Beacon Sunday Service January 21, 2024

The free gift of God and peace the result of that. All right, and if we can just make our way to our seats. It's kind of funny. Uh Sarah just shared with me that uh Noah Noah would let us borrow Emily with uh the condition that we give him Pokemon cards, but shiny shiny Pokemon cards.

Um it's really funny because you know the world in this world, there's so many shiny fun little things that the world may want to offer us and give us, right? But really the true gift, uh the thing that's unfading the true treasure and reward that we have in heaven, more than shiny Pokemon cards or wealth or um health or whatever it might be. Uh our greatest treasure is in Christ Jesus our Lord. He is the true joy giver, the one who provides for us every need uh in our daily walks, and we can trust in him because he never changes. What a great truth, what a great um God that we uh worship and follow. And so may we be reminded of that as we worship him this morning, and with that, let me just go into our call to worship.

It comes from Psalm chapter sixty-six, and it says this. Come and see what God has done. He is awesome in his deeds toward the children of man. Shout for joy to God on all the earth, sing the glory of his name, give to him glorious praise. Amen. Can we do that this morning? Give to the Lord glorious praise. Uh he deserves it all, and so may we just sing uh our hearts out to him.

Sit together, great as the Lord.

We have the victory.

And Lord, we want to lift your name on high. And Lord, we want to thank you for the words you've done in our lives. And Lord, we trust in your unfairly love for you alone are God eternal throughout earth and heaven above great is the Lord Great Is the Lord and most worthy of praise amen in the city of our God the whole place the joy of the whole claim is greatness is the Lord in whom we have to leave he aids us against the end we bow down to one of lift and Lord we want to lift your name on high and Lord we want to thank you for the works you've done in our life and Lord we trust in your unfair love for you alone on God eternal throughout earth and heaven and Lord we want to lift your name on Lord we want to thank you for the works you've done in our lives and Lord we trust in your unfailing love for you alone our God eternal throughout earth and heaven above see what our voices in Lord we want to lift and Lord we want to lift your name on high and Lord we want to thank you for the works you've done in our lives and Lord we trust in your unfeiling love for you alone our God eternal throughout earth and heaven above what is our hope in life and death Christ alone Christ alone what is our own confidence that our souls to him belong yes who holds our days within his hands what comes apart from his command and what will keep us to the end the love of Christ in which we stand oh sin our hope springs eternal oh sin now and never we confess Christ our hope in life and death.

What truth? What truth can come the troubled soul? God is good. God is good. Where is his grace and goodness know in our great redeemers? Who holds our faith when fears arise? Who sends above the stormy trial? Who sends a waves that bring us nigh unto the shore? The rock of God.

Oh and ever we confess. Christ our hope and life and death to the grave. Unto the grave. What will we see? Christ he lives. Christ He lives, yes, and for reward will ever bring everlasting life with him. And we will rise to me the Lord. Then sin and death will be destroyed. And we will be in man destroy when Christ is us.

Now and never we confess.

Now and never we confess.

In this question and answer, we'll confess the benefits in this life that accompany our salvation. And here's the question. What are the benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification? Adoption and sanctification. And together, the benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification. Adoption and sanctification are assurance of God's love.

Amen. What a great truth that we just confess together. That through justification, adoption and sanctification, that we are gods, that we enjoy fellowship with him and just joy forever with him.

When Satan stands me to despair and tells me of guilt within upward I look and see him then who made an end to all my sin because the savior die sinful soul is counting free for God the just satisfied to work on him and part on him and partel raise God behold him there perfect spotless righteousness unchanged the king of glory and grace one with himself I cannot die.

One with himself I cannot die.

As we just said Christ has already died on the cross for our sins, even though we were unworthy. And that is God's love towards us. God wants us to be honest and truthful to Him about the struggles that we have, that we don't do it by ourselves, that we don't hold it in and hope that no one sees, because God always sees. So let's be truthful and honest and transparent before Him and confess our sins together corporately and individually. So together, let's read. Oh God, wash me and I will be wider than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness. Let the bones that you have broken rejoice. Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

Cast me not away from your presence and fill me with your Holy Spirit. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and uphold me with a willing spirit. Amen. Please be seated. Let us now take in a personal time of confession of since.

And it's because one, I do believe that we are doing our best to be faithful to God, but it is a demonstration of God's faithfulness to us. So we have a town hall meeting today.

But let's just pray for our church right now. Let's pray that we continue continue to be faithful stewards in the word, that even in the size that we are now, that we will grow bigger and stronger spiritually, um and with blessing we would grow in number as well. And most importantly, that we would find uh the full-time shepherd that we need to take us into the future, but as that time comes, that the Lord will continually provide for us the pastors and the shepherds that we need now to carry us through. So let's pray for those things. Um, let's pray for just what is to come, the things that we don't know, the things that we can't predict, the things that we can only plan for, but that God would be the ones carrying them through.

Father, I just lift you up, and we want to just recognize that 2023 has come and gone with a lot of trials and tribulations, but also much joy and thankfulness, Father, for the way that you have been faithful to us. Lord, we know that 2024 has its own um trials and things that will come, Father, that we can anticipate, and things that we cannot see. But Lord, in our planning, in the way that we move forward, I pray that as your people we will continue to be faithful to you, because we know what kind of God you are. You're the only God, and you're the God that provides, you're the God that cares. You're the God that loves your people. So Lord, we see that 2024, as it comes, the things that we ask for, the things that we look towards are things that are truly needed and not just things that we want.

So Lord, we pray for the that blessing upon the beacon ministry, and as we grow, may we grow spiritually, may we grow in number, may we grow uh and be supported, Father, and the things that we need, Father, will be provided by you, and we are faithful and we believe in that, Lord. We thank you, and in Jesus' name we pray, amen. Children, you're dismissed, please uh enjoy your time with teacher Stephen and teacher Lily. As the children are being dismissed, we're gonna have a few announcements. Um so today, after uh service, we're gonna be having a town hall meeting, as I mentioned before. Um it's it'll be right after service. So I know that we usually have a time of just fellowship and discussion.

Uh let's just move straight into kind of setting up for town hall. And then after town hall, we're immediately after town hall, we're gonna have a baby shower for the pecs. We're gonna be celebrating the coming of baby Penny Peck. Uh, and so we're gonna be setting up for that. Uh so um please just stick around and help where you can, and uh, yeah, those things are for today. Um, our offering options are Zelda, Mokash and check. Uh, and um, yeah, please give as the Lord has blessed you in your life. Uh at this time, I'm just gonna welcome our brother Pastor Dean, who's come again, um, and we'll continue to speak uh in the next a few months as well. Uh, but let's just give him a warm welcome.

And to fellowship with you uh week after week. I'm starting to get some names down so that um I can pray for you uh and for the congregation as it goes along. But I'm gonna ask you to stand. Well, we're gonna talk about joy today, and I'm gonna ask you to stand for the reading of God's word. And I want to go back uh to John uh chapter 16 uh laying the groundwork for what we're gonna look at today. And here's what I want you to understand. In John chapter 14, well, as he ends chapter 13, he says he's gonna leave them. And they're all panicked. He says, wow, what do you mean you're waiting, we mean you're leaving us? And he says, Oh, let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, but he also in me.

You know that passage in my father's house are many King James man changes. And then as he moves along into chapter 16, here's what he says. Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve. But your grief will turn to joy. So I just want you to kind of let that saturate your heart right now. Now sometimes when you see some of the things that go on in California, there's kind of declared, you know, this liberal area of any anything goes and living where you want anything. And it's it graves God's heart. And it should grieve our hearts. He weeps over Jerusalem, remember. And he went over our sin. And if we learn to weep over our sin, like he walks over ourselves, then we'll be comfortable.

But he goes on. A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come. But when her baby is born, she forgets the anguish. Oh, because of her joy that a child is born into the world. Uh so with you. Now is your time of grief. And remember why? Because he's told them what? He's leaving them. The guy that walked on the water, the guy that fed 5,000 people, the guy that healed the blind, the guy that can do everything. And he's leaving. So will you? Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again, and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy. I I want that to sink into your heart right now. That he's gonna give you a joy that nobody can take away. The text goes on.

In that day you will no longer ask me anything. Very truly I tell you, my father will give you whatever you ask in my name. Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask. And you will receive. And your joy will be complete. This is this is the word of the Lord. You maybe see this. Okay, let me do this. Let's go to that text. We just read that text from the Gospel of John. And I want you to see, when you open up your Bibles, I want you to see how you should begin to look at Scripture so that you say, Oh, oh, that's what this is about. Look at this text. And tell me what it's about. Is it hard to discover what he's talking there? It's the joy that that God wants to give you. Now the world, listen to me.

You don't need to look at that for a second. Look at me. Okay. The world wants you to have happiness. God wants to give you joy. When the world wants you to have happiness, I I would say to you, what is happiness? Happiness depends on happenings. Do you get that? And so when things are happening in your life, you're what? Happy. Or you take a little kid, I'll give you this for a second, okay? You take a little kid to an amusement park. And you say to him, Hey, am I going this right? No, I I'm I'm not much of a roller coaster guy. And maybe you are. But what I want you to see is if you take, and let's just let's go on a roller coaster ride. Turn the sound up just a bit.

That's why I want to go with you today.

This is his theme.

Only four chapters. And in those four chapters. I want you to catch this.

What I want to do today is I want to give you a space of the book of Philippians. It's only four chapters. And I want you to be able to read it as we can say, oh my God, own that. And just remind yourself chapter a day for four days. Just remind yourselves that Paul is writing these people. And he's wanting to have joy. Look at the fourteen times of Jews. Philippians 1, 4. In all my prayer for all of you, I always pray for my joy. He goes on in verse 25, and he says, Convinced of this, I know I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith. So that through my being with you again, your joy in Christ Jesus will overflow on account of me. So he's just walking his way through that.

I'll throw it out here and maybe talk about it later. But do you remember where Paul was when he had to write this book? He was in prison. And he's had he's locked up in prison, and yet he's having to write people on the outside who have freedom and can get all around. And he has to say to them, Hey, listen, I'm praying for you. I want to get up the joy of the Lord. Chapter two, verse two. We read this passage this morning as we prepared for worship. Then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit in purpose. So Paul is saying that's what that would be enjoying in prison. Chapter 2, verses 17 and 18. But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you.

So you too should be glad and rejoice with me. He goes on, verse 28. For this reason, I am very eager to send him. He's talking about a paperitus here. I'm very eager to send him so that you may rejoice again when you see him. And I may be less anxious.

That's why later on he says, be anxious for nothing.

Don't worry about anything. And he's saying I I don't want to worry. Let's go on to the end of chapter two. Welcome him in the Lord with great life. Joy.

When you get to uh chapter three, verse 1, he says, finally, my brothers, haha, rejoice in the Lord. It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again. And it's a safeguard for you. He only uses this once in chapter three. Chapter four, verse 1. Therefore, my brothers, you whom I love and long for my joy and crown. That is how I should stand firm. That is how you should stand firm in the Lord, dear friends. Philippians 4:4. Probably, if anybody knows a verse from Philippians, it's probably this one. Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again. Rejoice. You might also know Philippians 1.6. If I said to you this morning, how many verses of scripture do you know from Philippians?

You probably know this one. Or hopefully you'd know this one. You might know Philippians 1 6. He who has begun a good work in you will perform it unto the day of Christ Jesus. In other words, look at me for a second. If you've trusted Christ as your Savior, and he started this good work in you, what does he say is going to happen? He who started a good work in you will perform it to the day of Christ Jesus. It's going to happen.

That's the purpose when you trust Christ. Philippians 4, he goes on in verse 10. I rejoice greatly in the Lord that at last you have renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you have been concerned, but you have had no opportunity to show it. So, what's the theme of Philippians? Joy. Fourteen times that comes up. What's the world want you to focus on? Happiness. And let me just put this right over that picture. God is saying, No, I never promised you happiness. There will be times you'll be happy. But when you trust the Lord, he gives you the fruit of the Spirit. And what's the fruit of the Spirit? Love. Joy. Peace, patience, kindness. But what's the second one? Joy. So as soon as you get the Lord, what do you get?

Joy. The Old Testament says it this way: the joy of the Lord is my strength. Little kids sing the song. The joy of the Lord is my strength. The joy of the Lord. He's saying, look, if you lose your joy, what do you lose? The joy of the Lord is my what? Strength. I'm hearing him back there. Say that. That's where the Lord is my strength. So look at you. This is you. Okay? And when you trust Christ as your Savior, look what he does. Where does he put joy? Inside your life. That does not mean that you're happy. Because happiness depends on happenings. And things can go really bad in our lives. But even when things go bad and I'm not happy, I can still have joy. The joy of the Lord.

The world wants to have you think of it this way. Happiness, happiness, happiness. Listen to this. Oh man, I'm so happy. But happiness is something outside. And I put this happiness in black. Outside you as a person. Because happiness is always something outside your life. Where the joy of the Lord is something inside your life. Young, young guys, Alex, Alex would be happy if he could be doing this. You know. Get on a motorbike, and then you're flying. Happiness depends on what? Happenings. Or you'd be happy doing this. You know, you're in a wave runner or a you know jet ski of some kind, and you're just out flying around. Because happiness depends on happening. So let me take you to the map and show you where uh Paul was writing this book.

Writing it to the Philippians at Philippi. And right, well, let me put some bodies of water. Here's the Black Sea. Right above the Black Sea is Ukraine. That's where the fight's going on now between Russia and Ukraine. And they're fighting over that territory, because whoever has that territory can use the Black Sea. And use the Black Sea as you come out of the see the P on Philippi there? There's an entrance out of the Black Sea so that you can get down to the Mediterranean and then ship your goods either down to this area, the Red Sea, or out there to the Atlantic Ocean. Russia has no warm body water. That's why the United States wants to help and protect Ukraine.

Well, not only that, but the Ukraine has some biblical basis.

So you have the Black Sea. And then right over here, you had the Caspian Sea. And right here, you have the Persian Gulf. If you've ever been through a walk through the Bible seminar, uh, well, one of the things they were trying to teach you is these bodies of water. And so one guy said it this way: think you had a black cat. Black, see, cat, B and C. You had a black cat, and it was on your lap, and you were petting it, and it was purring. The black cat and so the black cat purrs in the red, because the Mediterranean is right here. The black cat purs in the red med. And you'll kind of remember those bodies of water. So right up here is where Philippi is, and actually, those from the well, I'll go on from there.

Paul wrote the book of Philippians and told them uh to rejoice in the Lord. Again, Paul, when you become a Christian, God places this joy in your heart. Satan, so if somebody asks you what Pastor Anderson talked about today, a sermon and a sentence is this Satan wants to steal your joy and leave you discouraged. Does that make sense to you? I mean, God wants to give you joy. Now, can Satan get at you and steal your joy? No, because the joy is inside. And can Satan come and come into your life? No, because who's in your life? Christ is in your life. And greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. First John 4:4. And so if he's in you, if you ask Christ into your life, you have the joy of the Lord.

So God warns us of four thieves in the book of Philippians that Satan wants to use to steal your joy. And the reason I'm just doing kind of an overview of Philippians is I want you to see each chapter, Paul warns us of a thief. So you got joy in every chapter. And now he's saying, okay, but you can lose your joy if you're not. You feel like you've lost your joy. But the joy of the Lord, if you're filled with the Holy Spirit, and you've got the Lord in your life, you're gonna have the fruit of the Spirit. You're gonna have love and joy and peace and so let me give you, and I'll I'll do it almost uh in a way that little kids could picture it. Here's the thief. He's got the bag of joy in his hand because he wants to run away with your joy, and what's he gonna do to steal your joy?

He's gonna go after, he's gonna have circumstances around your life that are miserable. Got that? And in verse 12 of Philippians, Paul says it this way. Now I want you to know, brothers, what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel. What had happened to the Apostle Paul? He's in prison. He's locked up. He wants to be out there preaching and he wants to share the Lord with people, but he's in prison. Those circumstances were not good for him. But he said, wait a minute, it hasn't stolen my joy. Because look how he words it. What has happened to me has really served to do what? Advance the gospel. It's done just the opposite that Satan wanted to do, because, oh, by the way, they've locked me right beside one of the guards.

And guess what? Those guards have to hear about Jesus all day long. They can't get away. They're locked to me. I got a captive audience. Pun intended there. Okay. Because he was the captive. But instead of him being the captive that's locked up in the prison, they're a captive of his, tied to him, hearing the gospel. Based on the terrible circumstance, he's in prison. Paul wanted to go to Rome as a preacher, but instead he went as a prisoner. But he still kept preaching, even while he was in prison. So let me take you to some difficult circumstances. Matthew chapter 4, 14, verses 22 to 24. Look at what it says. Jesus, immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead with him, ahead of him to the other side.

Well, he dismissed the crowd. After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone. But the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves, because the wind was against it. During the fourth watch of the night. Do you know when you know when that is? When's the fourth watch of the night? This is why sometimes we have different translations of scripture. Because sometimes they want to just get it down so you can understand what he's talking about. And later on, as you work your way up, they're really talking about the fourth watch of the night. The first watch starts at 6 o'clock at night. And it's from 6 o'clock till 9 o'clock.

The second watch is from 9 o'clock to midnight. The third watch is from midnight to 3 in the morning. And the fourth watch is 3 in the morning to 6 in the morning. So it's sometime at 3 o'clock in the morning or so. During the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went out to them walking on a lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. It's a ghost, they said, and cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to them, take courage. It is I. Don't be afraid. They were in terrible circumstances. Did you get that? Remember, I told you last week that how many of the disciples were fishermen? We only know of possibly four. Peter, James, John, and Andrew, because they were fishermen.

The others were like Matthew, a tax collector. When did he ever get out and learn and take swim lessons? They didn't have pools in their backyard. So they're in terrible circumstances, and that's why they were afraid. That's why they're calling out. The text goes on. Lord, if it's you, Peter replied, tell me to come to you on the water. Come, he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water, and came towards Jesus. But when he saw, look at this. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid. And beginning to sink, he cried out, Lord, save me. If he prayed like some people prayed, he'd tried to scrape scrape the Milky Way instead of just, he just, three words. Lord save me. I don't have to pay for much else, Lord.

I'm going down. Lord save me. And it happens. But what chang when he saw the wind? When Satan gets you to put your eyes on what? Circumstances. Yeah, cars, you know, it's you can't afford to get it fixed. And that's sometimes bad with it. And your job, you're having a difficult time. Well, I don't know what the circumstances are. But whatever they are, Satan wants to put your eyes there and not on Jesus. That's why we had the hymn years ago. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in his wonderful face. I don't want to start to sing it. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in his wonderful face. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim. In the light of his glory and grace. Satan wanted Peter's eyes where.

The girl right here, let me highlight it, is Natalie. And Natalie, uh, when she was born, she they didn't know it, but she had a condition called Wolf Parkinson Parkinson's white syndrome. So that's a big, just a big title, meaning that her heart had uh extra nerve in it, and that would cause it to beat up to 300 beats a minute.

Alex just said that this past year, I hear or so. Okay. So she had it when she was born. Things went well for the first three months. Here's her dad uh throwing her up in the air. My secretary at the time made each one of us these shirts that we had on that said, praying for Natalie, because this was our family picture before she was to have the ablation that Alex had. An ablation is done all the time in America, all the time. She had to weigh 40 pounds before they could do the ablation, until then she had to take medic medication twice a day. She almost died when she was four months old, because they didn't know she had it. They took her to UCLA and they had the she started taking medication twice a day.

When she got to be 40 pounds, he said, okay. Just a smooth under 40 pounds. He said, Okay, we can have her have the ablation done. The ablation was going to be done April 2nd, 2021. April 2nd, 2021 was good Friday. They took her down to the hospital. It's in the midst of COVID. So both mom and dad couldn't go in the hospital with her. Mom went in with her. She was supposed to go in about eight o'clock. They're taking her into the the emergency room or the operating room. And she's supposed to be home that night, having dinner with the family. That's how common that procedure is. I don't know. Alex, were you home that night? Yep. She gets into the procedure. Well, here's what she says. I want I want them to be able to hear this, Alex.

Turn it up. This is Natalie just before her surgery. Just before the procedure. And my daughter is saying to her, Natalie, when is your heart going to be fixed? Listen to what she says.

She said, How many people are going to be praying for me? Millions. And they said, Well, we don't know how many, but we're asking people to pray. She gets another procedure. And everything goes wrong. And they perforated her heart. The anesthesia the anesthesiologist, when things go wrong in a surgery, the surgeon's no longer in charge. The anesthesiologist is in charge. His name was Dr. Tan. That name kind of ring a belly with your culture. Dr. Tan. Godly Korean doctor. He's keeping her alive. And he said, I was praying over her all the time. All of a sudden, y you can never do it in ablation, like Alex had done, without a heart surgeon on hand.

In case something goes wrong. They call a heart surgeon in. He was on he was there. They call him in. There's uh some fifty people in that room trying to keep her alive. They had to cut her chest open. Take her heart out because her heart was bleeding on the back side of the heart, filling the sack with blood, so it couldn't it couldn't expand anymore because now the blood was blocking any expansion. They took the heart out, sewed it up on the back side. They called my daughter and her husband, who were outside the hospital. And a woman was supposed to call on.

She said, Is is our daughter okay? She's alive right now for now. What does Satan want to do? He wants to steal your what? Joy. And how does he steal your joy? You put your eyes where on the circumstances. Yeah, that was difficult for them. She ended up a hundred and seven days in pediatric mental care. On day four when they did the brain scan, the uh doctor, the brain surgeon said, the doctor, the the daughter you knew. She'll never know again. She'll just be a body in the bed the rest of her life. She'll be blind.

If we take her off the breathing tube, and she lives. The only thing she might ever be able to do is smile. She was the second born in the family. This was April 2nd on Mother's Day when it rolled around. By the way, it was in uh to the children's hospital right here in LA. On Mother's Day, the other three kids, and we had the three kids. One wasn't even one year old. One was the three-year-old and one with a seven-year-old. We had to take care of them for seven days while mom and dad were down here staying in the hospital.

This was as she was starting to get a little better, but she couldn't even hold her head up. And she couldn't see when we'd come to talk to her. Instead of looking at us, her eyes were just up, up and to the right or up and to the left, because she was blind at that point. She went into cardiac arrest and was 12 to 15 minutes without any oxygen to the brain. This was Mother's Day. We were able to take her out of that hospital for the first time after 40 days. And this is Titus, her older brother. Giving her a hug.

This is their family a year and a half later. And this is Natalie standing on her own. A year and a half later.

Not yet.

And it was the first time she walked down the aisle of a church in over two and a half years. Unassisted.

Listen. What am I telling you? Satan wants to do what? Steal your joy. It's inside. You're going to let him get at it. Listen, there are four thieves. Chapter one, he says, what has happened to me, the circumstances that have happened to me. Can I just apply this to your life right now? I don't know what circumstances have happened or will happen to your life. But guess what? You're gonna die someday. Things are gonna go bad someday. And if you keep your eye on Jesus, you'll still have the joy of the Lord. What's the second thief in chapter two? I said there's one in each chapter, right? Chapter 2, the thief is possessions. Satan knows that our possessions are really somewhat important to us.

Your house, your car, your whatever, and your money, your possessions. Here's what in chapter 2, verse 4, he says. Look not every man on his what? On his own things. But every man also on the what? The things of others. Be more concerned about their things than your things. But Satan wants to say, okay. I'll get it, whatever they think is important. You know that thing in your life that's important. What is he going to get at to steal your joy? Chapter 2, verse 21 says it this way. For all seek their own things, not the things which are Jesus Christ. So what is he talking about in chapter 2? Your things. Your possessions. What did Jesus say about things?

Remember when he preached the Sermon on the Mount? We referred to it. I don't want to take for granted that you know what the term the Sermon on the Mount is. The Sermon on the Mount is when Jesus goes up to a mountain area and he's teaching them in Matthew 5, 6, and 7. It's the longest sermon Jesus ever gave. Most of you know Matthew 6, 33. It says it this way. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all what? All these what? These things. You know. Because things aren't important to him. You're the ones important to him. He says, if you seek first the kingdom of God and those righteousness, you won't, these things won't be, you know, a concern to your life. There was one man in scripture that had more things than most people.

Who do you think it was? Somebody on this side. Well, Solomon had a lot of things. Yeah, that's true. Somebody on this side. Not Solomon, somebody else. I'll give you a hint. It's Job. Job had things. How many things? Wow. Look at this text. One day the Son of God, the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord. And Satan also came with them. The Lord asked Satan, where have you come from? Well, from roaming through the earth, Satan answered him, and walking around on it. Then the Lord said to Satan, have you considered my servant Job? Look at me just for a second. This goes against everything that the health, wealth, and prosperity gospel teaches.

You can have the all the money, you can have the whatever job you want. Just name it and claim it because God said you don't go do it. And you can uh you can never be sick because God can heal. What did God say? God said uh to Satan, you know, hey, if you considered my servant Job, no one else on earth is like him. A man of perfect integrity who fears God and turns away from evil. Satan answered him. Does Job fear you, God for nothing? There's a reason he fears you, and he's gonna tell you why. Look at it. Haven't you placed a hedge around him? Satan is saying this to God. Haven't you placed a hedge around him? Uh, his household and everything he owns. You have blessed the work of his hands and his possessions have increased in the land.

But stretch out your hand and strike everything he owns. Get after his things. Stretch out your hand and get everything he owns. And he will surely curse you to your face. Very well. The Lord said to Satan. Again, this goes against health, wealth, and prosperity preachers. That you can just get anything you want. Just ask God for everything. Very well, the Lord told Satan, everything he owns is in your power. Got it? His possessions have increased in the land. But stretch out your hands, strike what he owns. Get after his things. Everything he owns is in your power.

The text goes on. Look at he has 7,000 sheep and goats, 3,000 camel, 5,000 yoke of oxen. You know what that means? 500, excuse me, yoke of oxen. That means that he had 1,000. 500 of them were yoked together. 500 yoke of oxen. We're not told how many male donkeys he had. He had 500 female donkeys, but we don't know how many males he had. We don't know how much property. How much property does it take to take care of 7,000 sheep and goats? And oh, by the way, after God allowed this to happen. Well, look at the text. Verses 13 to 17. One day when Job's sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother's house. A messenger came to Job and reported, while the oxen were plowing and the donkeys grazing nearby, the Sabians swooped down and took them away.

They struck down the servants with a sword. And I alone have escaped to tell you.

And I alone have escaped to tell you. That messenger was still speaking when yet another came and reported the Chaldeans formed three bands. Made a raid on the camels and took them away. They struck down the servants with the sword. And I alone have escaped to tell you.

So Paul is trying to tell the Philippians don't let your things get in the way. What was Job's response? At this. This was stolen. This was taken away. This was gone. This was burned. This was destroyed. At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. His wife said, Why don't you just curse God and die? Guys, don't get that kind of a life. Okay. At this, Job got up, tore his robe, shaved his head, then he fell to the ground in worship. Do you get that? The fall to the ground in worship. After losing all the possessions. You know what God did when it was all done. Job had glorified God. And God gave him back everything he lost.

Times two. The only thing that didn't have times two. Do you know what it was? He had his children. And he lost all his children. And God gave him back the same amount of children again because of the first children. For already were stole with the Lord at that point. But the animals, he got back twice as much as everything. Because his focus wasn't his possessions. It was his God. So Satan wants to steal your joy and leave you discouraged. There are four thieves. Chapter one, the first thief, circumstances. If you can get your eyes on the circumstances, when it goes bad, you want to lose your joy. Chapter 2, possessions.

Possessions. Chapter 3. If he can't get at your circumstances or your possessions, he'll use other people. And even other people in your church. Or other people in your family. Look at Philippians chapter 3, verse 2. Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again. It is a safeguard for you. Verse 2. Look at it. It's almost sounds funny. Watch out for those dogs. Those men who do evil. Those mutilators of the flesh. Okay? Watch out for what? Those canines. You know. No, he's not talking. He's not really talking. He actually, this is one of the few times that the Apostle Paul calls other people dogs.

So look at look at the text, and I'll help you understand it better by doing this. So what is he saying to watch out for? Watch out for those men. Because there were people, Jewish people, that were trying to tell them they still had to keep the law and they still had to get circumcised, because that was what was done in the Old Testament as a sign of their faith. He said, that's not, he called those mutilators of the flesh. Now, Paul was saying other people can get at your joy. But there are many ways that that that happened throughout scripture. Let me give you one example from the book of Acts.

In Acts chapter 13. I'll read this for you in a second. Okay, but look up here a second. Paul and Barnabas were missionaries. And they took John Mark with them on their first missionary trip. They got halfway on the trip. And John, Mark deserted them. He was a young Christian bullyer. And he deserted them. Now, that was Acts chapter 13. In Acts chapter 15. Now Paul and Barnabas were going to go on another trip. And here's what it says. Sometime later, Paul said to Barnabas, let's go back and visit the brothers in all the towns where we preach the word of the Lord and see how they're doing. Barnabas wanted to take John. Also called Mark with him. But Paul did not think it wise to take him because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work.

They Paul and Barnabas, two godly Christian men. Paul and Barnabas had such a sharp disagreement that what happened.

These are missionaries. This is the Apostle Paul. What do I know about what happened right there? If you ever get a chance to just uh do a study in an old testament book, especially with your kids eventually, use the book of Proverbs. Especially starting in chapter 10, because chapter 10, every verse or every couple of verses is a sermon in a sentence. So when our kids, my kids started growing up, the first, the first verse that I learned of my son, we memorized together, was Proverbs 10, 1. A wise son makes a glad father. But a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother. So every time my son, Proverbs 10, one, why son of the glad father, a foolish son is the heaviness of the mother. But he didn't understand what it meant.

So the first time he did something wrong, something that was disobedient. Oh you just giving your mother a heavy heart.

You just gave your mom a heavy heart. Oh, he did. She's sad. Oh, and he's up and right. I said, Oh wow, you just you may uh you may be glad. My wife's or wise I make of a glad father. So you take God's word and you make it adaptable to their lives. So what was going on here? Proverbs 13 10 tells us only by pride comes contention.

So what was going on there? By the way, that the reference I just I I memorized King James version all my life, so that what I just gave you is the King James version. Only my pride comes contentiously.

What happened there is they parted. They there was such a sharp disagreement. So when you have sharp disagreements with somebody, you want to make sure that it's not pride getting in the way. So let's go back here. Satan wants to steal your joy and he's going to use uh four thieves to do that. The first one is gonna be your circumstances, the second one's gonna be possessions, your things, the third is going to be other people and the fourth one in chapter four.

If he can't get you with these three he will always resort to this one in chapter four.

Worry. Because if nothing is going wrong something is going to go wrong. Right? W what if this happens? Oh, what if that happens? Oh, what if this so he Proverbs uh Proverbs in Philippians four six, he says it this way, rejoice in the Lord always I will say it again. Rejoice. Let your gentleness be evident to all. By the way, that's one of the fruit of the spirit as well, right? The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything. But in everything, by prayer and petition, with Thanksgiving, present your request to God. Don't worry about it, don't be anxious about it.

And get us to be anxious to worry about it. Paul's writing this letter from prison and is still able to say in the Lord. How often Peter, having learned this, uses the same Greek word in First Peter five seven. Cast all your what? Anxiety. He was being he said, Don't be anxious. Cast all your anxiousness. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. And again, this is the same Greek word as found in the Philippines four says. Don't let Satan steal your joy. And he does want to steal it.

And what are the thieves? Ah, circumstance. Possessions. Others I would say to you. Let's lock 'em up. They're thieves. Now we won't get into this because really on these weeks and these Sundays as I'm with you, I'm letting I'm doing sermons that are kind of standalone kind of sermons. Later on when we get into a book, we'll just go through a book. But I wonder what your appetite for Philippians I want you this week to go through each chapter. You know now what the thief is in each chapter. Now I'm gonna give you something else to look for in each chapter. This would be another whole sermon, but I'll just give you this. There's another word. The word joy or rejoice occurs in every chapter, right?

There's another word that occurs in every chapter as well. You know, when we sing a song, sometimes it has the melody. Well, it always has a melody, okay? It should always have a melody unless it's rap. And I'm not sure that that's music, but I'll just leave it at that, okay. But it ought to have a melody. And then there's a counter, a counter melody sometimes. Sometimes we little kids, you know, have a little song and they start singing it and it's sung in a round. So they they sing it and then the next group starts it, and somehow it just goes together because there's a counter melody to it. There's a counter melody to this joy of the Lord. And the word that's also used in every single chapter of Philippians is the word mind.

Let your let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. It's occurs in chapter one. He says, I want you to have oneness of mind. So you know, have a have a single mind. Don't be this and this and this and this and this. Have a single mind. And then in chapter two, he talks about that that mind like this mind, mind being you, which was also in Christ Jesus, Philippians 2, 5. He wants you to have the mind of Christ. And then but the 10 even give that chapter 3 is talking about mind and how they mind earthly things, but your citizenship is in heaven. Your mind ought to be there. And then in chapter 4, he also gives, talks about your mind again, and the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

So where the thieves are able to be locked up is right here for your mind. You have the mind of Christ, and the peace of God which keeps your heart and mind in Christ Jesus. So for me today, I would say this. We started out with John 16. Remember? Or Jesus talked about it? So with you, now's your time of grief, but I will see you again, and and you will rejoice, and no one will what take away your joy. That's where God wants you to live this week. So the question I have for you on the screen is this.

Ah, and you're single. And oh, you wanna you want to grow more in the Lord? Okay, let's get you married. Just now. Marriage isn't about your happiness, but about your holiness. And you're gonna have to live with another person. It's gonna go shh shh and grind against you at times. Oh, oh, but wait a minute. You're right here, and you decide you want to get married? Oh, well, I'll give you an opportunity to grow then because it's gonna be about your holiness and not your happiness. And oh, hey, about that time, oh, you want to grow more? I'll give you kids. And then you really have a chance to grow.

And want to go against you and those things. So today, as we wrap up.

Is there something in my life that needs to I need to guard that Satan wants to steal our joy? Let's pray, showing. Heavenly Father, we pray today that your uh hand will be honored, and that you uh could use this message from your word to alert us for the ways.

Just keeping our eyes on the Lord, just having joy over worldly happiness, really. May we just sing that truth out today as we long for the Lord. Let's all rise and sing to him.

So my soul long are my hearts.

You alone are my strength, my shame to you.

Joy given you alone.

We pray now that you would take us from here to glorify you. Father, this is this is worship. And now, Father, we go in to the world to serve you. Now may the blessing of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit go with you now throughout this week until Jesus comes. Amen. God bless.