work out good. So Philippians chapter 4 and verse number 1. Therefore, my brethren, dearly beloved, and long for my joy and my crown, so stand fast in the Lord, my dearly beloved. Now we're going to read more verse as we go through the text, but I want to use verse number 1 as the theme of our text we talked about last week about the Apostle Paul having a great hand in starting this church at Philippi back in Acts chapter number 16. And my thought centers around the terms of love and endearment that Paul gives to this church in verse number 1. He calls them my brethren. He calls them dearly beloved. You ever heard anybody get up and say dearly beloved? That's where they got it from, from the Bible. longed for. He said, they're my joy. He said, they're my crown. So these are all terms of affection and love that Paul uses to express his feelings for the church and for the church members. there at Philippi. And while making these terms of affection love to the church, he will follow up these terms of affection by giving them some pastoral counsel and truth. I'll say this tonight, a pastor that loves you, he's going to try to comfort you and be a blessing to you, but sometimes he has to give some counsel, and sometimes he has to give instruction, and you may not always like what he has to do, but if he's lining up with the Word of God, then you need to receive the counsel. And so, in Philippians 4, as he closes out this prayer letter, if you would, we see the heart of a pastor, or the heart of a shepherd, and that's what we're centering our thoughts around here in Philippians chapter 4. I'll mention what we dealt with last week, and then we'll move on in the text. First of all, We know there are six things in this chapter we'll look at. We'll probably look at three tonight, and then look at three next Wednesday night as we conclude the book series. But we notice, first of all, a contextual plea in verses 1 through 5. Now, the word, therefore, in verse number 1 takes you back to chapter number 3. And at the ending of chapter number 3, he's talking about how one day that the Lord's going to come again, He's going to change this vile body. That is a reference to the rapture of the church. I'm glad that Jesus is coming again and we shall be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, Paul will tell the Corinthian church there in 1 Corinthians chapter 15. He is also talking about in light of the enemies of the cross, the apostates, those who are against the gospel, those who are against the ministry of preaching the Word of God. He talks about that. And he says, so in light of these things, I want to make a contextual plea. We dealt with this one last week. I'll mention it and move on quickly. The first thing he wants the church to do is have an unwavering stand. In verse number 1, an unwavering stand. Watch what he says. He uses all those terms of endearment. He said, so stand fast, in the Lord, my dearly beloved." In other words, he said, in these last days, in light of all the apostasy, in light of all the wickedness, in light of all the sin, and in light of the fact that Jesus is coming again, you keep on standing in the Lord. Amen? Say it fast. It talks about the position of our stand. We're standing in the Lord. and the persistency of our stand. Stand fast. That means to stand and to keep on standing. And then we talk about the purpose of our stand in Ephesians 6, that we may be able to stand in the evil day. And certainly that is where we are living at tonight. We are having to stand in the evil day. So Paul's plea is they have an unwavering stand. But then secondly, in verse number 2, his second plea in light of the apostates and in light of the coming of the Lord, here's the second request that he had, that they have a united spirit. Look at verse 2, please. I beseech Judas and I beseech Synthe that they be of the same mind in the Lord. Now Paul openly deals with two women there in the church of Philippi that it had some sort of disagreement and division among themselves. Paul called them out by name because he knew the only way to resolve this issue was to call the two offending or offended parties out and admonish them to get things right. Can you imagine the reaction at Philippi? Here comes Epaphroditus back from Rome from visiting Paul. He's got the letter from the Apostle Paul to the Philippians in his hand. He walks in. Boy, they're glad to see Epaphroditus. How was the trip? Everything went good? How's Brother Paul? Well, he wrote us a letter. Well, get up and read it, Epaphroditus. Epaphroditus said, OK. And so he begins to read, and it's going good and going good. Oh, we all love Brother Paul. Ain't Brother Paul such a blessing? And then he gets to chapter 4. And can you see Eodius and Synthaeus sitting in the service? Oh, we love Brother Paul. Brother Paul is such a blessing. Oh, I thank God for our preacher. And then all of a sudden, Paul said, Hey, Eodius and Synthaeus, y'all are getting straightened up. Can you imagine all the necks in church going... Because they thought things had been tight at church a little while, but they didn't know why. Well, Paul let them know. He said, y'all need to get things right. Now, you know, somebody said, well, I want old-time religion. Well, that's old-time religion right there. Paul said two ladies in the church, two people in trouble got in trouble. Brother so-and-so, brother so-and-so, y'all need to get straightened things out. Now watch, in light of what? In light of the enemies of the cross, A lot of the apostates, false doctrine, and a lot of the coming of the Lord, he said, I need you all to get together on this thing. I need you to humble yourselves and get things right. Get right with the Lord and get right one with another. Hey, I tell you, what we need to be careful of in our church is getting division and getting disunity, because there's a lot of apostasy. We preach about that. And the Lord's coming again, and I try to preach about that. That's why we need to be unified in the Lord. Be of the same mind. He'll use that phrase over and over again in this epistle. So he wants an unwavering stand, a united spirit. Look at verse number 3, an unrestricted support. Look at verse 3. And I entreat thee, talking about Eodius and Synthae, true yokefella, help those women which labored with me in the gospel with commit also with my other fellow laborers whose names are in the book of life." Paul not only called out their division, but then he provided the solution. He said, ladies, y'all get right with the Lord, and then y'all get busy not focusing on yourselves, but get busy laboring. Why don't y'all go labor with Sister Clement and y'all go serving the church? You see, when we get church hurt, when I as a pastor get church hurt, it's when I'm focused on myself and focused on my feelings rather than the Lord. And I'm not serving. I wrote this down. It's more difficult to hit a moving target. Somebody who's serving and being busy, they ain't got time to stand around and wonder if you're mad at them. They've got too much stuff to do. They're busy, they're laboring. They realize there's a bigger picture here than me. It's the Lord Jesus. So he said, I'm going to tell you what will help you all. Y'all just get busy laboring in the Lord and help Sister Clement over there. Then the fourth thing he wants, he wants an unashamed shout. Look at verse number 4. Rejoice in the Lord most of the time. When you feel like it. No. Always. And again I say rejoice. He said, I'll tell you right now. He said the reason the shout ain't there is because Sister Odius and Sister Cynthia got some trouble. But if y'all get things right, y'all get to serve the Lord, then I won't admonish you. Y'all need to worship the Lord. Y'all need to rejoice in the Lord always. Sadly, you know what's happened? The church has become silent. I'm talking about our church. Amen. Well, I missed you, Brother Richie, in several ways Sunday night, but I missed your amens. It shouldn't be one man misses that the preacher gets a little more quiet. Every man ought to be saying amen in the service if you agree with what's being said. Everybody ought to be involved in that. And let me say this too, while the singers are singing, don't sit there like this. Boy, you're a real blessing. Looks like God's really touching your heart. It's called smiling. It's called waving at them. It's called saying praise. These singers, the choir, we're not here to entertain. This is not a concert. This ain't the National Quartet Convention. Our ladies have too much clothes on for it to be that. Help me now. Amen. We're too modest. We sing gospel songs. It can't be the Cortec Convention. Amen. This ain't a Jubilee at Sea Cruise. This is a church service. And so we're not here to be entertained. We're here to worship. So when somebody gets up and sings, oh, because he lives, oh boy, thank God he lives. Praise the Lord. I know he lives. And when somebody maybe gets up and sings, that's not a friend like the lowly Jesus. There ought to be something inside of you that says, boy, I agree with that. I agree with the message of that song. And when somebody gets up and preaches and talks about the Lord, talks about God's grace, you ought to be able to identify and say, yeah, I know what you're talking about. I agree with that preacher. Why? It keeps you engaged. The psalmist said, let everything that hath breath praise the Lord. The Bible said, let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom He hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy. Don't come in here and just be a spectator. Get involved in the service. Hey, bring your Bible to church, amen? Take notes. I know I preach too fast. You may not get my outline, but if God speaks to you about something, write that down. That'll be more memorable than my outline. Why? Because you're engaged and you're trying to get... I know when you've got babies, it's hard. I'm not talking about you. Most of the ones that look like their mom and mom-in-law moved in and ain't moving out are the ones that ain't got no kids. I'm not talking about my mother-in-law, I'm talking about everybody else's mother-in-law, alright? Amen. I'm just saying, get engaged. Get involved. Everybody ought to have a songbook singing during congregational music. Everybody ought to be involved. Why? Because we're not here to entertain. We are here to come in. Here's what David said, Oh, magnify the Lord with me. When these ladies, when these folks, when this choir gets up to sing, Their desire is, you magnify the Lord with me. Let us exalt His name together. When I'm trying to preach, when Brother Richard, Brother Caden, or a man of God is trying to preach the Word of God, Lord, they're saying, magnify the Lord with me. Let us exalt His name together. And Paul said, I will admonish the church, rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, rejoice. Has God been good to you? Has God been faithful? Has God met your needs? God answered your prayer? God put breath in your body today? Your baby's had food to eat? You had clothes to wear? You had gas in your vehicle? You had a church to come to tonight? God's been good to us? And so we should never come in the church and just sit there with a, bless me if you can. Boy, that's hard to preach to. That's hard to sing to. But when somebody's smiling, and it ain't about a response, I'm not trying to stir something up. But I tell you, there ought to be some happiness about being at church. Another reason is because these kids are watching it. We rode by, the boys here, Daxson and Sattler, and I know you, Ryan, some of you, they love baseball. Boy, they love baseball. We rode by, the way we come to church, we come by, I guess that's the Granite School, and they got the big ballpark out there, and we rode by, and Daxson said, look, they're up there playing ball. He said, but I couldn't play for them, because they play on Sundays and Wednesdays. I didn't tell him that. He said that. That made me so proud as a daddy that he knows we don't play ball on Sunday and Wednesday. So they are watching. They are watching. And so if you sit there dead as a hammer during church, they're watching that. Rejoice in the Lord always. Now, always means not just at church, because you're not always at church, unless you're me. Amen? And that's okay. But everywhere you go, Hey, y'all not praise the Lord here if you don't praise Him at the house. Don't pray here if you don't pray at home. Don't sing here if you don't sing at home. Amen. And the Lord's really put the family, I've been reading a book on the family and the home, and the Lord's given me some thoughts and messages. But I'll say this, there ain't a parent in here that would just make sure their child ate three good meals a week. There's not one parent in here that only makes you their child. That little Micah there, y'all wouldn't be good parents if you only fed that boy three times a week. He's got to grow. He's got to have those nutrients. Hey, that boy right there, he's got to have more than three meals a week. It don't matter if they're that little or that big and that ugly. Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to say that last part. But what I'm saying, they've got to have something. You know, the only time, it shouldn't be when the Sunday school teacher or the preacher opens up the Bible. God's convicted my heart about this. Here, I'm off my, I'm running a rabbit. But we need to have, we need to invoke family devotions in our homes. And daddies, that starts with us. I told my wife the other night, I said, I ain't done that like I should, but we're going to start doing that. In fact, the last two nights I've been in meetings, we got home late, and I laid Dax and Alice out. I said, we're going to do a Bible story. I said, son, I preached tonight, I'm not sure if I'd have Jonah up the well or in the well or Zacchaeus up a tree, so we'll do it tomorrow night, tonight, amen? But they need more than just three spiritual meals a week. Amen. I don't know how I got on that, but it's unashamed. We ought not be ashamed. I know it's awkward when they're standing on their head and doing all that stuff. And I'm going to preach on this again. But they're getting more than what you think they are. They're getting more than what you think they are. And so when we come to church, we ought to let the kids know we're excited to be here. Amen. Then he wants an unselfish submission. Look at verse 5. Let your moderation be known unto all men. Not only did he want the rejoicing of the Lord to be unashamed, but he wanted the holiness and commitment to the Lord to be well known. The word moderation here means yieldedness. It speaks of selflessness of an individual who's ready to yield and submit. In other words, he said, let it be known that you're trying to submit to the Lord, first of all. James chapter number 4 and verse number 6 says, But he giveth more grace, wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God, resist the devil, and he'll flee from you. But then in Ephesians 5, we're submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. We're to live a life of submission. But then he says also, not only does he want an unwavering stand, a united spirit, unrestricted support, unashamed shout, unselfish submission, but then watch the latter part of verse 5, an understanding of the season. The Lord is at hand. And I love how Paul writes, Brother Richie, he starts, he ends chapter 3, Talking about the coming of the Lord. Then he says, therefore, he lists all those things and he goes back to verse 5. He says, I want to remind you again, the Lord's at hand. He takes them right back to the coming of the Lord. I tell you, church, we ought to put these six principles in our lives, active in our lives. Why? The Lord is at hand. He's coming. He's coming. Aren't you glad He's coming tonight? Aren't you glad for that reality? If we really believed He was coming, we ought to stand for the Lord. Be unwavering in our stand. We'd have a united spirit. We'd come together and not allow division, not allow sin. We'd have unrestricted support. We'd get involved. We'd be unashamed in our shout. Wouldn't worry what somebody else thinks. I ain't saying you've got to act like I do. Everybody's wired different. I understand that. Everybody's tempered different. Some people, tears are your access to the throne room. That's all right. My granddaddy, he was a crier. If he ever got his handkerchief out and started doing this, that was like running three laps around the building for him. But that's the way he entered into the throne room. But there ought to be some kind of response. You shouldn't look like a scarecrow in church. Just in case you forgot what a scarecrow looks like. Then, an unselfish submission. Let your moderation be known to men. Now, understanding of the season, the Lord is at hand. He's coming. Notice, secondly, not only does He give a contextual plea, but then He gives a comfort in prayer. Verse 6 and 7. We'll finish up with this one tonight and we'll preach the last four next Wednesday. A comfort in prayer. Paul now moves from that contextual plea to remind them that we can pray. He'll mention three things in these two verses. Number one, there's the reality we face. Verse six, be careful for nothing. Now, what is that reality? Well, the word careful here means to be anxious, to be troubled with cares. The little phrase gives the idea of worry. Anybody know anything about worry tonight? That's right. We all worry. We all deal with it. One fellow said, when I pray, well, you can worry. We ought to flip that around. But Paul said, be careful for nothing. As much as we don't like to admit it, we worry. We worry. You worry about your bills. You worry about your family. You worry about your health. You worry about things. And there's enough in the world to make you worry. That is the reality we face. You're not going to escape it. You can live on a mountain somewhere away from everybody, away from the internet, away from everything, by yourself! And you'd worry, does anybody miss me? You'd worry about something. It's the reality that we face. But you know what Jesus said? Take therefore no thought for tomorrow, for tomorrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. In other words, He said, quit worrying about tomorrow. Boast not thyself of tomorrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. In other words, Paul is saying, and the Lord is saying, live for today. My boys are notorious for this question. What are we going to do tomorrow? They will wake up in the morning. What are we going to do tomorrow? Son, I'm not even sure what I'm doing for lunch. I haven't even got that far yet. I know some other people that plan that far ahead too. I didn't call anybody's name, but everybody looked at Eric and Gaydon. What I'm saying, and that's fine if you're that way. I'm just not that way. The life I live, a phone call can change your whole day, so don't plan out too far, alright? And that's fine, that's okay. If you're structured, I'm not throwing stone at you. And the Lord is not speaking against planning and making plans. But here's what He's saying. Don't stay up all night worrying about your plans. It is vain for you to rise up early and sit up late and eat the bread of sorrows, the psalmist said. And live, what are we going to do? What are we going to do? I tell you, if God got the sun up this morning, And he's getting the moon out right now. He's going to do it again tomorrow. There's never been a day that the sun didn't shine. There's never been a day when the moon didn't shine. There was one day when the moon was running just a little bit late in the book of Joshua, because Joshua prayed, Lord, would you let that sun stay out a little bit? The Lord said, we can do that so you can whoop these enemies. But every time, the moon came out later. Why? Because God is a faithful God. And I'll tell you right now, we all worry about things. And in this world, we worry about finances, do we not? We worry about money. Do I have enough money to pay the bills? But you know what? Every month, your mortgage has been paid. Every month, your power bill has been paid. Every month, your water bill has been paid. Every month, your insurance has been paid. You don't know how you've done it? Every week, you've paid your tithes. Every week, you've paid your missions. And don't add up on paper. Faith never figures. But he says, be careful for nothing. That's the reality we face. But notice the remedy we find, verse 6. Now remember where Paul's at when he writes this. He ain't in Hampton Inn, sitting in prison, and he's telling this church not to worry. If anybody should have been worried, it should have been Paul. He's got a death sentence on his head, literally. They're fixing to kill him. Paul said, ah, be careful for nothing. How do you defeat worry, Paul? Look at the remedy we find. But in everything by prayer, In supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God." He said, I'm going to tell you, the way you combat worry is by praying about it. Ain't that simple? If it's so simple, why do I have so much trouble with that? I said, I, because I know I do. If you'll be honest, you can say you struggle with it too. Wondering, how are we going to do this? How are we going to do that? But by everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests remain only unto God. He mentions three words that are connected to prayer. Supplication, thanksgiving, and request. We're good at supplication and requesting. That's asking for things. But he said, you better make sure you tie thanksgiving into that supplication. That goes back to that rejoicing the Lord always. Watch what he said. But in everything, by prayer and supplication. Meaning you pray about everything. Pray about everything. There's no matter too small to pray about. And if there's no matter too small to pray about, then thank God there's no matter too big to pray about. He hates when I tell this, but it illustrates the point. Dax was in Sunday school a few months ago, and they asked for prayer requests, and he said, y'all pray for Max Freed. He got sick at the ball game the other night. For you people that's not cultured, that's number 54, our left-handed South Pole pitcher for the Atlanta Braves. He got to throwing up in the dugout, and Dax said, we need to pray for Max Freed. He's sick. And they said, oh, that's silly. Well, I know that may sound silly to you, but you know what he's learning? Pray about everything. Pray about everything. Amen. Should have prayed hard. He didn't do too well in the playoffs. But what I'm saying is that's that principle. That don't mean anything to you, but it mattered to that little fella. I know that's carnal and that's not something we're going to put in the prayer bulletin. Somebody say amen. Brother David Shelton said he was in a meeting one night. And that's one of the reasons why we have the prayer box instead of raising your hand because you never know what you might hear. And one lady said, y'all pray for... I'm pulling names out of the air because I don't watch soap operas. Y'all pray for Susie and Joe, they're about to bust up, and it was two people in a soap opera. And you wonder why I had the prayer box back there. What I'm saying though is, I'm not talking about things like that, but we ought to pray about those things that worry our mind. Are you weak? Are you heavy laden? Tell it to Jesus. Tell it to Jesus alone. Then watch the result of faith. Verse 7, and I'm done. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. The result of prayer is peace. There's the definition of peace in this verse. It passeth all understanding. You ever had peace and you couldn't explain it? You didn't know how it was going to work out, but you knew God was going to take care of it. That's what it is, it passes all understanding. And in the defense of this peace, it will keep your hearts, and here's what I need some help with, and minds, through Christ Jesus. You need God to help your heart and your mind? Pray, and God will give you peace. The Bible says, for God is not the author of confusion, but of peace. Peace. I tell you, there's no better feeling in the world than having the peace of God ruling in your heart. He'll talk about that more in the text. We'll look at it next week, the Lord willing. I don't want to rush through this chapter. I've got it all outlined, but we're at 25 minutes. I think that's a good place to stop tonight. But Paul is the heart of a shepherd. He said, in light of the coming of the Lord, keep standing. Stay in unity. Get busy in the work of the Lord. Praise the Lord. Be submitted. He's coming. And with those worries you face, those things you fight with, take it to the Lord in prayer. Take it to the Lord in prayer. You got burdens, you got problems, everybody does. But I'm glad you could take it to God in prayer. Amen. That's 25 minutes. I appreciate your attention tonight. I appreciate this book. I've enjoyed the book of Philippians. We'll try to finish it next Wednesday night. But just going through this book, verse by verse, and get some help for our hearts. I want to close out our service tonight the way I did Sunday night. We're going to get our basket out here with the names of lost folks, and we'll conclude our service with an altar of prayer. So let's stand, all those who are willing and physically able, and would like to join us. You can come down here, grab a name or two out of the basket, and let's pray for these lost folks tonight. This will also be our dismissal prayer. These folks need a prayer more than just two nights of our prayer revival. We need to pray for these folks until God saves them. It should be our desire. So get your name out of here, and we'll get on the altars and pray, and then we'll let you go home tonight.