It's fun to come over here every now and then and see some of the people that are no longer at the mother church. And we'll someday forgive me for that, but it's really good to see especially the kids growing and how since I'm only getting a snapshot picture of these not any longer kids but sometimes now teenagers and on beyond that it's good to see how everybody's growing and it's good to be back here again to see some unfamiliar faces as well. UPC praise for you guys almost every week publicly when we have church you're always in our prayers you're in many of our individual prayers and we love you we just cherish the memories we've had with all of you and for those of you who are new to CKC and don't know what I'm talking about it's good to see how the gospel grows and spreads and so that's great that's great news. I'm here tonight to share with you a message from the Book of Philippians if you have a Bible and if you want to turn with me to the Book of Philippians over in the New Testament that would be good. I noticed it's also in your bulletin there and you can follow along in there as Philippians chapter 4 you're going to be reading verses 2 through 9 and I guess it's even up here on the screen so that'll even help you further. Philippians is a little letter written by of course the Apostle Paul in the New Testament it's one of his many letters that we have in our Bibles and it's unique in several ways I'm going to try to make a couple of comments about it later but one thing you need to know right up front is that it was written out of a pretty severe time of trial for Paul he was in prison when he wrote this letter so you can imagine writing a letter from prison I suppose if you think hard about it what if you were imprisoned unjustly what if you were suffering unjustly for something that you had been accused of and you were now writing letters from your prison experience I wonder what it would say how would how would you write what would your emotion be would it be an emotion of concern and anxiety would it be one of gee I hope I'm going to get out of here soon I hate this place would it be filled with complaint I know sometimes we feel like we're in a prison of sorts and often in our prison experience we do a lot of complaining that's not something you'll find written in this letter in fact this particular passage that I want to read you is one of rejoicing in spite of trial and so we're going to talk tonight about how to do that and it's Philippians chapter 4 beginning at verse 2 to give you a little context and then we're going to focus on verses 4 through 9 for the most part but let me begin with verse 2 Paul writes as follows I plead with you odia and I plead with sinta key these are names of two women that were in the Philippian church I plead with you to agree with each other in the Lord yes and I ask you loyal yoke fellow 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 let your gentleness be evident to all the Lord is near don't be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving present your requests to God and the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds 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 whatever you have learned or received or heard from me or seen in me put it into practice and the God of peace will be with you want to talk with you tonight about worry and we start with a question simple question what's worrying you right now would you please identify it you might be worried about a crashed computer or even worse a stolen one what is your worry this evening I encourage you to think about it and identify it name it and if you would also even write it down I noticed in your bullet and you have a sheet of notes where you can follow along with me maybe on the back of it would you take a moment right now if something popped into your mind this is what you're worried about write it down because I'm going to come back and refer to that worry later on and it would help you if you clearly identified what it is so think about that what are you worried about tonight what's been keeping you awake lately why are you not absolutely at rest within your heart even tonight as I speak now maybe I'm speaking to someone out here who has not a care in the world you can't identify a worry well let's see if I can help you a little bit did you know there's a one in six thousand two hundred and fifty chance that the asteroid a office is going to hit the earth in your two thousand thirty six now that's something to worry about or that seventy six million americans are going to get food poisoning this year maybe some of you have already been there I don't know or there's a one in twenty four chance that you're going to be a victim of property crime if you live in eastwood that's probably already happened and there's a one in seven hundred thousand chance that you'll be attacked by a shark probably the odds get a little better if you go to new smurner beach there's a one in seventy million chance that you'll die from anthrax now there's something to worry about why did you know that twenty seven people are going to die this year from contact with a lawnmower so watch out if you go cutting your grass sometimes soon all right not worried yet let's get a little closer to home and talk about your health what's your cholesterol level now some of you young people you don't need to worry about that but others of us do because for it if you're an adult for half of us adults it's too high how much weight if you gained in the last year or so did you know that adult men and women today weigh on average 25 pounds more than our counterparts did back in nineteen sixty so you know it's getting up there more and more and when are you going to start exercising to take care of some of those problems you've got with your health or think about the economy what's been going on lately with the stock market does that trouble you it does me are you going to have anything to live on when you retire what's going to happen to social security will there be any money in it some day or will someone steal your identity as has happened to some friends of mine and take you to the cleaners how are you going to pay for your kids college or will they pay for your nursing home someday but then of course you might not make it that long because you did you know that there's a one in two point eight million chance that you could fall into a hole and die there's actually people who get paid I guess for coming up with statistics like that well a little more worry might help we're three weeks into hurricane season and already we've had a visit from Alberto will the state of Florida be here by the end of the month of november i'm not sure about that is the earth going to burn up will we have any more oil will we all be riding bicycles around east orlando someday soon well if you're not worried yet two more words might help a little bit more north korea have you been reading about the long range ballistic missile that is aimed at some city in america wonder if it's orlando probably not but it could be well now that i've gotten you a little bit worked up i point your attention in the direction of our text tonight especially verse six look at that verse with me again because paul says something very clear and he says do not be anxious about anything any of the above or any of those things that you've already identified as your worries paul says don't be anxious about them he doesn't seem to leave a little bit of wiggle room for one or two worries he says do not be anxious about anything at all and think of where he was when he wrote those words from his prison cell in Rome he says to us still today do not be anxious about anything now before i go further into our subject of worry let me just say one thing very clearly and some of you need to to really remember this part of my sermon is preliminary but it's important not all worry is bad if you're one of those rare people who never feels anxious about anything at all it may be it just may be because you don't care about anything you don't care about yourself your life your future or the people around whom you live or the things that are going on in our world perhaps the problem with you is not so much biblical peace as it is apathy and that's not spiritual maturity that's sin to be apathetic about various things so paul is not talking about a good kind of constructive anxiety and you might be surprised to hear me say that there is a good kind of worry but there is in fact that word anxious in verse 6 deserves a little bit of explanation it says do not be anxious about anything the same Greek word used there is actually used in a constructive sense back about a page earlier in the book of Philippians look at chapter 2 verse 20 if you have a Bible handy chapter 2 verse 20 where paul is writing about his friend Timothy he says in 220 I have no one else like him that is Timothy who takes a genuine interest in your welfare now those two words genuine interest are the exact same come from the exact same Greek word as this word anxious so paul is saying that Timothy is let's say constructively anxious about you there's a constructive kind of worry that sometimes we need to have when it comes to our own life or the lives of other people anxiety in this sense can be a good motivator to action when you care about life when you care about yourself when you care about other people one of the things you risk is this kind of anxiety for them paul in fact in this passage that I read to you is legitimately worried about his Philippian friends did you notice that in the very beginning of the text where he says I plead with you two women who are at each other's throats I plead with you Euodia and Sintiki that you agree with each other in the Lord paul is not just lightly brushing this off he's really worried about the subject of unity when it comes to this church of of of Philippians so he says I'm I'm constructively worried and I'm anxious for you to continue to work on your unity level and I want you loyal yoke fellow we're not sure exactly who he's talking about there but he says I want you to assist these women in the work that they're doing so you see even here at ck there needs to be a legitimate level of anxiety for the work of the kingdom for the unity of the spirit that you will be working for that we might call a good kind of worry and some of you to be honest probably need a little bit more of this legitimate kind of worry in your life some of you for instance you husbands and wives there might be a husband and wife couple here who needs more worry about the state of your worry that would propel you to do something about that such as get some counseling or read a book together or get on your knees together and repent before each other you see that is a good kind of worry it motivates you to action some of you parents might to be might need to be legitimately more worried about the spiritual climate of your home than you have been so that it will do something for you to address the needs of your children some of you students might need to be legitimately worried about your grades next year when you go back to school so you see all of these are good kinds of worry and Paul's not talking about that and so I want to be sure that nothing I say this evening gives someone in this church an excuse for being lack of daisicle and careless about things that need to change in your life do you understand all right having said that having said that there's a good kind of worry want to move on to the kind of worry Paul is talking about he is talking about a destructive form of worry or even a selfish form of worry in this text it might be considered the what if kind of worry you know what I mean by that are you a what if her you can imagine all the what ifs what if this happens what if that happens what if it rains what if it doesn't rain what if the economy goes sour I mean that kind of worry is really not very constructive there there doesn't seem to be much benefit from that kind of anxiety interestingly the word worry that we have in our English language comes from a German word vergan and that German word vergan means to choke or strangle so isn't it neat that our English word worry really means that we're being strangled and choked the very life of our bodies and souls can be choked off by this destructive form of worry or anxiety somebody has said that worry is an insidious life sapping disease good way to look at this destructive kind of worry so what do you do with your worries what do you do with them some people are what I'll call stuffers they try to deny the things that they're worried about they try to just put it out of their minds and they adopt the don't worry be happy kind of philosophy I suppose you'd say some people are like the guy who was on a flight from New York to Houston that you might have heard about 15 minutes into the flight the captain came on the intercom and announced folks I hate to tell you this but we've just lost one of our four engine but there's nothing to worry about it'll mean that will be delayed about an hour into Houston but we can make it fine on three engines about an hour went by and the captain came back on the intercom and said folks I need to announce to you that we've just lost our second engine don't worry there's nothing to worry about we've got it under control we can make it fine on two engines will be about two hours additionally late coming into Houston but but it's all right we've got two good engines well about two hours went by and the captain came back on and said folks I've got to announce that now our third engine has has gone out we've got one engine left so there's nothing to worry about we can make it fine we're going to probably be about an additional three hours late into Houston well at this this guy turned to the man in the next seat in whisper to him if we lose one more engine we're going to be up here all day now see that we would call denial denial of reality and that's not how you deal with your worries so how do we deal with them what do we do when we've got this this level of anxiety and we just imagine all the what ifs all of the all of the possibilities out there well clearly I want you to see this passage of scripture tonight says that Christians are not supposed to be worried people worry is not something that's supposed to come into someone's mind when they're thinking about you but describe you in fact in this passage you notice that the constant emphasis on not being worried it says in verse six do not be anxious about anything it says in verse seven the peace of God will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus and it says in verse nine the god of peace will be with you see that this passage is nearly framed with the thought of not being anxious but rather being filled with peace inside your soul if I summarize this passage I'd say that it teaches that those who have found peace with God ought to experience the peace of God but how do we deal with those worries that beset us if not through apathy on the one hand or denial on the other well in this passage of scripture I want to come into you a an antidote let's call it a biblical antidote for worry and I'll tell you the four parts of the antidote and then we'll look at each part one after another to not worry rather to kill worry and be a person of peace there needs to be these four things spontaneous prayer discipline thinking responsible action and your outline says gospel driven faith I'm going to change it tonight to God's centered faith and I think that'll be a little more descriptive of what I'm going to say spontaneous prayer discipline thinking responsible action and God's centered faith so that's where we're going let's dive in and see what Paul has to say first first off in order to be a person of peace rather than of worry by God's grace we should be people of spontaneous prayer look again at verse six where Paul says do not be anxious about anything but instead of that in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving present your requests to God be a person of spontaneous prayer in my life right now as a few of you know we're going through a major time of change our oldest child Rebecca is about to deliver in a couple months her third child and at the same time she and her family are moving to Gulfport Mississippi in just about a month my second child married two years ago named David he and his wife Lindsey are moving to Tallahassee in a month for David to go to law school at FSU our third child Jennifer got married last summer they live in Jacksonville she's going to be starting an MBA program at UNF and our fourth child Michael age 17 is going to be a senior at Timber Creek high school this year and he just started driving all by himself about two weeks ago tell me do not be anxious about anything I'm trying hard not to be but it's hard and I know you and your situation you're probably in something going on right now that is besetting your heart and mind constantly and so Paul is saying to us instead of giving into worry be a person who is always taking that concern to God in prayer even if that means you do it again and again and again spontaneously saying God here it is again I'm worried and I'm anxious here it is I lift it back up to you now it seems that Paul is teaching us that there are two parts to prayer let me stress this the first part is petition the second is Thanksgiving first let's talk about petition he says in verse six present your requests to God I can almost see Paul saying take your request the one I told you to write down in your paper present it to God describe it in detail be as specific as possible and look at it from every angle the thinking is don't be anxious about anything but in every little thing Paul says in every little thing present your needs your burdens your cares to God you might have heard the story that Steve Brown has told before about a man who was traveling across India and he was traveling across India in a train so it was going to be a long ride it was going to take him all night long and he had everything he owned in a single suitcase so here he is getting on the train getting in there he found a compartment he sat there but he was really worried about his his suitcase because it contained everything he owned and he had been told that there are thieves on these trains that are going across India so this man decided okay I'm not going to go to sleep I know it's a long ride it's a long night I'm not going to go to sleep he put his suitcase up in the rack above him and just kept you know propping his eyelids open pinching himself all night long trying to stay away it was so hard finally at three o'clock in the morning he could take it no longer his eyes would not stay open so he said all right I'm just going to close him just for a second and he closes his eyes and fell asleep three seconds later he opened it back up and looked and his suitcase was gone and he said thank God I can finally go to sleep I think that's pretty descriptive of the way we live we're always carrying around our worries in a bag or a suitcase or over on our shoulders and we can't even some of us can't even sleep at night and would we but lift our requests to God and really trust him for those things we might just find out that we'd have a great night of sleep the first part of prayer then is petition and I love that verse in first Peter 5 verse 7 where the apostle Peter says cast cast all of your anxiety on God because he cares for you the second part of prayer is beside petition thanksgiving Paul says in this passage prayer and petition with thanksgiving now I want you to know and you agree I'm sure gratitude does not come naturally to human beings parents aren't you always having to say your kids you give them something what do you say grandma gives him a present what do you say your grandmother what do you say I feel like sometimes people need to tell me Mike what do you say it's a battle life long I'm convinced that gratitude is something we lost in the Garden of Eden with the fall of mankind into sin and we've struggled to recover that spirit of gratitude ever since but it's important that you and I be thankful when we pray to really think about what has God done lately thanksgiving in prayer helps us to remember that he has done a lot for us thanks giving in prayer helps us to remember that we're not the worst person off there are people worse off than we are so when you pray be sure to say thank you God thank you God it's an important part of prayer spontaneous prayer then is the first of our fourfold antidote to worry let's move on to the second part not only are we to be people of spontaneous prayer but we're also to be men and women and boys and girls of disciplined thinking discipline thinking is so very important look at verse eight where Paul says finally brothers and sisters we would say whatever is true whatever is noble whatever is right whatever is pure whatever is lovely whatever is admirable if anything is excellent or praise worthy think about such things here's a command from Paul to think about certain things and to battle with worry we've got to take seriously that he says train your mind discipline your thought life in this particular direction I remember as a kid one of my favorite possessions was a Lionel train set some of you might have had one of those and I remember the day when I got a switch for the track you know I had enough track now accumulated that I could actually put this switch in there and throw the switch in the train instead of going this way would go that way and I think that Paul is saying throw the switch in your thought life when you discern that your mind is going in a direction that only leads only breeds worry I admit to you I'm a talk show a talk radio junkie I really am I love listening to those A.M. stations where there's just one talk radio show host after another I feed off and my wife and I agreed together not long ago that we needed to go on to a talk radio fast because the bleak outlook that these people give day after day hour after hour was beginning to harm my heart and beginning to cause me to look pessimistically at life instead of faithfully and optimistically to God and so I don't know if anything like that is happening in your life where you've got to throw the switch from one thought to another let me give you some examples perhaps a particular TV show is not a good thing for you to watch because it only breeds worry and anxiety in your life I've got a friend who put a Bible verse wrote it out on a card and tacked it onto his TV set it was Psalm 101 verse 3 and that card says I will set before my eyes no vile thing it's a good discipline isn't it I'll set before my eyes no vile thing why why not well because it only leads to worried only breeds anxiety or sin of some sort maybe maybe it's a certain kind of music that does that for you or perhaps a particular magazine only encourages you to covet clothing or to envy other people's bodies or lust after them or maybe a certain person now this is a tough one maybe there's a certain person that brings you down by what he or she seems to always want to talk about and and you've got to confront that person and say no more no more I don't want to go there anymore now that's a tough conversation but Paul would say throw the switch because he says very says very clearly whatever is true noble right pure lovely admirable think about those things someone has said that worry is a thin stream of fear trickling through the mind if encouraged it cuts a wide channel into which other thoughts are drained is that happening in your life right now where one fear leads to another fear and leads to another and pretty soon your whole your whole world is going off in that direction instead of being at peace maybe you're a what ifer like I was referring to earlier are you are you obsessed about what if well verse eight teaches you to deliberately choose encouraging thoughts affirming ideas biblical truths I would come into you obviously the most effective way to reprogram your mind and that is God's word you know maybe I'm speaking to somebody right now who owns several Bibles and you've not opened them for days weeks maybe even months perhaps like me you'll find help with a one year Bible or some other Bible reading plan that's reasonable and doable where you can go to the Bible day after day and have a have an opportunity to get God to get the thoughts that he wants you to get into your heart and into your mind circulating that way Psalm 119 verse 45 says I will walk about in freedom for I have sought your precept that's worth a repeat I will walk about in freedom why because I have sought your precepts so discipline thinking is an important it's our second part of our fourfold antidote for worry besides spontaneous prayer now let's go on to the third one and that is responsible action responsible action look with me at verse nine where Paul says whatever you have learned or received or heard from me or seen in me put it into practice and the promise is the God of peace will be with you what's Paul saying I think he's saying that you should not just pray about everything you should not just think about good things but you should do the right thing doing is important the right behavior the right conduct is an important part of the Christian life and sometimes I think we worry because we haven't taken appropriate action to address the thing about which we're anxious money for example money is a common worry for most of us I wonder if you're worried about your money well have you taken action to address that worry I know that a few months ago over in our church we offered this thing called financial peace university perhaps a few of you went to that that's a good thing to do or read a book about it or come up with a budget or talk to a financial counselor see that would be responsible action which is what Paul is saying for us to do if you see ants all over your home like we did about a week ago don't just sit there and stew about your ants you call the exterminator if you don't like your weight you don't just sit around and worry about gaining more weight you what do you do you join the gym you start an exercise routine you cut back on your your calories if you're lonely you don't just sit there and worry and think about being lonely instead you pick up the phone and invite somebody over for dinner if your grades aren't so hot you what do you do you study harder I mean this is not rocket science it's just taking responsible action as God's people should do Mark Twain said something I thought was pretty interesting he said the only way to keep your health is to eat what you don't want drink what you don't like and do what you'd rather not and he's probably right you see that's part of that responsible action doing what you'd rather not do see anxiety as I said earlier anxiety can be just the thing you need to to kind of get behind you and push you toward responsible decision making and look let's be honest sometimes you're worried because you're just sitting there doing nothing God would rather have you follow Paul's example follow someone else's example that you appreciate and do something constructive about the situation well so far what have we learned we've learned a three part three of our four part antidote for worry spontaneous prayer discipline thinking responsible action but you know what we have not yet touched the real core of why we worry I'm afraid that if I stopped right here you would try to go home and change your life a little bit put on a bit of a new behavior pattern try some new habits and perhaps it would help your worry to a degree but until you get down to the real meat of why you worry I'm I'm not sure that behavior change is going to be sufficient so that's why I want to make sure you hear this fourth and last part of what a biblical antidote for worry consists of God-centered faith a God-centeredness a God-centered faith will really get down to the core of why we worry and what to do about it because you know what worry is essentially distrust of God there is at the core of our worries and anxieties a deep seated sometimes unbelief of who God is and what he has promised to do and folks that's serious sin that's pretty heinous for us to mistrust a God who has loved us so and who has made so many clear and precious promises look with me at verses four and five where I think Paul really gets down to the heart of it verse four he says rejoice in the Lord always you see Paul is not just a positive thinking kind of fellow he is not just giving us a few tips for more effective living how to be free of worry no he says rejoice in the Lord it's a God-centered perspective God Paul is God-centered in his focus here rejoice in the Lord he says I will say it again rejoice and then in verse five let your gentleness be evident to all why the Lord is near the Lord is near friends do you believe in God I suspect you do you probably wouldn't be here at CKC if you didn't believe in God is he the God of the Bible who controls absolutely everything the God of whom Jesus said that not a bird falls to the ground without his knowledge the God who knows everything about you even the numbers of hairs on your head is this God that you believe in your creator did he as we see in Colossians chapter one make all things in heaven and on earth visible and invisible whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities did he exist before all things and does he now uphold everything and hold it together by the word of his power is this God that you believe in the king immortal as Paul tells Timothy who according to Jesus has all authority in heaven and on earth over life and death angels and demons the present in the future heights and depths sin and Satan before whom devil's trimble and mountains shake and sees divide is that the God in whom you believe is he the God according to Romans 8 who works all things for the good of those who love him is he and this is what Jesus said in the sermon on the mount the God who feeds the birds of the air and clothes the lilies of the field and who says you're worth a whole lot more than birds and flowers to him is this God you believe in near as Paul has said to us in this text tonight that is to say is he the God who according to Psalm 139 is with you no matter where you go whether you fly up to the heavens or make your bed in the depths of the earth or settle on the far side of the sea and who has ordained all the days of your life before one of them came to be is that the God in whom you trust and is this God infinitely wise in all of his dealings with you who knows the end from the beginning whose judgment says Paul tells us in Romans 11 are unsurchable whose paths are beyond tracing out and is he the God who by his wisdom as we read in Proverbs 3 laid the earth's foundation and set the heavens in place so that you can be assured tonight that he knows what he's doing in your life even this moment is this God you believe in the one who according to Ephesians 1 shows you in him before the creation of the world and who predestined you according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his own will who says in Jeremiah 29 that he has plans for you plans to prosper you not harm you plans to give you hope in a future does the God in whom you believe provide for his people as Jehovah is he sufficient for your every need as else should I is he your shepherd as Jehovah row he is he your righteousness as Jehovah said canoe is he your lord as Adonai and is this God who chose you also your father who adopted you and justified you and set you apart as his own treasured possession as we read in Deuteronomy 7 and in order to do this did this God send to you his very own son the son of his love and of his delight to shed his blood to bear your burdens to carry your sorrows heal your wounds wash your feet identify with your weaknesses pray your prayers pay for your sins win your forgiveness and prepare place in heaven for you now look I've just read to you everything or some of the things that this book says about the God in whom you believe and so in light of all of those truths why are you worried that worry that you wrote down if you did look at it again or think about it if it's just written up here in your mind isn't it a whole lot smaller than the God that I've just described to you and if God sent his own son for you isn't it likely that he can also take care of that worry that you've been holding on to Paul says rejoice in this Lord I will say it again rejoice rather than worry and be anxious folks if you believe in the God of the Bible there is no reason in the world that your life should be characterized by worry and anxiety to worry is to think more about your circumstances than to think about God and there's a word for that and it's unbelief and God's calling you to repent of that tonight he's calling me to repent of that tonight that's an ugly thing it's contrary to his grace in your life spontaneous prayer discipline thinking responsible action and a God centered faith that roots you and grounds you in the identity of God the character and the nature of God may God enable us to live in light of this truth of this power and of the love and grace of God let's pray Father I want to confess to you that strange as it may seem we're worried bunch and so Lord we ask that you would so move in our hearts and in our in our lives that your Holy Spirit would so take this truth about who you are and work it so deeply down in the very roots of our hearts where we where we often hold on to unbelief and fear and anxiety God would you so do that that we would be a people of peace so that the God of peace will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus do this for your glory in our good we pray in Jesus name oh man