Don't Worry About Anything

Turn with me, if you will, to Philippians.

I'll be looking at Philippians chapter 4, verses 4 through 9.

Philippians 4:4–9

If you're in a prayer meeting,

you'll notice that I used the same message about six weeks ago in prayer meeting.

But as Fred asked me and I was preparing for this week,

I just kept coming back to feeling that I needed to share this message.

I think it's a very powerful and important message in our day and time.

And a lot of the challenges and things that we face in our Christian walk.

And so I really felt strongly about sharing this again.

Also, Jamie, who normally is in prayer meeting,

he does anything he can to get out of hearing me preach.

So he scheduled surgery or something that week.

And I felt like this is just for Jamie today.

You know, Jesus tells us in many places throughout Scripture things

that we often read in our Christian walk

and we think how difficult and how hard they are for us to really apply

and to fully obey and, you know, apply into our daily walk with the Lord.

And in Matthew 6, Jesus tells us not to worry.

He tells us several circumstances that we shouldn't worry about.

But bottom line, we shouldn't worry about anything.

And this is one of those things that I find difficult in my own life.

And most individuals probably find difficult to go through life

and simply not worry about anything.

Now, there's plenty of things to worry about.

But as we become parents,

doesn't that add to our list of things to worry about?

And as we become grandparents, which I did this year in February,

I now have an eight-month-old grandson, had three daughters, love them all.

But now I've got a grandson.

It's not that I worry more about him than I worried about my children,

but it adds to the things that we worry about, doesn't it?

You know, we have so many things that we can worry about.

And Charles Mayo of the Mayo Clinic said this,

worry affects the circulation, the heart, the glands, the whole nervous system,

and profoundly affects our health.

Basically, we bring about our own detriment of our own health and our well-being by worrying.

And, you know, the fact is a lot of things we worry about never happen anyway.

They just, we worry about, I think 90% of the things we worry about never occur or never happen.

But there's no wonder Jesus tells us not to worry,

and the Bible instructs us not to worry,

because it really is a detriment to our well-being and our health.

So how do we walk through life?

How do we go through the journey of our Christian walk with the Lord

and stay true and faithful to the Word of God?

How do we allow the peace of God to rule and reign in our hearts and our minds?

Well, good news.

Philippians gives us the answer to that,

and that's why I want us to look today at Philippians chapter 4,

Philippians 4 · chapter mention

and I want us to look at verses 4 through 9.

It says,

Rejoice in the Lord always.

I will say it again.

Rejoice.

Let your gentleness be evident to all.

The Lord is near.

Do not be anxious about anything,

but in everything,

by prayer and petition,

with 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 into practice,

and the God of peace will be with you.

Let's go to the Lord in prayer.

Father,

Father,

Father,

we come to you today.

We open your word,

and we read these words that you have given to us.

And I pray that your Holy Spirit would speak to each of our hearts.

I do not know all the things that cause each of us to worry

or to fear

or to be anxious about.

But I pray,

Lord,

that through your word,

you show us

how we can give these things to you

and trust you with them

and that we can allow the peace of God

to rule

and to reign in our hearts.

And it's in your holy name,

I pray.

Amen.

You know,

how do we maintain the peace of God within us

and not allow the circumstances of life to overwhelm us

or cause us to go through life worrisome

or to be overwhelmed with things?

Well,

the first thing Paul says here

is to rejoice in the Lord.

And this is one of those things

that I rarely,

if ever see Paul say,

I'm going to say it again.

I want you to really get this.

I want you to hear it.

Rejoice in the Lord always.

I'll say it again.

Rejoice.

Why does he say it that way?

Why does he say,

I'll say it again?

Because of how important it is.

But let me ask you,

what do we have to rejoice in?

As believers in Christ,

what do we have to rejoice in?

And how does it impact our demeanor

or our outlook upon life?

Well,

let's think about it for a moment.

As believers or children of God,

we have been set free from the penalty of sin

and we have been set free from the punishment of sin.

And we have a relationship with Jesus Christ

who promises,

I will never leave you nor forsake you.

And then when we start really thinking about who we are in Christ,

it doesn't matter what else is going on around us.

It's who we are in Christ

and who Christ is that causes us to rejoice.

Years ago,

I had a gentleman,

he had a,

it was kind of like a calendar thing that he made,

but it had different,

the different names of God

and what they meant.

And I thought,

I started using those in my daily prayer life

of thinking each day or each week,

one of those aspects of God

and who he is.

You know,

sometimes we get focused upon

what has God done for me lately,

but rather we should really start thinking about

who God is.

And when we really focus on who God is

and that we have a relationship with him,

that we're a child of God,

that causes us to rejoice

no matter what else is going on around us

because nothing can take away

your relationship with Jesus Christ.

Nothing can take away

that you're a child of God,

you've been set free from the penalty of sin,

you've been set free from the punishment of sin,

and he promises that he will always be with us

and never leave us nor forsake us.

Is that something to get excited about?

Amen?

Is that something to rejoice about?

Now when we think about that

and we rejoice,

how does that change your outlook on life?

How does that change the circumstances around you

and how you see them?

When we stay focused on who God is

and what he has done for us

and who we are in Christ

and we can rejoice,

it makes all those other trivial things in our life

slide to the background

and it gives us an uplifted, encouraging spirit

and it also helps the peace of God

rule and reign in our hearts.

When we start thinking about all the things

that are going on in the world,

we think about all the political things

and the division in our nation

and it can worry us to death.

But when we take our eyes off of that

and we spend time,

rejoice in the Lord always.

Rejoice!

And stay focused on who God is,

what he has done for us,

and who we are in Christ.

It changes the whole perspective on life.

And we can stop worrying

about the things that are going on in life

and think about how God is a sovereign God

and he is in control.

Now, a few years ago,

Jim and I were in Peru

and normally we stay in what's the IMB guest house.

Many of you have stayed there.

But that year the guest house was full

and so we weren't going to be able to stay there.

But they had an apartment,

the International Mission Board had an apartment

where some of the missionaries had gone home

and they told us we could stay there

which was actually much nicer than the guest house

and we enjoyed it.

But while I was there,

I noticed in the hallway

there was a bulletin board.

And I don't know if the parents,

homeschooling their kids,

because they were full,

whoever was there was full-time missionaries

and whether they gave them the assignment

to write out who you are in Christ

and all the things Scripture tells us

about who we are and how we relate to Christ.

And I was really impressed.

It was handwritten.

So I wasn't going to sit there and recopy it,

you know, modern day thinking.

I just took a picture of it with my cell phone.

But then I came back and I typed it up.

And it may not be something you can see,

but it took three PowerPoint slides

and a full page of all the Scriptures

that tells us I'm accepted in Christ,

I'm secured in Christ,

and I'm significant in Christ.

I've got sheets up at the front on both sides

that I would encourage you to consider picking up

and looking at these.

And even maybe take one a day

and read it, meditate on it,

include it in your prayer life,

thank God for it,

and really focus on who we are in Christ.

Because when we focus on that,

that causes us to stand before God

and rejoice and worship Him and celebrate Him

and helps us to understand how valuable we are

because God said we're valuable.

Now those of you who still have children at home

or you have grandchildren,

I would especially encourage you to pick this up

and pass it on to them

because I've noticed as I've raised my children

that the world tries to tear them down.

It tries to belittle them and put them down

and, you know, just squash any self-confidence

or any self-image that they have.

And with my girls,

I try to encourage them to know who they are in Christ,

not who some other kid says they are

or what the world tries to do in them,

but their value comes in who God says they are

and the value that God has placed upon them.

But that's true for us adults too.

You know, we need to have a self-image of ourselves

in who God says we are

and the value and the worth that He has placed upon us.

So I encourage you to pick those up,

copy that before you leave.

Now, after Paul tells us to rejoice in the Lord always,

he then goes on to give us a two-step process

of not allowing worry to overwhelm us

or to allow the peace of God to rule and reign in our heart.

But before I give you those two steps,

I want to mention,

Paul is writing to Christians.

He's assuming that his individuals that are reading this

are born-again believers in Christ.

Because if you do not have a relationship with Jesus Christ,

you're not going to find that peace in your heart and your mind.

No matter where you look,

you may find glimpses or you may have moments of contentment.

But overall, throughout your life,

you're not going to have that peace that goes beyond understanding.

And one of the things that really worries me today

is I get out and I meet individuals,

you know, even church-going people.

I realize that there's a belief system

that has somehow invaded our society

that if people are a good person,

if they attend church even casually,

or maybe their names are on the row,

or sometimes they've even been baptized,

they believe that they are a child of God.

But that's not the teaching of the Word of God, is it?

You know, the Word of God teaches

that we've surrendered our lives to Him

and we have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

Just because we attend church

or just because we're a good person

doesn't mean we're a born-again believer in Christ.

And so today, if you do not have a personal relationship

with Jesus Christ,

I would encourage you to think about that

and speak to me either after the service

or sometime come back and speak to Pastor Fred

when he's back from vacation

or to someone, a spiritual leader that you know

that could speak to you about that.

Because I really do think

that there are a lot of people in society today

that really are going to be shocked

when they enter into eternity

because they think they were a good person

and they did good deeds.

And they maybe even attended church some,

but they did not have a personal relationship

with Jesus Christ.

And it's going to be too late for them

when they find that out.

And so I would encourage you

to really contemplate in your own heart,

in your own life,

what are you trusting in for your salvation?

Is it a relationship with Jesus Christ

or the fact that you just come and come to church?

But Paul is writing the Philippians.

And the Philippians had every reason

to be discouraged, to be anxious,

or to be worrisome.

You know, they were suffering severe persecution

because of their faith in Christ.

They were facing disunity and disturbances

within the church.

They had false leaders who had followed up Paul

and come into the church

and was trying to tear down the gospel message.

And some were struggling

with the very necessities of life.

You know, they were facing and struggling

with about everything

that we possibly could imagine

that they were up against.

But Paul wanted them to know

that despite those circumstances

and despite those difficulties

and hardships,

that they could have the peace of God

in their hearts

and in their minds.

That no matter what's going on around us,

when we have that relationship with Christ,

we can have peace of heart

and peace of mind

and we can sleep well at night

and we can go through our days

without worrying.

And let me share with you

this two-step process

that Paul gives us here.

The first, he says,

is to tell God what you need.

Go to God in prayer

and tell God what you need.

Now, another trend that I've seen

in a lot of individuals' prayer lives today

is that we treat God like Santa Claus.

And we go to God and say,

give me this,

do this for me,

give me that.

And it's a lot of want

more than needs.

And that's not what Paul

is really talking about here.

He's talking about

present to God your needs.

Not only physical,

but spiritual

and other needs

that you may have

in your life.

But go to God

and share those things

that you need

in your life.

There may be things

that you're struggling with

mentally or emotionally.

There may be physical things

that you have need.

But learn to take those

to God

and present them to you.

Now, have you ever noticed

that you've done that?

You've taken the time

and you've gone to God

and you share

and then you start worrying

even more

than what you were beforehand.

And you wonder,

why did I even pray

to begin with?

Because all it did

is make me think more

about my problems

than before.

I found myself doing that.

And it's made me wonder,

should I have even

spent the time in prayer?

But then I realized

what I was doing.

I was not going to God

and giving those concerns to Him.

I was just telling Him

about them.

And then I was trying

to hold on to them

and keep them for myself

and then try to handle them.

And I just worry even more

because it becomes

more apparent

that I can't handle

these things on my own.

but I'm trying my best

and it just makes me worry.

But when we really go to God

and we give these things to Him,

it's like 1 Peter 5, 7.

Peter tells us

to cast all your burdens

upon the Lord

because He cares for you.

Now what do we do

when we cast something?

You do it like you've got those,

you've seen people

have something on a string

and they throw it out

but then it comes right back.

Or when you cast something,

do you turn loose of it?

It says,

cast all your burdens

upon the Lord

for He cares for you.

So the principle

or the truth

in Philippians here

is when we go to God

and we give Him

our worries

and our concerns

and our burdens,

we turn loose of them

and we give them to Him

and then here's

the real key.

This is the key.

We trust God.

We trust God

to take care of those things

in His way

even when it may not be our way,

even when we don't like

the way He does it.

It may bring pain

into our lives.

It may bring discomfort

into our lives.

It may bring

even more struggles

in our lives.

But we know God

is a God of love

who cares for His children.

He cares for us.

He has a perfect plan

and will for our lives

and He is sovereign

and He can handle

and take care

of the things

that go on

in our lives.

And so the real key

is do we trust God?

Do we really trust Him

with our lives

and our circumstances

even when it's not

the same will or plan

as what we want?

You see,

sometimes we pray

and we're like,

I don't even know

if I want to ask God this

because I want it my way

and I don't think God

will want it the way

I want it

and I want it my way.

But we've got to learn

to trust God

and His will

for our lives.

Do you really trust Him today?

Do you really know

He cares for you?

He loves you?

He can handle

your problems.

He can handle

your worries

and your concerns.

He can handle

the things

that are going on

on the world scene.

He can handle

global warming

or the political division

in our land.

Can we give those

to Him,

turn loose of them

and trust Him?

Because when we do,

guess what?

What does the Word of God say?

Not what Jeff says.

This isn't a feel-good

motivational speech today.

What does God's Word tell us?

The peace of God

which is beyond

human understanding

will rule and reign

in our hearts

and our minds.

Now imagine,

have you met people

that go through life

and you could just

look at them

and tell

they don't have a worry

in the world.

They're confident,

they're just optimistic,

upbeat, positive.

You've met people

like that

and you wonder,

what do they not know

that I know?

Or what makes them

so confident?

What makes them

have so much peace?

They don't know

what's going on

with the United States

and Russia.

They don't know

what's going on

with China.

I mean,

did they not know

what's going on

with global warming?

I mean,

we could run around

and be frantic

about the things

that are going on

in our world

but when people see

you have peace

in your heart

and in your mind,

a peace that is

beyond human reason,

they're going to want

to know

how you have that peace.

This week I had

a lady call me.

She's not a member

of this church,

doesn't attend here

but I've met her

through a community

Bible study

she just wanted

me to pray for her

because she was

just diagnosed

with stomach cancer.

She said it's

stomach cancer

that has no cure

for it.

But she wanted

me to pray for her

but bottom line

she wanted

her cancer

and her life

to bring glory

to the Lord.

She wanted

this experience

to be a witness

to God

and she was

trusting

the Lord

in this situation

no matter

what else

happened.

You know

when we trust

God

when we really

really grow

to trust

God

and I'm not

saying by the way

that I'm there yet.

I'm not saying

I never worry

I'm still growing

like the rest

of us

but when we

get to that point

where we're growing

and we learn

to trust God

more

and more

and more

that even

in times

when our world

is crumbling

around us

even in those

moments

when the doctor

has given us

bad news

or we've

been laid off

from our job

or marriage

is not going

well

we can trust

that God

has a will

and a plan

for our lives

and we can trust

that He's working

to bring about

His will.

He may be

molding

and shaping us

for future service.

He may be

removing things

out of our lives

that we need

removed

so that we

look more

like Christ

and He's

preparing us

for the things

that He has

in our lives

but when we

trust Him

then that's

when the peace

of God

will rule

and reign

in our hearts

and then the next

thing He says

is to thank Him

He says

with thanksgiving

you know

when we lift

our burdens

or cast our

burdens

upon Christ

and we give

it to Him

then we can

thank Him

for it

because we know

that He's going

to be working

to bring about

His will

and James 1.6

tells us

that if we pray

but doubt

then we shouldn't

expect anything

from the Lord

and so when we

give it to the Lord

and we really

have a thankful

spirit

we're showing

evidence

that we're

trusting God

that He's going

to answer

our prayers

in a manner

that He wills

not necessarily

ours

so when we

pray

you know

we need to

follow that up

with thanking

God in advance

thank you Lord

in advance

for I know

that you're going

to hear me

and you're going

to respond

years ago

I was struggling

because I knew

someone with cancer

and I had never

seen God heal

anyone miraculously

with cancer

before

you know

terminal cancer

and so I

asked a gentleman

how do I

really pray

and trust

that God

is going

to answer

you know

I wanted

to have faith

but I wanted

to believe

that God

would answer

in the manner

in which I was

praying

and he told me

your faith

isn't in that

God will do

what you ask

your faith

is in God

your faith

is that God

is in control

and that

he is a

sovereign God

and will bring

about his purposes

and his will

and as Christians

even if we have

a terminal illness

and we're facing

death

we know we can

trust God

we can trust

him

knowing that

if our life

does end

we will spend

eternity

in heaven

with him

and our goal

is that

our life

and our death

would bring

glory and honor

to him

and that people

would see God

in us

in whatever

God allows

into our lives

now look with me

quickly at verse

8 and 9

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 praise worthy

think about

such things

whatever you have

learned or received

or heard from me

or seen in me

put into practice

and the God

of peace

the God

of peace

will be

with you

next to trusting

God's plans

for our lives

learning to keep

our mind

focused upon

that which is holy

that which is pure

that which is true

and worthy of praise

may be one of the

hardest things

that we learn

to do

we live in a world

where negative news

sells

doesn't it

bad news

sells

and so it's really hard

because everywhere

around us

we're getting all

this negative

news

negative messages

negative stories

you know

all this negative

all the time

and it's hard

for us

to keep

our minds

focused

on that

which is pure

that which is holy

that which is good

that which is

admirable

and so how do we

do that

well I've had

to turn the TV

off in the mornings

and not watch

the morning news

because

the morning news

is filled with

everything negative

and bad

you can find

I used to love

getting up in the morning

and after my prayer

and Bible study

I'd like to eat breakfast

and watch

a few minutes

of the news

I'm a headlines guy

I don't read long stories

I read headlines

bam

and I'd watch

headline news

or I'd watch

a few minutes

of one of the local

news channels

and be on my way

but I found

I have to quit

doing that

because everything

on there

is negative

everything

especially

the CNN

and Fox News

both of them

are always focused

on what's

wrong

or what's

you know

not right

about

this group

or that group

or our nation

or something

and so

I decided

I don't need

that in my life

anymore

I may still

read some headlines

but

occasionally

watch a little bit

of the news

just so I know

what's going on

in the world

but I don't

spend much time

with it at all

and focus more

on spending time

with God

in the morning

spend time

in the word of God

I also like

to listen

to music

in the mornings

and play

messages

that are getting

in my head

and starting

my day off

focused on

God

focused upon

who he is

focused upon

his word

his promises

and his truths

and get my day

started right

and then throughout

the day

we need to make

sure we're feeding

our mind

with positive things

so how do we do

that?

for me

it's music

you know

I like to listen

to Christian music

for those of you

who are irritated

at people playing

Christmas music

I've already started

playing Christmas music

I want those

positive messages

in my mind

positive thoughts

in my head

and keep me going

throughout the day

for you it may be

something different

for you it may be

taking a walk

in nature

it may be

memorizing scripture

and reciting

scripture

throughout the day

it may be

something different

for you

but we need to find

what is it going to

take to get us

to cut the negative

demoralizing

depressing messages

out of our mind

and feed our mind

with that which is holy

that which is true

that which is pure

and that which is

good

and when you find

yourself drifting

into worry

or negativity

and getting away

from focused

on God

just stop

you know

most of us

have spent a lifetime

probably having

the wrong thought

processes

and it takes time

years

maybe the rest

of our lives

to try to reprogram

how we think

and so

when we find

ourselves

thinking wrong

stop

make a conscious

decision

that I'm not

going to think

like that

and get back

to the Lord

baby stop

and pray

and ask God

to help us

to stop worrying

about all these

things

or stop being

anxious about

all the stuff

that's going on

or stop just

having negative

thought processes

and refocus

upon the Lord

that's where

scripture memorization

is really handy

because we can

quote a scripture

we can remind

ourselves of things

that God's word

says contrary

to the words

of the world

and get ourselves

focused back

on the Lord

or for me again

it's Christian music

because it refocused

my mind

and my attention

upon the Lord

and we focus

upon who God

is

what he's done

what he's capable

of doing

rather than to focus

upon the things

we're worried about

you know years ago

my last church

my secretary

had a little thing

little picture

it was a cartoon

but it said

instead of telling

God how big

your storm is

why don't you

tell the storm

how big your God

is

and we have to

focus and rechange

the way we think

to stay focused

upon God

and when

we do these things

when we

really trust God

we go to God

when we find

ourselves worrying

go to God

pray about everything

instead of worrying

pray about it

give it to God

trust God

and thank him

in advance

for what he's

going to do

and the word of God

not Jeff

the word of God

tells us what

the peace of God

which is beyond

human understanding

will rule

and reign

in our hearts

and our minds

let's go to the Lord

in prayer

Father we thank you

we praise you

for your word

and your truth

and your message

we thank you

for it today Lord

and we ask

that you forgive us

where we've spent

time worrying

where we spend

time doubting

and I pray Lord

that you help us

to continue

to grow

in our ability

to trust you

to believe in you

and to give

our burdens

and our concerns

to you

and trust you

that you're going

to work in them

to accomplish

your purpose

and your will

and we thank you

for that in Jesus name

amen

I'm going to ask

the musicians

I guess William

to play quietly

and you continue

to pray

and if I can pray

with you this morning

I'd be glad

to do so

and if I can pray