Welcome to Affirm foundation presented by Princeton Ministries with Dr Ken Smith. This is Carol Smith, Ken’s wife. Please enjoy.

You know, many people call themselves parents, but in the end, it is those parents who apply great principles of parenting who will be successful as parents. There are many people who say that they are businessmen, but in the end, it will be the person who is able to take the principles of business who will become successful in their business. There are teachers and engineers who all would seek success in their field, but unless they are willing to apply the great principles of their trade, they will not experience success. The same thing is true for Christians.

We can come into the kingdom through Jesus Christ by putting our faith in Christ, knowing him personally, knowing that our sins have been forgiven, knowing that the Holy Spirit dwells inside of us, and knowing that God has prepared a place for us in eternity and yet live a life that for many people would appear to be unsuccessful. Well, what are some of the principles for successfully living our lives as Christians? The apostle Paul was as concerned with this life and the way we live as he was with eternity and the great place that we will spend all of our days in. What are the principles that you and I need to incorporate day by day, that we might successfully live this life as Christians? I believe in the text that we’ll be looking at, Philippians four, nine.

We’ll find three major principles that every christian needs to apply their life with Christ. Now, the first great principle for successful christian life is to be found in verse four. Paul makes this great declaration. He says, rejoice in the Lord always. Again. I say, rejoice. It has been said of the letter of Philippians that it can be summarized in four. I rejoice. You rejoice. Like some underground brook that suddenly breaks out from a rock, and we see with clarity the beautiful water as it sparkles under the sun. So, too, theme of joy is like a hidden Brooke that from the beginning to the close of the book of Philippians would break out at unexpected moments. And Paul says, Christians, rejoice. Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I say, rejoice. Now.

This theme that Paul never tires of repeating is all the more remarkable when we consider the circumstances under which Paul penned these words. At the very time that the Philippians would be reading this letter, Paul is a prisoner in a roman prison. He would spend his days chained, literally to a roman guard. With each passing day, a new guard would be assigned to Paul, that he would have no one, he tells us, who would befriend him while he was in prison. And from the darkness of this prison cell comes this sunny epistle from the pen of a man who at any moment will be told how his martyrdom will occur. In that situation, the apostle Paul says, rejoice in the Lord always. Again I say, rejoice. How?

Unlike the man I met several weeks ago, who he was so sceptical and cynical that he would demand a bacteria count on the milk of human kindness. He was so cynical that he actually believed that somebody pushed Humpty Dumpty off the wall. A person who was so sure that things would never go well, that he would try to start a pessimist club, but was certain that nobody thought it would work, a man who was so certain that all of the possibilities would fail, that he would try to form a procrastinators club, but by a vote of 44 to nothing, it failed because they decided to wait.

We meet people who are cynical, people who are certain that things will not work out, people who are sceptical, people who are realists, and in the face of your seeking to be joyful, would try to rain on your parade in the face of all of the world as it would look and jeer. The apostle Paul says, rejoice in the Lord always. Again I say, rejoice. The first lesson of rejoicing that comes from this text is that Paul was certainly not rejoicing in his circumstances and that was not the basis of christian joy. Do you have a job? The apostle Paul would say, rejoice. Are you out of work? He would say, rejoice. Did you pay the bills this month? Rejoice. Were you a little short? Rejoice. Did the baby sleep last night? Rejoice. Did the baby keep you awake last night? Rejoice.

The apostle says, rejoice in the Lord always. Again I say, rejoice. Now you say, well, that is really Pollyanna. The world that I live, it’s very hard to find that kind of joyous. Well, you and I live in the same world, and Paul helps us to understand that we’re not to rejoice in our circumstances, whatever they might because circumstances change from day to day. But notice from our text, the secret of christian joy is to be found in Christ. Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I say, rejoice that no matter what the circumstances, as a Christian, I am still able to have joy in the Lord because of what Christ has done for me. The great writer and musician Haydn was once asked why his church music was always so cheerful. He said, I cannot make it otherwise.

I write according to the thoughts I feel when I think upon God, my heart is so full of joy that the notes dance and leap from my pen. The world finds it unexpected when in the face of sorrow and terrible, discouraging circumstances, a Christian is still able to have joyous. And why are we able to be joyful in the midst of discouraging circumstances? It’s because we know a secret from scripture, and that is that sorrow may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning. We know that our father, who would bring any circumstance into our life, be it good or ill, covers it joyfully for our good. It is our God through Jesus Christ who is forever turning bad circumstances into good. It is our God through Jesus Christ who is able to take sorrow and turn it into joy.

Circumstances certainly fluctuate sometimes from minute to minute. Rejoice in your circumstances. No, rejoice in the Lord, always. And again I say, rejoice. We are told in psalm 16, verse eleven, that at the right hand of God there are joys forever, that the very nature of the God who dwells in us by his holy spirit is joy, and that it produces, deep in the heart of a Christiane, rejoicing. The second key that Paul wants us to see is found in verse six. He says, be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God, and the peace of God which passes all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Remember Paul, a prisoner. Paul, who had experienced the roman eagle’s claw, which, when it would take its victim, so often, drew blood.

Paul, in the crisis of his life, knowing that life and death hung upon the final verdict, and that ultimately, he would be sentence to death. With this great personal sorrow weighing down upon him, he says to us, be anxious for nothing. Be anxious for nothing. The definition of anxiety, as it is found in its root, is to have a divided mind. The person who is anxious is seeking to accomplish a one task with part of their mind and with the other part of their mind, looking at circumstances and deciding that it cannot be done. And so they become anxious, wondering if ever the task will be completed. Anxiety produces apprehension. It produces confusion. In every cloud, when we have anxious viewpoint, every cloud seems to become darker, every weight seems to be heavier.

When we have a mind that’s anxious, and in the end, anxiety simply wears us out. It’s like the little boy who was so anxious about getting up at 06:00 to go fishing that he set his alarm and he sat up all night watching the alarm, waiting for it to go off lest he might not hear it. Sometimes we become so anxious that we become weakened. The apostle says, be anxious for nothing. At the heart of anxiety ultimately is a disbelief in God. When we are anxious, so often the very cause is that we don’t believe the promises of goddess. Anxiety in scripture is a sin that needs to be confessed and repented of. Worry ultimately is practical atheism.

When we declare that we are anxious and nervous about the outcome of something, as though God were no longer having his hand upon us, the apostle says, be anxious for nothing. Have you noticed that the train doesn’t arrive a single minute earlier when you’re anxious? Have you noticed that the luncheon doesn’t go smoother because you were anxious for five days before that? Anxiety is an emotion, an energy that produces no good return. And to sit around painting pictures of disaster, to forecast ruin, to dream of doom, simply accomplishes nothing. The apostle says, be anxious for nothing. And what is the cure? When we find ourselves in anxious moment? He tells us that the only cure for worry and anxiety is to be found in prayer. And so he tells us that we are to bring our prayers of thanksgiving and supplication to the Lord.

That when you sense anxiety and worry, that is the precise clue to begin to pray, to take time, and to ask the Lord to help you in the midst of those decisions and outlook. We’re told in James chapter four, verse eight, draw near to God and he will draw near to you. First, Peter tells us, cast all of your care upon him. Why? Because he cares for you. Jesus was aware of the power of anxiety and worry when he said, therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things, sufficient for the day is its own trouble. The apostle Paul said, be anxious for nothing.

How many times have I, under the weight of some worry, quietly in my study at home, just gone to the Lord in prayer, and quietly under the weight of decisions and outcomes that would produce anxiety and worry. Simply bring those cares to the Lord and ask the Lord to take those cares from me, and the Lord, like some great porter, is able to take them one by one and carry away those worries and anxieties. Be anxious for nothing. Finally, if we are going to live a successful christian life, as we would have joy in the midst of our circumstances, as we would be anxious for nothing, the apostle gives us another foundational principle for successfully living as a Christian and having an attitude that would be godly.

He says, 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, if there is anything praiseworthy, think on these things. Let me ask, what is it that you think about as a Christian? We are commanded to have our thinking focused on those things which are true and noble and just and pure and lovely and of good report. We live in a culture which seems less and less to present to us anything that is close to this standard.

As we look at television, read magazines, the newspapers, it seems that so much of the information that we are receiving in this culture is focusing on those things which are the unjust, those things which are impure, those things which are unlovely, upon those things which ultimately are ungodly. How much time do you and I spend thinking on those things which are unjust, impure, unlovely and ungodly? Those things, the apostle says, must be changed, that through Jesus Christ we would begin to think more about those things which are simply true and noble and pure and lovely and of good report. And you say, how do I do that? Is this simply an abstraction? I think not. Because there is a person whom we can think of who was pure and lovely, who was of good report, Jesus Christ.

And that when the apostle draws our attention to successfully live the christian life, that we should think routinely on Christ. Jesus Christ, who said, I am the truth. The apostle says, think on those things which are true. Jesus, who would nobly endure sacrifice on the cross. The apostle Paul says, think upon those things which are noble. Jesus, who was completely just and gave no impartial verdict on any man or woman. The apostle says, think on those things which are just. Jesus, who we are told was like a spotless lamb as he was brought before those who would slaughter him. The apostle tells us, think upon those things which are pure. Jesus, who lovingly hung on the cross and would declare, forgive them, for they know not what they do. We are told to think upon those things which are lovely and of good report.

To this very day there are millions who would give their life for Jesus Christ, whose good report has come down to us that by faith we have trusted in this Jesus. The apostle says, do you want to live a successful christian life? Then think upon that which is true, that which is noble, that which is pure, that which is just, that which is lovely, that which is of good report. In a word, think regularly about Jesus Christ. Do we want success in this life as a Christian? Then learn from the apostle, as he tells us, rejoice in the Lord always again I say rejoice. Be anxious for nothing. Think about those things which are true, noble, pure, just, lovely and of good report. Think about Jesus Christ. Let us pray. Our God and our father we come wanting to see great success before you.

We are less concerned of success as the world would define success. Help us as christians to find that joy in the Lord, to be anxious for nothing and that we would focus all of our attention upon Christ who is of good report. Help us to take these truths, to leave this place with an attitude of joy, for we ask this in Jesus name. Amen.

Thank you for listening to a firm foundation presented by Princeton Ministries. This programming is supported by you, the listener. You may go to our website, princetonministries.org, or send your donation to Princeton Ministries Post Office box 2171, Princeton, New Jersey 08543. That’s Princeton Ministries Post Office box 2171, Princeton, New Jersey 08543. The Lord bless you and Dr Smith looks forward to hearing from you.