Phil Beach Jr. emphasizes the importance of rejoicing in the Lord and the necessity of overcoming worry and anxiety through prayer and thanksgiving. He explains that true rejoicing cannot coexist with worry, and that continual communication with God is essential for maintaining peace and joy in our lives. Beach highlights that God provides guidance on how to rejoice and be free from anxiety, urging believers to focus on prayer and the Word of God. He warns against distractions that can dull our spiritual sensitivity and encourages a life filled with the Spirit, leading to a heart of worship and gratitude. Ultimately, he calls for a deeper understanding of God's purpose in our lives, which is to mold us into the likeness of Christ.

A reminder, a reminder, you remember in Philippians chapter 3, Paul in the first verse, and we're not going to minister from there at this time, but I just want to show you, in Philippians chapter 3, Paul says in the first verse, finally my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. He says it in the third chapter, and then he says it in the fourth chapter, to write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but to you, safe. It is good, it is profitable, it is useful, it is advantageous that you and I, as the children of God, the redeemed of the Lord, those who have been purchased by His blood, be often reminded of the Word of God. Perhaps the simplest things are the things that we need to be reminded of the most, because it seems that in this world of complexity, and this world of difficulty, we stray from the simplicity of, well, you know, we sing it often here, Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. Little ones to Him belong, we are weak and He is strong. You can know a great deal about God, but when you forget that little song, everything you know suddenly loses all of its, what, power? So Paul said that he reminded the Philippians. In the fourth chapter, the fourth verse, rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, rejoice. Okay, beloved, you are incapable of rejoicing from your heart, that kind of rejoicing that God truly senses as a sweet-smelling offering to Him. You are incapable of rejoicing while you are in the state of worry. If your heart is gripped with anxiety and worry, if you're in the water tense, and you're not floating and letting God uphold you, now don't misunderstand me, God upholds you in spite of your condition, but I'm talking about the enjoyment, the actual experience, the actual knowing within your heart, the actual experience of not being affected by the things around about you. The reason why Paul says rejoice in the Lord always in Philippians 4, then in Philippians 3 he says rejoice again, is because he understood that as human beings, if we get our eyes off the Lord, or if we begin to tense up in the water, and cease from floating, cease from letting the Lord uphold us, and letting the Lord sustain us, then the rejoicing, and the melody, and the music, and the song, and the praise, and the worship that should be continually rising before the Lord begins to lessen, doesn't it? Did you know in the Old Testament they were to keep the sweet-smelling incense rising up before the Lord how often? Continually. Now that's a picture of the New Testament, the church which is the true temple of the Lord. God doesn't come and meet in synagogues anymore, He comes and meets in His people. You're a living stone in the temple of God now. And He wants continual praise, continual rejoicing. And again I say rejoice, let your moderation be known unto all men, the Lord is at hand. Now verse number 6, be careful for nothing. Now see, Paul just got done telling the Philippians rejoice, and then he begins to explain to them how they can rejoice. Isn't it grievous when you read something in God's Word, and it enlightens you as to what you should be doing, and you realize you're not doing it? Can't that be grievous at times? Well see, not only does Paul tell us what to do, he tells us how to do it. Be careful for nothing, that's the first important lesson that God wants to teach you and I this morning. Be careful for nothing. That doesn't mean be careless, that means don't be anxious, don't be worried, don't tense up, inside. When something that God permits to come into your life begins to affect your spirit, your mind, and your heart in such a way where you find the tensing up, do you relate to this? The tensing up, the tightness, that's the time to go to the Lord Jesus Christ and say, hey Lord, something's happening. Something is happening in my heart. I'm tensing up and I need to trust in you. See, these are lessons that we learn every day. Every day we have to learn these lessons. Be careful for nothing. Okay, now you know the Word of God is so instructional, isn't it? Now watch this. We just learned that we are to rejoice. Well, how do we rejoice? Okay, now here the Bible says, don't be anxious. Oh, okay, so if I'm not anxious, I will rejoice. But then the dilemma comes, well, how do I be free from anxiety? Well, the very next scripture tells you how. I hope you're taking notes. The reason why I say that is because this gets right down into our home, doesn't it? With the family and the children. Ah, is this familiar territory? And the difficulties that could arise in relationships with friends and parent and child relationships that could potentially create maybe a little bit of stress or anxiety or maybe not with you folk. Okay, so rejoice in the Lord. How? Don't allow anxiety and worry to consume you. All right, great. But then the next question is, how do I become victorious over stress and worry and anxiety? The very next verse describes how. It teaches us. God never tells you what to do without explaining to you how to do it. And then after all that, he then imparts his grace to give you the power to do it. What else could we ask for? Now watch this. Be careful for nothing but in everything by prayer, number one, and supplication, number two, with thanksgiving, number three, let your requests be made known to God. Now here's a word that I want to mention. Communication. How many have discovered that the lack of communication in relationships, whether it's employee, employee, husband, wife, child, parent, friend, friend, boyfriend, girlfriend, it doesn't matter what sphere of life it's in, the lack of communication means the presence of misunderstanding, heartache, imagination, feelings that sometimes eat at us like rust on an old car. All right. So therefore, the key to rejoicing is being free from care and anxiety. The key to being free from care and anxiety is the continual lesson or spiritual discipline, which is a lesson we learn, of communicating with God by prayer, supplication, and thanksgiving. Communication with God. Prayer. We are a generation of prayerless Christians. Most Christians spend more time in front of the television than they do before God, and this is to our shame. Have you considered prayer, communication with God, and the book of Psalms as a guide to teach you how to pray as something you ought to prioritize in your life? Jesus made a profound statement in Matthew chapter 4, man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. Jesus said at a certain time to his disciples, I have meat that you know not of, and that meat was to do the will of God and to finish it. Here's a very common trouble that I hear. I have no peace. I have no peace. My heart is troubled. My mind is distressed. How many have heard that from people? How many have experienced it yourself? Beloved, there's no way to know and keep the peace of God in your life unless we can come to the Lord and let him teach us these wonderful spiritual disciplines as Christians. Now watch this. Rejoicing is the absence of anxiety. The absence of anxiety is a continual communication before God through prayer and supplication and thanksgiving. You say, how can I incorporate thanksgiving into this prayer and supplication communication with God? Here's how the child of God can be thankful in all things. Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8. We have to learn by the grace of God not to think like the world does anymore because we are a new species, a redeemed people. Romans chapter 8. Verse 26. Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities for we know not what we should pray for as we ought but the Spirit himself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searches the heart knows what is the mind of the Spirit because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. And verse 28. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are the called, that is genuine Christians. According to his purpose. Now here we go. How can we incorporate thanksgiving into our communication with God? Here's how. By reminding ourselves constantly that God, because he is my Father, because he is my Redeemer, because he is my Savior, because he has committed himself to my well-being, because he is God, he is presently and shall continue right to the very day when either my body is laid down in the grave and I am brought into the presence of God or I meet Jesus in the air. Up to that very moment God is going to continually, perpetually cause all things to work together for my good. Therefore, because of this profound truth that is in the will of God, we can go to prayer, we can bring our anxieties to God, we can bring our troubles to God, we can pray, we can let God know of all of our requests and our struggles, and we can incorporate thanksgiving because we know that even if we are experiencing difficulties and troubles and diverse kinds of heartache, yet we can be thankful because we know that God is causing these very forms to work good in our life. You say, but I can't see it. But you don't have to see it. Listen, don't forget, you are a man, you're not God. Do you expect to be able to see the purpose of an eternal God in a moment's time? I mean, come on, you might never see the purpose, this side of eternity, but faith isn't based on being able to believe God because we understand God. Faith is based on believing God because God has revealed himself as the God who doesn't make mistakes. Ah, but you live in the world and you turn on the TV and you read the ungodly books and you let the spirit of this world get into your homes and you let the spirit of the world begin to influence your thinking and I give you one month and you won't believe these things anymore and your heart will be continually filled with anxiety and stress and you'll begin to question and then all of a sudden the enemy will just begin to eat at you and eat at you and you'll find yourself living in a most defeated manner. That's why God tells us as children of God to stay in fellowship with other believers and to stay filled with the Word of God. So there's thanksgiving. Why can I be thankful? How can I be thankful? Because God is causing all things to work together for my good. Now what's God's ultimate good? Not for you to get rich, not for you to get a home, not for you to keep up with the Jones, not for you to have your temporal wants. I didn't say needs, I said wants. How many here know there's a difference between a want and a need? I want a lot of things but I only need a little bit. God hasn't promised to provide my wants but He will never let me lack in relation to my needs. So none of these things constitute God's ultimate purpose. Although He will give us some of our desires, He will. Sometimes it will be good, sometimes it will be bad. Remember He gave Israel what they wanted in the wilderness because they constantly, constantly, constantly wanted it. God said, all right, I'll give it to you and what happened? They got sick. He gave them manna, a simple provision. They wanted meat. They wanted something that appealed to their flesh. God said, all right, I'll give you quail and He rained it down from heaven and it came out of their nostrils and they got so sick of it they vomited. They threw it up. You say, well, why would God do that to teach them a lesson to bring leanness to their soul? In other words, their soul was too fat. In other words, their soul, their flesh life was too, their flesh life was too wild. Their eyes were more on what they wanted for their flesh rather than their spirit. God says, all right, I'll give you what you want, but it's going to bring leanness to your flesh, to your soul. It's going to bring leanness to your fleshly desires. See, God wants to, God wants to cut off the fat in our soul, which means He wants to teach us that our fleshly soulish desires are not the central aim of His working in our life, but rather our spiritual development, here it goes, our spiritual development into the image and likeness of Jesus Christ. That's God's central purpose for your life right now as a child of God. Therefore, everything that is happening in your life, God wants to affect you in such a way by these circumstances as to make you more like Jesus. Now, what's the devil want to do? The devil wants you to be, question God, get bitter at God, get bitter at people. Maybe there's someone in your life that's hurt you. The devil wants you to get bitter at that person, but Jesus wants you to come to Him, and remember now, in Him, by Him, through Him, He wants you to find love for that person. Now you say, oh, I don't know about that. Well, you're right, you can't, but God can. See, God doesn't ask you to find resources in yourself. He asks you to find them in the Son of God. In Him, we have all things. So what's the product of this incredible spiritual journey? Remember, we started out with rejoicing. Why do so many Christians alienate themselves from the life of rejoicing in the Lord? And then when they do, let's be honest, it's up here. It's not here. I mean, instead of having a song in your heart, and a praise in your heart, and a melody, I mean, is that scriptural? Some people say, oh, you're living in a fantasy world, brother Phil. Living in a fantasy world? Hey, do you consider the Bible a fantasy world? Keep your finger on Philippians, and let's go to Ephesians. See, we don't have any set patterns here. We don't have a hymn, and then a song, and then a docology, and then a nurseology. No, docology. Okay, Ephesians, and certainly don't misunderstand me for churches that do operate that way. That's between them and the Lord, and we have no problems with that at all. Okay, now Ephesians chapter 5, verse 14. Ephesians 5, 14. Watch this now. Fantasy. Fantasy. Praise in the Lord at all times. Doesn't mean that we don't have room to experience a time of mourning, or a time of despair, but beloved, when it goes on for week after week, and month after month, we need to ask the Lord to show us what's wrong. What is it, Lord? Because it's the will of God that we rejoice always. Now, I'm not talking about a fleshly rejoicing. I'm not talking about an emotional rejoicing. I'm talking about a state of the heart. Now, watch this. Ephesians chapter 5, verse 14. Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest. May I suggest that a sleeping Christian is a Christian who has completely lost sight of these spiritual dynamics that we just mentioned the past 20 minutes. That's a sleepy Christian. Losing sight of the inheritance that we have in Christ. Losing sight of the availability and the access that we have to God by faith through the blood, which enables us to always overcome, to always triumph in Christ Jesus. Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead. That's strong language. And Christ shall give thee light. See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools. Now, sometimes in the Bible when the word fool is mentioned, you know what the literal meaning is? Unthinking. Pretty good, huh? Unthinking. You know what Paul says in Galatians, you foolish Galatians? You know what he was saying? You unthinking Christians. Unthinking, thoughtless. Sometimes we get like that, don't we? We just stop thinking. We lose perspective. Instead of saying, all right, now I'm a child of God, the Bible said, and Lord Jesus, I thank you for your word. I'm going to get in, I'm going to find the... We don't do that. We just cease from thinking and we just become victims of our feelings and our emotions and figure, well, it's just the way it has to be. No, beloved. Jesus is alive. And he wants to teach you. All right, watch this now. We're dealing with fantasy now. Not as fools, but as wise. Redeeming the time because the days are evil. This is Ephesians chapter 5, beginning in verse 14. Redeeming the time. That means buy back the time for God. Buy it back. The word redeem means to purchase. So what it means is redeem it back. Take it from the devil. Don't let the devil use the time that God's given you. Don't use it for the devil. Listen, don't use it for yourself. Buy it back for God. Redeem it. Redeem the time. Take it back. People's lives, the time that people spend many times. They have God on number nine on a list from one to ten. But he should be number one. And then he should be number two. And then he should be number three. And then he should be number four. And then he should be number ten. But he should be ten and all between too. Redeeming the time because the days are evil. Wherefore, be not unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And be not drunk with wine. You know, there's several kinds of wine the Bible speaks of. You know, the wine that you buy at the liquor store. There's another kind of wine too. The characteristic of wine is this. It numbs you. It dulls your spiritual sensitivity. And not only does it numb you, but it brings alive your soulish nature. You know, people who get drunk do dumb things. And then they wake up the next morning and scratch their head and say, I don't believe I did that. For you who have never been involved in drinking, you haven't missed a thing. Isn't that right? You haven't missed a thing. Believe me. So it dulls you. It numbs you. It makes you unthinking. Just what the Bible says not to be. And then it gives you a false sense of courage. But here's what God says. Don't be drunk with wine. And how many things in your life presently are affecting you like wine? See, as Christians we say, bless God, I don't drink. And that's good. We shouldn't drink as Christians. It's not wise to. Bible says that love should be the law that we live by. And if I take wine, and if there's someone that could be offended by it, and there is, believe me, we should think twice about our liberty as Christians. But nevertheless though, we don't drink wine. That's good. But what are you drinking that is affecting you like wine? What is dulling your spiritual sensitivity in your life? And what is giving you a false sense of security? And a false sense of hope? What is presently in your life, the thing that you're living in that is helping you to avoid your responsibility before God? Or your responsibility to your family? Have you found another kind of wine that you're drinking? May I suggest this morning, beloved, that you allow God to search your heart. And in searching your heart, you would be free from all wine. From all that corrupts. From all that strengthens your soul life. That strengthens the very thing that God said, I want to bring leanness to. And oh, we live in such a corrupt world, don't we? John, 2,000 years ago, said the whole world is lying in the power and hands of the wicked one. If that was true 2,000 years ago, and the Bible says that then the spirit of Antichrist was already controlling the society, how much more now, beloved, should we be on tiptoes before God? Let's make our homes, sanctuaries, our apartments, our cars, where Jesus rules and reigns. And where we won't allow any wine, not just the Junkle Batsy, but where we won't allow any, what do you think, Craig? Craig's saying he's doing it again. Not just the wine that comes in the bottle. But don't let anything cause you to become affected as being in a stupor. I'm not going to list anything, because I can name them on my toes and my hands, my ears. There's a whole list of them. I'm not going to name anything for fear that I take away from what God might be saying to you right now. Because you know, this is what the Holy Spirit does. See, He takes the Word and He interprets it into your life. He might be saying something to you that I would never list in six years. But if He's saying it to you, I want to suggest that you do like Mary said, Whatsoever He sayeth unto you, do it. Huh? Do it. Where are we here? Yes, Ephesians. Thank you. Ephesians, we're showing you here. That was all on the wine there, in excess. But be filled with the Spirit. Now being filled with the Spirit does the exact thing that wine does, but not to our soul, but to our spirit. See, it's interesting that God uses wine and compares it to the Spirit. Why? Because there's similarities. But only the Spirit of God, rather than giving us a false sense of security, gives us true security. Rather than giving us a false sense of courage, it gives us true courage. Courage, not in ourself, but in the God who we are, who we serve. That's what wine does. It gives us true courage. Okay? Now watch this. What's the result of being delivered from everything in our life that affects us like wine, and starting to drink the true wine, the Spirit of God? And by the way, when it says here, be filled with the Spirit, actually, the way it says it in the Greek is, be continually. It's not a one-time event. You know, some Christians say, yeah, I was filled with the Holy Ghost 25 years ago. And you say, that's about right. 25 years ago. You should have been filled with the Spirit this morning. See? Now we do believe that Christians can be saved, and then they can pursue and be filled with the Holy Ghost. Just like the Bible says. But we don't believe that that's a one-time event. We believe according to the Word of God. Be continually filled with the Holy Spirit. And once we're continually filled with the Holy Spirit, what happens? Verse 19. Again, the Bible says what to do, and it says how to do it. Now watch this. Speaking to yourselves in Psalms. We look to find power in ourselves to be happy, don't we? And God says you'll never find it in yourself, but only as you commune and are under the influence and possessed by the Spirit of God and the Word of God. The fruit of that, the result of that, the natural course that occurs when a Christian is delivered from spiritual stupor and brought into spiritual rejuvenation through the Holy Spirit. The immediate result is this. Speaking to yourselves in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. Watch this. Verse 20. Giving thanks. Now didn't we talk about that in Philippians chapter 4? Now see, we're putting the whole thing together. The whole thing together. Rejoice. Be free from anxiety. Pray. Be filled with the Spirit. And then, songs. Hymns. Why do you think every time the Bible mentions of someone being filled with the Spirit, it says they prophesied or they declared the praises of God? Because when you're filled with God, all you can do is praise Him. You praise Him, you worship Him, you magnify Him. You see His glory, His beauty, His majesty. And from within the innermost being, John chapter 7 verse 37. At that last and great day of the feast, Jesus stood up and cried, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me. And I will give him a drink of water. And from his innermost being shall what? Spring forth wells of living water. Springing forth into eternal life. Oh, look at what we have as Christians, beloved. Look what's available to us. Look what's available to us. Don't you want it? I sure do. I sure do. And the peace of God, Philippians 4, 7. Which passeth all understanding, which is beyond human capacity. Shall keep garrison, it shall guard. The word is garrison. It's going to guard it. Isn't that incredible? How many here have longed for something that guards your heart? Listen, from the evils of sin within, and from the evils of the world without. How many have longed for something that guards your heart? Beloved, right here it is. The word of God can guard our heart. Shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. And then verse number 8. Watch this. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, truthfulness, honest, honesty, just, justice, pure, purity. Oh, how we need purity today. There's so much impurity. Whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things have good report, good report, not bad report, good report. Don't be a gossip. Don't be a busybody. You know the word busybody, it's an interesting, you know what the word actually means? It's a word that, it's two words. The one word is a word that means an overseer. And the other word is a word that means other people's affairs. So what's a busybody? Someone who's always overseeing someone else's affairs rather than their own. Isn't that incredible? A busybody. Listen, you want to be an overseer? Oversee the affairs going on right inside your heart. And if you're in a family, take care of your family. As far as the people around you, you pray for them. Don't get in and mingle in and be a busybody. Busybodies start trouble. Busybodies say things they ought not to. Busybodies become the authority on everybody else's problems but their own. Busybodies can see everyone's faults and understand exactly why a person's like that. But I'm telling you they can't see their nose. They can't understand what's going on in their life. And let me tell you, you hang around and you condone busybodies and guess what? You'll become a busybody. Isn't that right, John? He's back there laughing. You become a busybody. What happens if you really, really get around someone that is really angry and has a temper? You just watch him and you're going to get angry. But on the other hand, we've mentioned it many times, what happens when you hang around Jesus? You get like Him. If there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things. Those things which ye have both learned and received and heard. Boy, there's a threefold sphere of what we should have our roots grounded in. What we've learned in the Word of God, what we've heard, and what we have received. If you let God put your roots into those three things, you will never be unfruitful nor barren in the knowledge of Jesus Christ. 2 Peter 2, verses 1-10. You will never be unfruitful, but you will always abound. And this is the authority right here. This will cover everything that you've ever heard, learned, or received. The Word of God, the rich Word of God. And now it says, after all that, after it says, do these things, and the God of peace shall be with you. Beloved, may I suggest this morning that this short little exhortation, really turned into a little longer than a short exhortation, but this long exhortation, beloved, this indeed is the foundation by which alone you can build your Christian life. And unless this foundation has become sure in your life, you can't go on to greater heights, and greater depths in God. Oh, I have a big vision for God. Good. I'm going to do this for God, and I'm going to do that for God. Good. Then you find out somebody spread a lie about you, and you lose the victory, and you want to go and take the person and pull their ears off. Forget about your big vision. The foundation yet needs to be laid. Or you get so angry and so upset. No, forget it. If God built upon a foundation that was not too strong, that superstructure would bring it down in probably six months. So what's God doing in everyone's life here this morning? Building a sure foundation, so that you can go on with God. Some people, they always want to hear something new. What kind of an interesting revelation does the preacher have this morning? You won't find one here. Most of you guys know that. Most everyone here has come here regularly. But that's not what God's doing today. It's not trying to outdo the greatest revelation. It's getting rooted and grounded in God. Getting rooted and grounded in God. So, beloved, let's consider this morning. Do we have a hymn that we can sing? We're not done yet. We have a dedication this morning. We're going to dedicate...