One dare not be too animated in this pulpit or one could disappear over the back Thank you Scott I have to say though that I always quarrel a little bit with the name of this luncheon burnings in the soul This is no criticism of Scott, but I find myself asking myself, is this really burning in my soul? Is it burning hot enough? I really don't know how to answer such questions, But there is something, however, that I struggle with, and I think many of you struggle with, which whether it's by burning in my soul hot enough or not, is at least a little spark in my soul, and I hope will be helpful to you. I want to share it with you today, and I hope it will do you good, as has stunned myself good. I want to talk to you about worry.

Worry is, I think, a problem for everyone, but worry is, I'm certain, I know from my own experience, one of the occupational hazards of the Christian ministry. I was supposed to introduce myself. I'm both one of the pastors of Grace Reformed Baptist Church and also the dean and now president of Covenant Baptist Theological Seminary. And as that puts me in the Christian ministry, I am very aware that worry and anxiety is one of the occupational hazards of the ministry. To be a true pastor is to really love people.

To be a true pastor is really to love Christ's church and desire its prosperity. And such love makes you vulnerable in all sorts of ways. And it certainly makes you vulnerable to worry. I'm an expert on worrying. I come from a long line of worriers.

I think therefore that I am something of an expert on the subject. I'm not saying that I'm an expert on how to deal with worry or how to stop worrying. What I am saying is that I really know very well how to worry. And so I know how bad worry is. Really how soul destroying and joy destroying worry is.

And I know how bad it is in my own soul, and I think I know therefore a little bit of how bad it is in your souls. And as I said, I think this is particularly true for pastors, and I think pastors need to deal with their worry, and worry can make them, lead them into paths that are not good for them or for their congregations. So I've had to learn to deal with my own worry to keep my sanity in the ministry. What I have learned and what has proved helpful to me, I want to share with you in very brief form for just a few minutes. I want to speak about the biblical solution to worry.

This is not an overstatement. I live daily with a text on this issue. I'm sure that there are many other biblical perspectives and passages that can be brought to bear on the subject of worry, but the passage that I have found most helpful and has become my daily companion is Philippians 4, 6 and 7. 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 surpasses all comprehension will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." There are several things from this passage that form, I think, a biblical solution to the soul struggling with worry. And I can only point you to them briefly, but I hope they're helpful to you.

First of all, I want you to see in this passage the wonderful promise implied in its prohibition. There's a prohibition here, a command not to do something here. And I think there is a wonderful promise implied in it. We should make, and we do make, An important distinction between the law and the gospel. A theological contrast between law and gospel.

But this should not blind us to the fact that some of God's laws, some of his thou shalt, and even some of his prohibitions, his thou shalt nots, contain or imply wonderful promises. And here we have one of them. The text commands us, God in Holy Scripture requires us, be anxious for nothing. What must we conclude from that? If the good and just and faithful God of the Bible tells us to be anxious for nothing, then what must be true?

If God tells us to be anxious for nothing, then it must be true that there is really nothing, praise God, to be anxious about. Would God make this command to his chosen people if there were really a lot to worry about? Would he say be anxious for nothing when there is really a lot of somethings to be anxious about? Of course not. This would be a falsehood unworthy of God.

If God commands us to be anxious for nothing, then there must really be nothing to be anxious about. But the worrying soul says, but God's will is inscrutable. God's will is mysterious. Sometimes really bad things happen to good people. Sometimes really bad things happen to God's people.

What if that terrible thing I fear happens? And here's what we must say. It is nothing to worry about. It is the experience of God's people and the teaching of God's word that the worst things for God's people are the best things. I can stand here as a dedicated worrier and tell you that in 66 years of life, the worst things, and I have known bad things, the worst things have been the best things.

The deeper God pushes you under the waves of sorrow, the higher he brings you in bringing good and peace and joy out of that sorrow. And so I say again, even with regard to that whole issue of that terrible thing you fear, that God says be anxious for nothing and that means, dear brother, there's really nothing to be anxious about. Well that's the foundation of what this message teaches us about worry. That's the foundation. That's where it has to start.

We have to preach to ourselves. When Murray slams us in the forehead Sunday night, when it comes back Monday morning, When it comes back Wednesday, we need to say, we need to preach to ourselves, we need to remind ourselves of this. God says, be anxious for nothing. And if God says it, that means there's really nothing to be anxious about. But I want you to see not only here the wonderful promise implied in the prohibition of this passage, but the wonderful practices contained in its instructions.

Foundational as this first perspective is, and helpful as it is, there is much more to be said. You know, we cannot simply stop doing mental stuff like worrying. Notwithstanding you're telling your wife sometimes, honey, what are you thinking about? I'm not thinking about anything. Yes, you are.

We cannot simply stop doing mental stuff like worrying. We need, we always need to replace it with other mental stuff. Something is going to go on up there in your brain. And Paul tells us in this passage what to replace worry with in our thought life. We must replace it with two things which will occupy our minds in a better way and leave no room for worry.

We must replace worry with prayer. Paul does not say in the words of the popular song, his advice here in Philippians 4 is not, don't worry, be happy. No, God's word through Paul is, don't worry, but pray. In fact, he uses three different words for prayer here to emphasize the importance of prayer in dealing with worry. Prayer, supplication, and request are the words.

And so think of it this way. Worry, anxiety, and fear. So you're afraid. So you're worrying. So you're anxious.

What do those things providentially call you to do? They call you to pray. Every time you feel worry, every time you feel fear, Every time you feel anxiety, it is a providential call to prayer. That means wonderfully that we'll pray an awful lot if we're worriers. But we must not only replace worry with prayer, we must replace worry with thanksgiving when we pray.

You see what the text says. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Paul's advice is not just to pray, but to pray with thanksgiving. You know, I realized many years ago that my prayers sounded like gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme. And I thought, there's got to be something wrong with that.

Right? And there is something wrong with it. As the old evangelical acronym for prayer teaches us, prayer is actually four things, only one is gimme. Adoration, confession of sin, Thanksgiving, and then supplication, acts, you know the acronym, you're familiar with it. And a few years ago on the basis of this text and other texts like it, I began to take seriously of that matter of the T in Acts, Thanksgiving.

And I decided I had to do something to keep my prayers from just being gimme, gimme, gimme. And so I incorporated into my daily prayer life, I stayed a time of giving thanks. It comes right after my address to God in adoration, right after my confession of my sins of that day, and that period of my life, I come to thanksgiving, and I make myself think about things for which I should be thankful. More immediate providences, thank you that you answered that prayer with regard to that person in our church. Thank you that I experienced once more a love of a wonderful wife.

Thank you for what you did for one of my children. Also thank you for the redemption we have in Christ Jesus, even the forgiveness of sins. Thank you for the adoption of sons. And I advise you to do this. I advise you, especially if you're a worrier, to make sure that when you pray, you statedly commit yourself to give thanks to God.

Worry focuses on our fears. Thanksgiving focuses on our blessings and that's what worriers need to do. There's an old saying by one, some period, and he who marks providences will have providences to mark. And I would just put it this way to you, he who thanks God for his blessings will have blessings to give thanks for. The last thing that I want you to see in the text, we've seen the wonderful practices contained in its instructions.

We must replace worry with prayer and worry with thanksgiving when we pray. We must pray thankful prayers. But the last thing is, see the wonderful prediction appended to its directions, and the peace of God, which passes all comprehensions, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. What a wonderful promise. Paul concludes his directions this way.

He says, follow my advice, take seriously my prohibition, follow my positive instructions, and you will know the promise is clear, the peace of God in your life. Now, it's been often observed, but it's true, I think. This is Not the objective peace with God, of which Paul speaks in Romans 5, which follows justification, which is there whether we feel it or not. This is the peace of God, which will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. This is a subjective and internal peace.

This is the subjective peace with God, which is the wonderful and divine replacement for worry. Now, God will do it, but it's your responsibility after you've been anxious for nothing and preached that to yourself, after you have replaced worry in your mental thought life with prayer and with thanksgiving, this is your last responsibility. And trust yourself to this promise. Believe this promise. Embrace this promise.

And you will come to know. God promises you will come to know in the context of the things we've seen, an increased measure of inner peace. And my hope and prayer for you is that what God, that God would grant grant you in this way deliverance from that awful enemy. Worry.