Sermon for Preaching Class Philippians 4:8-9

Introduction

Good afternoon, please turn in your bibles with me to Philippians 4:4-10.

Philippians 4:4–9“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 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. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.”

Main Idea

Christians are to be joyful people, not worriers, but deligint prayers, constently redircting our thoughts to heavenly things and striving to obey God.

Philippians 4:4–5“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand;”

The word rejoice appears almost 200 times in the entire Bible and of those 200 between 40 and 60 are commands.

We are to rejoice in the Lord always independent of circumstance or mood.

James 1:2 “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,”

When we desplay joy in all circumstance we are proclaiming to the world that we belong to Christ.

Three Ways to Experience Godly Joy

1. Joy in right praying

Philippians 4:6–7 “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.”

Explanation:

Anxiety is the killer of joy

Prayer is the killer of anxiety

Paul uses three different words to discribe right prayer: prayer, supplication, and thanksgiving.

Prayer refers to adoration or a worshipful attitude towards God

Supplication is an earnest crying out to God.

... we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him. Eph 3:12.

Application:

Pray about all things

BIG & small

Pray Constantly

Romans 12:12 “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.”

Pray Boldly

2. Joy in right thinking

Philippians 4:8 “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”

Explination

When we pray rightly we begin to think rightly. Instead of thinking about things to worry about think about the things of God.

Brain rot

English Standard Version (Chapter 4) 1 Peter 4:7 7 The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers.

This is not the modern idea of positive thinking that has crept into our culture.

Paul gives a list of what we should think about

Things that are True:

There was a survey done by Penn State researchers which concluded that 91% of worries reported by participants never happened. Our minds are constantly bombarded by constant inflow of information so much of which is not based in truth or partaines to things which we have no control over. The devil wants us to be preoccupied with lies which cause us to doubt God’s goodness just as he lied to Eve did God really say?

How much worry would we eliminate if we only asked is this true?

I took Christian Philisophy last winter and had to read book after aganizing long book of these men who just thought and thought and thought and after all of their thinking they were still wrong. Its such a tragic thing actually that these men who thought so much and wrote so much were unltimetly not thinking on truth.

What a joy it is that we have the Truth! We have the truth avaliable to us right in our hands! We dont have to guess at truth because we have it.

Psalm 1 “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.

Application

Turn off the news!

Turn off your phone!

Fill your head with the World of God

Psalm 1 “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.

3. Joy in right living

When you pray right and think right you ought to act right.

James 1:22 “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”

You Cannot Separate out ward action from the inward disposition of your Heart

Its not enough to know the Gospel or to teach the Gospel we must live the Gospel.

Sin disrupts the peace of God

This is not moralism

Romans 7:18 “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.”

Rejoice because Christ has completed the work.