worry, which is unbelief.
and anxiety. And it will keep thoughts. Remember
when the Lord said, why do thoughts arise in your heart? Meaning,
why are you always thinking the worst? That's what He was saying. Why do you always imagine the
worst? Is that anybody in here? You always imagine the worst.
You wouldn't think I would. I do. When it comes to my own. Maybe not others, but when it
comes to mine. That should not be. This peace of God will keep
our hearts and minds. I need it. I need it. The peace of God. What is it?
Well, it begins here. Look at verse
6. It begins with prayer. Verse 6. Be careful for nothing. Don't be full of anxious care
for anything. Don't be full of worry and concern
and fears and care, you know, just full of care. Oh no, just
not yet consumed with care, consumed with things, anything, anyone
or anything. Don't be full of that. But in
everything, he said, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving,
let your requests be made known unto God and this peace of God
will keep you. Prayer. Prayer. Prayer is communion with God. Very plainly. Prayer is calling
on our God. Call on me in the day of trouble. That's a command. That's permission. Come boldly, he said, to the
throne of grace. Stop and think about that. The
throne. That means the king's on it.
Of grace. And we just sang that hymn, Sweet
Hour of Prayer, that calls me from a world of care and bids
me at my Father's throne. Your Father is Him. A throne, and your Father sits
on it. And it's grace. He's the God
of all grace. Come fully to the call on me in the day of trouble.
What day is that? Every day. Man is born a woman. A few days and every one of them
are full of trouble, aren't they? We wake up in trouble. The old
man with the world, with Satan, sin, self. Come boldly, says
the throne of grace. Prayer is calling on God. He
says, call on Me. Prayer is talking to our Heavenly
Father. Our Lord said that, the Lord
Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten. He said, I'm going to My Father
and Your Father. He says, the Father loveth you
like he loveth me. Prayer is talking to our Father. Our Lord, they said, teach us
to pray, Lord. What did He say? Our Father,
which already happened. Prayer is calling upon our Father.
communion with our God, talking to our God. And so he says, pray. He says this often, doesn't he?
Pray without ceasing. And everything by prayer. Everything. Nothing too small, certainly
nothing too great. Everything by prayer. Call upon
your God. Be in communion with your God. Prayer is mostly made up of two
things. Praise and requests. Praise and petitions, that's
it. Praise. Hallowed be thy name. Praise. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be
done. Praise. And thanksgiving is praise
with thanksgiving. Prayer with thanksgiving. Praise
is prayer. Prayer is praise and petitions.
He said, let your requests, supplication, Supplication, the word supply
is in there. It's the root word. My God, Paul
said, shall supply all your need according to His riches. He's the King of unsearchable
riches. My God shall supply all your
needs. What do you need? Oh, we're poor
and needy. We need it all, don't we? We
need all great. He's the God of all great. My
greatest needs are mercy, grace, wisdom. Be kept by His power. Need a word from Him, don't we?
Need to be led and guided by His Spirit. So he says there's peace. There's
peace. Call upon your God. Our Lord
said this. He said, Peace I leave with you. I love this verse. John 14. Peace
I leave with you. Peace of God. Peace with God
that Jesus Christ, when He went to Calvary's Cross and took that
whipping, took the chastisement of our pig, the stripes that
we should have bore were laid on Him. The Lord laid on Him
the iniquity of us all, and by His stripes we are healed. broke
its rod on the back of the Lord Jesus Christ. And He is our peace. The wrath of God was poured out
on His Son. God is not angry with that. Peace. Christ said, Peace I leave
with you. I made peace by the blood of
my cross. That's the peace of God. And
you can't fully understand that except by looking to Christ crucified. My peace I give unto you. Peace I leave with you. He made
peace. And my peace I give unto you.
Let not your heart be troubled. My peace. The peace that He had. Believing. Peace by believing.
Trusting the Heavenly Father. He said, watch me. I trust. I live by faith. You do the same. My peace I give not as the world
giveth. I promise peace, peace when there
is no peace. There is no peace for the wicked,
God said. None. Never will be. It's very
temporary. But Christ said, My peace forever. Peace. Peace in the midst of
most fearful time, troubled and sorrowful time. So he says, in
everything, by prayer and supplication, supplication with thanksgiving,
let your requests be made known unto God. Supplication. One more word here on this supplication. And by the way, prayer, people that talk about prayer
today don't know what they're talking about. They say things
like prayer works, like it's a magic saying or a mantra or
some kind of, even medicine and science acknowledge some kind
of benefit. That's positive mental attitudes,
all that is. Prayer doesn't work like it's
some kind of thing you use. God works. Prayer is calling
on the God who does all things. Prayer. We don't give the glory
to prayer. We give the glory to God. We
pray to the Lord. We call on God who ordained prayer
and answers prayer. We glorify God. We don't glorify
prayer. Although God did ordain it. But
this thing of supplication. He said, let your request, supplication
with thanksgiving. Supplication. We can ask our God to supply
all our needs, and He will. He's promised it. And we can
make our requests known unto God, whatever they may be. And to say that, let your request
be made known unto God. I know for a fact, if we pray
according to His will, that we will receive that. Such as prayer
for faith, prayer for wisdom. Any man lack wisdom, let him
ask, give it liberally. You can count on it. God has
promised. You ask anything in Christ's name, according to His
will, that is for mercy, for grace, for a forgiving spirit,
for faith to trust Him, for wisdom from above, spiritual thing,
guaranteed He'll give it to you. He delights to give that. But
here it says, let your requests be made known. No specific. Just ask Him. Whatever it may
be. Not saying He's going to give
it to you, but you can catch it. I can ask my Father here
anything. Anything I want to Him. Not saying He's able to give
it to me, but I can ask Him. And He'll either teach me or
chasten me for asking or something, won't He? But you can talk to
your Heavenly Father. And we need to. Should I do this? Should I do that? Should I buy
this? Should I buy that? All through our lives, there
are things that we need Him to let us know. Let your requests
be made known unto God. In everything, by prayer and
supplication. Don't be full of care for anything,
but in everything, cast your care upon Him. Unburden yourself. Prayer is unburdening yourself.
Don't unburden yourself to men and women. They can't do anything
about it. They really can't. They really
can't. All you've done is lay on them
a burden that they can't bear. Right? But I'll tell you who
to cast your care upon. It's His shoulders are big. Cast
all your care on Him. Scripture says. Nobody else.
On Him. He's able to bear it. And He's
able to take that burden away from you. To do something about
it. So don't be full of care for anything. Everything by prayer,
call upon your God in supplication with thanksgiving. Here's the key to peace. If you are thankful and count
your blessings, begin to count your blessings, spiritual blessings
mostly. Paul said this in several epistles.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
according to His abundant mercy has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings and heavenly things. Blessed be God. Psalm 103, blessed
be His holy name. Don't forget His benefit. Your burden of ease and that
peace will come upon you. Peace of God which passes understanding. It will keep your minds, your
hearts and your minds through Christ Jesus. See, it's all through
Christ Jesus. It's all because of Christ Jesus. Let me remind you how we know
that God is. is because Christ came. We know
that God is, because Christ is God. How we know that the Word
of God is true, every word of it, and we can lean on it, is
because Christ came. The Word was made flesh. And he lived it. And he fulfilled
it. And he spoke it. And he illustrated
it. Didn't he? The Word. How do we
know the Word of God is true? Go anywhere and test yourself
upon this Word. Lean upon it. And it will support
you. How do you know? Because Christ
came. How do you know there is life eternal? Eternal peace. Eternal rest. That we will rest
in peace. How do we know? Because Christ
came. See, it's through Christ Jesus. It's all through and because
of Him we get this peace. So, rejoice in the Lord. In the Lord Jesus Christ. Always. And again, I say, rejoice. Always. In all things. And let
your moderation be known. Let men know. Let it be seen
that you believe the Lord and rejoice in Him. Don't be full
of care for anything, but cast your care on Him in prayer and
supplication. Let your requests be made known
to peace of God. Peace of God, something we'll
have to experience that passes understanding. Keep your hearts
and keep your mind. Keep from losing your mind through
Christ Jesus. Alright, stand with me. Our Lord, how we thank You for
Your Word. Every word of it, every word,
every line, every phrase is a golden nugget, a morsel of bread. Lord, it's sweeter than the honeycomb. It's more valuable than gold
or silver. Precious promises whereby we
escape the world through corruption and make partakers of the image,
the divine image. Lord, we thank You for Your Word.
Again, we ask that You would plant it on the tables of our
heart. Let not the fowls of the air
come and take it away. They're there just as soon as
we leave this place. The thorns, Lord, we're going
to be out there amongst the cares of this world. Let not the thorns
choke out the Word. We pray it may have found, this
blessed seed may have found good ground this night. For your glory
and honor, we ask these things. And give thanks in Christ's name.
Amen. Turn this off.