Address—Wally Dear
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Could we begin our meeting this afternoon by seeing 303?
#303.
When Israel by divine command the pathless desert trod, they found throughout the barren land a sure resource in God.
Verse 6 Lord, tis enough, we ask no more. Thy grace around us pours its rich and unexhausted store, and all its joy is ours #303.
When Israel?
Body divides the.
Cloud, they found out.
I should resource in love.
A glory.
Of marshmallow Marshmallow.
I.
Have progressed in here singular from us about your first.
Like every *** of a desertion.
But it's outside your heart.
And then it's thrown out of the world.
And.
Shall we pray?
Our God and our Father, we thank Thee.
This afternoon, that Israel's God.
Is our God.
And we think of thy earthly people and how they travel through that desert.
And how thou does provide for them at every step.
And they found a sure resource indeed, our God.
And we rejoice this afternoon to know.
That thou does provide.
For each of us.
In a wonderful way, as we pass along life's pathway, we thank Thee for that.
Food. That living food.
We think of Thy word. Thou is given to us to encourage our hearts. We thank You for Thy spirit.
By which we enter into and enjoy thy truth.
And so we feel so blessed.
And we thank Thee for one more opportunity to open Thy word and pray that as we continue this meeting that Thou wilt have Thy way. Thou knowest in particular need of each one present. And we pray that something from Thy word might be ministered in such a way that it would meet the need. Might be a wording season. And so we ask all now as we give Thee our thanks for this time.
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Together.
Seeking Thy help and Thy own precious and most worthy name, Lord Jesus, Amen.
I would like to turn this afternoon.
To the book of Philippians.
I'd like to read the 1St 9 verses.
Of chapter four of the Book of Philippians.
And I believe in these 9 verses.
We have 9 exhortations.
Or could we say commands?
And they're simple.
And.
I believe that the apostle Paul in writing to the Philippians.
He wrote from a prison.
At least he was chained, perhaps to a guard, then prisoned.
About four years and you know he had at heart.
Not his own interests, but the interests of God.
And his people, what a deep love.
The apostle Paul had for the church, for the people of God.
Because he had a deep love for the Lord, he enjoyed the Lord's love in his own heart.
And it influenced what he thought, what he said.
And what he did and his was one beautiful life.
Well.
Let's read these first nine verses.
Philippians, Chapter 4.
And verse.
1.
Therefore, my brethren, dearly beloved, and longed for my joy in crown, so stand fast in the Lord. My dearly beloved, I beseech you odious, and beseech Sintequi, that they be of the same mind in the Lord.
And I entreat thee also, true Yoke fellow, help those women which labored with me.
In the gospel with Clement also, and with other my fellow laborers whose names are in the book of life.
Rejoice in the Lord alway. And again I say, rejoice, let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. Be careful 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 passeth 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, and if there be any praise.
Think on these things.
Now before I go any farther.
I have a question.
Is this meeting 3/4 of an hour or an hour?
One hour, I see somebody going like that, OK.
Well, I would like to say.
That.
The apostle starts off the chapter here. Therefore well when you see a word like this.
It's a good idea to read what comes before because what we just read.
Apparently flows from.
What was previously written?
And so let's back up and we'll read verse 20 and 21.
The apostle says for our conversation or citizenship is in heaven.
From whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body, or body of humiliation, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body, according to the working, whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself.
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Here we have brought before us the wonderful truth.
Of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And these exhortations that we have just read.
Are given in light of his coming and it could be today.
And the apostle says, here we look for the Savior.
He doesn't say here we wait for the Savior.
Of course he was waiting.
But he was looking.
Are you looking for the Lord Jesus Christ to return?
I believe it would delight his heart.
To know that you're not only waiting for his coming, but you're watching for his coming.
Not that long ago, we.
Visited dear brother, his wife had passed away.
But he had a little companion in the house.
There's a little dog.
Can't recall the exact breed of the dog.
But a cute little dog Frisky.
And I know our brother thought a lot of this little dog.
And you know, we went to visit another assembly and on the way he told us.
That this little dog.
When he leaves.
Finds a place and a window sill.
And.
He sits there on the window sill.
And I thought to myself, that little dog.
He's got one person on his mind, this dear brother.
Maybe you wouldn't mind if I mentioned his name, Brother Huff?
So he tells us all about this.
While we were away for quite a time. And of course I didn't forget what he had to say.
About the little dog. And so we returned. It was night, it was dark.
And of course, we're going to wonder now.
Is that little dog in the window?
Well, we came close to the house, there was a light on in the house and sure enough.
There he was.
On the sill looking out and we drive up the driveway.
And that little dog off the windowsill bounced toward the door. So happy to see our brother return.
I thought to myself.
Am I as happy as that little?
Creature.
To think of the Lord's coming.
And will it just rejoice my heart?
To see him well as I look around.
The gymnasium here this afternoon.
I see those that have big smiles on their face. I know you're looking forward to the return of your Savior, the Lord Jesus, the one who gave his life that you might live.
The one who suffered untold agony on that cruel cross of Calvary.
In order that you and I, we might be delivered.
From judgment that we might go judgment free, we had it brought before us.
In a meeting this morning, the sufferings of Christ, what he endured.
On your behalf and mine.
It ought to cause in our hearts a response.
And we ought to each, I believe, be.
Looking for the Savior?
The Lord Jesus Christ and it tells us He will change our vile bodies.
These bodies of humiliation.
And you know, in talking with different ones.
We find out that there's many.
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Dear Saints of God.
That are experiencing.
Physical problems and maybe they don't show it.
But when you talk with them, you find out.
A little bit about what they're going through and to my own heart, it's just amazing how some.
Go on with their affliction.
And when you look at them, you would never know it.
They still are beaming. And their faces.
They don't show it.
Well.
You know these bodies that are subject to illness, to infirmity.
They will be changed.
And it's going to happen in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. Now this is the blessed hope that we have. And it tells us He's going to do it according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.
You know Lord Jesus could say, all power is given unto me both in heaven and in earth, and He will subdue all things to Himself, even death, the last enemy.
Our Savior is victorious.
He arose a victor from the Dark Domain.
As we often sing, And he lives forever with his Saints to reign.
And we're going to reign with him.
And that's what we have to look forward to.
And we think about it as we experience the difficulties of life's pathway. This is not raining time now. This is training time. But the apostle and writing to Timothy, he said, if you suffer with him, you're also going to reign with him. And we look forward to that. Well, the apostle.
He carries on now into this next chapter. Therefore, my brethren, dearly beloved.
And notice the language in this verse, what endearing terms the apostle Paul uses in referring to the Saints of God.
It's beautiful to read.
What?
The apostle says here.
My brethren.
He delighted to think of believers as his brothers and sisters in Christ.
And he speaks of them as beloved.
But not only that, dearly beloved.
Is that the attitude of my heart? How about yours to God's people?
And longed for.
Longed for. What does that mean?
Could that mean that he longed to be with them?
He longed to be in their company.
Perhaps it could mean that he longed for their good.
Their welfare.
But.
Whatever it means, the Apostle Paul had a very positive attitude.
Toward his brethren.
And then he speaks of them as my joy and crown.
You know it rejoiced the apostles heart to think of those at Philippi.
Who had come to Christ, and there was assembly formed there, and there were those there that were growing in the Lord.
And we find that they had fellowship.
With the Apostle Paul they appreciated.
What he was doing.
They appreciated the Apostle Paul.
And he speaks of it, you know, in chapter one. How that.
Verse three I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine, for you all making requests with joy for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this very thing, that he which has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.
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There were other assemblies that weren't quite.
As warm hearted toward the apostle as those at Philippi.
The one at Philippi the Apostle.
Could speak of these ones as my joy and crown.
Perhaps the Crown would speak of a future time.
When the Lord, the apostle would see.
The Philippians in the presence of Christ, that is coming.
You know, he speaks of that writing to the Thessalonians.
Are not even ye my crown of rejoicing? That is coming. And so the apostle, I believe, looks ahead. But here's what he says. So stand fast in the Lord, stand fast.
Don't change your position.
The enemy wants us.
To give up.
He wants us to quit.
But the apostle is saying don't quit, don't give up, stand fast in the Lord.
Now he's not saying that we should.
Stand fast in our own ideas, in our own opinion.
Because it could be wrong.
And we find that there are those they adhere.
To an opinion that they think is right.
Only to find out in time they were mistaken.
But rather than owning the mistake.
They continue on.
And it's not a happy situation, you know, somebody said.
The next best thing?
To not making a mistake.
Is to admit you've made a mistake when you have. I speak to myself as much as to anyone.
We had read from Luke 15 this morning.
What a beautiful account we have there of the Prodigal having gone so far.
Away from home.
Far from his father, but his father is thinking about him even in the fire country. I believe it was pointed out at Saint John.
That where it speaks of when the father sees him afar off, it's the same word As for the far country.
And I enjoyed the thought that even though that prodigal.
That wayward son was far away. The father's thoughts were with him.
Far away, he's looking forward to his return.
But you know when the sun came back.
He said 3 words and I believe these 3 words are perhaps the hardest.
Words to speak.
In the human language.
I have sinned.
Oh, there was repentance there.
That's what the father appreciated.
It was the start of blessing and we find that the Father seemed like he couldn't do enough for his son.
But there was a willingness to own.
Sin.
A willingness to own mistake.
Not easy to do because you know, the last thing that dies in man, it has been said, is pride. Pride and pride is a big problem. It really is.
The middle letter, the word pride.
Is.
Big eye.
Middle letter of the word sin.
I.
It's not good.
God doesn't appreciate pride.
You know he's not going to give his glory to another.
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And God.
Is going to see to it that all glory goes to His Son.
He's given all things into his hand.
And when we get to the glory.
There's only one.
Who's get the praise and the adoration, and that will be?
The Son of God.
Of course, the father too.
The Father and the Son.
We're not going to see the Father with our.
Physical eyes, but we will see the sun.
But the Lord Jesus said he that has seen me has seen the Father so.
We're going to have a very real sense of the Father's presence.
When we get to his house and we look forward to that.
But all glory.
To the Son God would have all men to honor the Son.
Even as they honor the Father.
There's another word that has I right in the middle of it.
Faith.
FAITH.
Somebody said faith stands for forsaking all.
I take in.
I like that.
There's not a word. It has the word I twice.
Christian.
Christian.
And we've heard it said that, Christian.
Stands for Christ.
IANI am nothing.
Nothing.
Everything that we have, all that we are, that's in Christ.
And as I read down through this chapter here, how many times do we have 3 words in the Lord, in the Lord, in the Lord. And that's who the apostle wants you and I to stand fast. Not in our own thoughts, in our own ideas.
But stand fast in the Lord.
And again he says, my dearly beloved, you just.
I think it's so beautiful.
See how the Apostle addresses the Philippians.
The warmth of his heart for them.
It really warms my heart.
I'm sure it warms yours too.
Now.
It comes to mind that back in the.
Old Testament, Second Samuel, just like to turn there. And I know we're familiar with this, but.
I don't think it hurts to go over these stories.
I find that when I read the word of God.
I can read the same story over and over and over.
And.
I enjoy it.
It's so different in the books of this world when you read the book.
You put it back on the shelf.
Maybe you take it down another time, might read it again. Probably not.
But the Word of God is so different. We have this book and we've been opening it time and time again in these meetings.
Why is this? Because it's a message from God to you and to me.
And I know we have earnest hearted souls here this afternoon that want to know what God has to say. You want to go God's way. You know that going this way is the happy way.
And you know God in his grace.
His marvelous kindness.
Has opened up to you and to me, his counsels, his mind.
And.
It's just so beautiful to realize that you and I, we have a very.
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Great place in his thoughts. His desire is toward us.
And we know that his desire is that his son should have a pride.
And you and I as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Are part of the bride of Christ.
What do you think the father thinks about the bride for his son?
You know, I believe there's nothing.
That God the Father.
Withholds from his son.
The Lord Jesus speaks of it.
He's given all things into his hands.
And the wonderful thing is that the bride of Christ is going to share those things.
All those things by virtue of the fact that we are His closest companion throughout eternity, we are His bride, and we look forward to the marriage supper of the Lamb. You know God has big plans for His Son.
And by virtue of this, big plans.
For you and for me.
Who is it that conceived this idea?
That the church.
With his son.
Should be so blessed while we sing to him, don't we? The thought is dying, referring to God the Father.
His purposes? Councils.
In a past eternity, He had you and me in his sights and.
He's made it possible whereby we can be brought into a relationship.
As children, but also as.
The Bride of Christ.
Well, coming back to this chapter here in Second Samuel 23.
And verse.
11 Now here we have David's mighty men brought before us.
And they did great feats.
In devotedness to the Captain of their salvation.
That was David. He became a captain over them.
And he met their needs, but they did mighty feats.
I believe it was in love.
For David.
And perhaps two, because of the fact that David was a man of God that had faith in God.
You know, if we have faith in God.
We not only appreciate God, but we appreciate those.
Who?
Serve him.
And certainly David was a man after God's own heart, a man who trusted.
In the Lord. But notice what this man Shama did.
Second Samuel 23 and verse 11. And after him was Shama the son of Aegy the heroite. And the Philistines were gathered together into a troop, where was a piece of ground full of lentils. And the people fled from the Philistines, but he stood in the midst of the ground and defended it.
And slew the Philistines, and the Lord wrought a great victory.
Now here was a man that stood his ground.
When everybody was running away.
He believed he was doing the right thing.
And he was, because it clearly tells us it was the Lord.
That gave him the victory.
But he stood his ground, and he saw this one going.
This other one going, I don't know, maybe they fought for time but they give up.
And they run away. And now here he is, all by himself.
Is he going to turn and run? No.
It said he stood in the midst of the ground.
You know, I'd like that thought, too. He was right in the midst. He wanted all of it.
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You know, there's the middle of this gym here.
And.
If I had really long arms.
The best way to reach out to everybody?
In the audience.
Would be to stand right in the middle of that circle over there.
If I try to reach out from this point here, I might have long arms, but I probably couldn't reach way out over there into the corners. This man, he wanted all the ground. He wanted all the lentils. They were important to him.
And it tells us that.
When the other people said from the Philistines, it says he slew the Philistines.
So, you know, it's a word to my own heart that we.
We don't give up and quit when the going gets tough.
Of course, if we're all by herself, we might.
Ask am I on the right track? But if God shows us that we are, I believe.
We need to hold.
A grant.
The world places great importance on numbers.
Strength in numbers. The majority rules.
And we've got an election coming up in this country.
And of course, typically the one who gets the most votes.
Is going to be the one that rules in this country going to be the president?
The majority rules, but we find in the word of God doesn't work that way.
No, Often those that are acting according to God's mind, they're in the minority.
And maybe even down to one.
That's how it was here.
But it's been said before, I think it's worth repeating.
God plus one makes a majority.
So stand fast.
In the Lord.
The Lord is going to give you victory.
The Lord will stand by you.
Just as he did by Shama.
My brother John read from Second Chronicles. Is it chapter 20, Jehoshaphat, you know, he's faced with this tremendous.
Enemy.
He said we have no might.
Against this great host it comes against us. Neither know we what to do.
But our eyes are upon thee.
And the prophet, he gets up and he gives a word in season to encourage God's people. At that time, the battle is not yours, it's God's.
God fights the battle.
And of course, we know the outcome when this is the case.
It's VV.
Stand fast.
In the Lord.
Now that's the first exhortation. Now #2.
In verse two, I beseech you, Odious and beseech syndicate, that they be of the same mind in the Lord.
The same mind.
In the Lord.
You know, it tells us back in the Old Testament how good and how pleasant it is.
For brethren to dwell together in unity.
And we could turn to that. I believe it's Psalm 133, and there's a great blessing connected with that.
God appreciates.
That.
Practical expression.
Of the truth of the Church in this world.
And I must say, when we look about.
We see.
Such ruin.
And division scattering is so humbling to contemplate.
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The present state of the Church of God.
But I would say this even though things are so bad.
God is the same.
And we've been speaking about the Spirit of God.
The Holy Spirit is God.
And we have the presence, the power, and the action of God's Spirit, the Holy Spirit at work on the earth today.
And.
Because things are so bad is no excuse.
Why we should give up, throw up our hands in despair and say what's the use?
Of trying to act on the principles of God's Word.
God is sufficient.
He is.
But you know the pastor notice here at Philippi.
There were these two sisters, apparently, and there was some disagreement between them.
And.
I don't know that it was anything too serious at this point, but you know, there can be seeds.
Of.
Divisiveness.
That if they're not dealt with.
They germinate, they grow, and things can go from bad to worse.
The Apostle Paul, he sensed that there was this problem, and so there is this exhortation.
Be of the same mind in the Lord again.
In the Lord.
Now there are those in the world today.
And.
Dare gather together. The world has all kinds of clubs.
You know, and some aren't bad, but some aren't good. But the point here is.
Is it in the Lord? See.
Be of the same mind in the Lord.
We have the mind of Christ.
We have the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God doesn't lead.
Away from Christ.
The Spirit of God leads.
To the center.
And Christ is the center.
Of the assembly.
So.
It seems to me.
If we were to allow the Spirit of God to have his way in our lives.
We would be in the same place.
Would we not?
The same mind in the Lord. It's so beautiful when there is harmony amongst God's people.
And.
I think it was our brother Robert. He was referring there to Ephesians about.
Submitting to one another, you know.
Over there in chapter 5 of Ephesians.
Verse 21 Submit yourselves 1 to another.
In the fear of God, in other words, we don't always have to have our own way.
Let's think about.
What might please the other person? Well.
Be of the same mind in the Lord.
You say, well, it's such an impossible thing. It seems to have.
That are at odds.
Come together.
And actually agree.
But the Lord can do that.
We don't want it.
Limit his power, because there's nothing too hard for the Lord.
Now there's a third exhortation, verse three, and I entreat thee also true yoke fellow. I take the yoke fellow to be a paraphritis because we know that Epaphroditus was a dear servant of God that worked with the apostle. And I think the apostle dictated this particular letter to a paraditis, and I believe he was the one that carried it.
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But in any case, this is what he says. Help those women which labored with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellow laborers whose names are in the book of life.
Help those women which labored with me. It's not that they were involved in public speaking.
But there were ways in which the sisters were helping out in the gospel outreach, and the apostle could see there was need for help. So he says, help those women which labored with me in the gospel and, you know, among the people of God.
You find that there are those that are ready to help.
Others, not so much.
Some.
Perhaps he wouldn't.
Go to to seek help.
But others, they're easy to go to because they're ready to help.
Ready unto every good work, and the apostle he wants.
His yoke fellow to help another admonition era exhortation.
Now we come to verse 4. Rejoice in the Lord alway.
And again I say rejoice. You know your pastor Paul, he wasn't in nice circumstances.
But as was brought out yesterday.
The circumstances.
Don't create joy.
In our lives now. If they do, it's very temporary.
But the Apostle Paul, I think he'd already been four years in prison, if I'm not mistaken.
And.
He's rejoicing, I believe, joy.
Is repeated more times or rejoicing in this epistle than any other epistle.
17 times or more I believe.
And so we see that the apostle had something more than circumstances to delight his heart, and we know who it is. It was Jesus. Rejoice in the Lord.
He thought about those that were professing Christians.
In the previous chapter.
He speaks about.
Many who walk, verse eighteen, of whom I have told you often and now tell you, even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, whose glory is in their shame.
Who mind earthly things?
Well, certainly the apostle didn't rejoice in these ones.
But in spite of these ones that were so disappointing the Lord.
Was the same. He hadn't changed.
And the apostle could rejoice in the Lord, and so can you and I.
One there is above all others. Oh how he loves.
This is love beyond a brother's. Oh, how he loves.
Earthly friends may fail and leave US1 day, soothe the next day grieve us, but this friend will never forsake us. Oh how he loves. His love never changes and that's what we joy in. Rejoice in his love even though we can't rejoice always in one another.
The Lord is there, and we can rejoice in Him.
And when we do, this is a testimony to the worth.
Of Christ, people look at you, you got a happy face, you're beaming when things are going bad economies.
Hurting.
World conflict.
Problems at home and abroad and so on and so forth. What makes you so happy?
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Well, it's because we have the Lord.
We know the Lord Jesus.
And we know that he's going to set everything right in the coming day.
In the meantime, He goes with us day by day, never will leave or forsake us.
He helps us through every situation in life.
Sometimes.
He takes us over it, the difficulty sometimes he takes us around it.
But sometimes you just take us right through it.
I think that, you know, and I'm driving down the highway.
And then the traffic gets all backed up.
And you wonder what's going on.
What's happening here? Is there an accident?
There's a construction.
You come to an exit detour, you go out.
And detour shows you right where to go.
And you get right back on the highway.
Beyond the problem.
That's a good feeling, isn't it, to go around a problem like that?
Or sometimes.
All of a sudden the traffic breaks loose and you just go.
Roof sailing right along.
The problem? All the sun seemed to disappear.
Well, sometimes that's how it happens in our own experience. You know, the Lord can take away a problem. Simple.
But then sometimes we just have to go down the highway, stop and go, stop and go, stop and go, and finally we get through. Well, the Lord takes us through.
The difficulties too. So in whatever way the Lord works.
Is going to.
Help us through.
Well, verse five it says, let your moderation be known unto all men, or your yielding Ness be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.
Well, I believe the thought here is that.
We need to realize that the world.
We'll take advantage of the Christian.
And the world.
Threatens the Christian and so on.
But we don't always have to have our own way.
Because even if we lose out in this world, we're going to leave this world. The Lord is at hand, He's coming soon, and we're going to leave all this behind.
You know the Lord Jesus, it tells us when.
He was threatened. He threatened not again. When he was reviled, he reviled not again.
What did he do? He committed himself to him. That judges righteously.
He committed himself to God, to his Father, and it helped him through.
But if we're going to go through this world just fighting for our own rights.
We might be right, but it's going to hinder our testimony for Christ because that was not the attitude.
Of the Lord Jesus. They took advantage of Him.
But he knew that in the end.
All would work in his favor.
Now verse six, be careful for nothing or the thought here is be anxious for nothing. In other words, don't worry about anything. I think that's the thought.
It's another exhortation.
But we are creatures.
That tend to worry, don't we? And.
I remember hearing about an elderly lady and.
She said. You know.
I always seem to feel bad when I'm feeling good because I know before too long I'm going to be feeling bad again.
And, you know, we tend to look into the future like this and we worry.
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But God wants us to take one day at a time. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. Take no thought for tomorrow, because we're going to take thought for itself. It's going to take care of itself. And so God, he wants us to take one day at a time and trust Him.
For the next day.
And when we think about it.
I agree with that him, don't you?
#23.
We'll praise Him for what's passed and we trust Him for what's to come.
We look back, we can see that his way is the best way and he brought us to where we are. He's going to take us all the way home.
Now another exhortation in everything by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving.
Let your requests be made known unto God, and what's the result? The peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
We don't keep God's peace. His peace keeps us. It's wonderful.
But the formula is.
In everything by prayer and supplication, the Lord wants us to look to Him independence.
And express.
Our request to him, but with Thanksgiving.
Oh, how important this is. Thanksgiving gives glory to God.
That's why there's not too much Thanksgiving, maybe in the world. There's not a willingness to give glory to God.
The Lord says, Call upon me in the day of trouble. I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.
How many times has the Lord helped us out and we thank Him because He is the one to give us deliverance and He gets the glory. And furthermore, thankful people are happy people, they really are.
We have so much to be thankful for.
I understand Matthew Henry. He was a Bible scholar.
And one day he was accosted by thieves.
And they robbed him.
While he wrote down the experience in his diary.
And he wrote. You know, I'm thankful for four things.
Number one.
That even though I was robbed, I was never robbed before.
And #2 That even though they took my purse.
They didn't take my life.
And #3.
And even though they took everything that was in my purse.
There wasn't really that much in it.
And #4.
I was the one that was robbed.
And it wasn't.
Me that did the robbing.
Now here's a man, he looks at this experience in his life.
And he gives thanks to God for it.
You know, it looks on the bright side, and that's so good, isn't it?
I think if the Lord himself.
And how this morning we had the privilege to remember the Lord Jesus in his death.
And we follow his example because he took the bread and he gave thanks for it. Think about it, that which spoke of his deepest suffering, he gives thanks for this and then the cup likewise.
So amazing. Well, may we give thanks too now.
We got about 2-3 minutes left, first eight, just a long verse.
But this simply tells us we need to be occupied with that which is good.
That which is good.
And pardon me, but I came up with this little acronym and I call it the J plug because I have a hard time to remember the sequence of what we have in this first. So the J plug, now it doesn't fit perfectly, but.
Let's see what we've got. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true.
Whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure.
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Whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report.
If there be any virtue and if there be any praise, think on these things, exhortation to fill our minds with that which is good. And this is what characterized the Lord Jesus Himself. And if we're occupied with Him, I believe these things will characterize our thinking. Satan is trying to get our minds, bombarding our minds with anything and anybody but Christ.
And.
He seems to be successful in so many cases. Now verse 9. Those things which he had both learned and received and heard and seen in me.
Do, and the God of peace shall be with you.
The apostle Paul, he was living embodiment of the truth that we have here in this portion. He was an example of the believers and the power of example. How great it is. And he says now you do what you learned, received, heard and seen in me, do it. And the Lord Jesus said, if you know these things, happy are ye if you do them.
And here is the wonderful consequence. It says the God of peace shall be with you. I think that's even more wonderful than the peace of God.
Because the peace of God is part of God. But now we've got all of God.
The God of peace going with us day by day. Well, may we be encouraged just to go on with the Lord the little while that remains. And He's 9 exhortations. Maybe we just take them to heart. And the Lord desires your richest blessing. He has your best interest at heart to your young people. He wants you to be thoroughly happy. He's a happy God, as we've had before us.
And he's made it possible that it could be so.
Let's just pray together. Our Father, we just want to thank Thee for this time together over Thy word. And these days of meetings, we do feel so privileged and so blessed, and we ask that that will keep us in the path of Thy choosing and that we might keep our focus on the Lord Jesus.
That we might be rejoicing.
In the Lord and I love.
In the exceeding riches of thy grace, and Thy power to meet our every need.
We thank thee for thy all sufficiency.
So we do commit.
The balance of the day-to-day.
And just give thanks for this opportunity to be together. And as we go our various ways, we pray that Thou will keep each one safe on the highways. And we we just shine for Thee in our little corners like little candles burning in the night. Wherever Thou has placed us, we ask it all, giving thanks in thy worthy name, Lord Jesus, Amen.