 them as she teaches the word of God to each one of us in the class. Thank you for the grace we should have empowered her to teach us Lord this morning and also bless each one of our classmates so that our hearts will be ready to receive what our teacher has to teach us this morning Lord God. Bless us Lord, help us to be alert and also teach us the spirit throughout the class. We will come with Allah to teach us. Amen. Amen. Thank you for that meaningful prayer. Yes we will begin. So sorry about last week. I could not attend but yeah the week before that we were looking at the Philippines. So what exactly have we you know looked at in the letter to the Philippians so far. In the first chapter Philippian he praises these Paul praises the Philippian believers because they have partnered with him in the gospel making sacrifices being willing to share in this work of ministry. So he's grateful to them and around the end of the chapter one he says you know live in a way that is worthy of this gospel of Christ. So even as you people are partnering with me in this sharing this gospel live a life that is worthy of this gospel is what he says and so in second chapter two he starts off by explaining what he means by this living a life that is worthy of the gospel. How does one live out a life like that? What exactly would it mean? So he explains having the mind of Christ Jesus who came to the earth to serve and not to be served. So we need to have that same attitude and then we will be able to live in a way that is worthy of this gospel. So he says that when we do this we are like lights shining in a dark world you know and he gives two examples of people who have this mind of Christ. He talks about Timothy he says I have no one else like Timothy who is genuinely concerned about your interests he says and he also speaks of Epaphroditus who was willing to even you know neglect his health and stay on in Rome for the sake of Paul. So he mentions these people who seem to be having the mind of Christ. After having spoken about these things he we enter into chapter three where we see that he starts talking about this danger of Judaizers which may arise in the Philippian church. These people have been moving from church to church spreading their false teachings and he is concerned that the Philippians also may be attacked in a similar manner. So he starts of chapter three by saying I have already talked to you about this and I'm repeating it again so which means he is anticipating this danger. He has warned them about his Judaizers earlier and he wants to warn them a second time. So in these first three verses which we covered last week first three verses of chapter three he talks about how these people they think that they are the circumcised but he says he uses the two very very strong terms very negative derogatory terms to talk about them. He says these people are not the circumcised in fact they are dogs because the Jewish people looked down on dogs as being something very very low and he also says you are this is not circumcision this is not holy and sacred circumcision this is just mutilation of the flesh. So he uses this very two these two very strong terms to denounce their support of the mosaic law and the circumcision ceremony and all of that and he says it's we who are boasting in Christ Jesus and not in works we are the true circumcised is what he says. So after having talked about that in these three verses he moves into the fourth verse where he talks a little bit about his background and how if we really are meant to be placing confidence for our salvation in the in works and in the mosaic law then in fact he should be able to you know boast more confidently than all of us regarding his salvation if at all salvation can be achieved by you know through the mosaic law and circumcision. So verse four onwards he's talking about himself is talking about how superior he is even to the Judaizers you know if you were to compare him with the Judaizers with regard to mosaic law and all of that and he says knowing what a high status these people place on such things you know such as circumcision and mosaic laws and all that he says this is the way I look at these things they regard these things as something of high status but this is the way I look at these things. So we will be looking at a little bit at details regarding these things. So if we could have someone read out for us from verse four yet from verse four up to verse six Philippians chapter three verses four to six if someone could read out for us. Philippians chapter four verses four to six though I also might have confidence in the flesh if anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh I more so circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel of the tribe of Benjamin a Hebrew of the Hebrews concerning the law of Pharisee concerning zeal persecuting the church concerning the righteousness which is in the law blameless. Yes so if at all we actually can have confidence in the mosaic law and in the rituals then I would be the most confident is basically what he is saying about himself because when it came to the things which the Judaizers regarded as important for salvation all you know had hundred and hundred in all of those areas so he talks about it he says on the eighth day exactly according to the mosaic law I was circumcised you know I was that ceremony which makes me a part of the people of God that was done on the eighth day itself he says and he says and I'm not just someone who's being circumcised from another nation I'm not a Gentile who's getting circumcised I am a Israelite one of the people of Israel and not just any Israelite I am from the tribe of Benjamin which you know the Benjamites regarded themselves as Hebrew of the Hebrews why simply because the portion of land that was given to the tribe of Benjamin Jerusalem lies within the we know within the borders of that of that portion of land so the Benjamites always considered themselves as extra special because the temple of God was literally in their portion of territory so they would you know regard themselves as the Hebrew of the Hebrews so he says that is who I am in case you're asking for my background but when it comes to keeping the law I never keep I never used to keep the law like some average person I used to keep the law the way Pharisees keep it you know they literally typed right down to the last grain there so when it came to keeping the law I was keeping it the way the Pharisees keep it you know looking into every minute detail as far as outward customs go you know as for inward change that's something that only the Holy Spirit can do so yeah that he did not have at that point of time and he says when it came to matters of zeal he says I was so zealous that even though I had my own job I had my own career I laid all that aside I literally went from town to town persecuting these Christians because I believed that the Jewish faith is no is true so he says when it comes to zeal I went to that extent of actually persecuting the church and then he comes to this last claim that he makes about himself he says when it came to righteousness based on the law he says I was faultless I mean that's quite a statement to make he's writing at a point of time when many of his contemporaries are still alive you know all the other Pharisees with whom he used to rub shoulders they are there in case he was bluffing about this particular aspect they would have pointed it out to him and said you know um uh what are you saying I mean we know what faults you had we know in all the ways that you compromised uh you know they could easily have said that and that would have completely um uh you know corrupted his credibility nobody would even believe in him anymore that he could openly make a statement like this proves that he kept it so faultlessly that nobody would be able to lift a finger against him and say uh no you know he compromised in this area he compromised in this area so as far as righteousness based on the law is concerned outwardly whatever he could do that poor man had done it all I mean like to the best of his ability which is why in Romans chapter 7 he agonizes over what he is on the inside what a contrast on the outside is somebody who's admired by people but on the inside so many wrong attitudes so much sin and he you know he talks about the struggle that he went through until Christ came along and delivered him uh so that was the inside story that he was undergoing but when it came to outward things he says if this is what we should be placing our confidence in for salvation I in fact should be the most confident but I am plainly telling you people and the judicers that this will take us nowhere near heaven so he says what we need to be boasting in is being in Christ Christ should be our post so he brings out the importance of believing in Christ and he talks about the entire irrelevance of all these great things which the judicers I know are placing as a high on the list I mean being circumcised being a Hebrew of the Hebrews being a Pharisee being someone who is actually willing to go and persecute the Christians and take action against them all these things completely irrelevant when it comes to gaming salvation so he makes this point to show them that if they place any confidence at all in these things they are going to be in for a very very nasty surprise because he who should be far more confident than them regarding these things he has understood how useless these things are so he's trying to tell these Philippians when these teachers come to you and start telling you these things let your ghost be in Christ alone you know so he he wants to make that very very clear to them which is why he goes on to talk about what his stand is regarding these things verse 7 onwards he speaks about it if we could have someone read out for us all the way from verse 7 up to verse 11 please Philippians 3 7 to 11 yeah if someone could read out Philippians 3 7 to 11 yeah those of you who know how to not have a bible in front of you this is a classroom setting even though you're doing it from your homes so you know please do have an open bible in front of you and yeah any one of you could please just unmute and read out Philippians chapter 3 verses 7 to 11 but what things were again to me this I have come counted lost for Christ yet indeed I also count all things lost for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish that I may gain Christ and be found in him not having my own righteousness which is from the loss but that which is true faith in Christ the righteousness which is from God by faith that I may know him in the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his suffering being confirmed to his death if by any means I may attend to the resurrection from the death yes so here he says these things which I have mentioned just now these were all gains you know there was something that I could be very proud about these were his badges of honor you know the all these merits that he had being a Pharisee being very meticulous in keeping the law all these were badges of honor which he which he carried with great pride earlier but now when he looks at those things he says I just consider them as a loss I mean I'm willing to just fling them away for the sake of Christ he says and in the next sentence he repeats that again in verse 8 he says I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus because the only way he can know Christ Jesus personally and have a relationship with this Jesus who will one day take him to heaven and give him a resurrected body for all of this to happen he has to put away these other badges of honor if he holds on to those he cannot know Christ so he understands that knowing Christ is of surpassing worth more worthy than anything else so because of that he's willing to throw aside consider these badges of honor as nothing but a loss you know he spent so many years of his life investing into these things but now he just has to regard them as a loss I mean all that many years wasted and move on so he has understood that so he says that's the way you you know that's what he's trying to convey to the Philippian believers you too should regard you know this the mosaic law in this manner if any of you are from a Jewish background if any of you have been striving you know to to grow closer to God by doing these things now you just have to consider all the investment that you put in as a loss and move on because these things will do nothing for you they will in no way help you to get to know Christ so you know and he had made this point earlier in Galatians where he spent a lot of time talking about this aspect because in the Galatian church those people were already gaining control and were creating havoc so at that time he in fact expresses the same thought even in in the letter to the Galatians you know let's look at that because over there he talks about how if you want to know Christ it's vital to move away from the mosaic law so if we could have you know someone read out for us Galatians chapter 5 versus 2 to 4 because over there it's more clearly it's I know explain how for the sake of Christ you know you gain Christ by giving up these things so Galatians 5 2 to 4 if we could have someone read out please Galatians chapter 5 verses 2 to 4 indeed I all say to you that if you become circumcised Christ will profit you nothing and I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is the debtor to keep the whole law you have become estranged from Christ you who attempt to be justified by law you have fallen from grace so very serious things yeah yeah yeah thank you so much so the things he's mentioning here are extremely serious if you're going to hold on to the mosaic law Christ is of no profit to you I mean there you will gain nothing from the work of Christ on the cross you know so that will be of no benefit to you if you hold on to the thought in fact you've become estranged alienated from Christ so you will never know Christ personally and he will never take you to heaven with him so it's very dangerous thing he says you will you if you hold on to the law you fall away from grace so therefore having understood these truths now in the Philippian letter he says in Philippians 3 verse 7 whatever word gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ because he has understood that if he is to get this surpassing you know valuable treasure of knowing Christ Jesus he has to give you know just accept all that he has spent his entire lifetime on as a loss give it up leave it behind and go on so a term that he uses in verse 8 to talk about these badges of honor which the Judaizers regarded as something so valuable he says I consider them garbage that I may gain Christ that word that is used over there it's actually a combination of two Greek words it's the word sky balloon the first word the first part of sky balloon talks about dogs the second you know portion of that word it's based on the Greek word balloon which means to throw so actually that word sky balloon is basically the scraps you know the food scraps and the vegetable scraps and stuff which get left over after you finish your meal after you finish your cooking and you throw it to the stray dogs so he's taking something which the Judaizers value a lot and he's saying you know what this what this is fit for is something that you just throw to the dogs and in their opinion the dogs were something of very very low value so he's making a very snide remark you know about these badges of honor which they regard in such highest team so he says to me they are nothing but you know sky balloon now there are some ancient writings where the word sky balloon is also used for animal excreta you know like the dung of the donkeys as they're going down the road you know other animal waste so in some translations English translations you'll have the word dung being mentioned but sky balloon literally is talking about the scraps which you throw away to the dogs so he says that I may gain Christ I have decided I'll consider all these honors as garbage and leave them behind me so he says I want to know Christ this is something that I want and in what way does he want to know Christ he says he wants to know the power of Christ resurrection and he wants to participate in Christ's sufferings becoming like him in his depth so you know this is something that we need to kind of reflect upon we all want to know Christ and yes how do we want to know Christ we definitely want to know the power of his resurrection we want to see his resurrection power displayed in all areas of our life of our ministry we would very much love to know Christ in that way but there are two aspects to knowing Christ yes you need to know the power of his resurrection make it something very personal which you know you're walking in on a daily basis but there's another aspect you also need to be participating in his sufferings on a daily basis you know people will oppose us when we take a stand for Christ the same way Christ was opposed in his day when he took a stand for the Heavenly Father so we would have to also participate in the sufferings of Christ and become like him in his depth in what way did Christ you know die he humbled himself he talked you know Paul has already talked about this in chapter 2 so Christ went to the extent of humbling himself to the extent of you know being of of of allowing himself to be hung on a cross naked humiliated you know by the people passing comments on him even as people are passing by he allowed himself to be reduced to that stage so that he may serve so he's uh Paul has understood what it is to know Christ yes he wants to know the power of Christ's resurrection and he also wants to fully participate in the sufferings of Christ and why is he willing to go to all of these efforts because one day Jesus has promised that he is going to resurrect him from the dead he's going to have a resurrected body in heaven just the way Jesus has a resurrected body this is what he's looking forward to know with eager anticipation and so he repeats this thought in the yeah in the next few verses um yeah maybe we could have someone read out for us versus 12 to um 17 yeah all the way from verse 12 to verse 17 philippians chapter 3 yeah someone could read out please this is 12 not that i have already attained or i'm already perfected but i press on that i'm in lay hold of that for which christ jesus has also laid hold of me brethren i do not count myself to have a pre-ended but one thing i do forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead i press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of god in christ jesus therefore let us as sorry to us 14 man yeah please continue yes i read up to 14 okay fine we'll stop at this point and we will look at what is being said yeah then maybe we can take the next jump so yes so here he says it's true that i have not already you know received a resurrected body it's true that i you know i have not already received my heavenly reward so he says not that i have already obtained all this but i press on to take hold of that for which christ jesus to call me so when jesus jesus christ he looked at me and he'd made up you know in in his mind he decided that this is one guy you know that i'm going to take under my wings and one day i will reward him and he is going to have a resurrected body so jesus looked at him and wanted this for him so he says this is what jesus tries to hold of me for and no way am i going to miss out on this so i am going to press on and know him in his resurrection part know him in his sufferings i want to know him in in all of these aspects why so that you know he says in verse 14 so that i may win the prize for which god has called me heaven word because in heaven there is an eternal reward awaiting him and in heaven he is going to be you know have a resurrected body and this is important to him so he's striving towards that therefore he says in verse 13 forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead now when paul is using this term over here forgetting what is behind is thinking about the entire lifetime of effort that he put into the jewish faith all the things that he did so carefully in such a disciplined manner all that is now just waste it is of no value so it's all right you know he's willing to just put it all behind him and start a fresh and strain forward towards what jesus is offering so he's every day he's willing to learn how to walk in the resurrection power of christ every day he's willing to make the sacrifices required to be like jesus you know to become like him in his death so he's willing to do this so he's left the past behind you know we of course did not spend our whole lives being parruses and you know training ourselves in the law of moses but then we may have our own badges of honor you know we we might have we might have been good people who tried to live a good life and people looked up to us people respected us we were not like those you know rebels who get into drunkenness and you know speaking bad things about people and being destructive we were not like that you know we were good people people respected us for good things about us but if we continue to look to those things and say i'm doing all right you know we will miss out on this prize for which god has called us so it's not enough that people think well of us it's not enough that you know we might have had some successes in our christian walk forgetting all of those things there are greater things to move on to there is there is more that we need to do to walk in the resurrection power of christ there's far more that we need to do to become like him in his death many more sacrifices that need to be made a lot of you know mourning and molding that we need to do regarding our character getting rid of all those extra things that are you know like blemishes on who we are and getting rid of those things that we start becoming more and more like him so there's a lot more to strain forward toward so if we are people who are complacent happy with whatever we have achieved so far and we just sit on our laurels it's a danger that we will forget to strain forward and become what christ is urging us to become so we must not be self-satisfied people we choose to forget whatever badges of honor we might have earned in the past and we move on into greater revelations of the resurrection power of god and how to walk in it we move on into carrying the cross more and more you know because Jesus said if you want to be my disciple you've got to take up your cross on a daily basis make those sacrifices you know set yourself apart from me give up all the things which dishonor me those are things that you need to do if you want to be my disciple so we need to work towards those things and so having talked about these things Paul urges the philippians and he says join together in following my example this is how i am walking on a daily basis not just walking in resurrection part but also walking in the sufferings and sacrifices of christ please follow my example in this he says because these judicers who are going to come i'm going to use big words so they will impress you but what are they actually what is their attitude actually he talks about the kind of people that they really in reality they are you know what what they actually are so yes if you could have someone read out for us versus 17 to 21 17 to 21 verse 17 brethren join in following my example and note those who so walk as you have us for a pattern for many walk of whom i have told you often and now tell you even we think that they are the enemies of the cross of christ whose end is destruction whose god is their belly and whose glory is in their shame who set their mind on earthly things for our citizenship is in heaven from which we also equally wait for the savior the lord jesus christ who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to his glorious body according to the working by which he's able even to subdue all things to himself yes so he says there are two kinds of persons you know that you can model yourself after you can be like me and the others who are you know like me in their values he says just as you have us as a model keep your eyes on those who live as we do so there are people who are trying to know christ in his resurrection power and also know christ in his sufferings and sacrifices so choose to follow that example says don't follow the example of this other category this judicers he says they're actually enemies of the cross because for them what is all what is important is their stomach their god is their stomach you know so in the sense of their value is placed on material things that's what they really value that's what they worship so it doesn't literally mean only food it's talking in a larger sense about material things temporary things things which satisfy the senses you know you just want to please your five senses whatever will make you feel good rather than following christ so they so they would rather go you know they would rather have salvation through circumcision because then circumcision will not involve all this extra efforts of carrying your cross daily and making sacrifices you know you just need to undergo that ceremony as a baby and you're done so they would prefer to follow that other route only thing that route will not lead to heaven so he says don't imitate them because their god is their stomach and their glory is in their shame their mind is set on earthly things but then we are not earthly he says our citizenship is in heaven we've been made citizens now christ is going to come one day and collect us and take us there so that you know we can enjoy our citizenship in his kingdom so and in fact he says on that day our lowly bodies will become like his body the same way he has a resurrection body we will also have a similar resurrection body so he is look he says let us look forward to these things so he says imitate me and people who are having my values rather than imitating these jodisers so on that note you know we end chapter three let's quickly move into chapter four so we will not dwell much on the aodiyah and sentai passage because we already looked at that last you know the week before that yeah we already looked at it so if but we will look at all the other verses which are there and in fact this particular passage is highly familiar because every christian you know turns to this passage for strength for holding on to god in times of difficulty so it's a highly familiar passage and there are so many things that we can you know take away from here so in philippines chapter four if maybe we could have someone read out for us the first seven verses yes philippines four one two seven philippines four versus one two seven therefore my beloved and longed for brethren my joy and my and crown so stand fast in the lord beloved be united joyful and in prayer i implore yodiyah and i implore sentai to be of the same mind in the lord and i urge you also true companion help these women who labored with me in the gospel with clement also and the rest of my fellow workers whose names are in the book of life rejoice in the lord always again i see again i will see rejoice let your gentleness be known to all men the lord is at hand be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known to god and the peace of god which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds through christ jesus yes so after having talked about how we should place our eyes on christ how we should place our hope in christ he says remember you know so christ is our only hope so stand firm in the lord in this way he says and then he moves on to the next topic that he wants to talk about where he brings up this issue of these two leaders who are probably very prominent leaders because their disagreement you know can actually harm the church itself the unity of the church so which is probably why he's addressing this this particular issue you know in a public letter and so we talked about the details of this he's basically requesting them to have the same mind it's true that they know they have different opinions differing opinions regarding some matter but he says you know for the sake of the church you know let them let them have the same mind in the lord so after having talked about that the next sentence he says rejoice in the lord always i will say it again rejoice and then in the next verse it says let your gentleness be evident to all the lord is near so these things which he is saying he is continuing you know in his talk regarding iodia and syntych so it's not like as if you know the at verse three the issue of these two women just gets cut off and then he's moving on to a new topic in verse four it's like it's actually a continuation of thought so after having said you know that we should our focus should be on christ he says let us stand firm in the lord in this way and he immediately refers to two women who are kind of getting a little shaky they're not standing firm in the lord in this way so he raises this issue and he says please be united in your thinking because you know it is important for the sake of the gospel you know you have fought along with me so now don't step away continue to remain firm he says and how do they remain firm he says rejoice in the lord always i will say it again rejoice you know so here is not talking about just positive thinking i mean there's a lot of talk about positive thinking nowadays they're not supposed to look at the dark cloud they're supposed to look at the silver lining which is there are the edges of the dark cloud and that's what positive thinking would say but here is not urging these two women to just hold on to some silver lining hoping that some simple silver lining comes along no he is asking them to rejoice in the lord you see the lord knows what each of them desires they both have some you know differing opinions regarding something and the lord knows about both sides of the argument he cares about the opinions of both of these people he cares about their interests so therefore if they can just lay this matter in his hands and follow his leading they can truly rejoice so there's no need to get all grumpy and get all you know troubled and disturbed and and wonder oh i know who's going to have to give in to the other one you know no need to go into all of those you know complications have an attitude of rejoicing in the lord because the lord he will sort it out he will guide both of them he will tell them what steps they should take you know in resolving this issue so let them be of the same mind in the lord let the lord guide this matter let the lord you know show them what needs to be done so don't be grumpy and very disturbed and unhappy about what has happened yes differences will arise but continue to rejoice in the lord you know leave it in the lord's hands he knows how to how to resolve this so in the next verse he says let your gentleness be evident to all so in this disagreement that you're going through right now continue to stay gentle continue to stay loving don't get bitter don't develop grudges against each other don't try to start competing with each other and try to pull you know half the church to your side even of the other the other half of church goes to the other other person side don't indulge in all of that he says let your gentleness be evident to all why because the lord is near you know this what he's saying here may not be very clear to us but James talks about the same thing in his letter and over there he connects this whole idea of being gentle and you know um um bearing with one another in love he connects it to the idea of the lord is near so let's actually look at that passage to understand this passage better okay so if somebody could go to James chapter 5 verses 7 to 11 we will see the connection very clearly over there uh James chapter 5 verses 7 to 11 please therefore be patient brethren until the coming of the lord see how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latering you also be patient establish your hearts for the coming of the lord is at hand do not grumble against one another brethren lest you be condemned behold the judge is standing at the door and then 1011 my brethren take the prophets who spoke in the name of the lord as an example of suffering and patience indeed we count them blessed who endure you have heard of the perseverance of job and seen the end intended by the lord that the lord is very compassionate and merciful okay so in in this James passage it there's more clarity on this whole idea of let your gentleness be evident through all the lord is near okay so it's like as if it's like more it's like it's a more elaborate explanation you can say almost of this uh Philippine uh instruction um in James uh in the James passage he is talking about how the coming of the lord is very very near so he says you know be patient and stand firm because the lord's coming is near don't grumble against one another brothers and sisters or you will be judged the judge is literally standing at the door like is like is that close is near so be very careful he says brothers and sisters as an example of patience in the face of suffering take the prophets who spoke in the name of the lord you know uh these prophets they did not grumble and one example uses of one particular person Job so when when Job's friends spoke against him yes it's actually true when you look at the book of Job he does grumble against them but then at the end of it all you know he is willing to forgive them and he makes an offering sacrifice on their behalf okay so uh Job chooses to respond with love and gentleness at the end of the whole story you know rather than continuing to hold a grudge against them and because he takes that attitude what's the result oh you know it says in verse 11 James 5 11 and says you have heard of Job's perseverance and have seen what the lord finally brought about you know the lord brought about a very good result for him and the lord will do the very same thing for Iodia and Sintai if they can just you know have the same mind and maintain unity for the sake of the church if they can continue to remain standing firm in the lord rather than being you know led away by bitterness and rudges and all of that uh so he says you know uh oh in this James passage you know he's of course talking to a different audience but he says look at the outcome of the of the way Job responded the lord was full of compassion and mercy towards him the end result was really good for Job so we could you know actually apply that uh in in our Philippian passage where Paul is instructing and saying let your gentleness be evident to all the lord is near he says so rejoice in the lord I will say it again rejoice don't be angry about this whole thing which has happened don't don't get very um you know back tempered about it I have a godly attitude regarding this whole thing because the lord is near and he will come and he will judge so at that time he should find you having the right attitude standing firm in the lord rather than being led away uh so in that context he continues he goes on to say do not be anxious about anything but in every situation by prayer and petition with thanksgiving present your requests to god so in this few verses he's kind of been focusing a little bit on Eodia and Sintak and their situation but now you know he broadens the uh the the teaching to everyone because he says no don't be anxious about just this one particular issue in fact don't be anxious about anything so not just about you know disagreements in the church and how to resolve them in fact don't be anxious about anything but in everything you know go to god the lord will take care so rejoice in the lord I'm saying it again rejoice you know he says and let your gentleness be evident to all because the lord knows how to take care of our interests he knows what is best so he will if we if we allow him to lead and guide no he will guide in the uh right manner so yes in this particular case there was some conflict going on which probably was affecting the church but you know we of course are not facing those particular situations we may have many other things that we are concerned about so we too need to stand firm we stand firm in the resurrection power of Jesus and we stand firm in carrying the cross and being like him in a step so in these two things we choose to stay stand firm so when these situations come these difficulties come we don't get um you know flustered we don't go into depression rather we choose to continue rejoicing not because there are supposed to be silver linings you know around clouds not because of any silly uh you know a theory like that but because we have we are in the lord we choose to rejoice in him because he will take care of even this matter for us so we choose to stay gentle we choose to continue to be Christ like in handling that particular situation and we go to him rather than being anxious we go to him with prayer and petition trusting that he will help us in this matter so there are two words used over here rather than being anxious we are asked to do something else whatever we're supposed to do they're supposed to go to him with prayer and petition there are two i mean these are two different uh greek words the first word prayer that's a very common uh greek word for prayer uh i have no clue how to pronounce it it's p-r-o-s-e-u-c-h-e prosush i suppose uh so that would be your very common word for prayer it talks about no prayer in general where you pay people go and pray to god so rather than being anxious go to the lord in prayer and you also go to the lord in petition the second greek word is a stronger word it's a more intense word you know like if someone is facing a crisis and they are desperately crying out in prayer that would be your word that would be the greek word it's it's the word d-e-e-s-i-s uh so go to the lord with prayer and go to the lord with d-e-e-s-i-s petition um this word is used very nicely in james chapter five verse 16 which actually talks about prayer over there there's another word also for prayer mentioned but this word d-e-e-s-i-s is also mentioned over there let's go to james chapter five um okay fine yeah we'll not have time to do that now so yes we'll do it after we come back from the break but there are some good learnings that we can get you know for our practical christian walk from this passage so yes we'll meet again after the break thank you