Finding Peace

[0:00] Finding peace. Where can we find peace? We're going to go to Philippians 4 and from verse 4. I know a lot of people contact me at times and I see a lot of troubled people and people that contact me often they share their troubles and concern and their lack of peace.

[0:20] And having peace is such an essential thing isn't it? And where can we find encouragement and peace and joy? So we're going to go to Philippians 4 and reading from verse 4.

[0:58] And the peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report.

[1:23] If there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things. Those things which you have both learned and received and heard and seen in me, do.

[1:39] And the God of peace shall be with you. Encouragement, peace, joy. We all want that, don't we, in our life? We need that.

[1:52] All of us want to have such qualities and we're going to home in on some of this scripture here, particularly verses 6 through 7 from Philippians 4.

[2:02] Philippians 4, especially verses 6 through 7. But in the broader context, it starts off as we see there with verse 4.

[2:14] Rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say rejoice. Paul says rejoice. And really it's a command. Sometimes we've got to be commanded to do some things, don't we?

[2:28] To rejoice. And command number one for our sermon today is this one. Rejoice. In other words, find your joy.

[2:38] Where? In your Lord. It's good to grasp the context here of Philippians 2, the book, the letter of Paul to the Philippians. He's writing this letter from a prison.

[2:51] And he's telling you rejoice. He's telling you rejoice always. And the Philippian church is facing all kinds of challenges and trials at this time.

[3:02] And Paul says to the Philippians, he says rejoice. The message is that we can have encouragement even when there's adversity. Because believer here this morning, your gladness is not dependent on your circumstances.

[3:19] It's not. It's not part of that. We may not always have joy in the circumstance, in the situation. But we can find our joy in God.

[3:31] Rejoice in him, in the Lord, in his promises, in his presence. Rejoice. Think of the things that you could rejoice about today. To rejoice in the goodness of God, your salvation.

[3:42] To rejoice in his love for you. The same love that he showed Lazarus as we heard. Rejoice in his love. There's power in joy, isn't there? And we're not talking about putting it on or pretending to have joy.

[3:56] But that your joy is deeper and more meaningful than the circumstances, than your situation. Because it's in him. It's in Christ. That is your joy. And the wording of this verse has the sense too of it being a constant, habitual rejoicing.

[4:12] It's keep on rejoicing. Keep on rejoicing. And we see there's many scriptures that talk about the joy that we have, isn't there? That we can find joy in our God.

[4:22] We think of Psalm 42, verse 11. Psalm 42, verse 11. The psalmist cries out, Why art thou cast down, O my soul? He's talking to his inner man.

[4:33] Why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God. For I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance and my God.

[4:45] The psalmist cries out. And in the psalm, there's more we could pull out of that psalm of intense emotions there. Through the psalm. Of seeking after God. Of tears.

[4:56] Of pain. Of the pouring out of his soul. Of his soul cast down, it speaks. Of waves and billows over him. Of mourning. Of grieving. Of the oppression of the enemy.

[5:08] Of a sword in his bones. He says, I shall yet praise him. Matthew 5, verse 12 echoes the thought to rejoice and be glad.

[5:22] When? When things are going terrible. We see Matthew 5, verse 12. Our Lord tells the disciples in the Beatitudes on the mountain. He says, Blessed are you when men shall revile you and persecute you and say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake.

[5:42] Rejoice and be exceeding glad. For great is your reward in heaven. For so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. When men shall revile you, persecute you, slander you.

[5:56] For my sake. For my sake. For my sake. Rejoice. And be glad. Exceeding glad. It's counterintuitive, isn't it?

[6:07] To think that even in the worst of times we can rejoice. And Peter and his company demonstrated that truth in Acts 5, where it tells of the hard times that they went through as the persecuted church, that they were rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for his name.

[6:28] We see Acts 5, verse 41. And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.

[6:40] Now the context is, they'd just been beaten up. You know, they had real pain. Physical pain. They got the bruises to prove it. Paul tells of the Philippians church too, of a rejoicing.

[6:54] And of course that really fits with the book of Philippians, speaking of the church there, how that in spite of their deep poverty, as well as their great trial of affliction, the Philippian church had an abundance of joy.

[7:16] An abundance of joy. 2 Corinthians 8, 2. How that in a great trial of affliction, the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality.

[7:29] So, again, it's not dependent on the circumstance. It's dependent on our saviour, isn't it? And we see another case in Habakkuk 3.

[7:43] Of course, people might be familiar with this one as it has been put to song. Yet will I rejoice in the Lord. I will joy in the God of my salvation. Of course, Habakkuk there is recording, relating how, though the fig tree does not blossom, neither shall there be fruit in the vines.

[8:00] The labour of the olive shall fail, and the field shall yield no meat. The flock be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls. Yet I will rejoice.

[8:10] Yet I will rejoice. Yet I will rejoice. Yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will joy in the God of my salvation. And it's true for you, brother, sister.

[8:23] The joy of the Lord is your strength. It's not about our human weakness or our circumstance, our situation, and the trial, whatever it be.

[8:34] The loss, the lack, as here. Yet I will. Yet I will. I'm going to determine that. I'm going to rejoice. And my joy is in my God, the God of my salvation.

[8:49] And alike to that, we see Nehemiah 8 verse 10, The joy of the Lord is your strength. That's your strength. Not your mental attitude or your positive outlook or your optimism.

[9:03] Not your human mind. It's the Lord that is your strength. He is your strength. His joy. And his joy is beyond circumstance.

[9:15] I like to say how, you know, there's the term happiness. That's based on happenstance. What happens to you. But the joy, the joy of the Lord, it's not based on what happens. It's not on the happenings.

[9:26] It's upon your Saviour, isn't it? His joy. It's him. So back to our text in verse 5 of Philippians 4. Let your moderation be known unto all men.

[9:41] The Lord is at hand. Your moderation. What do we do when circumstances happen? Sometimes we get all heads up and worried and fretting.

[9:57] The world talks about regulating yourself when you have situations. But God helps us to moderate. He helps us to have moderation. So in other words, it's putting things in the eternal context, isn't it?

[10:12] Now we can think, what's the worst thing that can happen to me? It's like, well, the worst thing that can happen to me is someone kills me. Well, that's actually going to be glory. So the worst thing that you can imagine is actually, well, I'm not meaning to be flippant, but truly that is, isn't it?

[10:28] For me to live is Christ, to die is gain. So let your moderation, it speaks about your kindness, your gentleness, the governing of your appetites. In other words, your moderation, such that when things happen to you, you don't throw your hands up in the air and get all worried and stressed out and fall to pieces and react and explode and get grouchy and grumpy, let your moderation be known unto all men.

[11:01] And in other words, be examples of what's proper, especially in the light of our expectation that the Lord is close, the Lord is at hand. We could think of the Lord's coming, but we could also think of his presence because it's present.

[11:16] He's present now. The Lord is at hand. In other words, he's ready to help. You're not alone in this circumstance. You're not alone in that suffering, that trial, that illness, that sadness, that grief, that hurt.

[11:29] The Lord is at hand and he's ready. He's ready to help you. So when you think of the Lord is at hand, think of the closeness of your saviour. He's not far, far away. He's right here in your situation.

[11:41] He's that fourth man in the fire, isn't he? He's with you. The Lord is with you. And the Lord is close to you. I love Psalm 145. It tells us the Lord is near.

[11:53] The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him. To all that call upon him in truth. He will fulfill the desires of them that fear him. He also will hear their cry and will save them.

[12:06] The Lord is nigh. Brother, sister, the Lord is nigh to you. He's near to you. We can know the presence of God even in the worst of times and it impacts our life. It helps us have hope.

[12:17] It helps us have joy. Do you know the presence of the Lord Jesus? Sometimes we miss it, don't we? We don't recollect. We don't bring it to mind. Actually, things are bad, but the Lord is with me.

[12:29] The Lord is nigh to me. The Lord is close to me. He is present. And what's more, he's present in the worst of times. We see Psalm 46 verse 1, for example, God is our refuge and strength.

[12:40] A very present, present, present, help, help in trouble. Help in trouble. So, when trouble comes, actually, we should be glad because when trouble comes, God is very present.

[13:00] Think of that. Next time trouble comes, actually, Jesus is with me. He's very present. So, let your moderation be known unto all men. So, when you think about that scripture that says, let your moderation be known unto all men.

[13:18] How you react impacts others too, doesn't it? How you react to life's tests. Because people are watching, aren't they? Men are watching what you do. When the pressure comes, will you crack up?

[13:30] Will you spit the dummy? Look, I've done that. Will you react in the flesh? That's me. Will you react with pride, with selfishness, with your normal human self-centeredness?

[13:45] That's me. People are watching, aren't they? Let your moderation be known to all men. Don't react in the flesh. Trust him.

[13:58] Is your faith going to pass the test? Let your moderation be known to all men. Keep cool. Keep cool. We could put that. That's the Andrew Craig translation. Keep cool.

[14:10] Moderation. It's talking about forbearance, isn't it? Keeping calm. Keep calm when life throws that curveball at you. And I'm not meaning to speak this flippantly because this could be very real to some of you today.

[14:23] You could be saying, oh, what does he know? I'm not meaning to talk lightly about this because you could be right in the valley.

[14:34] Right now. Right here, right now. And I don't want to give you a light kind of covering off of this. That it's real for you.

[14:45] I know that can be so. But exercise moderation. In other words, it's talking about meekness. It's talking about forgiveness. It's talking about forbearing. It's talking about grace.

[14:56] It's talking about going the extra mile. It's tolerance. It's patience. It's a sweetness of temper. When hard things happen, cool it.

[15:08] Keep calm. Moderation. Trust in the Lord. Let faith take control. So we see, rejoice in the Lord.

[15:22] Always. And again I say, rejoice. So that's command number one. We could say it. He said it twice. Maybe that's two. But that's command number one.

[15:33] Rejoice. Amen. Right. Next up, here's command number two for you today. It's not me commanding you. It's the word of God commanding you. And these are good commands. Amen. Because God's commands are good commands.

[15:44] God's commandments are good for us all. And here's command number two for you today. It reads on. And we want to look a little closer at these next couple of verses. Paul gives us a couple of comprehensive commands here.

[15:57] And the first one we see there in verse six. The first part, be careful for nothing. Now, of course, it's a somewhat archaic way of saying, don't be full of care.

[16:11] In other words, don't be worried. Don't worry yourself. Don't be full of care. Be careful for nothing. In other words, don't be anxious about anything.

[16:22] Literally, don't worry over the literal senses. Not even one thing. This is comprehensive. Don't worry about even one thing.

[16:34] That's the sense of it, apparently, in the translation here. We're called to not worry at all. Paul's saying here, stop worrying.

[16:47] And do not under any circumstance worry about anything. It's comprehensive. Nothing means nothing. All right? Nothing is such that we should worry about it.

[17:01] It's hard to kind of, these are just a short phrase here, but there's a lot in that, isn't there? And it's a common human weakness that we worry, don't we?

[17:12] Have anxiety. There's all manner of things. We worry about the silliest things, don't we? I know I can. And here's the command of faith, don't worry.

[17:24] Rather, trust God's control in your life. It's a command. Don't worry. It's like our Lord says, really, don't worry about tomorrow. And of course, the context is, seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.

[17:38] All these things are going to be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow. Tomorrow, tomorrow, for the morrow, tomorrow's going to take care of itself. The morrow shall take thought for the things of itself.

[17:51] Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. We worry, worry, worry about what's going to happen. Monday, Tuesday, March, April, May.

[18:04] Next year. The year after. Live in the now. Now, worry is the greatest thief of joy, someone has said.

[18:15] And of course, we heard about Mary and Martha today. And we see in Luke 10, 41, we know the context here is of Mary sitting at the Lord's feet and hearing his word.

[18:29] And then Martha's here, hustling and bustling and fussing and fretting and pulling her hair out. That can be us, kind of, in the kitchen, men, when you're doing the cooking.

[18:45] You know. And here's Martha here. And the Lord Jesus says, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things. You're getting upset. You're getting worried. You're getting troubled about many things.

[18:57] But one thing, one thing is needful. And Mary hath chosen the best part, that good part, which shall not be taken away from her. Our Lord says one thing, one thing is needful. Mary had chosen that good part.

[19:09] She sat at his feet and heard his word. So, don't worry. Stop it. You know, as the famous song goes, cut it out. Worry.

[19:22] Don't worry, please. And when we think, you know, and I'm not meaning to sound flippant again, you might have some real worries. It's not meaning that we stop being careful or in the sense of wise or plan or have some kind of things you've got to grapple with and sort out.

[19:40] But where they become a worry for you. That's sin, really, isn't it? And we see even psychologists say apparently, and this is one illustration of this, psychologists tell us about worry.

[19:59] They say 40% of what we worry about never happens. 30% has already gone past. It's behind you. And worry can't change that. That's what's happened.

[20:10] And 12% is needless worry about maybe the criticism of others or this or that. 10% of the things that we worry about are miscellaneous things that don't deserve worry.

[20:20] For example, our health. Actually, if you worry, you're going to make your health worse. So, don't worry about your health. It's a bit pointless, isn't it? Counterproductive. And then they reckon there's only about 8% of the things that we worry about that might be counted really worthy of worry.

[20:38] But if you were a worrier of those things that may get some benefit of worrying about of sorts, they could be divided into two categories.

[20:48] Those you can do something about and those you can't do anything about. So, if the things that you can do something about, do it and quit worrying about it. And if you can't do anything about it, worrying is not going to change it.

[21:01] So, the whole point is worry is pointless, isn't it? Worry is useless. Why worry? Worry affects our thinking, our digestion, even our coordination.

[21:11] And worry means, really, we believe more in our problems than in God's promises, doesn't it? When you think about it. And here's what missionary Hudson Taylor said about worry. Quote, Let us give up our work, our plans, ourselves, our lives, our loved ones, our influence, our all, right into God's hand.

[21:28] And then we have given over all to Him. There will be nothing left for us to be troubled about. Put it in the hands of God. Worry is powerful, isn't it? And it's a bad power.

[21:39] We're told not to worry. Not at all. Not for anything. Not for nothing. And it's a command, God says, don't worry. In contrast, we see the power of prayer. So, here's the third command.

[21:50] We see the first command is what? Rejoice. Rejoice. Rejoice. How often? Rejoice in the Lord. Rejoice in the Lord.

[22:01] Always. Number one. Secondly, we see don't worry. Thirdly, we see the command to pray. Here's the third command.

[22:12] Verse six. It reads on, In every situation, in everything.

[22:26] It's another comprehensive one. The comprehensive one is don't worry about anything. And the other comprehensive one is pray about everything. So, we had to pray about everything.

[22:39] Here's what someone said. I love that word, everything. That means there is nothing too small to bring to him. Take everything to him in prayer. Prayer is the expression of our dependence on his promises.

[22:50] It isn't necessarily on your knees or in the closet, but it can be just that quiet, arrow prayer of the heart in continual recognition that you need to lean back upon his grace and strength in everything, constantly relating to that indwelling life of Christ in you.

[23:06] End quote. So, do we neglect to pray? Oh, no, I can't. I can neglect to pray. I need to pray. Pray more. Much more. And think of the power of prayer.

[23:19] It's neglected power oftentimes, isn't it? Communication with God. Do we stop and ask him? Stop and talk to him? Seek his will? It says by prayer and supplication.

[23:30] Supplication, we think of the word supply there. We've got a supply that's available. Do we ask for it? Do we ask, in other words, supplication?

[23:41] God's supply. To supply specific needs. It says we're called to make requests. Make requests. He wants you to ask him.

[23:54] To ask him. To ask him. I know sometimes we can neglect to ask him, can't we? Or we ask amiss. In other words, we ask for things that maybe not really what are the best.

[24:06] But to ask in faith. God wants you to pray. Of course, we know God can do anything. And he knows all of our needs and all of our hurts. He knows what we want.

[24:17] But he wants us to ask him. This is the truth of it, isn't it? And sometimes we don't. We don't ask him. Why aren't you praying? I ask that question of myself.

[24:30] It's because I'm trusting in myself. My own wisdom, isn't it? Why am I not praying? Do I think I can do a better job than God? That I don't need his power? That I don't need his help?

[24:42] Let's be honest today. Why am I not praying? We get too self-dependent, don't we? And that's wrong, isn't it? I know that's wrong.

[24:55] Prayer is a great privilege. And it's a command. It's a command. Sometimes our prayer need not be answered. We're not saying that you walk around praying all the time while you're doing your job.

[25:07] And people might wonder what you're going on about. But you can pray without answering it. You can pray. You can have that thought of prayer, that attitude of prayer, that mindset.

[25:19] Lord, lead me. And you may not answer that, but that's your thought process, isn't it? That whole attitude and demeanour of life should be prayerful. Praying without ceasing.

[25:30] Casting all our care upon him. We know the power of faith over our circumstance. And to know the consciousness of his presence that the Lord is at hand.

[25:44] He's with you. He's with you in it. And he wants you to draw near to him. And notice too there's a thanksgiving in the prayer. Are we thankful?

[25:54] It's interesting the story of the ten lepers, isn't it? Only one came back and thanked him. Are we thankful for the blessings? Count your blessings.

[26:05] We can't. Name them one by one. It would take forever to list the things that God is for us. Are we thankful?

[26:16] Stop and think and thank. What should I give him thanks for? He loves me. Even me. He shed his precious holy blood for me.

[26:30] He has washed me from my sin. He has forgiven me. He's made me his own dear child. You can say those things by faith, believer, this morning. And Colossians 3 tells us, Let the peace of God rule in your hearts.

[26:44] Let the peace of God just take control and governance of your heart. Let the peace of God rule, reign as kingly authority in your heart to the which he also called in one body and be thankful.

[27:00] So thanksgiving and peace go together. They're connected. As the peace of God rules in our heart, we will be thankful. Give thanks. Give thanks.

[27:11] For what can you? Thank him. Maybe that could be a homework today. Write a big long list of all the things, all the things that God has done for you. What can you thank him for?

[27:21] For every breath that you breathe. For every morning that you wake up. For his faithfulness is new every day. Each and every new day.

[27:32] What can you thank him for? For he will never leave you. Nor forsake you. Give thanks. Amen. We're called to give thanks.

[27:43] To have a thankful heart. Think of how we can know his grace. Think of the wonder of Calvary. Think of the blessing of his love for you. So, so love. So love seeing you.

[27:55] Of the wonder of Calvary. And we think, as pictured in the prodigal coming to the father. Received by the father. And what happened?

[28:09] The boy just about kind of turned his face towards home. And might have started kicking the can down the road. And the father saw him. And he raced to embrace him with grace.

[28:22] That's, that's, I thought of that myself. I thought that's a good quote. He raced to embrace him with grace. That's what God does, isn't it?

[28:32] Amen. Think of that. Give him thanks. Amen. We who are destined for hell. He's changed our course. Give thanks. Give thanks.

[28:45] Here's another quote. There's no higher expression of faith than thanksgiving. And worry is the highest expression of unbelief. Thanksgiving is the highest expression of faith.

[28:57] Perhaps worry is the greatest expression of unbelief. Refuse to worry. Saint of God. He watches over you. The Lord is at hand. He's with you.

[29:08] He's your strength. And the joy of the Lord is your strength. And when you face situations, tell God about it. Thank him for what he's done. And trust him for what he's going to do.

[29:20] And I'm still quoting somewhat here. Paul's encouraging the spirit of thanksgiving. Where is he? He's in a slimy dungeon. Because of the blessing of salvation that he had.

[29:34] Sometimes we've just got to get things in focus, don't we? Where we could be. You know, you hear some salvation stories and you think, wow. And you see some as we've gone door knocking lately.

[29:47] And we had a pretty aggressive one. Didn't we? We met the devil, says Jeff. We met the devil. He almost looked like he had teeth like the devil, didn't he?

[30:03] He had fangs. Oh, that was another one. Oh, the joys of Saturday morning. The joys of Saturday morning fellowship as we go evangelizing.

[30:14] But, you know, we met the devil. There was a couple of them then. But I think when I see someone like that, but for the grace of God. But for the grace of God.

[30:25] That was me. That would be me today. If he hadn't saved me. Thank the Lord. Be thankful. I could be in the slime pit. But God has taken me out of the miry clay.

[30:38] And he sat my feet on the rock. He's done it. Glory. Thank him. And sometimes we fail to consider the blessings of God, don't we?

[30:50] And when circumstances happen, do we have faith that God is actually strong enough to carry us through, to manage whatever is going on?

[31:01] He's promised that no trial that we face will overcome us. And when you face the situation of trouble, trust. Trust in God's power and plan.

[31:13] He's in control. He's actually with you. The Lord is at hand. He's got every situation under his hand. And his purpose is that believe is good, even if we don't like it at the time.

[31:24] As we saw with Joseph, that good came out of all the horror of his life. God meant it for good. And we can give glory to God for everything.

[31:35] Be thankful. Be thankful. Give the glory to him. We see Acts 16 as Paul. He says that he's an example.

[31:46] And he lived it. Paul lived it. We see Paul and Silas in the Philippian jail. Acts 16, 25. And it says, And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed.

[31:58] They prayed. He didn't just talk about praying. He prayed. He prayed and he sang praises unto God. And the prisoners heard them. So here was Paul.

[32:08] He'd been beaten black and blue. Paul and Silas beaten up. Cast into this dark prison. Chained. Ashamed. Shamed. What do they do?

[32:19] Pray. Pray. And praise. Praise. They sang praises. Thank him. Praise him.

[32:30] We see Paul talks along similar lines to the Thessalonians. It's alike to Philippians. We see 1 Thessalonians 5, 16. Rejoice. When?

[32:41] Evermore. Pray. How long? Without ceasing. Give thanks. In everything. In everything. Give thanks.

[32:52] This is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Now some people say, oh, I'm searching for what the will of God is for my life. Here's the passage for you. It's got it all.

[33:03] It's three points. J. Vernon McGee, an old time teacher of the word says, if you come to me and ask, what is the will of God for you? I can tell you three specific things that are the will of God for you.

[33:18] Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In everything. Give thanks. That is the will of God for you. Give thanks. In everything.

[33:29] And we don't thank him for everything necessarily, but we can be thankful. Amen. That he's with us. He's helping us in everything by prayer. In everything by prayer.

[33:40] Tell the Lord what's on your heart. Unload to him. All your situation, your pleasures, your pain. Here's Psalm 62. It says, trust in him at all times, you people.

[33:52] Pour out your heart. Pour out your heart before him. If you've got something you've got to unburden, pour it out to him. Amen.

[34:02] Pour out your heart to him. God is a refuge for us. Selah. Pause and think about that. Yeah. Pour out your heart. Tell him your troubles, that he may comfort you.

[34:14] We see another one, Psalm 37. Many scriptures talking about psalms of prayer, of praise. Psalm 37, 4, it says, delight thyself also in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.

[34:28] Commit thy way unto the Lord. Trust also in him, and he shall bring it to pass. Do we delight in the Lord? Then our heart will be right, and he will give us the desires of our heart, because they'll be in accord with his heart.

[34:43] And then it says, commit, commit thy way. Do we stop and commit our way? Do we stop and commit our way? Say, Lord, this is what I'm thinking.

[34:53] Is that your way? Do we wait on the Lord such that we say, is this your will? Is this your way for me? Do we commit our way to him? Say, Lord, is this right?

[35:05] Is this what you want? Will you pray? Will you pray? Commit your way to the Lord. Verse 7 is next.

[35:17] And really, as we've seen before, we see rejoice in the Lord always. We say, don't worry about anything. We say, pray about everything. He says, if, then.

[35:29] Verse 7, we see, then the peace of God is going to happen. You could see it really as a simple if, then statement.

[35:40] If we follow these commands, these three commands, rejoice in the Lord, don't worry about anything. Pray about everything. Then, it says, here's the promise. God's peace is beyond our human comprehension, isn't it?

[36:03] We can't define it. We can't articulate it. The peace of God, it's beyond words, isn't it? And it's supernatural.

[36:13] The peace of God, it's inside of you, no matter what's happening on the outside. And his peace is made possible. Well, we hear about the peace that he's brought through the blood of his cross in Colossians 1, verse 20.

[36:27] The peace of God, it's beyond human comprehension and language. The peace of God, it says it guards our hearts and our minds. The peace of God, it guards the heart.

[36:40] Guards the heart. Keeps the heart and the mind. It's like a Roman soldier would guard a prisoner. And Paul was chained to one night and day. The peace of God, it stands guard.

[36:52] It guards over you. It watches over you. Two areas that create worry. The heart, wrong feelings. And the mind, wrong thinking. When are we going to stop worrying and start praying?

[37:06] I'm preaching to me, brother, sister, because I need to pray. Pray a whole lot more. We can know a guarded heart and a guarded mind. Why do we not pray? When he promises his peace, he offers us his peace.

[37:20] We can know the overshadowing protection of our God. Psalm 91 is a psalm full. You know, read that one for your homework. Full of the grace of God and his great power.

[37:31] Oh, his provision. In time of facing terror and pestilence and darkness and destruction. The snare of the fowler. The lions. The snakes.

[37:42] The dragons. The discouragement. He shall cover thee, it says. He shall cover thee, it says. With his feathers, it says. And under his wings, it says.

[37:52] Shalt thou trust. His truth shall be thy shield and buckler. And it tells us. He shall call upon me and I will answer him. I will be with him in trouble.

[38:03] In trouble. I will deliver him and honour him. Think of the great covering of God over you. And where does it come? It talks about the one who enters the secret place.

[38:17] The secret place of the Most High. Now, we can't enter into the Holy of Holies of the Temple, of the Tabernacle. We can't go to some sacred religious site and bow our knees at some place of pilgrimage.

[38:36] But in our very home, we can enter the secret place. In our motor vehicle. We can enter the secret place. Can't we? It's wherever he is.

[38:48] That's the secret place of the Most High. Pray. Pray. There's a promised security in Christ and we can know he's keeping power. We can find encouragement, peace and joy.

[39:02] It's not in some feel-good, positive thinking kind of mantras of men. And it's his peace. It's his peace we need. And it tells of these two dimensions here.

[39:14] Of our hearts and our minds. Wow, that's everything, isn't it? That's where we fall down. That's where I fall down. The heart, deceitful, desperately wicked.

[39:25] Who can know it? The heart, so fragile, so easily disturbed. We're inclined to deep feelings of hurts, of emotion. That overwhelms our heart, our mind.

[39:37] Our mind, our thinking, our thought patterns. We can be overwhelmed, overthinking, stresses, worries, concerns. It's only natural. But hey, you're supernatural.

[39:50] You're supernatural. Anxious thoughts can obsess us, but he shall keep our hearts and minds. Worries and concerns can overtake us and weigh us down.

[40:02] When you think about it, our brain is like a sponge, isn't it? As we go about life and the world's media is constantly pouring in, or we're soaking it up, even without meaning to, our brain is like this sponge absorbing all the world's pressures, conforming to the world's values, to the world's busyness and godlessness and emptiness.

[40:23] The peace of God can heal our hearts and watch over our mind and dispel all those anxious thoughts. It's like a garrison. The picture here is of like a fortress of this garrison that's going to guard like a castle, like a fortress that's going to repel the enemy's thoughts.

[40:50] And so pray. Can I exhort you today? Yield to God by faith and surrender your anxiety. Let go and let God. Determine rather that your thoughts are going to be established by the word, your thought patterns.

[41:07] Determine that you will know joy even in the midst of trial. You're going to pray and praise even at midnight when you're black and blue and hurting. You can cultivate a lifestyle of prayer, of thanksgiving too, to not neglect that.

[41:20] Wow, what have I not thanked him for today? You could keep busy praying just thanking him, couldn't you? Really? Honestly? There's joy in Christ today. And even in the time of test, joy comes even in the time of test, in the midst of the trial.

[41:35] So how do we put this into action today? We've been talking about praying. Sometimes you can hear a sermon, a message, and it's just like you forget it and you don't put it into action.

[41:49] I pray that this will be something you can do. That there'll be something you can do here. Write a note to self. I'm going to pray. I'm going to stop worrying.

[42:01] I'm going to keep on rejoicing. I'm going to trust in the Lord. I'm going to go to the secret place of the Most High. Prayer is a go-to. It's not the last resort. Now, sometimes you get the situation, and I know I can be guilty of this.

[42:15] Prayer should be our first response rather than our last resort. Isn't it sometimes our last resort? We don't pray. We leave it till we've done everything else of our own making and thinking and effort and everything.

[42:29] Oh, maybe I should pray about it. Getting it the wrong way around, people, aren't we? Determined to be thankful too. I know there was a man who had a motto that was hung up in his house, and he would look at this motto whenever he faced a problem, and what did the motto say?

[42:51] Have you prayed about it? Have you prayed about it? It's true, isn't it? Let go and let God. The Lord is at hand.

[43:03] We can know his encouragement and care. We can know his peace that guards our hearts, our minds. He will guard. He will protect. Like a fortress, like this impregnable castle.

[43:14] And, friends, I've been preaching really to believers here. He might say, preacher, I don't know that I'm saved. It starts at that. It starts there, doesn't it? It tells us that we can have peace with God.

[43:28] Peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. He's the great peacemaker that brings reconciliation to God. The peace with God.

[43:38] And then we have the peace of God. We see John 14, our Lord says, My peace I give unto you, not as the world giveth give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled.

[43:50] Don't be troubled and worried and full of care. Neither let it be afraid. Don't be fearful and worried. Peace I leave with you. My peace I give unto you.

[44:01] One of the Lord's names is Jehovah Shalom, which means the Lord is peace. The Lord is peace. Here's the promise of God for you.

[44:14] As you rejoice and keep on rejoicing, as you, God helping you stop worrying and cast your care on Him rather, as you pray about everything, it says the peace of God shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

[44:36] Let's pray. Lord, we thank you that you are the God of peace. Pray if any have yet to trust you, they might make their peace with you. Lord, they might see that great transaction, your reconciliation, that you have done everything to save every soul that can call upon you, that everything has been done to save us.

[44:57] Lord, yet all we need is simply to trust you, to know your sin. Our sin is on you. It's paid for. Our sin can be taken and forgiven, all the depravity of it.

[45:10] Lord, we can know your cleansing, you're saving, you're great forgiveness. Lord, we pray everyone might have that knowledge today by faith. Lord, help us to have that peace that passes all understanding.

[45:22] We can't understand it, Lord. We can't understand how mortal creatures like us can have such a peace of mind and a peace of heart. Lord, yet it is by your spirit that we can.

[45:34] Pray if there's any troubled souls here, Lord. We all have these times. Help us, Lord, to go into the secret place, to go into the secret place and to find your overshadowing care.

[45:46] In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.