Hey, good morning. Good morning. Welcome to Coffee and devotions gonna jump on the computer and make sure everybody able is able to join us live. Make sure this is going out. This is going live. Okay, I think we're just about ready. Well, good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Welcome to Coffee and devotions is where every day you and I, we get together have a little bit of coffee, we get into God's word and we grow in our love for the Lord together. And Lord willing this year. We'll make it all the way from the book of Acts to the book of Philemon. We're trucking right along we are at at Philippians chapter three beginning at verse 17. And we'll go all the way to chapter four, verse seven, when we have some coffee, we'll pray and we'll get into the Lord's word.
Let's pray. Oh, Father, we thank you so much for the blessing it is to get to read your word. It truly is a gift from you. Father, we pray that as we read it now that you would be with us, you would be caring for us. You'd be teaching us and you would be working in our hearts and in our lives in such a way that we would live these things out in Jesus's name. Amen. All right, so we read Philippians chapter four Philippians chapter four beginning at verse or sorry, three beginning at verse 17. Philippians chapter three, beginning of verse 17. Going through chapter four, verse seven. Not that I have already obtained or am No, that's first of all. Brethren, join in following my example. And note those who saw walk as you have us for a pattern, for many Walk Of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping at their enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things. For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may become that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which he is able even to subdue all things to himself. Therefore, my beloved and longed for brethren, my joy and crown, so standfast and the Lord beloved I implore you, odia and I implore a sim Tiki to be of the same mind in the Lord. And I urge you also true companion, help these women who labored with me in the Gospel, with Clement also and the rest of my fellow workers whose names are written in the Book of Life. Rejoice in the Lord always. And I will say, rejoice. Let your gentleness sorry, let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. Be anxious for nothing, 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 minds through Christ Jesus. Well, we need to ask ourselves a What's this about? Be what's the best first to summarize this and see, what are we called to do in response to this? So there's really a few different parts of this section that we're looking at today. First, in verses 17 through the end of the chapter of chapter three, Paul is talking about what's to come and who we are, where our true hope really lies. And so he tells them, brethren, he's speaking to the whole church here. He says, join him following my example and take note of those who so walk as you have asked for a pattern. What is he talking about? He's talking about the dogs, the muta leaders, those are the circumcision, right? People who are who are going about spreading false doctrine, he says don't pay attention to them. Remember how we walked? Take note of how they walked and take note of how we walked take note of their ungodliness and take note of our holiness, because they're truly enemies of the cross. There are people in this world who are enemies of the cross people who do not like Jesus who twist Jesus who, who takes the things of the Scriptures and make up their own fables and their own systems for whatever they want. And he says take note of them. Don't walk in their ways. He's told them I told you this often weeping that there are enemies of the cross. And he tells talks about them in verse 19, whose end is destruction whose God is their belly, whose glory is in their shame set their minds on earthly things. says These people are all about themselves, all about their wants all about their desires all about their own passions. He says that's when you look at their lives. And people see that that's not the way of holiness.
And he says in verse 20, For our citizenship is in heaven. Notice the contrast here. Their glory is in their shame, but the Christian citizenship is in heaven. From which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it will become conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which he is able even to subdue all things to himself. Do you see he said he says, those of us who are holding on to the true faith or waiting for Jesus Christ to return, we're longing for the resurrection. We're living in light of our citizenship that's in heaven. So you might be a citizen of the United States. or India or some other country. But our citizenship is ultimately truly in heaven. And we're awaiting that day when Jesus Christ will return and our physical bodies will be raised up from the dead and we'll be transformed and conformed. Given a body like his, he says, This is what you need to look for brethren. You need to you need to mark what we're hoping in and look at these people and see the emptiness, the vanity, the idolatry. Of what they're holding on to, and you ought to be able to push it to the side and keep walking towards Christ. Therefore, my beloved and long for brother and my joy and my crown, stand fast and the Lord Beloved, you can hear the pastor's heart here. It loves them. It says there his joy in his crown when he goes to heaven. When the Apostle Paul went into glory, Jesus Christ gave him a crown, a crown for being a shepherd of his people. And he took that crown and he put it at the feet of Jesus Christ. In his heart is of joy in the people of Philippi. He loved them, he cared for them. So stand firm, right with this fatherly compassion. He looks at them and he says, keep going. Right? Keep standing firm in the faith that was handed to you, that you received by the Holy Spirit. This is a faith you cling to. And so this is the conclusion of that whole matter of him trying to encourage them one last time. There's these false people, and there's the true gospel, follow the true gospel. And then in chapter four, verse two, picks up on a different theme. Right now he's got, again, the pastor's heart here. He needs to do some reconciliation. He implores two different women in the church of odia and think Dickie to be of the same mind in the Lord right? These ladies are going at it. No but no church ladies ever go at it right? All the ladies in the church always have the same that same mind and always get along right No, now they're sinners in the church. But this doesn't mean he doesn't think of them as Christians. This doesn't mean he doesn't think of them as belonging to the Lord. No, he says, I urge you also true companion to help these women who labored in the Lord with me in the Gospel, with Clement, also an author and the rest of my fellow workers whose names are in the book of life. He says, they worked with me in the gospel, they were co laborers in the Gospel, along with Klymit. If you if you want to rabbit trail research, go look up the for the book of First and Second Klymit. It's he's one of the church fathers. And he writes, we've actually got some of Clemens writings. Anyways, that's just a rabbit trail, but he's imploring these women to get along.
To remember the foundation of the relationship was in Jesus Christ. And we don't know who his true companion this year who he's writing this to, but there's obviously a pastor in the church now, and he's writing to them and saying, hey, help these women reconcile. And then he says in verse four, Rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say, rejoice. This is a truism. This is a command from the Holy Spirit. Rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say rejoice is really hard to do. It cannot be it cannot mean be happy, happy, happy all the time. It cannot mean to plaster a fake smile on your face. No, I'm working through getting through Tim Charlie's book on sorrow right now as he works through the death of his 20 year old son. And as he thinks through the death of his son, there's this deep well of joy but that well of joy is often clouded by real sorrow, and real fear, and grief, and at times, even despair. But there is within this man a treasury of joy, that when everything is wrong, he knows that Christ is worthy of praise. And there's a silver lining at the end of the dark clouds, he knows that there's sunshine there somewhere. But the glory of Jesus Christ is still shining. I don't know what you're going through right now. I don't want to tell you to just act like all your problems don't exist. No. The Holy Spirit commands you to rejoice. Rejoice in the Lord always. And again. I say rejoice your rejoicing is in someone. Rejoicing as in the Lord, that when you suffer, you know he also suffered. When you despair, you know that he also went through trials when you're persecuted you know, he also was persecuted. When you receive good things, you rejoice because you know all good things come from him. So rejoice in the Lord always. Verse five, let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. Christians must be ought to be need to be should be gentle. It was Jesus who said he is he is gentle, and lowly. Do we follow in the way of our Master? Gentle with people? Doesn't mean that Jesus doesn't know how to ask. pointed questions, does mean Jesus says know how to call out sin. But as the book of Isaiah describes him, he's that shepherd who comes and brings a lamp to his chest. And he cares for them. He's the one who's gentle and tells the children or tells His disciples do not forbid the children from coming unto me. It's Jesus, who time and time again shows us compassion to those who are sick. And poor, and outcast. Are we gentle like Christ? And lastly, verses six and seven. And this is one that's worthy to be memorized. All of these are worthy to be memorized. But verses six and seven Be anxious for nothing 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 minds in Christ Jesus. Be anxious for nothing. Let me just give you some litmus test between between things that are legitimate concerns and anxiety. Is this something that keeps you up at night? If something is robbing you of your sleep, then it might be that this is something you're anxious about. The Lord gives his loved one sleep. And if this is something you can't sleep on, it might be something that you haven't given to the Lord yet. Next, is it a legitimate concern? Is there something you can actually do? about it? If not, give it to the Lord. Is it changing your attitude towards other causing you to be harsh, not gentle. tempting you to not love others.
That's probably something you ought to take to the Lord. Pray about and give to him. Is it robbing you of the joy of the things that you do have? Is this thing that you are concerned about thinking about turning over in your mind in your heart again and again? Is it keeping you from rejoicing and enjoying the good blessings that God has given to you in this life? If so, it's anxiety and you need to take it to the Lord. And notice how this pattern goes here. You do not be anxious for anything. So how do we deal with that anxiety? Do not be anxious about anything, but by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving so we go to the Lord and we take it to him. We ask him, Lord, I can't handle this. I don't know what to do with this. This is consuming my heart. I need you to take care of this. And then very key important here with thanksgiving. Thank the Lord for all the circumstances around it all the good things through it the way the Holy Spirit is working in your heart. And thank him that he's teaching you humility in this. To be able to trust your sovereign, trust your maker. Trust your god to handle these things. Let your requests be made known to God and what is the result of this? Verse seven. And the peace of God that surpasses all understanding, will guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus. It means that your mind and your heart must be stayed on Christ. As you go to God in prayer, as you go to him with your prayers and supplications with thanksgiving, your ultimate joy, your ultimate rest must be on the person of Jesus Christ. And then you will have perfect peace because your mind has stayed on him. Well, I feel like we've already done a whole lot of what is this about? I'm gonna just tell you best verses. I'm going to in my Bible, underline verse 17. And 18 Because I think that describes both the apostles walk and the the dogs or the muta leaders walk in verse 18. Maybe, but that will lead me to verse 19. And then I really, really like verse 21. And then for calling I really like chapter four, verse one, stand firm, therefore, stand fast in the Lord. And then that next section two through seven, I'm not sure I would underline any one passage to underline to go through those because these are a number of bullet points boom, boom boom, that the apostle Paul is going through. But last see calling. I think we've already covered that. But I want to leave you with this. Fix your mind on Jesus Christ. A common theme that runs through all of this. Fix your mind on Christ. Look to Jesus Christ. Remember the true gospel stand firm in your hope of the gospel. Look for the resurrection for that glorious day will come when we will be confirmed unto his body. When you are in disagreement with others in the church. Look to the gospel of Jesus Christ and find peace. When you have trials and difficulties in your life or when things are going well rejoice in our Lord. Jesus Christ. Be gentle, like Christ. And as you pray, taking your anxieties to the throne of Jesus Christ, know that he truly cares for you and may the peace of Jesus Christ wash over your soul. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for the work you have done in our hearts. We thank you so much for Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Father, we pray that we would stand firm in our faith and that we would have a peace and a joy that could only come from you in Jesus's name, Amen. Good Lord bless you. When you walk in the joy and peace I could only come from Jesus Christ. And I'll see you tomorrow. Bye
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