Cast All Your Care

Note: I have used many notes and sermons to put this message together

Casting All Your Cares on Him

Philippians 4:4-9 Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! (5) Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. (6) Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; (7) and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. (8) Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy--meditate on these things. (9) The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.

Introduction

Billy Graham: Historians will probably call our era “the age of anxiety.” Anxiety is the natural result when our hopes are centered in anything short of God and His will for us.

—Billy Graham, 1965

We started this series on Anxiety discussing Be Anxious for Nothing. Looking at this passage from Paul here in Philippians. In our first message we talked about the importance of staying CALM.

Celebrate God’s Goodness

Perspective is the key:

OPEN: An elderly mountain farmer had been involved in an accident between his mule-drawn wagon and an car driven by another man. Now, the farmer was suing the driver, claiming personal injuries as a result of the accident.

When the farmer was on the stand, the attorney for the driver of the car "Tell me sir, isn’t it true that after the accident, you said that you never felt better in your life?"

"Well," the farmer began, "that morning I got up, hitched up my mule to the wagon, and put my hound dog in the seat beside me and I started on down the road…”

The lawyer interrupted "Please, just give me a simple yes or no answer to the question"

At this point the judge stepped in and directed the lawyer to let the farmer have his way in answering the question.

"Well," the farmer began again, "that morning I got up, hitched up my mule to the wagon, put my hound dog in the seat beside me and I started on down the road… and I jest got over the rise of the road when this big car barreled into my rear end. My mule was knocked to one side of the road, my dog to the other and I was pinned under the seat.

Directly, a policeman came along, seen my mule had its leg broke, pulled out his pistol and shot him dead. He went over to my dog, seen it was hurt real bad, and shot it in the head."

"Then, he came over to me and asked, ’Well, how are you feeling?’ and, shore nuff, I said I never felt better in my whole life."

Ask God for Help

Leave Your Concerns with the Lord

Meditate on the Good Things

After this we talked about Learning to Rejoice in the Lord always.

Paul gives us another phrase in this passage that I think will help us to deal with anxiety. When we feel anxiety coming on, and we will. When we are tempted to be stressed and we will look what he says in verse 7:

Philippians 4: (7) and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

MSG 7 Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.

Paul here stresses the importance of getting this anxiety, anxiousness under control. This is to guard our hearts.

Importance of Guarding the Heart

Pro 4:23-27 Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life. (24) Put away from you a deceitful mouth, And put perverse lips far from you. (25) Let your eyes look straight ahead, And your eyelids look right before you. (26) Ponder the path of your feet, And let all your ways be established. (27) Do not turn to the right or the left; Remove your foot from evil.

Answer: Proverbs 4:23–26 instructs believers to, “above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. Keep your mouth free of perversity; keep corrupt talk far from your lips. Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you. Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways.” When Solomon refers to guarding the heart, he really means the inner core of a person, the thoughts, feelings, desires, will, and choices that make that person who he/she is. The Bible tells us that our thoughts often dictate who we become (Proverbs 23:7; 27:19). The mind of a man reflects who he really is, not simply his actions or words. That is why God examines the heart of a man, not simply his outward appearance and what he appears to be (1 Samuel 16:7).