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In your Bibles this morning,
Philippians chapter 4. Philippians chapter 4. I want
to read to you beginning in verse number 4 through verse number
7 and share with you this message. Today's message is titled this,
thankful praying and unbelievable peace. I think it'll make sense
as we begin to see this text. I know that this is something
that we all need. And God's provided for us. Philippians
chapter 4, beginning verse 4, the Bible says, Rejoice in the
Lord always. And again, I say rejoice. Let
your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. 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." Now, when we come to this passage of Scripture,
God promises something that only God can promise. He promises
us to give us His peace. Look at what the Scripture says
in verse 7. The Bible says, the peace of God. which passeth all
understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ
Jesus. God says that you can have my
peace. Now there have been times in
my life that I've had my peace and I was doing pretty good.
But there have been lots of times where what I could provide for
myself was not sufficient and I needed God's peace and I found
out a long time ago I'd just as soon live with God's peace
than my peace because God's peace is perfect. And the Bible promises
something that seems a little bit unbelievable but it's possible
that you and I can live our lives and have this glorious hope that
God's peace dwells on us. Let me ask you a question. What
is it that worries God? The answer is nothing. What is
it that's got God wringing His hands and concerned that it might
not work out? Nothing. And the Bible says that
you and I can experience the peace of God. I don't know about
you, but I think I'd like to have that. And the scripture
says that we can. The Bible says that the peace
of God, which passes understanding, shall keep your hearts. I love
the word keep. The word keep is this idea of
tending to and caring for, and the Bible says that God's peace
will keep your heart. It will tend to it. It will protect
it. It will nurture it. It will keep your hearts and
your minds through Christ Jesus. We live in a time, and lots of
folks right here in our midst, including myself, have troubled
hearts because of a troubled world. But I can tell you today
that God promises us that He'll give us peace in the midst of
life's storms. He'll give us peace when everything
around is falling apart. He'll give us peace when we have
to walk through waters we never dreamed we'd have to walk through. And when the worst thing you
could ever imagine happens, God says, I'll give you peace. Not
only will I give you peace, I'll give you my peace." We come to
this passage of Scripture and there are some pretty big words
in this passage of Scripture. Not big as in long, but big as
in they make pretty bold statements. I want you to look at it with
me. Verse 4 of the Bible says, Rejoice in the Lord always. Have you ever heard anybody say,
this always happens, and you think, I'm not sure that you're
telling the truth there. But the Bible says, always. We're to rejoice
in the Lord always. And then in verse number six,
the Bible says, be careful for nothing. You see that? Nothing.
These are absolute words. Always. Nothing. Nothing ever
goes my way. Have you ever said that? You're
probably not telling the truth. Always, nothing, look at the
next phrase in verse six, but in everything, you see the word
everything? Everything is always my fault. Have you ever said that? Everything's
always her fault. Everything. And then finally,
it talks about the peace of God which passes understanding. When
I read this passage of Scripture and I see those words, it's almost
like you're having a fight with somebody and you're overstating
things. Always, nothing, everything, unbelievable. But in this case,
God's going to give us some absolute truth, some things that should
be done always, some things that should be done nothing and everything. God's going to help us to be
thankful prayers and have unbelievable Let's just begin here, verse
4, and the first point is this. We are to rejoice always. Now
look at what the scripture says in verse 4. Rejoice in the Lord
always, and again I say, rejoice. Now I don't know about you, but
there have been moments in my life where rejoicing was not
something that was on the top of my list. How many of you could
say amen to that? Amen. But I want you to see something
that's very important in this scripture. The Bible doesn't
say that we are to rejoice in everything. But we are to rejoice
in the Lord always. Now that's important. Now I want
you to understand that sad things happen in our lives. I won't have you raise your hand
because everybody could raise their hand. Because sad things have
happened. Disappointing things have happened.
Sorrowful things have occurred. And the Bible doesn't tell us
that you can't sorrow. You're a Christian. You can't
sorrow. You have to rejoice. I'm going to tell you something.
When my grandfather died, I didn't rejoice. When I've been with
folks who've suffered greatly and great loss, I didn't rejoice
in their loss. And the Bible doesn't say rejoice
when bad things happen to you. That just makes you look weird.
Oh yes, my dog died. This is wonderful. I'm rejoicing. I've got an ingrown toenail.
Hallelujah. It doesn't make sense. Let me
tell you what does make sense. When all around you seems to
be falling apart. When it seems like the situation
you're in is hopeless. When it seems like there's just
nothing I can do. I don't know where to turn. I
don't know what to do. My heart is broken. This is devastating. It does make sense in the moments
of great despair to rejoice in the Lord. You know why? Because
God is good, and God loves you, and God is sovereign, and God
has a purpose that's greater than our imaginations, and God
never changes, and you can always rejoice in the Lord. My heart's
broken, but I've got hope because God is on the throne. I'm going
to tell you, when you begin as a child of God to rejoice in
God, rejoicing God's perfect understanding, rejoicing God's
goodness, rejoicing God's love, rejoicing God's word. When you
rejoice in the Lord, an amazing thing begins to take place. In
the midst of the most sorrowful of situations, you're able to
find peace. You're able to find hope. You're
able to find rest. And God says in His Word that
we're to rejoice in the Lord. You see, when we rejoice in the
Lord, and we rejoice in the goodness of God, and we rejoice in the
fact that God loves me, and God is in control, and I'm going
to trust His will even though it hurts, we begin to rejoice
in the Lord. God helps us. The Scripture says
in verse 4, rejoice in the Lord always. When am I supposed to
rejoice? I'm always supposed to rejoice in the Lord. You know
what I've watched through the years? I've watched many people
suffer great loss. And I've walked with people through
some of the saddest of moments. But I've watched folks who say,
we are going to trust the Lord in the midst of our trouble.
And I've watched time and time again. God give them peace. God
give them rest. God do something that is beyond
our explanation. God's grace fills the heart of
His people. who rejoice in Him even when
life is at its worst. The Bible says rejoice in the
Lord always. And in case you didn't hear Him,
He says again, I say rejoice. What are we rejoicing in? We're
rejoicing in the Lord. I'll tell you something that
happens when you rejoice in the Lord. When you rejoice in the Lord,
You become what the next verse says. Here's what the Bible says
in verse 5. Do you know what people who determine
they're going to rejoice in the Lord when things are falling
apart, do you know what they end up doing? They end up reacting
to the circumstances of life the right way. Now how many of
you have this proclivity? You're prone to overreact. Don't raise your hand, but you
can say under your breath, oh me. So the Bible says that we're
to let our moderation be known to all men. Here's the truth.
When you rejoice in the Lord and you know God is in control,
And God is faithful, and God is good, and I'm going to rejoice
in the Lord. Do you know what the byproduct of trusting God
is? The byproduct of trusting God
is a moderate spirit. The byproduct of trusting God
is this ability to see and deal with the most outlandish, wild,
crazy, and heartbreaking things with the right attitude and the
right spirit without overreacting. I don't necessarily love the
word, but it's the best way to describe what a lot of us do
when things aren't going our way. We just absolutely freak
out. How many of you have ever freaked
out? I'm going to tell you something. It's not necessary. It's not
necessary. And God has designed us and He
has made it possible that we can put our confidence and faith
in Him so that there doesn't have to be these absolute, utter
explosions of emotion when things are going the wrong way. You
see, when we rejoice in the Lord, we know that it's God who is
in control and we're going to sit back and we're going to let
God do the work that God wants to do and we're going to rest
in Him. We're going to trust Him. Let's rejoice in the Lord. You see, when we rejoice in the
Lord and we give God His place and we trust Him, we're able
to weather the worst of the worst full of the grace of God. Full of the grace of God. Oh,
I want to be, I'm not telling you that I do this perfectly
because I know that I don't. But I want to be the kind of
Christian that experiences the peace of God because I'm rejoicing
in the goodness of God. I'm rejoicing in the Lord and
I'm rejoicing in the fact that God is in control. And I don't
want to be the person that you've got to be afraid to tell something
to because he'll lose it. You see when we're trusting in
the Lord, we're trusting in the Lord. We have this privilege
of a moderate spirit that rests in the goodness of God. So, number
one, rejoice always. Rejoice always. Number two, what
the Bible says next in verse 6, be careful for nothing. We're to rejoice always. And
number two, we're to be careful for nothing. Careful for nothing.
What's the word careful mean? The word careful means anxious.
Now I want you to know anxiety is something that is overwhelming
to lots of people. And God wants us to be careful
for nothing. God wants us to give our anxieties
to Him. Now I want you to know that's
easier for the preacher to say on Sunday morning than it is
to do on Monday morning. You understand? I know that.
But I want you to know that it's possible. It's possible. As a matter of fact, this is
kind of interesting because the scripture is not saying, you
know, if you're able this week, let's try a little harder and
let's just, let's not be anxious about everything this week. Let's
just see if we can, let's just see if we can kind of put some
anxieties to the side and let's just, let's just try. But look,
I'm going to tell you, this is not a suggestion. This is a command. Do you know that God commands
us to be careful for nothing? And you know what my first question
is when I read that statement, I say, how? Be careful, how? And the scripture is going to
give us some insight. So the Bible says be careful, anxious
for nothing. And it leads us to point number three, which
really is the brux of the message. How can I rejoice in the Lord? How can I be careful for nothing? Now, look, I want you to know
something about God and His Word. God does not give us principles
and expect us to be macho Christians or like some super Christian
in order to accomplish what He's given us to do. God, when He
gives a command, He always gives us the ability to accomplish
what He's commanded us to do. Let me ask you a question. ask us to do things that are
humanly impossible? The answer actually is yes. I'll give you some examples.
I mean, this is how Jesus worked. You just imagine, Lazarus. For
four days now, Lazarus has been dead. He's been dead long enough
that his sisters, when Jesus comes to his grave, to raise
him from the dead, they're scared for Jesus to go into him because
he probably stinks by now. But what did Jesus do? Jesus
asked Lazarus to do something that was absolutely, totally,
humanly impossible. Jesus stands outside of Lazarus'
grave and he says, Lazarus, come forth. What happened? Lifers come hopping out of that
grave wrapped up in grave clothes, whole and healed and alive. So
the answer is for a fact that Jesus does ask people to do things
that are humanly impossible. And when the Lord in His Word
sends us His Word and says, Hey, look, be careful for nothing. He doesn't give you something
to do that He's not going to give you the ability to accomplish. Be careful for nothing. How? How, Lord? How? Here's what the Bible says in
verse number 6. Be careful for nothing, but in
everything by prayer and supplication, With thanksgiving, let your requests
be made known unto God. So the Lord says here, don't
be anxious, but instead of the anxiousness, what I want you
to do is I want you to pray. I want you to pray. Okay, let's
pray. He says, I want you to pray,
and I want you to, in everything, I want you to pray, and I want
you to give supplication, and I want you to do these two things,
prayer and supplication, I want you to do it with thanksgiving. So let's just break this down
so it makes sense. What's pray, praying, praying,
prayer? I'll get it straight. Prayer is just general communication
with God. Now, you and I, we should get
in a habit of praying to God. It doesn't have to be some elaborate
prayer down on your knees with these and thous. As a matter
of fact, the most effective praying that people do is often as they're
just living their lives and asking God for direction as we go. We should be praying, and just
general praying. And our praying, we should pray,
and pray faithfully and fervently. The Bible says we're to pray
without ceasing. There shouldn't be an hour go
by in our days that we're not, Lord, I need help with this,
Lord. Give me some direction, Lord. I don't know exactly what
to do here. Can you help me out, Lord? I love you. I mean, we should be praying. And the Bible says we're to pray.
Not only are we to pray, which is general communication with
God, we're to also offer supplications. Now this is sweet to me. A supplication
is when you ask for something. Do you know that God wants you
to ask Him for things? Not just a new car, but He wants
you to ask Him to help. He wants you to ask Him to provide. He wants you to ask Him. The
Lord welcomes requests. Now, here's the key. A lot of
our praying, and it's fine, because God is patient with our praying.
Just so you know, you're not praying wrong, but I want to
help you to pray in such a way that God will give you peace.
Here's what the Bible says. We are to pray, we're to offer
prayer in everything by prayer and supplication with, what's
that next word? 1, 2, 3, thanksgiving. I want you to know. that God used this verse in my
heart and life to completely change my prayer life. I'm not
saying it's great, I'm not bragging, but God used this verse to completely
change my prayer life because so much of our praying, and I
want you to know God is patient with your praying so don't feel
guilty, but so much of our praying is this desperation, begging,
oh God it's so bad, and it may be, But God says we're to pray
and make requests with thanksgiving. There is something that God has
put in the heart of all of his people. When we begin to give
thanks, God begins to give peace. It's just a fact. A long time
ago as a teenager, a preacher somewhere along the way encouraged
me When you're down, when you're
low, when you're struggling, when you have doubts, when you're
upset, I was encouraged to begin to do something that will help
turn that around. And here's what I was encouraged
to do, to take time to just thank God for something. Have you ever
gotten a spot where, man, it just seemed like Everybody in
the whole world was against you. Everything was going the wrong
way. There's no hope. Life as you
know it is shattered. I mean, there's moments, but
we're not all full of elementary emotion. But there's moments
where we just feel like the end of the world is coming, but it's
really not. We have these emotional moments
and they're just, they're devastating. And we just, we just can't seem
to get on top of it. And someone encouraged me to
do this. When you think there's no hope, when you're down in
the dumps, just stop what you're doing and ask God, Lord, will
you show me something to be thankful for? I'm going to tell you something. If you'll just pray, Lord, show
me something to be thankful for. You know what the next thing
is going to happen? The Holy Spirit is going to put something
in your heart to be thankful for. I mean, it may be the most
random thing that you may be driving down the road and God
will put in your heart that you're thankful that you've got a little
over half a tank of gas instead of almost out. I mean, it's going
to be the most random thing. And I will tell you, when God
gives you something to be thankful for, you say, thank you, Lord,
that I got a half a tank of gas. Thank Him. God's going to put
something in your heart that may be random and seemingly insignificant
to thank Him for. Thank You, Lord, for clean clothes
to wear today. Lord, thank You for breakfast. I was able to get up. I mean,
if you start asking God to show you things to be thankful for,
He's going to show you things. You're going to take a deep breath
in and be like, thank you, Lord, for air. I'm just going to tell
you, if you ask God to show you things to be thankful for, and
when He shows them to you, if you'll just thank God for it,
and you just keep doing that, you take 10 or 15 minutes and
you thank God for anything that He puts in your heart to thank
Him for, do you know what the next thing is going to be happening
in your heart? God's going to begin to lift
your burden. God's going to be able to lift the load. He's going
to begin to show you that you have something to hope in, that
you have something to rejoice in. You have more good going
than you've got bad, and God is faithful. You know where to
pray? Where to pray in thanksgiving? A prayer like this, Lord, My
loved one has died and my heart is breaking and I thank you,
Lord, for the promise of heaven. I thank you for the peace that
you're going to give. I thank you. You take the worst
of the worst and you begin to thank God for some part of that.
Because I'm going to tell you something, there's always a way
and a reason to be thankful. And when we pray in thanksgiving,
something amazing happens. As a matter of fact, the scripture
says it just like this. It says, in everything by prayer
and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known
unto God, verse 7, and this is what's going to happen, you see
it, verse 7, and the peace of God which passeth all understanding
shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Do you
know what happens? If we'll get in the habit of of instead of just whining to
God, we add some gratitude to our whine. I'm not telling you
not to whine to the Lord because He loves to answer the crying
and the cries of His children. But I want to remind you, if
you'll begin to thank God as you praise God and petition God,
if you'll thank Him and you'll be thankful and grateful for
what He has given you, the next thing you know, the Holy Spirit
of God is going to do a work in your heart that only God can
do, and He's going to give you the peace of God which passeth
understanding. Don't take my word for it. It's
what the Bible says. 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. Let me tell you something. Thankful
praying equals unbelievable peace. I beg of you, this week, instead
of being immoderate, remember we talked
about moderation, instead of freaking out about something,
catch yourself just before and pray and thank God for something,
ask God to help you. Instead of being down in the
dumps all week rejoicing the Lord. And you give your burden
to Him and you'll pray thankfully. I want you to know something,
God will give you unbelievable peace. Let's pray.
Thankful Praying and Unbelievable Peace
| Sermon ID | 930251552162621 |
| Duration | 26:26 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday - AM |
| Bible Text | Philippians 4:4-7 |
| Language | English |
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