Life Is Beautiful (10)

INTRODUCTION

.SLIDE #1

How many times do we let things cause us to focus in on the difficult times of life?

We see war, murder, theft, and other bad things along with job uncertainties, families falling apart among other things.

There is so much going on around us that is ugly it can be hard at times to remember that life is beautiful.

We can look around us and see beauty; look at the majesty of the mountains! I wake up each day and see beauty when I look at my wife.

We see beauty in nature. If you have never been to Yellowstone National Park, you will see some things that will just put in you a state of awe.

I see beauty in my daughters and in my grandchildren.

There are times that the world seems to beat us down that we fail to see the beauty of life.

Life is too short to let everything ruin our lives; life is too short to allow circumstances and people to make us see life in a bad light.

Life becomes a chore instead of a pleasure.

As Christians, it is of the utmost importance for others to see that we enjoy life.

We will never win people to a Jesus who makes our lives sad and miserable.

Today, I want us to focus in on the forth chapter of the book of Philippians. We are going to look at verses 4-9 together as we look at how we can see life as being beautiful.

SLIDE #2

SERMON

Life is beautiful when we can:

I. REJOICE IN THE LORD ALWAYS. (V4-5)

Let us look at verses 4-5 now to see what God is telling us.

SLIDE #3

Philippians 4:4-5(ESV) Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.

Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand;

This can be difficult to do because we are told to rejoice in the LORD ALWAYS!

Paul is in prison when he writes this.

Our outward circumstances do NOT have to control our inner joy.

Paul was full of joy because he knew that no matter what happened to him, Jesus Christ was with him.

Paul faced false teachers, severe people problems, and threats of death, yet several times in this letter, he urged the Philippians to be joyful, probably because they needed to hear this.

When you start to find yourself being about to have joy in your heart when the outward circumstances would tell you not to, you are starting to see that life is beautiful!

You know you serve a BIG God.

Do you remember the story of David and Goliath?

When Goliath was challenging the nation of Israel to send out a warrior to settle the fight man to man, the nation saw a how big Goliath was and thought they served a small God.

David by comparison saw how Big God was and Goliath looked small in comparison.

When you serve a BIG God, your problems are not so terrible because you know God is bigger and He can help you.

Paul did not call believers to an empty, put-on show of happiness, for Christians should not be insensitive to the sorrow of others; he called for genuine joy, which is possible only in the Lord.¨

It is only through a believer’s relationship with God that he or she finds joy even in pain, suffering, persecution, and sorrow. (Life Application Bible)

Joy is not always visible, but our gentle spirit will become evident as we deal with people.

We are motivated to joy and gentleness by remembering that their Lord is near. This "nearness¨ refers not to his presence in their hearts, but rather to the nearness¨ of the Second Coming.

The promise of the second coming motivates us to act as though we know He is going to return.

SLIDE #4

The second thing we can do in order to see that life is beautiful is to control our anxieties.

Life is beautiful when we can:

II. CONTROL OUR ANXIETIES. (V6-7)

This is something that is VERY hard for some people. I know people who get anxious over EVERYTHING even down to what they are going to wear the next day.

Let us see what verses 6-7 tell us.

SLIDE #5

Philippians 4:6-7(ESV) 6do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Be anxious for nothing. YEAH RIGHT!

Attitudes of joy and gentleness, combined with constant awareness of Christ¡¦s return, should dispel any worry.

How can we possibly do this?

In Matthew 6;25-34 Jesus tells us not to worry about things in life, each day has enough challenges without adding worry to that list.