Philippians 4:2-9 - Pursuing Jesus Through Difficulties

Main Idea: Turn to Jesus in each of life’s difficulties, as He will supply all of the help you could ever need.

1. People are difficult, Jesus is not (v. 2)

2. Conflict is difficult, Eternal goals are not (v.3)

3. Sadness is difficult, God’s joy is not (v.4)

4. Emotional responses are difficult, God’s presence is not (v.5)

5. Worries are difficult, Coming to God is not (vs.6-7)

6. Mental stress is difficult, Counting on God is not (vs.8-9)

7. Life is difficult, Living with God is not (v.9)

Sermon Transcript (Auto-Transcribed by Apple Podcasts)

We are going to be continuing. We've, I'll let you guys in on a little secret. We've been traveling through the Book of Philippians since the beginning of the year.

Next week, we complete the book.

And seems, seems crazy to think that just a short, oh, 10 weeks ago, we were just beginning this study of looking at one pursuit, following Jesus wholeheartedly through every area of our life and seeing how the Apostle Paul, riding to this church of

a very unique group of people. I've mentioned before, Philippi was the location of a great Roman victory where they finally defeated the last of Julius Caesar's murderers.

And as a result, the Roman Empire was like, hey, we're gonna make Philippi a Roman colony. They don't have to pay the Imperial tax. We're gonna give land to our retired officers and even some soldiers.

And we're going to set up this place for these people. And so there was a lot of commerce that went through the city of Philippi. There were a lot of different types of people, even though it was in Macedonia, north of Greece.

It wasn't mainly a Grecian city. There were a lot of Romans. And so they had great civic pride and they knew what it was to be a citizen of a country and to not be physically in that country, but still representing its laws and goals and mission.

And we've seen as we've journeyed through the book of Philippians, that that's something that Paul highlights for them. He says, you guys, you are soldiers, former soldiers, the children of soldiers and officers.

You know what it's like to be citizens of another country. So as you live your Christian life, you are a citizen of another country, of heaven.

And right now you're here on earth, but I'm calling you to live in pursuit of your king, your true king, the king of heaven. Don't live for this world.

As you interact with one another, care for each other, love one another, pray for each other, encourage one another in your walks with the Lord, encourage each other to obedience and faith in Christ. Don't be upset and riled up with each other.

Instead, have heaven in mind, that it colors how you see the world, that as you follow and mimic what Jesus has done, and what Paul and Timothy and Epaphroditus and others have showed you how it looks, he says, continue in that path, have a humility

and a love and a care for others, and be centralized on the fact that it is exclusively Jesus. And there are some teachers that are coming in saying, that's Jesus and a couple other things. Don't listen to them. Instead, pursue Jesus alone.

This section of verses that we're in, in chapter 4 and verses 2 through 9, appears to be a huge crux of the book. It's like everything that has been written now is for this point, this passage of scripture that we're going to look at today.

Here we have the only feuding, fighting individuals mentioned by name in the epistles, Yodia and Sintiqe.

So the only two people, as you read through all of Paul's letters, John's letters, there's only two people that are ever mentioned as having a personal spat, an argument with each other.

You can think about this is God's eternal word that he has written, obviously two specific places in time, but that he has written for everyone throughout the ages. And in that ageless book, he says, two of you ladies are fighting.

I don't know about you. I'm sure that I'm not the only person in here that has ever had an argument. If you have ever had an argument before, raise your hand.

Okay, see some of you not raising your hand and I know you have. All of us have had arguments before. None of us have been immortalized in Holy Scripture as a result of our argument.

And the only other two individuals that are mentioned in the epistles as having like a spat and a fight is Paul in Galatians 2 when he mentions, hey, when the Jews came up to Antioch, Peter had been hanging out, fellowshipping, spending time with the

Gentile believers. And when the Jewish believers came up from Jerusalem, he was like, oh no, I'm with you guys. I would never hang out with the Gentile dogs. It says, Paul was stood in to the face.

He was like, hey, what are you doing? It's not about your race or about your background. It's about Jesus and the gospel.

That's the only other time where there's an argument mentioned between two specific individuals other than this passage. But Paul here is not shaming these two women, Yodhi and Sintiqe, though his rebuke of them lasts for thousands of years.

We're still reading about it today, thousands of years later. Paul here is interested in the heart and future actions of these women and the other believers in Philippi.

These believers had seen Paul undergo heavy persecution, like he was beaten, he was jailed, all sorts of things happened when Paul was in Philippi.

And they knew that they were going to be enduring heavy persecution, as we saw at the end of chapter one in the book of Philippians, where he says, don't be frightened in any way by your opponents.

This is a sign of destruction for them, but of your salvation in this from God. For it's been granted to you on Christ's behalf, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him.

So here he knows they're going to be going under heavy persecution, just as Paul had experienced.

They were going to be engaging with legalistic individuals who purported themselves as being on the same team, but were preaching and living a different gospel.

And on top of all of that, the Philippian church was going to have to deal with each other. Sometimes that can be harder than fighting all the outside things, is when you're busy fighting one another.

So into their continuing realization and fears that their lives were not going to become easier because of Christ, but were actually going to become more difficult because of Jesus, Paul writes to the believers seven reasons why they should turn to

Jesus, not away from him, as they encounter difficulty. His call is the same call I have for us today. Turn to Jesus in each of life's difficulties, as he will supply all of the help you will ever need.

Today, we're going to see seven ways in which we are called to pursue Jesus through difficulties. Let's pray and dive into those seven reasons. Dear God, thank you for today.

God, we pray that as we look at your word, that you would convict our hearts. God, thank you that you have not left us alone. You didn't leave us aimless.

You have given us your word, your direction, your thoughts on our life. And God, may we wholeheartedly embrace them and follow them, knowing that you have the answers. We love you, God, and we pray all this in your name.

Amen. First, I want us to notice in verse number two, people are difficult. Jesus is not.

People are difficult. Jesus is not. I won't really have to elaborate on many of the things that you have in your sheet on what is difficult.

Many of us will go, oh yeah, obviously, these things are difficult. But as we look at each of the difficulties in life, we'll see even clearer that Jesus, that God, that His plans, His work, His peace is the antidote for the difficulties in our life.

People are difficult. Jesus is not. Verse number two, I urge Yodia and I urge Syntyche to agree in the Lord.

Here these two ladies who Paul all the way up until this point has been encouraging the Philippian believers constantly, you need to agree in the Lord. Have the same mind. Be united in one purpose with one mind.

He's been saying that over and over and over again. We've looked, I think, from week one on, set your mind on the same thing. You guys are supposed to have the same goal.

And now it's like the entire time, he's been saying it to the group. And now he brings it to these two ladies and says, all right, Yoria, Senteke, I love you guys. You got to cut it out.

You are at odds with one another. He does not here dive into what their problem was. He doesn't say, okay, Yoria, you should not have stolen her parking spot.

Senteke, you should not have forgotten her birthday card. He doesn't dive into what their problem was, because truthfully, when we have interpersonal difficulties, the solution is not always, okay, I was right, they were wrong.

They've got to apologize to me or I was wrong. I've got to apologize to them. The more important underlying issue is, will you set your mind on the same thing?

We are both on team Jesus. We are both for unity in the church. We are both for this thing.

And if we're united on this, then all of the periphery, all of our fights can be resolved as we realize we have the same goal and we are working towards the same end. Here the word that Paul uses, he actually uses it twice.

I urge Yodia and I urge Syntyche, it's to come alongside Samantha. I'll have you come up real quick. I'll use you as my sermon illustration for to come alongside.

So I'm going to have you stand right here. Thank you for your very willing and planned out thing. So here he's saying, I urge, I am coming alongside Yodia, telling her this thing.

And he says, and I am urging, I am coming alongside Syntyche that as he is encouraging them to both follow the Lord, to have the same mind, he is calling them both to his side, that they would all go together.

Maybe you are someone that you have been having difficulties with other people. There's just constant interpersonal stress and anger. Thank you.

You can go now. Maybe you are the person that you are having those difficulties. Do you view yourself as being on the same spiritual team as that person?

Can I encourage you? Come alongside. This word, pericleo, the Holy Spirit, the comforter, our guide, our counselor is called the pericleat.

He is the one who comes alongside us, and he encourages us. Realize, he is God. He is perfect.

He has never done anything wrong, and he willingly enters into your mess.

That, as Paul would talk about in many places, you can grieve the Holy Spirit, you can quench the Holy Spirit, you can silence his voice, you can allow your conscience to become completely numb to his prodding, and yet he puts up with you, and he

will never ever leave you or forsake you. And if he has shown that to you, if you have the Holy Spirit, do the same for another believer, because the same Holy Spirit that puts up with you is putting up with them.

And if he can love them, if he can forgive them, if he can come alongside them, if he can continue encouraging them to accomplish God's mission with the Holy Spirit, then you can do the exact same thing.

You are entering into God's work when you come alongside someone else and go, okay, I'm a sinner. You're a sinner. Let's work together on this, because we know we're on the same team.

We are not enemies. We are together.

And maybe you might be someone that, maybe it's your spouse, maybe it's a friend, maybe it's a co-worker that you might be able to be a Paul, like in this instance where you would say, okay, I'll use Joan and Myron since they're not here.

Okay, Joan, I know that Myron, you know, left his socks on the bathroom floor. And Myron, I know Joan, well, Joan's never done anything wrong, so this isn't a great example.

So he says, all right, Myron and Joan, I need you two to get along because there is a greater mission.

There are things way more important than the petty things that you're fighting over, than the things that you're telling other people, oh, he did this, she did this. There's something so much more important. People are difficult.

Jesus is not. If your focus is on people, on the here and now, you're never going to be happy. People will never bring you the joy, the security, the satisfaction that you desperately need in your life.

People will never do that for you. Jesus always will. Turn the focus from people and they did this, and they said this, and they, I think that they thought this.

Turn it from that to going, all right, if the mission is Jesus, how can I come alongside them and help them in the mission?

If they don't want to join in the mission, at least I know it's not because I'm just a jerk or I'm just this or that, that we would come alongside one another and encourage them in their faith. People are difficult. Jesus is not.

Think of James 4. What is the source of wars and fights among you? Don't they come from your passions that wage war within you?

You desire and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and wage war.

You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and don't receive because you ask with wrong motives so that you may spend it on your pleasures. You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hostility towards God?

So whoever wants to be the friend of the world becomes the enemy of God.

If we're going to have a Jesus focus, it means that I've got to take my eyes off of just the here and now of my opinions, of my rights, of my emotions, and I've got to turn it heavenward. Okay, how can I show Jesus to this person?

How can I come alongside? How can I reconcile and have that unity that is so needed? So we see first, people are difficult.

Jesus is not. In times of difficulty, interpersonally turn to Jesus, turn the attention to Jesus. Let's not be about ourselves and establishing this is the way I think and this is my plan.

Let's turn our focus to Jesus. Secondly, conflict is difficult. Eternal goals are not.

Paul says this, after he urges Yodhi and Sintiaki to be the same mind in the Lord, yes, I also ask you, true partner, to help these women who have contended for the gospel at my side, along with Clement and the rest of my co-workers whose names are

in the Book of Life. So here he specifically calls for one of the Philippian believers, true partner.

Some people might think this word partner, zygous, might be a proper name that could be like, you know, some kids today are named Archer or Hunter, and zygous or partner might have been this particular person's name.

He says, yes, I also ask you, true partner, to help these women. This word help is a very interesting word in Greek. It's alternatively used.

It can be used strictly to mean help. It's also used in James 1 where he says, sin, when it has conceived, brings forth death. And it's that word conceived.

Or in other places, it's like to rob, to pillage. He says, come alongside. Sometimes people need a helping hand in a big way.

Sometimes we can just think, okay, I know this person. This person respects my opinion. We have a good relationship, but I'm not going to tell them that they're doing anything wrong.

I'm not going to tell them that they do need to reconcile with this person. And here, Paul encourages true partner to help, to come alongside, to take drastic action, to come alongside these people. It's for the testimony of the church at Philippi.

It's for the personal relationships of both Yoria and Syntyche. He says, help these two women out. And then he commends them.

He doesn't just say these are fighting people. He says, these are women who have contended for the gospel at my side. This word, contended, the same one from chapter one and verse number 27, where he says that we are to contend together.

It's to wrestle alongside. It's, oh, if any of you have ever seen Nacho Libre, it's your skills plus my skills in the ring tag team. And that's how he says we are wrestling together for this one purpose.

He says they have contended not with one another, but they have contended for the gospel at my side. Many times we think of people as just their worst faults.

And here these women were obviously doing something that was so overt in how over the top it was that Paul had to address it in Holy Scripture. But he says they are more than their mistakes. They are more than their fighting.

These are ones who have contended for the gospel at my side. And he says along with Clement and the rest of my coworkers whose names are in the Book of Life. So he says, I want you to help them out.

There's this conflict going on. Reach in, take drastic measure. Help there to be reconciliation because these people are valuable.

They've contended for the gospel. And then he gives kind of the end game. He says, along with all of these people whose names are in the Book of Life.

The end goal of the gospel, that people would know Jesus, that their lives would be forever safe in the Lamb's Book of Life. That one day, if they were to pass or if the Lord were to return, that they would be with Him forever. They are His child.

He says that is the end goal. The gospel, the Book of Life. This is the goal.

It's not just about a spat between a couple of people. This is about our mission together. If they're so busy fighting each other, they can never fight the devil.

They can never storm the gates of hell to be able to share the gospel if they're so busy fighting with each other. This is what Paul's goal was. We looked, I believe, last week at Philippians 3.

I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God's heavenly call in Christ Jesus. Conflict is difficult, but if we focus on eternal goals, it's not so difficult.

If the goal is souls, then I can deal with just like Jesus dealt with the punishment, with the whipping, with the scorn, with the spit, with the being hit. He went through all of those things so that we could have eternal life.

Lord willing, none of us over the course of the next month will go through any of those things for the sake of Jesus or for sharing the gospel.

So if we're not even suffering in that way, let's go through all of the little things that might cause us to stray from our eternal goals, a focus on sharing the gospel with others. So we see people are difficult. Jesus is not.

Conflict is difficult, but eternal goals are not. We see thirdly that sadness is difficult, but God's joy is not. He says here in verse number four, rejoice in the Lord always.

I will say it again, rejoice. Perhaps if you grew up in Sunday school, you might have memorized this verse and song. Rejoice in the Lord always and again, I say rejoice.

There we go. I was waiting for the clap. It's kind of one of those things.

You might have memorized this verse in there. Why would he tell them to rejoice? With these two instances, I think he's told them to rejoice five other times in the book.

And then here's another two times that he says, the goal is not simply, he says this, you are not naturally going to rejoice, have a calm, steady happiness in all of life's circumstances.

So I'm going to have to tell you seven times in this book to rejoice because it will not naturally be your outlook. You will not naturally just be happy when the difficulties come, when persecution comes, when there's interpersonal strife.

And so when those things come, we can either have a perpetual attitude of anger at the world, at the person that's wronged us, at whatever it might be. We can have an attitude of perpetual sadness that we just go, oh man, life is terrible.

I'm being persecuted. This person hates me. This thing is going wrong.

We can have those types of emotional reactions to what's happening, or we can choose to rejoice in the Lord. That who He is, our sovereign King, who is overlooking every area of our life, that nothing comes at us that is outside of His control.

That as each thing enters, it is because He knows and He has a purpose and a plan for it to accomplish in and through your life.

So because we can rely on Him in all of our difficulties, in our persecution, in our interpersonal struggles, He says, rejoice in the Lord always. And I want to clarify something here.

This is not, okay, so if I'm ever sad, I am now under the condemnation of God. It's very not true. John 11.35 says, Jesus wept.

Jesus knows what it is to be sorrowful. Isaiah 53, He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Jesus told His disciples in John 16, you will have suffering in this world.

Be courageous. I have conquered the world. Our joy is not just a giddy happiness that is bereft of reality.

Our joy, our rejoicing, our happiness, is because we know who holds tomorrow. We know who holds us today. We know that we are not abandoned.

We know that we are not alone. And so if God is for us, Romans 8, who can be against us? So we can have a joyful confidence going forward.

It doesn't mean that when a loved one dies, that we don't cry.

But I can think of 1 Thessalonians 4, where Paul wrote there, We do not want you to be uninformed brothers and sisters concerning those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve like the rest who have no hope.

For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, in the same way through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.

Even in the worst circumstances of life, the loss of our loved ones, or I can think even of Paul at the beginning of Philippians, even our own death, only succeeds in us being reconciled to God forever.

Like, what's there to be truly sad and upset about if we have him? If I've got Jesus, how could I want more? So people are difficult, Jesus is not.

Conflict is difficult, eternal goals are not. Sadness is difficult, but God's joy is not. Emotional responses are difficult, God's presence is not.

Verse number five says this, let your graciousness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Your graciousness.

This is the way that you react to failure of others, the way you react to hurt. Graciousness in scripture is kind of positioned as the opposite of being a bully.

So 1 Timothy 3, where Paul says in the qualifications of a pastor that he is not a bully, but gentle, gracious. The King James that I grew up on translates this as your moderation, your reasonableness.

He says, let your gracious response to life's difficulties be known to everyone.

It's easy to have a gracious response to someone when there's tons of other people around and you're kind of self-conscious of, okay, if I make a scene right now, I'm going to look really bad. Okay, then I can have a gracious response.

It might be a little bit more difficult to have a gracious response. I know there's a few parents here in the room.

If, you know, your toddler has asked why 75 times in a row and colored on everything and also soiled their diaper and then tried to clean it up themselves, and now your whole house is colored a different color, at that point, your graciousness, your

reasonableness, your response, it might be hard to be made known to everyone. Here, Paul is saying, let your graciousness, you are in personal conflicts, you're undergoing persecution, there are false preachers and teachers.

He says, you are called to let your graciousness, the opposite of someone coming in and dominating someone else to be like, all right, you do this because I said this, I'm more powerful than you, or I have the authority here, so you do this.

He says, I want you to be gentle in how you treat people. Emotional responses are difficult. If you are trying to rely on just your bursts of anger or your sadness to be able to walk through your relationships, it's not going to work.

God has given us his solution. He says, let your graciousness be known to everyone, not just your friends, not just when it's simple and easy and when you'd be self-conscious about not having a gracious response. He says, be known to everyone.

How could we accomplish that goal? How could we be gracious to everyone? He says, the Lord is near, where the Lord is at hand.

He says, because God is with you, because he has placed his Holy Spirit in your life, you can go, okay, if God's with me, God is being patient with that person, because there's no lightning strikes or anything nailing them.

So I guess if God's putting up with them, I can put up with them too. We need to realize, okay, God is in me. He's the true judge.

If he's not judged them, then I can be gracious in my response.

And also, as the Holy Spirit builds that heart of love and forgiveness and joy and long suffering and patience in our life, then we can go, all right, I can allow the failures, the antagonization, I can allow it to be water off a duck's back because

it's not about me, it's about him. It's not about, Bryon is near, it's the Lord is near. And so I need to treat people how Jesus would treat people. I am his hands and his feet.

And so I need to treat people how the Lord would treat people. If your supervisor is standing over your shoulder, if you're a kid and your parent is standing over your shoulder watching you do a task, you're going to do it a little differently.

And I think here with the Lord is at hand, the Lord is near, that affects how we talk to people. Would the words that you say and the tone that you say them in be counted as gracious? So, people are difficult.

Conflict is difficult. Sadness is difficult. Emotional responses are difficult.

Here, worries are difficult. But coming to God is not. We can see this in verses 6 and 7.

It says, Don't worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

How many of you are like me, and you tend to overthink some things, you tend to worry about some things. Maybe if someone else were to talk about you, they'd say, oh yeah, so-and-so is a bit of a worrier. Anyone else with me?

It's confession time. All right, yeah, we don't do it in the booths. We do it here in public.

Worries are difficult, and they gnaw away at us. The fear of the unknown or the fear of possibilities can eat at us. But here Paul encourages these believers.

He says, don't worry. Don't be anxious about anything to us. That would be a little shocking.

I've got plenty of stuff I'm freaked out about. There's an election this year, and I've got bills I've got to pay, and there's this and that. I'm worried about plenty of stuff, God.

And he says, don't worry about anything. But in everything, through prayer, it's going to God, it's speaking to him, through prayer and petition, which is asking for what you need, actually voice what you need to God.

He says, with Thanksgiving, realizing that God has been good to you, that if you're breathing, that He still loves you. He has a plan for you. He is working in you.

He says, with Thanksgiving, present your requests to God. I think I mentioned the verse earlier from James chapter 4, you do not have because you do not ask.

And while God is not our genie in a bottle that we just go, hey, I've got three wishes for you to grant for me today, otherwise I won't believe in you anymore.

While He is not that, He is our good, gracious Heavenly Father, our sovereign Lord who oversees all of life. And so we can talk to Him. He invites us to.

When we go before Him, it's not my son. We went to, we were walking through Target, had to buy some stuff, and we were walking through the toy aisles, and it's not him going, hey, I want this toy and this toy and this toy and this toy and this toy.

And I go, hey, I didn't ask if you wanted all of those toys. It's not that, it's he asked us to bring our requests. Anything that would make you worried or anxious, God wants.

If you go, ah, it's too small to bring to God. It's not. Anything that you think about, any area of your life that you care about, God cares about, and he cares about the areas of your life that you don't care about but should.

When we pray to God, we are inviting him to act sovereignly in those areas, and it gives us a whole new outlook on what's occurring.

So if I'm praying that God would help save a loved one, if I'm praying that God would provide for this particular financial need, well, then the next time that I'm talking to that person, I realize, okay, I asked God to enter into this relationship,

to help me in this conversation, and because I know that it's God's will that everyone be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth, I know that God is on my side, and it helps counter our worry because we realize I am working with God on whatever

I have prayed for. That doesn't mean always that God does everything we want and the way we want it, but it does mean that our worries are satiated by the fact that we go, okay, I've given it to God, and I know he's going to do what's best for me. I

know he is going to accomplish his purpose. And so as I journey through difficulties and worries, I can know God is with me. If I present my request to him, it's in his hand now. I don't have to worry about it.

If I get it, God is good, and he is a great father. If I don't get it, then I realize that he had a better plan. No good parent would listen to their child's request for nothing but candy and cake for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

It would be bad for them. They would not give them their request. When we pray, and God does not answer it in the way that we want, it's because he has a better plan.

He has a different set of circumstances, a different plan for our life, which suits his eternal purpose better, and from Romans 8 is for our good.

So our worries can be evaporated in the knowledge that we are working alongside a gracious sovereign heavenly Lord.

When we pray, I love this in verse 7, he says, the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Here this word guard is a military term. It's a sentinel, it's a watchman.

He says, hey, you former soldiers and former officials and kids of soldiers and officials, you know what it's like when a Roman legion is guarding a traveling politician.

You know what it's like when they're carrying the taxes from some place to Rome itself. You know the security of what it is to have a guard around you.

He says, when we present our prayer requests to God, when we present our worries, our anxieties, realize, okay, God's peace has now set up an armed sentinel. He set up a guard around you.

So you can rest knowing, yeah, there's lots of worries, there's lots of fears, but God is with me. And if God is with me, who can be against me? Love all the verses from Lion and the Lamb of He is the one that conquers this earth.

He is greater than any armies, than any demons, than any thoughts that would come against us. We know that we've got God on our side. So we don't have to worry because He has set up His army.

Makes that person want to dance. Worries are difficult. Coming to God is not.

Then mental stress is difficult. Counting on God is not. And we can see this in verse number 8.

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any moral excellence and if there is anything praiseworthy, dwell on these things.

There's a lot of words in here, so we'll go through very briefly. Look at these. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is reality and truthful, think about it.

Don't spend all of your mental energy and time thinking about what ifs, about possibilities of, oh, but what if this horrible thing happened? What if this circumstance turned awful? He says, dwell on what is true.

What is reality? He says, dwell on whatever is honorable, whatever is dignified, high in character. Don't obsess in your mind about all of the deep sins and failures and the works of darkness.

He says, don't dwell on those things. Dwell on what is honorable. He says, dwell on what is just, what is righteous, what is doing right by others.

If you spend all of your time obsessed on what is wrong in the world, it will lead you to despair.

If all you're dwelling on is how perhaps other people have genuinely done you wrong, and that's the only thing that you think about, it will lead you to despair. He says and said, dwell on what is just.

He says, dwell on whatever is pure, that is innocent, free from sin. We really like hearing about all of the worst scandals.

We like hearing about the terrible conspiracy theories that turned out to be true about this government's actions or this person's secret habits.

We love hearing about those, but we are called to dwell on, let our minds continually think about what is pure, innocent, free from sin. We're called to think about whatever is lovely.

If you're single, that's a great, like one-liner, hey, Bible tells me to dwell on whatever is lovely. So I've been thinking of you, babe. Think about, dwell on whatever is lovely.

That is, whatever is friendly towards, whatever is acceptable. If there's something that is good, that is amiable to think about, oh man, that was so nice how that person did that thing for me last month.

Hey, it was so great to see this person in church. I know they've been struggling with their health, but I'm so glad to see them. It's a lovely, it's a wonderful, friendly towards acceptable things.

It says dwell on whatever is commendable. That is words carefully chosen for those in high positions.

Do you know, if you've got something maybe you're bringing before Congress, if you've got something that you're bringing to maybe the mayor in a meeting, you want to be really careful with what words you say and how you say it.

You want to be thought of well. Those are commendable words. And that's what Paul tells us.

Hey, dwell on what is commendable, what is carefully chosen. You get to choose within reason what you dwell on.

You can't perhaps control every thought that pops into your mind, but you can control what stays there, what you dwell on, what you continue to bring up and think about and talk with others and look up information on.

You get to choose what you dwell on. Then he says, if there's any moral excellence, if it's distinguished in character, he says, if there is anything praiseworthy, anything to be commended in it, he says dwell on these things.

The word dwell is kind of a financial term. It's to count on, it's to credit, it's to consider, to mathematically deduce.

As you look at the difficulties in your life, you can choose to count up this amount of things and go, man, my life is terrible and all of this is wrong.

You can choose to count on these things, or you can choose to count on this list of things that are good, of praiseworthy, true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, and praiseworthy. You get to choose what you count on.

What is reality? And as I look at that list, it made me think of Psalm 19. The instruction of Yahweh is perfect, renewing one's life.

The testimony of Yahweh is trustworthy, making the inexperienced wise. The precepts of Yahweh are right, making the heart gold. The command of Yahweh is radiant, making the eyes light up.

The fear of Yahweh is pure, enduring forever. The ordinances of Yahweh are reliable and altogether righteous. They are more desirable than gold, than an abundance of pure gold, and sweeter than honey dripping from a honeycomb.

In addition, your servant is warned by them, and in keeping them, there is an abundant reward. What is exemplary from this list? Like, whoa, that's a big list of things.

What in the world could fit that list? God's Word. May our minds be filled with the truth of Scripture.

This is what is altogether true and commendable and praiseworthy and excellent and just and pure. Let your mind and your life be shaped by Scripture. Mental stress is difficult.

Counting on God is not. Life is difficult, but living with God is not. Verse number nine, Do what you have learned and received and heard from me and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.

Here as kind of the close of this section of the book, Paul says this, Hey, what I told you about, what you received, what you adopted into your life, what you heard from me, the words that I said to you, and the things that you actually saw me do

and practice, he says, do those things. Like, follow me as I follow Jesus, and he says, and the God of peace will be with you. Life is difficult. Hurts come, sicknesses come, interpersonal relationships come.

Sometimes there's a loss of a job or financial loss. There are many difficulties in life. But living with God is not difficult.

That you don't have to worry at any moment, hey, what's my standing with God? I really hope I'm saved today. No, no, no, because it's all Christ's righteousness accepted, I'm living life with him going, God, I know you've got a plan.

I know you've got a purpose for my life today. Will you help me live it out? Isaiah 26 says this, You will keep the mind that is dependent on you in perfect peace, for it is trusting in you.

Trust in Yahweh forever, because in Yahweh himself is an everlasting rock. John 14, Jesus speaking, Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives.

Don't let your heart be troubled or fearful because of his peace. Today, the call to us is to turn to Jesus in each of life's difficulties.

As we interact with all of these problems, we can see God's solution, God's goals, God's peace, God's guarding, God's way of life, God's word is the answer to each of our difficulties.

It doesn't erase our difficulties, but it means that we can go through them with him, that you're not doing it alone.

Everyone else in our world that does not have Christ, they are going through the exact same difficulties, except for possibly being persecuted for Jesus. They're going through all the same difficulties in life, but they don't have God by their side.

And by you living through life's difficulties with Jesus, with his wisdom, with his word, with his peace, it can be a dramatic declaration of the fact that you are part of a different kingdom, because you are living with the king by your side.

Today, have you turned to Jesus for salvation from sin and restoration to God? Maybe you'd say, I haven't turned to Jesus because I don't know Jesus. I don't know that he is my Savior.

I've never made him my Lord. I would encourage you, talk to myself, talk to Pastor Ron.

We'll have a couple of the men that come up at the end of our service during kind of that invitation time, and they would love to talk with you and share with you how you can know that Jesus is your Savior, your Lord.

If you do know Jesus as your Savior, what area of your life do you need to turn to Jesus in this week? There's many difficulties in life. People, conflict, sadness, emotional responses, worries, mental stress, and all of life itself.

But what's not difficult is Jesus, his goals, God's joy in your life, his presence, the fact that he encourages you to come to him so that then he can guard you, the fact that you can count on him and his word and live life with him.

This week, will you pursue Jesus through all of life's difficulties?