A good afternoon to you all. It is a joy to be here with you this evening and to go through the word of God together. Please turn your Bibles with me to the book of Philippians. Philippians chapter 3. We are going to read from verse 20 and we will read all the way to chapter 4 verse 7. Our main focus this evening will be on verses six and seven of chapter four, but we will start reading from verse 20 of chapter three. And I read, but our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. Therefore, my brothers whom I love, and long for my joy and crown. Stand firm, thus, in the Lord, my beloved. I entreat you all, dear, and I entreat Syntyche to agree in the Lord. Yes, I ask you also, true companion, help these women who have labored side by side with me in the gospel, together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life. Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand. Verse six, do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Amen. Shall we pray? Our Father in heaven, we thank you for this time that we can come and sit under the teaching of your word. And we look up to you, O God, to feed us this evening knowing that man who stands before you is one with many thoughts. But I stand to ask that you give me your wisdom and your grace to deliver your message to your people and that they will be encouraged and strengthened this evening. It is in Christ Jesus' name we pray with thanksgiving. Amen. So the title for the message this evening is Don't Be Anxious, Trust God. Don't be anxious, trust God. I recall a story that I read a few years back and the story was about a man who went mountain hiking to try and clear his thoughts because of the many circumstances that had fallen in his life. And so he went up that mountain and sat down to just clear his mind. And he got so deep into his thoughts contemplating that he lost track of time and didn't realize that it was getting dark. And so he started going back down the mountain to trace his path back home. And as he neared a narrow part of a trail, which had a cliff on both sides, a gust of wind suddenly rose and swept him over the edge. And instinctively, he reached out and grabbed onto a root, some branches to support himself. By this time, it was quite dark and he couldn't really see what was below him. And so he held on for dear life. And as the hours went by and the temperature started to drop and he was crying out, screaming out for someone to save him, but no one came to his aid. And so after a few moments, He finally called on to God to help him out of his situation. And then God responded to him, to his cry for help, and told him to let go of the branches that he was holding on to. But he said, no, Lord, I'll fall to my death if I let go. This is the only thing keeping me from dropping to my death. But then God asked him and said to him again, do you trust me? He said, yes, Lord, I trust you. And God said to him, then let go and trust me. But again, this man said no. And after some moments, he then cried out, can anyone else help me? And during the night, as temperatures dropped to below freezing, he froze to death. And when rescuers found him the next day and the news of his death broke, the headlines simply read, Hiker Found Dead Hanging Three Feet Off the Ground. And obviously, this is just a story. It is not something that actually happened, but I think it paints a very good picture of our title and our sermon tonight. See, life is filled with many pitfalls and hardships that distress us and cause us to be anxious. And the Christian is not exempt from these challenging circumstances. Contrary to what some may teach that Christians are not supposed to suffer, the reality is there are things that we face every day that make us anxious. And if it was never intended for us to go through these distressing moments, then I don't believe that we would have passages like the one we are looking at tonight. In his letter to the Philippians, in chapter four, Paul closes with some encouraging words to the Philippian believers facing difficult trials. In verse 1 of chapter 4, he encourages them to stand firm as those whose citizenship is in heaven. In verses 2 and 3, he encourages them to be united and to be in love, pleading with Eodia and Sintai to reconcile their differences. In verse 4, he encourages them to rejoice always in the Lord despite their adverse circumstances. In verse five, he encourages them to let their gentleness or graciousness be known to all men, Christian or not Christian, even as the Lord's return is near. And it is the Lord who will take vengeance on their enemies and reward their patience. And so coming to verse six, Paul encourages them to not be anxious. And Paul doesn't say this as one ignorant of their circumstances, of the adverse situations that they were going through, but rather as one knowing fully well what they were facing. As he was writing this letter to them, he was in prison, most likely a Roman prison, and he was facing an uncertain future where death was possibly one of the outcomes And so he knew exactly what their situation was. Our circumstances today might be different from those that the Philippians may have been facing in that time. But nonetheless, this encouragement is as relevant to us today as it was to them then. And so tonight, there are three points that I want us to consider as we look at these verses. First of all, notice the problem of anxiety. In verse six, Paul says, do not be anxious about anything. Be anxious for nothing. So Paul urges the Philippians to be anxious for nothing. And the nothing here is an expression that excludes all exceptions. And therefore, the Philippians should not pick and choose what they should be worried about, what they should be anxious about, and not. But rather, Paul is saying, don't let anything make you anxious. And the expression Paul uses here, is the same that Jesus used in Matthew chapter 6 verse 25, where he said, therefore, I tell you, do not be anxious about your life. And this is a command. It is not a suggestion. It is not some piece of advice. It is a command. Do not be anxious about your life. And you see, believers are to live without anxious care and distracting thoughts in the wants and difficulties of life. But rather, trust God throughout all their circumstances. But isn't the opposite often true? That we worry about so many things. You see, this is where Doctrine gets tested. It is easy to hear or talk about not being anxious when everything around us is good, when we have nothing to distress us. But what about in times when life throws difficult situations and troubles at us, and when we get overwhelmed by them? Don't we easily forget the practice of it? When we are confronted with a tightening economy and finances, when we are faced with injustice around us, when we are faced with poor health and other troubles, it seems like it is easier to be anxious than to trust God. And that's the key word, trusting God. See, one of the definitions of anxiety is that it is a feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease about something with an uncertain outcome. And that is where the problem lies, in the uncertainty of outcomes. And so because of these uncertainties, we get overtaken by anxiety. When we don't know about where that money for rent is going to come from, when we don't know about what's going to happen with our sick friend, father or mother, when we don't know about what's going to happen tomorrow concerning this and that, it is easier to become anxious than to trust God. And so, Because of these uncertainties, we get overtaken by anxiety. And anxiety starts to affect us both physically and spiritually. On a physical level, some of the ways anxiety affects us is it can lead to feelings of fear. Because of the uncertainties in our lives, people live with fear. It can lead to stress. to loss of sleep as the mind keeps resting, trying to fix the things that we are not sure about. It can lead to depression and mental health issues, and even to suicide as people feel so overwhelmed and defeated by their circumstances, such that they lose the will to live. In the 2008 credit crunch, people had their life savings wiped out in a day. And some could not bear the uncertainty what will happen to us going forward and committed suicide. This is what anxiety does when it grips the minds of people. And this is On a general level, whether someone is a Christian or they are not a Christian, these things will happen if we let anxiety take over us. But tonight I want to mostly focus on the body of Christ. How does anxiety affect us spiritually? And there are a few observations to this, the effect of anxiety on our spirituality as believers. First of all, observe this, that anxiety can have a negative effect on our faith, and it can lead us to doubting God, to grumbling, to complaining, and we sin against God when we do that. Turn with me to Psalm 78. Psalm 78, reading from verse 16. Psalm 78 from verse 16. It says, He made streams come out of the rock and caused waters to flow down like rivers. Yet they sinned still more against Him, rebelling against the Most High in the desert. They tested God in their heart by demanding the food they craved. They spoke against God, saying, Can God spread a table in the wilderness? He struck the rock so that water gushed out and streams overflowed. Can he also give bread or provide meat for his people? Therefore, when the Lord heard, he was full of wrath. A fire was kindled against Jacob. His anger rose against Israel. And verse 22 says, because they did not believe in God and did not trust His saving power. This was the children of Israel in the wilderness. How they quickly forgot that God had delivered them from the hand of Pharaoh, where they were slaves. They were going through so much torture and hardships in life. And here they find themselves grumbling and complaining and sinning against God. When we let anxieties take a hold of us, we are led into a valley of doubt where we begin to complain and question God's faithfulness and his ability to take care of us and save us. We sin against God. Doubts creep in. But that's not the only problem anxiety causes spiritually. Observe in the second place as well, that anxiety affects our standing firm in Christ. In verse 1 of chapter 4, Paul encourages the Philippians to stand firm as citizens of heaven. But when we are anxious and we are overwhelmed by the weight of these troubles and our faith is weakened, our firm standing will be affected. It will be compromised. We will backslide. Our eyes should always be fixed on Jesus Christ and not on the surrounding problems we may be going through. Also notice a third effect Anxiety affects our fellowship, our unity, and our love as the body of Christ. Verses 2 and 3, Paul encourages them to be united, to be in love. And you know when we are in our cast down state, we often don't feel like being a part of the fellowship. And we would rather stay away or not participate in activities. But sometimes we may be present, but only in body. Because we are taken so much, overtaken so much by our anxieties, and in the end, it is the body of Christ that suffers. Our gifts and our talents are not being utilized. So there is something that's missing in the body of Christ. Observe again what anxiety does to our spiritual lives. It robs us of our joy in the Lord. Paul encourages them, the Philippians, to always be joyful in the Lord. Doesn't matter what circumstances you may be going through, be joyful in the Lord. Your joy should be in the Lord. But you see, when these anxieties come, our focus shifts from God, from our Lord Jesus Christ, and onto our troubles, and they begin to overwhelm us. We begin to lose our joy in the Lord. Also, another observation, an effect on our spirituality of anxiety, It affects our gentleness, our Christian character, our Christian virtue. That should be evident to all men. And if it is evident to all men, if our Christian character is evident, should be evident to all men, therefore the lack of it will also be evident to all men. So anxiety robs us. of living a Christ-like life, of displaying a Christ-like attitude to people, brothers and sisters in the church, and to people outside of the church. That finally, an effect of anxiety, observe that it doesn't add any value to our lives, nor does it make things any better In Matthew 6, 27, Jesus said, which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? So being anxious doesn't make things better. It doesn't make problems go away. Rather, it makes problems big. Someone said of anxiety that it is like a rocking chair. It gives you something to do, but it never gets you anywhere. And that's just the truth of the matter, that being anxious doesn't change anything. It may occupy our time from morning to evening, but it will not move one problem further away from us. And that is the problem of anxiety. It overwhelms us. It eats at our faith. It brings doubt, sin. Our joy in the Lord is robbed. The fellowship suffers. Our Christian character is compromised. It is a problem, and it is a problem that Christians are not exempt from. If they were, Paul wouldn't have spoken about it. We are not exempt from the various troubles that we see in our lives, and its effects are far-reaching. They don't just affect the person, they affect the body at large. And so, how do we deal with the problem of anxiety? Notice with me in the second place, the answer to the problem. In verse six, Paul continues to say, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. So now, Paul turns from urging the believers to be anxious for nothing, but that they should rather exercise their duty of prayer by making their prayer and supplications known to God. You see, the Christian is to pray in all situations and at all times, regardless of the surrounding circumstances. Whether there is peace and quiet, or there is chaos all around, there is no exception. The Christian should pray. And God expects us to pray. Of prayer, in Matthew chapter six, verse five, Jesus said, and when you pray, And in verse seven of the same chapter again he says, and when you pray. So prayer is not an issue of if or maybe or if the conditions are right, but it is a must for the Christian. Jesus expects his disciples to pray. And he expects them to pray always Not just at moments when things are good, conditions feel right for me to pray, but he expects them to pray always. In Luke chapter 18 verse 1, he tells his disciples, men ought to pray always. He expects us to pray always. And Paul echoes those same words in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 17 by simply telling the Thessalonians, pray without ceasing. Pray without ceasing. So prayer is expected of us and in all circumstances. No excuses, not why we shouldn't pray. And notice that when we do so, when we pray, It says that we rely and trust on God with our lives, which is a contrasting situation to when we are gripped by anxieties. When we pray, we trust in him as our father in heaven to take care of us and of our every need. We stop trying to become the father and just stay as children so the father can take care of us. When we are anxious, when we worry, we are trying to take over God's position. Our position should be one of looking up to him and trusting in him as our father to take care of our every need. And when we come to him in prayer, we come in faith and expectation. What expectation? The expectation that he hears us and he answers our prayers. James said in chapter 1 verse 5 to 8, he says, if anyone lacks wisdom, let him pray. But when you come to God, you should come in faith. If you doubt, don't expect to get anything. So when we come in prayer, when we come to God, we come with an attitude of faith. We come with an attitude of expectation. We expect him as our father, not only to hear, but to also answer our prayers. And so we make our prayers, our supplications to God. And as we do that, we make our requests known to him. Not that God doesn't already know what we are going through, but Paul is rather urging us to cast our cares on God. Acknowledging our total dependence on him. We are saying we are trusting in Him for our lives and our every need. And we come with an attitude of thanksgiving as we remember His mercies towards us. We are grateful for the many blessings, for the salvation that we have received as His children. You see, the only antidote that we are given against anxiety is prayer. And we have to remain in constant prayer. So we keep persevering in prayer. We keep asking. We keep seeking. We keep knocking. Instead of fixing our minds and our thoughts and our time on these perplexing situations, we come to God in prayer. We cast our cares before him. And we should pray. We must pray. We can draw some examples from Paul's life, Paul himself. He didn't just speak, but he demonstrated Bible doctrine. Look, in the midst of his trials and sufferings and chains, remember as he's writing this letter, he's in prison. But in the midst of all that, he stayed in constant prayer, not just praying for himself and his situation, but he was praying for the Philippians. Imagine that someone in prison is busy praying for you here who is free. The mindset of Paul was he trusted in God. And so he demonstrated this doctrine. He didn't just speak it, but he lived it. Notice in verse 3 and 4 of chapter 1 of Philippians. In chapter 1 of Philippians, verses 3 and 4, he says this. I thank God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all, making my prayer with joy. This is someone in chains. What are they joyful about? But he's not just praying for himself, but he's praying for the beloved, for the believers, the Philippian believers. Through his circumstances, he remained stable, he remained content, he remained happy in the Lord. He trusted God with his life. But also, if we turn to Acts chapter 16, if we can read Acts chapter 16 from verse 23, Acts chapter 16 from verse 23 to 28. He says, And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, that is, upon Paul and Silas, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely. Having received this order, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stalks. But notice this, verse 25. About midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. And suddenly, there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken, and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's bones were unfastened. And when the jailer walked and saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul cried with a loud voice, do not harm yourself, for we are all here. And so the attitude of Paul and Silas is one of trust. They trusted God. They did not sit in that prison and complain and worry about the injustice they were facing. But what they did was they committed themselves to prayer. They committed themselves to singing hymns to God. They stayed joyful. They were content. They trusted in God for their deliverance. And so that is the answer to the problem of anxiety. Prayer. And prayer must be done at all times, in all situations. It may be hardest to pray in times when we are going through troubles. but we are still commanded to pray. It is our duty to pray at all times. Pray without ceasing. There is no condition. And so prayer is the antidote to the problem of anxiety. But finally, in the third place, notice with me the promise in the answer. The promise in the answer. Verse seven, and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. The peace of God, not just peace as the world understands it, not just any other peace, For most people, peace is seen as the absence of war or any chaotic situations. It will be seen as the presence of favorable conditions. But this is not the kind of peace that Paul is talking about here. Think of it in the example of a hurricane, a hurricane storm. Now, hurricanes are a destructive force of nature with wind speeds that can exceed 250 kilometers an hour. And they destroy everything and anything that's in their path. Cars, buildings, trees, all don't stand a chance. But it's amazing that at the center of a hurricane is a region called the eye. And in this eye of the hurricane, skies are often clear, winds are relatively light, and it is calm. So all around, the hurricane is wreaking havoc. But in that eye, there is a calm, there is a quiet, there is a peace. And so we can try to think of this peace in that way. It is not the absence of troubles, but rather a calm in the midst of those troubles. When people are overtaken by worry, they complaining, they grumble, the child of God is calm, at rest. And this peace the world will never understand, People will never understand how could you be so calm with all these troubles that are around you. It is a peace that surpasses their understanding. If today, all the conflicts and the wars in the world cease, the United Nations would say, we have achieved our greatest mission of bringing world peace. And to a degree, yeah, they would be right. but this piece of the UN falls short of this piece of God. We know stories of very rich people, celebrities, who have millions of fans and followers, who have committed suicide, or they have been addicted to drugs and alcohol, and they need sleeping pills just to sleep at night. Why? because they have no peace. All their wealth, their success, all the funds they have do not give them peace. But the peace that the believer gets is one that comes from God. It is the peace of God that comes from God. He is the source of it. And it starts when we have made peace with God. This peace starts when we have been reconciled to God in Christ Jesus. When we have believed in Jesus Christ for our salvation as our Lord and as our Savior. Outside of that, you will never have this peace. The source of it is God himself. And it is available to all those who are in Christ Jesus, who are going through turmoils and so many uncertainties. Pray. Pray. And God says His peace will come upon you. Outside of Christ, there is no peace. But also notice something about what this piece does. Paul said it guards our hearts and our minds. And the word guard that Paul uses here is an interesting word because it is a military word. It is the imagery of an armed sentry. A soldier ready to fight off any hostile intruder. Think of how we put antiviruses in our computers to try and keep away any viruses or any bugs that may destroy our valuable information. So we go out there, we invest in a good antivirus to protect our data and information. So the peace of God is a guard. It protects us against any hostile intruder so that our hearts and our minds are guarded and we do not fall into sin when the weight of these troubles begins to overwhelm us. And why our hearts? Well, because the heart is where our affections and our passions lie. And the mind, it is where our understanding, our judgment and conscious are. So the heart and the mind, seen as one thing, out of the heart and the mind, out of a well-kept heart and mind, flows good products to the glory of God and the edification of others. When we are overcome and overwhelmed by anxieties and our troubles, where is the good fruit going to come from? So the peace of God guards our hearts and minds so that we do not fall into sin. We do not become overwhelmed by these external forces to lead us off the right track. So let me come to a conclusion. What are you anxious about this evening? Is it finances? Poor health? Loss of work? Persecution? School? Are you praying? And are you praying for everything? Sometimes the human mind may think this is too small for me to be bringing before God. It may be a small thing to the person next to you, but if it concerns you, it's not small to God. If it burdens you, it concerns God. So are you praying? Are you trusting God as you're going through these circumstances? Are you trusting God? You see, we have been given the gift of prayer to help us in our times of troubles. And it is through prayer that we take all our cares to God, making our requests known to Him. Sitting down, wallowing in self-pity, complaining is not praying. But it is when we bring our cares and cast them before God that He takes those burdens off us. How will God intervene if we don't take our cares to him? How do we expect God to intervene in our lives if we are not taking our issues to him? There is no promise that God will make it easy or that he will take the troubles away. that sometimes he will take them away, but sometimes he will not. But he has promised us his peace as we pass through these troubles, as we pray, as we trust in him. The only way we are going to have peace is if we pray, is if we trust in God. We could choose to be like that hiker and cling on to what we think is safe. Or we could choose to be like Paul in his chains, but praying and singing and trusting God. And so as I come to a close, let me once again echo these words from Paul. Philippians chapter 4 verse 6 to 7. Do not be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And here's the promise and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding. will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.