I don't know about you, I have a few dollars in stocks and I have a fewer dollars in stocks. Not too much, probably under $20,000 to tell you the truth, but I lost a little bit of that because of the stock market and things. But one thing I didn't lose is my joy in the Lord. And I have noticed that this time particularly in our nation is a good time for us to be pointing people to the Lord. I'm not looking to the next presidential decision whether or not I'm going to have joy in my heart. And so therefore whenever, not to be disrespectful there, Therefore, when we let some outward circumstance determine whether or not we're going to have joy, we know right then we're in the flesh. And it is the joy of the Lord that's our strength. I pray that if you take anything away from here today, it is this. It is a privilege as much as it is a command to rejoice in the Lord. Where are you trying to find your joy? Now think about this just a minute. If you place anything in front of Jesus Christ for your joy, that will ultimately take away your joy. For instance, a man and a woman came into my office and they were having marriage problems. That's usually selfishness on both sides, not all the time, but most of the time. And she says to me, he doesn't make me happy. And he said, well, she doesn't make me happy. And I said, neither one of you are making me happy. But then I clarified that. I said, that reason is because my joy is in the Lord. And you know, you're not doing somebody right. You're not doing your mate right. You're not doing your children right. You're not doing your church right. You're not doing your nation right. If you come to that organization and say, what do you have for me? It's the other way around. Now, the man wasn't a Christian man, I don't believe, but I do like what he said as a president. He said, don't ask what your nation can do for you. Ask what you can do for your nation. And we had some people come from another church recently, four or five churches. And in those churches, they were starting to change the music. And their music was, they were Baptist churches. And they started adopting Baptist boogie, you know. And some of the people, some of the people, which is oxymoron by the way, some of the people said, wait a minute, this is not consistent with the character of Christ. If you will apply everything, is this consistent with the character of Christ, it will change you. That's just one question you can ask. Is this consistent with the character or the nature of Christ? And God is not primarily trying to make us happy, by the way. He's trying to make us holy. And if we'll do what's right, if you hunger and thirst after righteousness as an empty person, look at the Beatitudes as a saved person. If you'll hunger and thirst after righteousness because you are nothing and you have nothing in and of yourself, If your hunger and thirst after righteousness, which is personified as Jesus Christ, the righteous one, guess what? You will be filled. And so you have to go to the person of God to have joy. Anything that steps in between you and Jesus Christ for joy will ultimately take your joy away. It becomes a worship. in and of itself. If I want to love my wife, I have to love her, listen, as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it. If I'm going to love my children, I have to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Life relates to the Lord or it's not life at all. It's a facade. And so, take your Bibles and turn to the book of Philippians today Philippians and chapter 4. I'm going to go and do a summary of life as it relates to the Lord, and my title is Joy as it Relates to Life. Joy as it Relates to Life. I would like to do a summary of the whole book, but the Lord has not led me to do so since I only have about 40 minutes here, maybe less. One of the preacher friends said, your last name is Long. I bet you get that all the time, don't you? I said, yeah, because I preach long. But you know, our people are so hungry for the Word of God. Many times they'll say after waking up, that was really good. That really fed my soul. Well, I tell you, I need something on the inside. Because if I'm trying to derive joy from what's going on on the outside, I will be controlled by the next decision from another person. The only person who needs to be controlling us is God through His Word. And that's where joy relates to life. And so I'm going to summarize the book really in chapter 4 here. And let's start in verse 4. Philippians 4 and verse 4. a command as much as it is a privilege, and also a place. Rejoice in the Lord always. That means just a consistent line of life from the beginning to the end with never a break. Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say, rejoice. Why don't you read that out loud with me? That sounds so good to the soul. Read it out loud with me if you will. Philippians 4 and verse 4, Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, rejoice. And let's go to the Lord in prayer and ask Him to do a work in our hearts and remind us where joy comes from. Let's pray. Our God and our Father, we thank You today, dear Lord, for Your blessings to us. We have been blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. And Father, all the blessings that you desire for us to have come through your Son. Lord, help us to remember that by your Spirit. Remind our minds. Renew our minds. Renovate our minds, dear Lord. Rip out the old stuff that shouldn't be there. And replace it with the newness of your Spirit. Remind us where we're right. And Lord, rebuke us where we're wrong. and help us to walk the straight and narrow way. Because there is only one way of salvation. It's in your Son, Jesus Christ. And there is only one way for supernatural joy in life. And again, it's Jesus Christ. And so Lord, we ask for the fruit of your Spirit to be born in our spirit today. This one particularly, Lord, joy. And we ask you to do the work. I ask you to fill me with your Spirit, Lord. I am nothing, just a man. And yet, dear Lord, you're all in all, and you indwell me. So Jesus, hide me behind the cross, I pray, and let your life be born through my mouth. Help me to preach, dear Lord, as though I'm standing here and you're speaking the words out of my mouth. I ask you for your abilities, in Jesus' name, amen. I want to remind you that these are prison epistles. Paul is not wondering what his 401K is going to be doing. He's in jail. And they said of Paul whenever he went into a place, he might as well check out what the jail situation is going to be because the accommodations are going to be. And it's not like the Holiday Inn where I'm staying down here. He was in jail. One of the things he said to the Ephesians, Now, they were worshiping the goddess Diana, if you remember. And they had their place of worship was about 60 columns on each side, big marble columns. And it was about the length of two football fields. And could you imagine walking into this place and then going up to this big idol? And then, so Paul had to address something to the Ephesians who were now turned away from that idol worship, those dead gods, and they've turned to the living God. And he had to address them in some way that they would see the glories of the eternal place of worship. So, I imagine he wrestles with some words and he says, you know, you're like living stones in this building of God. It's the life of Christ that causes us to glow with wisdom. Causes a man's face to glow with wisdom. You can almost pick him out in a crowd. You go to Chick-fil-A or something. Say, that guy is probably a Christian. Nah, not him. Yeah, I can see the Lord in her. You can almost see grace on people. And that can fool you at times, I understand. But you know, just by a spirit of a person, many times, There's an engodment there. Amen? And the joy of the Lord can't be hid. And neither can worry and anxiety, by the way. It's written on our faces at times. So we want to get our minds back on where the joy comes from. And it's not anything external. It is in the Lord. And it is in the Lord that causes us to relate to all the situations in life. I have five situations here that we want to deal with today. And the first one is the Lord Himself. Philippians 4.4, summarizing the whole book, Paul says, Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice. He says this all throughout the book. Rejoicing is a theme. I guess it's about 16 times as I mentioned in some form or fashion about the joy of the Lord and how we need that. Boy, was he right. So, he says, well, wait a minute, there in Ephesians, maybe the stone is not a good enough picture about the eternal glories and building of God. There will be no sun there. It's the glory of the Lamb that's going to shine. Can't you just feel that sun coming up in the morning and kissing your skin as you look at it? Stepping outside and having that... Anybody ever wake up in the sun? Okay, maybe a few. If you haven't, try it sometime. It is a picture of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, by the way. Okay? And you see that in 1 Peter there too. The sun's rising in a heart. It's talking about Jesus Christ swelling up in the soul of a man, and coming out of him causes you so full of joy. And so, when people come to our church, by the way, they are coming back by the thousands. They're sick of this boogie music. And they're coming back and they've got to have something true on the inside. They're coming back by the thousands. So, just be true to the Lord. So, he takes another picture and says, wait a minute, maybe the building's not going to get it there. Are you talking about a building in Ephesus there or something higher than that and those dead idols? It's the glory of God, Him shining on us. We're lively, we're living stones unto God. Then he says, wait a minute, what about the body? Talk about intimacy with God. No other God's intimate. You've got to try to please Him by external acts to earn His favor. But see, a Christian, there's something going on on the inside. Something's changed. What is it? The law's written on the heart. I don't want to sin anymore. I want to please God. There's an inward motivation. And I tell our teenagers this, by the way, our assistant pastor Nathan Houston, a great man of God. He and his wife Mary Joyce graduated from here as well. Wonderful assistant. Wonderful man of God. About 28, 29 now. Went from our youth to our assistant. Just doing a tremendous, tremendous job. Good prayer partner. Wonderful man of God. Appreciate him so much. If he goes on to pastor a church, I'll be looking for an assistant. Paul is talking about the body. How important the local body is. But you know what he says here? He says, okay, the intimacy that you have with Christ, it's really not you doing something for Him in a sense. Get it now. It is Him. It is His life coming through you. When His life comes through you, your part is yielding to Him. His part's doing the work. And that's how we're co-labors together with Christ. And He will do a wonderful and gracious work. David said of himself, when he got himself in trouble, he made some fleshly choices. They took his wives, they took his stuff, they took his men's wives. Man, he was broken. He came down to nothingness again. And what did he do? He encouraged himself in the stock market. He encouraged himself by getting a good grade on his Greek test. Boy, that would encourage me. But you know what? He encouraged himself in the Lord. You've got to get that if you don't get anything else here. The very first point of joy in your life is that you're relating everything to Jesus Christ. I ask our children this. How do you know God loves you? I mention this all the time. I'm going to repeat it until the day I die. Who loves you more than anybody in the whole world? God. I said, prove it to me. Jesus died on the cross for our sins. That's the proof. And so, we always have to relate everything to the Lord if we're going to have joy. The first one is joy and the Lord. How are you relating your life, are you relating everything in your life to Jesus Christ? If you're not, you're not going to have joy. I thank God for my wife. I thank God for my children. I thank God for the privilege of pastoring Tabernacle Baptist Church. I thank God for Ambassador Baptist College. My teachers that helped me, prayed for me, and answered thousands of my questions. My pastor, Pastor Chuck Surrett. I ate at his table a lot too, Dr. Comfort. I thank God. For people who loved me, I was a mess when I came. I still am a mess, but anyway. I was a mess when I came to this school. I mean, I had just trusted Christ as my Savior at 27 years of age. I was relating everything to Jesus Christ for joy. I tried all this stuff and tried to get joy and business from money, but it just wouldn't deliver. Well, my joy is in the Lord. Jeremiah 15,16, And thy words were found, and I did eat them. And thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart. For I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts. The first thing about joy as it relates to life, are you relating it to the Lord? Are you trying to get your joy from the Lord? Are you trying to get it from something else? You know, we have a privilege as children of God. We can have joy in any relationship. We can have joy in any circumstance. That's the general truth of the book of Philippians. You have joy in any situation. That's the general truth. Here's the specific truth. The only deep and lasting joy in life is a growing relationship with Jesus Christ. Now listen, I'm telling you, that's the truth. That's the truth. And when you get out there, And some of your preacher friends forget to call. You see how you're doing a while. Maybe you haven't talked to them. You get so involved in your own work at times. Well, that's good to come apart like this. You're going to realize external things are not making me happy. Good. You're in a good place. Because joy is in the Lord. Rejoice in the Lord. My brother and I had a bow and arrow contest here. He bought himself a bow and arrow set a target up about 50 feet, and boy, his chest was out like one of a bird or something that's been eating well, you know. And I said, hey, Joel, he's five years older than me, one of my millionaire brothers. And he said to me, hey, Joel, I want you to shoot this bow and arrow with me. I beat him in basketball. I beat him in soccer. I outran him in track. I mean, you know. So he gets his bow and arrow. I said, OK. And so he said, I want you to shoot this thing with me. And he rears back, takes a good shot, and gets somewhere close to the bullseye. And by the grace of God, when I shot it, I say the grace of God. I hadn't shot one of these things in 20 years or so. It hits the bullseye. And I was trying to be humble about it. I think I failed. Or I wouldn't be telling this story. But it does fit in with my message, brother. And here's the message. Now if you can just erase that part. The general truth. By the way, sin is missing the mark. Sin's missing the mark. Here's the general truth. You can hit the target every time because you're a Christian. Joy in the Lord. But the bullseye is rejoice in the Lord Himself. That's the bullseye. I want to hit the bullseye when I'm shooting. So the first place there of joy as it relates to life is the Lord Himself. Now let's go to verse 5. Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. The Lord is at hand. Two things here in the immediate context. He's talking about the return of Christ. If you look in chapter 3 there, right above chapter 3 verses 20 and 21. For our conversation is in heaven, that's position. For whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. So we're on earth looking up, but we're already there in position. So we ought to practice that way. I'm a heavenly citizen now walking on earth. See how that changed? I'm a heavenly citizen walking on earth. Get that turned around, you'll be walking in the flesh. Who shall change our vile body, our decaying bodies, the body of sin that we have, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body according to the working whereby He is able. He's able. He's able. I know He's able. And we sing about me going to heaven. He's able right here on earth for me to have joy. I'm not looking for the joy alone. I am because that purifies you. But I want to be like Jesus Christ right now where the test is in the world. Who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body according to the working whereby He is able even to subdue all things to Himself. You know what subduing all things to yourself is, don't you? Let the water out in the bathtub, all the water subdued right down to the drain. That's what it's talking about. Jesus is able to subdue all things to Himself. And if you don't believe that, read Philippians chapter 2. When He is high and lifted up, His name, all of all creation is going to come to His throne one day. And they are going to open their mouth and they are going to confess, He is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Every Jew, every Muslim, all the people in Iraq, Anybody ever lived, all of them are going to say it. I'm glad I'm saying it now. Verse 5, Philippians 4. Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. Two things here. Number one, He could return at any time. And number two, He's already here. He can return at any time. Here's the power of it though. The power of it is this. I am in the presence of the Lord. Whether I acknowledge it or not, I am in the presence of the Lord. Every now and then I forget I'm in the presence of the Lord and the Lord whispers to me. I start getting anxious and stirred up about something. He says, Joel, I'm right here. Oh yeah. That's right. This word moderation is kind of hard to translate into Greek because they're not really English equivalent, but let me give you a couple of tries. It means gentleness, tranquility of temper, mildness under persecution. It means to be calm. It's what takes place. Let me give you a word picture. Moderation. It's what takes place inside the believer when he really believes that Jesus Christ is right here. That's what it means. That's moderation. By the way, we're children of the King, right? We're going through the Beatitudes on Sunday morning. The Lord didn't lead me to preach that. But we're children of the King. Matthew presents Jesus as the King. You know what it means to be courteous with one another? That you're in the court of the King. And because you're in the court of the King as His children, your behavior toward one another ought to change. You're in the presence of the King. That changes a lot of stuff. So, moderation. Aristotle, one of the early church philosophers said, This is a gracious treatment of others without strict adherence to the letter of the law, not compromising truth by any means, but making allowances for others' weaknesses, not unduly rigorous, because there's more right to deal with and consider than the present issue at hand. Don't chop and block people, cause a one issue. If I'd done that, I wouldn't have anybody in my church. People came in our church with bad music. We just taught them what's right. Waited on them. And now, if you come in our church with bad music, they're telling you. I like that. They don't even get to me hardly anymore. This is wonderful. Shakespeare's character, Shylock there, when his character says, when he wanted to retaliate some injustice done to him, he said, I demand my pound of flesh. You did me this way, and when I get my chance, I'm going to do you that way. Let me tell you this. That happens in a church. You forgot. You're in the presence of the King. You forgot. And you need to be reminded. Being hard-nosed toward people always takes a man's joy away. I'll say that again. If you're hard-nosed with people, it will take your joy away. And you have forgotten how the Lord has treated you. Paul's attitude in 2 Corinthians 10 was this, Now I beseech you, brethren, by the meekness and gentleness of Christ. See, his spirit when he came in had to deal with something. 2 Timothy 2, 24 and 25. If you want to mediate in any conflict, go in there with a mild and gentle spirit and talk in a tone just like this and tell the truth. and to let people line up with the truth. You don't need to fight with them. You raise your voice with them in a speech class. I understand if you raise your voice, you lost the debate. You lost it. Why? Because you gave in to your passions when you raised your voice. And you're out of control. Now, you can say some things strongly and firmly. You can do that underneath the control of the Spirit. Are there times to raise our voice, by the way, with regard to other people? Well sure, out of love. Ball goes into the street. My children are running out to get the ball. Stop! I'm going to go blow the tape here. Stop! I'll be yelling stop. I don't care who hears it. Why? Out of love. So there are times for that. The Lord is at hand. He's coming any moment. By the way, somebody asked me how close is the Lord coming? One day than He was yesterday. That's how close He is. And you better be looking up because the redemption draweth nigh. But from that time, remember this, He is here, He is near. So God is here, God is near. If that doesn't calm you, when Jesus said, I am with you always, even to the end of the world, let me tell you, if that doesn't calm you, the fact that Jesus is with you, then nothing else will. Nothing else will. Let your moderation be known in all men. Why? The Lord is at hand. And then dealing with personal anxieties here. I'm talking about joy as it relates to life. First of all, the Lord Himself. And then we see as it relates to personal anxieties in life. I'll give you the rest of the outline. I can't go into it because I'm just going to focus here the last few minutes on verses 4 and 7. But the joy as it relates to life in our thought processes. What are you thinking? Philippians 4, 8. If it's not true, don't waste your mind with it. And the list goes on there. True, must be true first of all. Honest, just, pure, lovely, good report. Virtue, which is moral uprightness. There's any virtue, any praise? Think on these things. That's a command. It's addressed to our will. Will you do it? And so, then the next one is with regard to material possessions in the world and the part I possess of it. The rest of the chapter there in Philippians 4, 10 through 19, I guess, would be there. And folks, here's the thing. If I'm waiting on you to give me something so I can have joy, I might be waiting a long time. And I've learned this too. The fact that somebody gave to me something last month or last year doesn't necessarily mean they're giving it to me today. And so, I'm not going to allow whether or not somebody is giving this or giving that to determine my joy because my joy is in the Lord. And by the way, I did learn this as well. Somewhere along the way, something changed. I can't tell you when the line came. But somewhere along in my Christian experience, it changed. Here's what changed. I stopped looking at people and the ambassador for what they could do for me. And I started thinking, what can I do for them? And boy, did the joy flow. And I've been in that vein ever since. And that is the life, let me tell you. Psalm 1611 says, Thou wilt show me the path of life, and Thy presence is fullness of joy. That's not just heaven, that's right now. At Thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore. True and legitimate pleasure comes in a growing relationship with Jesus Christ. Period. Christ is our life. Can't get away from that. Psalm 43, 4, Then will I go to the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy. It's coming right on out of him. God's my exceeding joy. Our greatest joy. What are you trying to draw joy from? And now let me deal with personal anxieties here. Philippians 4 and verse 6. Be careful for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication. With thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. Verse 7. And the peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Now folks, you notice it starts in the Lord and it ends through the Lord. It begins in the Lord and you have joy through the Lord. It begins in the Lord and then joy comes through. Actually, see, it's His joy coming through you to other people. We don't have anything to offer people in and of ourselves that's any eternal value or any present value, really. But we have Christ and that's all we need. And when we're properly related to Him, joy will fill our hearts. Let's look at these verses just a few minutes. Be careful for nothing. There's a clarification there. The word careful there means to be anxious, to be stirred up, to be full of cares. In what area of life, let me ask you, what area of life are you allowed to be full of care, anxiety and worry? The clarifications right here in the text, nowhere, nothing, not at all. That is not allowed for a child of God who is relating His joy, gathering His joy from Jesus Christ. He is not allowed to do that. Nowhere is He allowed to be full of anxiety or care. Now there is an answer here to when these cares come upon us at times because they do. So, family, health, retirement, money, even in our service. Remember Martha? She's covered about many things. Nowhere at any time is you allowed, as a child of God, to be anxious, full of care, full of worries. So, what are you worried about? If you're worried about something, here's the answer. And the answer is not alcoholic beverages. The answer is not anti-depression medicine. The answer is the Word of God, praying to God, asking God what He wants me to do so that I might hold forth the Word of Life and Jesus Christ might be seen in my life. Jesus and pills. I am so sick of that. Jesus and a little beer on the side. I'm so sick of that. It's Jesus Christ, His life in us. Don't turn yourself to anything else but to prayer. I believe it. Right here it is. Be careful for nothing but in everything by prayer. That's what the Word of God says if you want to live with the Word of God. If you want the Bible answer, prayer. Now this is talking about in prayer, with prayer, the spirit of prayer, and then it gives us the word supplication. You know what supplication is? How do you know if you're supplicating? Okay? I didn't say suffocating. I said supplicating. Supplication is this. Supplication is like the Beatitudes. It's a person who's poor in spirit. They're spiritually destitute. They need God. They're meek, they're humbled by that, and they're hungry and thirsting after righteousness. It's like this. You're supplicating when you pray this way. God, if you don't help me, I'm done. That's supplication. It's a military term. It's an inferior officer talking to a superior officer and, in a sense, begging him to do something about it. Why? Because he has the power to do it. That's supplication. That's how you know if you're supplicating. Intercessions, you praying for another person. This is you praying to God about any of these circumstances in life. Supplication. If God doesn't help me, it won't be done. You're supplicating then. And then notice the attitude here with Thanksgiving. God's interested in our spirit of prayer. We're to come boldly before the throne of grace. That doesn't mean pushy. Boldly before the throne of grace means with confidence. And what are we asking for? Mercy and grace. Mercy and grace is what we come to the throne for. By the way, how can you even approach the throne? It's through Jesus Christ. You can even come into the presence of God the Father. So again, prayer is the antidote for trouble or worry. It is prayer to God. I mean real prayer. I mean supplication means I have Exhausted all my other strings of help, and I've cut them all off, and I'm just going to God. By the way, God will show Himself strong when you do that. When you depend on God alone, you'll find out you only need to depend on God alone. The spirit of prayer. Are you ready? A prayer of supplication. One calling out to another. If you don't help me, Lord, I'm done. Thanksgiving. When's the last time when you prayed you remembered that God helped you yesterday? You know, sometimes I give a gift to somebody and before the ink dries on the check, they got the other hand out. Kind of like your son-in-law, Brother Leslie. That's me, by the way. Hey, but listen. Why don't we just say thank you to people for what they've done? We had a missionary come in one time, and I'm not trying to get all mischievous, but we try to help them as much as we can. But before they got their check, gave them a gift, and we do try to give graciously, by the way, they said, we know that meets part of the need. That didn't suit me well. It did not suit me well at all. And then they went right on to the other part of the need. What they should have said is, Brother, I thank you. You know, pastors get calls from missionaries almost every day. And there are thousands of people who call me. I wish I could support them all, but I can't. So I'll have to be connected to ambassadors somehow from now on. But what will God do? Prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. Be thankful. Thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth. Isaiah 25.1, one verse here. O Lord, Thou art my God, I will exalt Thee, I will praise Thy name, for Thou hast done wonderful things. Notice, Thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth. You've been faithful to me in the past. You were true then with Your Word. You'll be faithful to me today. You'll be true to me today. You'll be faithful to me in the future. Your Word will be true then too. That's what it means. Thank the Lord for what He's done. Lamentations 3.25 The Lord is good unto them that wait for Him, to the soul that seeketh Him. We know from Romans chapter 8 that God is working everything to our ultimate good and His ultimate glory. What a deal! What's the ultimate good and glory? He's trying to make me just like His Son, conformity to Jesus Christ. Why? Because that is the life. Again, 1 Thessalonians 5, 17 and 18, pray without ceasing and everything, complain. And everything, give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. And then folks, you do come to this place after you have that spirit of supplication, of prayer, you have thanksgiving unto the Lord. You know what you do next? What does our text say? Philippians 4, 6, let your request be made known unto God. That's right. Ask God. My brother Jess is, well, I'll just say, maybe you'll pray for him now. He's struggling a little bit financially, needs a new car. And some of my millionaire brothers were picking on him a little bit about not having a lot of, think of that, will you? They were picking on him a little bit for teaching in the Bible school. at a Christian school, Wilmington Christian Academy, and his car got about 125,000 miles on it, what have you, and took it into the automotive place, and things clanking around like a tin can with a dime in it, you know. And I said, Jess, if I had the money, I'd give it to you myself. I'd buy you a car myself. I would, if I had it. I said, but let me tell you something. There's been five times in my life when I needed a vehicle. I didn't ask anybody else for one. I said, God, I'm serving You. I need a new vehicle and I'm not begging any man. I'm going to ask You and I want You to give it to me. Five times He's answered that prayer. And a couple of them were when I was going to this school. Boy, what answers to prayer. One thing I appreciate about Ambassador Baptist College, my days were here. The joy of answered prayer. Wow. John 14, 13. Why does God want to answer our prayers? What service do you ask in my name that will I do? Why? That the Father might be glorified in the Son. Luke 18, 1. Men ought always to pray and not to faint. Faint means to have a faint heartedness and desire to quit. If you stop praying, you will quit. If you quit praying, you will quit. You need to start praying and depending on the Lord. What will happen, verse 7, and the peace of God, there goes that anxiety, there goes that care, and the peace of God which passeth all understanding. I don't think I'm hurting the Word of God here by saying that's all of our understanding. That's all we understand about the situation which is limited. All of that will pass away. Why? Because the God of peace will take over when you depend upon Him. I'm going to say it again. The God of peace, the God of all comfort, the God of all peace, the God of all joy, it's His life, Christ in us, will take over. You're aligned again properly with God in right relationship to Him. What will He do? He'll say He'll keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Again, it's through Christ. This idea of The word keep here means the garrison or guard. It's to take the king and put him in the middle of the army and surround him with all the soldiers. Did you know he used to do that by the way? Make a circle here of soldiers, make a circle there of soldiers. And he kept working out this way. Therefore, when David came in to King Saul, he had to go through all those lines of soldiers. And God was with him to do it, to show that God can do that. But God is the one putting us in the pavilion. We went to the Philadelphia Zoo several years ago with the children, and they had everything directed through the pavilion. I said, where's the pavilion? I should have known. They said, in the middle of the zoo. So folks, see God places us right there in the middle of His care. And that is the center of His will. Somebody said, I'm not going to this mission field. I'm not going to that mission field. Something might happen to me. Let me tell you this. I'd rather be in the will of God in Williamsport, Pennsylvania than out of the will of God anywhere else. If God called me to the mission field, I'd rather be there than be here. Why? Because Christ is my life. Whatever He wants to do with me or do, notice, through me, that's really living. And so joy as it relates to life, if you're going to hit the target, you can have joy at any time because you're a child of God. No man taketh my joy from me, but you can give it away. And if you're going to have the joy that God wants you to have, you must relate everything in your life, personal anxieties, family relationships, financial things, to this one bullseye on the target. My joy. is in the Lord. Therefore the command, rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice, why? Because joy is in relationship to the Lord. God bless you.