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Spiritual Stability, Part 4 Thankful Prayer (Philippians 46b–7) John MacArthur · THE BELIEVER'S CHURCH | Let’s Build Our Faith Together

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Speaker 1: Some of you know that a week ago Patricia and
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Speaker 1: I had the privilege of being on a ship and
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Speaker 1: we were sailing up to Alaska. It was planned by
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Speaker 1: the Master's Communication, our radio and tape ministry. We had
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Speaker 1: about 270 people on this ship who were there because
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Speaker 1: they wanted to study God's Word and the beauty of
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Speaker 1: God's creation. And so as we sailed along through Alaska's
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Speaker 1: inside passage and southeast area of Alaska. We were teaching
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Speaker 1: the Word of God. We had services each day, and
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Speaker 1: we had time in the Word and great fellowship as
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Speaker 1: we shared those days together. These are people who come
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Speaker 1: from all across America who are really a part of
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Speaker 1: our radio ministry. We had a number of our dear
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Speaker 1: friends from Grace Church with us as well, but we
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Speaker 1: made some marvelous new friends. About two days into the trip,
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Speaker 1: we made friends with some people, a couple who were
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Speaker 1: across the hall from us and had occasion to sit
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Speaker 1: down and hear their testimony, how that they had been
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Speaker 1: involved in Christless life for a number of years and
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Speaker 1: four years ago had come to faith in Jesus Christ.
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Speaker 1: And after having come to faith in Jesus Christ, they
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Speaker 1: floundered around in the wrong kind of teaching and finally
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Speaker 1: God in His grace got them plugged into sound Bible study.
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Speaker 1: And more recently, they started listening to grace to you
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Speaker 1: and getting tapes and And they just came on the
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Speaker 1: cruise because they wanted to meet me and to find
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Speaker 1: out if there was a way in which they could
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Speaker 1: even grow more in their Christ-likeness. Just two hungry, hungry hearts.
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Speaker 1: This couple was from Colorado. And so we shared some
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Speaker 1: brief fellowship with them during the week. And they were
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Speaker 1: a great encouragement because of their zeal for the Lord.
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Speaker 1: They told me their daughter would be coming to the
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Speaker 1: Master's College next fall and how thrilled and excited they
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Speaker 1: were having visited the school and On Friday, as I
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Speaker 1: sat down for an evening meal, it was about 8
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Speaker 1: o'clock when we were able to eat our dinner, and
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Speaker 1: we sat down, and one of the stewards came to me,
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Speaker 1: and he said, sir, you must come immediately. And I said, well, why?
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Speaker 1: And he was Indonesian, and so I wasn't able clearly
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Speaker 1: to understand what he was trying to say, but he
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Speaker 1: just said, you must come, that much he could say.
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Speaker 1: And so I said, fine. And I excused myself and
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Speaker 1: I followed him and he took me down into the
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Speaker 1: stern and the hold of that massive 45,000 ton ship
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Speaker 1: to the infirmary. And I walked through the doors of
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Speaker 1: the infirmary and I saw an amazing scene going on.
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Speaker 1: That infirmary is there for emergencies while at sea, usually
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Speaker 1: sort of heavily involved with people who are seasick or
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Speaker 1: dizzy or have some minor accident or whatever. But when
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Speaker 1: I walked in there, I was immediately informed by the doctor,
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Speaker 1: the emergency doctor that was there on the ship, that
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Speaker 1: there were three major heart attacks going on and three
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Speaker 1: patients near death in critical condition. And there were three nurses,
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Speaker 1: emergency room nurses, who were moving as rapidly as they
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Speaker 1: could move between these three rooms, taking care of these
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Speaker 1: three serious heart patients. There was not enough monitoring equipment
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Speaker 1: to handle them, and so I volunteered the services of
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Speaker 1: a medical doctor friend of mine who was with us,
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Speaker 1: went upstairs, got him from his dinner, and he came
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Speaker 1: down and sat and manually monitored one of these patients.
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Speaker 1: One of them was this gentleman that was across the
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Speaker 1: hall that I had met. A very dear and gracious
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Speaker 1: man with a great name, Thaddeus. And I went in
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Speaker 1: and of course the doctor said to me, you know,
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Speaker 1: he's nearly dead. And we're trying to save him. And
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Speaker 1: he said, I believe strongly in the power of the
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Speaker 1: mind so you get in there and you strengthen him.
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Speaker 1: So I went in the room and I took his
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Speaker 1: hand and I began to pray for him. And his
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Speaker 1: wife was praying and pleading with the Lord as she
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Speaker 1: was by his side. And she exhibited great faith and
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Speaker 1: great trust in God. And then some others came down.
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Speaker 1: Jim Rickard was there and Don Hescott and some others
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Speaker 1: who were with us there. Mel Hankinson, our coach at
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Speaker 1: the college. And there was this vigil going on and
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Speaker 1: some of the wives came down and people were praying
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Speaker 1: for this dear man and for his life. which was
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Speaker 1: hanging in the balance. Well, of course, they injected him
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Speaker 1: with the things that they do, lidocaine and morphine, and
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Speaker 1: they were giving him oxygen and endeavoring to stabilize his very,
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Speaker 1: very unstable heart. He had had two prior heart surgeries,
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Speaker 1: so he had a very unstable heart, and now it
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Speaker 1: was threatening his very life. Well, after there was some
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Speaker 1: stabilizing and his color began to come back, God was
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Speaker 1: gracious and he passed the crucial point where they really
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Speaker 1: thought they were going to lose him. The doctor whispered
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Speaker 1: to me in the hall that he didn't think he
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Speaker 1: was going to make it. And so he came through that.
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Speaker 1: It was kind of interesting. The doctor said to me, look,
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Speaker 1: he said, you had a good effect on this guy.
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Speaker 1: Go next door to the next guy and pray with him.
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Speaker 1: And so I went next door and I said to
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Speaker 1: his wife, this lady who was sitting there, and I said,
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Speaker 1: I'm a minister and I just would like to pray
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Speaker 1: for your husband. I said, I'm just wondering, do you
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Speaker 1: have any religious background or what is your relationship to
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Speaker 1: the Lord? And she said, oh, we're Methodists. And I said, oh,
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Speaker 1: do you believe your husband is trusting in Christ for
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Speaker 1: his salvation? She said, oh, yeah, all that good stuff.
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Speaker 1: We believe all that good stuff. And I realized that...
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Speaker 1: She didn't know what was really going on. But I
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Speaker 1: went in and I talked to him for a few minutes.
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Speaker 1: And I told him I'd be praying for him. And
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Speaker 1: amazingly enough, he started to get better. This was very,
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Speaker 1: very significant, I think. He started to get better. And
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Speaker 1: the third heart attack patient was the one that my friend,
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Speaker 1: the medical doctor, was personally monitoring and praying for himself.
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Speaker 1: And he improved and stabilized. Well, all of this is
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Speaker 1: very important pre-evangelism for the doctor who is watching all
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Speaker 1: this going on and assessing us. He said, you know,
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Speaker 1: most of the time I'll throw people out in a
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Speaker 1: situation like this because I have to tend to all
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Speaker 1: of them because they're all in a state of disarray
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Speaker 1: because of the anxieties. But he said, I want you
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Speaker 1: all to stay and just keep doing what you're doing. Well,
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Speaker 1: after Thaddeus had become stabilized and the whole time he
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Speaker 1: was fighting for his life, I was praying with him
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Speaker 1: and talking with him. And he was saying to me,
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Speaker 1: don't worry, John, it's all right. Don't worry. It's all right.
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Speaker 1: Everything is fine. The Lord is in control. And he
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Speaker 1: was saying to his wife, now, dear, you know, we've
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Speaker 1: got to stand with John. And if I'm gone in heaven,
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Speaker 1: you've got to stand with him. Yes, dear, I'll stand
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Speaker 1: with him. And she would say yes to everything that
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Speaker 1: he would say. And finally, the nurse came in and
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Speaker 1: had been attending to him. And he... said something to
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Speaker 1: her and she leaned down and lifted up his oxygen
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Speaker 1: mask and he said, Mary, do you know the Lord?
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Speaker 1: And she, wanting not to distress him, said yes. Later
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Speaker 1: conversations indicated that perhaps she didn't. And then he called
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Speaker 1: the doctor and he wanted to speak to the doctor
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Speaker 1: and the doctor came in and he began to evangelize
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Speaker 1: the doctor and give him the gospel and ask him
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Speaker 1: if he was saved. It was really remarkable. And then
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Speaker 1: he called me over and he wanted to talk to
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Speaker 1: me and he had some exhortation for me to remain
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Speaker 1: faithful in the ministry. And he said, you know, I
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Speaker 1: want you to take the material that you've done on
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Speaker 1: the Lordship of Christ and I want you to put
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Speaker 1: it on videotape and I want you to broadcast that
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Speaker 1: across America. That is the message that this nation needs.
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Speaker 1: And he was getting pretty excited. So he was just,
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Speaker 1: he was functioning mentally and from his spiritual perceptions on
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Speaker 1: all cylinders. Even though he was nearly dead, he at
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Speaker 1: one point went into a shock, and the doctor called
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Speaker 1: me in the room to rub his legs. So we
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Speaker 1: had an all-night vigil, as it turned out. And he
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Speaker 1: was busy evangelizing and making major plans for the future
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Speaker 1: of the ministry that his wife was going to have
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Speaker 1: to carry out if he was gone, or he was
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Speaker 1: going to carry out if he remained. The marvelous thing
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Speaker 1: about it was that he was so spiritually stable. Here
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Speaker 1: he was at the greatest crisis of his life. a
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Speaker 1: man only 52 years old, at the greatest crisis of
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Speaker 1: his life, in total peace, total calm, tranquility of heart,
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Speaker 1: ready to meet Christ, content that the Lord had allowed
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Speaker 1: this to happen, very concerned about the salvation of everybody there,
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Speaker 1: very concerned that I remain faithful to the Lord, that
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Speaker 1: his wife covenant with him that she would help support
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Speaker 1: the ministry, totally at rest before the Lord, and he
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Speaker 1: He even said to me later on, he said, it's
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Speaker 1: so good that all of this happened. God's purpose was
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Speaker 1: brought through to me. And by the way, God was
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Speaker 1: gracious and the captain of the ship decided to run
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Speaker 1: at full speed. So he fired the ship at full speed,
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Speaker 1: which they don't like to do for a couple of reasons.
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Speaker 1: One being that it's hard on the engine. Two being
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Speaker 1: when you're winding your way through the islands of the
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Speaker 1: inside passage, it can get pretty interesting. And, um, We
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Speaker 1: were down there hearing the churning of these great engines
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Speaker 1: all night long. We stayed with him through the whole night.
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Speaker 1: And in the morning, got off into the ambulance and
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Speaker 1: went to the hospital with him. And they got him
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Speaker 1: in the hospital, and I stayed. I missed my bus,
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Speaker 1: missed my plane, everything, but felt like I couldn't leave
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Speaker 1: because he insisted that I stay and pray with him
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Speaker 1: and fellowship with him, and it was really incredible. Yesterday
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Speaker 1: was the first day I could talk to him on
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Speaker 1: the phone. He's feeling much better now. Everything is stabilized.
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Speaker 1: He's on the way to recovery, and he'll be heading
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Speaker 1: home next week, and He's really praising the Lord. And
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Speaker 1: as soon as he gets his strength, he wants to
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Speaker 1: come out here and spend some time fellowshipping with me
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Speaker 1: and planning how God can use his life in a
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Speaker 1: greater way. But it was wonderful to see this man's stability.
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Speaker 1: And the doctor could see it. The doctor could see
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Speaker 1: the unique trust that he had, the strength that he had.
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Speaker 1: During the middle of the night at one particular point,
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Speaker 1: a few of us men were standing around. Don will
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Speaker 1: remember this. And he began to point at everybody's stomach,
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Speaker 1: the doctor. The doctor was quite a specimen. I think
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Speaker 1: he was probably in his late 50s, about 6'2, weighed
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Speaker 1: about 215, had about a 30-inch waist. He was really something.
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Speaker 1: He trained underwater scuba paramedics and parachute paramedics for rescues
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Speaker 1: at sea and flew across the Yukon Territory in the winter,
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Speaker 1: landing on a ski plane to treat the tribes of Indians.
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Speaker 1: Really a rough guy, just an amazing guy. But anyway,
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Speaker 1: he began to point at everybody's stomach and say, you've
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Speaker 1: got to get rid of that, you've got to get
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Speaker 1: rid of that, you've got to get rid of that.
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Speaker 1: He said, see all these people here. This is what happens,
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Speaker 1: you see. You're 40% higher risk if you have that.
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Speaker 1: And he gave this speech. And after a little while,
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Speaker 1: I went up to him. By now, we'd become friends
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Speaker 1: because we'd been kind of working together there. And I
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Speaker 1: said to him, Doc, I said, you know how concerned
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Speaker 1: you are about our physical condition? He said, yes, sir.
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Speaker 1: I said, that's how concerned I am about your spiritual condition.
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Speaker 1: And he hit me. He said, fair enough, fair enough.
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Speaker 1: So he said, let's talk about it. Let's talk about it.
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Speaker 1: I want to tell you about my spiritual pilgrimage. And
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Speaker 1: so he did. And he said, I'm still in process.
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Speaker 1: I'm still in process. We had a great talk. And
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Speaker 1: by this time now, he is the happy recipient of
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Speaker 1: a box of tapes, which have no doubt arrived at
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Speaker 1: his place. But the thing that was so encouraging to
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Speaker 1: me was the spiritual stability of that was demonstrated by
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Speaker 1: Thaddeus as a testimony to that man, the strength that
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Speaker 1: he demonstrated, the strength that his wife demonstrated, the strength
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Speaker 1: of the others who were there. And afterwards, he commented
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Speaker 1: to me quite at length about that. All of us,
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Speaker 1: I think, would like to be able to face death,
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Speaker 1: to face the most difficult circumstance of our life, with
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Speaker 1: spiritual stability, wouldn't we? I mean, we would like to
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Speaker 1: think that we have the strength to do that. How
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Speaker 1: can we be spiritually stable in the very most trying times?
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Speaker 1: I believe the answer is in Philippians 4. Let's turn
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Speaker 1: to it. We're studying the fourth chapter of Philippians, and
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Speaker 1: we're learning about spiritual stability, what it takes to be
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Speaker 1: strong in the trying times. times of great temptation, times
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Speaker 1: of great trial, times of persecution, times of great loss
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Speaker 1: in our families, times of confusion, times of distress and illness.
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Speaker 1: How can we be spiritually strong? How can we have
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Speaker 1: that stability that looks death right in the eye and
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Speaker 1: doesn't flinch and doesn't waver and doesn't equivocate and doesn't doubt?
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Speaker 1: How can we have that kind of calm, that kind
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Speaker 1: of contentment, that kind of peace in the midst of
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Speaker 1: grave difficulty? I think every Christian hungers for that, and
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Speaker 1: that is precisely why every one of us should learn
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Speaker 1: the great truths in this fourth chapter. Now the key
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Speaker 1: is in verse 1. Remember now our key phrase, and
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Speaker 1: this is part four in our study of these first
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Speaker 1: nine verses. The key phrase is,' Stand firm in the Lord.'
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Speaker 1: Stand firm in the Lord. That's what the Apostle Paul
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Speaker 1: is really after with the Philippians. He wants them to
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Speaker 1: be strong. He wants them to be rooted and grounded.
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Speaker 1: He wants them to act like men, to be courageous
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Speaker 1: and bold and strong as they stand for the Lord.
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Speaker 1: Then you'll notice the little word so, so stand firm.
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Speaker 1: That means thus or in this way or here's how
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Speaker 1: I want you to stand firm. Here are the components
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Speaker 1: of a firm life. Here's what it takes to be
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Speaker 1: spiritually stable against everything that can be thrown at you.
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Speaker 1: Now as we start in verse 2, we begin to
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Speaker 1: see the principles of spiritual stability. The first one, and
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Speaker 1: this is by way of review, the first thing that
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Speaker 1: is required to be spiritually stable is to be in
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Speaker 1: an environment of peace or an environment of love in
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Speaker 1: the fellowship. You are to be a peacemaker, cultivating peace
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Speaker 1: in the fellowship of love. And I won't go back
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Speaker 1: over that point except to say verses 2 and 3
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Speaker 1: call for harmony in the church. Why? Because loving, peaceful
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Speaker 1: harmony is a stabilizer. When you are in an environment
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Speaker 1: of harmony and an environment of love and an environment
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Speaker 1: of peace in the church, you are stabilized by that environment.
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Speaker 1: On the other hand, discord, disunity, chaos, division in the
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Speaker 1: church will always produce great insecurity. And it will destabilize people.
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Speaker 1: We went into that in detail. So the first thing
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Speaker 1: that must be cultivated if you're to be a stable
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Speaker 1: Christian is is you are to cultivate peace in the
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Speaker 1: fellowship of love. In other words, you are to enjoy
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Speaker 1: the unity of the church. You are to do everything
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Speaker 1: you can to be a peacemaker so that in the
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Speaker 1: peace of the church and in the loving bond of
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Speaker 1: the church, you find spiritual strength. Second, the second element
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Speaker 1: in Spiritual stability is maintaining a spirit of joy. Verse
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Speaker 1: 4 says that we are to rejoice in the Lord always,
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Speaker 1: and again I say rejoice. And this joy is based
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Speaker 1: upon our relationship with the Lord, not our circumstances. We
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Speaker 1: are to rejoice in the Lord. In other words, our
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Speaker 1: joy is because of our privileged, permanent union with the Lord.
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Speaker 1: It transcends circumstances. It transcends difficulties, trials, temptations, persecutions, or whatever.
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Speaker 1: We must cultivate that deep down belief joy that comes
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Speaker 1: when we understand, contemplate, and live in the light of
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Speaker 1: a privileged union with the living Lord Jesus Christ. So
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Speaker 1: spiritual stability comes then to those who are experiencing peace
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Speaker 1: and love in the fellowship. It comes to those who
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Speaker 1: have maintained a spirit of joy no matter what the
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Speaker 1: difficulty is because they can focus on their relationship with
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Speaker 1: the Lord which is always a cause for joy no
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Speaker 1: matter what difficulty comes. Spiritual stability requires learning to accept
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Speaker 1: less than you deserve, learning to accept less than you
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Speaker 1: are due. And here is the spiritual grace of humility.
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Speaker 1: This is contentment. Verse 5 says, let your forbearing spirit
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Speaker 1: be known to all men. That means your contentment, your
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Speaker 1: humble graciousness. It's the idea that you expect nothing, you
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Speaker 1: demand nothing. And if you expect nothing and demand nothing,
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Speaker 1: and if you rightly assess your sinfulness and know you
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Speaker 1: deserve nothing, then you don't mind when you get nothing.
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Speaker 1: That's the bottom line. That's the essence of humility. But
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Speaker 1: if I wrongly assess my worthiness and assume that I
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Speaker 1: am worthy of much and deserve much, if I don't
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Speaker 1: get much, I'm very upset and unstable. But in true humility,
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Speaker 1: when I have no demands and I seek nothing for
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Speaker 1: myself and I know I deserve nothing for myself, I
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Speaker 1: will never be disappointed when I get nothing for myself
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Speaker 1: and when I am mistreated. You can be spiritually stable
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Speaker 1: in the most difficult time when you are hated, when
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Speaker 1: you are despised, when you are rejected, when you are persecuted,
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Speaker 1: if you understand that as an unworthy sinner you don't
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Speaker 1: deserve anything anyway, and you should be grateful for the
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Speaker 1: grace of God which is yours and not expect anything
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Speaker 1: beyond that. Then fourthly, and last time we noted this
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Speaker 1: in some detail, spiritual stability demands resting on a confident
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Speaker 1: faith in the Lord. It demands resting on a confident
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Speaker 1: faith in the Lord. Verse 5 says, the Lord is near.
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Speaker 1: Verse 6 says, be anxious for nothing. That's sequential. We're
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Speaker 1: talking about here near, Angus, in the sense of space,
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Speaker 1: if we can use that as a designation, as opposed
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Speaker 1: to time. It is true that the Lord is near
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Speaker 1: in the sense of His second coming, but that's not
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Speaker 1: really the priority here. The Lord is near in terms
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Speaker 1: of His presence here. And because the Lord is near,
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Speaker 1: we're not anxious for anything. So spiritual stability then is
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Speaker 1: predicated on a confident faith in the Lord. That's the
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Speaker 1: bottom line. Remember what we've been saying? The way you
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Speaker 1: handle problems, temptations, trials, difficulties, is a reflection of your
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Speaker 1: view of God. If you understand the Lord and who
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Speaker 1: He is and all His power and all His promise
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Speaker 1: and all His resources and purposes and plans toward you,
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Speaker 1: and you also understand that He's always near, then where's
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Speaker 1: the cause for anxiety? What are you going to be
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Speaker 1: anxious about? If you understand that God is sovereign, God
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Speaker 1: is loving, if you understand that God is in control
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Speaker 1: of everything in your life for His glory and your good...
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Speaker 1: if you understand that nothing is beyond the purview of
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Speaker 1: God's control, if you understand that He's orchestrating everything for
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Speaker 1: eternal purpose, and you can rest in that confident faith,
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Speaker 1: then you're going to be stable in the most serious times.
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Speaker 1: In fact, Thaddeus was saying, God has a purpose in this.
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Speaker 1: This is the Lord's doing. God has a purpose in this.
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Speaker 1: We must see the Lord's purpose. That is exactly right.
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Speaker 1: That kind of faith will hold you through the gravest difficulty.
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Speaker 1: The psalmist really extols God as the strong protector and
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Speaker 1: emphasizes his faith in many of the Psalms, but perhaps
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Speaker 1: none more strongly and firmly than Psalm 31, where he writes,'
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Speaker 1: In thee, O Lord, I have taken refuge.' Let me
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Speaker 1: never be ashamed. In thy righteousness deliver me. Incline thine
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Speaker 1: ear to me. Rescue me quickly. Be thou to me
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Speaker 1: a rock of strength, a stronghold to save me. For
21:28
Speaker 1: thou art my rock and my fortress. For thy name's
21:31
Speaker 1: sake thou wilt lead me and guide me. Thou wilt
21:34
Speaker 1: pull me out of the net which they have secretly
21:36
Speaker 1: laid for me. For thou art my strength. Into Thy
21:40
Speaker 1: hands I commit my spirit, Thou hast ransomed me, O
21:44
Speaker 1: Lord God of truth. In other words, you're true to
21:47
Speaker 1: what you say and I trust in you. That confident
21:50
Speaker 1: faith is the bottom line in your ability to deal
21:54
Speaker 1: with difficulty. When people have difficulties that they can't solve,
22:00
Speaker 1: when they get into problems that debilitate them and raise
22:02
Speaker 1: their anxiety level and cause all kinds of personal trauma,
22:06
Speaker 1: the right answer is you need to go to someone
22:09
Speaker 1: who can talk about your problem. That is not the
22:11
Speaker 1: right answer. The right answer is you need to better
22:13
Speaker 1: understand the God who is sovereign over your problem. That
22:18
Speaker 1: is the answer. It is a fallacy to assume that
22:23
Speaker 1: some kind of careful human analysis of the problem is
22:26
Speaker 1: going to provide the solution. The solution is to understand
22:30
Speaker 1: I am a fallen person. I live in a fallen world.
22:33
Speaker 1: It is cursed and I bear the mark of that
22:36
Speaker 1: curse in my own fallen flesh. This is what is
22:39
Speaker 1: to be expected. I will rest in the confident faith
22:43
Speaker 1: that my God is sovereign over all this fallenness to
22:47
Speaker 1: effect His own eternal purposes. That's the solution to the problem,
22:53
Speaker 1: that perspective. An adequate knowledge of God is essential in
22:58
Speaker 1: the matter of spiritual stability. The Scripture, for example, is
23:02
Speaker 1: the revelation of God, so that in knowing Scripture, we
23:05
Speaker 1: know God. In knowing God, we can predict how He
23:08
Speaker 1: is acting. We can predict what His purposes are and
23:12
Speaker 1: thus be content. In fact, in Ephesians 6, When the
23:17
Speaker 1: believer gets into intense spiritual combat with the forces of
23:20
Speaker 1: the enemy, spiritual wickedness in the heavenlies, principalities and powers,
23:24
Speaker 1: when we're in hand-to-hand battle with demons, it says that
23:27
Speaker 1: our feet are shod with the preparation of the gospel
23:31
Speaker 1: of peace. The feet of a Roman soldier had to
23:34
Speaker 1: be prepared with something, and they wore a hobnail boot.
23:37
Speaker 1: This boot was leather, and nails were driven through from
23:40
Speaker 1: the inside. Those nails would grip the ground like a
23:43
Speaker 1: football or a baseball or a track shoe would grip
23:46
Speaker 1: the ground in athletics. Only in that particular situation, you
23:49
Speaker 1: were in hand-to-hand combat for life and death. It wasn't
23:53
Speaker 1: a game. It was real. And so they had these
23:55
Speaker 1: boots that were able to anchor in the soil and
23:58
Speaker 1: not slip and slide and thus cause a great amount
24:01
Speaker 1: of vulnerability. Now what Paul says is that what makes
24:04
Speaker 1: you stand firm, what anchors your feet is the gospel
24:08
Speaker 1: of peace. What do you mean by that, Paul? What
24:10
Speaker 1: I mean is that you are a participant in the
24:14
Speaker 1: good news that you are at peace with God. Another
24:18
Speaker 1: way to say that, God's on your side. What anchors
24:21
Speaker 1: you in battle is the confidence that God is on
24:25
Speaker 1: your side. He's not your enemy. He's your friend. He's
24:29
Speaker 1: your resource. He's your power. So I am anchored in
24:33
Speaker 1: spiritual battle by the confidence that I am at peace
24:36
Speaker 1: with God, therefore God is at peace with me, therefore
24:40
Speaker 1: God is on my side to be my defender, as
24:42
Speaker 1: the psalmist said, my rock, my strong defender. That's stability.
24:50
Speaker 1: You can be stable in any situation if you understand
24:53
Speaker 1: your God and you understand His sovereign control and His
24:58
Speaker 1: sovereign purposes. and His great omnipotence that can overpower anything. Now,
25:07
Speaker 1: let me just digress for a moment to share a
25:10
Speaker 1: burden on my heart. One of the curses on this culture,
25:13
Speaker 1: this Christian culture in which we live in America today,
25:17
Speaker 1: is really the reflection of traditional Arminian theology. Traditionally, through
25:24
Speaker 1: the years, the Arminian theology and the Calvinistic theology have
25:28
Speaker 1: sort of been at opposite poles. Arminian theology is distinct
25:33
Speaker 1: from Calvinistic theology in terms of principle. For example, traditional
25:38
Speaker 1: Reformed theology that we call Calvinism says God is sovereign.
25:42
Speaker 1: Arminian theology, in effect, says man is sovereign. That's the
25:48
Speaker 1: primary difference. Now, Arminian theology is pervasive in our culture today.
25:55
Speaker 1: It's pervasive in the church, and even in some churches
25:57
Speaker 1: that wouldn't say they believe in it, it's still pervasive.
26:00
Speaker 1: More subtly so, but it's there. Arminian theology says that
26:05
Speaker 1: man is sovereign. God is hopeful. And God is helpful.
26:13
Speaker 1: But man is sovereign. You've got to find it in
26:16
Speaker 1: yourself to come to Christ. You've got to find it
26:20
Speaker 1: in yourself to stay with Christ. You've got to find
26:23
Speaker 1: it in yourself... to accomplish your spiritual goals, to win
26:29
Speaker 1: your spiritual victories with the knowledge that God is hopeful
26:33
Speaker 1: that you will because He'd like to see you in
26:35
Speaker 1: heaven if you could work it out. And He's also helpful.
26:41
Speaker 1: Given the right conditions on your part, He'll come along
26:43
Speaker 1: and give you some assistance. So what happens in this
26:46
Speaker 1: kind of theology? Well, the first thing that happens is
26:50
Speaker 1: that a man may profess Christ, think himself to be
26:55
Speaker 1: a Christian, and never experienced the shattering of his own
27:01
Speaker 1: confidence in himself. In other words, a typical Arminian person,
27:07
Speaker 1: and I don't say that in the racial sense, but
27:08
Speaker 1: the theological sense, a typical Arminian person, a person who
27:13
Speaker 1: believes that salvation is something he chooses to do on
27:16
Speaker 1: his own, is going to come to salvation and say,
27:20
Speaker 1: wasn't I, what, smart to do that? I have heard
27:25
Speaker 1: a testimony recently, as recently as a few months ago,
27:27
Speaker 1: where a guy said, I had the sense to commit
27:29
Speaker 1: my life to Christ. Oh, you did, did you? So
27:36
Speaker 1: what happens is, this person is now professing Christ without
27:40
Speaker 1: ever experiencing the shattering of his own confidence in himself.
27:46
Speaker 1: He believes he has the power to choose salvation. He
27:49
Speaker 1: believes he has the power, by the way, to un-choose it.
27:52
Speaker 1: He also has... the impotence to lose it. Can you
27:57
Speaker 1: imagine facing death, lying on a bed, and realizing that
28:01
Speaker 1: you had the power to choose Christ if you wanted
28:03
Speaker 1: or thinking that to be true, and you had the
28:04
Speaker 1: power to lose Christ if you failed, and wondering how
28:07
Speaker 1: in the world you were facing God at that particular moment?
28:11
Speaker 1: Can you imagine battling in your heart the feeling that
28:14
Speaker 1: you might be saved or you might not be saved
28:15
Speaker 1: if you committed too many sins and got disqualified? There
28:18
Speaker 1: wouldn't be a lot of security in that. There might
28:20
Speaker 1: be a lot of anxiety. But you see, this particular
28:26
Speaker 1: kind of person who believes that they choose to be
28:28
Speaker 1: saved on their own, and it's sort of all up
28:30
Speaker 1: to them to stay saved and to fight their spiritual battles,
28:34
Speaker 1: has never experienced the shattering of confidence in himself. Therefore,
28:39
Speaker 1: he does not understand what it means to totally trust God. Furthermore,
28:45
Speaker 1: because he knows God in reality only as hopeful and
28:49
Speaker 1: helpful rather than sovereign, he does not totally trust God. Consequently,
28:57
Speaker 1: he lives with tremendous anxiety. He doesn't understand a sovereign God,
29:02
Speaker 1: therefore he doesn't understand a sovereign grace. He doesn't understand
29:06
Speaker 1: the total divine working power of the eternal God on
29:09
Speaker 1: his behalf. He doesn't understand that he was chosen by God,
29:13
Speaker 1: that he was redeemed by God, that he is kept
29:16
Speaker 1: by God, that he'll be glorified by God, and that
29:18
Speaker 1: every trial of his life is under the total control
29:21
Speaker 1: of God. If his trouble is a result of his sin,
29:25
Speaker 1: then it's chastening to make him perfect. If his trouble
29:28
Speaker 1: is not the result of his sin, it still fits
29:30
Speaker 1: the purpose of God for his own good and God's
29:32
Speaker 1: glory in some way that he may at that moment
29:34
Speaker 1: not understand. But it's all in God's plan. But see,
29:39
Speaker 1: if you don't ever understand the shattering of your own
29:42
Speaker 1: confidence in yourself, which then abandons you to God, then
29:48
Speaker 1: you're not going to totally trust God. And that's why
29:51
Speaker 1: I say what I've been saying all along. If you
29:53
Speaker 1: are going to be stable in the tough times of life,
29:57
Speaker 1: it is born out of an absolute distrust of yourself
30:02
Speaker 1: and a total trust in the sovereign God of grace
30:05
Speaker 1: and power. And if you trust that, God, you stand stable.
30:14
Speaker 1: So Believers who really know their God can say, my
30:21
Speaker 1: God is in this, my God has His purposes. Spurgeon
30:26
Speaker 1: once said, if you believe that everything turns on the
30:29
Speaker 1: free will of man, you will naturally have man as
30:33
Speaker 1: the principal figure in your landscape, end quote. Now you're
30:36
Speaker 1: really stuck with a dilemma. Because you know how weak
30:41
Speaker 1: man is, and you know how fickle man is, so
30:43
Speaker 1: you have every reason to be full of anxiety. People
30:49
Speaker 1: with right theology shouldn't have anxiety problems. People who believe
30:54
Speaker 1: the truth. I really believe that this pervasive sort of
30:59
Speaker 1: Arminian theology that exists in the church today is the
31:03
Speaker 1: precursor to all this anxiety of people who still believe
31:07
Speaker 1: they've got to orchestrate their life and it's sort of
31:11
Speaker 1: on their own. They've got to try to do it
31:14
Speaker 1: with the help of some well-meaning people who've got some
31:16
Speaker 1: formulas that might work. This is foolishness. One manifestation of
31:25
Speaker 1: it is this new thing about binding Satan, binding demons.
31:30
Speaker 1: What are you doing that? People running around saying, I
31:32
Speaker 1: bind you, Satan. I command you, Satan. I hear them
31:34
Speaker 1: doing that all the time. I read it in books.
31:37
Speaker 1: I see it on the television. I hear it on
31:39
Speaker 1: Christian radio and preachers. Binding Satan. Listen, let me tell
31:43
Speaker 1: you two things. Number one, Satan doesn't listen to you.
31:47
Speaker 1: What do you think you're doing? You don't have any
31:50
Speaker 1: power to tell him to do one thing. And why
31:52
Speaker 1: in the world would he do it anyway? Who are you?
31:56
Speaker 1: You can't even get your kids to do what you
31:58
Speaker 1: tell them. Who are you kidding? Telling Satan what to do.
32:08
Speaker 1: Telling demons what to do. You know, even Michael the
32:11
Speaker 1: archangel in Jude wouldn't bring a railing accusation against Satan.
32:15
Speaker 1: That was territory he didn't even belong in. That's foolishness.
32:21
Speaker 1: Who do you think you are? You see, that comes
32:23
Speaker 1: out of a theology that says man is powerful. And
32:27
Speaker 1: that is, again, an Arminian theology that does not have
32:30
Speaker 1: the shattering of man's confidence in himself. I've got nothing
32:34
Speaker 1: to say to demons. I've got nothing to say to Satan.
32:36
Speaker 1: In fact, there's no illustration in the Bible in the
32:39
Speaker 1: New Testament that anybody ever talked to Satan. Nobody goes around, Satan,
32:43
Speaker 1: get away. Satan, you do this. Satan, I'm commanding you.
32:45
Speaker 1: You don't do that. That's ridiculous. Furthermore, what it tells
32:50
Speaker 1: me is you must be very powerful because the one
32:55
Speaker 1: who does have control of Satan is whom? God. And
32:59
Speaker 1: if you're running around taking over for him, boy, you
33:01
Speaker 1: got an exalted view of yourself. You better get back
33:05
Speaker 1: on track, my friend. You better have a shattering of
33:08
Speaker 1: all confidence in your own flesh and total trust in
33:12
Speaker 1: a sovereign God. And if you've got a complaint with
33:14
Speaker 1: the powers of darkness, then go to the one who
33:17
Speaker 1: is over them. And that's our living God. This is
33:24
Speaker 1: absolute folly on the part of these people who do this. See,
33:30
Speaker 1: they don't understand the weakness of man. They think they've
33:32
Speaker 1: got some kind of great power. They run around throwing
33:35
Speaker 1: this weight around as if all the demons were scurrying
33:38
Speaker 1: at their command. Foolish. They neither understand the weakness of man,
33:44
Speaker 1: nor do they understand the great power of a sovereign God.
33:49
Speaker 1: They play silly games of a weak theology. Spiritual stability
33:55
Speaker 1: comes to those who understand their God and understand that
33:58
Speaker 1: He is near and that everything is in His plan
34:01
Speaker 1: and there's no anxiety. So, spiritual stability is the result
34:09
Speaker 1: of strong peace and the fellowship of love, the result
34:12
Speaker 1: of a rejoicing heart in all situations because of our
34:14
Speaker 1: relationship to Christ. the result of humble acceptance of every
34:18
Speaker 1: difficulty and inequity because we know we don't deserve anything anyway,
34:21
Speaker 1: and the result of a strong, confident faith in our
34:24
Speaker 1: great God. Number five, this fits. We've already talked about
34:31
Speaker 1: the virtues, peace, love, joy, humility, faith. Here's another virtue
34:37
Speaker 1: of a stable Christian, gratitude. This point is spiritual stability
34:42
Speaker 1: calls for reacting to problems with thankful prayer. reacting to
34:47
Speaker 1: problems with thankful prayer. Verse 6, in everything by prayer
34:51
Speaker 1: and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known
34:53
Speaker 1: to God. We'll stop at that point. Here is the
34:57
Speaker 1: antidote to worry. Here is relief from anxiety. By the way,
35:01
Speaker 1: this section does not emphasize the theology of prayer. It
35:05
Speaker 1: emphasizes the importance of prayer and the attitude of prayer.
35:11
Speaker 1: It's not really a study of the theology of prayer.
35:13
Speaker 1: There are three different words for prayer used here. They're
35:16
Speaker 1: translated prayer, supplication, and request. They all have to do
35:20
Speaker 1: with petitions. And the assumption is that when you get
35:23
Speaker 1: into a problem, you're going to cry out to God, right?
35:26
Speaker 1: I mean, that's natural. You're going to cry out to God.
35:30
Speaker 1: But what Paul is saying is instead of crying out
35:32
Speaker 1: to God in your difficulty with doubt, with questionings, with dissatisfaction,
35:38
Speaker 1: with discontent, blaming God, cry out to God with what attitude? Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving. Well,
35:49
Speaker 1: you say, why? Well, because you know that He's the
35:53
Speaker 1: God of promise, who has promised that nothing's ever going
35:56
Speaker 1: to come in your life that's too much for you
35:57
Speaker 1: to bear, that He is the God of promise who
36:00
Speaker 1: is working all things for your good. He is the
36:02
Speaker 1: God of promise who is causing you to suffer a
36:05
Speaker 1: while in order that you might be made perfect, that
36:07
Speaker 1: you might be settled, that you might be established, 1
36:10
Speaker 1: Peter 5.10. In other words, you see in all the
36:14
Speaker 1: difficulty God's purpose and you thank Him. And you thank
36:17
Speaker 1: Him for the available power you know is there. And
36:19
Speaker 1: you thank Him for the promises which He never will violate.
36:25
Speaker 1: Instead of questioning God, doubting God, sort of shaking your
36:29
Speaker 1: fists at God, He says, in everything. That's like 1
36:35
Speaker 1: Peter 5, 7, casting all your care on Him. In everything.
36:41
Speaker 1: When you pray and supplicate and request to God, in
36:46
Speaker 1: the process of doing that, do it with thanksgiving. Thankful
36:51
Speaker 1: for His purposes. Thankful for His providence. Thankful for His power.
36:57
Speaker 1: Thankful for His promise. Thankful for His perfecting work. Thankful
37:03
Speaker 1: for the hope of relief. Thankful for the hope of glory.
37:07
Speaker 1: Thankful that it is His will. Thankful that He's doing
37:12
Speaker 1: exactly what He wants in your life to accomplish what
37:14
Speaker 1: He wants. Thankful for past mercies that are the foundation
37:19
Speaker 1: of future blessings. You see, prayer should always be with thankfulness.
37:28
Speaker 1: This immediately releases me from fear and worry because I
37:32
Speaker 1: see God's purpose in it. I never question His purpose.
37:36
Speaker 1: I know my God is sovereign. I know He orchestrates
37:39
Speaker 1: all things for my good, Romans 8, 28, and His glory.
37:42
Speaker 1: I know that whatever may come, He can turn to
37:46
Speaker 1: His own praise and to my growth. And so I'm thankful.
37:51
Speaker 1: I'm thankful that He knows the problem. I'm thankful that
37:54
Speaker 1: He can deal with the problem. I'm thankful for His knowledge,
37:57
Speaker 1: His power, His promise, all of that. All three of
38:01
Speaker 1: those words, by the way, refer to specific direct requests, prayer,
38:04
Speaker 1: supplication requests. They all assume that in difficulty you go
38:09
Speaker 1: to God. But the issue here is the thankful heart.
38:14
Speaker 1: And if you really know your God and you can
38:18
Speaker 1: thank Him in the midst of all of this, you
38:19
Speaker 1: have spiritual stability. This is so basic, folks. I watch
38:23
Speaker 1: people who are worried and fretting and anxious and troubled
38:27
Speaker 1: about everything. And the bottom line is... They do not
38:32
Speaker 1: trust that everything is under the control of God for
38:37
Speaker 1: their good and His glory. They can't handle that. Either
38:42
Speaker 1: they don't understand their God or the sin in their
38:45
Speaker 1: life has caused them to have a weak faith in
38:47
Speaker 1: the God they do know to be a sovereign God.
38:51
Speaker 1: If you understand that my God shall supply all your needs,
38:55
Speaker 1: if you understand that that God knows everything in your
38:58
Speaker 1: life and cares about it, if you understand that God
39:01
Speaker 1: has the power for every difficulty, if you understand that
39:03
Speaker 1: God is perfecting you to be like Christ, if you
39:06
Speaker 1: understand that nothing escapes God and nothing is outside of
39:08
Speaker 1: His tolerance and His purposes, then why would you fear
39:12
Speaker 1: and be anxious about anything? I mean, get in touch
39:16
Speaker 1: with the reality of it. Now, what is the result
39:20
Speaker 1: of a thankful heart? Verse 7, verse 7. and the
39:27
Speaker 1: peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension shall guard your
39:31
Speaker 1: hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. I would venture
39:34
Speaker 1: to say that everybody with a problem would like to
39:36
Speaker 1: find peace, right? We'd like to find tranquility. We'd like
39:42
Speaker 1: to find contentment, some kind of inner calm in the
39:48
Speaker 1: midst of the difficulties. Would you please note that that's
39:52
Speaker 1: precisely what verse 7 promises? Now, I need to just
39:56
Speaker 1: give you a little bit of a thought here. In
40:00
Speaker 1: the middle of difficulty, when you're pleading and supplicating and
40:04
Speaker 1: praying to God, and you have a thankful heart, the
40:08
Speaker 1: answer is not the issue. Did you hear that? The
40:11
Speaker 1: answer is not the issue. It doesn't say that if
40:14
Speaker 1: you will pray and you will supplicate and you will
40:17
Speaker 1: request to God with thanksgiving, God will answer your prayer
40:22
Speaker 1: the way you want. It doesn't say that. It says
40:25
Speaker 1: nothing about the answer. It says whatever the answer may
40:28
Speaker 1: be and whenever the answer may come, God will give
40:32
Speaker 1: you what? Peace. That's the issue. That's the issue. What
40:39
Speaker 1: is the peace of God? Well, it's the peace which
40:42
Speaker 1: God possesses and gives to us. It's inward peace, God-like
40:50
Speaker 1: peace given to us. That's what provides the calm. Would
40:59
Speaker 1: you please note again, it is a gift from God
41:02
Speaker 1: to one who prays thankfully. This is building to a
41:08
Speaker 1: spiritual crescendo. As you exist in an environment of love
41:13
Speaker 1: and peace, be a peacemaker. As you focus on your
41:17
Speaker 1: relationship to the living Christ, as you have a humble
41:20
Speaker 1: heart not demanding anything, as you begin to know your God,
41:24
Speaker 1: understand your God, and trust your God so that in
41:27
Speaker 1: the middle of grave difficulties when you're pouring out your
41:30
Speaker 1: prayers before that God, you can do so with thanksgiving,
41:33
Speaker 1: God in response to that kind of heart attitude dispenses
41:37
Speaker 1: His peace. That's the promise. He grants you His peace.
41:43
Speaker 1: Listen to Isaiah 26.3. The steadfast of mind thou wilt
41:50
Speaker 1: keep in perfect peace because He trusts in thee. That's it.
41:55
Speaker 1: You trust in God, you get a steadfast mind, God
41:59
Speaker 1: keeps you in peace. That's how to face life with stability.
42:08
Speaker 1: So much wrong advice. so much trust in man's ability,
42:15
Speaker 1: so much distrust in God's sovereignty that we have sent
42:21
Speaker 1: people down the wrong path. Beloved, I don't care what
42:25
Speaker 1: the problem is in your life. I don't care what
42:27
Speaker 1: the difficulty is that creates anxiety, psychosis, neurosis, whatever it is.
42:32
Speaker 1: If you understand who your God is, if you can
42:35
Speaker 1: take every issue of life with a thankful heart as
42:37
Speaker 1: you pray and ask Him for deliverance. In the midst
42:40
Speaker 1: of it all, the promise of the Word is that
42:43
Speaker 1: God will give you peace. What kind of peace is it?
42:49
Speaker 1: Please notice verse 7, it is peace which surpasses all comprehension.
42:55
Speaker 1: What does that mean? It's not human. It's not rational.
42:59
Speaker 1: It transcends intellectual powers. It transcends analysis. It transcends man's insights.
43:06
Speaker 1: It transcends man's understanding, man's definition, man's explanation. It is
43:13
Speaker 1: not human. You don't go to man to get it.
43:18
Speaker 1: Did you hear that? You go to God to get it.
43:22
Speaker 1: There's no counselor in the world that can give it
43:24
Speaker 1: to you. There's no therapy in the world that can
43:28
Speaker 1: give it to you. There's no technique in the world
43:32
Speaker 1: that can give it to you. It is a gift
43:34
Speaker 1: of God. To a believer who so confidently understands and
43:40
Speaker 1: trusts his God that he is thankful in the trial
43:45
Speaker 1: and out of his thanksgiving, God responds by granting him peace,
43:48
Speaker 1: supernatural peace. Boy, are there a lot of cheap substitutes
43:53
Speaker 1: being offered for that today. It is beyond any approach
43:58
Speaker 1: that attempts to reason your troubles away. It is superior
44:02
Speaker 1: to human scheming, superior to human devices, superior to human solutions,
44:08
Speaker 1: superior to any so-called human security. I can simply sum
44:14
Speaker 1: it up by saying the real challenge of Christian living,
44:17
Speaker 1: please note this because it runs cross-grain to our culture,
44:21
Speaker 1: The real challenge of Christian living is not to see
44:25
Speaker 1: if you can eliminate every uncomfortable issue in your life.
44:31
Speaker 1: The real issue of Christian living is to see if
44:35
Speaker 1: you can trust your infinitely holy, sovereign, and powerful God
44:40
Speaker 1: in the midst of every situation and have His perfect peace.
44:47
Speaker 1: People are running around trying to create a perfect world
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Speaker 1: so they'll be happy. They don't like the way they look.
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Speaker 1: They don't like the way they're shaped. They don't like
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Speaker 1: the way their mother treated them. They don't like the
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Speaker 1: way their father treated them. They were abused. They were misunderstood.
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Speaker 1: They weren't treated properly. They don't like the way their
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Speaker 1: husband treats them. They don't like the way their wife
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Speaker 1: treats them. They don't like the way their kids are
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Speaker 1: turning out. They don't like the place they live. They
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Speaker 1: hate their job. And out of all of these things
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Speaker 1: come all these petty anxieties. Sooner we should learn we
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Speaker 1: are fallen people. We live in a fallen world. That's
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Speaker 1: the way it's going to be. And the great reality
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Speaker 1: is that our glorious sovereign God has overruled our fallenness.
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Speaker 1: It says it, doesn't it? In John 16, 33, in
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Speaker 1: this world you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer. What?
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Speaker 1: I have overcome the world. When are we going to
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Speaker 1: start living on the supernatural plane and accepting that we
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Speaker 1: live in a fallen world and wait for the overcoming
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Speaker 1: God to do His perfect work in us here and
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Speaker 1: someday in the glory to come? I must accept the
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Speaker 1: fact that I'm a fallen person living with fallen people
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Speaker 1: in a fallen world and there are manifestations of that
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Speaker 1: fallenness all over the place. There will never be the
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Speaker 1: tranquility I would like circumstantially in this world, but I
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Speaker 1: will find my peace from God here. as I entrust
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Speaker 1: everything confidently into His care. Now notice what this peace does,
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Speaker 1: verse 7. The peace of God which surpasses all comprehension
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Speaker 1: shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
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Speaker 1: Guard you from what? From anxiety, from doubt, from fear,
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Speaker 1: from distress. This is a great truth. That term shall
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Speaker 1: guard us. is a military term. It literally means shall
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Speaker 1: keep guard over, shall protect. The Philippians lived in a
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Speaker 1: garrison town where Roman soldiers were stationed to watch out
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Speaker 1: for the Roman interests in that part of their world.
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Speaker 1: They knew what a sentry was, what a guard was,
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Speaker 1: what a garrison was, a protector. And what Paul says, look,
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Speaker 1: he says, if you know your God and you know
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Speaker 1: your God is near and you confidently trust your God
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Speaker 1: in the midst of any trial, knowing that it is
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Speaker 1: affecting His purpose, and then being thankful in the midst
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Speaker 1: of that for the purpose of God even in the difficulty,
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Speaker 1: you are granted the peace of God. That peace will
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Speaker 1: guard you and protect you from anxiety, difficulty, distress, dissatisfaction, discontent, doubt.
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Speaker 1: Bunyan had a beautiful picture of this. You remember he,
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Speaker 1: in Holy War, he has the picture of the city
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Speaker 1: called Mansoul, and it's representative of the soul of man.
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Speaker 1: And he has the Prince, Prince Emmanuel, who of course
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Speaker 1: is Christ. And then he has this special character called Mr.
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Speaker 1: God's Peace. And Mr. God's Peace is in the town
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Speaker 1: of Mansoul. He's on patrol, and his job is to
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Speaker 1: guard the town. Bunyan writes, nothing was to be found
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Speaker 1: but harmony, happiness, joy, and health, so long as Mr.
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Speaker 1: God's peace maintained his office. And Bunyan talks about how
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Speaker 1: the town mansoul grieved Prince Emmanuel, Prince Emmanuel left, and Mr.
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Speaker 1: God's peace laid down his commission. And chaos resulted. That's
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Speaker 1: what happens in the Christian life. When Christ is out
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Speaker 1: of our thoughts, when we no longer see things in
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Speaker 1: the light of how He views them, when we no
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Speaker 1: longer are under, as it were, the confidence in His sovereignty,
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Speaker 1: then all of a sudden, Mr. God's peace doesn't function
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Speaker 1: anymore and we're left with troubled minds and troubled hearts.
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Speaker 1: But where we have that confident trust in the Lord
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Speaker 1: so much so that we can thank Him in the
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Speaker 1: midst of our petitions, then we have Mr. God's peace
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Speaker 1: on duty and He is the protector of the peace
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Speaker 1: of our souls. That couldn't be a clearer perspective for
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Speaker 1: all of us to understand. Now, why does He mention
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Speaker 1: hearts and minds? Some say, well, there's a distinction. I
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Speaker 1: think not. I don't think He's trying to delineate between
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Speaker 1: the heart and the mind. He's just trying to make
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Speaker 1: a comprehensive statement. We could say the heart is the
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Speaker 1: seat of personhood and the mind is the seat of
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Speaker 1: thought and whatever. But I think he's just saying your
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Speaker 1: hearts and minds in a general sense, saying he'll guard
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Speaker 1: your whole inner person, this Mr. God's peace. You'll guard
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Speaker 1: them in Christ Jesus. Because you're in union with Christ,
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Speaker 1: you have this guardianship. So, spiritual stability. How can you
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Speaker 1: face the inevitable day of your death? What if you
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Speaker 1: have a coronary? What if you're told that you have cancer?
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Speaker 1: What if one of your children is tragically taken from you?
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Speaker 1: What about the difficulties that you face right now in
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Speaker 1: your life? How do you face them with spiritual stability?
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Speaker 1: How do you stand your ground First of all, it requires,
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Speaker 1: I believe, the stability of the church. I believe we
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Speaker 1: all have to hold each other up, and where you
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Speaker 1: have a strong, unified, peaceful, loving church, you find great
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Speaker 1: strength in the individual members. Secondly, you must maintain a
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Speaker 1: spirit of joy, and that means constantly cultivating your relationship
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Speaker 1: to the living Christ so it's the source of joy
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Speaker 1: for you all the time, no matter what may be
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Speaker 1: going on around you. Thirdly, you have to learn to
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Speaker 1: be humble and not expect anything because we don't deserve
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Speaker 1: anything anyway and not feel like you got cheated or
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Speaker 1: dealt a dirty deal or that God gave you the
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Speaker 1: short end of the stick. We who are so utterly
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Speaker 1: unworthy of anything. And then you must rest on a
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Speaker 1: confident faith in the Lord you understand and trust Him
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Speaker 1: to be consistent with Himself as revealed in Scripture and
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Speaker 1: then react to your problems with thankful prayer and And
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Speaker 1: the promise of God is that peace will guard you. Peace, tranquility, contentment. Well,
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Speaker 1: Paul has a couple of other things to say, but
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Speaker 1: he won't get to say them until next week. Let's
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Speaker 1: bow together in prayer. Our Father, we thank you for
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Speaker 1: the confidence we have. Confidence in you. I thank you
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Speaker 1: also for the lack of confidence we have in ourselves.
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Speaker 1: We thank you for the shattering of our own trust
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Speaker 1: in ourselves that causes us to totally trust in you.
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Speaker 1: Oh God, we do commit our lives to you and
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Speaker 1: we do long to pray with thanksgiving no matter how
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Speaker 1: difficult that might be because we know that you have
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Speaker 1: an overarching purpose that is coming to pass for our
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Speaker 1: good and your glory and thus to know the peace
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Speaker 1: which you alone can give. May we live in such
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Speaker 1: tranquility of heart that the world around us will be
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Speaker 1: as amazed as that medical doctor was on that ship
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Speaker 1: at the peace in the heart of a man facing death.
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Speaker 1: Give us that stability to stand confidently, joyfully, thankfully, no
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Speaker 1: matter what. We love you. We entrust ourselves again to you.
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Speaker 1: for the outworking of your holy purpose. In the Savior's name, amen.
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