The Power of Prayer: Finding Peace in Turbulent Times

Well, what a good song.

Amen.

What a very doctrinal song.

I'm so thankful that the blood of Jesus redeems us, saved us from

the wrath of God.

And what a blessing.

It's good to have the Moore family with us tonight for JJ and

KJ and Bella and Jessa to sing for us.

We don't care about Jonathan, and we do care about Ms. Edith.

Our church planters out of our church to College Station and doing

a fine job down there.

Remember them in prayer and we ought to.

Again, as you think about planting a church, planting a church,

the biggest hurdle we found over the years is finding a building,

you know, a permanent place.

And so and ask our church to begin praying that way.

And they have grown some and God's blessed and at some point you

got to come out of the Holiday Inn, you know, and at some point

maybe into another temporary building of some sort.

But again, the biggest hurdle over the years has been purchasing

a permanent place.

So let's pray for our church planters.

The church in the Kona is doing fantastic.

I don't know if you probably have seen some of the social media

pictures of the building there and just really has transformed.

And brother Steve Scott, Ms. Barbara, the church in Rome, Brother

Heath Van Zant, his wife.

And that church has done a ton up there and working and giving,

and it's just been a blessing to see it come along.

And Brother Zach Doty is our church planter up there.

And again, this is a church we're planting and restarting out

of our church.

Brother Lee Davis, keep him in your prayers and him.

And I'll have lunch this week and just continue to be in prayer

for his wife especially.

She is, if you don't remember, she already had some health problems

and then she had a heart attack here a few months ago and

just really is still having some issues.

And so keep her in your prayers and remember her.

And God has been so good to allow us the opportunities to start

churches, plant churches, re establish churches, and then and

then Brother Wiggins and the family there in Mobile, Alabama,

and they did sell their house.

I don't know if some of y' all knew that they were trying to sell

their house and they sold their house and bought another house

and only five minutes from the church.

And so they were excited about that.

And so keep praying that that sale would go through and that would

help them as well.

Some things there that need to be taken care of.

And just again, those four church plants, revitalizations out

of our church and our church Planters need your prayers.

Brother Jonathan Moore especially Ms. Edith needs our prayers.

All the kids and then the big kid too.

So I will say again, and I don't want to get too personal, but

I'm so proud of brother Jonathan and just the job that he's

done there.

I do believe in hindsight's 20 20.

Of course I have faith in the Lord will use anybody and do everything,

anything with anybody.

But that has been such a good fit for the Moore family and that

city, that town, just the clientele.

No, the people there as college students and everything.

So just God's so good.

Turning your Bibles tonight to Philippians chapter four.

This will be the completion of the sermon I preached last Sunday

morning.

So kind of switched it up today we preached on Daniel this

morning instead of tonight.

And we'll finish up this of course, remembering that Philippians

is my favorite book.

We have touched on even these verses many, many, many times over

the last 25 years.

But it's such a great portion and we were emphasizing the kids

as they go back to school, but also reminding us that we also need

to stand fast.

That we also need to be unified.

That we also need to have confidence in the Lord.

Praying to him and not worrying.

Don't worry.

And as we pray and as we trust in the Lord, he gives peace.

He gives that peace that passes all understanding.

So let's read the first seven verses.

I understand the berean class.

Me and my dad maybe trampled on each other a little bit on these

verses last week.

Look at verse one.

Therefore, my brethren, dearly beloved and longed for my joy and

crown.

So stand fast in the Lord.

My dearly beloved, I beseech Eudias and Sataki that they be of

the same mind in the Lord.

And I entreat thee also true yoke fellow, help those women which

labored with me in the Gospel, with Clement also, and with other

my fellow laborers whose names are in the book of life.

Rejoice in the Lord always.

And again I say rejoice.

Let your moderation be known unto all men.

The Lord is at hand.

Be careful for nothing.

Again, don't worry.

But in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving,

let your requests be made known unto God.

And the peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep

your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

That's the only way our minds can be kept and we can have peace

is through Jesus Christ.

Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we do pray that you would be with the reading

of the Word tonight.

You've said that the word of God does not return void.

I pray tonight that we all would be challenged and encouraged

and Lord, by your word, and we'll thank you in Jesus name, Amen.

Again, the theme.

I'm not on my broken record.

The theme of the book of Philippians is joy.

But not just joy.

It's joy produced by selflessness.

As we look out for others, as we help others, as we do for others,

as we serve others, we will experience joy.

We will experience joy.

And we see this in Paul's life as he's in prison.

He's in prison.

Yet not one time in the book of Philippians do you see him complain.

Not one time.

He's always talking about and emphasizing and looking out and encouraging

others, others, others.

He says there, the very first verse, therefore, and as we've learned

so many times, stop and see what it's there for you go back to

chapter three.

And we find again that Christ is my goal.

That Christ, to be Christlike, is the goal of every Christian.

Let me say it again.

To be Christlike is the goal of every Christian.

To be an imitator of Jesus Christ.

To love others as we love ourselves.

To mimic what Jesus has done and what Jesus did.

By serving others.

By serving others, by the way.

Not just mimicking it, because we're just mouthing it, but with

a heart, having the heart of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Beware.

Beware.

And then understand.

Chapter three speaks about and talks about our citizenships in heaven.

We are citizens of heaven.

If you are saved tonight, when you accepted Christ as your Savior,

you became a citizen of heaven.

A citizen of heaven.

You're already there because we are in Christ.

And then in chapter four, here in chapter four, Paul presents practical

principles, as we said last Sunday morning.

And here are personal words from Paul.

Personal words of admiration or of admiration and of application.

All right.

So now first we see Paul's affection.

He says in chapter one, chapter four, and verse one, my dearly

beloved.

And what longed for Paul had affection and love for the church

and for the Christians there in Philippi.

I mentioned this last Sunday morning, but we call each other brother

around here because we're brothers and sisters in Christ.

We don't use the sister as much.

I don't know why.

When I was a kid, it wasn't used as much either.

But we are brothers and sisters in Christ.

And when Paul addresses them, he really is putting himself on their

level.

He says, we are.

We're one and the same.

We're brothers and sisters serving together.

We're family.

When he says, brethren and sisters, dearly beloved, he's talking

about again, he esteemed them.

They were dear to him.

Speaking of affection for them, I said last Sunday morning

that we need to be reminded from time to time that people want

to know how much you love them before you start teaching them and

preaching at them.

They don't care how much you know until they know how much you

care.

Teaching from loving lips is much more effective.

They say, well, how can I love you know, so well, we can love everybody.

Jesus says we can.

In fact, in First Thessalonians, y' all remember that

book?

He says to them, he says, and I'm summarizing, he says, I admire

that you love.

And he uses the word all.

How can you love all?

Well, you can on your own, but through the Lord Jesus Christ, you

can love all.

In fact, Jesus said again, as I said this morning, you love your

enemies with the help and strength of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Again, teaching a class or dealing with your children, it's

much more effective with loving lips.

And then he said, steadfast, steadfast.

Look at that.

Again, he says, but joy and stand fast in the Lord.

Steadfast or standing fast is standing firm.

It means to persevere.

It means again, to be persistent.

It takes effort to stand.

I said last Sunday morning, I said, you know, it's a lot of fun

if you can catch somebody, come up behind them as they're standing,

you know, just standing tall, and you kind of nudge the middle

of their knee from behind and watch them go down.

That's awesome.

Don't try that at home, but it's easy.

Pretty easy sometimes to knock somebody over who's not standing

firm, who's not ready.

It's one thing to be ready for somebody who's coming at you is another

thing.

Again, to be loosely standing.

Standing takes effort.

Nothing moves without force being applied.

And I used these three illustrations last Sunday, and I

think it's worth repeating.

When we stand, we must understand in our daily life, there

is the grind of life.

In other words, we.

Every day, every day we experience gentle pressure.

Every day we experience pressure.

That gentle pressure of life, whether it's raising kids or whether

it's going to work and driving in the Metroplex.

It's that daily grind of life.

If you're not careful, it will absolutely ground you into powder.

If you think about the illustration, is the Sphinx over

in Egypt?

Why is the Sphinx so, you know, eroded away?

Well, it's not necessarily because of some hu.

Maybe it wasn't the flood, we won't go into that tonight.

But it's that constant pressure of the sand every day blowing

against it that erodes the sphinx.

And so we have that same issue every day.

And so we must be aware of that and we must stand firm.

And then secondly, we have the sudden assaults.

Sudden assaults.

This is the sudden blows that we all experience from time to time.

It's that losing of a job, or it's the doctor telling you some

bad news or whatever it may be.

We, all of us, if you've lived very long, experience these sudden

blows.

Also sudden temptations, something that maybe you haven't

dealt with before.

And you're tempted to do something suddenly because of something

that's you've become aware of.

Listen, we have to be careful and understand that the devil's a

roaring lion seeking him may devour.

He hates you.

He hates your family.

He hates that you are standing for the Lord and standing for faith.

And he will do anything to destroy you and destroy your testimony.

And he will bring about sudden assaults.

He will bring around sudden temptations.

And we must stand firm, stand fast.

The Bible says that we ought to put on the whole armor of God

that we might be able to stand what in the evil day.

And I believe there, it's not talking about necessarily again,

the everyday thing, but that sudden assault that might, that comes

from time to time.

And then thirdly, the up and down, up and down fluctuation in

life.

These are our feelings as we emotionally have these ups and downs.

And there are many who are by nature.

We all, by nature are selfish.

And therefore we all exhibit some of this up and down.

But the Christian life ought to be like this.

And remember last time I did this, last Sunday morning.

And then the Christian life ought to be like this, but the Christian

life shouldn't be like this.

They ought to understand that we as Christians should not be ruled

by our emotions.

Emotions will absolutely, absolutely steer you the wrong direction.

Many times when somebody says, well, you just trust your heart.

No, no, don't trust your heart.

The Bible says your heart's deceitful, absolutely wicked.

We gotta be careful when it comes to our feelings.

And feelings are important.

I'm not saying that, but be careful.

Just because you feel a certain way doesn't make it right.

Doesn't make it right.

Be careful as we stand fast, as we stand firm.

Careful about the ups and downs.

I mentioned last Sunday about the hot, warm and cold cycle in a

washing machine.

Some Christians are that way.

We need to be somewhere where the temperature is steady, just steady.

A cave.

Think about a cave.

A cave stays the same temperature all the time.

And that should be our goal, not to live in a cave.

But be careful about the ups and downs.

Again, Paul says to stand.

Stand fast.

Stand fast, stand fast.

Where?

In the Lord.

In the Lord.

He is the anchor.

And the anchor ought to be firmly planted in the Lord Jesus

Christ ought to be standing on the rock and not the sand.

We ought to again place our life and trust him with it.

Standing on this wonderful, wonderful book.

There's a hymn.

It's called I Shall Not Be Moved.

We used to say it was the Baptist theme song.

I think about Miss Bobbie Van Fleet.

What a wonderful lady she was.

And for years, she sat about four rows back.

Right here.

About four rows back.

Her and Rick.

Maybe five rows back or six rows back.

Whatever it was, it was her seat.

Yeah, that's right.

You're a victim.

So six rows back.

I'm being corrected, and rightly so, because those were her

seats, those two seats.

And I found out pretty close, pretty early on that that was her

seats.

And she didn't like nobody sitting in her seat.

And she might just tell you so.

So early on, I began to tease her about it.

I began to tease her about it.

I would tease her so much about it that one time her and Rick

weren't able to make it to church.

And I took the two chairs.

Some of y' all remember this.

I took the two chairs and I put them up on the platform.

And I don't remember if I said if it had a sign for rent or I just

said it was for rent.

And, boy, while they weren't here, I just.

It was.

It was awesome.

And she laughed and we had a good time.

And some people sat in her seat not too long after that.

And she didn't say nothing.

So.

I shall not be moved.

I know I make.

I say to you guys, and I do mean this, it is comforting sometimes

for you to sit somewhere in the same spot.

Brother Kushel.

I mean, Brother Cushl.

Y' all just do you just.

Y' all are like Bedouins.

You just set your tent up there and there.

You just try to keep me off key or wear a pink shirt like Clay.

I shall not be moved.

And we should be steadfast.

We should steadfast understand that we are to be standing on the

rock, by the way.

The rock.

Jesus Christ.

The same today, yesterday and forever.

The reason why we stand on him is because he cannot move.

He will not move.

It's contrary to his character.

It's contrary to who he is.

I'm thankful that there's one that we can truly rely on, one that

we can truly trust.

I can't trust mankind.

They fail me all the time.

I let myself down.

But God will never let you down again.

Standing fast and then verse two and three, there's some tough

love going on.

And you can notice how kind he is.

He's not.

Again, in Philippians, he's not really addressing a lot of problems.

In fact, he's not addressing problems at all.

He's courage in them, he's strengthening them.

But he does address, apparently, two ladies who maybe

were having a disagreement.

And he says to them, because he loves them, he was very straightforward

with them, going to be truthful with them.

He warns them.

In verse two, he beseeches them, he begs the two ladies to be

unified, to work together.

And I just want to encourage you once again, as we encourage you

all the time.

We as a church ought to be unified.

We ought to be working together.

And the only way you can do that is to stay focused on Jesus

Christ again, because man will let you down, people will let you

down, but God will never let you down.

I don't come to church for you.

I don't come to church for you.

I come to church because of the Lord Jesus Christ.

This is his church, this is his people, and we come together.

And the way you can do, the way you can get past hurts and faults

and failures of other people is to focus on Jesus Christ.

I hear preachers say it, and I have never said it in a way that

I was meaning that this is what I mean.

But I've heard lots of preachers say the ministry would

be great except for people.

Well, number one, if there was no people, you wouldn't have ministry.

And number two, I'm not in it for the people.

I'm not.

I would have quit a long time ago.

Google when you get home, not now.

How many ministers are leaving the ministry monthly?

It will surprise you.

It's an astronomical amount of people, I'm telling you.

There's so many.

Not just faithful members, but also ministers who get their eyes

off Jesus and get their eyes on people.

We must stay focused in order to stay unified.

We must remember the main thing he said to them, Be of the

same mind.

And he says this in chapter two, and he says it in chapter three,

that we ought to mind the same things.

Well, what does he mean?

He means Jesus Christ.

He means having the mind of Christ being Selfless and considering

others above yourself.

And I know I use the same illustration, but it's still a good

one.

There's no reason to fight over the color of carpet.

The carpet.

It's the carpet.

I love this carpet, though.

I thought it turned out great.

We love this carpet because you can take up a square and replace

it when it gets, you know, when it gets truly stained.

But we shouldn't fight over things like that.

Silly, childish.

I'll move on.

I'm thankful our church doesn't.

We must stay unified.

And the way we stay unified is by keeping our minds on the same

thing and following in the steps of Jesus, being mindful of

the Holy Spirit's leading in our own lives.

By the way, again, Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12.

Every member has been given gifts from God to be used in the

church to edify the body of Christ, to build up the body of Christ,

to encourage and strengthen the body of Christ, to see our church

grow spiritually.

It's not just the pastor, but other great, other good teachers.

Other good teachers.

And we have many of them.

I'm so thankful for that.

And then verse three, it speaks about, again, laboring together.

Laboring together.

I entreat you also yoke fellow who labored, and then fellow laborers.

I'm telling you, ministry and the work of the Lord is work, and

the yoke fellow just talks.

Yoke fellow means again, a team of oxen working together as

they plow a field, as they disk a field, as they plant and do

all the things that need to be done in a field.

Working together to do what?

Fulfill the Great Commission.

And I've been reminded lately, a lot of times, I just say, well,

we're here to put a hook in the water and get the gospel out.

But can I remind you that the Great Commission is threefold.

The great Commission given by the Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew

28 is that we are to evangelize.

We're to give the gospel, yes, but we're also to baptize them who

accept Christ as Savior.

We're responsible to see them coming into the church and get baptized.

And then we are to disciple them.

Disciple them, Disciple them.

The work of the ministry, the work of God.

Jesus said in Luke, I came to seek and to save that which is lost.

It's a threefold commission, and may we continue and be challenged

to fulfill all three of them.

Working together, laboring together, caring for people, keeping

our eyes on the Lord and his work, by the way.

Keeping our eyes on the Lord and His Work will also help us stay

unified.

If we keep our eye on the Great Commission and our thoughts

on the Great Commission.

We're all about reaching the loss with the Gospel of Jesus Christ

and seeing them baptized and seeing them discipled.

Then we won't get sidetracked.

Being careful about that.

He said, help these women, assist them, restoring them, building

them up.

As we labor together, we'll speak a lot about this throughout

this year, especially next year too.

Laboring together, we're laborers together with God.

We're striving together.

We're yoke fellows.

But we are to work till Jesus comes.

Be about the Father's business.

And then in verses 4 and 5, it speaks about rejoicing in the Lord

always.

And again I say rejoice.

And again aw tozer comes to mind.

What comes into our mind when we think about God is the most important

thing about us.

What comes into our mind when we think about God is the most important

thing about us.

In other words, what we think about God influences our decisions

in life, influences every decision in life.

When something comes into my life, that's a distraction.

When something comes to my life, that's an adversity, whatever

it may be, then how I view God will determine my response to that

adversity.

By the way, our God is huge and so many people, in their mind's

eye, God is way too small.

And so we must look to God in every situation.

We must see him for who he is.

And as we see him for who he is, as we contemplate and think about

his attributes, his all knowing, all powerful, he sees everything.

His transcendent.

He's holy Other.

He's a God of grace and a God of mercy.

He's an everlasting God.

And we've already stated he's the God who never changes.

Think about the goodness of God.

Think about the wisdom of God.

And as we contemplate God's attributes, it helps bring joy into

our lives thinking about Him.

Rejoice in the Lord.

What alway we can rejoice and have joy in any circumstances.

The good and the bad.

By the way you choose, it's your choice.

It is your choice.

Rejoice in the Lord.

Trust in Him.

I know some of you get tired of me saying this, but God always

has your best interest in mind.

Think about Joseph and all that Joseph went through.

Yet he told his brothers at the end, y' all meant it for evil,

but God meant it for good.

God is a God who cares and God who loves.

He is an all wise Creator.

And then verse six and seven, don't worry.

Actually, I've skipped verse five because this is kind of important,

because this verse is taken out of context so many times.

We say, well, you know, you ought to be moderation in your eating

and all these.

Anyway.

Sure, you ought to be moderating, I should moderate my

eating.

But this word, this verse is not speaking about our habit of eating

or anything like that.

It's speaking about forbearance and yieldedness.

It means reasonableness.

And he's telling the church there, and he's especially telling

these ladies, let your moderation be known unto all men.

In other words, your reasonableness.

We ought to be reasonable when dealing with others.

Amen.

We ought to be forbear.

That means we ought to put up with people.

I spoke very kindly and lovingly of my brother this morning,

bragged on his testimony in high school, did all those things

tonight.

I'll just say also, there's occasions where I had to forbear

him.

I put up with him, by the way, his occasions, he puts up with me

too.

But that's what it is.

Families do, right?

It's what families do.

And we as a church family need again our moderation to be known,

to be reasonable and to forbear one another, to love each

other, to care for each other.

And then it says there in verse five, why?

Because the Lord is at hand.

By the way, you come back today, I was reminded by a pastor,

I was watching a particular sermon and pastor was preaching and

just reminded again that Jesus could come today.

Every time there is a funeral and we're at the graveside, I think

about it.

I think about here, this person has passed away.

Here we're putting him in the ground.

Maybe today the trumpet will sound.

Maybe today is the day of the Lord.

Maybe today, maybe it is today.

And in light of that, Paul's saying, hey, be reasonable, be loving,

be kind, be unified, work together, work till Jesus comes.

Because he could come back today.

We need to live in light of eternity.

What if he came back tonight?

Are you ready?

We need to be ready for his return.

We need to be living in sin, or we don't need to be bickering

and fighting.

But may the Lord find us faithful when he returns.

And then verse six and seven, don't worry, be careful for nothing,

don't have care for anything, not one thing.

He says, why worry when you can pray?

Trust Jesus, he'll be your stay.

Don't be a doubting Thomas.

Rest fully on his promise.

Why worry, worry, worry, worry when you can pray.

We need to pray.

We don't need to worry.

Worry is a lack of trust in God.

Matthew, chapter six.

And we could go read it.

We won't take the time tonight.

But he says I take care of the sparrow.

I won't use that illustration tonight.

But there are pagilions, tragillions, sparrows.

Only one of the only birds we could shoot on the farm.

Papa didn't care.

Cared about a lot of the birds.

He didn't mind us shooting blue jays.

Oh, they're pretty, but they're mean.

He didn't like blue jays.

I don't know if dad remembers that or not.

You could shoot any crow you wanted to.

But crows, they don't die.

It's scary actually.

Evermore, right?

Quote Evermore.

Edgar Allan Poe.

Some of y' all get that one Quote the Raven.

Okay, nevermind.

But we are allowed to shoot sparrows.

And God says I take care of the sparrow.

I feed him, I clothe him, provide for him.

And if I'll take care of the sparrow, don't you think I'll take

care of you?

Why are you worrying about your what you may eat or drink or

what you may put on?

I've never seen the righteous forsaken.

Right.

God provides.

Why are we worried?

95% of what we worry about never comes to fruition.

I would make.

I say the percentage is probably higher than that.

But that's the stats.

Because I can't say the word.

How close was I?

Nope.

95% of what you worry about.

95% of what you stress about never happens.

Why worry when you can pray?

The word worry means to pull in different directions.

Worry causes mental stress, as you know, and can cause physical

problems and have high blood pressure and so many other things.

Worry is wrong thinking in the mind and wrong feelings of the heart.

Worry is the greatest.

Listen.

The greatest thief of joy is worrying.

Why worry robs us of our joy.

In order to stop worrying, we must pray.

The Bible says here that they prayed with supplication and thanksgiving.

Be careful for nothing but in everything.

By prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests

be made known unto God.

And the result of that and the peace of God which passeth all understanding,

should keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

In conjunction with prayer.

The result of prayer is peace supplication.

Supplication has to do with sharing the needs of others.

Supplication has to do with being persistent and earnest about

praying for others.

Intercessory prayer.

Supplication how's your praying?

Because praying affects your joy and keep you from worrying.

With Thanksgiving, understand that we live in a day of unthankfulness.

And we as Christians ought to be the most thankful people.

And we know that in the last days, perilous times shall come.

And on that list is that people will be unthankful.

We live in that day today, man.

So many who are unthankful, especially in America, the greatest

nation on the planet, the richest nation on the planet.

We take it for granted.

I'm going to drive home tonight.

I got plenty of food.

Our chickens are laying about 30 eggs a day.

I got eggs running out our ears.

All my needs are taken care of.

We take it for granted.

We really do.

And I do as well.

We need to be thankful.

We ought to be a thankful people.

I see kids who are raised in homes where parents are not teaching

them to be thankful.

I see a kid who is given something and doesn't say thank you.

I look at the parent and go, that is your fault.

And you as a parent and you as a grandparent ought to be rehearsing

with that child over and over again.

Now say thank you.

Now say thank you.

Mm.

Mm.

Say thank you.

Okay, well, let's give it back.

Amen, child don't want to be thankful, then they shouldn't get

what they were given.

Be thankful.

And it's taught when they're 2 and 3 and 4 year old all the way

up to be thankful.

People.

Be thankful.

And as we do again, as we pray for others, as we pray earnestly

and share the needs and problems of others, as we thank the

Lord and appreciate what God has done for us, we must be eager

again to the Lord as we seek his power and understand that he

is the creator of the universe, that he is the one who

gives us the peace of God.

Peace with God.

I'm thankful for the peace that I have.

I'm thankful for it.

I'm thankful I can lay my head down at night and know that if I

was to die, heaven would be my home.

I'm thankful for my wife.

I'm thankful for my kids.

Thankful for my grandkid.

Thankful for this church.

Thankful for our church family.

So thankful I pray for you.

I pray through the directory every week.

Pray for you as I pray and do for others.

I experience the peace of God and wonderful peace it is.

You want peace and contentment?

Prayer.

You want peace and contentment?

Keep your eyes on Jesus.

You want peace and contentment?

Be truly thankful.

We don't deserve anything in fact, we deserve hell.

But God in his grace and mercy, what a wonderful Savior we

serve.

We must keep guard that God would keep our minds.

We must keep guard and we'll experience that peace that passes

all understanding.

I don't know how many times I've been to a funeral or in a home

of a Christian and see that individual or that family go through

devastating circumstances.

To see them maybe it is a loss of a loved one and to see them as

they go through that adversity, as they go through that

problem.

And I'm still amazed as a preacher and I've been to hundreds

of homes at this point.

I've been to I don't know how many funerals now preached maybe

200.

And I'm still amazed at those who put their trust in God, at the

peace that they experience during those times.

I've experienced those peace when I have gone through the adversity,

when I've lost loved ones.

It's amazing.

God's so good, isn't he, boy?

He's so good.

I don't know.

I really don't.

And as I get older, this becomes more and more true in my

life.

I don't know how people go, how they live without the Lord.

I don't know.

I just don't.

I don't get it.

As I said this morning, the man the most joyful life is the Christian

life.

It truly is.

Let's all stand.

We have verse invitation tonight.