For the message of the Lord this morning, I want you to turn with me to Philippians chapter 4. You will all know that for some months we've been looking at this epistle of Paul to the Philippians and the Lord has been pleased to bless us. And I trust that once again this morning the Lord will be pleased to add his blessing to the preaching of the Word of God. We're going to consider together Philippians chapter 4 and verses 6 and 7. We'll see how far we get on with these, but there's so much in them that they do both go together. Philippians 4 verse 6, 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 minds through Christ Jesus. I want to say as we begin our study this morning of these verses that these are some of the most comforting verses in the whole of scripture I hope that by the conclusion of our gathering together you will come to that conclusion yourself. Somehow it seems to me that rightly understood these verses bring hope, they bring confidence, they bring joy and they bring faith. Let me just remind you this fact that Christians in the first century lived in a very difficult world. What I mean by that is simply this. Most of the Christians were slaves. Sometimes we forget that fact. But most of the people that turned to the Lord were actually slaves. And when they were converted, they would be persecuted, they suffered, they had to endure unmentionable things, and yet they were called to overcome Now the question that we have to ask ourselves is this, how could they overcome and how could they triumph in Christ? Well my suggestion to you this morning is simply this, that our text gives the answer to that and therefore gives the answer to our problems in this day and age in which we live. Look again at these verses, 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 minds through Christ Jesus." You know, if you look at those verses, perhaps you may not understand fully the words that are mentioned. But let me explain to you that how this begins is really in old English. It says, be careful for nothing. Well, of course, you have to understand what that really means. And let me say immediately that the words could easily be translated, and we perhaps should, don't be anxious. Don't be anxious butting everything by prayer and supplication and so on. I'm reminded as I prepare this of Psalm 3 and Psalm 4. We're not going to read them now or speak about them very much. But let me just tell you this. Both of those Psalms are written at a similar time when David was in trouble. And if you read those Psalms you'll see his enemies has increased, he's being laughed at, he's in distress. Saul is after him as he was for ten years. He lives in the wilderness, in the rocks and caves and in the fields and in the forests and so on. He's a hunted man. And yet he actually says in one of those psalms, I laid me down and slept. And when you read those words, bear in mind the background. Here's a man who has increased trouble all the time and yet he says, I just laid me down and I slept. That's a picture, isn't it, of quietness and of confidence. But what was his secret? His secret was simply faith in God. Now we ask ourselves the question, is this really possible for us in this mad world in which we live? Is it really possible that that we should not be anxious and that we should have such faith. Is it realistic for us to just lay me down and sleep and forget all the troubles and the worries that I might have? Well our subject looking at these verses this morning is just simply handling the pressures of life. Handling the pressures of life. The subject here is anxiety. Do you know what that is? The secret here is prayer, and the solace is the peace of God which passes all understanding. Monty McShane, that godly, wonderful man who died in his twenties, said this. He said, if I could hear Christ praying for me in the next room, I would not fear millions of enemies. But listen, he is praying that near, isn't he? God may be out of sight, but he's not out of reach, is he? We must understand that. Well now, let's have a look at this and try to find out what these verses actually say. The first thing our verses speak of is the problem. Be careful for nothing, our version gives this first part of the verse. Note the word careful there. You know, the word careful, if you split it up, means full of care. Care, full, full of care. So how does this fit in and what does it really mean? It doesn't mean that we shouldn't have a care. A person without a care has no feeling whatsoever. It doesn't mean that we want to try just to avoid all problems because we know that this world is full of problems. It doesn't mean that we must escape our responsibilities because as human beings we have responsibilities in this world and as Christians especially. So let's examine this. The first thing that I want to speak to you about is the condition of this problem. The word careful for nothing I've indicated to you really should be anxious. It really should be translated be anxious for nothing. Don't be anxious in any situation whatsoever. The Greek actually is very interesting here. Because the actual Greek word means this. It means to be pulled in different directions. That's what it means. Don't be pulled in different directions. Now let me begin by looking at this problem and the condition of it by saying to you there are many addictions in this world. We hear about them more today than we ever did. Drugs. drink, gambling, sex. And you would say to me today, I haven't any of those addictions whatsoever. Maybe not, and I'm very thankful you haven't. But listen, we all worry. We all worry. And somehow it seems to me that worry is an addiction. So we all have this addiction. The word worry comes from a German word, worgen. And the word worgen means to strangle. And that's exactly what worried us, isn't it? Our experience is that when we start worrying, it strangles us. I would suggest to you that the greatest thief is worry. It robs us of our peace, it robs us of our joy, it robs us of our health, Last week there was a report in the press, a doctor's report, which actually indicated that only 8% of what we worry about is legitimate. 92% is imaginary. But let's understand this. We all worry and we know that depression comes from worry. We worry about food, we worry about clothes, we worry about life, we worry about relationships, we worry about jobs, we worry about money, we worry about our family, we worry about safety, we worry about the future. We could go on, couldn't we? And we know that this is true. And yet we understand this, that worry robs us of our usefulness. It disturbs our peace. It destroys our joy. A church in Leeds recently had a notice outside of the church and it said this, don't let worry kill you. The church can help. Well, I don't know if it can help you kill yourself, I'm not sure, but maybe it can sometimes. There was a woman who went to the doctor and she said, I worry about everything but I don't want to give up my worries because if I did I'd feel lonely. And perhaps we feel like that ourselves. Some of you remember the name J. Arthur Rank who produced so many films and cinemas and so on in the early days. He was asked, do you worry? And he says, yes I do worry but I have an answer to my worries. And he said, what is it? He said, I formed a club and it's called a Wednesday Club. So anything I worry about on other days I write them down and put them in a box And I only open that box on a Wednesday, and there's a lot of other people who do exactly the same as me. And when I go there on a Wednesday to open the box and look at the worries, I find that more than half of them I didn't need to worry about at all. Well, there's a truth in that, isn't it? But the interesting thing that I would say to you, and this is borne out by doctors and so on, surveys, this is the number one addiction. in our nation. It's the number one addiction in our lives. So let's carry on because I've spoken to you about the condition but now let me, if I can, speak to you about the cause. I suppose it's easy to say lack of faith and that is true of course. If I haven't sufficient faith in my heart and in my mind then I will worry. But wrong thinking brings wrong feeling And yet God has given us everything to overcome. He's given us his precious word to strengthen us. Again I was reading a book which told me that in the Bible the word fear not or be not afraid or similar words like that do appear some 365 times which indicates there's one for every day for each one of us. And I think that's probably true. Remember this, that God has given his word to strengthen us. He's given his presence to assure us. He's given fellowship with other Christians to help us. He's given prayer as a way of escape. He's given his work for us to do. And so we have a purpose in mind. Years ago there was a Christian martyr who had a strange name. His name was Careless, John Careless. He was taken to be killed as a martyr. And he was coming to die and he was asked if there was anything else he wants to say. And he said, yes, I want everyone to know that I rest in Christ. God has my cares and I've cast all my cares upon the Lord. I die careless, even his own name. And he's reputed to have said that and I think that's true for Christians. So we've seen the condition, we've seen the cause, and now look at the cure. Somehow, Paul had every reason to worry, didn't he? You think of Paul here in the prison. The Philippi Christians are full of contention if we read verse 2, a rite of these two women that were at arms with each other. He also speaks elsewhere concerning the burden of the churches. You imagine what prison life was like. Where would he get his next food? What was his welfare? He had none at this particular time. And the axe man wanted to chop his head off because that's exactly what would take place in the future. So he had an uncertain future and yet he says, be anxious for nothing. Be anxious for nothing. We know that common psychology will say just simply, stop worrying. But we can't. Others will say, pull yourself together. I don't know what that means. Others will say, snap out of it. Others will say, cheer up. Don't worry, it may never happen. And some of these things may help us, but really it doesn't cure the problem, does it? Clinical psychology as well. will tell you don't waste energy on worrying. Things may not happen. And also, worrying won't affect the outcome. Again, it will say bring the worries to the surface. See what they are, face them and overcome them. That's the alternative. But do they work? Do they work? I've thought about this and I have to ask myself a question. Has it really worked for us? Because we're all afflicted with this worry. There was a parcel that came from Norway, inside with glassware. And so there was that sort of notice outside, stuck on the parcel, which really should have said, handle with care. But instead of care, they translated the word and said, handle with anxiety. That's what we do. Everything we have in life we handle with anxiety. The problem. Now I want to go on and speak to you about the prayer. Because these are things you'll see in these verses which are very important that we understand and if you want to overcome, please bear in mind what I'm trying to say this morning. First of all, here's the problem and it's worry. But here's the prayer, and it's in the next part of verse 6, be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. Let your requests be made known unto God. I believe this is the alternative to psychology. It's prayer. And somehow it seems to me that Paul is giving his own testimony here and saying that Prayer has changed his anxiety into peace even in the prison which he's in at that particular time. Now notice this which I see in the Word of God which is very wonderful as far as I'm concerned. Notice once again there's an eloquent but here. It says be careful for nothing but in everything by prayer. You know the buts of scripture, or at least the buts of Paul, are so very interesting. I was on the road to hell. I was born in sin and shapen in iniquity. I'm in darkness. And I'm on the road to a lost eternity. And then but, but Christ stepped in. That's what he says in Ephesians chapter 2 in essence. Now you'll notice here that there are four elements of prayer. And the reason why we fear, the reason why we fret, the reason why we fail is because we don't take any notice of these. But if we only did, we would know something of the victory that we are to find in Christ. Do you know it's interesting that in every epistle that Paul wrote, he mentions prayer. He urges the people to pray. We don't pray as we ought to. Now notice again another thing you sometimes would miss out here. Notice the emphasis that it says, be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer. Everything. Do you really pray like that? Or do you just go through a form of prayer so that you say your prayers in such a manner, in such a way, That's good and there's nothing wrong with that. But there's something greater than that. Because God is our Heavenly Father, we have a personal relationship with the Lord. And because we have that personal relationship with the Lord, we can pray about everything. Yes, I mean everything. Because the Word of God tells us here, this is the cure for worry. And so if you have worry today, cast your burden upon the Lord, for he will sustain you. Believe this, what the word of God says, and see what it actually says here. Look at these four elements of prayer. First of all, there's worship. But the word's not here. No, it's not, but notice this. But in everything by prayer. We stop there because this word prayer really means worship. You know the Church of England, if it's an evangelical church, you'll see outside on its notice board this, and you can check this for yourself. Sometimes it will say Mass, sometimes it will say all sorts of other things. They are high churches and as near as you could get to the Roman Catholic churches. But if it's an evangelical church, it goes back to the Puritans and then the Puritans go back to the Reformers. And when the reformers came out of the Church of Rome, they said that the morning service must be morning prayer, and the evening service must be evening prayer. So a good evangelical, fundamentalist Church of England will always say morning prayer and evening prayer. You see, prayer is a general term. And the general term really means, it means adoration, it means praise. We've come together this morning for prayer. And what we mean by prayer is we praise the Lord and we sing our hymns of praise to God and we adore Him and we worship Him in spirit and in truth. Do you know this word prayer is a word which is unique? It's only used ever to address God. We speak about the Lord's Prayer, don't we? Why do we call it the Lord's Prayer? Because it has lots of requests in it. Because it is worship of the Lord. And we know that there is worship first of all, then there comes request and then it finishes up with worship. For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory for ever and ever. Amen. And we finish up in such a manner and in such a way. What does it mean, worship? The word again is an old English word which means worth-ship. So we are praying about the worth of God and who He is, how great He is, how mighty He is, and therefore our worship is about the worth of God. But then the second word that you'll see here, actually as far as I'm concerned, speaks to me about the world. Look what it says, by prayer and supplication. Supplication. You'll know that supplication means a petition before God and that petition is for others. How does it help us who are in worry and we have this anxiety? How does it help us to pray for us? Oh, it does. Remember Job and we thought about Job in our prayer meeting just recently. Job came to the very end of himself and when God stepped in. But when did God step in? We read in the book of Job, when Job prayed for his friends, the Lord turned again his captivity. Here's a man who's under great pressure, great worry, great anxiety. You know the story, how awful it must have been. But when he prayed for his friends, the Lord turned his captivity. And you see, it seems to me that we haven't learnt that lesson. We're all concerned with ourselves and our troubles and our problems, our anxieties and our worries. Pray for someone else and you'll find how the Lord gives the victory. Worship the world. Now notice the witness. What I mean by witness is the next word. Everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. That's another word, a prayer isn't it? Thanksgiving. for everything. Paul, you're in prison. Paul, you're manacled. Two soldiers, one each side of you. Paul, can you thank God for that? And Paul replies, yes I can. I can thank God for his sovereignty. I'm in his hands. He's the one who's in charge. He doeth all things well. He knows. And also, he has the answer. Thank him now. I wonder if we as Christians do that. Thank the Lord now for your situation. For my trouble? Yes. For my difficulties? Yes. For all the things that happened in my life? Yes. Thank Him. Thank Him. You see, Thanksgiving is so important. I remember many of you may have heard me tell the story of when I was a young man I was preaching at church, I was only 17 I think, or 16, 17 at the time, and I was preaching at Beaton in Aylesbury, which is not far from Linslade. And I went by train and then by bus, and I was waiting at the bus stop to try and get a bus from Aylesbury into Linslade, into Beaton rather. And the heavens opened and it poured and poured. I didn't have a coat. I was soaked through. Soaked through to the skin. I really was. My shirt was all soaking wet. My tie was soaking wet. I really was wet right the way through. Good job I was young. Otherwise I might have caught a cold and almost died through it. But I stayed there and got the bus and got there. The deacon was there, he was an old man named Mr. Crompton. He met me at the door and I said, oh what a terrible day, what a terrible day. And he grabbed my hand and he looked at me in my eyes and he said, brother, it's better than we deserve. Well, I never thought that. I can assure you. How did I deserve this? And then I had to take the service and be there all day long and sit in wet clothes all day long. I'll tell you, I never agreed with him then. But listen, everything we receive is better than we deserve. It really is, isn't it? I've learnt the lesson. I can say that. He then went on and said, let us give thanks. If anyone did not feel like praying at that time, it was me. And yet he said, let's give thanks. But isn't that right? Isn't that right? We say God is suffering, God is in charge. We believe that with all our heart. And we should do it, shouldn't we? Someone has said this, it's Hendrickson, and he says this, prayer without thanksgiving is like a bird without wings. Could a bird be without wings? That's what a prayer's like if you don't have thanksgiving. Lord, we thank you for everything. Every good and perfect gift cometh from above, from the Father of lights, in whom there is no variability, neither shadow of turning. So you have the worship, that's prayer. You have the world, that's supplication. You have the witness at Thanksgiving. Now notice this, you have the wants as well. Because it goes on, doesn't it? And it says, with Thanksgiving, let your requests be known unto God. Requests. Again, let me quote you this because it seems to me to be so important. Worry about nothing. Pray about everything. Do you get that? Worry about nothing, pray about everything. God may be out of sight, but he's certainly not out of reach. We understand that and we know that. We all have our requests, don't we? Think of George Muller who ran that children's home with hundreds of boys and girls. Nothing to feed them. He didn't have a penny in the bank of his own. But every day he just prayed, Lord supply our need. And every day the Lord supplied the need. I came across an interesting story. It was a banquet, a banker's banquet in Newquay in Cornwall. The Bishop of Truro was invited to come and asked to say grace. And this is the grace that he actually said. I'm sure I would never have the courage to do it myself. But this is the grace that he gave. Oh Lord, grant us that we may not be like porridge, stiff, stodgy and hard to stir, but like cornflakes, crisp, fresh and ready to serve. I wonder if we are ready to serve. You see, Satan is not afraid of prayerless Christians. Why should he be? But he trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon his knees. My friend, we need to pray, don't we? That's the answer. We began by speaking about the problem and then we've seen the prayer. I want you now Lastly, to see the peace, because it all goes together. When I first started to study about this verse, I thought, well, just this one verse, there's so much in it. But you see, verse 7 actually links with it. You'll notice that it says, and, as it begins. And that's interesting in and of itself. Let your request be made known unto God and, The peace of God which passes all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. The peace. Now notice this, because it's very important that you do. It's not the peace with God. It's the peace of God. And the peace of God which passes all understanding. And we must understand this is what God gives to us and this is what God will give to us in every situation of our life. It's the peace of God. Well now let's have a look at this description that we have here. The peace of God. You know when you think about this, you have to say that this is one of God's qualities. It's God himself. God is peace. And he gives to us himself in this situation. Do I need to fear when God is with me? No. Do I need to worry? Do I need to have anxiety? Do I need these things? No, because the peace of God. And He is peace Himself. It's part of His nature. It's part of His person. And then notice these words which are so wonderful, which passeth all understanding. The dictionary when speaking about peace speaks about freedom from war and from worry. It goes on to try and describe peace. It speaks of calmness of mind, quietness and so on. We know that peace is something far more than that. The peace of God is something inward. It's something of our heart, isn't it? It's spiritual. It's something of our soul. It's independent of circumstances. Wherever we are in life, the Lord can give us the peace of God which passeth all understanding. And what does this mean, passeth all understanding? There's not an intellectual man in the world that really can fully fathom or understand the peace of God which passeth all understanding. It surpasses. everything else. It transcends everything else. I remember some years ago being at the Swallow Falls in North Wales and going down seeing these tremendous falls as the water cascades down, hitting the rocks by the side and even some trees and looking to my amazement and seeing a little branch that came out and the water came so near but never hit the branch, just passed by. And a little bird was there. I couldn't hear it sing because, obviously, the noise of the cascading water. But the little bird was sitting there. And I was amazed. That little bird felt safe and secure there. You see, the peace of God passeth all understanding, doesn't it? When you read about the martyrs of the past who were great and glorious and wonderful people, We read this, he had the look of peace. I'm sure he did. Here he's given his life for God. People are taking his life but God is allowing it. So his testimony is glorious in this life and also in the life to come. And he had the look of peace. How could he have the look of peace? Because he knew that God was with him. And God was helping. He had the peace which passeth all understanding. And then notice the declaration here. It actually says here, doesn't it? The peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds. Keep your hearts and minds. This is a military word that you have here. Keeping. It's a God protecting vital areas which are under attack. It's a garrison which at that moment is being attacked by the enemies. But look at this soldier who's in charge. He's called Corporal Peace and he's on duty. In other words, the psalmist got it right, didn't he, when he said, the angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him. And the Lord is round about us, so that at every time and every situation in our lives, whether we're young or whether we're old, we can say, the angel of the Lord is round about us. Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is saved. He will keep, keep us in perfect peace. Isn't that wonderful? Keeping our hearts and minds. We need that, because the very vital air is our heart. That's the seat of our emotions, our love, and our worship, and our praise, and our feelings, and our minds, and our minds on God. And then the final thing that you'll see here, we've seen the description, the peace of God, past this understanding, the declaration, keeping our hearts and minds, and then the direction, because the direction says simply, through Christ Jesus. Christ, his official name, Jesus, his human name or his private name, Christ Jesus. And that's the only way. Did you notice the word which was used this morning when we read that lovely passage of scripture? Jesus said, Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you. Not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. What does it mean, peace, not as the world giveth? You know, every Jew that met another Jew would say, shalom, peace, shalom, peace, shalom, peace. But Jesus said, not as the world giveth. They just pass the time of day. It doesn't mean anything whatsoever. But this peace that I'm speaking about is something that lasts, something that's real, something that's vital. My peace I give unto you. And that is what Jesus said himself and we can rejoice in that. So that the apostles could say, instead of anxiety, instead of worry, instead of stress, the peace of God which passes all understanding. Notice in verse 4 it says rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice. That's the first step. Notice what it says in verse 7, the peace of God which passeth all understandings, you'll keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. That's the rest. But go back, the relaxation is found there as well. The Lord is at hand. How did we begin this morning? Handling the pressures of life. There's only one way, isn't there? Put your faith and trust in God. I came across a little saying, I jotted it down. When we see the lilies spinning in distress, taking thought to manufacture loveliness, when we see the birds all building barns for store, twill be then time for us to worry, not before, casting all your care upon him. For he cares for you.