Untitled Sermon

his divine power has given us everything everything his divine power has given us everything to our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and good for life and godliness to our knowledge of him who called us by his own life power has given us by his own glory and good has given everything for life to our knowledge of him who called us turn with me to philippians chapter four we're finally there yay last chapter in the book of philippians we are going to finish this hopefully before the first of the year maybe before december yeah we should finish in the next few weeks so uh praise god it's been a good been a good journey i've enjoyed the time in it and uh seeing what the lord is teaching me and

watching him as he as he brings these truths out to each one of us and so i pray that it has been a blessing for you as well and i pray that you'll hang on for the uh for the full ride here let's read through chapter four just to get a feel for the context of the of the entire chapter itself all right therefore my brothers you whom i love and i long for my joy and crown then i will give you a new life and then i will give you a new life and then i will give you a new That is how you should stand firm in the Lord, dear friend. I plead with you, Odia, and I plead with Intichy to agree with each other in the Lord. Yes, and I ask you, loyal Yokelo, help these women who have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel,

along with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers whose names are in the book of life. Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again, rejoice, and let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thankgiving, present your request to God, and the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus.

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things. Whether you have learned or received or heard from me or seen in me, put into practice, and the God of peace will be with you. I rejoice greatly in the Lord that at last you have renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you have been concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it.

I'm not saying this because I'm in need. I've learned to be concerned. Whatever the circumstance, I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well-fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

Yet it was good of you to share in my trouble. Moreover, as you Philippians know, in the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel, when I set out for Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you only. Verse 16, for even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid again and again. When I was in need, not that I am looking for a gift, but I am looking for what may be credited to your account.

I have received full payment and even more. I am amply supplied now that I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent. They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God. And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen. Greet all the saints in Christ Jesus.

The brothers who are with me send greetings. All the saints send you greetings, especially those who belong to Caesar's household. The grace of the Lord Jesus. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen. That chapter has probably filled us with more scripture that is personally a favorite of yours than any other chapter, any other one chapter in all of scripture.

And I think you'll find it interesting as we go through this and see them in context, how much more even they're going to mean to you as we go through this study. We have been looking since our journey began in Philippians at overcoming circumstantial Christianity. And the way we do that is by learning to rejoice in the Lord. No matter what, learning to rejoice in the Lord.

Understanding that that is something that's commanded, but it's not always that easy to do. So we must learn to do it. God has given us the ability to do it. He's equipped us to do it. But we have to learn to use the resources to be able to do it, just as with any other thing in life that you seek to do. You may have the strength to do it, and you may have the knowledge of what must be done,

but you have to learn by doing to be able to finally come to the point of understanding what must be done. And the same is true with overcoming the circumstances. Overcoming circumstances. That's what I'm talking about. Overcoming the circumstances. That's what I'm talking about. Overcoming the circumstances. Overcoming circumstantial Christianity. Not allowing those circumstances to dictate your attitudes and feelings and your actions.

But in the midst of every circumstance, learning to rejoice in the Lord. In chapter 1, it began with learning to rejoice in our opportunities to serve Christ. Learning that I am a bond slave of Christ, verse 1. I am set apart unto Him. I'm a saint, verse 1 of chapter 1. I am in Christ. From that basis, learning that every opportunity that I come into in my daily life, every single one of them, is an opportunity to serve Him.

And I can rejoice in that. No matter what the opportunity. Me to live as Christ, verse 21. To die as gain. Verses 27 to 30. So therefore, whatever is necessary, Lord, in my life, do it. Do it. It's an opportunity to serve You. Chapter 2, we've been learning to rejoice in having the mind of Christ. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Who, though He was equal with God, thought it not robbery to be so.

But emptied Himself, poured Himself out, and became a servant. Being found in the form of a man. Humbled Himself and became a servant. Even a servant unto death. Even to the death on a cross. Lord, I want that mind in me. And I want to rejoice with that kind of a mind. I don't have to seek after the things in this world anymore. I don't have to seek to be great in the eyes of this world.

I want to have the mind of Christ. And as I see You're in control, I know You will exalt me in due time. You'll lift me up when I need to be lifted up. I can trust You for that. That takes some learning. Because You and I are around people every day who want just the opposite of that. They want to be exalted. They want to exalt themselves in the face of other men.

They want the world to exalt them. And they'll do whatever is necessary to do it. And as they do that to You, You want to respond in kind. And it takes some learning. Learning to not do that, but to rejoice in the Lord, to become His servant. Let Him exalt you. Let Him take care of the things. And as you and I do that, we learn to, verse 14 in chapter 2, do everything without grumbling and complaining.

And that's a big stumbling block. We had, of any response to this study, that's the chapter we had the most response on was that verse, verse 14 in chapter 2. Because we all do. And yet we all seem to excuse it. So to overcome the hurdle in rejoicing, that's one of the things that's got to stop. Immediately is our grumbling and complaining in these situations, in every situation.

Because we have the mind of Christ. Chapter 3, we learned how to rejoice in the calling of Christ. Each one of these building upon another. My opportunities to serve Him are daily. The mind that I need to have is the mind of Christ. I need to have that daily so that I can do everything without grumbling and complaining. Because I need to rejoice in the calling of Christ.

Where He has called me and placed me right now. Paul says in chapter 4 here that he's learned to become content in whatever situation he's in. How did he do that? He was the apostle of the Gentiles. He was out to save the world when he got put in prison. Didn't he become discouraged? I think he did at first. Because I think he, like you and I, had to learn how to become content in every situation.

It's not something that you just blot. You have it and I'm content. You have to learn that. And it comes with learning how to rejoice in the Lord. So you learn to rejoice in your calling. That God has called you. God has equipped you. God will move you and lead you and bring into your life everything that's necessary to accomplish that to which He has called you.

So the first thing we needed to do in chapter 3, to rejoice in our calling, was to learn how to deal with the past. And that, Paul says over and over and over, is I consider it lost. I count it lost. I consider it done. I forget the past and press on agonized towards what's ahead. So it's a mark of the high calling in Christ. So I forget the past. To live in the present, he showed us that we have to have five goals.

We have to have new goals for our life and that has to change. Our focus has to be Christ. I want to know Him. And that involves deepening a relationship. That involves time. That involves a yielding of your will. That involves purposeful intent. To get to know anybody, you have to do those three things. It doesn't just happen. I want to know Him. Secondly, part of the goal of our life is to know the power of His resurrection.

We talked about all of that, what that works in our life. I want to know the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings. That was the third goal. We talked about what that indicates. There is something that we learn as we suffer, as we take a stand for Christ, that can be gained no other way. And it's a blessing. And Paul suffered more than you and I probably ever will in this life, apart from our Lord.

And he said through that, there were things that he gloried. And he learned about his relationship with Christ that he could have learned in no other way. And so he wants to grow in that. That's part of his goal. It should be part of ours as well. Grow in the fellowship of His suffering. That I might somehow go and to be conformed like Him unto His death. If that suffering leads to death, that's fine.

I want to be conformed like Him unto His death. That He was such a servant. That Christ was such a servant to the Father. That whatever was necessary, chapter 1, chapter 2, now chapter 3, I want that in my life. And then the fifth goal was that I might somehow attain to the resurrection from the dead. That I might be counted, if I'm still alive, I'm going to be resurrected anyhow if I die.

I know that. That's a promise. But I want to be part of that resurrection from the dead. If I am alive when Jesus comes back and calls His people out, calls His church out of this world before the Great Tribulation, I want to be part of that. I want to be part of that group. And I long for that. I look towards that. And that carried right into living with a view to the future.

Living with a view towards that time. Forgetting what's behind. Pressing on, agonizing towards that time when we'll finally be transformed. This corruptible will put on incorruption. That brings us to chapter 4. And chapter 4 is, we're going to title it, Rejoicing in the Provisions of Christ. Rejoicing in the Provisions of Christ. Each one of these, again, builds on the other one.

If you can rejoice in the calling of Christ, if you can say, Lord, I want to be a part of that. I'm glad you called me where I am. I want to be whatever you want me to be. I don't have to strive towards this or that. I just want to get to know you. And I want to have a proper view towards the future. Then, you begin to be able to rejoice in His provision. And according to this chapter, He's provided three wonderful things.

First of all, in verses 1 through 7, He has provided you with His peace. He has provided you with His peace, but so often we don't realize it. We'll talk about that this morning. How to realize it and why we don't. Verses 8 through 13, the provision of His presence. Not the things with the bow on it. The presence. He's given us His gift. Yeah. And that's part of the blessings of His peace.

But His presence. His withness. His being with us is a provision that He has given to us specifically. No one else in the world has the kind of a relationship with God that you do as a Christian. You have His very presence. And thirdly, in verses 14 through the end of the chapter, is the glorious provision of His perception. His perception. He gives us His view of what's going on to a certain extent.

Now, to a certain extent, we won't know until we're there with Him face to face. And then we'll know even also. But He gives us a perception that is, again, peculiar only to His people. To those that love Him. To those that are called by His name. And in those three things, you can rejoice in His glorious provisions. Because He has provided that for you as a believer in Jesus Christ.

So this morning, let's look at the provision of His peace. The provision of His peace. The first seven verses. In order to experience His peace, there are several things that need to happen in our lives. Now, don't get me wrong. We don't generate His peace. We receive it. And experience it. And realize it. But there are four things. There are four things that we are responsible to do in order to do that.

Remember we talked last time about the delicate balance between God's provision and our responsibility. God has provided this, yet I must do. God has given me every spiritual blessing, every gift in the heavenly places. And yet, Ephesians chapter 4, I must walk worthy of the calling. Worthy of the calling. This delicate balance. Okay, well, God has given us, through Christ, His peace.

I must do certain things to realize that peace. And that's what Paul is talking about here in the first seven verses. The first thing we have to do is stand firm. The very first thing we have to do is stand firm. Look at verse 1. Therefore, my brothers, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, that is how you should stand firm in the Lord, dear friends.

That is how you should stand firm. The first thing I want you to notice is, again, how Paul feels about the people there in Philippi. About the believers. My brothers, you whom I love, my joy and my crown. If you remember anything about our study in Thessalonians, that's what he said again. That was, That's what caused him to continue doing what he was doing as he longed for them.

Because they were his reward. And we talked about that in chapter 3 of Thessalonians. This is Paul's reward. He loves them deeply and he was blessed to have a part in their lives. And we can understand that as we affect the lives of others around us. It is such a blessing. You and I will take nothing with us to heaven except each other. Those that you have shared the gospel with and they've responded, you get to be with them in heaven.

What a joy. And to Paul, This was his crown. This was what he gloried in. This was what made it worth it all. Was to see the lives of these people respond. And so he says, Therefore, Verse 1, That is how you stand firm in the Lord. And the that refers to the first three chapters. Everything that he shared up to this point. Learning to rejoice in the opportunities to serve Christ.

Learning to rejoice in having the mind of Christ. Learning to rejoice in the calling of Christ. As we do those things, as we see that and understand it and seek to yield ourselves to doing it. It's that, he says, Is how you stand firm in the Lord. Now, that's something that is, we're called to do several times in here. We saw last time, back in Ephesians chapter 6, which is just a couple of pages to your left.

That you have been given the armor of God to do one thing. To stand firm. Having done all, he says, to stand. Jude writes in his little epistle, he says, I was going to write to you about our great salvation, but I was moved, really, to write. That you contend for the faith that was given unto you once for all. That you stand. In the midst of that, for there are men, there are evildoers, who are sneaking in, unaware, seeking to lead astray the church.

Standing firm. What does that mean? What does that mean? Does that mean I've got to come to this point where I'm in the midst of this trial and I've got to just, you know, suck up like the power team and get my John Wayne out? You know, okay, pilgrim, you know, circle the wagon. No, he's not asking you to do anything stupid like that. Stand firm in that. Stand firm.

Stand firm in what you know that has brought about that relationship with Christ and keeping your focus on him. I want to know him and the power of his resurrection, the fellowship of his sufferings, becoming conformed like him in his death, that I might somehow change the resurrection. That relationship that you have with him, stand firm in that. Don't let anything move you from that.

That's what happened to Israel, and that's the example that we have in the Old Testament. Israel saw miracle after miracle after deliverance after deliverance by the hand of God. And that's why I'm personally convinced that I don't have to see. Today, miracle after miracle after miracle after deliverance after deliverance, I don't have to run to this tent or that church or this place where all these things are going on because I have an account of what happened when people did that.

Nothing. The people went, wow, isn't God great this day? And then tomorrow they forsook him and went off after their idols. So miracles and deliverance and the power of God are effective for one thing and one thing only, to bring you to the point where you surrender your heart to Christ. And after that, it's up to you to seek him. Put your heart upon him, to walk after him, because if you're going to seek to live from miracle to miracle to miracle and from sign to wonder, you're going to end up just like the Old Testament, just like the Israelites who followed him.

Part of the Red Sea, they condemned him because they were out of water. He provided water from a rock, and they condemned him because they didn't get to eat meat. He provided the meat, and they complained about the meat. Everything God did, they complained about. So we have that example that we learn to stand firm. Stand firm in our relationships. In our relationship with Jesus Christ, that we seek to cultivate that, that it's going to take some effort to cultivate it.

Yes, but stand firm. Don't lose your joy. Don't lose your joy. If you're going to experience the peace of God, you have to stand firm in that relationship with him. Secondly, secondly, there's a need for unity. If you're going to experience the peace of God, there's a need for unity and understanding. Look at verses 2 and 3. I plead with Euodia, and I plead with Syntyche.

What an interesting name. Aren't you glad you didn't name your firstborn Euodia or Syntyche? Although what a beautiful picture God paints with these names as we look at their meaning here in just a second. I plead with Euodia, and I plead with Syntyche to agree with each other in the Lord. Yes, and I ask you, loyal yoke fellow, to help these women who have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel,

along with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers whose names are in the book of life. Now, these are two sisters in the Lord, Euodia and Syntyche. And they are involved in a fellowship at Philippi, and they are having some unknown difficulty with each other. Now, I'm excited about God's word because when he wants to be specific, he is specific. And he deals with something very minutely and very specifically.

When he wants it to apply generally, he leaves things unsaid so that we can take it and say, well, I see that circumstance, and I can apply it to this particular situation. And this is one of those circumstances. We don't know what the conflict was between these two sisters, and that's a blessing. You know why? Why? Because if he had specified a particular conflict,

well, this was a conflict over their children. They had a conflict because Euodia was raising her child one way, and Syntyche was raising her child another way, and one of them thought the other one wasn't being disciplinary enough, or the other one thought they were being overbearing, and they had this conflict. Then where would you find the application to Euodia and Syntyche in your life? Only if you have kids, and you have to have conflict with somebody else over how you raise your children.

We don't know what the difficulty was. All we know is that there was some kind of difficulty. There was some kind of conflict between them, and that leaves it wide open, doesn't it? Because it could have been anything. The Lord is not... He's zeroing in on the conflict. He's zeroing in on what needs to be done in the midst of the conflict, and this applies to all of us.

So we can take Euodia and Syntyche, and we can say this applies to all of us as brothers and sisters in Christ, not just to these women. It's not just something that was just between these two women. Why? Why? Why? We've been looking at all this stuff, and all of a sudden in the middle of this wonderful teaching and instruction on rejoicing in the Lord, does Paul stick this in here?

If it doesn't relate somehow to all of us in our learning to rejoice in the Lord. Not to say Euodia and Syntyche had some kind of a disagreement that caused them conflict. One thing we do know is that they were both committed and dedicated Christians. Paul says they contended at my side in the cause of the gospel. They were committed. They helped him somehow in the ministry at Philippi when he was there establishing the church.

They were there with him, and somehow they helped him in that ministry. Listen, brothers and sisters, conflicts and disagreements are common. They're common among us. And you and I can do one of two things when these things happen. Because I guarantee you somebody's going to come across your path, maybe this afternoon, maybe tomorrow, and they're going to say, you know, I have a real conflict with her.

I have, I'm, you know, something that really upsets me about Calvary Chapel is. Something that really upsets me about Mark is. Or somebody in the fellowship. Somebody that, something that really upsets me about somebody in the fellowship is. And you'll have an opportunity to respond one of two ways. You'll either pick up their offense and go, you know, I feel the same way.

You know, I've noticed that. And that's just really something that bothers me too. And you'll just all of a sudden pick up this offense together. And you'll commune together in this offense. To the point that when you see me, or you see this person, the first thought you're going to have is this thought of contention. Or this thought of animosity. Or this thought of disgust.

Or this thought that, oh, you know. Or you can respond with an understanding that there needs to be unity here. And so we need to pray. As, as they share about this, then rather than having all the fine details laid out for you, you don't need to have the fine details. You just need to know, I need to pray. We need to pray together where this is concerned. And we need to pray for each other's attitudes.

Because, you know, our talking about it like this isn't going to change their attitude. You can't, you cannot change another person. Period. Wives, if you're thinking you're going to change that husband, forget it. If you're in a dating relationship and you're thinking, oh, they'll change after they get married, forget it. You will not change them. That will not change the situation.

Only the Lord changes us. And you need to be in prayer. There was some kind of a contention that happened here. Some kind of a disagreement that there needed to be. The understanding that there had to come a meeting, a dealing with this. They could not let that go. That's, he says twice here. He says, I plead with you, Odiah. I plead with Sendaji. The word for plead in the Greek means to encourage or to exhort.

And it's in the present tense. And so Paul's saying, I plead and I continue to plead. I exhort and I continue to exhort. I encourage and I'm continuing to encourage these two women to resolve this. This is where their names come into play. And they're so nice. They're so neat. The word, the name Euodia from the Greek is from two words. One word means good. And the other word means way or journey.

Sendaji's name means to meet with or to come to. And so if you just put their two names there, Euodia, good, journey, and Sendaji, to meet with or to come to. In this particular situation with the conflict, as you apply the meanings of their names, it could read, in order to have a good and prosperous journey, they need to meet with one another to solve their differences. There needs to be a meeting to solve differences.

He says, I plead with you that you will agree with each other. That phrase just simply means that you will mind the same thing. And we've seen this over and over in our study in Philippians, that you would mind the one thing. What's the one thing that we have to mind? Christ, following him, maintaining that relationship with him. And as I do that, how do I know I'm doing that?

Because it will evidence itself in my love for you. My love for one another. That's what we have to seek to maintain. Have them see that they would mind the one thing. See that they would agree with each other. I shared first service, and I shared it before, when I was here, before I was a pastor. I served in the ministry here under Joe, Pastor Joe. And then we got to where we had disagreement.

I didn't agree with the way in which he was doing certain things. And I got disgusted, and I left. My wife and family, we pulled out of fellowship. And we were out of fellowship for five months. Because I was disgusted with the way things were going. I could really identify with Euodia and Syntyche. And if anybody wanted to know why, I would tell them. I just didn't like the way things were going.

I didn't like some of the things they were doing. Joe was never pushy. He would occasionally call just to check and see how we were doing, and see if there was anything he could pray for. The people that were here at the time were good. We'd run into them occasionally at the store. And every now and then they'd drop by, and they'd just let us know that they loved us,

and they were praying for us. And over the course of that five months, the Lord really showed me that I was not responsible. I wasn't responsible for changing the things in Joe that I didn't like. I couldn't. What I was responsible for doing was for loving the Lord, and loving Joe as my shepherd, and supporting him, and letting the Lord work through him to change his heart.

To change the things that I thought needed changing, that was up to the Lord. I just needed to love the Lord, and serve, and be supportive of the shepherd that was here. The Lord broke my heart to that, because Joe was one of the only ones in this area that was really teaching the Word at that time. Just really, verse by verse, taking you through the Bible.

And so I came back, and I confessed that to him, and I didn't have to lay out all the little particulars of things that I didn't like. Just committing to support him, committing to love him, and to be there to serve, changed my whole attitude, changed the feeling between us. We have a good relationship together now, after 20 years in ministry together. I could have, see, I could have forsaken that opportunity.

And I could have kept a bitter feeling in my heart. And I could have just thought, I don't even want to be around. And that's happened with different people through the years in fellowship. And it'll happen. It'll happen between you and me. It'll happen between each other. But you have to purpose to keep the unity. You have to purpose that we mind the one thing,

which is Jesus Christ, and our fellowship in Him. And let Him change the imperfections in each other. And we have to work together where that's concerned. And I beg you of that, and I can feel what Paul is feeling when he says, I plead with you, have the same mind, have the one mind where this is concerned. God will take care of the rest. He really will. I guarantee you there's not one individual in this world

that could offend you that this will not work in. He calls on a loyal yokefellow, please. He says, I ask you, loyal yokefellow, help these women who have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel, along with Clement and the rest of the fellow workers whose names are in the book of life. And we don't know who the loyal yokefellow is. Now, if you're in King James,

or I can't remember if it's in NAS or not, but it says, I beg you, Syzygous. Well, that could be his name, just like euodia means way or journey. Syzygous means loyal yokefellow. So that could be his name or it could just be appealing to this guy in Philippi who is probably the leader at the church in Philippi since Epaphroditus, who is the pastor, is down here ministering to Paul.

And Paul's getting ready to send him back to Philippi. Syzygous, or this loyal yokefellow that he's writing to, is evidently the one in charge. And he's appealing to him to help these women, please, loyal yokefellow, help these women. That word help in the Greek means to take hold together with someone. In other words, come alongside. Don't just let the contention go.

Seek to come and draw together. Seek to come and minister. That's something we've got to work on. That's something that the body of Christ doesn't do a whole lot of in this country. Now, you get the pressure on, and it seems to work a little more. But with our freedom that we have, if there's conflict, eh, so I'll go to another church. It's easier to go to another church

than it is to work on it. But as we've said before, you'll carry the conflict with you. It'll happen there. You'll end up leaving there, or somebody will leave, because that's not what the intent is for us as members of the body of Christ. It's to seek to work. If you want to experience the peace of God, we've got to stand firm in our relationship with the Lord,

in our developing that relationship, and seek to maintain unity together. We have to, and we have to help one another do that. He says for two reasons. Number one, because they contended at my side for the gospel. In other words, they were part of Paul's original effort. We already talked about that. But secondly, and really more importantly, he says their names were in the book of life.

Their names were in the book of life. They're believers. Listen, if you're sitting here today and you're a believer, you love the Lord Jesus Christ, and you may not like me or something I'm doing, I'm sorry, but you and I get to spend eternity together. So somehow, we've got to come together on this, you know? We have to be praying for one another. Where these divisions are concerned

because we're going to be together forever. And just putting on a new body, I'm still going to be me, you know? And you are too. They're going to be you. So we've got to work on the unity here. We've got to work on it here to be able to realize the peace that God has given us. Stand firm. Maintain unity. And then there's a need to rejoice. Oh, wait a minute.

This is what the whole book of Philippians is about. Learning to rejoice in the Lord, yeah? And it's so much about it that he says it again. Verses 4 and 5. Rejoice in the Lord always, and I will say it again. Rejoice. If you're standing firm in the Lord, that will be evident in your life. You see? That's what the book of Philippians is all about. Rejoicing is not an option.

Let me say it again because that's exactly what he's saying here. Rejoicing is not an option. Rejoice. In the Lord, every now and then when things seem to be going real right and you can really have a good time with the Lord, then rejoice. No. Rejoice in the Lord always. And I'll say it again. Rejoice. It's a command. It's in the present tense, which means it's continuous.

Rejoice and be rejoicing continually in the Lord. And I will say it again, Paul says, so that you don't miss the point. Rejoice and be continually rejoicing. It is not an option. You cannot be a Christian and soak and experience the peace of God. You will not. You will not. You will end up, if you do, and complain and grumble and gossip and moan, you'll end up like Hebrews 5 Christians,

which though their time had come that they should be instructing others, they were still like little children still desiring the milk of the Word because they hadn't gotten past that. And you'll have relationships that dead end because you'll get to that point in every relationship, whether a romantic relationship or a relationship as husband and wife or a relationship as a parent or a relationship in the church. In the body of Christ, you will get to that point of conflict and you'll stop again and again and again until you learn how to rejoice and to roar, until you learn to stand firm in that relationship, until you learn to seek to maintain the unity with one another. And in the midst of that, rejoice and continue rejoicing.

Then he says, let your gentleness be evident to all. Let your gentleness be evident to all. Gentleness is the reflection of our letting the Lord be in control. It's a fruit of the Spirit, Galatians 5.22. It's one of the fruits. Gentleness. Let your gentleness be known to all. Listen, if you are truly rejoicing in the Lord, if you're standing firm in your relationship with Him,

if you're really seeking to maintain unity and understanding between each other, if you're really seeking to rejoice in the Lord and let Him have whatever the situation is, you will reflect gentleness in your life. It's a natural byproduct. And you can tell when you're not. You can tell when you're resting in the Lord and when you're not. When I am uptight, this is how I am.

In my home, my family knows whether or not I'm really resting in the Lord. Mark? What? Would you come here for a minute? Why? Well, I'd like for you to help me do it. Oh, okay. Slam! You know. And I do it, but slam! The attitude is not one of gentleness. I'm anxious. I'm uptight. I'm not resting in the Lord. I'm not rejoicing in the Lord. If I am, I will reflect gentleness.

See? Let your gentleness be evident to all. When I am bitey at everybody, I am not rejoicing in the Lord. My wife is laughing. She has seen this often. I'm still learning to rejoice in the Lord. Now you say, wait a minute. I was just keeping my... Standing firm and keeping my relationship strong with the Lord and seeking to maintain... There's so many areas of conflict that I'm coming into

and work and here and at home and whatever. And now I've got to rejoice. And it just seems like my gentleness to do all of that, that's hard. And he says, the Lord is near. And why does he say that? Rejoice in the Lord. And I'll say it again. Rejoice. Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Is he telling me that it's almost rapture time again?

No. No. See, he's already mentioned that over in chapter 3. We're looking towards that, that he's going to come and he's going to transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body. I'm waiting for that, the resurrection from the dead. But here he's talking about the nearness of God in the midst of this. When I am asked to do this, I'm not asked to do it on my own strength.

It's his. And he is near in the midst of whatever I'm going through. You see, I can look out over this fellowship and know a lot of your circumstances and know a lot of you are saying, well, that might work in your case. But in this circumstance, it just is hard to do. I mean, you haven't been there. You don't know what I'm going through. There's some really neat little cards that are out now.

And they're all, they have lambs on them. They're little cartoon sheep. And I can't remember. I think they're called Wooly Wonderful or something like that. And one set has the entire 23rd Psalm where you go through and you see all these little drawings with the verses of the 23rd Psalm. It's really cute. And one of them, the picture is, Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death.

And it has a little picture framed there. And all you see are the eyeballs and the little nose of the sheep. And he's obviously scared. And it's all dark around him. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. Then the next picture is, Thou art with me. And you see his little eyeballs looking up right next to him. And he sees the eyeballs of the shepherd

looking down at him with his staff. All you can see is the outline of the eyeballs and the little smile on the shepherd's face. And the little lamb is smiling. Because the Lord is near. He's not sitting here. He's not saying, Okay, you know what? It's time. Go out there and act gentle. And he throws you out on the stage. And you're going, I can't. I'm telling you.

I'm just terrible. Things are going on. The Lord is near. He's there to uphold you, to walk with you through the valley, through this time of distress, through this time of conflict that needs resolution. You know it needs resolution. You know you need to be praying for that person not bad-mouthing him. You know that you're not rejoicing. The Lord is near. We can draw on his power,

the power of his resurrection. I need to stand firm in the Lord to realize his peace. While I'm standing firm, I need to maintain unity. I need to be rejoicing. And now, verse 6, I need to pray. I need to pray. You see, if the Lord is near, then I need to be communing with him so that I won't be anxious. So he says, The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything.

Doesn't that make more sense to read it that way? I mean, the Lord's right here. Don't be anxious. The Lord's right here with you. You don't need to be anxious about anything, but in everything. By prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your request to God. And then the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your heart and minds in Christ Jesus.

While you're standing firm, while you're seeking to maintain unity and understanding, while you're rejoicing and continuing to rejoice in the Lord in the midst of the circumstances, and while you pray, while you commune with him, then the peace comes. Don't be anxious, he says. Don't be anxious about anything. The word anxious is an interesting word. It means distracted.

It means distracted. So in other words, don't be distracted. From what? From standing firm. See? When you're focused on the Lord, I want to know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his Son, the sufferings being conformed to him and his death that I might somehow attain at the resurrection. That's your focus. That's our goal. Satan wants to distract you from that

and get your eyes off of that under the circumstance. So don't be distracted. Don't be anxious. And then it says about anything. About anything. And that's a unique word in the Greek. It means about anything. In other words, there's absolutely nothing. Let me say it again. There's absolutely nothing in this life about which you should be anxious that should pull you away

from your focus on knowing the Lord, on standing firm in that relationship with him. Absolutely nothing. As believers, we have to have an attitude that accepts the things that come into our lives as things that are from the hand of God. God is allowing them for some reason. And I must believe that it is for my good to bring him glory. As a believer, I come to accept that.

As I accept that and I trust him with that, I don't have to be anxious. I don't have to be distracted. See, the main reason you and I worry, the main reason that we don't have peace and you're not going to like this, is that we don't trust God. The main reason you're worrying and anxious about whatever it is you're worrying about right now is that in the midst of that, you are not trusting the Lord.

You doubt whether or not he cares. You doubt whether or not he'll provide. You doubt whether or not he even knows you exist. You doubt whether or not he even really loves you. Because you're worried and anxious and upset about all of this one thing. And he's saying, don't be distracted. Don't get your focus off of Christ. But in everything, in sharp contrast, he says,

in contrast to being distracted about everything into frustration, he says, in everything, pray. Pray in everything. Prayerlessness, listen to me, prayerlessness leads to being distracted from God. Prayerlessness leads to being distracted from God. Jesus was up early. Jesus was always up early. Why? To spend time communing with God, to spend time communing with the Father.

And then when things were really heavy in his life, he was there even more before Gethsemane, before Golgotha, before he went to the cross. He agonized in Gethsemane, agonized in prayer, communing with the Father. You see, another thing that I don't know if you realize, maybe you do, but you just haven't thought of it this way. When you first came to Christ, prayer was probably not an easy thing for you to do.

Most people who come to Christ, it's a difficult thing to pray. Two reasons. Number one, when you first came to Christ and you heard about prayer, you thought it was stupid. Don't get me wrong. I don't mean that blasphemously. I mean it honestly. To pray, and then to pray out loud, was stupid. Why do I want to do that? Doesn't it say that God knows my thoughts?

Doesn't it say that he knows the words that I'm going to speak before they're ever formed on my lips? Absolutely. He wants us to talk to him. He wants that. And so to think about it first, you know, well, gosh, I've got to pray out loud. Well, I'm not going to pray out loud. I'm not going to pray out loud. And so to think about it first, you know, well, gosh,

I've got to pray out loud. Well, I'm not good at it, is usually an answer. I'm just not good at it. And the concept there is I've got to pray with the these and the thous. You know, O Lordest, thou artest goodest in all of my lifest, you know. And I knoweth not how to pray as I oughteth. And so we think that somehow we're going to pray wrong. And so we're afraid to pray.

We're afraid to speak as if there is some specific thing I've got to do or say. No. Just talk to him. You don't even have to close your eyes. Talk to him. The Lord is near. Talk to him. The other thing we think of is, well, you know, I usually say prayer for the last minute. I'll do all that I can and put all my effort into it. Then, okay, God, you know, do whatever.

Or I just say prayer for the big stuff, the big things. G. Campbell Morgan, a British preacher from an earlier century, was asked by a lady if we should pray about all of the little things in our lives. And in this British manner, G. Campbell Morgan said, Madam, can you mention anything in your life that is big to God? See, we look at it from the circumstance

of this is too big for me to handle or this is just a little thing. And all of it's little to God. How big is God? How powerful is God that I might come to know the power of his resurrection? That's what Paul was, one of the goals of Paul's life, so that when I come into this circumstance and the IRS looms out there, that big faceless entity that comes to suck you dry,

how in the world am I ever going to stand against that? Well, it's not too big for God. So let me tell you about the word in the Bible. Paul, who wrote during the Middle Ages, writes on prayer. Quote, Tell God all that is in your heart as one unloads one's heart, its pleasures and its pains to a dear friend. Tell him your troubles that he may comfort you. Tell him your joys

that he may sober them. Tell him your longings that he may purify them. Tell him how your dislikes tell him, excuse me, tell him your dislikes that he may help you to conquer them. Talk to him of your temptations that he may shield you from them. Show him the wounds of your heart bear your indifference to good, your depraved taste for evil, your instability. Tell him how

self-love makes you unjust to others, how vanity tempts you to be insincere, how pride disguises you to yourself as to others. If you thus pour out all your weaknesses, needs, troubles, there will be no lack of what to say. You will never exhaust the subject. It is continually being renewed. People who have no secrets from each other never want of subjects of conversation. They do not weigh

their words, for there is nothing to be held back. Neither do they seek for something to say. They talk out of the abundance of the heart, without consideration, just what they think. Blessed are they who attain to such familiar, unreserved intercourse with God in court. That's what prayer is. Just talking to him every instant. I mean, while you're driving to work and you're

not, Lord, I'm not feeling good this morning. I don't feel like going to work this morning. It's too early to go. I really don't feel like it. I know you probably have somebody there for me to share with. There's somebody that you're going to use in my life. And so just help me understand that, Lord. When you're turning in the parking lot, boy, that guy's a jerk up there. God knows. Bless him, Lord. He's really been a jerk. Let me not act like

that. I pray that, you know, you're just really showing what this life is all about and walking with you. And you get out of the car and walk in and there's a long line and I've got to stand in line, Lord. Talk to him about it. I don't want to stand in line at the time card. Lord, you know how it's going to probably make me late. Well, I yield this one to you, Lord. You're going to have

to work in this one. And you punch in, you start walking in. Lord, it's the same old stuff again, but at least, Lord, you're new and this is a fresh day. Bless old Joe here next to me and Sally who's working across on the other thing. Lord, bless them. Just talk to him. Just talk to him all the time. When the phone rings and you see it on the caller ID, go, oh no, Lord. Give me the words to say. Talk to him about everything

at every instant. That's what he wants. That's what he desires. That's what prayer is all about. We're going to talk about that more next time. We talk about prayer next Sunday. The one thing I want you to see as we close is Paul is calling the church to do this. The church at Philippi. He's addressing the entire church as he calls them to pray. In other words, the emphasis here is on corporate prayer, not on individual prayer.

Though we need to pray individually, this specifically is about corporate prayer. Don't be anxious or afraid about anything, but pray for one another that you might be healed. You see, let's pray for one another. If there's a lack in the body, and especially in the ministry here, maybe at Calvary Chapel, it's that. It's corporate prayer, one for another. Next week, thousands of congregations across the country are coming

together for prayer. Prayer because we're at this time of the elections. Yes, but prayer because God is ready to move in a mighty way and maybe bring one last outpouring of revival before he catches the church out of here. And so congregations around the world are going to be praying, specifically in this country. And I'll have some things to share about how this came about next

week. But next Sunday evening at six o'clock, we're going to meet here for prayer. A special convocation called together to confess our sins. Before God, to fall on our faces before the Lord and ask him to forgive us, to forgive us as a fellowship, to forgive us as a city, to forgive us as a state, to forgive us as a nation and move to heal our land. And thousands upon thousands of congregations across the country are going to be

doing that at the same time next week as we join together. You want to see something change the world? It's going to be born out of prayer. Don't be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, make your requests known unto God and the God of peace who transcends. Who surpasses. And we'll talk about that next time. All understanding will gear us in your hearts

and your minds in Christ Jesus. It's necessary. We're going to call for a fast next Sunday. I'll talk to you about that. And then the Sunday before the election is going to be a time of real prayer as the body of Christ goes before the Lord. Ask him to move in a mighty way in these elections and in the rest of this year and however much time he has before he comes forth. That we not be

Laodicean. That we not be sit on the fence. That we not just be let it happen and grumblers and complainers and gossipers and back biters, but that we stand firm, maintaining it, rejoicing in the Lord. Pray. Let's stand together. If you want to come down front and kneel at the altar, you're welcome as we close to pray. Do you have anything on your heart that is something that's heavy

before you? May I encourage you. May I exhort you. May I plead with you to lay it before the Lord, to please pray, to see his goodness and mercy, to know him and the power of his resurrection. Just come on down front. Don't wait for the music to begin. We're not going to sing just as I am 500 times. But don't leave without laying it before the Lord. Father, help us. We don't want to play

church. It's too brutal today. Things are too awful in the world. This will be totally ineffective if it's not motivated by your spirit and the power of your love. According to the gospel of Jesus Christ, it will be ineffective and worthless. We will be ineffective in anything that we hear if we don't become doers as well. Father, in spite of all of the atrocity that's going on, in spite of

you are still God, you are still Lord, and you're seeking to move in this nation in the hearts of those who will yield themselves unto you. Your eyes are going to and fro upon the earth to seek to find one who is faithful, whose heart is right unto you, who is seeking you, who is wanting you to work through them. Lord, use us. Lord, move through us. Lord, we want to stand firm. We want

to know your peace that passes understanding. The circumstances are great. Yes, Lord. They seem insurmountable. Yes, Lord. But you've told us to rejoice always. And in everything, not to be anxious, but to pray. So we lay these things at your feet. Be God in our lives and in the lives in our fellowship, Lord, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. If there's anything in your life that you might need prayer for, if you want to come down and pray,

we'll have some brothers available to pray with you if you need to have someone pray with you. But don't harbor bitternesses or grudges. Don't harbor contentions. Don't harbor anxiety, frustration against anything. Don't harbor any of that. The time is too short. Time is too short. He wants to use you. He wants to minister his love and his grace and his gentleness through you to

the lives of those you're around. Let him. Don't let it be a barrier any longer. In Jesus' name.