 Yes, welcome back. So before the break, we were looking at Philippians chapter 4 verse 6 which says do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation by prayer and petition. You know, you approach God with prayer, which is just a general word for prayer and you also approach Him with petition and that is the word deacis in Greek. And that word is used in a very nice way in James chapter 5 verse 16. So if we could have someone turn to James chapter 5 and read out just that one verse, James 5 verse 16. Confess your trespasses to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. Amen. Yes. So here, the first word that is used for pray, therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other. That's another word. That's another Greek word called Yukomai. So in the Philippian passage, we looked at prosuke, which is a common word. Here, there's another common word being mentioned Yukomai, which also is talking about prayer. But then when you come to the second portion of James 5 verse 16 where it says the prayer of a righteous man, it's talking about deacis. So this is just not a casual prayer. This is a desperate prayer. There's some intense need. There's an emergency situation and this person is crying out to God in that kind of a tense situation. And what does it say about the prayer of a righteous person who prays in such a situation? It says the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. So when we the people of God go to him with a deacis, with a petition, with a prayer of urgency, where we are desperately, sincerely crying out, such a prayer is powerful and it is effective. So whatever we are asking for, the Lord will provide us according to His will. So we may not get the exact version of what we wanted, but He will answer that need, that whatever it is that you require for that situation, He will provide. He will not let us down. So this is the kind of prayer. This deacis, when it is offered by a righteous person by a believer, deacis is powerful and it is effective. So therefore, we can actually genuinely not be anxious about anything. But in every situation with general prayer and with petition, with deacis, we go to God. There's one more thing that we add to this prayer and petition. We also add thanksgiving is what it says. My prayer and petition with thanksgiving present your requests to God. So why are we adding in the thanksgiving over here? It's basically us expressing and saying, Lord, I believe that you will indeed hear me, that you will indeed help me. I trust you. I believe in your character. I believe that you are faithful. So therefore, I know that you will answer. You may not answer in exactly the way I want you to answer. But you will come to my help in my time of need. No way will you turn away from me. So because I know that confidently, I come with thanksgiving and I declare and say, yes, you will do this for me. You will help me in my time of need. We see David doing this again and again in his Psalms. So if you wanted an example of how this verse is actually practiced in real life, all you need to do is go to the Psalms. When you go to the Psalms, in many of the Psalms, you will see that David, in the first portion of the Psalm, he cries out to God. He pours out his heart. He says, see, these are the things which are troubling me. Please come to my help. Please hear me. So you have all this desperate cries which are there. That is basically this poor man making his prayer and his petition. And then he changes. You notice that in many of the Psalms, he changes track and he starts talking about the nature of God. He starts saying, oh, it is mighty. God is faithful. He starts talking about the nature of God. And from there, he progresses to gratitude and says, oh, Lord, someone like you, you will come to the help of your servant. He ends with that confidence that, yes, Lord, that is basically how you practice Philippians 4-6. You go to God, you pour out your heart to him. You plainly tell him what you are feeling inside. We don't need to pretend in front of God. David was very frank in expressing what was going on inside. If he was feeling neglected as the God is far away, he knows that God is not far away. But if that's the kind of feeling that he is having inside, he openly expressed it. And he would say, Lord, why are you hiding from me? And then halfway through the Psalm, he will say, oh, Lord, I know that you're there for the righteous. Your eyes are upon us. So, you know, he acknowledges the character of God and he brings in thanksgiving into his prayer. And he says, Lord, someone like you who is faithful, you will give us what we need. So, we, you know, like David, instead of being anxious, we too choose to go to the Lord in everything with prayer, with petition and with thanksgiving with the same kind of confidence which David displayed in his life. So we say, yes, Lord, this is your character. This is your nature. This is who you are. Therefore, I thank you. I know that you will not let me down. You will not cause my face to be put to shame. So, you know, he, like David, we choose to come with thanksgiving and we present our requests to God. When we do this, God does verse seven. So verse six is our responsibility. And when we approach him in this way, verse seven is something that God does from his side, something which is divine, something which cannot be done humanly by us. It's something that only the Lord can do for us when we come to him in this trusting manner. What does he do? It says, the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. That word that is used over there, that word guard, you know, that Greek word over there, that's basically talking about the guards who were used to guard a city, city's gates. You see the Philippi, you know, we talked about how Philippi was a Roman city. It's not under the rule of some locals who report to the Romans. No, Romans directly are, you know, administering that particular place. It's a Roman city. So the people living over there have Roman citizenship privileges. So this city had a Roman garrison, you know, guarding all of its gates. So the Roman garrison made sure that no suspicious elements will ever enter inside. They would make sure that no enemy ever comes inside. They protected and guarded the city of Philippi from all harmful dangerous outsiders. The peace of God is going to be like this Roman garrison. The peace of God, it's going to be this divine thing which you cannot understand, you know, through human knowledge. This kind of a divine peace is going to guard your heart and it's going to guard your mind and it's not going to allow certain things to come inside. What exactly is this peace of God guarding your heart and mind against? What is it protecting you from? You know, basically what he's talked about in the passage. That's basically what he's referring to. He talks about rejoice in the Lord. Again, I say rejoice. So, you know, in your time of crisis, you choose not to grow bitter. You'll not go into depression. You will not give up hope. So when such things come to you, you know, thoughts of hopelessness, thoughts of anger and bitterness and those things come to you, this peace of God will be like a gardener and will prevent those thoughts from coming and harming you and attacking you. Because from your side, you very faithfully, humbly came to him with an attitude of trust. Rather than being anxious, you chose to come to him with prayer, petition and even with thanksgiving. So you did your part. Now the Lord, he will divinely keep those negative thoughts of this depression and despair and hopelessness. In the same way, there are angry, bitter, grudgeful thoughts coming into your mind. He will guard your mind from those things because you have made a choice to rejoice in him. You have made a choice to continue being gentle. So now he will divinely enable you to do those things. So he will guard you. And people looking at you will think in a situation like this, how are you so calm? That's because this divine peace of God is standing there like a Roman garrison and helping you to maintain your peace, maintain your joy, maintain your confidence. And also he will do that from his side for us if we will approach him in this simple manner. So there are two sides to this promise which is made in Philippians 4, 6 to 7. We do our part. God does his part. And of course I would not say that our part is just the verse 6. It begins all the way from rejoice and I say to you again rejoice. So right from verse 7 onwards up to... No, sorry. There is my verse 4. Yes. All the way from verse 4 to 4, 6. If I maintain the right attitude and do my part then God will divinely make verse 7 happen and people will literally see me just standing there firm, calm, able to handle the situation. Why? Because I have done verses 4, 5, 6. Now God will divinely take over and guard me from all these terrible, terrible attacks of the evil one which would cause me to fall. He will do that from his side. So therefore, we are asked to take up this approach rather than giving into anxiety and despair. So, alright. Okay, this is something that I may be... Maybe I can just spend a few more minutes on this idea. We all know that we should not be anxious but then how not to be anxious. So, there was this book that I read which completely gave me a clear perspective on how to go about this in real life. Very simple. The man in his book, his counsellor he talks about two circles. He talks about this really large circle with a diameter of some 6 feet and then he talks about a small circle which has got a diameter of 6 inches. So, he says, when you are faced with a situation where you are beginning to feel anxious, whatever you can do from your side, God expects you to do it. So, you pray fully with the help of God. You do whatever you can. You write down those things in your little circle. The Lord wants me to do this, this, this in handling the situation. But there are so many aspects to this situation which are outside your control. I mean, you need to be able to, you need to be God to be able to handle those things. I mean, you know, what you are doing is like so less and the situation is so big. So, all the impossible aspects of your situation put them in the big circle. That's the God circle. That's God's responsibility. He will take care of those issues. You just write down what you need to do in your little circle and you do that faithfully with the help of the Lord. And trust him that he will take care of whatever is there in the bigger circle. That's just simple, that simple teaching completely changed my life. Because every week we face situations where what we are contributing to the situation is so little, in no way is it going to resolve the problem because there are big issues involved in that problem. So, ever since I learned this, I say, Lord, these bigger aspects of this thing, they are in your circle. It's your responsibility, Lord. You take care of it according to your wisdom and power and what way you think best. I know you'll never let me down. I am just going to focus on the little things which I need to do from my side. Oh, and it has worked beautifully on so many occasions. He just wants that simple trust where you're not trying to meddle with his circle saying, okay, okay, what if he does it like this? Then it will work against my interest. Leave his circle to him. You stick to your circle and you do your part with the help of the Lord sincerely. It made this Philippians, this whole passage from 4 to verse 7 very, very real. And I have seen the peace of God taking over because I am exercising this simple attitude of trust. He just takes over and he will not allow me to be oppressed by all those depressing thoughts, those hopeless thoughts. No, now he is guarding my heart and my mind and he helps me to operate at a higher level where now I'm able to stand firm in him. So this is something that has helped me a lot. So I thought maybe it would be good to share that. Now moving on to the next thought which Paul presents over here in this chapter verse 10 onwards where he's talking about the love and the concern that these Philippian believers have shown him and his attitude and his response towards what they are doing. It's not exactly what you would think. He does not handle this whole thing the way people generally do. He has his own outlook on this whole thing. It's nice. It's interesting. And we can learn things from this. So if we could have someone read out for us get in Philippians chapter 4 right now and if we could have someone read out for us from verse 10 up to verse 14. Yeah. Philippians 4, 10 to 14 please. But I rejoice in the Lord. Great is that now at last your care for me has flourished again though you surely did care but you lacked opportunity. Not that I speak in regard to need for I have learned in whatever state I am to be content. I know how to be abased and I know how to abound everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ to strengthen me. Nevertheless you have done well that you shared in my distress now you Philippians know also that in the beginning of the Gospel when I departed from Macedonia no church shared with me concerning No, we will come to that later because then it becomes too many thoughts. So we will first focus on the portion up to verse 14 and deal with that. So he says I know that your people are genuinely concerned about me which is that you didn't have an opportunity to show your concern because you know here I am in prison in Rome and you people on the other hand are out there in Philippi but you finally decided that you're going to send epiphrhoditis to me that's basically what he's referring to over here. He says you were concerned but you had no opportunity to show it and then later they show concern how by sending epiphrhoditis. So he refers to that in chapter 2 where he talks about you know Philippians 2 25 he says whom you sent to take care of my needs. So they were unable to take care of him from Philippi so they sent epiphrhoditis to him but epiphrhoditis can cater to him on their behalf and in Philippians 2 30 he says no he risked his life to make up for the help who yourselves could not give me. So he's kind of referring to these verses here where he says you know when you finally got a chance to show concern for me you did that and then he says I am not saying this because I am in need for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances the statement he's making over here is he saying even if people had not sent epiphrhoditis I think the Lord would have strengthened me to continue being content and continuing to rejoice and continuing to you know not be anxious. So you know whatever he has taught in the earlier verses he has applied it to himself in various situations so he's now kind of an expert on that I mean he does not say that but you know which is why he says I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances comes up against him is basically what this man does he rejoices in the Lord he chooses to continue being gentle he chooses to not be anxious he goes with his prayers and petitions like a little child before God with thanksgiving he does his part and this mighty power of God you know this Roman garrison or rather the divine garrison of God this peace of God the heart says heart and mind and the man just stays content calm in the most impossible situations so he says I have learned the secret of this and he explains to these people what the secret is he says I can do all this through him who gives me the strength so it's God who does it it's not like you know he's extra strong or superior and that is why he's able to stay content in all kinds of situations rather it's because God gives him the strength he needs so you know unlike a Roman garrison which can maybe only help you help the city to an extent this God of peace if we were to approach him in the right way in the way where we are told to approach him in verses 4 to 6 if we do that this divine peace of God is a much more powerful garrison he will guard our heart and mind in such a way that we will be just we will be able to stay strong no matter how bad the situation he will empower us from his side he will strengthen us from his side it's such an amazing promise that we have and in fact we see an example of how Paul makes use of this strength of God how God does this for him in the second Timothy letter which he writes if you remember his first imprisonment happens and then he is set free so after he is set free and visits these people many other times also is what we assume that's what historians say so that is the first imprisonment then he gets into his second imprisonment out of which in fact he does not come out he gets martyred so during his second imprisonment that is when he writes the letter to Timothy he writes him two letters in the second letter it's almost reaching the last stages of his life so this is what he says about the strength of God in that second letter so it's a nice letter to read it's a nice verse to read so if we can go to second Timothy verse chapter 4 second Timothy chapter 4 if someone could read out verses 16 and 17 and no one will connect it to this passage which we have just talked about so second Timothy chapter 4 verses 16 to 17 please second Timothy chapter 4 verse 16 to 17 no I'm reading good news no one stood by me the first time I defended myself all deserts all disastered me may God not can't eat against me verse 17 but the law stayed with me and gave me strength and I was able to proclaim the full message of all the gentiles to hear and I was rescued from being sentenced to death yeah so it looks like in this the second arrest which is a much more serious arrest I guess he's had to go to the court a few times so he says the first time that he went during his first defense I guess they had a series of court appearance and I suppose in the last court appearing they you know they declared a death sentence and that's basically how he gets martyred so this is basically he's talking about his first defense by which time everyone had already finished deserting him because now they realize this man is going to get a death sentence and so anyone who's friends with him will also come under the eyes of the Roman authority so better to distance ourselves from this person so that we will not get trapped along with him and get dragged down along with him so in that manner he's going for this court appearing it's a rather tense situation it's a matter of life and death he doesn't know what exactly he's going to say what words he's going to speak how he's going to defend Christ because that's his goal he doesn't really care so much about death and life for him it's very important how he's going to present Christ in front of those people those authorities get them to listen so he must have been quite anxious about all of this and it would have been so nice if there was somebody to stand along with him you know during this time some familiar face in the court but no there's nobody over there not even one supporter everyone has deserted him and no distance themselves so he literally has only one person standing next to him and he makes his first defense he says the Lord stood at my side and he says gave me strength it's such a personal picture I mean it's so beautiful so this man he has learnt you know Philippians 4 verses 4 to 6 so practiced it so many times that now he has this very personal relationship with his Lord he knows that even if everyone else is gone the Lord is going to be there standing right next to him giving him the strength that he needs to face that situation the peace of God is guarding him no strengthening him enabling him and so in that particular first defense I know they kind of yeah they rule in his favor so he spared from the lion's mouth but yeah at some latter point of time he does get martyred so he says I have learnt in coming back to our Philippians chapter 4 verse 11 onwards he says I have learnt to be content whatever the circumstances in verse 12 he says I have learnt the secret of being content in any and every situation I can do all this through him who gives me strength so we just like Paul we can have this confidence that in our time of crisis even if everyone else has distanced themselves and you know drawn back Lord will stand by our side personally like literally he will stand there next to us and give us the strength that we need step by step moment by moment as we are going through that really difficult situation therefore do not be anxious about anything but in everything come to him confidently because he is this kind of a God who will stand by your side even when everyone else has you know abandoned us so so the secret to Paul's contentment is that he just relied on the Lord's strength and I think he just kind of left let God deal with a big circle because whether he is going to be given a death sentence or not that is not under his control I mean it is beyond his control from his side what can he do he can prepare himself mentally to say these are the words I am going to speak to me this is what I will say in my defense he can only take care of the little parts which are in his ability the bigger things that is in telling God's control I mean exactly in what kind of a mood will the judge come that day to the court it is not in his control you know I mean what exactly are the questions which they are going to raise he does not know that that is in God's control there are a lot of things sitting in the big circle and it is good to just leave those things there in that big circle let God be God you do not have to try and play God and you know keep playing out scenarios in your mind saying maybe he will come in this mood or maybe he will judge like this maybe he will ask me this question all that is outside your control you are not even supposed to be dwelling on the big circle stick to your little circle do your part rejoice in the Lord again I say rejoice continue to be gentle not be anxious come with your prayer petition with thanksgiving and you will see how God will work on your behalf I mean things may go against you things may go in your favor but the Lord who is there with you in the end he will work it all out for your good because he will never do anything which goes against your interests so we leave it in the Lord's hands so I think that was the secret of false contentment he would just leave it all on the Lord's shoulders Lord you do what you you take care of it in your way the strength which I need to go through it that you are going to give it to me in this moment by moment so he was very God focused he kept his eyes on the Lord rather than looking at the situation and this helped him to stay strong in all kinds of circumstances so he says yes I was having a tough time we are now talking about the past imprisonment we are talking about the Philippine lender so he says yes I was having going through a tough time and it's good that ever Friday this came to me but even if he had not I think I would have managed to find because the Lord would have supported me to take care on the other hand how do a lot of people in ministry react today they are so desperate for help from people I have seen this I have seen this because we interact with a lot of other people in ministry so I have just seen that a lot of desperation around them it's like anyone who says any help that I can give you ministry they are like literally found on that person and say yes yes please we can do this we can do that it's such a sense of desperation among people in ministry just because we don't have finances in our hands Paul was never like that Paul was content he knew his Lord would take care so even if someone would go to him to help he would say good the Lord will reward you for what you are doing because that's basically the point which he comes to next he's not so much so happy that finally someone has come to rescue me rather he says I'm glad you people came and helped because now God is going to reward you because he knows that he could have managed even if they had not come the Lord is going to stand next to him and strengthen him and help him so God focused that is the way we need to be in our ministries not always desperately looking for which person who will come and help and whom I can be extra nice to so that maybe they will treat me with favor let us not have that beggarly attitude let us instead be ambassadors of Christ who have been called by him into that particular ministry so he will provide he will send the people that we need we don't have to be desperate we can have the same attitude that Paul did over here who says I would have been content even if you had not come but I'm so glad that you did because you know you will receive a great reward for it he talks about that in one of the latter verses we have not yet reached there let's instead look at the verses which come before that now he is making a point about these Philippians and the other Macedonian churches he is talking about the beautiful attitude which these people had so if we could read verses 14, 15 16 maybe we can go all the way up to from 14 if we can go all the way up to 18 14 to 18 again a lot of very valuable lessons that we can learn verses 14 to 18 please Philippians 4 14 to 18 please verse 14 nevertheless you have done well that you shared in my distress now you Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel when I departed from Macedonia no church shared with me concerning giving and receiving but you only for even in Thessalonica you sent aid once and again for my necessities not that I seek the gift but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account indeed I have all and abound indeed I have all and abound I am full having received from Epaphroditus the things sent from you a sweet smelling aroma an acceptable sacrifice well pleasing to God yeah now here in this portion there's something told about the Philippian church specifically and in fact also it refers to the other Macedonian churches so he there's a point that he makes over here in Philippians 4 verse 15 he says moreover as you Philippians know in the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel when I set out from Macedonia not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving except you only for even when I was in Thessalonica you sent me aid more than once when I was in need you know so he's talking about how these Philippians were so committed to helping him supporting him financially which sounds like a nice thing but then you get to know a little more detail when you refer to Paul's other letters you know 2 Corinthians chapter 8 verses 1 to 7 where Paul actually talks about these Macedonian churches when you use when you use the term Macedonian churches it's basically going to be talking about Philippi, Thessalonica, Beria these three places in 2 Corinthians 8 verses 1 to 7 we get to know that these churches were not financially well off yes you had some big shots you know like Lydia who was a purple cloth merchant the jailer was in a good position because he was in charge of that entire prison so that would have been an important position so yes there were some big people in the church but we get to know in 2 Corinthians chapter 8 verses 1 to 7 like most of the people in these churches were dirt poor I mean like seriously poor because that's the wording that is used you know Paul is talking about these guys in after the Corinthians and he's telling is boasting about these Philippians and these Macedonians and this is what he says about them when he's you know telling the Corinthians about them he says in the midst of a very severe trial their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity I mean like really high words to say about anyone he says these guys are in very severe trial you know like maybe the locals are all against them you know because they have gone into this Christian faith and they have given up all their pagan customs all their local culture so maybe the locals really hate them and they are undergoing a lot of persecution so he says one thing these people out there you know in the Macedonian region very severe trial second thing overflowing joy so the outcome of their very severe trial is not depression the outcome of their very severe trial is that these guys are overflowing with joy and combined with these two things there's also extreme poverty like they're like really poor so I'm just making an assumption maybe they lost their Roman some of their Roman rights and privileges you know after having moved to the Christian faith you know maybe the others who are angry with them maybe were blocking off their rights and privileges I mean we don't know why they were that they were this poor but here are these people going through severe trial extreme poverty and the third aspect of it is not depression overflowing joy and these three things they come together to make them want to be as generous as they possibly can so what are these really really poor people who are undergoing great persecution what do they do you know they he says in verse 3 second Corinthians chapter 8 verse 3 he says they went beyond their ability in giving I mean what they actually could not afford to give they just simply gave it away you know trust them God will somehow provide for them that's the attitude with which they gave and then he says in verse 4 over there you know he's talking to the Corinthians and telling them about these people and he says you know what they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service so you know they wanted to have the honor of being able to give to ministry in this way I mean what hearts these people had amazing people the Philippians and you know also the Thessalonians and the Barians what are people they are going through severe persecution they are like dirt poor extremely poor and it's causing them to trust in God in such a way that he's causing them to literally overflow with joy and out of the joy and gratitude they're like giving away money which they don't even have you know they're not even keeping anything back for their own expenses they are giving beyond their ability and so in fact they urgently beg and say please allow us to do this for the ministry and so you know Paul when he's writing to the Corinthians he's saying you know these are the kind of guys that you people are competing with so when you please give your contributions please give these and please you know it's what he tells them tells the Corinthians in the Corinthians letter so this is the kind of people the Philippians were they were not in a nice situation so for them when Paul said to them you know do not be anxious in anything but in everything just go to him with prayer petition, thanksgiving and peace of God is going to do something remarkable for you so for that for them those words would have been very encouraging so to these people he says not that I desire your gifts what I desire is that more be credited to your account he says I know that because you guys are giving in this manner there's going to be such a great reward upon your heads and that fills me with joy so I'm not happy that you gave me the money God would have found some other way of giving me the money that's not the point the point is that you're going to be rewarded so we need to have that kind of an attitude in our ministry various the realities that maybe you know we really do not have much funds but we are rejoicing in the Lord we are looking to him so our eyes are on him and we are grateful for the people who are coming forward to give us but we are not desperate for them even if they walk away to another ministry to give him because the Lord has led them away no props we will not get desperate because we are confident so rather than you know saying oh I'm so glad you came and saved my life what we would say is that I'm so glad that you are going to be so richly rewarded because as for my life oh God love taking care of it in some other way that beautiful confidence that Paul had we need to reflect that in our own ministries in our own situations so he says not that I desire your gifts what I desire is that more we credit it to your account and then he goes on to make these statements he talks like a rich man because he is a rich man he says I have received full payment and I have more than enough I am amply supplied you know that is the way you guys have provided to me and what you have done is now a fragrant offering to the Lord he says and so because you have done it in this manner the Lord will meet all your needs according to the riches of this glory so he says I'm so happy the way you guys have given it's like I have received full payment I have more than enough I have been amply supplied this is the way you have you people have given and I'm telling you this is going to be a fragrant offering an acceptable sacrifice pleasing to God and because you have given in this manner God will meet all not some all your needs according to the riches of this glory now you know he not Christian walk he kind of take this verse out from it's beautiful context and we just say oh the Lord will meet all your needs but look at what these people did you know to have that kind of lavish response from God they were living with that kind of Christ attitude you know where they wanted to serve where they were willing to sacrifice to the point beyond what they can because they were having that kind of hearts these are one bunch of people they never have to worry about whether God will take care of or not most definitely because of this beautiful fragrant offering that they are so sacrificially offering to the Lord the Lord which you know Paul says you guys don't have to worry God will definitely meet all your needs according to the riches of this glory so it must have pinched it must have pained it must have hurt to give like that you know I mean families to look after they had a church to run but in spite of their own needs they did this for God they were doing it as a sacrifice to him to the Lord not so much just for Paul of course they loved Paul but they are doing it for him for their savior and the Lord would have responded by meeting all of their needs according to his riches so we got to take chapter 4 in all of its completeness you know if you pull out just one verse here and there we don't really grasp the spiritual teaching that is being carried in these verses that Paul originally wanted to convey so when we look at the entire chunk in its entirety we kind of get a bigger picture of what Paul was trying to convey to these Philippians so he is pleased with them he encourages them and I think that's about it whatever we needed to cover in this chapter we have covered alright so yeah as there are no questions we shall maybe conclude with the word of prayer let's pray Lord we just thank you so much that we could learn so much from these Philippian believers oh Lord in spite of their difficult circumstances the persecution and the poverty they were overflowing with joy that shows a lot that they had their eyes on you they did not look at the situations they chose instead to depend upon you and rejoice in you and because they had that attitude the peace of God really guarded them and enabled them to overflow with joy rather than overflow with depression thank you oh Lord that you did that for them and because oh Lord you care about all of your children in the same way what you did for them you will do even for us help us a lot from our side to practice Philippians 4 4 to 6 and even as we are doing our part oh Lord you will do your part oh Lord that we can have this kind of complete dependency and reliance on you knowing that you will come through for us no matter what the situation so we pray oh Lord that you would cause us to be people who always boast only in you not in our works not in our badges of honor and we pray that our eyes will always stay only on you so that you can do these marvelous things in our life through your time thank you for this name amen amen thank you so much so next class we will begin with the solutions