All right, thank you, Brother Danny.
Once again, good morning church.
We are so thankful that you are here this morning.
Want to say a special welcome to our visitors,
and I know for sure that there are two people here this morning
that I have known for years.
Jason and Shannon Ford are visiting with us this morning,
and we have been friends for probably more years
than any of us would like to count.
But Shannon and I have known each other since we were children.
We went to the same church for a number of years,
and then a few years later, she met the love of her life, Jason.
And I think it was in, was it 1995 or 1996, which was it?
1995, they got married at the same church
that Karen and I were married at,
and I was blessed to be able to do the music at their wedding.
So we are so thankful they are here with us this morning.
And if you are visiting with us here this morning,
we just want to say thank you for coming to the hill
to worship Christ with us here at Pleasant Hill Baptist Church.
We hope that you will feel right at home while you're here,
and I want you to know if I or any of the staff
can do anything for you to assist you in any way
while you're here or afterwards, we want to do that.
Please let us know how we can assist you in any way.
I'm going to be continuing our sermon series this morning
in the book of Philippians.
We're going to be in chapter four this morning,
looking at the first nine verses.
So if you have your Bibles, I'd encourage you to go ahead
and be turning there.
And while you are, I just want to remind us always
when we're in this particular sermon series
what the context is, because context is so important.
No matter what scripture we are reading,
it's important that we know the context.
So Paul wrote this, it was a letter
that he wrote to the church in Philippi,
and he wrote it from prison.
And if you've heard each of the sermons in this series,
or if you've heard any of the sermons in the series,
you've heard me say every week that it's important
that we remember that Paul writes this from prison.
It's going to be particularly important this morning
that we do not forget that Paul is writing to us from prison.
And he wrote it somewhere around AD 55 to AD 62.
And then the other thing that we see that presents itself
over and over again, Paul wrote very, very well,
we don't have to wonder what his theme was for this letter.
We don't have to wonder what it was he was trying
to get across.
And it's this, he is rejoicing in his partnership
with the Philippians, and we see him do that time and time
again right in the very midst of adversity.
So at this point, I'd like for us to hear our text
in its entirety, and if you are physically able to stand,
this morning I want to invite you to stand
to honor the reading of God's Word.
Again, Philippians four beginning with verse one.
Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for,
my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved,
I entreat Euodia and I entreat Syntyche to agree in the Lord.
Yes, I ask you also, true companion,
help these women who have labored side by side with me
in the gospel together with Clement and the rest
of my fellow workers whose names are in the Book of Life.
Rejoice in the Lord always.
Again, I will say rejoice.
Let your reasonableness be known to everyone.
The Lord is at hand.
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything,
by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving.
Let your requests be made known to God and the peace of God,
which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts
and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable,
whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely,
whatever is commendable,
If there's any excellence, if there's anything worthy
of praise, think about these things.
What you have learned and received and heard and seen
in me, practice these things.
And the God of peace will be with you.
Church, I want to remind you this is the word of God
for the people of God.
Thanks be to God.
Would you pray with me?
Father, thank you for the opportunity
of reading your word one more time as a group here
at church, as this congregation.
And Father, now for these next few minutes,
I pray that your hand will continue
to be upon the service.
Lord I pray that you will hide me behind the cross.
I pray that when these people look at me,
that they will see a reflection of Jesus Christ.
Father I pray that you would just simply move me out of the way
and let them see you.
Father, right now I pray that you will simply open ears to hear.
I pray that you will open minds to understand.
And I pray that you will open hearts
to receive the gospel message.
And Father, as always, I pray that if there is anyone hearing
my voice right now, whether in the sanctuary
or on the live stream, who doesn't know you
as their personal Lord and Savior.
Father, I pray that this will be the day
that we will see salvation.
And for all the things that we will see here
in this place today, we will give Christ the praise,
honor, and glory for it all.
And it's in His name I pray.
Amen.
You may be seated.
Now the title of this morning's message is Radical Joy.
Now you've heard all throughout this sermon series
to this point, Paul has written about joy.
We've talked about joy.
We've talked about rejoicing.
Paul has not just written about it.
He's shown us how we can rejoice in all types of circumstances.
And remember, again, he is writing this to us from prison.
And you've heard me say before, Paul
doesn't just write about this joy.
He doesn't just tell us to be joyful.
Instead, he shows us how to do it.
Right in the very midst of adversity.
But today, we're going to take that a step further.
We're not going to be talking about a normal type of joy
this morning.
Instead, we are going to be talking
about a radical type of joy.
And I want to say at the very beginning, the type of joy
that I am talking about this morning, the type of joy
that I am preaching about this morning,
I want you to hear at the very beginning,
it is only possible.
It is only possible if we truly have a relationship
with Jesus Christ.
Apart from that, this radical joy is not possible.
Now, the first thing we're going to see this morning,
we're going to see this in verses 1 to 3.
And we're going to see that there is joy in friendship
and unity.
And I want to ask you just for a moment right now,
just think about who it is on this earth
that you consider to be your very closest friend.
And I suspect that at this point, each of you,
you have that person's name in your mind.
You might even be seeing their face
if you close your eyes right now.
Even though I probably don't know who you're talking about,
who you're thinking about right now,
I would suspect that whoever that person is, for most of you,
it is not a person that you argue about everything with.
Generally, people who are the closest friends,
they are not constantly bickering and arguing
with each other, are they?
Instead, they have various things in common,
and it's that unity that brings them closer and closer
together.
Well, as we look at our text this morning,
we are going to see that if we're in Christ,
then as a body of believers, Christ
has united us as brothers and sisters in Christ.
And it allows us to realize that we're not
running this race alone.
Remember last week, Paul used the analogy of a runner
running a race.
So we realize that if we are in Christ,
we have other brothers and sisters that are right there
beside us.
They are running the race with us.
They are fighting the good fight with us.
We do not have to do it alone.
So as we look here in verse one, I want you to notice
how Paul addresses these people.
First of all, he refers to them as his brothers.
He makes it clear that he loves them.
He makes it clear that he longs for them.
He describes them as my joy and crown.
Now, that's quite an introduction, isn't it?
That is quite a way for Paul to describe these people.
But with him doing that, what we're seeing Paul do here,
he is considering them to be equal partners with him
in the gospel.
Remember, he is detained and prison right now.
But the people that he is writing to, they are not.
He considers them equal partners with them.
And so the next thing that we see him tell them
is to stand firm in the Lord, my beloved.
Now, if you'll remember what we saw Paul do throughout chapter
three, he was telling them to stand firm.
We saw him do that all throughout chapter three.
And here we are in chapter four, verse one,
and he is telling them again to stand firm in the Lord.
Now, we probably should ask ourselves,
why is he doing that?
Why is he doing that?
Since he spent a lot of chapter three
on this very subject, why is he doing it again in chapter four,
verse one?
Well, I think the first answer to that is they probably
needed to hear it.
As humans, many times we have the need
to hear important things more than one time before we actually
get it, before it truly sinks in.
I think there was probably some of that going on there.
But here's what I believe is the major reason
that he is doing this here.
I think he knows these people are dealing with a lot.
He knows they're dealing with a lot.
I suspect that he feels that they are probably
battling some discouragement.
So he is saying right here at the beginning of chapter four,
stand firm in the Lord.
And then in verses two and three, we meet these two women.
And probably we don't spend a lot of time usually thinking
about these two women.
Their names are Euodia and Syntyche.
And we don't know a lot about them other than they
had labored side by side with Paul in the gospel,
together with Clement and the rest of his fellow workers.
So we know their believers.
We know that about them.
We know that they had co-labored with Paul together
in the gospel.
And the other thing that we know about them
is that they've had a disagreement about something.
They have had a disagreement about something.
We don't even know what it was.
We don't even know what that disagreement is about.
And it caused me to stop and think
as I was preparing to preach this morning.
Some of the most serious arguments or disagreements
that I've ever seen between people, especially
between two families that are harboring a grudge with each
other, sometimes they don't even know
why they're mad at each other.
They just know they're mad.
Somebody has told them that they're
supposed to be mad at this other group of people.
And so they are, but they really don't know why.
Now, I don't know if this disagreement
that Euodia and Syntyche had was something like that or not.
We don't know what it was, but here's what we do know.
Whatever it was, Paul viewed it as being serious enough
to address it in this letter.
And as a result of that, it's with the heart of our Bible.
It is a part of our Bible.
So it was significant to Paul.
And he knew what disagreements, especially within a church,
have the capability of doing.
So when he tells them, I entreat Euodia and Syntyche
what he is really saying there is he is strongly urging them
to agree in the Lord.
And look what else he does.
He asks a third person.
And we don't know the identity of this person either,
other than Paul addresses this person as a true companion.
He asks this person to step in and asks them
to help these women resolve this disagreement
that they're having.
And we don't know that person's name either.
We don't really know if it's a man or if it's a woman.
And it caused me to think throughout church history,
I can tell you there are a number of people
who've worked tirelessly behind the scenes
to help brothers and sisters in Christ
resolve disagreements with other people.
And we don't even know their names.
But let me tell you who does know their name.
God knows their names.
And he has not forgotten that.
He has seen everything.
He's seen how those people have stepped in to promote unity
within the body of Jesus Christ.
And I'll tell you, the quicker that disagreements
can be addressed and resolved, then the quicker
we can be about our mission, which
is the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Now remember what Paul taught in chapter 2 verses 1 - 4.
He says, if there's any encouragement in Christ,
if there's any comfort from love.
If there's any participation in the spirit,
any affection and sympathy, then complete my joy
by being of the same mind, having the same love,
being in full accord and of one mind.
Then he tells us to do nothing from selfish ambition
or conceit, but in humility, count others more
significant than yourselves.
Let each of you look not only to his own interests,
but also to the interests of others.
Now if we all, all, not just this church,
but every person who calls themselves a Christian,
if we live these four verses day in and day out,
there would sure be a lot less serious disagreements,
wouldn't there?
There would be a lot less church splits
if we live these four verses.
Now remember, I said last week in our sermon,
if the enemy can sideline us and cause us to think
on anything other than our mission, which
is the gospel of Jesus Christ.
If the enemy can cause us to concentrate
on things that we've said or done in the past,
if he can cause us to think about anything other
than what God wants us to do, then we are not very likely
to be fully effective in ministering in the present.
So we've got to put those things behind us.
And remember this morning, we are talking about a radical type
of joy, and this is a joy, again, that only
comes if we have a true relationship with Jesus Christ.
And when we do, then we will be willing to lay aside differences
and focus on proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Now the next thing we're going to see in the remainder
of our text this morning is there is joy in the peace
that comes from God.
Now when we look at these final verses this morning,
the first thing that we have to realize in order
to fully experience this peace, then we've
got to be also at peace with ourself.
And if we take a look internally and we
find out that we're constantly bitter,
if somebody says to us this morning, oh,
isn't the sun beautiful?
Have you ever heard somebody say, it's blinding me,
it's so bright?
Have you ever heard that
No matter what positivity you're bringing into a situation,
they have a negative comeback for you?
We really need to look internally and ask ourselves,
where is that bitterness coming from?
Are we truly at peace with ourself?
Now in verse four, it's a difficult verse.
I'll just say at the beginning, it's a difficult verse.
It sounds really easy when we read the words.
But the application of verse four, it's tough, isn't it?
Rejoice in the Lord when?
Stay with me.
I don't know what happened with my screen there.
Always.
What does always mean?
Always.
That's tough, isn't it?
But that's what God's word says to do.
Paul doesn't just tell us once in this verse.
Look, he tells us twice in the same verse.
He says it again.
Rejoice.
And it's tough.
I know, I know many of you are asking yourself this question
this morning.
How's that even possible?
How is it even possible that I can rejoice always?
I'm going to tell you something that I
would like for you to remember from this point forward.
Earlier in the week, I was at a revival.
And the man that was preaching is one of my friends.
And he preached from the same text.
And he made many excellent points.
But one of them that I want you to be sure you realize
is that joy, listen closely now, joy does not
mean happiness always.
Joy does not always mean happiness.
And let me just expand on that just a little.
Let's just suppose for a moment that you
are going through a horrible situation.
And you can just fill in the blank, whatever it is.
It could be something different for every one of us.
You might not ever be happy about the actual situation,
whether it's the death of a spouse, the death of a child,
a cancer diagnosis.
You might not ever be happy with the individual situation.
But hear me when I say this.
You can rejoice in the Lord in the midst of the situation.
Joy does not always mean the same thing as happiness.
Again, we're talking about a radical type of joy here.
So again, let's just continue with the thought,
how do we do this?
Well, Paul begins to tell us in verse 5.
He says, let your reasonableness.
And some of your translations probably
say either gentle or gentleness there.
But he says, let your reasonableness or your gentleness
be known to everyone.
And then he tells us this phrase, the Lord is at hand.
Now, that's good news.
That's good news for us to remember always.
You see, some people believe when Paul is telling us
that the Lord is at hand, that he's
reminding us of the fact that one day the Lord is coming back.
And one day the Lord is coming back.
But that is not why I believe that Paul tells us that here,
I believe he wants us to realize that right in the middle
of the battle, right in the middle of whatever
we are walking through, the Lord is right there with us.
Again, we might not like the situation.
We might not like the situation at all.
We might not even understand the situation now or ever.
But we can rejoice in the Lord always
if we decide that we're going to do that,
if we are displaying this radical type of joy.
And then our scripture gets even more difficult this morning,
even more difficult.
Let's look at verse 6.
Do not be anxious about what?
Anything.
And I know it's fair if you ask yourself right now, really?
I'm not supposed to be anxious about anything.
Really?
That's what the scripture says.
But I want to share a few things with you this morning.
And the first is that there are a number of people
that really do not understand anxiety.
And let me tell you, unless you have personally struggled
with it, you probably don't understand it.
And you probably don't understand how anybody else can
struggle with anxiety.
But can I tell you this morning, anxiety is very, very, very real.
It is very, very real.
The years that I worked on my doctor of ministry,
I also did a concentration in biblical counseling.
And I had to study a lot about emotions.
And I learned a lot about anxiety during that time.
And I'll tell you, it is so very real.
I would put it in the same category as a disease
for people who truly struggle with anxiety.
You see, there are people that anxiety has
a grip on the person's life.
And it can even pull them into a deep, dark depression.
It is very real.
And then all along the way, people
that really don't understand anxiety will offer little tidbits
of information, such as, you just need to snap out of it.
Let me tell you, that is the same as telling a cancer patient,
you just need to snap out of it.
That is not how it works.
Again, anxiety is very real.
And as before we proceed any further in our text this morning,
I need you to hear this statement.
I am not preaching a prosperity gospel this morning.
When we do these next steps that the Scripture says,
it doesn't mean that the situation is going to go away.
But what it does mean is that we can rejoice as a part
of the journey, so I need you to keep that in mind.
And I am not saying by any stretch of the imagination
that when we follow word for word what's dictated
in the next several verses that the problem is going to go away.
That unfortunately is not how it works.
But I can promise you, if you are in Christ,
that Christ is right there alongside you every step
of the journey.
And we start to refocus or reframe the situation.
And we will look back one day and see that throughout
that journey we have become closer and closer
in our relationship with Jesus Christ.
And we will also find out as we look back
that during that process we have become more and more
like Jesus Christ.
But I need you to hear me again before we go
to the next verses.
This does not mean that the problem goes away.
I just need you to hear that this morning.
So Paul tells us don't be anxious about anything,
but in everything by prayer and supplication.
Now that's a word we usually don't use
in our vocabularies today, do we?
Supplication, that is earnestly asking
or maybe even begging for something.
But look how we're supposed to do it.
With thanksgiving, with thanksgiving,
let your requests be made known to God.
And then look what happens.
The peace of God which surpasses all understanding
will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Notice it does not say that your problem will go away.
That is not what this verse is meant to say.
So many times this verse is used out of context.
But what we will see happen is that we will experience
that peace of God which surpasses all understanding
and it will guard our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus.
And again, as we look back, we will see
that throughout that journey we have become more and more
like Christ.
And then Paul tells us here a number of ways
that we can start refocusing our minds
instead of focusing on whatever it is that's causing the anxiety.
He tells us some other things to focus on here in verse 8.
I'm just going to read the verse for you first
and then I'm going to put it on a chart for you.
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable,
whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely,
whatever is commendable.
if there's any excellence if there's anything worthy of praise,
think about these things.
So I thought it would just be easier for us
to look at them on a chart.
And you'll see on the screen right now I've got every one
of these things that I've just read.
I've got them on a chart.
And I've also included a column for God
and I've included a column for Satan.
And as you read through every one of those things,
I just want you to ask yourself, OK,
so which column would I place this in?
For example, where would we place whatever is true?
We're going to place it in the column for God, aren't we?
So as we work our way through every one of those things,
guess what?
They're all in the column for God.
So can you see where I'm going here?
As we are going through the trial that has caused the anxiety,
we are to focus on those things that we know are from God,
not the things that we know are not from God
or that those things that are from Satan.
And the way we make every one of these things appear
in Satan's column is just simply add this word, not.
Whatever is not true, whatever is not honorable,
whatever is not just, whatever is not pure,
whatever is not lovely, whatever is not commendable,
anything that is not excellent, anything that is not worthy
of praise, that one word, that one three-letter word
would cause every one of these things to fit in the column
for Satan.
And let's just be clear, that is not what we are to think about.
We are just to think about those things that we know are from God.
Again, we are talking about radical joy this morning, not just joy.
And then finally, verse nine, Paul says,
what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me.
Practice these things.
And the God of peace will be with you.
Now, the practicing is hard.
You notice Paul's not just saying, do these things one time
and the God of peace with you.
That is not what he is saying.
He's saying, practice these things.
Do them over and over and over again.
Do them so many times that it just
becomes a normal part of the way you live your life.
Do them over and over and over again.
Practice these things.
And then he says, and the God of peace will be with you.
Now, let's just face it.
Practicing is not fun, is it?
I'm not sure what we could come up with as a subject
and say practicing would be fun for.
But I will tell you, when I was learning to play the piano,
practicing was not fun at all.
Not at all.
My dad would sit down with me Monday through Friday
every night for 30 minutes, and we practiced.
And I've often thought, as I've looked back over the years,
I would have probably never learned to play had it not
been for my dad being willing to devote his time in my life
to make certain that I practiced.
But it wasn't fun.
Guess what?
It's still not fun.
And yes, I do still practice.
I know if I'm going to keep the skill,
I have to practice.
And it is not fun when I practice.
But I do it.
Why?
Because I don't want to lose the skill.
I don't want to lose the skill.
Now, when we are thinking about what Paul is telling us
to do this morning, he said, we are to practice these things.
We are to practice them to the point that that just
becomes who we are.
It's to the point that that's the way that we live our lives.
And then he says, and the God of peace will be with you.
And when we experience that, when we get to that point where
all of these things that we have seen Paul demonstrate to us
that we put into practice in our everyday lives,
then we will experience the radical joy
that Paul has been talking about today.
I wonder, as you look at your life this morning,
would you say that you've got this radical joy?
Again, remember that joy and happiness don't necessarily
mean the same thing.
I wonder this morning, is there one here
that does not know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior?
If the answer to that is yes this morning,
I can promise you one thing.
It doesn't matter what you think your biggest problem is.
Your biggest problem is that you are apart from Jesus
right now.
That is the biggest problem.
And I want you to know if you don't know Jesus
as your Lord and Savior, that can be settled today.
We would love to introduce you to this man named Jesus Christ.
Perhaps there are people here this morning that
are carrying heavy burdens.
Can I tell you something?
Burdens are lifted at Calvary.
Just like the old song says, Jesus is very near.
He is very near this morning.
I wonder, do you know him?
Perhaps someone just needs to come forward and pray
at this altar and give your burden to Jesus.
Realize that you don't have to carry it alone.
Maybe there are people here this morning that desire
to move their membership here.
If that's you, I would encourage you to come forward
during this time of invitation this morning.
But before we give the invitation,
I just want to stop just a moment and explain.
There have been times throughout the years
that people have asked, so how exactly does a person come
to a saving faith in Jesus Christ?
And I am really, many of you have heard me say this before.
I really do believe it's as easy as we teach children
in Vacation Bible School that it is.
It's the ABCs of salvation.
We've got to be willing to admit that there's sin
in our life, that we've got to be willing to admit
that we're sinners, that we're not perfect people.
And as a result of that sin, it's caused a separation
in our lives between us and God.
And that separation is so big that there's just nothing
that we can do on our own to get from where we are
to where God is.
The B stands for believe.
We've got to believe that Jesus is God's Son.
We've got to believe that the Bible is true,
that it means what it says.
We've got to believe that Jesus loved us so much
that he died on the cross for us, that he truly died,
that his body was removed from the cross,
that it was buried, and on the third day,
that tomb was empty because he had rose again.
And that's why we celebrate Easter.
And the C stands for confess.
We've got to confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord.
And that the C of all the A, B, and Cs,
I believe the C is probably the most difficult
of all of the A, Bs, and Cs because the C involves
a process of repenting and turning from a life of sin.
But again, if you do not know Jesus,
we would love to introduce you to him today.
Would you pray with me?
Father, thank you for your presence in this place.
Father, I thank you for knowing that even through
the trials of life that we can indeed experience
radical joy.
Father, I pray that each of these things
that Paul has demonstrated to us
throughout the book of Philippians,
what I pray that each day we would be found
practicing those things.
And Father, I pray that we will show the world
what a relationship with Jesus Christ looks like.
I pray that the people, especially non-believers,
who look at us here at Pleasant Hill,
I pray that they will know that we are Christians
because of the love that we have for each other.
Father, I pray right now, especially for people
who do not know you as their Lord and Savior.
Father, I pray that we will see salvation
in this place today.
I pray that we will see decisions made in this place today.
And I pray that we will see burdens laid
at the foot of the cross.
And it's in the name of Jesus that I pray these things.
Amen.
Hello, this is Pastor Todd,
and I'd like to say thank you for listening
to this podcast today.
If you have questions about a relationship with Christ,
or if you would like more information about connecting
with us at Pleasant Hill Baptist Church,
we'd love the opportunity to share with you.
Please contact us in the church office at 606-679-3402,
or through our website at phbcsomerset.com.
Thanks again, and until next time,
may the Lord bless you and keep you.
May the Lord make his face to shine upon you
and be gracious to you.
And may the Lord lift up his countenance upon you
and give you peace.