 Beginning here in chapter 4, beginning at verse 6, reading to verse 9, the apostle Paul writes, Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God, and he will ignore you. Oh no, I'm sorry. And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there's any virtue, and if there's anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you. Now, as we've been going through chapter 4, the apostle Paul just encouraged these believers by reminding them that the Lord, he said, is at hand. And so he was encouraging them to remember that the Lord is at hand. Notice in verse 5, he had said, let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. And so he's encouraging them by reminding them of a couple of things. One is the Lord is soon to return. It's like it says in James in chapter 5 verse 8 where James said, You also be patient, establish your hearts for the coming of the Lord is at hand. And so one, the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ is intended to bring comfort and to strengthen our hearts. It's not something that should cause us to have any fear or disappointment. That actually should be something that just knowing that the Lord has promised to return, it really ought to motivate us, it ought to strengthen us, and it ought to bring comfort to us. So on the one hand, he speaks concerning the fact that the return of the Lord is at hand. The Lord is at hand, but there's a second way you can approach this. And that would be not only is his return soon, but he is also presently close by. He's at hand or he's close by. In other words, we need to realize that though he time wise may be in the future before he returns, yet presently. And this is what brings strength to us, not only the hope of him returning, but presently he is with us now. He hasn't left us, neither has he forsaken us. He's not distant from us, but he's present with us. And because he is present with us, then he can comfort us even now. It's like it says in Psalm 145 verse 18, the Lord is near to all who call upon him, to all who call upon him in truth. He is near to you, he's even within you. And so there's this knowledge that God is at hand in the sense that he's right with me and by his spirit he's in me. I am the temple of the spirit of God. But not only that, but I also have hope for the future as he's going to return. And so as he speaks concerning that, he's saying you need to be strengthened by this. You need to have confidence because God is with you. And you need to realize, he's saying, and this of course applies to all believers, but you need to realize that he is present in your time of need, that he's not distant from you. It's like it says again in the Psalms in Psalm 46 verse 1, God is our refuge and strength. He's a very present health in trouble. And so be aware of this. Because God's return, Jesus' return is at hand, and because he is present with you, that means that there are some practical aspects to that. And so verse 6 would tell us, so be anxious for nothing. If the Lord's return is at hand, if the Lord is with you and very present to help you in your time of need, then don't be so anxious, don't be worrying. Be anxious for nothing, he says. That word anxious means to be troubled. It speaks of worry. It speaks of being filled with cares, distressing anxiety. And so what he's saying here is have no distressing anxiety about anything. You don't have anything to worry about. You don't have a need to have care. Now, on the one hand, having a sense of care or concern is an important thing, caring about people, having a loving concern for them when you see they're in need. Well, in a sense that is appropriate. I mean, that's what drives you to your knees in the first place when you have a concern and a care for others. And Scripture teaches us that as believers we should have a compassionate concern for people's welfare. It's like what James in chapter 2 verses 14 through 17 says, when he asks the question, what good is it my brothers if a man claims they have faith but has no works? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, go, I wish you well, keep warm and well-fed, but does nothing about his physical needs, well, what good is it? In the same way he says, faith by itself, if it's not accompanied by works, is dead, being alone. There's nothing there, it's just all talk, it's just words. And that's why Galatians 6-10 says, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers. Be caring and concerned about those who have needs. So on the one hand, there is a proper concern that we have, but that's not saying we worry about people. What that says is we should have a compassionate concern. You see, to be filled with care or to be continuously anxious is really to be in the state of sin because, and this seems foreign to many, because you're really in a state of unbelief. When you're constantly in worry and concern, you're really in a state of unbelief. You're not trusting God. Mom believed that it was her holy obligation to be worried constantly. I know no other moms in this room feel that way. My mom was unique in that, I'm sure. She just felt that it was her job to worry. And then she got saved. And then one day she was speaking to me and she said, you know, she says, I'm kind of worried. And I said, no. She said, no, I'm worried because I'm not worried. It was such a habit for her. I'm worried because I'm not worried. You know, she had discovered something. She had discovered that she didn't need to be overly concerned and anxious about things because if I become overly concerned and over anxious about things, I'm actually saying that God is smaller than the problem I have. That God is smaller than my problem. I'm saying that he's not strong enough or capable or caring enough to help me. That has been called a low view, a low view of God. Because when you have a low view of God versus a high view of God, when you have a low view of God, you're basically reducing him to be a man. Not only are you reducing him to be a fellow man, you're making him even less than yourself. And that's been called theologically a low view. There's a great writer, a devotional writer, everybody here knows him, I'll give you Tozer. And Tozer wrote in his book, The Knowledge of the Holy, the church has surrendered her once lofty concept of God and has substituted for it one so low, so noble, as to be utterly unworthy of thinking, worshiping men. This she has done not deliberately, but little by little, and without her knowledge. And her very unawareness only makes her situation all the more tragic. The low view of God, entertained almost universally among Christians, is the cause of a hundred lesser evils everywhere among us. A whole new philosophy of the Christian life has resulted from this one basic error in our religious thinking. God just isn't big enough to handle my problem. Well, that's what is called a low view of God. God is too small. We used to have a saying when I first got saved, all of you have heard it by now, your God is too small. We used to say that, your God is too small. Oh, I don't know what I'm going to do. And then we super spiritual, holy 20 year olds would look at one another and say, your God's too small. What we're trying to say is God is bigger than your problem. God is bigger, he's more capable. But it depends on your view, it depends on what you think God is like. And whether you think that God loves you and whether God is merciful and whether God is powerful, whether God is able, it really depends on your understanding. And if you get in the Word of God, you're going to see that he's able. It's when you're not in the Word of God, it's when you don't have your devotions, it's when you're not praying and seeking God and actually reading through the Word. It's when you're not seeing the incredible stories that you find from Genesis to Revelation, the things that are presented to us that are mind boggling. For God does such incredible things. It's when you're not reading the Word and not believing and trusting in him. It's when you're doing those kinds of things. I found that to be true in my own life. Perhaps I'm speaking to myself. I'll get this tape and I'll listen. But that's what happens. I've gotten away from the Word and so when you get away from the Word, you get away from the God of the Word. And what you end up being is overwhelmed by things that, for God, it's like a snap. What are you talking about? Listen, if God can raise Jesus from the dead, is your problem that bad? You don't know, Pastor Dave, that guy doesn't like me and I've been praying for weeks. Maybe he shouldn't. Maybe God's doing him a favor. Have you ever thought about that? God is able. If you walk out with anything, can you walk out with that? God is able. God is able to do abundantly above all you could ask or even think. God is able. And when you are anxious, when you're worried, it's the most useless expenditure of energy because you are worried about something you have no control over anyway. So here you are worrying about something you can't fix anyway. So why are you so worried? So the wisest thing that I'm learning to do is cast my cares on him because he cares for me. And I think that part of the problem is is I have to remember he does care for me. You know, I was, like many of you perhaps, there have been times in my life where I have said, I know God cares, but he cares for others. He just doesn't really care that much about me. And I had to discover that if God so loved the world, that world included David. That means God so loved David too. Not just so loved my mom and my dad and my brothers, my brother and my sisters and others. Then I had to begin to believe that God has the ability, not only the ability, he also has the willingness to help me, to care for me. Now, he doesn't always do exactly what I command him to do. As a matter of fact, he never does. But he most certainly does what is best for me. He always knows what is best. You know, there was this old show up on TV called Father Knows Best. He did in the 50s, he does now. He still knows best. He knows what is best for me. I just need to understand that. And so the God that you worship, do you have a low view of this God? Is he kind of like just a man, just an ordinary person with really no strength, or is he God? You see, as I've been saying, constant anxiety simply reveals a lack of faith and really a lack of trust in the Lord. It's really trusting in myself or others. And what that does is it produces in me, inward suffering, it produces what is called worry, it produces what is called fear. If you'd like to turn with me for a moment, you're saying, I have to change the pages of this Bible on my lap, yes please. Matthew chapter 6. Matthew chapter 6. I want to show you something there. This is in a very famous passage of scripture found in the Gospel of Matthew, the Sermon on the Mount. And here at verse 27, Matthew 6, beginning at verse 27, the Lord Jesus Christ gives us some insight. He begins in Matthew chapter 6, verse 27 with a question. Which of you, by worrying, can add one cubit to his stature? Can you stretch yourself 18 inches in height? So, then of course you can't. So why do you worry about clothing? Well, consider the lilies of the field. How they grow. They neither toil nor spin, and yet I say to you that even Solomon, in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now, if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you? Oh, you little faith. Therefore, do not worry. Saying, what shall we eat? What shall we drink? What shall we wear? For after all these things, the heathens or the Gentiles seek. Your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. Seek first the kingdom of God, his righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow. For tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. Now, he's not saying, ignore tomorrow. Now, that's equally bad. I mean, you know what, I know I owe some bills. I'll just forget about it, because God will take care of it. It's not as if the Lord's going to write a check and say, you know, I'm covering this, you know, and signs it, God. You know, it didn't work that way. What he's saying is, isn't it interesting, and all of us know that it is, because what Jesus is saying, I want you to see this again, what am I going to eat? What am I going to drink? And what am I going to put on? What am I going to wear? If you watch TV today or yesterday or when you go home, what are the commercials all about? What do you eat? What do you drink, right? And what do you wear? It's really interesting. The weekends are always given over to food and alcohol. If you watch the game, the game today, beer commercials, you know, they even have healthy beer now, I guess. The guy's pot bellies aren't that big, you know, because they're drinking light beer, they just drink tons more. Every weekend you have Alpoio Local, right? You have your beer commercials, you have your clothing commercials, and then from Monday through Friday, you have your rehab center commercials and lose weight clinics. Don't you? It's true. But during the week, you know, you can lose all the, get this fat band and this and that, you know. Lap band or whatever. Fat band is just a bunch of old guys playing music. But that's true. It's true. The weekend's given over to beer and food and all the clothing and everything, and the weekdays are usually given over to different kinds of commercials. But this is the stuff that we are based on. What will I eat? What will I drink? What will I put on? Because that, Jesus said, is what interests. Now check this out, Gentiles. As I said earlier, Gentiles is a euphemism. In the King James, it is basically saying, because these are the things that the pagans, the heathens, those who don't know God, don't occupy the minds. That's what Jesus was saying there. You see, in the New Testament, the Gentile, when you read about the Gentile, it's interesting that the Jews, when spoken of in the New Testament, are those who have a covenantal relationship with God. They are not walking in agreement with it, but he will speak of them as the people of God. But when he speaks concerning Gentiles, he says, they know not God. That's a real clear thing. When you see Gentiles, they have no relationship. They didn't have the law. They didn't have the Word of God. They know not God. And so when Jesus is speaking here in Matthew, and he speaks concerning these Gentiles, these pagans, these heathens, he's simply saying, you're a believer in a God who has the ability to take care of every basic need you have. And here you are worrying about, what am I going to eat today? What am I going to drink today? What am I going to put on? And he says, that's not for you to be worried about. Look at the sparrows. Is it God cares about them and you don't think he cares about you? Jesus was reasoning with people who didn't really want to reason with him. Because I'm telling you, in my own life and in my own ministry I've encountered more than a lot of people who have said, well, he does care theoretically. But practically, I'm not sure. And the bottom line is either he does or he does not care. And so, if I'm going to be anxious for nothing I need to first understand he does care. He does care. I have a God who can meet my need. I have that God. I have that God. Not a God that I have to cut myself and scream to heaven hoping that somehow he'll listen like the false gods that Elijah combated where all day long they got their blood and screamed to all. In a time of drought, you have Elijah come. He says, dig a pit. Drop an offering in it. Soak it with water. Soak it again. We're in a time of drought. We have no water and you're saying use all the water to soak this. And all he has to do is look up and ask the Lord, can you bring fire? And that's it. Is that just a story? That's something we all have to find out for ourselves. Is that just a story? And it's good for the kids. But see, kids don't pay bills, right? Kids don't have to bring food and put it on a table, do they? They don't have to make house payments. All they do is complain about what they're eating and what they're putting on. That's what kids do, right? See, so what we learn as believers is a very basic thing. This is so basic. Does God exist? And what kind of God is He? Does He exist? And what kind of God is He? If I took the humanist perspective, I would say, well, what kind of God? If there's a God, something that's mightier than anything else in this entire universe, hmm. Well, as I look at it, there's this theory of survival of the greatest, which means that the bigger things have a tendency of eating the littler things all the way up that food chain. So if God is the absolutely greatest of all things on some cosmic food chain, what kind of God is He? He's a God who eats everybody up. That's kind of how I think. It makes sense to me. Because that's all I see in the natural world. That's why the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto Him. Neither can He know of them for they are spiritually discerned. Because using logic and observation, I would have to say that big dog will beat up that little dog. I have to say that. That big guy probably can beat up that little guy. That heavyweight, that super heavyweight, he's not going to fight that, that bantamweight, that featherweight. That's kind of crazy. That big one always destroys the little one. That's my experience. But I have this Bible that says hmm, you've got a God whose fingers span a universe that is so unbelievably, incredibly powerful. So my logic would dictate, that means I better be very scared of Him, which is what the pagans were, and that's why when pagans wanted to have something from their God, they would sacrifice what was the most dear thing or most important thing to them. That's why they would do that. That's why these Greek myths and these Greek stories of kings who sacrificed their own daughters so that they could have fair weather and go and fight battles. That's why you have that concept that's found in their historical writings and in their philosophy. Because the sea god is angry at me, I will kill my daughter so I can have safe passage to go and fight this, and so I can win against my enemies. And you see that in Greek history. But the Bible on the other hand says, God who created all things loved you, loves you, loves me, are you kidding me? Loves you so much, the most precious person in the entire universe, his own son was given for you. And we say to him I don't think you can help me make this water bill. I don't think you're going to provide for me to have dinner tonight. We do that, don't we? I've done it, maybe I'm the only sinner in here willing to admit it. I have, more than once, more than once, God. The bill's still coming. I don't have any money to pay it. And I'm doing the best I can to come up with some money. I don't know what I'm going to do. Been there, done that. And God says, I'll take care of it. Now it's not like you're quote unquote sponging off God. You know I was out there. I was walking the street. I was looking for the job. I wanted it. I was putting applications out. I'd done I'd done all I could do. There's nothing else I can do other than trust you Lord. And he comes through. And he comes through. And he comes through. This property is insured for almost $17 million. Did you know that? The property that you're sitting on right now? $16.8 million. That's our insurance on it. I started in a home Bible study. I didn't know any insurance on my parent's house. Didn't have to make any payments on that. Had no concern for that. But over the years I've seen God provide places after places after places. To the point where we have 40 some staff members ministry seven days a week buildings and it all comes because God provides. God does. God cares. Now of course I don't pay any of those staff people. I take all the money for myself. But that's another story. No, I'm just somebody will believe that. I'm just teasing you. But you learn you learn my God is able. My God is able. He is. My God is able. When you're concerned when you have that fear you're really not walking in faith. In first John chapter 4 verse 18 John said there's no fear in love. Perfect love drives out fear. Why fear has torment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. You see God's word teaches us that God is in control. We can trust him. We're to trust in the Lord with all our heart and lean not on what? Our own understanding. In all our ways we acknowledge him. He directs our path. So we're not to be wise in our own eyes. We're to trust the Lord. We're to fear the Lord and depart from evil. That's what the scripture says. And so we learn to have confidence in our God and his word. In Psalm 55 verse 22 it says cast your burden upon the Lord. He will sustain you. He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved. Psalm 62 verse 8 trust in him at all times you people pour out your heart before him. God is a refuge for us. So turn it on back to Philippians if I'm not supposed to be worrying what am I supposed to be doing? Praying. You know I can't tell you guys how many times I've had conversations with people. I understand this by the way very well. I really do. Well they'll say well I can do nothing else but pray. And I go duh that's the first thing you should be doing. That's the first thing you should be doing. It's not a cop out oh I can do nothing but pray. No that's the wisest thing you can do. Fall on your face before God. God in Jesus name you said you would never suffer the righteous to be moved. Lord in Jesus name you said cast my cares on you. Because you care for me. Lord you see I've got this need here. I don't know what I'm going to do. I want to be an honorable person. I want to make sure I do the right thing. And I am asking for your that's the wisest thing you can do because you are speaking to the God who loves and cares and is able. How do spiritually stable and mature people react to trials and stresses. Well Paul would say you pray. He says be anxious for nothing but he says in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving you make your request. Instead of being anxious we lay the care before God and we trust him. Like it says in Psalm 2714 wait on the Lord be of good courage. He shall strengthen your heart wait I say on the Lord. Now he speaks of prayer prayer is this is a general word it reveals basically the outpouring of my heart my soul to God that's what prayer is supplication can include the intensity of your prayer the adoration the petition requests are simply stating what it is you desire of him and then thanksgiving is that attitude you have because you come to him without complaining without whining who here likes somebody to come whining do you like whiners? I don't like that I don't like it I don't like whining don't whine please don't whine it's just nobody likes me well I understand why shut up who likes that anybody like that he hit me stop whining and then we come to God I'm so hungry and I don't have any clothes I'm thirsty I don't know when I pray I had to be thankful oh by the way that is a difficult thing to be thankful why because we're Americans we're Americans God has blessed us we are spoiled we are spoiled I was talking to somebody the other day I'm so poor I drive in a $50,000 SUV I'm so poor oh really you poor thing I'm so poor I'm going to Disneyland but I can't go into that other attraction we are you know I say this to myself often because I want to remember what God has done in my life I really do I muse aloud sometimes you hear me thinking to myself out loud you have more than one pair of shoes you have more than one pair of pants do you have more than one belt you got to put it on because sometimes you're sagging so much but anyway do you have more than one shirt do you have a bed do you have a house that you live in do you have a car do you have more than one car do you have a TV do you have more than one TV do you have cable do you have a computer do you have a phone does your phone take pictures that take videos too thinking about that. Just think. Just think about that. Do you have food that you eat? Are you always complaining because you got to go on a diet? How come you have to go on a diet? You mean you're eating too much? You know what I'm saying? If you can, if you sit in this room and you're totally naked, well one, you shouldn't be here. And hungry. We'll put some clothes on you and feed you. Everybody close their eyes while we get that guy out. But no, I mean all of us, all of us have been blessed. Haven't we? No, we have. We have. You can walk up right now. You can go outside or not even, you don't even have to go outside. You can go right into that one of these halls and you can get some water right out of a faucet that you can drink and you're not gonna get sick. You can do that. You can go home and you can take a hot shower. I highly recommend it to some of you by the way. But you can. And then you know what else you can do? You can climb into a bed and you can pull blankets over you and put your head on a pillow. You can. We have been blessed. We have been blessed in a way that makes an entire nation to ourself. Come here in droves because they see what we don't see. Opportunity. Jobs. Safe streets. Education. A lot that we have that we take for granted. We take for granted. We really do. We complain. I'm gonna get rid of my car. It's four years old. So be thankful. Well, that's hard. Some people say, oh, you just don't know how hard it is for me. No, God does. God knows. No, I don't. But I do know that he says that I pray with thanksgiving with this anticipation of the request being met by God and a gratefulness to the God that I can take this petition to. The love he has for me that I can say, Lord, I'm concerned about my kids. I am concerned for my my baby right now. My Bella, who has a high fever, concerned for her. But I know that you're able to take care of her. I can concern my mom is not feeling well. Lord, in Jesus' name, thank you for your goodness towards her. Would you touch her body in Jesus' name? You know what I'm talking about. So you make your request known to God with thanksgiving. You bring them to him with passion. You see, when you pray, you're not trying to get God on your side. A lot of people do. They try to cosmically twist his arm. So he'll agree with them. No, you're not trying to get God on your side. When you pray, you want to be on his side. You want to be in his will. In first John 5 14, this is the confidence we have in approaching God that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. So sometimes we may become worried. Sometimes we may be fearful because we're not trusting him. We're not trusting his wisdom. We're not trusting his power. We're not trusting his goodness. We're not trusting his love for us. Our circumstances loom larger than the God we worship. And sometimes we just don't understand that. But when you do care for the Lord, when you do love the Lord, when you do take these concerns to him, well notice what happens. Verse 7, the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. In spite of our best laid plans to deal with our own anxious thoughts, we can still experience anxiety. So we only have peace when we commit everything to the Lord and trust him. Like it says again in Psalm 37 verse 5, commit your way into the Lord. Trust also in him. He shall bring it to pass. And so we trust the Lord in our prayers and God's peace will guard our hearts and our minds through Christ Jesus. That isn't that kind of a dopey weird thing. You wrestled with the situation and you came to that understanding. God is in control. He is powerful. He is loving. He is concerned. I am doing what he leads me to do. I'm going to rest in him. And then that peace, well actually sometimes that peace, it just blows your mind. It really does. It passes your understanding. And people may even ask you, why aren't you freaking out right now? Why aren't you weirding out? And your answer is really simply, you know, I've already done that, did me no good. So I'm trusting. I'm going to just trust the Lord. I have a good God who cares for me. He goes on and he says in verse 8, finally, brethren, whatever things are true, noble, etc. He says, establishing your thoughts results in development of character as well as an outworking of behavior. What you constantly dwell upon and what you strongly pursue and desire, you ultimately do act out. You see, one of the things that you know, you know by experience and you know through the word is that Satan is on the attack like a roaring lion. He's prowling around seeking whom he may devour. That's what he's doing. He's looking around. Now I rather doubt that he's really too worried about you or me. Frankly, he's got bigger fish that he's after more than likely. I mean, I have people say, Oh, Satan's been beating me up. I say, No, no, maybe you're that important. I don't know. Maybe he is. I think he's trying to beat up Billy Graham, people like him right now. But if you want to say he's beating you up, okay, he's beating you up. I don't think so. I think one, most of the time I'm beating myself up. And then to he probably has assigned a little imp to chase me around once in a while. I suspect that. But you do have an enemy. We know that his name is Satan. And he does seek whom he may devour. And he does want to destroy you because he's also called the destroyer. And he intends to destroy you if he can. But how does he most often work? How what how does Satan most often work? What is the battlefield and the battlefield that he most often will engage you in is your mind. It's your mind, your thought life. You see, if we fill our lives with things that don't build us up in the Lord Jesus Christ, we will ultimately reap the consequences. There's no doubt about that. The computer specialists used to say, Gigo, right? Garbage in garbage out. You put garbage in and that's what's going to come out. If you're programming garbage into your life, then garbage will be the product of your life. That's how it works. If I know the, you know, the TV guide better than I know the Bible. If I'm able to tell you what my favorite show is all those New Jersey housewives are they cute and all that all that nonsense that we fill our minds with, you know, soap operas. They used to sell soap. That's why they were called soap operas. Did you know that? I'm sure there's a bunch of young people here. Let me tell you something history. soap operas were called soap opera because they sold soap. That's what it was. Now they're selling dirt and there's a difference between the two. And so you get caught up with these other people's lives and these synthetic emotions and you're wondering if Jim's ever going to get with Cindy or whatever. And you don't have your own life at all because you're busy wondering about you know, when life will live or whatever the things are they watch today, I don't even know. I'm sure somebody could fill me in later on if you'd like. But the more this is the truth, you fill yourself up with nonsense. Then the more nonsense comes out of you. That's just a fact. I mean, you know that just from life. If you had a history exam at school and you didn't study and a piece of paper is placed in front of you with all these questions, you're not prepared to answer. You're going to come up with all of these real long answers. You'll just keep writing and writing and hoping that somehow within all those words, you might have touched on something teachers said sometime in the class. That's kind of how it works. Just keep writing and writing another page writing and writing and writing and you don't have a clue what that question was. Because you're just pouring stuff out. You're not prepared. But if you spent time reading and studying, taking your notes, listening to the lecture, when he asks the question, she asks the question, you're able to say, Oh, yeah, I remember that. I saw that on page 186 and it's under this title. And that's what it's and you're able to write the answer. You're able to do it in a quick way because you know what they're asking for. Listen, when you have a trial, when you have a test in life and you're not in the Word of God, you're going to come up with your own answer. And it's not going to be appropriate. It's not going to work. And so what we learned to do is we learned to cast our cares on the Lord. We learned to meditate on those things that matter because we need to dwell on those things and and the enemy wants to destroy. So we set our affection on things above and not things below. So my thought life is the battlefield. Satan's propaganda is 24 seven. It used to be a little bit less than that. As a matter of fact, in the olden days before you had cable TV and 12 million channels. We used to have when I grew up in television, of course, we only had three major channels and a couple throwaway ones. But you would be up at midnight and then you'd have a test pattern that would come on. It was always some of you have seen this head of an Indian and it looked like it was in a bull's eye. I'm not quite sure what the ethnic things like that is all about, to be honest with you. So you anybody remember that bull's eye with that the Indian? Yeah, that was when we grew up. That's what you had, you know, and then we go like that until like five or six in the morning. The only one I used to watch past that was Alvira for a lot of reasons. We'd stay up and watch Alvira. But you didn't have TV that went on 24 seven. You really didn't. Now you could get up at five, three, 30, three 18. Put on the TV and you got garbage 24 seven commercial after commercial philosophy after philosophy and you have that direct TV or you have your cable or whatever. You have hundreds of channels. You can watch classic boxing classic football. You can watch all kinds of stuff 24 seven. You leave here jump on a freeway. You will see advertisement advertisements on this on the on the road, you know, billboards, you know, that's just the way it is 24 seven. You know, Rhino Gentleman's Club. And I think what gentleman goes and looks at naked women? To me, it trips me out. I mean, we even change our language so that we can appeal to people. That's what the enemy does. And and he brings us into your life. Listen, you can't you can't. And I shouldn't say that. I bet you I bet you've experienced this too. But I'll say it like this. I can't sometimes believe how I will have to talk to people in a reason with them because they'll say, look at what's I'll give you an example. It's not wrong for me to live with my girlfriend. We're not having sex anymore. And she didn't have any place to move. And is there something wrong with her living in the same place with me? And you actually have to reason with people today about that were in a generation before. Are you kidding me? That wasn't even something you could even talk about. That wasn't something. Are you kidding me? If I'd have turned to my mom and I just said, you know, Maria and I are going to test out marriage. We're going to live together. My mom would have killed me. I mean, she wouldn't. She was she was small, but she could jump high. She didn't take. She should have taken my head off. Are you kidding me? She had all kinds of choice words. I guarantee you that. And my grandfather would have been even worse. And his grandfather would have been worse than that. We say we're getting better. We're getting worse because the society of the fifties, the morals of the United States in the fifties is more pure than the church in the 21st century. Because pagans would not have thought abortion was okay. Pagans didn't think of. Do you know who one of the strongest voices against abortion was? Jesse Jackson. Jesse Jackson. He used to say that it is genocide because you are going to kill African American babies. I remember Jesse Jackson arguing against abortion. What happened? Roe v. Wade was passed. And now Christians find themselves having to defend a right to life. We have to defend that. And when Columbine happened, I remember in this pulpit here in this church building, coming up and saying Columbine happened these children were killed in school slaughtered. And I remember walking out and I remember saying, Do you think to this church? Do you think that the safest place a child in the United States is should be its classroom? And my church was shocked. Everybody was shocked. What had happened? And I said, Do you think the safest place should be a classroom? And my church started nodding their heads. Yes, a classroom. I said, That's where you're wrong. When you kill them in the womb, you will kill them in a classroom. And this nation that thinks it's okay to slaughter the innocent, it's coming back to bite us now. That's our nation. Who would have ever argued, argued that having homosexual parades is okay? Who would have ever argued that? Nobody until today. And even the church will argue that it's okay. What has happened? The mind is Satan's battlefield. And you get away from the word of God, you'll believe anything else. That's how it works. And that's why it says guard your mind. You take the helmet of salvation. You take the sword of the spirit, the word of God, and you defend truth. Meditate on what is true. In other words, when he says meditate on what is true, you read and you analyze, and you spend time thinking about the word of God. Because God's word is truth. Psalm 119, 151, all your commandments are truth. And you meditate on what is noble. In other words, don't waste your time thinking about the trivial, the petty, the nonsensical. Proverbs 4, 23, you watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life. You meditate on that which is just, that word just speaks of that which is righteous, those things that line up with God's unchanging standards. Like the psalmist said, I love your law, I meditate on it all day long. You meditate on that which is pure, that which is morally clean, that is free from taint of sin. Like the psalmist said, turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things, revive me in your way. You meditate on that which is lovely, that which is gracious or generous, that which is sweet. You focus on the things that are attractive. Like the psalmist said, within your temple, oh God, we meditate on your unfailing love. Meditate on that which is of good report, that which is well thought of, that which is highly regarded. Think on that which is lofty. It's like the psalmist when he said, I considered your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon, the stars, you ordained, what is man, that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you visit him. You meditate on that which has virtue, that word virtue speaks of an excellent morality. It's like Job said in Job thirty one one, I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a girl. You meditate on that which is praise worthy. In other words, that which is worthy of the highest honor. I will meditate on all your works, consider all your mighty deeds. These are the things that transform the way you think and the way you live. That's how it works. By meditating on the things that matter. And then he says finally, and this is powerful, this is one of my favorite scriptures in Philippians verse nine, the things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me these do and the God of peace will be with you. Learned. The things that you have acquired information about, the message of the gospel, the things that you have received, that which you have accepted and are obeying. The things that you heard, the things that you gave ear to, the teachings or a teacher, the things that you comprehend and understand, the things that you saw. That speaks of examining. Even as you have heard for me these things, even as you receive these things, you have also seen these things lived out. You know one of the most powerful things you can be is the living bible. Your children, those of us who are parents, they do read you every day. When you ask your kids, those of us who are parents, have you done your devotions? All they have to do is look at you and say, I've been reading, I've been looking at you. I've been learning from you. I've been watching you. Now if you're asking me if I've read the bible, not yet, but I've already done my devotions, because I've watched you this morning. I've watched your attitude. I've watched how you spoke to dad or how you speak to mom. I've watched how you spoke to the other kids. I've watched you very, yes, I've done my devotions today. I have seen faith as it's lived out. Whether it's hurrying to school and being up tight and dropping the kids off, cars still rolling and you're pushing them out the door and I run. Good luck, see you later. Or whether it's getting up early as so many parents do, spending time, a little time in prayer, I'm not saying an hour and a half on your knees. Maybe a few minutes, oh God, help me today. It's going to be a tough day. In Jesus' name, I'm asking you to help me. Lord, I want to be a good mom. I want to be a good dad. Help me to live for you, because I'm about to wake up three of the gnarliest monsters on the planet. And that doesn't even include their dad. So God, you're going to have to help me. I'm not kidding when I say that. That's how you start your day. God help me. I want to bring honor to you today. God help me. I want to spend time with you today. God help me, because you see these kids, they're going to see me from the moment they wake up. And I'm going to be the last one they see when they go to bed. I want to give a good impression from the beginning to the end. And without you, I can't. You see, Paul is saying you learn these things. You receive these things. You heard these things. Now you need to do these things. And if you do these things, this is what I'm so blessed with the scripture, the God of peace will be with you. Paul gives you the right to say that. Well, I'm in jail. I'm in a cell that is filled with stench. I'm chained. And I'm telling you to rejoice. And I'm telling you that God is with me. He's never left me. And I'm telling you he gives me ministry here in this stinky cell. And if I can rejoice where I'm at, why can't you rejoice where you're at? Paul was literally chained to a cell and a jailer. We aren't. Unless we fashion that cell ourselves and bring that jailer into our life by not doing the right thing. So what does he say? You've learned him. You've received him. You've heard him. These are the things you ought to be doing. And when you do, God will be with you. And that's a promise that we ought to embrace. Lord, I want to do those things because I want you with me in my life.