Six Needful Reminders

I want you to open your Bibles
tonight for the message to the book of Philippians. Now, before I get to the text, let me say a few things about
the relationship between the Apostle Paul And these Philippian
believers to whom he writes, there was a special, special
bond between Paul and this church. He was especially dear to them,
and they were especially dear to him. He was the man whom God
used to bring them to a knowledge of the gospel of Christ. Can't you imagine how much Lydia
regarded, how highly she regarded Paul? Lydia was in darkness,
Jewish ceremonialism, meeting with a group of women down by
the river seeking truth. And Paul came down and God opened
her heart. He preached the gospel to her
and God opened her heart. She was a member of that church.
She was one of the first converts. The Philippian jailer. Imagine how highly he esteemed
this man, Paul, who came to him in his darkness and heathenism
and preached Christ to him. The demon-possessed girl that
he found down there in Philippi of Macedonia. So there were a
lot of people there who loved Paul very dearly. He loved them. And then God sent Paul to Philippi
in a most unusual fashion. I believe that's found in Acts
16. Let's turn over and look at it
a moment. Paul didn't have any doubt at all. about the Lord's
mercies and blessings upon this people, because it says here
in Acts 16 verse 9, And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. There stood a man of Macedonia,
Philippi was the chief city of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying,
Come over into Macedonia and help us, help us. And after Paul
had seen the vision immediately, we endeavored to go into Macedonia,
assuredly, confidently gathering that the Lord had called us for
to preach the gospel unto them. This was a special place, a special
people to the Apostle Paul. And then upon hearing that Paul
was a prisoner in Rome, when he wrote this epistle, he was
a prisoner in Rome. And these people down in Philippi
heard that Paul was in prison in Rome. And the church sent
their pastor up there to see him, to take gifts and food and
presents to Paul. up there in prison in Rome. You
see, Philippians 4, that'll be the text tonight, but let's look
at verse 15. This is the epistle to the Philippians
that Paul wrote in chapter 4, verse 15. Now you Philippians
know also that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed
from Macedonia, when I preached to you and left you, No church
communicated with me as concerning giving and receiving, but you
only. For even in Thessalonica you
sent once and again under my necessity." I was down in Thessalonica
preaching, and you sent gifts down there to help me. This church
loved this man. Not because, verse 17, I desire
a gift. I didn't tell you. I didn't ask
you. But I desire fruit that may abound
to your count. But now, verse 18, I have all,
I have received all that you sent, and I abound, and I'm full. Having received of Epaphroditus,
that was the pastor, Epaphroditus, I received from him the things
which were sent from you. an odor of a sweet smell, a sacrifice
acceptable, well-pleasing to God. But my God shall supply
all of your need according to His riches in glory by Christ
Jesus." That's the relationship between this man and those people. And so when their posture went
back to Philippi, having come to Rome to bring Paul their love
gifts and their food and other things. He sent,
by the will of God, this epistle back to them by their pastor. And I'm not going to try to preach
from the whole epistle. I'm going to look at chapter
4, the closing The closing words. You know, closing words are important. All words are important in God's
Word, but there's something special about last words. Closing words. Summary. Conclusion. A conclusion of a letter. And somebody said, what you say
first is of great importance, and what you say last is of greater
importance. Maybe. Here I find in this closing
chapter, Philippians 4, six needful reminders. That's what I'm going
to call this message. Paul starts chapter 4, verse
1, with, therefore. Therefore, my conclusion. And
he gives these people six needful reminders, and this is for me,
and this is for you. And you say, well, let's look
at this. And you underscore these things
that I'm going to give you, six things I'm going to give you.
Mark your Bible up. It's all right to do that. Verse
1, we find the first one. Therefore, my brethren, dearly
beloved, and long for my joy and crown, stand fast in the
Lord. That's number one. You stand
fast in the Lord. my dearly beloved." Now, Brother
Poster, is it necessary to exhort people like these folks? Lydia,
the jailer, the young lady, all these people down in Philippi,
these people who love Paul and Paul loved them, these people
who The only church that inquired into his necessities when he
was in Thessalonica, only church. The only one who inquired about
giving and receiving and took care of Paul. That's what he
said, the only one. Is it necessary to remind people
like that, like those people, to stand fast in the Lord? Unmovable? Well, consider how he addresses
them. Look at verse 1. Therefore, my
brethren," my brethren, my family, you're my family, you're my brothers
in the Lord, my dearly beloved, this is the inner circle of the
inner circle, my beloved, special to me, every one of you, my longed
for, I long to see you, my heart longs for you, my joy and crowns, You're my
pistils. You're my joy. You're my crown.
I'm not looking for a crown in glory. I've got my crown. It's you, my joy, the evidence
of a successful stewardship, my dearly beloved. And he tells
these people to stand fast in the Lord. I tell you, don't allow,
here's what Paul is saying to them, now, don't you allow anyone,
at any time, or anything, in days to come, to turn your head
away from Christ, looking to Christ. Don't you stand fast
in the Lord. Unmovable. Stand fast. Don't let anything or anyone
at any time turn your hearts, win your affection from your
first love, your beloved. Don't do it. Stand. Stand fast in the gospel. Over
here in 1 Corinthians, he said, Brethren, I declare unto you
the gospel, the gospel of God's grace, which I preach to you.
which also you received, and wherein you stand." You stand
in the gospel. Keep on standing there. Keep
on standing there. There is no other gospel. Just
one gospel. And it's the gospel by which
you're saved. If you keep in memory what I
preached unto you, unless you have believed in vain, I delivered
unto you, first of all, that which I received, how that Christ
died for our sins according to the Scriptures. and he was buried,
rose again the third day according to the scriptures. You stand
fast, unmovable in that gospel. Stand there. Mr. Spurgeon said one time in
one of his last messages, he said, in the 38 years that I've
pastored this church and preached the gospel, my message has not
changed one iota. I'm preaching the same gospel
now. I preach that. If you know the gospel, there's
no reason to change the gospel. So stand in the gospel. Secondly,
stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has set you free. Don't
turn to Galatians. Listen to Paul here. Don't let
someone come in and give you some Sabbath days to keep, and
some duties to perform, and some tithes to pay, and this sort
of thing. Some works to do, some laws to
keep in order to find acceptance with God or sanctification with
God. Listen to Galatians 5. Stand
fast, therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us
free. Do not become. and be not entangled
again with this yoke of bondage. Behold, I pause saying to you,
if you be circumcised, Christ profits you nothing." I testify
again to every man that's circumcised, if he does that to find favor
with God, he's a debtor to do the whole law. And when a man
starts down this law road to please God or to find sanctification
or acceptance with God, verse 4 says, Christ is become of no
effect to him. Whosoever of you are justified
by the law, you've departed from the gospel of grace. For we through
the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness, not by law,
not by works, but by faith. For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision
availeth anything nor uncircumcision, but faith with worketh by love."
Stand fast. My beloved, my brethren, My joy
and cry, my long for, don't move from that gospel of grace. Don't
move from the liberty of Christ. He's my righteousness, 110%. And stand fast in the fellowship
of the church. Turn to Hebrews 10. Oh, I tell you, if I could say
anything, the third thing here, the first two things are the
most important. I know that. Stand fast in the
gospel. Stand fast in the liberty that
Christ, where Christ has set you free from bondage and works. But don't let anything take you
away from the fellowship of believers. Don't let anybody anywhere ever
deceive you into thinking you can worship God just as well
by yourself as you can with His people. It is not so. It is not
so. Every believer needs a pastor.
Every believer needs some elders. Every believer needs brethren
to encourage him. Every believer needs exhortation,
encouragement, comfort, all of these things. And you're asking
for big trouble when you don't worship God on the Lord's Day.
And these midweek services and other opportunities you have
to come together. He said, where two or three are
met in my name, I'll be in their midst. That's right. It's dangerous,
dangerous, dangerous. There's no substitute. God has
ordained the church. God has established the church. Our Lord Jesus Christ founded
the church. It's for our good, for our comfort,
for our encouragement. Hebrews 10, verse 6. 24, 23 says, let's hold fast the profession
of our faith without wavering. He's faithful at promise. Hold
fast. Stand fast. And let's consider
one another to encourage one another, to comfort one another,
to provoke one another unto love and good works. Don't forsake
the assembling of yourselves together as the manner of some
is, but exhort one another and so much more. As you get older,
as you approach the day of death, as you approach the coming of
the Lord, so much more. Come on now. I know something about folks.
I've been dealing with folks a long time. And I know what
happens to folks who leave the fellowship. I know what happens
to them. Don't ever let it happen to you.
Stand fast in the fellowship. of the church. Thank God you
have it. If you don't have it, look for
one. That's right. Stand fast in the
doctrine of Christ. Turn to 2 John, look at this.
Stand fast in the doctrine of Christ. Oh my, blessed is the
man. Blessed is the man or woman who
knows the doctrine of Christ. The doctrines of grace are the
doctrine of Christ. In 2 John, verse 9, it says,
"...whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of
Christ hath not God." That's something, it just hath
not God. "...he that abideth in the doctrine
of Christ." That doctrine of Christ is substitution, satisfaction,
righteousness, His precious blood, His redemption, His grace, the
doctrine of Christ. He that abideth in the doctrine
of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son." And don't you dilly-daddle
with people who don't preach the gospel. He says, if anybody
comes to you in your church or in your home and brings not this
doctrine of Christ, don't you receive him, and don't you bid
him good day either, and don't you say, God bless you, and don't
you support him. Because if you bid him Godspeed,
you're a partaker of his evil deeds. That's what's strong in
him. A man come along preaching something
contrary to the doctrine of Christ, and you give him a helping hand,
you're driving the getaway car. That's right. While a man robs
the bank, you're just as guilty. So stand fast. Look at the text
of Philippians 4. Let me move on here. Verse 1
says, My brethren, my dearly beloved, my longed for, my joy,
my crown, stand fast in the Lord. Secondly, verse 2, I beseech
Eudeus and I beseech Syntyche that they be of the same mind
in the Lord. Now, I understand that these
are two ladies in the church, Eudeus and Syntyche. And these are two ladies, prominent
women in the church, well-known ladies in the church, who were
divided over some misunderstanding or some problem. And Paul, all the way up there
in Rome, in prison, knowing about this conflict between these two
sisters, and they must have been well-known sisters in the church,
well-known and prominent ladies in the church, And Paul, way
up there in Rome, with all of his burdens and heartaches and
responsibilities, he takes note of this conflict and this division
because it was affecting other people in the church. And it
will. Ah yes, it will. So he writes
in this epistle, in the concluding remarks of this epistle, and
he tells these two dear ladies, he loves them both, he says,
now you all settle this thing. You all settle this thing. You
settle it for the glory of God, and he says, you two ladies be
of the same mind in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's right, you
get together and solve this problem and love one another. And don't
let this affect the congregation and the fellowship. Now, my friends,
believers and religious people can never get together and unite
in fellowship, because we're going in different directions.
Believers and religious people, that's not what Paul is saying.
He's not contending that all the churches and religious people
get together and walk together and identify together. No, sir. We're not one in Christ with
religious people. And believers in the world can
never be united in fellowship because Christ said, if you were
of the world, the world would love you. But because you're
not of the world, I've chosen you out of the world, therefore
the world hates you. But my brethren, they hated me
before they hated you. But believers, those who are
one in Christ, those who are sisters and brothers in Christ,
have no reason whatsoever to be divided over the trivial garbage
of this world. Whatever it is. I don't know
what was affecting these two ladies. But I do know this. It wasn't worth it. And Paul
said so too. You ladies, you get together.
And down here in verse 3, he said, And I entreat you, true
yoke feller. I don't know who he's talking
to here, and nobody seems to know who he's talking to, but
he's telling somebody to help these ladies. Help them. Help
them. Help these women. They labored
with me in the gospel. You help them settle their conflict
and settle their differences with Clement also. Bring him
in on it and settle this thing. And all the other my fellow laborers
whose names are in the Book of Life. You know, people can fall
out and still be in the Book of Life. Some two people have
a disagreement. One looks down and says, well,
you're just not saved. You mean I'm not saved because I don't
agree with you? No, he said they're all in the book of life. My yoke
fellow and Clement and Jodis and Syntyche, they're all in
the book of life. But he tells them to get together.
They're one body. Over here, here's the reason.
Look at Ephesians just a moment. Ephesians chapter 4. Don't hold
a grudge. Don't do that. It affects, the
fallout is everywhere, you know. Just saddle it, get it over with.
In Ephesians chapter 4, he says in verse 1, look at this, I therefore
the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the
vocation wherewith you are called with all lowliness, and meekness,
with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love, endeavoring
to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." Why? Because
there's one body and one Spirit. I've seen folks who had a problem,
physical problem, where their body's out of sync, they can't
walk straight, you know, they're like this, and that's because
the body's out of coordination. And that's what happens when,
in the church, when you've got the different parts of the body
not getting along. It puts the whole body out of
whack. So that's what he tells us, we're one body, we're one
spirit. Even as you're called in one
hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God
and Father of all, who is above all and through you all and in
you all, so let's get together and make peace." That's what
he's saying to these ladies. All right, here's the third thing.
I promised you six. Six reminders, needful reminders. Stand fast, no matter how long
you live, live in Him. Be of the same mind in the Lord.
Verse 4, Rejoice in the Lord always. And again I say, Rejoice. Rejoice. You know, this seems
to be, this seems to be the one prominent word in this epistle.
Just four short chapters and the word Rejoice. Rejoice. Rejoice is in here ten times. Rejoice. Let me show you something. Turn to Philippians 1. You know, everybody didn't like
Paul. Everybody didn't like Paul. Paul had some enemies. He said,
some preach Christ of contention, hoping to add to my bonds. In
this tribe, some out of love. And you remember that? Philippians
1, verse 17. Verse 16, one preached Christ
of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to
my bonds, the other of love, knowing I'm set for the defense
of the gospel. Now watch verse 18. What then? What matters?
What does it matter? Notwithstanding every way, whether
in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached, and I therein do
rejoice, yea, and I will rejoice. Isn't that something? I rejoice. Here he is in prison,
some fellas out there preaching, and they're not in tune with
him, they're not in heart with him, but he said, that's alright,
if they preach Christ, I'm going to rejoice. Look at chapter 2,
verse 17. Paul knew he eventually was going
to be put to death for preaching the gospel. He knew this was
the end of the road. In Philippians 2, verse 17, he
said, "'Yea, and if I be offered, poured out, poured forth upon
the sacrifice,' the thank-offering upon the sacrifice, "'in service
of your faith, I joy, and I rejoice with you all. For the same cause
also do ye joy.'" Come on, rejoice with me, he said. The time of
my departure is at hand. I've kept the faith. I've fought
a good fight. I've finished my course. I rejoice. Don't weep over me, he said. Don't you remember when Brother
Charlie Payne spoke to us the last time? I remember that as
vividly as yesterday, standing right here. He said, don't weep
for me. Rejoice with me. I'm going home. You remember
that? I'm going home. That's what Paul is saying here.
Rejoice. I'm going home. I'm happy, he
said. I rejoice. Look at chapter 2,
verse 27. And here the pastor, Epaphroditus,
was sick, almost died, while he was up there with Paul. He
said, verse 25 of Philippians 2, Yet I suppose it necessary
to send to you, Epaphroditus, my brother and companion and
labor and fellow soldier, but your messenger, your minister,
And he that ministered to my wants, for he longed after you
all, was full of heaviness, because you heard he had been sick. For
indeed he was sick, nigh unto death. But God had mercy on him,
and not only on him only, but on me also, lest I should have
sorrow upon sorrow. I sent him therefore the more
carefully, that when you see him again, you rejoice. Again, there's some fellas going
to rejoice next Saturday when they see you over in Africa. They haven't seen you in a long
time. They're going to rejoice. And Paul says here, when Epaphroditus
comes home, everybody's going to rejoice to see him. Rejoice,
see? And here in verse, chapter 4,
verse 4, he says, Rejoice in the Lord always. Whatever the
circumstances, whatever the Whatever the trial, just rejoice in the
Lord. Rejoice. In what? Rejoice in His grace, it's sufficient. Rejoice in His blood, it justifies. Rejoice in His righteousness,
it reconciles. Rejoice in His love, it never
fails. Rejoice in His providence, it's
working everything out for our good. Rejoice in His power, He
heals. your diseases, satisfyeth your
mouth with good things. Rejoice in His intercession,
it's continual. Rejoice in His return, it's imminent,
I believe. Rejoice. My life has touched by God's
providence some of His choice preachers
in the past. and some of his choice preachers
now, and those who will preach in the future. And I came to
know for a little while, very well, Brother A.D. Mewes. Brother
A.D. Mewes died in 1954. He was 64,
so he was born in 1890. And his life touched the lives
of men M.T. Martin, and others. And he knew an old preacher by
the name of Josh Gravitt, who was born way before him. Josh
Gravitt went to Moody Bible Institute, way back yonder, when it began. And he was a country fella. Mew
said that when he came out of the hills and started Moody Bible
Institute, studied to be a preacher, He wore big old high-top shoes
with white socks and pants too short that always were above
his shoes, and black trousers that he'd wore for weeks at a
time, and a shirt, white shirt and suspenders. And he was tall
and gangly and skinny. And he wasn't very talented,
but he loved Christ, loved the gospel. knew the word, and was
a student. And Mr. Moody took a great liking
to him. And there was a group of people
from, I don't know where it was, somewhere in the Midwest, came
to Moody Bible Institute looking for a pastor. And they went in
to see Mr. Moody, and they told him they
wanted him to recommend a pastor. And Moody was an abrupt man,
very abrupt. And he just said, get Josh Gravitt.
And they wanted to talk some more. He said, I said, get Josh
Gravitt. So they left Mr. Moody's office, this A.D. Mews
telling me about this. They went down to the boiler
room where Josh Gravitt was keeping the fires going, shoveling coal.
And there he stood in those high-top bogan shoes and those short pants
and white socks. And he looked like anything but
a preacher. And they took one look at him,
went back to the office, and they said, Mr. Moody, we've got
a pretty fine group of people in church, and we need a pastor. He said, I told you, get Josh
Draper. And that's all I got to say.
And you know they called him? He pastored that church 50 years.
50 years. God blessed it immeasurably. And his pet saying, Brother Mews
said, everything, this is what he'd say, well, the Lord's sovereign
and we'll be thankful. That's Josh Gravett. That was
his attitude, that was his spirit, no matter what, no matter what,
the Lord's sovereign and we'll be thankful. And Brother Mews
said that he and Josh, Josh was older than he, and they were
out driving, he was preaching a meeting for Josh Gravett, and
they were out driving in a model key forward, and it turned over. Had a pretty serious wreck. And Josh Gravitt's ribs were
broken on one side and his lung punctured. And he was in extreme
pain. And Brother Muse went over there
where he was lying, thrown out of the car. And he got one of
the seats and put it under his head, and the old man was holding
his side. Found out later he had that punctured
lung in serious condition. And Brother Mews said, Josh,
are you hurt bad? He said he could tell he was
in extreme torture. He said, Archie, God is sovereign,
and we'll be thankful. Isn't that beautiful? I wish
I could act like that, don't you? But that's the way to act. That's what Paul said, rejoice
in the Lord. Always! Even with your head on
the seat of a T-model Ford with a punctured lung. God is suffering. We'll be thankful. Isn't that
beautiful? That's it right there. So songwriters
said, Rejoice in the Lord. Let every tongue its noblest
tribute bring. When he's the subject of the
song, who can refuse to sing? Survey the beauties of His face,
and on His glory dwell. Think of the wonders of His grace,
and of His wisdom tell. Forgive me, Lord, when I moan
and groan, and on my troubles dwell. The trial is set by Thee
alone, and that I know full well. Don't you? So rejoice in the
Lord. Let's look at this next statement
here, verse 5. Let your moderation be known
unto all men. That's the fourth needful reminder.
Let your moderation be known unto all men. Now, if this word
meant what the average person thinks it means, it wouldn't
be too hard an assignment for most of us. Let your moderation,
when we think of moderation, we think of eating, moderately
drinking, moderately dressing, moderately, etc., etc. That's not what this is talking
about. That's not, that's a good thing to do, but that's not what
he's talking about. If you've got an amplified Bible,
you know that, you've got a better translation. The word moderation
here is, this is what it's saying, listen, let all men See, let
your moderation be known unto all men, in the church or out
of the church. Let all men see and recognize your humility,
your gentleness, your unselfishness, your consideration, your forgiving
spirit. Look it up. That's what it means. Let everybody know and see. your
consideration, kindness, gentleness, unselfishness, and humility. The believer is to love one another
as Christ loved us. The believer is to be kind and
gentle and forgiving as God forgave us. That's what he said, be ye
kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God,
for Christ's sake, forgave you. The believer is to endeavor to
be as generous as his God, as merciful as his God. Isn't that
right? Be ye merciful as your Father
in heaven is merciful. We are to endeavor to live peaceably
with all men. And this is what he's saying
here, let your moderation And I assign you to look it up in
your great lexicon and look it up in some of the other translations.
Your gentleness, your kindness, your humility. As you would that
men should do unto you, do you also unto them. Be known as a
gentle, kind person. That's what he told me. Not hard. Unbending, unyielding,
demanding. Because he says the Lord is at
hand. The Lord is at hand. What does this mean? It means
three things. The Lord is at hand to help us. But that's so
difficult. Out there in the world and other...
His grace is sufficient. He's there to help us. He's there
to give us grace. He's there to help us to be gentle
and kind and forbearing and long-suffering and patient and generous. The
Lord is at hand to help us, and I tell you, the Lord is at hand
to observe us too. Turn to Ephesians 6. Let me show
you something over here. The Lord is at hand to observe
us. Ephesians 6. Let's just read, start with verse
1. Children, obey your parents and the Lord. Honor your father and mother,
which is the first commandment with promise. It might be well
with you, and you might live long on the earth. He's talking
to believers here. You fathers, provoke not your
children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition
of the Lord. Servants, be obedient to them
that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling,
in singleness of heart, as unto Christ, not with our service
as men pleases, but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of
God from the heart. with good will doing service
as to the Lord, not to men, knowing that whatsoever good thing any
man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord. The Lord's
at hand, the Lord's around, he's observing, whether it be bond
or free, whether he be bonded. And you masters, do the same
things unto them, forbearing threatening. Don't be hard with
people who work for you and labor for you. You've got a master
in heaven. Neither is there any respect
of persons with Him. He observes a man's heart and
his deeds. Finally, my brethren, be strong
in the Lord and the power of His might. Let your moderation
be known to everybody. Be known as a person. Are you
known as a person who's gentle, who's kind, who's generous, who's
helpful, who's forgiving, who loves folks, who shares? That
way you're known. Well, I am at church, but I can't
say I'm anywhere else. All men. All men. That's what it says. I'll go
back to my text. That's the fourth needful reminder. Let your gentleness, you write
that in there, your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord's
at hand. Well, let me give you the third
thing. He's at hand to help us. He's at hand to observe us. And
He's at hand to judge us. It's time for judgment to begin
at the house of the Lord. And He's our judge. In verse
6, now watch this. Be careful for nothing. Now you've
got to interpret that, this is what it's saying. Be careful
for, don't, do not fret and murmur. Let's don't fret and murmur and
complain and be filled with anxiety about these things of the earth.
That's what it said. Be careful for nothing. Anxious
is the word you can put in there. Anxious. Be anxious. Overly anxious
for nothing in this world. That's right. Lot's wife fretted
over Sodom and she died with him. That's right. She turned and
fretted over leaving whatever she was leaving and she perished.
The farmer fretted over his barns were too little. Lying there
in bed that night, he said, my barns are too little. I'm prospering.
I'm going to have to build a bigger barn. He lost everything. Fretting
over barns. The rich young ruler fretted
over losing his riches and lost his soul. What shall it profit
a man if he gained the whole world with its beauty and strength
and wisdom and riches and influence and power and lose his soul?
One day, what will you give in exchange for your soul? Well,
what are you taking? Be, don't be anxious, but do
this. Be, don't fret, be anxious about
these worldly things, but do this in everything. By prayer
and supplication, with thanksgiving for whatever we have, let your
requests be made known to God. only to God. Take your burdens
and your cares and your problems to Him. He cares for you. Take them to Him. Take your burden
to the Lord and leave it there. Now, and the peace of God, the
peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your
heart and your minds through Christ Jesus. Now listen to me.
You can't be taken up with this world with its anxiety and fretting
and troubling and have peace with God. Can't do it. I've tried to tell folks that.
You can't have the peace of God while you fret and fight and
wrestle with this world. Can't do it. Don't you be anxious, overly
anxious for anything. Let her go. Turn it loose. Not
worth it, not worth it. Turn it loose. but raven-fretting and fuming
over this old world with its whatever it is. It's all marked
for destruction. The fashion of this world fadeth
away, but prayer and supplication and thanksgiving, let God know
your needs. And the peace of God. What does this mean, pious understanding?
Well, the world doesn't understand it. They think that peace is
in plenty. They don't understand. They don't
understand your peace. And come to think of it, we don't
either. We don't either. I like what that dear old black
lady said to the man down in Alabama. She's walking down the
road just singing, you know, about as white as she was tall,
and she had a... The black people used to do washing for the white
folks, you know. It was a long time ago, and they
put all the clothes in a sheet. They'd go to the white folks'
house and get the clothes, put them in a sheet and tie the corners,
you know, put it on top of their head. Here they'd go down the
road with that sheet of clothes on their head, just singing and
singing. And this grouchy old white fella
came by and said, Mammy! How in the world can you be so
happy and be so poor? She said, Poor? Me, poor? White folks, I ain't poor. My
heavenly Father owns this whole world, and you white folks just
paying taxes on it. I ain't poor. And that's right. You just paying
taxes on this mess. That's all. Because it belongs
to Him. Belongs to Him. And we better
play hands off. It's costing too much. It's costing
peace. And all these efforts we make,
going to psychiatrists and taking medicine and all that, ain't
going to get the job done. We're going to have to turn loose
of this fighting and fretting and striving and wrestling and
trying to, like Brother Tim James says, get all you can and can
all you get and sit on the can. You know, that's the philosophy. If you can ever turn loose of
it, the peace of God, which passes understanding, will keep your
hearts and your minds through Christ Jesus. If we can ever
be content with what we have, godliness with contentment with
great care. That's right. Good reminders,
aren't they? They're loaded. They're blessings. And then the last thing is verse
8, the last line, think on these things. Think on what things? Verse 8, finally brethren, whatsoever
things are true, true to God's true to Christ. He's the truth.
Whatsoever things are honest, agreeable to the truth of Christ
Jesus, and honest in the sight of God in men, honest in business,
in speech and conduct, whatsoever things are just, giving to God
that which is His, reverence, worship, fear, obedience, and
to man that which is his, whatsoever things are pure, pure in word
and deed, opposite pride and covetousness and hatred, Whatsoever
things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, whatsoever
things are worthy of reverence, if there be any virtue, if there
be any praise, think on these things. Think on them. Well, may that be a blessing
to me and to you. I recommend you underscore those
things as I have here. Study them some more. Study them
some more. Verse 9 says, those things which
you have both learned and received and heard and seen in me, do.
And the God of peace shall be with you.

Six Needful Reminders

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