Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Black Bart was a professional thief whose very name struck fear as he terrorized the Wells Fargo stage line.

From San Francisco to New York, his name became synonymous with the danger of the frontier.

Between 1875 and 1883 he robbed 29 different stagecoach crews.

Amazingly, Bart did it all without firing a shot.

Because a hood hid his face, no victim ever saw his face.

He never took a hostage and was never trailed by a sheriff.

Instead, Black Bart used fear to paralyze his victims.

His sinister presence was enough to overwhelm the toughest stagecoach guard.

This is what Satan wants for us.

He wants us to be so caught up with our concerns and worries that we never do anything for the Lord.

He wants us to just be paralyzed like those passengers all were.

He wants us to lose hope and despair over everything.

Here we are in a new year with 2 behind us that have caused much despair and anguish.

Many are in fear and anxious.

Many are living in a anxiety society and that is what Satan wants.

What this text will tell us is we can rejoice and have peace because God is with us.

We can be gentle and reasonable with all because God is with us.

We can Live with No Anxiety in Society and that is something to be thankful for.

Fear and anxiety are our Black Bart’s and we can overcome them with the Lord.

In the text for today we will see that Paul speaks of the Lord in 5 of the 6 verses we will examine.

This is saying we can have peace and comfort in all things because of the Lord.

So today I want you to think of what the Lord can do for you if you will do all the things Paul says in these six verses from Phil.

4:4-9

First we see that there is...

Peace in the Knowledge of the Lord (4-5)

We can rejoice in the Lord.

This is being in a state of joy and happiness and well-being.

We have joy and well-being because of the Lord.

It is in Him where our rejoicing is found.

In Him we can have joy in everything because He is the Lord and nothing can remove Him.

It is because of this why we can rejoice in Him because He is our strength.

We can be defiant in the face of every circumstance and difficulty we face because we can say, ‘Nevertheless!’ ” in the Lord we rejoice.”

(G.

Walter Hansen, The Letter to the Philippians, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Nottingham, England: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2009), 287.)

One commentator has said, “Our relationship with the Lord is so central and determinative in our lives that all other factors cannot shake our sense of enthusiasm in the Lord.”

(Hansen, The Letter to the Philippians, 287–288.)

When we have a deep commitment in the Lord we can rejoice regardless what comes.

It is in the Lord we can rejoice and be joyful but this only happens if you have a relationship with Him.

When we have this relationship we will know that

And we will Ps.

100:1

When we are so enraptured–caught up in the worship of God, we will not allow a few minor things in life wreck us.

By minor I mean anything life throws at us.

Remember the Lord reigns over all and nothing in life is above Him.

When we rejoice in the Lord continually and praise Him always we will be able to be reasonable and gentle to all people.

When we are rejoicing in the Lord we will not become bitter and snap at others over circumstances.

We will not insist on our own way and become angry when we get interrupted–this is an area that the Lord has been hammering me on during the prep of this message.

When we are rejoicing in the Lord and worshipping Him continually we will be committed to Him and we will be joyful and our character will be that of a reasonable and gentle person.

All people will see that there is something different in us.

They will see that they can speak with us even they and we do not see things the same way.

They will see we show true tolerance–the ability or willingness to tolerate something, in particular the existence of opinions or behavior that one does not necessarily agree with: allowing for something to exist but not affirming them.

This is to all people.

We are living in one of the most divided times I can remember in this nation.

If we are to live with no anxiety in Society we must be gentle with all but not unresponsive.

We respond with reasonableness and gentleness to all things in society.

We do not affirm all things but we also do not attack or insult but we give a reason for the error.

We do not attack and insult because we are not to judge those outside the church 1 Cor 5:12

We are gentle and open to help but not judgmental of them.

The Lord is at hand and He is the judge.

He will judge all.

This term at hand means He is near and near to returning.

When He returns He will judge and that is what we must always speak of.

He will judge them but we will also be judged for what we have done or not.

If we speak ill of others rather than gentle and kind, we will hear of this in Matt.

12:36 we read

We must be reasonable with all and rejoice in the Lord in all situations because we do not fully understand why things happen how they do.

We may have a person show up who is constantly critiquing our faith and mocking us.

We stay calm and reasonable and rejoice in the Lord for this person because other people see how we act and that may cause them to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Not only this but knowing the Lord is at hand lets us know he is still with us and guiding us.

When we know this and we rejoice continually we will give everything to Him and have His protection and with that we see that...

Anxiety Cannot Pierce a Guarded Heart (6-7)

If we allow for anxiety to enter rather than give it to the Lord and trust Him to guard us we are not exhibiting faith.

Much like this story I have heard of a general of Napoleon and his troops.

We see that...

The beginning of anxiety is the end of faith, and the beginning of true faith is the end of anxiety.

George Muller Massena, one of Napoleon's generals, suddenly appeared with 18,000 soldiers before an Austrian town which had no means of defending itself.

The town council met, certain that capitulation was the only answer.

The old dean of the church reminded the council that it was Easter, and begged them to hold services as usual and to leave the trouble in God's hands.

They followed his advice.

The dean went to the church and rang the bells to announce the service.

The French soldiers heard the church bells ring and concluded that the Austrian army had come to rescue the town.

They broke camp, and before the bells had ceased ringing, vanished.

They allowed anxiety to enter and by that they were not in faith of their ability.

On the other hand the townspeople had faith and assurance of the Lord.

They knew He was at hand and because of this they had assurance.

We can have the same assurance if we will rest in the Lord by giving all to Him in prayer and supplication [urgent request to meet a need].

We do this through a thankful heart which means we are thankful to the Lord regardless what happens because we know He reigns.

When we do this and give it all to Him our hearts will be guarded by His peace through Christ Jesus in us.

We have joy and peace that cannot be understood by the outside world.

It is the knowledge of the Lord in us that gives us peace.

He is at hand, He reigns, If God be for us, who can be against us?

Through this our hearts cannot be pierced by anxiety or stress or frustration at other people acting how they act.

We must remember that even Christians are still in the flesh and not fully glorified.

We must be gentle and reasonable with all.

When we are guarded by Him we can be this way.

He is guarding and keeping our hearts and minds.

But this only happens when we give it to Him.

So we give it all to Him for two reasons.

He is at hand and He is the Judge of all and will judge all who attack us whether saved or unsaved.

He will perfectly take care of all bad and evil in the world.

Let Him do this and we have peace and not anxiety.