Make the Choice to Rejoice

[0:00] It's simple, but it's not easy. Have you ever heard that before? There are a lot of things in life that we know that are fairly simple, but they're a little bit difficult to do.

[0:12] We're going to be looking at something this morning that is extremely simple to understand, but it's out of this world difficult to do. Now, what is that? Well, we'll take a look this morning in verse 1 of chapter number 4 of the book of Philippians.

[0:29] It's Philippians chapter 1 and verse number 4. We finally made it, or chapter 4. We finally made it to chapter 4 of the book of Philippians. While you're looking for that in your Bibles this morning, welcome back.

[0:42] It's been a month and a half or so, the first time in a month and a half that I'm preaching with long pants on. And we're here together, but we're so glad to see your smiling faces to get back into God's Word together, to worship together, and see one another's faces while we're doing so.

[1:05] It's a little bit different preaching to a little camera, and you can't see everybody. Everybody, years ago, the church that I was at, we had a radio show every week.

[1:19] And I remember one time, the pastor, and I was on staff there, the pastor had asked me to fill in for him. And I was terrified, because all we had at that time was a microphone and four little walls in the little studio that we had.

[1:34] Very, very different. But this morning, we're going to be talking about the choice to rejoice. Let's look together at verse number 1 in chapter number 4.

[1:46] Therefore, my beloved brethren, my beloved and longed-for brethren, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, beloved.

[1:58] How is Paul speaking? He's speaking to fellow believers, people who know Jesus Christ as their Savior. Number 2, I implore you, Odea, and I implore Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord.

[2:13] We've heard that refrain before. Be of the same mind. Have the same attitude. Be together on this. And I urge you also, true companion or fellow worker, help these women who labored with me in the gospel with Clement also and the rest of my fellow laborers, my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.

[2:38] Very, very clear to whom the apostle Paul is speaking. He's speaking to believers. Those who know their names are written in the Lamb's book of life. When we get to heaven one day and when, before we enter in, and I know that, I don't know exactly how it's going to happen, but the Bible says that our names are written in the book of life.

[2:59] And so we will be able to enter into the presence of God because of that, because we have, our names have been placed there on behalf or because of what Jesus did on the cross of Calvary.

[3:13] Verse number 4, rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say rejoice. It was important enough for Paul to say twice. Let your gentleness be known to all men.

[3:24] The Lord is at hand. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God.

[3:38] And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Let's go to the throne of grace this morning.

[3:50] Father, we thank you. We are so thankful today for so, so many things. We very often overlook the blessings that you provide in our life.

[4:02] And sometimes we are so prone to look at our circumstances and to look at what we don't have and to look at the things that cause us pain or cause us sorrow.

[4:14] And we allow those to overshadow the blessings that you provided to us. And the knowledge that you are in control. Father, give us this morning an attitude of gratitude that we might be able to make the choice to rejoice in all things.

[4:31] We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Now let's go back to verse number four. And Paul says, Rejoice in the Lord always.

[4:44] And if it wasn't enough for me to say it once, again, I tell you, rejoice. Now to rejoice in the Lord always doesn't mean we should never be depressed or we should never feel sadness at the grave of a loved one.

[5:01] Now Jesus in John chapter 11 verse 35, the Bible says Jesus wept. He was at the tomb of Lazarus. And he felt sadness.

[5:13] He felt sorrow at the loss of someone he loved. Jesus wasn't feeling joyful when he went to the cross in terms of he wasn't feeling happy when he went to the cross.

[5:28] But he still had the joy of knowing he was doing his father's will. In Romans chapter 12 verse number 15, we are commanded to weep with those that weep. So it's not wrong to cry.

[5:38] It's not wrong for us to be sad from time to time. Or we would have to put our head in the sand if we were expected never to feel sad or never to feel depressed, especially in this fallen world.

[5:54] So we know that we will be sad at times. But pay attention here. And this is the point that I want to make. We are not commanded to feel joyful.

[6:05] But we're commanded to rejoice. Let me say that again. We're not commanded to feel joyful. Oh, I feel so excited. No, but we can still have joy in the midst of sorrow.

[6:19] Remember I said it's simple? But it's not easy. It's out of this world difficult to be joyful in the midst of sadness and pain and being in a world of hurt.

[6:34] See, you can't command a feeling. We can only command an action. I can't command you to feel joyful. I can't say, be happy.

[6:45] You know, that's a good slogan. Might look good on a bumper sticker. But I can't command you to be happy. But God can command. The Apostle Paul can say, be joyful. Because joyfulness, remember, is an attitude, not a feeling.

[7:00] Joy is an attitude and not a feeling. It's a choice. It's a choice to get up in the morning and say, let us be glad and rejoice. This is a brand new day.

[7:13] We will rejoice and be glad in it. It's a choice. Some people, by nature, have a cheerful disposition, don't they? They're those people you love to hate in the morning.

[7:25] When they wake up, first thing, their feet hit the floor and they go, good morning, everyone. It's like, oh, wait a minute. I haven't had my coffee yet. I haven't had my shower yet.

[7:36] I haven't. Matter of fact, I can't even open my eyes yet. Some people have a cheerful disposition. But Paul's not talking about that kind of feeling here. He's talking about making the choice to rejoice even when you don't feel like it.

[7:52] Now, we often make the choice to do something when we don't feel like it, right? You get up, you go to work. You get up, you work out. You walk. You run. You do whatever, or at least we're supposed to.

[8:04] The same is true with rejoicing. We can't allow our feelings to dictate whether or not we will rejoice in the Lord. Have you ever heard someone say, well, you know what?

[8:15] I just don't feel like praying. And my answer to always that is, well, then you really got to. It's when we don't feel like doing something, that's when we really need to do it.

[8:28] We don't feel like praying. It must mean that we've got something going on inside. And that's when we really need to seek the face of God and say, God, I've got some problems. I've got some issues. I don't feel like talking to you right now because, and usually it's sin.

[8:43] Usually it's because of something going on in our life. Remember, if you've ever read Fox's book of martyrs, it's not for the faint-hearted, but it talks about the lives and the experiences of all the people down through the ages, up to the writing of that book, that were killed for their faith, were martyred, is the word that is used to talk about someone who was put to death because of their faith.

[9:12] And so many stories, so many accounts of martyrs either being burned at the stake or being, and we could go into graphic detail about the manner of death. But they were singing hymns.

[9:28] They were rejoicing. They were praising God even to their final breath. Now, how could they do that? Because they chose to be joyful. Now, to rejoice in the Lord is to have an attitude of contentment.

[9:42] The choice to rejoice doesn't mean we go around with plastic smiles all the time. And, hi, I'm happy. That's not what it means. Or to go around singing songs all the time, even when you don't feel like it.

[9:56] It's the choice to be rejoicing. The choice to say, God, I know you are in control. I know you've got this. You believe that God is sovereign over your life, and your life is in his hand, and nothing happens to you without his knowledge.

[10:13] That's joy. I can still choose to say, thank you, God, even though I don't feel like saying it. I choose to say it because I love God, because I know he's got it in his hands.

[10:29] He's got it taken care of. See, Paul is simply saying in verse number 4 that we're to find our joy. Where? Rejoice where? In the Lord. So we find our joy in the Lord, in the Father, in the Holy Spirit.

[10:44] We're not to look to money to bring us joy. We're not to look to our job. We're not to look to our family to bring us joy, even though our family should bring us joy. But we look to the Lord for that joy, because he will never let us down.

[10:57] He will never change. Or to business or the weather. We're only to look to Jesus for our joy. He's our only sure, reliable, unwavering, unchanging source of joy.

[11:11] Now, Paul says in Romans, or excuse me, in verses 11 through 13 that we're going to get to next week or the week after, that he had learned to be content.

[11:24] He says not that I am speaking of need or being in need, but he says I've learned in whatever situation I'm in to be content. And then he says I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

[11:38] If we're going to make the daily choice to rejoice, we need to do at least three things. And I see three things here that the Apostle Paul talks about.

[11:50] And the first thing is, he said, well, where'd this come from? We need to resolve conflict. If you want to rejoice, we've got to resolve conflict.

[12:00] I implore you, Odea, and I implore Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. Paul says, you know what? You want to rejoice? Now, you two ladies, you've got to get things right.

[12:15] If we want to have a joy-filled family of God, then we've got to make sure that we've settled our differences. And we're pulling in the same direction.

[12:26] And this is what he's telling them to do in verses 2 and 3. Paul is exhorting you, Odea, and Syntyche to be of the same mind or to agree in the Lord.

[12:39] And then he also asks his true companion. We're not told who that is. But Paul urges and encourages this true companion, this person who worked with Paul in the Lord.

[12:53] He says, help these two women. Help them to get it together. Help them work out their differences. Now, so far, the Apostle Paul's appeals in chapters 1 through 3 have been general.

[13:07] His appeal to the local church, the church at Philippi. But here, he calls out specific people. Can you imagine? Everyone sitting in their chairs and the reader of the letter that Paul sent to his churches.

[13:29] And the letters usually made their rounds of the churches. And everyone was sitting with rapt attention at the reader of the letter. And they were all excited because it came from Paul. And they got to this point in the letter.

[13:41] And they were sitting there. And they were, you know, some of them might have been a little convicted. Some of them were maybe saying amen or whatever the Hebrew word was or the Greek word at that time.

[13:52] And then all of a sudden, they come to, I implore you, Odea, and I implore Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. Oh, awkward. Can you imagine being these two women?

[14:06] And then you are called out personally by name, by none other than the Apostle Paul. And I'm sure they're sheepishly looking around at the rest of the congregation.

[14:19] He called us out. Now, keep in mind, these two women were not carnal. They were not necessarily bad-tempered, wagging-tongued ladies in the church.

[14:33] Because what does the Apostle Paul say about them? Verse 3 says there are women that worked with the Apostle Paul in the furtherance of the gospel. And so they knew what their calling was.

[14:46] And he says they were doing it. They were at the forefront of evangelism. They were not backseat busybodies. They were simply two women in the church that had gotten into a tiff, that had gotten into a little disagreement about something.

[15:01] They simply can't get along. And don't you find it interesting that Paul didn't give the details? Paul didn't go into detail and say, well, you know what? It was about this and this, and you need to do that.

[15:15] I think there's a reason why Paul didn't go into detail. It could have been very personal, but I believe the reason might be because I think we can each see ourselves in Euodia and Syntyche.

[15:28] If you've ever had a disagreement with someone, Paul kept it so general that we could all see ourselves in this situation. So he says, I implore Euodia, I implore Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord.

[15:45] He says, help these women who labored with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life. So instead of taking sides, what Paul does is he simply exhorts these two Christian women to settle their differences.

[16:02] And I believe that's something to remember because when we settle our differences, we need to remember that there's usually a little bit of fault on both sides. There's usually enough blame to go around.

[16:13] There's never one person who was just totally saintly and maybe just didn't get their attitude a little bit out of sorts because we don't always have to be right.

[16:25] We just have to know that we need to get along. And so God wants us to learn how to resolve conflicts. Some people just run away from conflict. Some of us are conflict averse, which means we run from conflict.

[16:40] We don't like conflict. We are like that proverbial ostrich and we stick our head in the sand. Hopefully it will go away. If I don't say anything, if I don't confront that person, maybe they're going to forget about it.

[16:50] Maybe it's going to go away. That doesn't work that way. That's also why so many people church hop. Maybe there's a little bit of a difference they have with someone. Maybe the pastor says something they didn't, that kind of caught them the wrong way.

[17:02] Or there's someone that they have a difference with and they go somewhere else. They leave and join another church. But learning to resolve conflict is one way Christ helps us to become more like him.

[17:17] He helps us to become more Christ-like because the devil loves to work through strife. He loves to get us upset with one another. He loves to throw the monkey wrench into the works.

[17:32] He loves to get us separated because he knows the power of unity. Now unity is not uniformity.

[17:43] It's not everyone playing the same note, but it is everyone playing the same song. We're not all the same, but we should all be about the same thing.

[17:54] And that's sharing the gospel. We don't all have to be exactly alike to work together. I love the answer of Billy Graham's wife when a reporter asked her one day, do you ever disagree with Reverend Graham?

[18:07] And this is what she said. She said it was her opinion that if two people always agree, then one of them wasn't necessary. So yes, she disagreed with Billy Graham sometimes, and probably sometimes maybe very important things.

[18:25] But she said, you know, there are going to be disagreements. He wasn't perfect. She wasn't perfect. Neither are we. We're not always going to agree on everything.

[18:36] But what unifies us? The blood of Christ. The gospel. We have all of this together, the same. Look at verse 3. He says, They've labored side by side in the gospel, labored with me in the gospel.

[18:51] Paul wanted them to work out their differences so the gospel could continue to be advanced. You know, every minute we spend bickering about something is a minute that we're not focusing on spreading the gospel.

[19:05] Notice verse number 5. Then he goes on to say, Let your gentleness be made known to everyone, to all men, because the Lord is at hand.

[19:15] Let your gentleness be known to all men. This could mean a gentle forbearance, unselfishness, consideration of others. When we sit down to resolve conflict, let's not be selfish.

[19:31] Be gentle and kind toward the other person. Try to understand their thinking as you try to get across how you or what you are thinking.

[19:42] Don't be determined to get your way. There are so many of us that approach conflict this way. And they apologize this way. Well, I'm sorry, but this is what I meant.

[19:55] This is what I tried to do. All we're doing is we're trying to rationalize that what we did was right and the other person was wrong. So let's not be determined to get our way, but rather yield our rights and come to the conclusion that you may not be right.

[20:12] You may neither be right. You may both be right. But you need to come to some kind of agreement. We need to be like Jesus. Remember in chapter 2 where it says Jesus humbled himself?

[20:24] He didn't retain the glory that he had in heaven. But what he did was he humbled himself and came down to earth and became a human being. Oh, what the selflessness he displayed.

[20:38] We should do the same when we are working through conflicts. Now, verse 5 goes on to say in the second part of verse number 5, he says the Lord's at hand. Now, what do we mean by that?

[20:50] The Lord is near. There seems to be two possible interpretations of this. We're not going to get into too much detail. But the way the Greek is constructed, it could either be referring to nearness in time or nearness in space.

[21:10] So one is in relation to time. And it could be that the Lord's return is imminent. It could be today. The Lord might come back today. So get your stuff together.

[21:22] The Lord might come back today even in the middle of your argument. So the Lord's near. Get back together and resolve your conflict.

[21:33] We call that locative of time in the Greek. There's also locative of sphere. It could mean he was talking about what's going on around us. So he could be saying, resolve your conflict because the Lord's always with us.

[21:49] The Lord is always near. He's always here. And we don't want to quench the Holy Spirit. We want to make sure that as he's watching our interaction with one another, that it will please him.

[22:02] The Lord is near. Could be near in time. Could come back today. Could be near in space. Because we know he's around us. He's with us all the time. And so we work out the conflicts that we have.

[22:16] They're robbing us of joy if we don't resolve the conflicts. And I'm spending a little bit of time here because we're human beings. And relationships are inevitably going to have some difficulty from time to time.

[22:33] Let's not run from them. Let's work them out. Come together and pray and ask God to make you both humble. Be willing to admit that you're wrong. Take out your Bibles and discuss with them from the Scripture.

[22:47] Romans 12, 18 admonishes us. He says if it's possible, he says as far as it depends on you, he says live peaceably with all men.

[23:00] Be at peace with all men. Romans 14, 18 says, so then let's pursue peace. We need to be pursuing peace with one another.

[23:11] I like what Charles Haddon Spurgeon said about this particular verse. He said people who are very happy, especially those who are very happy in the Lord, are not apt either to give offense or take offense.

[23:29] Their minds are so sweetly occupied with higher things that they are not easily distracted by the little troubles that naturally arise among such imperfect creatures as we are.

[23:43] Joy in the Lord is the cure for all discord. Well, thank you, Dr. Spurgeon. He says if our minds are set on higher things, the little things won't turn or won't twist us in a knot.

[23:58] He says so the cure for all discord is joy in the Lord. So if we're practicing verse 4 to rejoice in the Lord always, we will find ourselves in conflict much less frequently.

[24:11] Now the second thing. First thing is if we want to choose to have joy in our life, let's learn how to resolve the conflicts in our life. Secondly, we need to pray instead of worrying.

[24:24] We need to pray instead of worrying. Look at verse number 6 and verse number 7. Be anxious for nothing. Don't worry about anything.

[24:37] But in everything, how do we do it? By prayer and supplication. Supplication just merely means to ask. With thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God.

[24:51] And the peace of God which surpasses or which passes all understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Just like unresolved conflict, worry is another huge thief of joy.

[25:07] Conflict will rob us of joy. Worry will rob us of our joy. You can either worship or worry, but you can't do both. We can either worship or worry, but it truly is difficult to do both.

[25:23] Someone has coined the phrase, Worry doesn't empty tomorrow of its sorrow, but it empties today of its strength. Worry doesn't empty tomorrow of its sorrow, but it empties today of its strength.

[25:38] Worry will do the same thing to you mentally that sand will do to machinery. What does sand do in machinery? It wears it out.

[25:51] It causes it to not function properly. It could eventually cause it to jam up. And worry does the same thing to us mentally and emotionally.

[26:02] We can't concentrate on the important things because worry is keeping us from having a clear mind or a clear head. Keeping us from having joy in our life.

[26:12] Adrian Rogers, the preacher, said this. He says, Worry is the interest we pay on borrowed trouble. Worry is the interest we pay on borrowed trouble.

[26:25] Now, once again, Paul is not ignoring the problems of life. He knew better than anyone the problems. He knew better than anyone what it was like to be in pain, to be hurting.

[26:38] He was facing death in a Roman prison, after all. He knew that any day could mean his final day on earth. And so he knew trouble. Remember, it was Paul and Silas who were singing and rejoicing in that jail when the angel came and released them.

[26:59] So he knew about trouble. Most of us have little to worry about compared with what Paul went through. Life on earth is, we know, full of problems and burdens to bear.

[27:11] But we who are God's children by faith in Jesus Christ have the privilege to know the Lord and come to Him in prayer. Now, where is our joy found?

[27:23] In the Lord. In the Father. In the Holy Spirit. Our joy is in the Lord. Not in our circumstances. Not in our bank account. Not in our retirement. Not in our job. Our joy is in the Lord.

[27:35] He is the one that never changes. He's the one that can never be taken away. Our job can be taken away. Our money can be taken away. Our retirement account can be taken away, as it has for so many of us.

[27:49] And so we know about that. But Jesus will never change. Our heavenly bank account never has to fall prey to a recession or COVID-19. Amen?

[28:02] Amen. And so our joy is in the Lord. We need to work out our difficulties. We need to work out our worry through prayer.

[28:13] Come to Him. This means we need to carve out some time every day. Talk to our Father. Have quiet time. Where we read His Word. Let Him speak to us. And we pray. We talk back to Him.

[28:24] And we just have a conversation. And I guarantee you, if you are a member of the body of Christ, the Holy Spirit is going to speak to you. Not necessarily audibly.

[28:36] But He is going to impress upon you what God is saying to you, maybe through encouragement, maybe through a promise, or maybe through convicting you about something that is in your life that shouldn't belong there.

[28:48] We need that quiet time with the Lord to hear and speak to us so He can speak to us through His Word. Here we're told not to worry. Don't be anxious about anything.

[29:00] In Matthew 6, 25-34, Jesus taught about the danger of worry. He says, don't be anxious about your life. Don't worry about what you're going to eat. Don't worry about what you're going to wear.

[29:11] Don't worry about if you're going to have a roof over your head. He says, because if you put heaven first, if you put the things of God first, all these things are going to be added to you.

[29:25] Over and over, He says, don't be anxious. Worry is useless. It doesn't make things any better. Here's the thing about worry and a problem. If you can fix it, fix it.

[29:37] If you can't fix it, stop worrying about it. Because worry is not going to fix it. If it's going to happen, worry isn't going to stop it.

[29:50] And if it isn't going to happen, there's no need to worry. And so we have to always keep that in mind in our life. If you can fix it, fix it.

[30:01] If you can't fix it, worry is not going to change it. And if it's not going to happen, you didn't need to waste the time worrying. So just let's not worry.

[30:12] In reality, we don't always think of it in terms of this. Worry is a sin, just like adultery, just like murder, just like theft.

[30:26] You say, well, how can that be? Worrying is failing to trust God. Worrying is saying, God, I don't think you've got this one.

[30:37] This problem is bigger than you are. And what do we call that? Hmm. You know, we're on thin ice when we say, at least not necessarily verbally, but when we think, God, you can't do this.

[30:53] And I'm worrying because I don't know that I want what you have to give. And I don't think you've got my best interest at heart. We may not think that, but literally that's what it's saying.

[31:06] Worry is failing to trust God. God's word says, whatever is not a faith is what? Sin. So you say, well, pastor, where can you get off saying worry is sin? Well, if it's not a faith, the Bible says it's sinful.

[31:17] So if we lack faith and God's promised us that he'll take care of it, he's in control and he will all everything will always work out for good to them who love God and who were called according to their purpose.

[31:31] If we don't believe it, it's if we don't have that faith. And the Bible says it's sin. And so I think that's another catalyst, another encouragement for us to say, God, you've got it.

[31:43] I'm not going to worry. And what's the antidote to worry? Prayer. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, let your requests be made known to God.

[31:54] And it's then that the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will guard our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. So antidote for worry is prayer, simply talking to God.

[32:08] First Peter 5, 7, that we need to cast all of our anxieties upon him. Why? Because he cares for you. He has your best interest at heart. Now, prayer is a tool we can use to defend ourselves.

[32:20] We take our worries to God. We should do the same thing with all of our cares. We give him all of our prayers. When we pray, God gives us peace and he takes care of us.

[32:32] His peace becomes our guard. That word guard, by the way, is a military term. It means a garrison. It means when you set a guard over something. Maybe they're guarding an ammo facility.

[32:45] Maybe they're guarding some type of installation. That guard is there to make sure no one comes in and wreaks havoc. No one comes in and harms anyone or anything. And the Holy Spirit says, when you pray, we're going to set a garrison.

[33:00] We're going to set a guard around your mind to keep Satan out, to keep doubts and to keep fears out. And matter of fact, it's going to blow your mind because it surpasses all human comprehension.

[33:11] You can't understand how it works, but when we turn it over to him, we know he'll take care of it. Corrie ten Boom said this. And those of you who've read, I would encourage you to read the biographies of Corrie ten Boom.

[33:25] She lived quite a few years after the Holocaust. And this is what she said. She said, look around and be distressed. Look inside and be depressed.

[33:36] Look at Jesus and be at rest. So if we look around, we'll be distressed. If we look inside ourselves, we'll be depressed. But if we look at Jesus, we'll be at rest.

[33:48] And then thirdly, we're to give thanks continually. Be giving thanks continually. Verse 6, be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God.

[34:03] In verse 6, when the Apostle Paul says, with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God. We know that joy is a result of a thankful heart. It's a result of gratitude.

[34:14] Ingratitude is a terrible sin. How does it make you feel when you do something for someone and they don't say thank you or they don't at least show appreciation for it? It hurts you because gratitude is something that shows that we appreciate what you did.

[34:31] We are thankful for what you have done because it hurts when we do something and someone doesn't appreciate the time that we spent or the energy that was involved in it.

[34:44] And how terrible a thing it is if we're not thankful to God. Now, verse number 7 says, and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

[35:00] Then when we get to verse 8, where we're going to be next week, the Apostle Paul tells us how to think. But here in verse 6, he tells us how to thank.

[35:11] Because we need to learn how to think before we can learn how to think. So be thankful and then our thinking is going to be like it's supposed to be.

[35:21] This is why we sing when we come together. Because when we come together for worship, we are literally thanking God. We are praising God for who he is and what he has done.

[35:32] When we sing, we are cultivating an attitude of gratitude to our Heavenly Father. We need to first give thanks to God for who he is. He's all powerful.

[35:43] These are songs of praise. He's all-knowing. He's ever-loving. He is always everywhere present. He is sovereign. He is a holy God.

[35:55] But we also need to give thanks to God for what he has done. He daily loads us with benefits, the Bible says. Ephesians 5.20 says, Giving thanks always and for everything to God, the Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

[36:11] This goes along with Philippians chapter 4, verse 4 as being one of the hardest verses to actually practice in the Bible. To always be joyful in the Lord.

[36:24] And again, I say rejoice. We are to give thanks for all things. And we can thank God for the simple things and come to God for the difficult things as well.

[36:35] And I'd like to close with this. There's a story about Harry Ironside. He was a preacher from a number of years ago. And he was in a restaurant one day.

[36:47] And a gentleman came up to his table. And he asked if he could join him. And Ironside told him to grab a seat. And as was his custom, Ironside bowed his head and began to pray before his meal.

[37:02] And as he came up, the fellow said, You have a headache? No. There's something wrong with your food. He says, No.

[37:13] Not really. The other man said, Well, is there anything else wrong? And Ironside replied, No. I was simply thanking God as I always do before I eat.

[37:24] The man said, Oh, you're one of those. He said, I never do that. I never give thanks. He says, I earn my money by the sweat of my brow. And I don't give thanks to anybody when I eat.

[37:37] I just dig right in. Ironside said, Well, you're just like my dog. That's what he does too. And so we need to understand that we always need to be thankful.

[37:51] Maybe you always pray before you eat. And that's good. But that's not the only time we should be praying. We should be praying always and in everything. Give thanks to God in prayer for what he has done for us.

[38:07] Thank him for saving you. Thank him for his provision. Thank him for the friends that God has given you. Thank him for the family that God has given you.

[38:17] Thank him so much. Thank you. Thank God because he has supplied your needs. If you have a roof over your head. If you have something to eat when you get home.

[38:28] If you have a vehicle to get you home. Decent clothes to wear. You are wealthier than the vast majority of the people across the world. We have so much to be thankful for.

[38:43] Count your many blessings. Name them one by one. You are ahead of most people when we are filled with joy. You feel more grateful if we will take the time.

[38:56] And remember that everything we are given is a gift of God. George Hubert said this. Thou, O Lord, has given so much to me.

[39:08] Give me one more thing. A grateful heart. Let us pray. Our Father, we are so thankful. We are so grateful.

[39:19] For what you have done for us. And Lord, I pray that you would help us to resolve any conflict that's in our life. Help us to resolve any difficulty that we have with anyone.

[39:30] So that we are not impeding the progress of your gospel. So that we are not allowing the sand of any irritant in our life gum up the works.

[39:42] We pray, Lord God, that we would humble ourselves and resolve any conflict. We pray as well, Heavenly Father, that we would pray instead of our worrying.

[39:55] We pray, Lord God, that we would be thankful in all things. Keep us safe. Keep us serving. Till we come back together. We pray in Jesus' precious and holy name.

[40:08] Amen.