Garrisoned Mind: deliverance from anxiety

Now can we again look to God in prayer? Our Father, we bow before Thee. We have been both humbled and spoken to through Thy Word today. We think of the greatness of our God, and we think of all that we have, and we do live lives marked by such poverty spiritually.

We bless Thee for the riches and glory that are ours in Thy Son. We thank Thee for the evident help given to our brother as he handled Thy Word, and we can only ask that it would please Thee and Thy mercy to draw near once again in this final session, that as the Word of God is opened, there would be both encouragement and challenge to every heart. We take a moment, we think of prayer requests, we think of this brother and his health needs and the others as well that were mentioned.

We think of this young man who professed and his wife not saved, and commit them to Thee. We think today of others, we think of Joe Procopio and all he is facing there in Florida. Think of our brother Mark Taylor and his needs as well.

And this can be multiplied many fold throughout the country, US and Canada, of those we know who are facing tremendous trial. The Lord draw near, we pray. In each trial, reveal Thyself in fresh ways to every heart.

We think of the gospel tonight here. Think of ten efforts of which we are aware and have an interest and pray that God would richly bless in the gospel tonight as we return thanks in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.

Now, it is frequently the temptation of someone to feel as though it would have been fine for the meeting to close after the message you just heard. To follow that is not an easy task, and certainly, I would not want to take away from the ministry that has been given. But with God's help and your prayerful support, we'll seek to turn to Philippians chapter 4 once again.

Verse number 4, Philippians 4 and 4, 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 or be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God, and the peace of God which passes 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, 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, and the God of peace shall be with you.

Verse number 11, Not that I speak in respect of one, for I have learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things, I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and suffer need.

I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. Now again, we trust that God will add his blessing to the reading of his word along with what has already been spoken. I'm a little bit fearful of taking up this subject because there is nothing which is so common as anxiety, and there is nothing which is so excused as being legitimate as anxiety.

And yet we read here, be anxious for nothing. So, this is what the Word of God says, and we have to face it and have to look at the resources we have and understand what he means. Because he says in verse number 8, be careful for nothing, but we didn't read verse number 10.

He says, he's thanking them that they were careful. Now, it's a different word in a different context. One has the idea of anxiety, which distracts.

The other has the idea of thoughtfulness. So, is it wrong to prepare? Is it wrong to think of the future? Is it wrong to have concerns? Certainly, as you think of the Apostle Paul, there was no one, there was no one who ever knew the burdens and the cares and concerns that the Apostle Paul had. That which comes upon me daily, he could say, the care of all the churches.

And let me say as well, there are probably, probably no one that has the burdens that believers have. You might have a successful son or daughter, doing very well in industry or doing very, very well in the financial world, doing very, very well financially for themselves. Other families would label them four-star successes.

Yet for you, there are burden because they're not saved. Those are burdens the world knows nothing about. Those are things that they know absolutely nothing about, the burden of loved ones who are not saved, the concerns, the anxiety, if I can use the word in a legitimate sense, about the future for souls that we love and cares that we have for the people of God.

So, there are legitimate cares and concerns that all believers have. But what Paul is speaking of here, and he is merely echoing the teaching of his master back in Matthew chapter 6, Matthew chapter 5, be anxious for nothing. The Lord Jesus Christ spoke about the needless, mindless anxiety over things that we could do nothing about.

So, that's what we want to look at here in Philippians chapter 4. I want you to think first of all about the focus of your mind, the focus of your mind. And we've heard that already, and so you'll forgive me if I am repeating. Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice.

I am to rejoice and not be preoccupied with the negative, the discouraging, the depressing. The context of all of this, you'd have to go back to chapter 3. There were those who were opposing the gospel, enemies of the gospel of Christ, foes of the gospel. The assembly was facing opposition from without.

They were facing difficulties within. How was the assembly to react? Amazingly, amidst all of that, they were to be marked by a spirit that was taken up, not with problems, not with difficulties, but with appreciation for all that God was to them. Rejoice, I say in the Lord, and again I say rejoice.

Let me just mention to you the, not just their responsibility. Do you ever hear people at work, somebody's going through a trial, they're not saved, and the person talking to them is not saved? You know, cheer up, you know, just cheer up. Why? Well, there's no good reason.

Maybe they'll say, well, things could be worse, or cheer up, you should know what I'm going through. But you see, there's a reality to this exhortation to rejoice. Because it's just not, you know, cheer up, look on the positive side, the glass is half full, not half full.

It's not half empty. He's not doing that kind of positive thinking. It's rejoice in the Lord, what we've been hearing already.

It's recognizing that the source, the whole milieu in which I rejoice is not in circumstances, but I rejoice in the Lord. And so he tells them here of that great reality, that there is a potential to rejoice in the Lord. The Lord is at hand.

If anyone had the moral right, if anyone had the moral right and power to tell others, whatever your circumstances, rejoice in the Lord. Paul had that moral right. We spoke of it, didn't we, earlier that the man who had borne stripes from the hand of the jailer rejoiced and sang praises to God.

The man who knew what it was to be shipwrecked, a night and a day in the deep. The man who knew what it was to bear stripes several times from his own countrymen. The man who rejoiced in the Lord.

And so we see here what should be the focus of our mind. But Paul then speaks about the freedom for our minds, doesn't he? Be anxious for nothing. Interesting that he speaks of nothing on three occasions.

Chapter one, nothing terrified by your enemies. Chapter two, let nothing be done through strife or vainglory. Chapter four, be anxious for nothing.

Pretty absolutes on the part of Paul. Pretty broad sweeping statements. Nothing to fear, no friction, no fretting.

A life free of all of those things. That's what he wants their minds to be occupied with. To be free of this anxious distraction that seems to oppress and seems to come in.

We live, I was thinking when our brother was speaking about gratitude. Along with it being a very self-centered world, it is a very ungrateful world. A very ungrateful world.

We are told in the Sermon on the Mount that God sends his reign upon the just and the unjust. There are men today that have enjoyed every blessing of a creatorial God and have never once, never once even stopped to think, much less thank the God that has given them all of that. And yet he continues to do it.

An ungrateful world. A world that will take all that it can and never say thank you. Christians should never be marked by that kind of an attitude.

With each other and towards God. An ungrateful world. But as well, we live in a very anxious world.

Now I'm sure that anxiety and stress has always been part of life. But I think that something occurred about 15 years ago that has, maybe 15, 20 years ago, that has increased manifold times the stress and the anxiety of our age. It used to be I could go away on vacation and forget.

Forget things back at work. Now I have a laptop with a tunnel right to the office. And I've got, in fact, two cell phones.

Because sometimes you're in an area where you don't have a tower and the other one works and one doesn't. And work is always there. Problems always there.

Technology has revved up the pace at which we live. Added demands to us. Added stress to our lives.

If there were only one computer to buy, one laptop, that's all. You couldn't add bells or whistles to it. You know? Two gigabyte.

Wi-Fi. That's it. 17 inch or 15 inch screen.

Had no other choices. You would have no anxiety about which computer to buy. But you go to buy a laptop.

You know what happens? Ten friends tell you which is the best laptop to buy. You finally, after sweating, you make the choice. And as soon as you make the choice, Consumer Reports comes out to say, you made the wrong choice.

There was a better laptop you could have gotten for less money. And look at the mistake you made. And so we live with this tremendous sense of multiple choices and not knowing what to do.

And we're always fearful of making tremendous mistakes. So this information explosion has added to our anxiety in life. We live in an anxious world.

Terrorism. You know, whoever thought? You know, first time you flew in an airplane, if you're my age. You know, everybody took you right to the gate.

You kissed them all goodbye and you got on your plane and nobody checked your ID. Nobody put you through a metal detector. Life was simple, we thought.

We thought it was bad back then. But now, you know what's happened. Terrorism.

Everything that exists in our world has added to and multiplied and augmented the stressful life that we live. But Paul does here offer some realistic, concrete issues. Be anxious for nothing.

Now, is that just wishful thinking? Is it just bury your head in the sand and don't worry and after all, what can you do? So just, he says, I want you to be free from anxiety. And what he is speaking of here is not forethought. Not realistic concerns for issues that are real.

Speaking about an anxiety which distracts and which paralyzes. So anxious, so overcome by it that they become ineffective for God. And so he says, I want you free from anxiety.

But also he says, I want you free from making assumptions. He says, I want you with prayer and supplication and thanksgiving to make your request to be made known unto God. Prayer and supplications with thanksgivings.

What's that mean? In every set of circumstances. In everything. In every difficulty.

In every problem in life you face. Raising children. Knowing what is best for that particular child in the family and how to nurture what should be.

Dealing with problems at work with employees and dealing with relationship issues with employees at work. Problems in the assembly. There is nothing too small for a great God.

He says in everything with prayer and supplication. But he says, make sure you add thanksgiving. Make sure you just don't presume upon God as though somehow he is your spiritual vending machine.

That you can just use him to solve all your problems. Remember, you have a great debt you owe to God. Make sure it is accompanied by thanksgiving.

As you bend your knee and offer your supplication to God. As you, as we've been hearing already, pour your needs into the ear of God. Make sure, he says, it's accompanied by a thankful spirit.

I think I mentioned this a few weeks ago at Garnevilla, but it doesn't hurt repeating. A thankful spirit is the greatest antidote to self-pity. Self-pity is one of the most destructive emotions you can allow.

It may feel good for a few moments. Someone has described it as, it feels so good to feel so bad. But after a while, that all passes.

And self-pity begins to make you think you have a right to certain things. And that you have every legitimate reason to get it on your own if you can't get it other ways. And so, because of self-pity, you begin to think, God is withholding from me.

God is not the good God he said he is. And we begin to lay aside divine principles and truth of the word of God to acquire what we think we have a right to have. Paul says a thankful spirit will preserve.

Will preserve from self-pity. From a feeling as though I am being deprived. From the sense in which I am being kept back from something which should be mine, which I have every right to have.

Paul says, be thankful. Be thankful. Six times over in his epistle to the Colossians, he speaks of thanksgiving.

Giving thanks unto the Father who has made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. Time and again he speaks of the need of a thankful spirit. And our brother has been reminding us of that already and how vital, how valuable it is.

When the Lord Jesus spoke in Matthew chapter 6 about anxiety, you recall what he said. He says, is not your life more than meat and the body more than dress? So when I am thinking about the issue of anxiety, unnecessary anxious thoughts, when I find myself getting overly anxious, the first thing I recognize is I have missed the purpose of my life. Is my life really for that purpose? Or does God have some greater purpose in mind for me? Let me give you just concrete examples.

Again, I'm being redundant, forgive me. But it's the one that comes to mind. You know, you're reaching 65.

And you've had your company all your life. And you've saved for yourself and your employees and a pension plan. And you're reaching 65.

And suddenly everybody's pension tanks. And of course, because we're selfish, we think, wow. Didn't the Lord know I was intending to retire soon? But you see, is life all about me? Is life all about my eating and my drinking and what I'm going to wear and how I'm going to pay my bills? Is that the great purpose of my life? As a Christian, I have a responsibility.

And God has never failed. But that's not the main purpose in my life. The main purpose of my life is not to sit back and retire.

The main purpose of my life is to know the will of God and to do the will of God. There's a book that was written. He's not amongst us.

I think he's actually from Michigan. Nor may know his name, John Piper. He's an evangelical minister.

He wrote a book. The book is entitled, Don't Waste Your Life. And he uses as his introductory theme two individuals who retired.

And they were writing back. I think they wrote it in Reader's Digest about their retirement. And how wonderful their retirement was that they had retired and they had moved to Florida and they were collecting seashells on the beach and they were taking daily trips on their boat.

John Piper says, Imagine what it will be like to stand before God as he examines your life and you say, and I'm not being irreverent, look at my shell collection. Is that what life is all about? Nothing wrong with collecting shells. Nothing wrong with watching birds.

Nothing wrong with interests. But is that what life is all about? Is that the main purpose in life? What usually causes us most of our anxiety is when our priorities become wrong. When the purpose of life becomes clouded and we have something else as the goal.

Now, I am not minimizing illness. Men that have families and face illness and face unemployment, that's not what is before us. The Lord Jesus spoke as well about not only the purpose of life but the provision of God.

He reminded them of how God clothes the fields. He cares for the ravens, the birds, the sparrows that fall, and so on. A God of great provision.

We've been reminded of that as well. He reminds us as well of how precious we are to God. Are ye not of more value than many sparrows? The God that cares for the creation.

The God that calls the stars by name. And you know as well as I, when I went to school, they thought maybe there were a million or two stars. Now they can't count them.

They can't count them. Can't even find all the galaxies that could be out there. And yet it says He calls them all by name.

Not one is missing. Takes care of them all. Think He can't take care of you? Take care of me? The provision of God.

He reminds us as well of a priority that should occupy us. Get your priorities right. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added.

The promise to embrace. Freedom from anxiety, freedom from assumptions, and so on. What then is the fortification for our minds? How are our minds to be preserved from the anxiety which is so rampant in our society? Well the background of what we have here, we mentioned in the very first meeting, so if you weren't here let me go over it.

Philippi was a Roman colony. And what that meant was that along with enjoying all the rights and all the privileges of being a Roman citizen, the city of Philippi was under the protection of Rome. Garrisoned at Rome, excuse me, garrisoned at Philippi was a troop of Roman soldiers.

And at the slightest hint of unrest, at the first sign of the peace being disturbed, those soldiers would rush to the scene and guarantee the Pax Romana. The peace of Rome to rule in that particular town. Paul takes up that expression.

The peace of God, did you notice how our brother Crawford read it? The peace of God shall garrison shall garrison your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. It's as though God has placed a garrison of soldiers who will rush at the first call of a need for help. And so here we have then the guarantee and the garrison given together.

The Roman garrison and the peace of God. The peace of God he speaks of here in verse number six, verse number seven, the peace of God which surpasses all understanding. I hope you young Christians know what that means.

That it surpasses understanding. What it means is it is better to have the peace of God than to understand the why. It is better.

It surpasses in importance and in value. Many times as we go through trials and as we face difficulties and as we see things looming on the horizon, we want to try to understand it and figure it out and analyze it. Now there's a measure in which we are responsible to do some of that.

But at times we become so distressed because we can't see the future and we can't understand the workings of God and why God has allowed this and why God is doing this. Paul says if you could understand it, that would not be as valuable as just having the peace of God garrisoning your hearts. Keeping the peace in your hearts.

Now those of you who study Isaiah and I know all of you study Isaiah all the time and you could give me an outline of the book if I were to ask you right now, but all of you who study Isaiah will remember that in that first section chapters 1 to 35 broken up into three sections each section ending with a song when you come to the middle section it ends in chapter 25, 26 and is it 27 with three songs the songs of a people who have been redeemed, songs of a people who have been delivered from all the oppressing of the tyrant who will one day rule upon the earth millennial joy, millennial songs, chapter 26 has a tremendously valuable verse that has always been a help to me a tremendous stay and it's just this thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee trust ye in the Lord for in the Lord Jehovah let me read you the margin Darby and a few others trust ye in the Lord Jehovah for in him is a rock of ages let me give you the full rendering again in a different version thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind stops at God trust ye in the Lord Jehovah for in him is a rock of ages what does that mean? a mind that stops at God it just means a mind that doesn't ask for anything beyond God a mind that is content that God is in this God is in control God has allowed this God is over all I can leave it with him a mind that stops at God because he says in the Lord Jehovah is a rock of ages now don't just automatically start singing the hymn, think of the words a rock suggests stability of ages suggests finality he is the ultimate security in our universe he is the ultimate security for each one of us young Christian, learn early and learn well you have one ultimate anchor in life it is the one who is your father is the ultimate source of security for you not just your eternal security with salvation but your day to day security as you move through life but let me come to what I call in verses 8 and 9 the filter for your minds the reason I call it a filter is every thought that comes into your mind and mine should be filtered through this group of words if it can pass the filter Paul says it's worth thinking about and I am going to suggest to you that many of the things that cause us anxiety needless anxiety and worry are things that would not pass through this filter ok let me just take a few of them as time allows and we'll see what we can notice here notice what he says first of all finally brethren whatsoever things are true let's stop there how many of you watch soap operas oh christians watch soap operas yeah christians watch soap operas does it help you how about all the what ifs of life what if now those aren't true what if I didn't have such a big nose I'd really be popular what if I were single what if I were married to that other person and our minds work in that way the what ifs of life do you have any what ifs things that you wish were different and you kind of fantasize if only it were that way what if this were the way my life were what if I were in a different assembly what if that person were different towards me what if Paul says don't waste your mind on the what ifs of life don't look for things to create worry and concern and uncertainty live in the real world now I'm not suggesting that we shouldn't have imagination and shouldn't think about what could be if the gospel you know I have to tell you honestly you sometimes see unsaved people coming to your meetings people you've prayed for and you think what if what if they got saved what would it be like to see them sitting remembering the Lord with you those are good what ifs but you don't understand what I mean by the what ifs the things that are so meaningless and so fruitless and we tend to live in an unreal world of what ifs instead of dealing with reality dealing with reality recognizing this is the world God has put me in this is the assembly God has put me in these are the circumstances God has shaped for my life this is where I am how can I live for God here how can I live for God now if you cannot live for God where you are right now you cannot live for God anywhere else don't live in an unreal world thinking once I'm out of college once I'm out of high school once I get my career started once the business gets going once I get settled down and married then I can live for God never if you cannot live for God now you cannot live for God anywhere at any time this is the time God is calling upon you to live devotedly to Him whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things are honest that means really worthy or venerable not just the idea of being honest instead of dishonest but things that are venerable things that have value to them does that characterize your mind and your thinking occupied with what is venerable what is virtuous whatsoever things are just and whatsoever things are pure do you spend your time listening to talk shows I mean I do a lot of driving and every once in a while you hit one of those and after about 5 minutes you realize what in the world am I wasting my time on this for pseudo experts giving their pseudo expert opinion on every problem in the world and you get so occupied with it what about the media I know it's kind of popular to media bash but what about the media what do you listen to do you realize that there is an entire industry out there called the marketing industry forgive me if anybody is involved but their whole purpose in life is to make you discontent you know last years vacation really wasn't as good as it could be this years will be better get your vacation this year even if it means using your plastic card and going beyond your limit you need a vacation and you know you don't have the nicest car like your neighbor does you really should get a new car and on and on it goes creating in you a deep sense of discontent with everything you have and you begin to get so anxious to get something else and pretty soon it becomes justifiable to get that second job and pretty soon it becomes justifiable to start missing some meetings so you can make more money because you become so discontent and we are all being manipulated by a media that wants us to buy into the fact that we need more we need better not only do you need it but you deserve it you deserve it I mean after all you know you are a fine upstanding red blooded American and you deserve it don't ask why but you deserve it that's what you are told you know and so whatever you need to do you get it and you get on the treadmill of life with all of its stress to have more and more Paul says here make sure your minds are occupied with what is honest what is just what is pure what about gossip you allow your mind to be occupied with gossip I know we all want to know so we can pray more intelligently that's why we want to know what's happening so we can pray more intelligently truth is we feed on gossip like carrion we just dive bomb for it something about us that just is attracted to what is gossipy what is negative what is evil about another Paul says is that the way your mind works is that what you allow through the filter of your mind what is just what is pure he says as well what is lovely that means what's virtuous what is really virtuous anybody here and your mind is occupied with getting even with someone you've been playing the same recording in your mind for days months or years nursing the hurt rehearsing the grievance waiting waiting for the moment when you can get even Paul says that won't pass through the filter of this mind whatsoever things are lovely is that lovely or is that ugly Paul says that's ugly that can't pass the filter that is going to give a mind that knows the peace of God he says as well whatever is a good report whatever is virtuous whatever is praiseworthy now we could look at each of these in more detail I'm just giving a broad overview and I hope it's not necessary to mention the possibility of minds occupied with outright evil we live in a world where evil has always been present but evil is much more accessible today both accessible and approved and so that's the rare person who uses a computer who hasn't accidentally clicked on something that eventually that he rapidly had to double click off of but maybe there's some here and you didn't click off of it and you go back for more maybe some of the things you read maybe some of the things you look at I am not here to bash television as someone said we lost that battle 30 years ago but let me just plead with you about what you look at what you allow your mind to be occupied with what do you go to bed thinking about after watching television is your mind filled with the word of God is your mind filled with gratitude to God for His grace or is there lingering images that you're glad no one knows are in your minds Paul says your mind what's in your mind what are you allowing your mind to dwell upon your mind you will notice that Paul says think on these things you know what that tells me that tells me you and I stand responsible before God for our thought life you and I stand responsible to God for our thought life the spirit of God would not tell us to think on these things and not to think on the other things if it were beyond our control so you're responsible or you say but I drive to work and there are things I see, you can't help what's out there but you can help what you think about you know what I mean you can see it and you can begin thinking about it or you can see it and turn away the kind of world we live in we cannot avoid both things we hear, things we see things we're exposed to that could not could not start a downward spiral in our thought life but we have a choice the choice is to nurture it and nurse it and feed it or to reject it and to move on with what is honest and just and pure and lovely and of good report and virtue and praise and so on so we are responsible Peter uses the same idea doesn't he in his first epistle, gird up the loins of your mind he's speaking about holiness there and he speaks of the need to gird up the loins of your mind, don't be haphazard, have a disciplined mind when it comes to what my mind is allowed to dwell on you might just begin to making it a practice to go to bed every night with a portion of the word of God in your mind, you'd be amazed what will come, especially if you're not able to sleep the first few minutes just something from the word of God in your mind, just allowing it to turn over there and think of it train your mind the whole idea of discipleship carries with it the idea of discipline disciplining your mind as to what it thinks about we are responsible not just the content of our mind and the control of our mind, let me just mention the contentment of our minds that Paul speaks of in these verses our brother has touched on it, so I will do nothing more than just underline what he has said I want you to think first of all, here's a man who says he has been in the school of God it did not come naturally even to the apostle Paul he says I have learned I have learned I have been schooled, I have been instructed I have learned whatsoever state I am therewith to be content contentment is not natural to your heart or to mine just the opposite let me just give you a test because in chapter 3 where our brother Crawford took us yesterday, Paul was a very discontented man in chapter 4 he is a very contented man he is discontent with his spiritual progress he is content with his earthly circumstances now just without a show of hands or without even a grimace on your face where are you in that? where am I in that? are you more content with where you are spiritually and less content with where you are materially or like Paul is the greatest discontentment in your life related to spiritual progress likeness to Christ Paul says I have learned whatever my circumstances to be content I have been schooled in the school of God in every way and in every place you'll notice the secret of contentment that he mentions for us here it is living above circumstances everywhere and in all things I have been instructed I have been initiated both to be full and to be hungry both to abound and to suffer need now just in case some of you think if I had more I would be content Paul says he was content whether he had everything or he had nothing whether he was abounding or whether he was suffering need and some of the most discontented people in our world are the people that are full the people that have the most the people that have it all some of them are the most discontent in our world today Paul says I have learned to live above circumstances not a matter of how much I have it's a matter of who I have not a matter of how much is in my bank account but the riches I possess in Christ so he has the secret then of his contentment is found in Christ strength for his contentment our brother Crawford read those words I am strong for all things through Christ who constantly pours his strength into me I've got good news for you young believers older Christians learned this long ago so this is just for young Christians every place in your New Testament where it speaks of being strong or being strengthened it's always in what's called the passive voice that means it's done by somebody else never done by you you're never called upon to pull up your bootstraps, get your act together and be strong it's always to be strengthened allow God to strengthen you that was the idea allow Christ to be the means of strength for contentment and for freedom from needless worry, anxiety and covetousness and so he says here the great source of strength is found as we have it in verse 13 it's not so much what I can do that's true as well but it's what I am I am strong for every set of circumstances that come my way everything that God allows in my life all the buffetings all the difficulties, all the opposition all the critics, all the chains I am strong for all things through Christ who pours his strength into me allow Christ to become your strength the means by which you handle all of life's circumstances, free of anxiety free of covetousness free of all that marks the world around us but let me just mention one other thing of vital importance not only are we to think on these things but verse number 9 those things which you have both learned received, heard and seen in me do you know what calls for a tremendous divided life? it's living in two worlds it's Monday through Saturday in society out there and it's Sunday trying to be a Christian and you're jumping back and forth between two worlds never content not really at home in either Paul says I don't want you just to think about these things he says what I have taught what I have written what I have done that's what you ought to do one of the great secrets of a contented anxiety free life is just obeying the word of God just obeying what God has told you to do living according to the word of God seeking to know God's will to have that calm assurance no cloud between me and heaven, nothing that I am refusing of God no truth I am holding at bay no will that he has revealed to me that I am refusing to obey, but all that he has revealed to me, now I know we all fail in part, but I'm speaking of the tenor of a person's life, all that has been revealed, all that I have been taught all that I have received from God with God's help I'll seek to do it seek to obey it, seek to put it into my life and as a result he says, the God of peace, so that in verse number seven, as we were reminded, we have the peace of God that's wonderful, but I think there's something better in verse number nine it is the God of peace the God of peace himself shall be with you we had in verse number four or verse number five we had the nearness of the Lord the Lord is at hand in verse number nine we have the God of peace at hand, divine persons coming near to fortify to strengthen to encourage to uphold to give you and me a life not free of cares and burdens, we have those but a life free of anxious distracted living that marks the society in which we live but which Paul says be anxious for nothing, but in everything with prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God and the God of peace shall be with you trust that will be so, and trust that each of us will leave with a renewed confidence I was thinking, and I hope you don't mind my referring to our brother Crawford, I was thinking as he was preaching of the tremendous God that he has revealed to us in his preaching a God on whom we can have absolute confidence and as I think of verse number 9 I have seen a man who has not only taught but who has done exactly what he has taught us today great honor to be with him and appreciate very deeply his ministry to us may we all leave with a renewed confidence in the greatness the sovereign care of the creator God but as well, linked with that sovereign care of a creator God is the tender love of our Heavenly Father