Sermon for Nov. 24, 2019

This morning I'll be reading Philippians chapter 4 verses 4 through 9.

And I'll be reading the Holman Christian Standard Bible.

This was written by Paul to the church in Philippi and the joy that he had in his heart for this church is made more remarkable since Paul was actually in prison at this time. To me it brings more meaning to the term "Thanksgiving" when you think of his present circumstances.

4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your graciousness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. 6 Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses every thought, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

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 moral excellence and if there is any praise—dwell on these things. 9 Do what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.

God bless the reading and the hearing of your word this morning.

Let us pray:

Dear Lord, as we begin this morning, we ask that you open our ears to hear and our hearts and minds to receive the message that you have for us today,,, In Jesus' name I pray,,, Amen.

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This coming Thursday is Thanksgiving Day.

This is a day when we try to show our thanks to God for the blessings that we have received all year.

It's a time when families usually try to get together with eating and fellowship that is looked forward to all year.

This scripture that I read this morning is part of a letter that Paul wrote to the church in Philippi and he wrote it while that he was in prison.

You would think that if you were in prison and going through hard times that being joyful would be hard to do but we see from these verses that's not true,,, or it's not for Paul!

I hope that these scriptures will give us hope as we look at these this morning.

(2:44)

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The very first verse that we looked at this morning,,, beginning in verse 4 says: 4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!

Remember as I said earlier that Paul is in prison at this time and here he is saying "rejoice in the Lord always"!

My Holman Christian Study Bible says that it seems strange that a man in prison would be telling a church to rejoice.

But Paul's attitude teaches us an important lesson.

Our inner attitudes do not have to reflect our outward circumstances.

Paul was full of joy because he knew that no matter what happened to him, Jesus Christ was with him.

Several times in this letter Paul urged the Philippians to be joyful, probably because they needed to hear this.

It's easy to get discouraged about unpleasant circumstances or to take unimportant events too seriously.

If this is a time in your life where you haven't been feeling joyful lately,,, you may not be looking at life from the right perspective.

And your answer to this problem is shown in the next verse.

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Beginning in verse 5 it says: 5 Let your graciousness be known to everyone. The Lord is near.

The first part of this verse is accomplished because of the last part of the verse!

Let me explain!

Our graciousness can be known to everyone because of the Holy Spirit leading and guiding us each and every day.

In other words since Jesus is near us each and every day,,, this is possible no matter what we are going through.

The peace of God is available to us as we go through any problem that we have.

This peace that the Holy Spirit gives us,,, is what allows us to be content in the fact that we know that no matter what happens,,, God is in control.

It's this knowledge that helps us get through anything that we are struggling with!

Knowing that no matter how bad things are or no matter how bad we have messed everything up,,, God is working everything out for our "good" for those of us that love the Lord!

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The knowledge that Jesus is coming back gives us great joy and an even greater peace also.

According to several of the commentaries that I read on this verse,,, Paul is speaking of the return of Jesus as being near which is what many thought at that time.

Believing that Jesus is coming back is what we look forward to because then we know that everything will be fixed that is broken.

And we have that assurance because of our faith from the study of God's word and the written words from the disciples and the early church.

(5:27)

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In verse 6 it says: 6 Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.

This verse hits me hard every time I read it.

Especially now that I have seen God at work in my life doing things that I would have gone out of my way to do,,, before my accident,,, but now I couldn't while I was in the hospital.

I can obey the last part of this verse with no problem.

As soon as I had a problem,,, I was in prayer about it.

I had no trouble making my request known to God!

Then I would do my best to find a way to fix it myself.

I'm sure that there were some times where God had to have helped me even though I wasn't obedient the way that I should have been.

God doesn't abandon us when we act foolishly,,, but I'm sure that if we always did things His way,,, it would always be easier.

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Which means that we must study the first part of this verse in a little more detail before we move on.

Don't worry about anything!

I can't tell you the number of times that Kaye has cautioned me about this.

God keeps bringing it up also,,, so I really need to pay attention here,,, maybe you do too!

I found this on sermon central by Gerald Cornelius.

One man was always worrying.

He worried about his children, his job, his wife, his health.

One day a friend of this man noted that he was extremely calm and peaceful.

"Why are you so calm?, he asked. "You always worry about every-thing. What happened?"

The former worrier replied, "I just hired a man to do the worrying for me."

"Well, how much are you paying him?" His friend inquired.

"A thousand dollars a week," the man replied.

"A thousand a week? You can’t afford a thousand dollars a week.

The worrier responded, "That’s his problem!"

You see,,, that's what we should be doing!

The worrier responded, “That’s his problem.”

Give our problems to God,,, then believe that He will t

You see,,, In a way,,, that's what we should be doing!

Except we should give our problems to God,,, then believe that He will take care of it the way that He says that He will!

And,,, unlike the fictional man that was hired to worry,,, God will actually take care of the problem or whatever is bothering you!

What did Jesus say about worry in : 31 So don’t worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ 32 For the idolaters eagerly seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you. 34 Therefore don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Verse 33 is the answer to all of our problems.

If the Kingdom of God and His righteousness are what we are concerned about,,, we will have no thoughts about worry.

Our thoughts will be on doing the work that God put us here to do.

Corrie Ten Boom,,, (hero of the holocaust),,, said that "Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow,,, it empties today of its strength!"

She,,, like Paul,,, should have known what it would be to worry,,, but they both had their faith in God and they knew that no matter what happened to them in this life God was in control,,, while their thoughts were on the Kingdom of God,,, and that's what was important to them.

So what we must do is be sure that we do take everything to God in prayer and petition with thanksgiving and then trusting in God to take care of it like we should!

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This will lead us to experience what it says in verse 7 where it says: 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses every thought, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

God's peace is different from the worlds definition of peace.

God's peace doesn't mean that we won't have problems any more,,, it doesn't mean that we won't have sickness or deal with death,,, it doesn't mean that we won't have any number of problems that we can come up with.

What we have as Christians is the faith that God is still in control and no matter what happens,,, He is working everything out for us!

It's that belief that helps us each day to live our life in God's peace,,, no matter what this world can put us through.

(10:20)

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Then in verses 8 and 9 Paul tells them:

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 moral excellence and if there is any praise—dwell on these things. 9 Do what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.

Paul is telling them to be sure that their minds are filled with the right thoughts and then they will not have room for impure thoughts or worries.

That's why we must be careful of what we watch on TV,,, or,,, when we go to the movies,,, or,,, listen to on the radio,,, or,,, the books that we read,,, anything that can put impure thoughts into us.

Then be sure that we seriously spend time in the Bible,,, reading,,, studying it,,, and listening for Him to speak as you read,,, these things will help us every day.

And obeying the words that we read as well.

It does us no good to just read the Bible every day or come to church every week,,, if we don't apply it to our life outside of church.

We must let the word of God enter into us,,, but it must grow so much that it is visible for others to see.

It's this out pouring of God's love that has entered into us that will save so many more than we can get in this church!

(11:38)

Because its when they see Christians truly living a Christ-like life all through the week instead of just on Sunday that really makes them take notice.

And that will get them interested and make them ask questions that could change their life in a great way forever!

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If we can manage all of these things that we have covered this morning,,, that will help us have a great thanksgiving each and every year!

Remember that we must rejoice in the Lord always!

No matter what our present situation,,, this is possible if we remember that God is in control and everything will ultimately work out for our good.

Remember the words of Jesus that we should not worry.

And yes,,, I realize that this is for me also!

The words from God will bother me if they are about something that I'm doing wrong!

And I'm not about to stand up here and act like I'm perfect when I know that I need to listen too!

Doing these things will allow us to have the peace of God all year long and that is the way to have a great thanksgiving year after year.

The only way to accomplish all of this is to allow the Holy Spirit to lead and guide us each and every day.

Correcting us when we do wrong and getting us back on the correct path,,, guiding us to do the right things and spend time increasing our knowledge and fellowship with God because it's that personal relationship that we have that helps us every day.

And it's through our Savior,,, Jesus Christ that we can truly say that we will have a happy thanksgiving each and every year!

Because it's through the sacrifices that Jesus made for us,,, and His love for us,,, that makes everything possible!

(13:20)

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So as we sing our final hymn,,, let me remind you that the alter is always open,,,

If you feel God speaking to you,,, don't hesitate to come,,, maybe you just have questions,,, God will answer,,, you just have to ask Him,,, whatever the need may be,,,

As we sing the final hymn,,, come if needed!

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