4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Hymns:
434 Glorious things of thee are spoken
453 O Perfect Love, All Human Thought Transcending
271 Rock of Ages
400 O Love that Wilt Not Let Me Go
300 Take Time To Be Holy
79 Lord, Dismiss Us with Thy Blessing
41—4 Be This while Life Is Mine
Sermon Notes:
There are many things in this world that are troubling to us.
So when we are faced with this command to rejoice in the Lord always seems a bit difficult to do.
It is rejoice always....not just when things are easy, not just when all is going well, but to do so at all times. It is not optional.
The joy that we are to have is IN the Lord.
It is grounded in who he is.
In what he as done , in what he will do and what he is now doing. We rejoice IN the Lord.
God upholds us even this very day.
He builds his church, he rescues his people, he holds his people at all times. His grace is always sufficient for us.
If we want to, we can always find a season to rejoice in him. Even though we can always find ways to be distracted from doing so by the troubles in life.
We are to not let the troubles of life stop us from doing so.
We need to remember how we are to treat each other: be nice to each other. Be reasonable with each other. Regardless of how we feel. Treat each other well.
Do not be anxious about anything.
But everything..with prayer and supplication let your requests be made known to God.
Be thankful when you make your requests to God.
Be thankful. Rejoice always. Be gentle and patient with everyone. Do not be anxious. We cannot do this on our own.
God helps us. His word is a help to us. His Spirit lives in us as a ready helper.
The Lord is our deliverer.
If we remember this it helps us to rejoice in him always.
It helps us to remember to give thanks as we pray.
If we pray as God wants us to.....continually..God will give us peace.
And when we feel that lack of peace we need to go back go him...we should be driven back go him with our need and our thankfulness.
We need to keep going to God in prayer. Always. And so we have God's peace be IN us.
That peace guards our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
God's peace is not easily understood......it surpasses our understanding. But is a guard for us.
So pray much! Rejoice always!!