read at the baptism to explain dying to sin and being united with Christ in death and resurrection
5 For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, we will also be part of his resurrection;
6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be in bondage to sin.
described God's word as living and active before the offering
12 For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and is able to discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
the main sermon text, read in full from the New Living Translation
1 Therefore, my brothers, beloved and longed for, my joy and crown, so stand firm in the Lord, my beloved.
2 I exhort Euodia, and I exhort Syntyche, to think the same way in the Lord.
3 Yes, I beg you also, true partner, help these women, for they labored with me in the Good News, with Clement also, and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.
4 Rejoice in the Lord always! Again I will say, “Rejoice!”
5 Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.
6 In nothing be anxious, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.
7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus.
8 Finally, brothers, whatever things are true, whatever things are honorable, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report; if there is any virtue, and if there is any praise, think about these things.
9 The things which you learned, received, heard, and saw in me: do these things, and the God of peace will be with you.
referenced for the reminder that 'God is working in you giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him'
1 If therefore there is any exhortation in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any tender mercies and compassion,
2 make my joy full, by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind;
3 doing nothing through rivalry or through conceit, but in humility, each counting others better than himself;
4 each of you not just looking to his own things, but each of you also to the things of others.
5 Have this in your mind, which was also in Christ Jesus,
6 who, existing in the form of God, didn’t consider equality with God a thing to be grasped,
7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men.
8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, yes, the death of the cross.
9 Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name;
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth,
11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
12 So then, my beloved, even as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
13 For it is God who works in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure.
14 Do all things without murmurings and disputes,
15 that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without defect in the middle of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you are seen as lights in the world,
16 holding up the word of life; that I may have something to boast in the day of Christ, that I didn’t run in vain nor labor in vain.
17 Yes, and if I am poured out on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice, and rejoice with you all.
18 In the same way, you also rejoice, and rejoice with me.
19 But I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, that I also may be cheered up when I know how you are doing.
20 For I have no one else like-minded, who will truly care about you.
21 For they all seek their own, not the things of Jesus Christ.
22 But you know the proof of him, that, as a child serves a father, so he served with me in furtherance of the Good News.
23 Therefore I hope to send him at once, as soon as I see how it will go with me.
24 But I trust in the Lord that I myself also will come shortly.
25 But I counted it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow worker, fellow soldier, and your apostle and servant of my need;
26 since he longed for you all, and was very troubled, because you had heard that he was sick.
27 For indeed he was sick, nearly to death, but God had mercy on him; and not on him only, but on me also, that I might not have sorrow on sorrow.
28 I have sent him therefore the more diligently, that, when you see him again, you may rejoice, and that I may be the less sorrowful.
29 Receive him therefore in the Lord with all joy, and hold such in honor,
30 because for the work of Christ he came near to death, risking his life to supply that which was lacking in your service toward me.
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
Preached on the Sunday before Thanksgiving, this message from Philippians 4:1-9 looked at the relational wisdom Paul offered a church caught in conflict, and traced how his instructions lead not just to thankfulness but to genuine peace. Pastor Carl opened by connecting the holiday season to the reality that wherever people gather, conflict follows, and showed that Paul had something better than boxing gloves for handling it.
What was said
Before getting to instructions, Pastor Carl spent time on Paul's heart for the Philippians. Paul opens with phrases like "you have a special place in my heart" and calls them his joy and his crown, and Pastor Carl made the point that we need to understand that love before the instructions make sense. The reason Paul tells them what to do is precisely because he cares deeply about these people and does not want to see them pitted against one another.
The disagreement Paul names is between two women, Euodia and Syntyche. Pastor Carl noted that Paul does not ask the church to pick a side. He asks a trusted partner to help bring them together, and then gives the whole congregation the tools to get there.
The instructions come in order, and Pastor Carl walked through them one at a time. Joy comes first because if God's favor is genuinely filling a person up, it spills into how they treat others. Being considerate follows, which Pastor Carl described as a generous spirit that rises above offenses, one that chooses a blessing over a returned insult, drawing on 1 Peter 3:9. Then comes the pair most people already know from this passage: don't worry, pray. He read a poem that had been on Ray's parents' refrigerator to illustrate the contrast, and followed it with Jesus' question about whether worry can add a single moment to anyone's life. Gratitude rounds out the first set of instructions, with Pastor Carl observing that Paul wrote all of this from jail, still rejoicing, still thankful.
Verse eight shifts to the mind. Pastor Carl went through each word in Paul's list, true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, worthy of praise, and asked what it would look like to fix our thoughts on these things rather than on how to prove we are right and the other person is wrong. He said he told Christa that week he wanted to keep the list in his pocket as a cheat sheet.
The result Paul promises is that the God of peace will be with you, and his peace will guard hearts and minds from anger, bitterness, jealousy, and resentment. Pastor Carl returned to this word "guard" several times, pointing out that those things do not arrive all at once; they creep in and take up residence if nothing guards against them. God's peace, he said, is what takes up residence instead.
Pastor Carl closed by saying this is not something anyone can accomplish on their own steam. He came back to a verse from Philippians 2 where Paul writes that God is working in you, giving you both the desire and the power to do what pleases him. The whole list, he said, is a work of God empowered by the Holy Spirit, not a personal improvement program, and that distinction is what makes it possible to actually carry out.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages
in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
Carl talked about Paul sharing his genuine love and care for the Philippians before giving them any instructions. When someone needs to bring up a hard subject with you, how much does it matter to you that you know their heart toward you first?
Paul appealed to Euodia and Syntyche to settle their disagreement, and he asked a third person to help them rather than asking the church to pick a side. Has someone ever helped you and another person work through a conflict that way? What made it helpful or unhelpful?
Alright. Good morning, everybody. How are doing? Good. Good to see you.
Good to see you. Would you stand with me? I'd love to to sing together, worship together in song. Here's a a a good good word from Psalm 107 to lead us in a worship. It's give thanks to the Lord for he is good.
His steadfast love, it endures forever. But then the song goes on to say, let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom God has redeemed from trouble. If God has redeemed you from trouble, say it. Sing of it. Shall we sing of it?
Let the redeemed.
You let me out of the desert. You let me out of the desert. Brought me into your streams river of living water. There's joy in the morning. There is joy in the morning.
It's springing up in my soul, there is life worth living because he calls me his home. There's a Hallelujah after sweet victory. You're my deliverer. You are my deliverer. Freedom I'm living in.
You are my deliverer. You are my promise there. You are my deliverance. Freedom, I'm leaving there. You are my deliverance.
You are my promise
Amen. You can have a seat here for a moment. We've got some announcements and a baptism.
Good morning, everybody. Welcome to First Baptist Church. So great to have you. We've got a bunch of different announcements as always. Let's see what's up first here.
Preston, could you click that next one over, buddy? Okay. Operation Christmas Child. So Operation Christmas Child packing party was yesterday, and the grand total, if you're ready for it, a 113 boxes. Isn't that excellent?
Good job, everybody. Nice. They were due yesterday, so if you still have one or brought one in, Mike D's offered to make a run. But if you could get them to him soon, that'd be great because they were were due yesterday. So but thank you for caring about kids.
They'll be sent all over the world, and the gospel will be shared through them. Really excellent opportunity to reach out to people all over the world. Next, there is a purity talk coming up here. If you guys can make it, I'm sorry, I'm trying to remember what day it is, but December 2, six to 8PM. It's for kids 12 and older, and it's sixty minutes of straight talk about sex.
So if you guys have some teenagers, you have some neighbors that might be interested in that kind of thing, it's it's an important subject right now. So there's a poster out here too if you guys forget and need some more information about that. Feel free to check it out. And hey, we wanna say congratulations to our Awana kids. The Sparks kids brought in the most food totaling 58.
Just the Sparks just the Sparks, 58. Well, let's thank you parents for bringing in that food. It went over to the mission, and it was it was really impactful. I heard from some kids that really loved getting to go over there and see how the operation works over there. And as a reminder, there's no Awana this upcoming Monday for Thanksgiving, but we'll be back.
If you have some young kids that need some encouragement from the gospel, bring them on. Carl will take care of them. Mike will take care of them. We got a big group of volunteers helping them out. Thank you so much for being a part of that.
There are calendars in the lobby for $10 if you're looking for a good holiday gift. We use that every year to raise money for the youth group. And if you just give the money to the office staff, that'd be great. That's a nice way to help out the church there. Oh, I wanted to let you know too.
There are kids coloring pages out in the lobby in a little metal tray. If your kids wanna doodle during the during the services, that's a really nice way to go. I have been collecting the little pew cards with all the little doodles on it that kids leave in there. We might do a little art show. But if you want if you want a little bit more structure, feel free to to check out that little box back there.
And we have a special event today. Syed is gonna be baptized. Let's go ahead and bring those guys up here.
This is exciting. And, I just wanted to share before baptism. What is it? Why do we do this? If I could just say it in a very simple way, it's an outward sign of inward faith.
We don't we're not baptized to be saved. We're baptized because we are saved. It is a step of obedience, because Jesus commanded us to. Therefore, go make disciples of all nations, baptizing in the name of the father, the son, and the Holy Spirit. And so we, love Syed.
So glad that he's here. So glad that he's making this step of obedience. And, can I just hand this over to you guys?
Oh, sure.
Hi, everybody. I'm Chris. I had the amazing ability for three years to teach high school boys Sunday school with our buddy Richard Largie. And Syed was one of our kids at the time, now young men, who was in the group. And this is unbelievably emotional for me.
So we'll see if I can get through it. Give Ray a run for his money on emotions. Romans six five, for if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, certainly we shall also be resurrection. Knowing this, that our old self was crucified with him in order that our body of sin might be done away with so that we would no longer be slaves to sin, for he who has died is free from sin. And baptism is an outward expression of an inward faith that's saying, I commit to this thing and from here on, I am dead to sin.
It is not, as Carl said, it is not salvation, but it is an outward expression of a faith that already exists. And by the way, if you would like to be baptized, the water's here and we're we're open to baptizing you whether you brought clothes or not. Please do it. If it's a step in faith, if the spirit's moving you, feel free to do it. But, Syed, it's it's just been wonderful to hang out with you all these years and get to know you and he's got such a big heart, such a great guy.
And praise God that you're making this step. So do do you have anything you wanted to say?
I'm just excited. I feel like I'm clean. I'm gonna get molded by him. That's good.
Yeah. And if you could be praying for Syed, if you see him around town or something, invite him to dinner, pray for him. This this is awesome, man. So let's let's go for it.
Here is water. What hinders you? Would you stand and we'll sing together? Praise God for new life in Christ.
Father, let your kingdom come. Father, let your will be done. And earth hasn't given right here in my heart.
Here in my heart. Lord, we have sung it but God, may we say it and and truly pray it. God, let your kingdom come and let your will be done in us, in our hearts, here on earth as it is in heaven. Amen. I sought the Lord.
I sought the Lord. And he answered me and I delivered me from every fear. My enemies. Son of God surrounds his saints will deliver
Let us bless the Lord. I love how song and scripture go together, and I wanted to share a couple of verses, okay, that really spoke to this song that we've just sung, but Psalm thirty four eight. And this is one of my favorites. It's taste and see that the Lord is good. Oh, the joys who take refuge in him.
Taste and see that he really is good. And the other from Psalm sixteen eleven, it's you make known to me the path of life. That's what you do, God. In your presence, there is fullness of joy with you. And at your right hand, there's pleasure forevermore.
Magnify the Lord with me. Let's exalt him together. That's why we sing these songs. Here's another.
Father you brought me out of darkness and filled me with peace give her mercy or my help in time
Beautiful savior.
Beautiful savior. Is your
And you can have a seat here for a moment. It's a worship through giving part of the service. I'll invite the ushers to come on forward. And Glenn, you can grab a microphone here. I'll ask him to pray, but we're gonna sing your words.
And I love a song that prepares us to hear the word. And here's one of them from Psalm one nineteen. It says, God's word, what is it? It's a lamp for our feet, and it's a light for our path. And it really is.
Hebrews four twelve, it says that it is living and it's active. So as we approach the word, let's know this about God's word. It is a lamp to our feet. It's a light for our path. It is living and active.
It does the work. It truly does. But before we sing, Glenn, can I ask you to pray?
God, we are so thankful for this opportunity to meet together and worship you, and we're thankful for your your physical provision for us and spiritual provision. And and we pray that these gifts would just just honor you and be be blessed for your glory and also that the process of giving would teach our hearts about your love and and guide us closer to you. Amen.
Kiddos, you are excused for children's church. Happy Thanksgiving everybody. Do you have big plans this week? Anybody? I would imagine some of us are here.
We're here. Or, you know, I know that some have left town already, but I hope I trust that it will be a good Thanksgiving for you, a time to reflect on what we're grateful for. We kinda have a tradition around our table, where we say, hey, what what are you grateful for? And when the kids are younger, I'm thankful for the dog, you know, or I'm thankful for the cat, know, those kinda things. But really, it it gets us thinking, what what are we what are we really grateful for?
And Philippians four six came to mind this week as I was looking on the topic of thankfulness. And it's don't worry about anything. Instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all he's done. So like that alone is a sermon.
But then as I looked at that verse in its context, I was reminded Paul wrote that verse to a church that was having conflict and disagreement. And he was urging them to practice gratitude in the midst of their conflict. Funny story here, might actually be a little scarier, answer some questions about me. But I thought back to my childhood Thanksgivings. And I have a big family.
I've got a real big family, lots of aunts and uncles, many male cousins. Like over, there would be over 15 cousins at our Thanksgiving get togethers, male cousins. Over 15 rowdy boys. Can you imagine this is in your mind right now? And someone, I won't name names, thought it would be a good idea, one Thanksgiving, to bring boxing gloves Thanksgiving for my cousins and I to fight.
So boxing gloves, right? Like throwing punches on the day of thanks. And I like I thought this was normal, we just kind of rowdy. And then when I met my wife, Krista, she said, Carl, that's not normal. Like people don't do this.
This isn't how things work. I mean, it's it's one way of dealing with conflict for sure. But but Philippians four one through nine, Paul gives a better way. Paul gives a better way and that that is what I wanna share. Whether it's church or work or marriage or holiday get togethers, honestly, wherever people are together, wherever we're gathered, conflict and disagreement are bound to happen.
Can I get an amen? And I mean, it does. Where two or more are gathered, there'll be conflict. And the instructions that that Paul gives here, they lead to peace. They lead to peace.
And that's that's what I want to share. That's that's one of the that's like the main theme here is these instructions lead to peace. The heading in my Bible is words of encouragement. And here's how I wanna approach this this text here, these nine verses. First, I wanna share Paul's heart for the church.
That's very, very important to understand before we get to these verses. His love, his care, his compassion, his intent here for the Philippians. And then next, I wanna look at what those instructions are that he gives to them, and then note the results as they carry those out in the Lord. And, of course, application for today. So rediscovering this chapter was a huge blessing for me and much needed because conflict and disagreement happens all the time.
And this, I think, is what prepares us for it, like in the heat of the moment. There's so much more here than the theme of thankfulness. This is great relationship wisdom that leads to peace. This is very, very good relational wisdom that leads to peace. So here it is, Philippians four one through nine.
I'm reading from the New Living Translation. The, the words will be on the screen, and I'm just gonna take it verse by verse. Okay? Here's what it says, starting in verse one, chapter four. Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, stay true to the Lord.
I love you, and I long to see you, dear friends, for you are my joy and the crown I receive for my work. Two, now I appeal to you, Euodia and Sintiki, please, because you belong to the Lord, settle your disagreement. And I ask you, my true partner, to help these two women for they worked hard with me in telling the others the good news. They worked along with Clement and the rest of my coworkers whose names are written in the book of life. Always be full of joy in the Lord.
I say it again, rejoice. Let everyone see that you are considerate in all that you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon. Don't worry about anything. Instead, pray about everything.
Tell God what you need, and thank him for all that he's done. And then you'll experience God's peace, which exceeds anything that we can understand. Some translations say, a peace that passes understanding. This peace will guard your hearts and your minds as you live in Christ Jesus. And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing.
Fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right and pure and lovely and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all that you have received from me, everything you've heard from me and saw me doing, then the God of peace will be with you. So I'm gonna stop there for now. I would love to just read the whole book of Philippians all the way through because it is so good.
I'm not I'm not gonna do that. We're gonna we'll focus on these nine verses. But can I pray first? And then we'll go back and just work our way through this verse by first. Lord, with gratitude in mind, truly and sincerely, with gratitude, thank you for this word to us today.
Instructions and wisdom that lead to peace. Relational wisdom with one another that lead to peace. God, would you fill us with your love? Would you fill us with your spirit? Would you fill us with your truth?
Would you fill us with your peace? Would you fill us with your power to carry these out? We cannot do these things on our own. These things work against our nature. But, God, in you, we can carry these out.
You're giving us the desire and the will to do what pleases you. As we yield our will to yours, Lord, and help us right in this moment to yield our will to yours as we listen to the word. And may the overflow cause us to rejoice and to be considerate, to pray rather than worry, to give thanks, and God to fix our thoughts, truly to fix our thoughts on what is true and honorable and right and pure, lovely and admirable, excellent and worthy of praise. God, would you help us? Would you give us understanding?
We need it. Humbly, we come to you. We ask your help. In Jesus' name, amen. So again, here's how I'd like to approach this text.
Paul's heart, the instructions that he gives, results as they carry them out, and applications. Now I I I tend to oversimplify and I know that. I know that about myself, but I'm gonna do it anyway. Okay? So first, Paul's heart for the church.
Isn't it good to know? Isn't it good to know that life is more than just a list of rules and do's and don'ts. Isn't it good to know that? Like Paul could have just came out right away, right just right into instructions, but instead, he shares his heart and his love and his care and his compassion for these folks. We wanna know the heart behind the instructions, don't we?
We don't wanna just be told, well, what you know, you do this. Well, often we ask, but why? Why should I do those things? And here Paul is sharing why they ought to carry out these instructions. In chapters one through three, we get to hear Paul's love and care and compassion for the church, which included these dearly loved friends of his who were having a disagreement.
So here's some examples to illustrate. Let's hear his heart here. May God our father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace. His favor and his gift of wholeness. Philippians, may it be upon you.
First b, may God's grace and peace be upon you. This is no small thing. Right out of gate. Right out of the gate there. That's his desire for them.
Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God. Whenever I pray for you, I make my request for you with joy. He's going, friends, I think of you often. I pray for you. You come to mind.
When I pray for you, I make my request with joy for you because you fill me with joy. I love this. Here's seven and eight. Let's go on. You have a special place in my heart, and God knows how much I love you and I long for you with the tender compassion of Christ.
I love you and I long to see you, friends, for you're my joy and you're my crown for I receive for my work. Like, are are you picking up on this? This is very, very genuine. These aren't empty words. He truly loves this church.
Church, can I just say, I truly love you, every one of you? And we're a quirky bunch, aren't we? I mean, we just are. And yet, I truly love each and every one of you. Thank you.
But I'm what I'm sharing here is that that this is the overflow. This is the overflow of God's love for Paul. Like, they're his joy and his crown and his partners to defend and confirm the good news of the gospel, to grow in the knowledge and understanding of Christ until Jesus comes again. And it's because of that he gives these instructions to them. And and here they are.
If you're a list person, here they are in a neat little list. It's settle your disagreements, rejoice, be considerate, don't worry, pray, thank him, fix your thoughts on what's true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and worthy of praise. I'm going to repeat these several times today. And I hope that doesn't upset you, and I hope you're going, man, that's redundant. But these instructions here are so important, they're worth repeating.
They truly are worth repeating. And their results, as they're putting these into practice, as they're carrying these out in the Lord, it's the God of peace will be with you. And you'll experience God's peace and exceeds anything that we can understand. A peace that passes understanding, and his peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. So beginning with verse two, Paul's appealing to Euodia and Syntyche.
And we don't know what that disagreement was. He doesn't say, but we do know that Paul loved these two dearly. They were sincere believers in Jesus. They worked alongside Paul in sharing the good news. Their names are written in the book of life.
Isn't that beautiful? He's going, I love these two. They're dear friends. They're co laborers. He did not want them pitted against one another.
And catch this too. This this caught my attention is he didn't ask the church to pick a side. Hey, b team Euodia, b team Syntyche. He said, bring them together. Bring them together.
He implores them to settle this disagreement. We also don't know who this true partner is, but Paul's asking him, whoever that person is, to help them, to assist them, to get in there in settling it, to be of the same mind in the Lord. And I believe that these verses that follow, they help them get there, and they help us get there as we work through our own conflicts and disagreements. Beginning with this here, verse four. Always be full of joy in the Lord.
I say it again, rejoice. So joy comes up again and again and again in Philippians. It means to delight in God's favor, to be conscious of it, to be glad for it. And I believe Paul starts here because if indeed God has shown that favor that we delight in, that we are conscious of, that we are glad for, then that favor really ought to be filling us up. Right?
It should be filling us up to overflowing into our relationships. Freely, freely you have received, freely, freely give. So he begins with joy. And I think that's why. He's going, I'm full joy.
It's spilling onto you. Now you do the same. So first to recognize God's grace, his favor. Next is, let everyone see that you are considerate in all that you do. In other words, or another way to say it is, a generous spirit that rises above offenses.
A generous spirit that rises above offenses. It takes the high road that when insulted, it chooses not to return insult for insult. Check out one Peter three:nine. This is a great example. Do not repay evil for evil.
Don't retaliate with insults. When people insult you, instead pay them back for a blessing. Tyler, I'm thinking of us and we play hockey together. And I mean, you've heard me. You know that I don't get, I'm not always the most patient person.
And I mean, what what do we wanna do when someone takes a jab at us? Right? It's get back in them. First Peter three nine, it's don't repay evil for evil. Don't retaliate with insults when people insult you.
Instead, pay them back with a what? With a blessing. That means speak well of them. Show favor toward them. That's what God has called you to do, and he will grant you with his blessing.
We are blessed when we do this for others, to others. This is wonderful. So consider it. A generous spirit that rises above offenses. Now I'm not gonna spend too much time on them, but because they're they they really are self explanatory.
But the next one is, don't worry, pray. Verse six. And I'm gonna share a little poem to to illustrate this one. Ray's mom and dad have this poem in their home. And Ray, I believe, is at home right now.
I'm trying to just give him some space. They're checking out colleges with Pascal, and he very well could be in the pulpit this morning at his little church in Shiloh. But his parents have this little poem on their fridge. It says this, worry, why worry? What can worry do?
It never keeps a trouble from overtaking you. It gives you indigestion and sleepless hours at night. Fills the days with gloom, however fair and bright. Puts a frown upon the face, sharpness to the tone, where I'm fit to live with others, I'm fit to live alone. Worry.
Why worry? What can worry do? It never keeps the trouble from overtaking you. Pray. Why pray?
What can praying do? Pray really changes things, arranges life anew. It's good for your digestion. It gives you peaceful sleep at night. It fills the grayest, gloomiest days with rays of glowing light.
Puts a smile upon your face, the love note in your tone makes you fit to live with others and fit to live alone. Pray. Why pray? What can praying do? It brings God down to heaven to live and work with you.
I like that. I like that. Here's the abbreviated version from Jesus in the form of a question. He says, can all your worries add a single moment to your life? In my own words, because I've tried this, can losing sleep, worrying about things that have not even happened yet, add a single moment to your life?
We know the answer. Prayer is the better option. It just is. Paul says, don't worry, pray. Here's another.
Tell God what you need. Tell God what you need and thank him for all that he's done. There are a lot of studies on gratitude, but really, they all point to grateful people are happier people. Really. Grateful people are happier people.
They just are. We can be grateful what ever the circumstances, and that is true. Paul is writing this. He's writing from jail. Like, he doesn't know if he will live to see another day.
And even so, he continues to rejoice. He continues to be thankful because he is so grateful for that grace that God has extended to him. That grace just spills right on over to other people. But thankfulness, that is a key part of this. And whatever it takes, just around the table at home toward one another.
What are you grateful for today? Some people journal. It's a wonderful thing. But it gets us thinking what we're actually thankful for rather than what we're worried about. Here's the result in verse seven.
Then you'll experience God's peace. That's God's gift of wholeness. It exceeds anything that we can understand. A peace that passes understanding, and his peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. That word guard, it captured my attention because the question that comes to mind is, in a conflict or a disagreement, what would our hearts and minds needed to be guarded from?
And and what comes to mind is, how about anger? How about bitterness? How about jealousy or resentment or revenge? I mean, it doesn't take long for those things to take residence in our hearts and minds. They creep up.
Have you ever experienced this? And you just think, man, why am I so angry right now? Why am I so upset? But because we've let those things creep in, and they take residence in our hearts and minds. But it's God's peace that guards our hearts and minds from these things.
We can experience God's gift of wholeness. It is available to us if we want it. It is there. It is there for us as we live in Christ. Great example, John fourteen twenty seven.
Jesus says, friends, I'm leaving you with a gift, peace of mind and heart. And the peace that I give, it's a gift the world cannot give. We can't get it here. It has to be peace from him. It has to be peace from above.
We search for it here, but we don't find it like we can find it with the Lord. So don't be troubled or afraid, he says. So circling back, circling back, these are actions that lead to peace in chapter four so far. Joy, being considerate, prayer, and gratitude. So let's just mid midstream here.
Let's pause and for a moment to ask ourselves, what if we did these things first? What if this was our go to? What if like Paul, we began by sharing our heart for the others. Man, I love you. I really do.
Yeah, we may be in a disagreement right now but I really care for you. You matter to me. You're worth fighting for. And then recognize God's grace, that joy that he's given to us. And then being considerate toward the other person.
And to pray rather than worry. And to practice gratitude. These are actions that lead to peace. Then on to verse eight, here's some more instructions. Fix your thoughts on what is true.
So what we're asking here is, what is actually true? What is actually true in the conflict that we're having here? What is reality? Not what do I think or what do I assume about the other person, but what is actually true? Paul's saying, would you fix your thoughts on that?
What's really true? Next, what's honorable? That's something to be deeply respected. Can both parties agree on what is the honorable thing to do? And right, I'm cruising right through these.
Specifically, this is right in the eyes of God. It's conforming to God's standard of justice and rightness and uprightness. So rather than our own, this is right because I said so, it's what is right in God's eyes? What does God actually say is right here? We look through his lenses.
And pure, meaning uncontaminated, free from the influence of sin. Pure and lovely. That's what's pleasing and agreeable, dearly prized. It's worth the effort to have an embrace. It is lovely.
The next is admirable. In other words, what are the kinds of actions that would be well spoken of? I tend to think of it this way, when the dust settles and say you have a conflict or disagreement and others are let in on this, what would others say were the actions that would be well spoken of in that conflict or disagreement? I mean it really gets us thinking, doesn't it? Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.
There's this enthusiastic acknowledgment of what's good and what deserves praise. Imagine how differently we might respond as we fix our thoughts on what is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and worthy of praise. Rather than fixing our thoughts on what can I say next to prove that I am right and they are wrong? Paul is saying, friends, fix your thoughts on these things. Put them into practice.
Make them a routine habit. I was telling Christa this week, I said, I need to keep this list in my pocket. I can't possibly memorize all these things. But man, if I had a cheat sheet in my pocket of these things, man, how much better would life go? And as a result, God's peace will be with you.
And there it is again, There's that peace. God's gift of wholeness, it will be with you as you carry these things out in the Lord. So he shared his heart. He's given them instructions that as they do these things, settling their disagreements, rejoicing, being considerate, praying rather than worrying, thanking him, fixing their thoughts on what's true and honorable, right and pure, lovely and admirable, excellent and worthy of praise. Practicing all these things and making them a routine habit, the result as these things are being done is that the God of peace will be with you.
The God of peace will be with you, and you'll experience God's peace and exceeds anything we can understand. And his peace, it'll guard your hearts and minds from anger and bitterness and jealousy and resentment. It will guard you from those things because God's peace has taken up residence in your heart rather than how angry am I right now. Isn't this good? Just I mean forgive me, I might be extremely enthusiastic right now, but I looked at these this week and I thought this has to be shared.
This is so, so good. As far as application goes, I'm wrapping up here. Again, this is relational wisdom that leads to peace. It really is. It works.
It works. And like Paul says in verse nine, let's put these things into practice. Let's make these a routine habit. If you're just going throughout the week and going, man, can't what were those again? It's Philippians four verses one through nine.
Philippians four verses one through nine. They're not difficult to understand, but they really work against our human nature. Don't they? And that's why I love this verse from chapter two. Paul reminds them and he reminds us.
He says, church, God is working in you and he is giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him. Like this, my friends, is a work of God empowered by the Holy Spirit in and through us toward others as we live in Christ. Can I just share that again? Because if we walk away going, I got my list. I'm gonna do this.
Boy, am I gonna work hard to do these things. Can I just say one more time? This is a work of God empowered by the Holy Spirit in and through us toward others as we live in Christ. And that as we live in Christ truly is key here. This isn't thing this isn't something that we can just do on our own steam.
We need divine guidance here to carry these instructions out. And they are so good. They are so helpful. And they lead to peace. I mean, think about this, even if we were to focus on just one of these this week, just one, thankfulness for example, right?
That one's not going to be hard to remember because thankfulness, Thanksgiving, right? We got that. Having gratitude for God's favor, that's what it means. That we didn't earn it, we didn't deserve it. This can radically improve our relationships with others because we can extend to others what's been given to us.
It's just the overflow. And at the same time, at the same time, we can be filled with peace. It's a beautiful, beautiful thing. So that's the good word from Philippians four verses one through nine. And Lord help us.
Can I I'd love to sing one more song if I can invite Amy and Seth back up? But I wanna close in this last song. It's yet not I but through Christ and me. And really, this is our story. This is our story as we endeavor to carry this out.
But before we pray, can I or before we sing, can I can I pray one more time on this? And Malcolm. Malcolm, how could I forget about Malcolm? Lord, thank you for your patience with us, and thank you for your power in us to do what pleases you. God, forgive us.
Would you forgive us when we fret and when we worry and when we say and do things to hurt others? Holy Spirit, would you bring these things to mind? In the midst of conflict, would you remind us to rejoice in you, to be considerate, to pray, to give thanks, to fix our thoughts on what is true and honorable, right and pure, lovely and admirable, excellent and worthy of praise. Putting these things into practice, routine habit, everything that we have learned. Jesus, thank you for being our best teacher.
You carry these out perfectly. Your life, your death, your resurrection, your ascension, your Holy Spirit filling us up. Thank you, Jesus. You're how we can do this. In your name we pray.
Amen. Alright, would you stand? We'll sing together. Yet not I, but through Christ in me.
One gift of grace is Jesus' sovereignty. I am free and now die but through Christ in me with every breath with every breath I'll answer father Jesus
And I leave this as a benediction here and then would you make your way down the hall too? There is food down the hall, right? Is that right? I think. Chicken and waffles down the hall.
Is that right? Okay. I'm just I'm trying to I'm I'm I want I want you to be excited to meet together now. It says, don't be don't be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God and the peace of God which transcends all understanding. That'll guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
