Lord always, again I will say, rejoice! Let your reasonable men as 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. The Word of the Lord. A number of handouts for you, actually only two of them, but they are there for you. One of them has a couple devotional pages from Octavius Winslow, and just to kind of wet your appetite to want to take one of the outlines, this is from this evening devotions of January 4th, just the first paragraph, that my prayer be set forth before you as incense, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice. This passage shows the Christian what is the holiest and most solemn posture, drawing near to God, and presenting before the altar of his grace the incense of prayer. The typical reference to this is strikingly beautiful. You shall make an altar to burn incense upon, and Aaron shall burn there on sweet incense every morning when he dresses the lamps. He shall burn incense upon it. And when Aaron lights the lamps at evening, he shall burn incense upon it, a perpetual incense before the Lord throughout your generations. But this incense was typical of prayer would appear from Luke 1-10, and the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the time of incense. And David, though dwelling in a more shadowy age of the church, thus correctly and beautifully interprets this type, that my prayer be set before you as incense. Isn't that good? Yeah, there's more back there. Two devotions from him, some other items as well. We're looking at the topic of prayer today from Philippians chapter 4, the text that was read to you. You may want to open your Bibles there as we will be referring to that text. Do you pray? Jesus certainly assumes that believers will pray in his sermon on the Mount, chapter 6, about the middle of the sermon, the middle third, he starts by saying, beware of practicing your righteousness before men in order to be noticed by them, and he goes on, and he lists out various ways we practice our righteousness in giving of alms or offerings, ties, these sorts of things. And the next thing he mentions is prayer, and that's where he gives us the Lord's Prayer. While I love the Lord's Prayer and can't think of a place I rather preach than the Lord's Prayer this morning, we're looking at Philippians. But do you pray? You ought to be praying, and why? Why should you pray? Why pray? Just because God says so, that's enough reason I admit, but why? Why do you pray? I had a leader of the singles ministry I shepherded or pastored in church in Maryland, tell me one time, Pastor, I just need to let you know, I don't pray anymore. And we talked a little bit, and I asked him, you know, what had moved him to this, and he said, well, it just, it doesn't work. And I think what he meant was, you know, I ask God for this, and I don't get it, or I talk to him about this situation, and how it should work out, and it doesn't. And so why bother? He's very, very pragmatic man, and prayer didn't seem to work, why? Why pray? Why pray? Paul gives us three good reasons to pray in this text that kind of set the stage for us. This is, by the way, pre-outline, it's part of the message, but it's pre-outline, three reasons, why we ought to pray. One is to develop our relationship with God, it starts by saying, rejoice in the Lord all ways. Again, I say, rejoice, by the end of verse 5, he's saying, the Lord is at hand, and into verse 6, don't be anxious about anything. So there's this idea that we pray as a way of talking, of establishing, of building our relationship with God. We ought to make sure that in our prayer lives, that's what's going on. That would be one reason to develop our relationship with God. Another one would be our well-being, our emotional, spiritual well-being, our sense of joy, rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I say, rejoice, our sense of peace, peace of mind, don't be anxious, pray about everything and the God of peace will be with you. We should pray for our spiritual well-being, for our sense of peace, our sense of joy. In the Lord. We should also pray, because really, I think prayer is one of those wonderful gifts that God has given to us, where we not only communicate with God, and Lord willing listen to him as he talks with us, but he can use prayer, and if you will, allow me to include in the idea of prayer and meditation, he uses this idea, especially of meditation, as an aspect of prayer in my mind, as one way to help us discipline our minds, to bring every thought captive. That's important, if the peace of God is going to guard our hearts and our minds. We shouldn't be surprised that prayer would benefit us in this way. I love the fact that Paul tells us about these benefits of prayer, that we'll develop our relationship to God, we'll have a sense of well-being, of joy, of peace, we'll learn how to think well, to discipline the way we think. This happens in the face of grim realities. It happens in a fallen world, and the whole letter talks about this. I mean, for Paul, as he's speaking to the Philippians and telling him, rejoice in the Lord always. He is not being Pauliana in the least. In fact, the letter is written from prison, and he talks about the fact that he is, in fact, writing from prison, and he will either be found innocent and allowed to live or guilty and be put to death, it's life and death for him. That would be anxiety producing for some people, right? He talks to the Philippians about their opponents or adversaries when he tells them to walk in a manner worthy of the gospel, chapter 1 and 27, so that whether I come and see you, I may hear that you're doing well, he says, in no way alarmed by your opponents. So there's opponents. They can rejoice in the Lord even though there's adversaries, opponents, those who are out to get them. Chapter 3, verse 2, he tells them, beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the false circumcision, maybe we could put it in softer, kinder, gentler language. Beware of those well-meaning people who will lead you astray, all right? It's a grim reality. We have a lot of that in the world, don't we? He'll talk later in chapter 3 about those whose God is their belly, who set their things on earthly things, and he tells them that they are enemies of the cross of Christ. Now I don't know if they're outward adversaries, those who hate the gospel, I don't think so. The context isn't absolutely clear to me, but the way I read it, he's talking about those who think they're Christians and are not. They have a form of godliness, but they deny its power, and they set their mind on earthly things, and their appetite is their God, and they're actually enemies of the cross of Christ. It's a grim reality. And then, of course, right at the beginning of the chapter, we're looking at chapter 4, there's Yodia and Sintiki, they are being admonished in the public letter to live in harmony in the Lord because there's a conflict that everybody knows about, and if they didn't, they did with the coming of the letter, didn't they? Brem realities in life, and yet Paul can say, hey, you need to pray. There's great benefit to you. You can develop your relationship to God in the midst of these grim realities. You can have well-being, you can have peace and joy. You can learn to discipline your mind and bring every thought captive to the glory of God. Huh, worth looking into this idea of prayer, isn't it? Because it's not just prayer. I mean, Jesus, in His sermon on the Mount, when He says, beware, practicing Your righteousness before Him in. He's giving away a praying that does no good at all. He uses the Gentiles as an example who prayed the same thing in repetitive motion, and it says, if they don't, they're not getting it. He talks about the Pharisees, the religious zealots of the day, who pray in public places to be noticed. It's not saying that you can't pray publicly, especially in a service of worship. It's a great place to do it. But maybe if you go to the mall to evangelize, starting off with, oh, God, I praise the in the middle of the mall is not the way to go. There's ways to pray. There's beautiful prayers that are written down that are so helpful. There's prayers that are written that are sad, better than we can say on ourselves, and it's a benefit to read those prayers or to have someone who thinks and prepares a prayer that leads the prayers of the people with words before God that are good. But if we think that we can check out and work on our grocery list, or what's for lunch while the prayers being made on our behalf, and benefit from it, or if we can read through the prayer book and say, I don't know, five of our fathers in Ten Hail Mary's or something and benefit from it, or repeat a mantra, I don't mean to pick merely on one group of people, but benefit from it. It doesn't follow. It doesn't follow. There's a certain kind of prayer that God blesses with these benefits. I'd like to talk about that a little bit this morning, three, I've got them as three practical points. I think they come right out of the text, we'll be doing exegesis interpretation of the Bible as well as application at the same time. Here's the first one, take time to think about God and the gospel of grace. Take time to think about God and the gospel of grace. Now where I get that from the text is simply verse four, rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice, he repeats the command to rejoice twice and he makes it clear, rejoice in the Lord. We'll talk about that in a second, but he also says at the end of verse five, the Lord is at hand. The Lord is at hand. And I get this idea that we take time to think about God because the Lord is at hand and it's worth our time and effort to think about him, to think about the fact that he's here. 16 verses eight and nine say this, I have set the Lord always before me. Think about God, I have set the Lord always before me because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my whole being rejoices, my flesh also dwell secure. There's the ideas. I have a Psalm 16 verses eight and nine. I set the Lord before me, he's at my right hand. There's that joy, there's that rejoicing, there's that security, that sense of well-being that's going on. Let me give you a practical application on how to do that. Take time to write out those, when you're having your quiet time or devotions or communion with God, whatever you call that time where you read through the scriptures and offer your prayers. Take time to mark out those passages that speak about God in two distinct areas. Take time to look at those passages that speak about the transcendent greatness of God. I'll give you an example. I do this in my devotions, I have a particular Bible software that's right on my computer. If you're computer savvy or internet savvy, there's Bibles online, you can do this online or cut and paste, so you don't have to type out the text or right hand right out the text, but if you are so inclined to write, there's great blessing there too, I'm all for that. These are the kinds of verses where I've applied this to my life. Just thinking about our Father who art in heaven, the transcendent greatness of the God who inhabits eternity, who inhabits heaven. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. That's just an example. Or John 1 through 4, in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being, by Him and apart from Him, nothing has come into being, that has come into being. In Him was life. And that life was the light of men. That there's some things to think about in that text. It will expand your mind. It kind of like, think of your mind as a rubber band or I don't know, a balloon that just needs to be stretched, it needs to be filled out and as you believe me, if you start thinking about the transcendent greatness of God, it'll stretch and it needs to. It's a good thing. Isaiah 40 verses 25 and 26, to whom will you liken me? I would be His equal, says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes and see, and see who it is who created these stars. The one who leads forth their hosts by number. He calls them by name because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power, not one of them is missing. Psalm 96, 6, splendor and majesty are before Him, strength and beauty are in His sanctuary. Don't neglect those passages that speak about the transcendent greatness of God that are uncomfortable to you. I'll give you an example. Isaiah 45, 5 and 7, I am the Lord and there is no other. Besides me, there is no God. I will gird you though you have not known me. Listen to this. I am the Lord and there is no other, the one forming light and creating darkness, causing well-being and creating calamity. I am the Lord who does all of these. Think about the transcendent greatness of God, who does all of these. It may not be comfortable at first, but its reality, its truth, its who He is. Babylon, during the time of Daniel said, I bless the Most High and praise and honor Him who lives forever for His dominion is an everlasting dominion and His kingdom endures from generation to generation. All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, but He does, according to His will, in the hosts of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. No one can ward off His anger, say to Him, what are you doing? The greatness and transcendence of God. It is worth thinking about. But then you have to take time to think, let your mind dwell on the nearness of God and take those verses that talk about the nearness of God. You know, again, the Lord's Prayer, we not only say, oh God up in heaven or oh God in heaven, we say, our Father who art in heaven, the nearness of God, the Fatherhood of God, the closeness of God. I love the fact that the Scripture speak about us being made in the image of God for a million reasons. One of these days I might do a ten-part series on that. That would be great. But nevertheless, for now, there's another verse in Genesis in the creation account that I think speaks about the nearness of God. It's two-seven. Then the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, listen to this, and breathe into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being. Can you think of a more intimate, a closer at hand, the Lord is at hand, and the Lord breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being. Psalm 139, where can I go from your presence, or where can I flee from your presence? If I descend, by the way, seven through twelve is what I'm reading. If I ascend to heaven, you are there. If I make my bed and show behold, you are there. If I take to the wings of the dawn, if I dwell in the remotest parts of the sea, even there your hand will lead me, and your right hand will lay hold of me. If I say the darkness shall overwhelm me, and the light around me will be night, even the darkness is not dark to you, and the night is as bright as the day, darkness, and light are alike to you. Even closer, Hebrews 2, 14, and 18, therefore since the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise also, or took at the same, that through death he might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is the devil. He might free those who, through fear of death, were subject to slavery all their lives. For assuredly, he does not give help to angels, but he gives help to the descendants of Abraham. And that's wonderful. That's near. Our Father, He gives help to the descendants of Abraham. Therefore, He had to be made by His brothers in all things, so that He might be a merciful and faithful, high priest, and things pertaining to God, and to make propitiation for the people. For since He was tempted in every way as we are, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted. And even from the Book of Philippians, chapter 2, verse 5, tells us to have the mind of Christ who although he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God, a thing to be grasped. But emptied Himself, taking on the form of a bondsurban, and being made in the likeness of man, and being found in the parents of the man, humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death. That's near. That's a God at hand. And we need both of those, don't we, the great transcendent God who rules and reigns over all created matter. Let your mind think about that. I've been thinking about that the last couple of weeks. Some, I do the Google News, you know, you get all those little stories, and you can click on the one you want, and I think I can't quote it correctly, so don't hold me to details on this. But I think it said there's 100 billion stars in the Milky Way. It may have been 100 billion planets. Yeah, all right. We talk about 14 billion light years, and any way you go is as bad as far as they can see. 14 billion light years. We can't even conceive of a light year, much less 14 billion of them, and billions of galaxies filling the billions of light years ever on this little planet. And look at the variety on this planet, of bugs, and mosquitoes, and creepy things, and crawly things, and into frogs, and all the other little critters that crawl on the earth, and the sea with all the, the, from plankton to whales, and all the differentiation of animals there, the difference just in the way we are made. And look at ourselves. There's an ecosystem in ourselves, a billion cells within each of us, more than a billion. And God knows it all, and created it all, and he's here. He's at hand. You feel the peace? You feel the joy? Let's go to the joy. Oh, one more aspect. Take time in reflecting on the gospel of grace, by the way, in the outline or the handout that looks like this, there's the two articles from Octavius Winslow, and then I've written out the verses, many of which I quoted as far as the greatness of God, and the nearness of God. And I've printed this for you before, too, the 28 aspects of the good news, right? Just kind of going through, from being made in the image of God to, the things we think about, you know, Christ coming, dying for our sins, forgiveness of sins, righteous in the side of God, adopted into his family, forgiven, hope of a resurrected body, but it also, the good news that God is at work in us who will complete it, that the work of salvation will be complete when we share in God's holiness, when one day we are before the throne with the myriads and myriads and thousands of 10,000 singing, where is the lamb that was slaying? All the good news. It's just kind of written out there. It's worth thinking about. There's joy. There's peace. There is the development of this relationship of God where we trust the one who holds us in his hands, where our love and affection for him can grow. And there is the development of this way we think. It's worth doing. You have made me to know the path of life in your presence is fullness of joy in your right hand. There are pleasures evermore, Psalm 1611. Great time to think about God and the gospel of grace. By the way, well, never mind. Number two, whatever else you talk to God about, talk to Him about the problems, pains, and the things stressing you out. It's also in chapter 6 of Matthew, the sermon on the Mount, Jesus, beware of practicing your righteousness before man, and he talks about prayer in roughly verses 5 through 12. But later on in chapter 6 and verse 25, he says, therefore I tell you, do not be anxious for your life as to what you will eat or what you will drink or what you will wear. And he talks about this idea. Don't be anxious. Our text has it, right? Starting at the end of verse 5, the Lord is at hand. I like the way the ESP puts it. The Lord is at hand. It's not a period. It's a colon. The Lord is at hand. Do not be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication. I think that idea that God is here, God is at hand. That's why we don't have to be anxious is important. He gives us here. He tells us, look, talk about stuff. Talk about what's going on in your life. Let me give you, again, practical application. Take your to-do list to your prayer meeting. Take your calendar. You feel the stress yet? My to-do list, my deadlines, my calendar. The other issues that are stressing me out, those relationships that are quite right, those words that hurt, those things, take them to the Lord. The Lord is near. The Lord is at hand. Don't be anxious about everything but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known to God. I just put it in modern language and I said, whatever else you talked about, talk to them about your problems and pains and the things stressing you out. This is something that's very important about the Christian religion. We are not involved in a religion that denies the truth or hides from reality or tries to avoid the difficult things in life. Paul right here clearly tells us not to do that. Not to take them to the light. Our freedom in Christ is not a freedom from problems. It's a way to go toward the problems in Christ Jesus. So we talked to them about the issues in our life. That's so important. The Lord is at hand. Do not be anxious for anything. The Lord is at hand. Don't be anxious. Just talk about it to them. And let me just go ahead and read it. Be anxious for nothing. But in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known to God and the peace of God which passes all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. I think sometimes we think about prayer as the petitions, the requests as being the time where we try and convince God of our wisdom. And then this will to give us what we want if we were God we would make it happen this way. How about it Lord? I don't think we've ever impressed them a moment with that kind of thinking or praying. But that's a temptation for us isn't it? Try and explain to God how things ought to be. Look when the text tells us the Lord is at hand. He's telling us that the Lord, the Almighty, the omnipotent, the sovereign is at hand. You're not going to just anyone but your father is the Almighty. And it's not so much bending him to understand your will and go that way as much as it is bending the knee to say to him, you're will. That's an important thing. The peace of God which guards your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus is not God giving you what you want. I think this is important when I am stressed, when I am angry at God, I'm usually a little too spiritual to tell you such things. So hypothetically, if that were ever the case, what's going on? Haven't I? I'll tell you what's going on. If I don't say this, I don't even let my mind think this out logically in kind of that wordless prayer where you're thinking to God, you think it to him and you know he gets it. But it doesn't mean I'm not really thinking it. So it goes something like this, if I were honestly praying what was is in my heart sometimes God, I told you this was going to happen. I've been asking you to work it out this way and you just haven't listened to me at all and I'm mad about it. You ever been there? The text is telling us that God is God, that everything is going exactly according to His plan. And the God of peace, who gives us the peace of God, does so on His terms and in His way. And our joy and our peace isn't in getting our way. It's an understanding and trusting Him in His way. If this is true, if this is biblical advice, if that's what Paul is saying, if this is what the Scriptures teach, it ought to work out in difficult case studies, right? So let's, as best I can in a very short amount of time, let's give Job counsel, all right? You remember Job, the book right before Psalms, Job, wealthiest man of his day, had ten children, faithful, godly man, offered sacrifices on behalf, not only for himself, but in case his kids had sinned, just interceding on their behalf, seeking their welfare, godly man, and you know this story, for the sake of saying it, you know too much, but if all you knew is what Job and his counselors knew, then you would know all of a sudden it's gone. He's destroyed, not only his wealth, his ten kids taken in tragedy. And as he's grieving and as he's suffering, he's afflicted with physical disease and struggles in the flesh, boils from head to toe, in pain, physical pain, not just the emotional pain. How significant that even his friends who come can't say anything for days! Let's try and give them some biblical counsel. Job, I'm so sorry. I don't know why. Remember, we're not privy for this little exercise to Job chapter 1 and 2 as far as the details of why. I don't know why. This has happened. I don't know what God is doing, but Job, I know God is here. I know he's at hand. I know he's there, and you could talk to him, Job. You can't talk to him. Job you say this, chapter 9. How can I answer him, choosing my words with him, though I am right, I cannot answer him, I must appeal for mercy to my accuser. If I summon him and he answered me, I would not believe he was listening to my voice, for he crushes me and with a tempest and multiplies my wounds without cause. He will not let me get my breath. He fills me with bitterness. Job, I know it feels that way. I can't imagine the pain, but he's here. You could talk to him about this. You could trust him with this pain. Talk to him about all of it, talk to him about the loss, talk to him about your kids, talk to him about your stuff, talk to him about your health. I don't know why, Job, but I know God is good. And I know he is here, and I know that ultimately the God of peace will be with you. What do you think God would say? What if the counselor said said that? The counselor's God said this to LFS, seems like I'm finding it. My anger burns against you and against your two friends. For you have not spoken what is right about me. If we tell him God is near, God is at hand. He can cry out to God about all these things that the God of peace will guard as hard as mine. Would God be okay with that? Think so. One final part. Number three. Meditate on the right things. Verse eight. 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. Addresses directly that, getting control of our thoughts, right, taking every thought captive. And in a sense, we've talked a lot about it already. When we write out those scriptures about the reality of who God is, greatness, the transcendence of God, the nearness of God, the plan of his salvation, how he's working it out from creation to consummation. As we let our minds think on these things, as we fill our minds with the truth of the gospel, these are true and right and lovely and excellent and worthy of praise. These are the things that cause the God of peace to be with us, to bring peace to our souls, to guard our hearts and minds and our knowledge of Christ. It's in thinking in these terms. The gospel is so incredibly powerful and it does not come naturally to our minds. Let me plead with you to take something like this. If you want to do electronically, so you can just cut and paste fine, just let me know, I'll give it to you. But more glory for your soul, not in some sort of works righteousness, but there's something good about thinking this out for yourself, for thinking through all the implications of what God is doing in your life and writing them out and learning to meditate on them, thinking through it. I think that's one of the ways we learn to live in the power of the gospel. Remember Colossians 2, 6, I quote it to you every once in a while, as you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord to walk in him, well how did you receive him? You looked to him, you saw him, you saw him in his glory for the first time, you saw enough of him to say, I'm a sinner and you repented of your sin and you trusted in him, you trusted that he gave you life, you received it as a free gift, you responded, you interacted with God in the gospel, you got to learn to discipline your mind to do that, day in, day out, so that God comes to the foreground of your relationships, of your sickness, of your insecurities, in every aspect God is in the foreground, that's where the peace is, not in having everything peaceful and easy. Jesus made it clear to us through his disciples, in this world you have tribulation but I have overcome the world, so we put our faith in him. One final little application, there's another handout here, a simple way to pray for Master Peter, the barber by Dr. Martin Luther, I took it off the internet, there's a published book that I think is far more weighty than this, this was taken by Pastor Wolfmoller at Hope Luther in church in Aurora, Colorado, it's on the back table too, great little prayer guide and I think it has a lot to do with this idea of praying about whatsoever is good and ride and pure and so on, he takes you through an exercise and prayer that is just outstanding and I highly, it's small, you can see that, I highly recommend it to you, read through it two or three times, let the concept get ahold of you, it will do wonders for your soul and dear saints, we'll just close by saying this, we have a great high priest who intercedes on our behalf, we have a great high priest who stands before the throne of God in heaven, we have a Holy Spirit who knows our situation and who intercedes according to the will of God, all of us who by faith have been reconciled to God, we have great power before us at the throne of God, develop that relationship with him, make it real, let's pray, we thank you O Lord God, most high creator of the billions and billions, my ears of space and galaxies and stars and planets and cells in our bodies and ecosystems within ecosystems, that you would know us, that you would take thought of us, that you would redeem us, O God, that you would send your son our Lord Jesus Christ to rescue us, may this day our sense of the nearness of God that you are at hand, be so palpable that we are at peace and have a joy, inexpressible,