Prayer and the subject for tonight is prayer the cure for care and I thought it's pretty neat that this week he's all right so he's got a title that rhymes and he's got three points to start with this Man, we're starting to preach now. I like that set up. Because the alliteration thing, it's good. So tonight we're going to look at Philippians chapter four of the verses for this evening. Do not be anxious about anything. But in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. And he begins, he opens up this chapter with this statement. He said, God has given us the faculty of forethought, but like all our faculties, it has been perverted, and it's often abused. And it's so true, isn't it? This idea of caring about things. You know, most sin is, it's a twisting or a perverting of a good thing. And so, in this case, having care or having concern about something is a healthy thing, right? It helps us to be good stewards of what we have, our lives in a lot of ways. We're concerned to make the best use of our time and resources that the Lord's given us. You know, for example, we have a right concern about our health, and so therefore we seek to take care of our bodies. And so care is a good thing, but it doesn't take long. before that, the care that we have, the concern, gets out of hand, right? And it starts to become sinful worry. It starts to become anxiety. And it starts to build and to grow. And so tonight we're gonna look at the cure to those worries and anxieties that we all face. And so the first thing we're gonna look at is the substitute for care. Does yours say prayer? Sorry about that. I guess I was, I don't know what happened, but got my words mixed up. The substitute for care is prayer. So the first thing we're going to look at tonight, our cares are many. And I think we can all agree with this. We have plenty to be concerned about. As we mentioned, we have our health, we have finances, we have our spiritual lives, we have family members that we care about, loved ones. I mean, the list goes on and on. And many times, these concerns become worry. They become anxiety. And so then the key here that he says is turn everything that is a care into prayer, right? So every time you are concerned or start to worry or have anxiety, take it to the Lord in prayer. And he gives some different examples. He talks about a prayer to gain, a prayer to have more material resources. And he says this, he says, have no more care to gain than you dare to turn into a prayer. And Spurgeon here, again, thinking in terms of possessions, in terms of material resources, You know, one way I thought about it for us that kind of brings out the point of what he's saying with this quote, I think, was I thought about, you know, us having Lydia. Absolutely wonderful blessing. We want children. They're a blessing from the Lord. She's brought us so much joy. But you want to talk about a whole different level of concern, right, and more motivation to go to the Lord in prayer and take it to Him. And that's just one example from my life. The more that we gain, the more we have to take to the Lord in prayer. Another example he gave was a prayer for daily bread. Some people say, I'm not trying to gain more. I'm just trying to keep up. I'm just trying to have each day what I need. First of all, Spurgeon says, remember the words of Jesus. He said, look at the birds of the air. They neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Then he talks about, and it's a hard thing to see when you're in the situation, but if you kind of zoom out and look at this, you see that it's, It's really a blessing when the Lord causes us to rely on him. He says it this way, if you have a large family, a slender income, and troublemaking ends meet, and providing things honest in the sight of all men, you have so many excuses, so many reasons for knocking at God's door, so many more reasons for being often found at the throne of grace. And again, I know it takes a lot of spiritual maturity, a lot of humility to see that. But it's true that we are driven back to him in prayer. The next example he gives is a prayer for decision making. And he says that, absolutely, you should go to the Lord. You should seek wisdom from God through prayer for making decisions of all kinds. As a matter of fact, it's usually the small or the obvious decisions that we think we can handle ourselves, and therefore we don't pray about, that actually causes trouble. So going to God, asking him what should we do in these situations of our lives for wisdom, for discernment, to make the right decision. And so after kind of identifying, going through these several examples, he makes a statement regarding the amount of concerns, the amount of cares, the amount of worry and anxiety in our lives. And this is how he says it. He says, you can always find a stick with which to beat a dog. And if you want to care, you can always find a care with which to beat your soul. It's always going to be right. There's always something to worry about. But that's not what we want. It's not how we are to live. But so often it's true. We can have so many blessings, and yet we find those things in our lives to worry about. Next, she says that with worry and with care and with anxiety, when it is undue care, it's an intrusion into God's providence. In other words, you're out of your lane, right? This is his territory. You know, wondering about so many things, wondering about how we're going to make it happen, how we're going to solve the problem. Meanwhile, he's the one who cares for, he's the one who provides for his children. And so, you know, we dare not seek to step into that place of God and try to assume his responsibilities for it. Next, cares are of no use to us and they cause us great damage. They're no use, and they cause great damage. And again, it's one that's, it's so true, but it's so hard to think this way when you're in the middle of it, and when you're struggling in your mind with worry, with anxiety. Again, the words of Jesus here, he said it this way, which of you, by being anxious, can add a single hour to a span of life? In other words, it's not productive. And yet we know that for us, worry, anxiety can cause us to lose sleep, our appetite, our motivation to do things. It can be harmful to us, and yet it accomplishes nothing positive. We also see that cares are the result of forgetfulness of Christ's closeness. Our worry and our anxiety in it, we lose sight of the fact of how we are united together with Him. And we picked up tonight in verse 6 of Philippians 4, but Spurgeon reminds us here that actually the verse before it, verse 5 ends with these words, the Lord is at hand. The Lord's at hand. And when we think of the fact that he is there, he's made these promises, I will never leave you nor forsake you. I'll be with you always. We forget that in the midst of anxiety and worry. Spurgeon writes this, if we could but stand on this earth as upon a mere shadow and live as those who will soon be done with this poor transient life, if we held every earthly thing with a loose hand, we would not be caring and worrying and fretting, but we would be praying. To be able to step outside of our little temporary worries and anxieties and to live with eternity in mind. How much greater would that be? So, that's the first section of the lesson tonight. Second, the special character of this prayer that kills care, that kills anxiety and worry. What do we know about the characteristics of this prayer? First of all, it deals with everything. Any care, concern, worry, anxiety. Spurgeon said, you not only may pray for the Holy Spirit, but you may pray for a new pair of boots. Draw no line that limits the care of God. Pray for all things. And then I've never thought about it from this angle until I've read this, but he says this, never say that daily necessities are too little for him to notice. Everything is little in comparison to him. I thought that was a great thought. The one who's created and sustains all things, omnipresent, Right? The greatest issue that we have is nothing compared to who he is. I just thought it was a great way to think about that. Also, we see it's a prayer that is repeated. And he gives some ideas here of how to kind of think through this. So he says, when you've prayed, and there's no answer to the prayer that you prayed. After the first time, thank the Lord that you have a chance to go in to pray again. He's giving you an opportunity to have more communion with him. When you pray the second time and there's no answer, Believe that he loves you so much that he wants to hear your voice again. He's giving you another opportunity to come and to speak with him and to plead with him and commune with him. He said even if you go down and you get to the seventh time, There's not an answer. He said, now I know that I worship the God of Elijah. For Elijah's God let him go again seven times before the blessing was given. This is a reference to when Elijah prayed for rain. And this is what scripture says. He said to his servant, go up now, look toward the sea. And he went up and looked and said, there's nothing. And he said, go again. seven times and at the seventh time he said behold a little cloud like a man's hand it's rising from the sea Elijah said go go up say to Ahab prepare your chariot and go down lest the rain stop so in other words he's saying if the Lord does not at first answer your prayer know that you're in good company because we see this kind of thing in scripture We also see that the kind of prayer that kills care is, it's intelligent prayer. And what he means by this is that you are, it's deliberate. You know what you're praying. You know what you're praying and why you are praying it. It's not this kind of automatic thing. I think we can all identify those times when we start to pray and our mind maybe starts to wander and so the prayers kind of go into autopilot. He's saying this is not that. This is focused, deliberate prayer, knowing what you're praying and why you're praying. Also, it's a prayer that when you come to the Lord and you say what you want, in other words, speak plainly. He describes it as speaking to a parent or a close friend about something you need. Say it plainly. Tell them exactly what it is. Next, it's communion with God. It's being with him, knowing that his presence is there. Then he makes this statement at the end of this section. He said, he's often answered a prayer that asked for silver by giving gold. He may have denied earthly treasure, but he has given heavenly riches of 10,000 times the worth. And the supplement has been more than satisfied. with the exchange. We also see that the kind of prayer that kills care is said with thanksgiving. With thanksgiving. And that is thanksgiving in all kinds of situations and times in life. Spurgeon mentions even thanksgiving in things like poverty. sickness or trouble. All of those times there are things that we can find to be thankful for and to take to the Lord and in praising for. The third section this evening that we're going to look at is the sweet effects of of the prayer that kills care. What does it bring about? And the first thing we see, it's an unusual peace. An unusual peace. And what he means by this is, first of all, it's the peace of God. It is God's peace that he brings about. It's a very unique thing. Also, it's a piece that surpasses all understanding. And if that's the case, then this means that others will not understand the piece that you possess, that you have in the moments when you have that piece. It also means that you won't be able to explain it to them, right, or express this to them exactly what it is. It's beyond understanding. even furthermore he says that even beyond that you yourself won't understand it, but it'll be true. You'll have this peace that surpasses all understanding. He also says that this peace is unfathomable and immeasurable. the peace that the Lord brings. And as examples of this, illustrations of this, he gives, he talks about some of the martyrs throughout history. One man asked the judge that was there to come and feel his heartbeat while they were preparing to burn him at the stake. And he said, he asked this judge, what do you feel? Is my heart racing? The judge said, no, it's perfectly normal, like a resting heartbeat. He said, I have no fear. I'm at perfect peace. Another man was so sound asleep on the day that he was to be burned that those carrying out the execution had to wake him. I don't know about you, but if I was getting ready to be burned alive, I don't know that there'd be a lot of sleep happening. But it's just absolutely incredible. And he also mentions one man that was suspended on a pole, placed over a fire, like a rotisserie. After a while, he told those executing him, he said, guys, I'm done on this side. It's time to turn me over. Just in his humorous, almost humorous way of showing this total peace. lack of fear. It has no explanation, right, in the natural world. It's supernatural. We also see in these verses in Philippians, it's a guardian piece. It guards. It's a military term that It means it creates like a garrison, a military base where troops would be placed to protect a city. And that's what the peace of God does to our hearts and minds. Protects it. Spurgeon writes this, though it seems like a weakness, Peace is the essence of strength. And while it guards, it also feeds us and supplies all our needs. It's a wonderful thing. We also see that this peace is a peace that links us to Jesus, to Christ. It guards our hearts and our minds. It guards our affections, our thoughts, our desires. And all of that is done in Christ. Which Spurgeon brings out, he says, that makes it doubly sweet. Because not only do we have this unbelievable peace, But we have it through our union together with Christ our Lord. And our fellowship together with him brings about this peace in us. And so he finishes this up and he says, you know, may the Lord grant us that kind of peace in our lives as we continue to worship and to follow and to serve him. So let's close in a word of prayer this evening. Father, we do thank you for this lesson. We thank you for these verses of Philippians and Lord, just this idea of perfect peace against worry and concern. We pray that we would turn our care into prayers, as Spurgeon said, that we would take them to you. Father, that they would not just consume our minds and our thoughts and our hearts. Father, that we would just submit them to you. So we thank you tonight for this and we pray this in Jesus' name.