Required Vaccination

We're going to begin our service tonight with number 525, Trust and Obey, for there's no

other way to be happy in Jesus than to trust and obey.

Let's stand as we worship the Lord tonight.

in a dark world. We want, Lord, our testimonies not to be hindered, not to be blotted out,

but we want, Lord, to be used in the service of Jesus Christ. We want, Lord, our lives to reflect

Him and to see the kingdom of Christ extended by however and whatever means, Lord, that we

might be used of our faithful and loving Father. Lord, we are thankful for each believer,

for every family here, for our congregation, and Lord, we commit every detail of every home and

family. Lord, we do not know those very sometimes private and secret matters of homes, of families,

of individuals.

Sometimes, Lord, we bear heavy burdens, and we cannot share them with another but at the throne

of grace. And therefore, Lord, we are thankful tonight that we can cast all our care upon our

God. We commit, Father, every detail into Your hand, and we pray that always the Spirit of God

will superintend, that You will go in front of us, Lord. You will open up great doors and effectual

that, in the name of Jesus Christ, we may be able to open up great doors and effectual that,

in the name of Jesus Christ, we may be able to open up great doors and effectual that, in the name of

Jesus Christ, we may be able to open up great doors and effectual that, in the name of Jesus Christ,

enable us to witness and be useful. And also, Lord, we pray that You would close doors that we are

not to go through, that You would close what we think might be promising opportunities if it's not

Your will. We desire, Lord, that we will be kept back from that because we realize and know and

have learned by Your grace and by experience that if we have something we want of our own self, and

it's not our own self, it's not our own self, it's not our own self, it's not our own self, it's not

part of Your will, Lord, we realize it will end up in disaster for us, and we do not want that.

So, therefore, we pray that we'll be guided and directed and kept in the center of Your perfect

will. We ask this for our whole congregation. We ask this, Father, for the ministry that You

have placed into our hands. We want to be careful and to go forth diligently in the fear of God.

We want to do that which is right in Your will.

We want to do that which is right in Your sight. Lord, as we do not know what the future holds,

but as plans seem to come together, and we are thankful for that, and we commit our way

into Your hand, we pray for the Delina family tonight. We ask that You would bless our sister

Rowena, and You would be with her in the new venture that she is going into. We pray that

Your hand would just be over the entire family. We ask that You would bless our sister Rowena,

and You would guide and direct and keep and bless them. And our Father, we know that other

families in the congregation, too, are seeking for direction and perhaps redirection, and we just

pray, Lord, that there would be unmistakably, we would know that unmistakable direction by

the Holy Spirit. Lord, hear our prayer for our service tonight. Bless every detail of it.

May our hearts be open to the Lord.

May our hearts be open to the Word as it is open to us. Father, we think of the start of Whitfield

on Tuesday, the recommencement of our school. We ask for Your presence and blessing and protection,

Lord, upon every single detail. We know that much work has gone in already to the plans and

preparation of coursework and detail and organizing. And Lord, all of these matters,

we commit them into Your hand.

We pray for our upcoming Sunday school recommencement with our Bible classes next

Lord's Day. And Father, bless every teacher. Bless everyone who has the responsibility of

opening the Scriptures to the boys and girls. Bless those who will assist and help.

And we pray, Father, there would be an expanding of this ministry,

that You would bring along new families with boys and girls and young people,

those who are hungry,

for the Scripture, those who are serious about Your things. And Lord, we want to be kept in the

center of Your will. We want to make our stand for Christ, and we pray that there would be

the magnetism of Christ that will draw people here to the ministry, and that they would see

and know that we love the Scripture. We love the Word, and we want to be faithful to our Savior

and through the Scripture. So,

Father, hear our prayer and bless us. We know that there are many in our congregation who are

connected to us that have very specific needs health-wise, and we pray for them. We know that

some are grieving the loss of loved ones, or maybe, Lord, they have loved ones that are very

sick at this time. Remember Hyacinth's sister, and we pray for her at this time. We think of

Chloe's mother, and we pray for her at this time. And we pray for her at this time. And we pray for

her at this time. And we pray for her at this time. And I am done for growing up. Come, thankful

I am done for growing up. Come, thankful

upon my own mother. Pray for Brother Richard Craig in

Jamaica, and the loss of his own sister. Lord, support your servant and bless him at this time.

We pray Lord for the recent mission trip that has gone there, and the Vacation Bible School,

and all the boys and girls that heard the word. I pray Lord that they would be brought back to

be a part of that fellowship and church, and that they would hear the things of Christ. And, Lord,

we pray that there would come a time to come, to be falou, to be part of His crew, that there would

be trusts there. And many, we pray of them. But, Lord, we consist in the presence of Jesus. And let

and that they would hear the things of Christ. We pray, Lord, for all of our mission stations

tonight, and we rejoice in what you have done and what you are yet to do. And dear Father,

hear our prayer in all of these matters. Bless us now tonight. Father, pour out your blessing upon

us as we commence and recommence the fall program. We cannot do this, Lord, in our own might.

Sometimes we become overwhelmed even thinking of all the responsibility and the duties that are

upon us. Lord, we present ourselves, we rededicate ourselves into your care and keeping, and pray

that we might know the power that is so necessary of the Spirit of God upon us. For Lord, without

that, we are helpless and we are hopeless, and we cannot accomplish anything. Lord, help us to see

our mission.

We are standing in Christ Jesus, and as our Lord said, without me, he can do nothing. So, we see

ourselves firmly connected and joined to our Savior. He is the vine, and we are the branches,

and we want, Lord, to bear much fruit for him. Hear us tonight in our praying. We ask in Jesus'

holy name. Amen.

Let's continue in our worship of the Lord tonight, number 661. All your anxiety and all your care

bring to the mercy seat and leave it there. Let's stand to sing.

It's the heart, the love, the sorrow. It's the life we come and bear.

Now to the cross we turn in prayer. All your anxiety, leave it there.

All your anxiety.

© BF-WATCH TV 2021

globe, and that He would watch over them and keep them. Thank you again for your prayers for my mom.

She got out of the hospital on Friday, doing better, and hoping to be back in the Lord's

house very soon. Remember also to keep in prayer Chloe's mom, and also remember Hyacinth and her

sister, and pray for Ted and Isabel and other shut-ins and those who need our prayers. Remember

Anna Tan. Anna Tan had a bad fall, and she's at home recovering now, and so please remember Anna,

and also our sister, her sister, our brother Daniel Siman. Daniel was preaching this morning

in Port Hope, and well, he barely made it home. He was not feeling very well, and so do remember

our brother, please, in your prayers. James Fraser had to go at last notice to Port Hope tonight for

the evening service.

So please remember our brother in your prayers.

Whitfield starts again on Tuesday, and we are in prayer for the Lord's blessing on that vital

ministry. Mentioned this morning that there will be a dedication on Friday, this coming Friday,

and everyone here in the church is welcome to go. It will be at 3 o'clock in the afternoon. I said

moved ahead by 15 minutes. It will be at 3 o'clock this Friday afternoon, weather permitting, out in

the field to all the parents who can come and the children, staff members, and we will commit the

school and the entire year to God in a public fashion under the open canopy of heaven. Remember,

please, our library and the access there is to the books, both in the fellowship room and upstairs,

and the sign-out instructions are there for you. Please make use of that. And if you have library

books you've taken out, please return them into the box that's in the fellowship room and be

encouraged by the amount of reading and good material that there is. Please remember Stephen

and Carol Kelly in your prayer, as they will be recognizing 60 years of married life. We know they

moved out to British Columbia.

And prepared today, Dr. and Mrs. McClellan gave a brief greeting on video, and I'm also going to be

preparing something for them as well, and we will send that out to their daughter, Esther, and they

hope to show that on Thursday evening of this incoming week to family and friends that are able

to gather there. Remember the Kelly family. Some things to remember in ministry this Wednesday

evening, Bible study and prayer.

Thank you, Lord, for your time, and how much as a congregation in all our ministries and throughout

all of our missionaries and our churches and what the Lord has placed upon us to do, the

responsibilities, we need his help, and we need to gather for prayer, and we need to lay hold upon

God in prayer, because a church can only go forward as we lay hold upon our God. So let's

remember that, and Wednesday evening. Next Lord's Day, service is starting on Sunday.

We will begin our Bible class at 945. We have Sunday school classes for all ages, from the very

youngest, and our brother, Fraser, who will be taking the adult Bible class for the first three

Lord's Days. He will be commencing a study in the book of Colossians, and so let me encourage

everyone to be taking in those Bible studies, and that is 945. By the way, it will be an open Sunday

school session next Lord's Day morning.

And Brother Kingsley Jew will be leading that worship, and then we divide up into our classes.

And so the young adult Bible class, I'll be taking the opening session of that next Lord's Day,

and then Brother Santos will be back, Lord willing, there on holidays at this time to resume

those classes. And all of the youngest ones and the teaching staff that will be taking part in

that, let's keep them all very much before the Lord.

Our morning service at 11, evening service at 6.30 as normal. And don't forget, elders and deacons,

our first session and board meeting on September the 12th. Those are some of the ministry that we

are involved with. Oh, one thing I'd let you know about and ask for your prayers, this coming

Thursday, the 5th of September, I'll be resuming the Garden Terrace as seniors home ministry.

Our sister Jacintha McGovern,

lives there and is trying to, been trying to get that going. We were all last year going there

once a month. And so please remember that, please, in prayer. While you're thinking about that,

we don't want to forget our senior ministry at Cedarbrook, that every Lord's Day that ministry

is going on. Let's sing again to the Lord's praise, number 524. 524, standing to sing,

leaning on the everlasting Lord.

Arms.

Leaning, leaning.

Standing to the Lord.

Arms.

Leaning, leaning.

Leaning on the everlasting Lord.

Oh, how sweet to walk in this new place.

Leaning on the everlasting Lord.

Oh, how sweet to walk in this new place.

Leaning on the everlasting Lord.

© BF-WATCH TV 2021

And the truth of those words, really taken from the book of Deuteronomy,

how the Lord spoke to Moses, chapter 33 and verse 27,

that underneath Him and underneath us always are the everlasting arms of the eternal God.

Turn please now in your Bibles to Philippians chapter 4.

Philippians chapter 4, we're beginning our reading at verse 4,

reading down to the end of the chapter.

Philippians 4, verse 4,

Rejoice in the Lord all way, and again I say rejoice.

Let your moderation be known unto all men.

The Lord is at hand.

Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving.

Let your requests be made known unto God.

And the peace of God which passeth all understanding

shall keep your hearts and your minds through Christ Jesus.

Finally, brethren,

whatsoever things are taken,

whatsoever things are true,

whatsoever things are honest,

whatsoever things are just,

whatsoever things are pure,

whatsoever things are lovely,

whatsoever things are of good report,

if there be any virtue,

and if there be any praise,

think on these things.

For those things which ye have both learned and received and heard and seen in me do,

and the God of peace shall be with you.

But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly,

that now at the last your care of me hath flourished again,

wherein ye were also careful, but ye lacked opportunity.

Not that I speak in respect of want,

for I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content.

I know both how to be abased,

and I know how to abound everywhere and in all things.

I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry,

both to abound and to suffer need.

I can do all things through Christ Jesus who strengtheneth me.

Notwithstanding ye have well done that ye did communicate with my affliction,

now ye Philippians know also that in the beginning,

I will be in the midst of you,

in the beginning of the gospel,

when I departed from Macedonia,

no church communicated with me as concerning giving and receiving,

but ye only.

For even in Thessalonica ye sent once and again unto my necessity,

not because I desire a gift,

but I desire fruit that may abound to your account.

But I have all and abound,

I am full,

having received,

of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you,

an odor of a sweet smell,

a sacrifice acceptable,

well pleasing to God.

But my God shall supply all your need,

according to his riches in glory,

by Christ Jesus.

Now unto God and our Father be glory for ever and ever.

Amen.

Salute.

Salute every saint in Christ Jesus.

The brethren which are with me greet you.

All the saints salute you,

chiefly they that are of Caesar's household.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.

Amen.

Let's bow, please, in prayer.

Father, we pray that the word we have read earlier on in the meeting and now that the

Spirit of God would write the truth upon our hearts, reinforcing just that word in season

to the weary heart.

Lord, applying the truth right at the place where we have need.

to encourage us and strengthen us and build us up in our most holy faith.

Dear Lord, help me tonight, I pray, to speak your word faithfully and plainly.

Do not let anyone misunderstand.

And Lord, I pray that there would be clear and abundant application of the truth to each

one of our hearts.

Hear our prayer, Lord, for we ask in Jesus' holy and precious name, amen.

I want to speak to you tonight a sermon with this title,

Required Vow.

Vaccination.

Required vaccination.

The verse of Scripture we're thinking about this evening is verse 6 of chapter 4.

Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving,

let your requests be made known unto God.

For many of us, when the word vaccination comes up, especially as it has related to

COVID, well, there's a kind of a white noise as the phrase goes.

It seems to fill the air as so much has been said and said again and then said again why

everyone should have it.

They should have their double.

They should have their double portion, their triple portion, their quadruple portion, and

it goes on and on from there.

I know people that have had their six and seven doses of that, and be that as it may,

according to they see fit, well, it may be that in some respect the jury is still out

on all the benefit and the anticipated benefits of all of those shots.

I am not an anti-vaxxer.

I am not a doctor by any means.

I have had my fair share of vaccines in my life, but it's always a good thing.

It's always a good thing to be concerned about what's being injected into your body.

Having said that, my message tonight is not about a medical remedy or some kind of prevention.

It is a kind of vaccination.

It is a kind of vaccination that inoculates the heart and the mind, the kind that every

Christian must have in order to live in a very contagious world.

It is that form of protection that equips us for the stress and the pressures and the

generalization.

It is that form of protection that equips us for the stress and the pressures and the generalization.

It is a kind of protection that equips us for the stress and the pressures and the pressures and the generalization.

It is aetti

that can attack

every single Christian.

No one is immune from that,

and if a person thinks they are immune from that,

well, it won't be long until they have their thinking corrected.

The word stress,

it is derived from a Latin word,

which means to draw something that is tight.

So, as you hear the expression, you are burning the candle at both ends, or your life is being

tightened and twisted like an elastic band that can be twisted and turned so many times until

eventually, well, it will snap. And we must be mindful of that as believers. We have to be

careful about that in our life, that we're not overdoing it, that we are not taking on too much.

You know, sometimes when the schedule of things seem to be a distance off and you think, well,

yeah, we can put that in the schedule. We can fit that in. We can take care of that.

And yet, when it comes down to actually fulfilling the responsibilities of that time, we think,

why did I ever get myself involved in that? And how was that the case?

Well, we have to be

mindful and careful about that. So, how is stress defined? From a medical point of view,

it is a physical or psychological stimulus that can produce mental tension or physiological

reactions that may lead to illness. According to one researcher,

stress is a feeling experience when a person thinks that the demands exceed the personal

and social resources the individual is able to mobilize. In other words, we think things are

coming down upon us, upon our minds, and we don't have the mental resources, we don't have the

physical resources. We don't have the mental resources. We don't have the physical resources.

To deal with those particular matters that are coming down upon us, and that's strictly speaking

from a medical or a sociological position. My friend, as a Christian, we must understand very

clearly that God does not intend for us to be filled with stress. He does not want our life

to be overcome by worry.

Now, that might not be any surprising statement to you, but I do believe that as God's children,

it's important for us to be reminded of some very simple, sometimes some very well-known truths,

because we can seem to forget them, and we need to have them put back into the right place.

We need to let things that have become cluttered and disordered in our life just take a moment,

step back, and start to rearrange them and put them in their right and dutiful and biblical

positions. And knowing this at the very start, that God does not want or intend for His people

to be filled with anxiety or with worry. As we think about verse number six tonight,

the very first thing that comes to our hearts,

is a loving, a kind, and a gracious command from our Lord. For He tells us,

be careful for nothing. Yes, this is a command. It's not just an admonition.

It is a command by the Lord. Our understanding of this term, to be careful,

it can be, and it often is used in a good sense by us. We might say to someone,

well, you better be careful when you step off the curb that you look both ways before you cross the

road. You want to be careful not to slip on those icy steps or the oil that might be on the path in

front of you that you might not be aware of. Be careful not to do anything that will,

rather, harm your testimony. So, there are good ways in which we're going to take care and to use

that word, to be careful. But the meaning in our text which you will know well is to be full of

care for nothing. That's completely different. To be full of care for nothing. It's a command given

by the Holy Spirit, regarding our outlook on life. The Holy Spirit fleeced us from our dishes. Now,

instead, we need to lead out our role of President. Now, rather, we have been under the will of God since

this morning that is against the law. When we wait in theuttility of the klutz,�sch minority will never

flow out. We're going to master, and we certainly we will score the usual behavior that that's

applied to some people. If you're prepared to be aeleriat the fact of not, well, there are some

look on life. It is, we could say, a most gracious provision and it's a gracious prohibition that God

has given to us because the Lord has always our best interest in mind. In no way is this verse

suggesting to us that we should have a careless or an off-handed attitude toward life,

which would be irresponsible. Matthew Henry, in his commentary, made this statement,

there is a care of diligence which is our duty and it consists in a wise forecast and due concern.

But there is a care of diffidence, shyness, and mistrust, and a distrust which is our sin and

folly and which only perplexes and distracts the mind. So, Mr. Henry is saying that we know

that there is a responsibility that God calls us to. We will call it care if you like,

to be careful for certain things.

Because if we were to neglect such advice, it would be on the very point of being irresponsible.

And so, we know the Lord does not call any of us to be irresponsible in our lives. He wants us to

be dutiful believers. We are called to be disciples of the Lord, disciplined ones. And as we engage in

the discipline of our Christian testimony, we can't just say, oh, well, we're not going to worry about

that.

Just forget those things. They're not important. No, no believer can do that.

But on the other hand, he well and duly states that if we take this attitude to an extreme,

and if we are filling our minds and filling our hearts with a care that is taking something upon

our own mental and spiritual capacity,

that is not required by God, then we are guilty of distrusting the Lord. We are guilty of disobeying

His command. Literally, this scripture is saying, be filled with anxiety for nothing. Be filled with

anxiety for nothing. So, we ask the question, well, why? And the answer comes to us because

we are commanded to cast all of our care upon the Lord. You think about that, believer,

how often that we have quoted that Scripture, we have memorized it, we have seen it written

on little cards, or someone has sent us maybe a text with those words upon it. But let us not

forget, the Lord has commanded us to cast all of our care upon Him. We might be good at casting

some care upon the Lord, but then even in the some care we cast upon Him, we will try to take

it back to ourselves again. And why is that? Sometimes we convince ourselves, because

we want to be responsible people. We just can't forget about that. We want to be responsible,

so we'll take that care upon ourselves. And in taking that care upon ourselves, we are

saying, we want to be in control. We want to be the ones who are going to steer the

way through this problem. And so, if we are going to cast our care upon the Lord, what

are we doing? We are saying, Lord, You must take control here.

You must take charge. You must show me the way, because I can't handle this myself,

and I am going to, by faith, give this into Your hand. But when we say, yes, sir, we'll give that,

Lord, but we'll take it back, because we are going to be the ones holding on to the wheel.

We're going to be guiding those steps in our life. And it's a very simple trap that many of

us fall into, I would say, continually. And we get to the point where we're going to be

confused, or we mix up that idea of due diligence and Christian responsibility with taking things

into control in our life that are not part of what the Lord would have us to do. We are to be

filled with anxiety for nothing, because worry is mistrust, and it leads to a great sin.

We know that when Israel was in the midst of a great sin, Israel was in the midst of a great sin.

And we know that when Israel was in the midst of a great sin, Israel was in the midst of a great sin.

And we know that when Israel was fearing in the wilderness that they would not have food and

water to survive, it led them to a state of bitter complaining to Moses and ultimately to God.

And we know that when things don't go right for us in our life, and we cannot see the way forward,

and it looks by all the immediate circumstances, and it looks by all the stuff that's going on in

us, this is not surely what the Lord wants for us. And if we don't see the thing happening in the

way, in the time frame that we determine, we can fall into the trap of bitterly complaining against

God. We know that bad things, in our definition of them, happen to God's people. We know that we go

through very deep and hard waters. We know the fire is sometimes the way to go. We know that we're

going to die. We know that we're going to die. We know that we're going to die. We know that we're

that which is upon us. But friends, let us not slip into that very humanistic thinking of saying,

surely God is not at work here. I must take things into my own hands. I must do that which

I believe is right to do. And so, when that takes place in our life, we will often find

we have to pick up and clean up the pieces. We have to go back to the starting line where we

were to begin with and go back to the place where the Lord had us and leave the whole matter in His

hands. And I know there's times when we've all fallen into that trap and we have to go back and

plead, Lord, I've messed up here. And I may have done things and said things and engaged in things

in my life that have been wronged. But I know there's times when we've all fallen into that

led me down a road that's caused great harm, not only for self, but maybe for someone else.

And we have to say, Lord, please fix what I have so broken and so messed up and bring me back to

the place where I can rest in the Lord and wait patiently upon my God, where I can trust in Him.

Lord, You've never failed me. Why would I think

that I need to be a sinner? Why would I think that I need to be a sinner? Why would I think

that I need to act in such a way or respond in such a way?

Yes, we should be filled with anxiety for nothing because God has commanded us to cast our care

upon Him, because worry is mistrust and we don't want to go down that road. But also,

friends, when was the last time in your life that you found that your excessive care or your worry

has actually changed the situation that is causing you to worry? When has it ever

improved your circumstance? What does worry generally do? It usually makes us more worried

and more concerned and more distrustful, because worry does not have a beneficial part to it.

It causes you to be sick in your stomach. It causes these physiological changes,

and illness can happen with the stress and worry that takes place. And also, because being anxious

is trying to take things into our own hands that belong in the hands of a sovereign God.

We know well what happened to King Saul when he failed to obey the Lord, took things into his own

hands. Samuel told him,

you had failed to obey the Lord. Why did Saul do that? Because he looked at the circumstances

humanly speaking. He looked horizontally. He was not listening vertically to the command of God,

but he looked at all the things that were going on around him, and he took things into his own hand,

and he said, well, Samuel hasn't come yet. The people need to have sacrifice. Who's going to

do the sacrifice? I'll do the sacrifice. Nobody else is here to do it.

And that,

that action,

that move

that he made.

The Lord took the kingdom from him

and gave it to another.

And Saul did not end his life well,

for it spiraled out of control from really that point and forward.

When you think you are full of cares,

and you don't know what to do next,

you can be sure, friend, that there is something else that's just around the corner

that will push you over the edge.

That is why casting all your care upon the Lord is really the only answer for us as believers.

You know, when we are filled with cares,

it causes us to lose the sight of our Lord. How so? Well, because when we are overburdened with

the things that are going on around us, our mind is filled with that. Our eyes are looking at all

those concerns and cares, and we are not looking up and looking out to the Lord. And we know that

that was the case with Martha when she was really rebuked by the Lord. And He said to her,

Martha, you are cumbered about much serving. And it really means that she had this upon her

mind and heart. She was dragging along with her all of those concerns. And in so doing,

her eyes were not on the Lord.

In our fast-paced society,

stress is rising at a very alarming rate. And many times, even corporations are

seeding the toll, the very high toll this is taking on their business,

because people, they lose, there's lost work time, there's burnout, there's low productivity.

So, they are looking into ways in which they can mitigate the stress that their employees are under.

But what are we as Christians to do in light of that?

We are not in a state of stress. We are not in a state of stress. We are not in a state of

stress. We are not immune from these things. We also must be aware of the opportunity

to reflect the glory of God and to show the power of God when we are going through some very

troublesome times, so that when people would look upon how you're responding, how you're reacting,

how you're dealing with these matters, that many other people would just crumble and

collapse and fall down under. But you're not doing that. Why?

Because you are doing exactly what the Lord commands you to do,

to be filled with anxiety for nothing. Dear brothers and sisters, we are standing in need

of seeing how the Lord would direct us from His Word and from nature. And Martin Luther said

he often took counsel from Dr. Sparrow, who said, I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to do that.

Dr. Sparrow and Dr. Dove. For in the times of his anxiety, he looked with relief upon the

creation of God and was again encouraged that the Lord does take care of his creatures,

and therefore he will take care of him. Isn't that the whole tenor of Matthew 6,

where the Lord says, you look at the birds of the air, the Lord feeds them. You look at the flowers,

how they're clothed with.

beauty and diversity, and how that Solomon in all his glory is not arrayed like one of these.

And then the Lord says to us, but seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,

and all these things will be added unto you. All what things? All the things that you have

need of in this life. In other words, He's saying, your being filled with care

is not glorifying to me, and neither is it any benefit to you.

Notice the words which precede this in verse 5.

Let your patience be known unto all men, for the Lord is at hand. The Lord is at hand.

Weren't we just thinking about the Lord?

Last Lord's Day, about the text, behold, I come quickly, two Lord's Days ago,

it was Christ saying to His church, behold, I come quickly. The Lord is in the very mode of His

return. And how many times in the Scripture are we admonished, the Lord is indeed at hand.

What does that mean? His return is at any moment.

His return could be at the very point where we must be always watching and ready and waiting.

And if we are thinking about the Lord being at hand, therefore, be careful for nothing.

The Word of God admonishes us. It is the presence of Christ in our life. That's the reason why

we should not be anxious. The Lord was with His disciples,

in the boat on the sea at that time, when the storm came upon them, and they were overcome with

fear. We can understand that. But the Lord was with them, and He had told them to go. They were

in the center of His will. Don't forget that. They were doing exactly what He was wanting them to do,

and yet the storm was there, and the water was coming in the boat, and they were afraid.

But Christ rebuked them, and He told them, why are ye so fearful?

Why are ye so full of fear? Christian, in our life, what is it that fills us with care

and so overwhelms us? Is it something that the Lord does not know about? Well, we know the answer

to that. Of course He knows about it. He knows everything about us. He knows our thoughts afar

off. We are in His hands. He is the God of creation, the God of redemption,

He is the Lord who pleads our cause continually. Therefore, let us trust in the Alpha and the Omega.

Let us trust in the beginning and the ending. This is a very loving command.

Something further. There is not much that is left out of this admonition and this verse.

We're told to be careful.

We're told to be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with

thanksgiving. Not much is left out. In fact, nothing is left out in everything by prayer

and supplication. Psalm 55 and verse 22 tells us to cast thy burden, what is given by divine

providence, cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He will give you what is given by divine providence.

And He will sustain thee. I want you to notice the comparison and the contrast.

Nothing and everything. Be anxious for nothing, be prayerful for everything. That's exactly

what Mr. Spurgeon said, careful for nothing, prayerful in everything. And if you are a praying

believer over every matter, large or small in your life,

you will be filled with anxiety for nothing. Do we believe that tonight? Do we believe what God

has told us in His Word? Therefore, let us step forward with joy and with thanksgiving and with

rejoicing. There is nothing in our life, but the Lord knows every detail of it. And He has told us

to bring every single detail.

Before Him. This is an act of faith. This is an act of trusting in God. This is an act of

obedience. Are we being obedient in this? In Acts chapter 1 and verse 14, we're given these words

that these all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication.

And Ephesians 6 verse 18, praying always with all prayer and supplication. These words are used

many times in the Scriptures and are in one account synonymous, while on the other,

they could be distinguished as worship and also as giving of praise and giving our request to the Lord.

But there's one thing that unifies them, and it is the spirit of thanksgiving. Let's read again.

Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving.

You see, friends, if we come to the Lord in our praying, but there is not a spirit of thankfulness

for what the Lord has done for us, then we are not in a state of thankfulness. We are in a state of

supplication. If we are coming to bring our praying and our supplicating the throne of grace

without having a true heart of thankfulness to the Lord for what He has done for us,

then something is missing. There's a problem. And what happens is that often our praying and

our supplicating end up to be nothing more than complaining to the Lord. We're complaining,

Lord, this is not working. We're complaining that is not working.

We're complaining we're dissatisfied with this and that. So, we must always temper and undergird

our praying with the spirit of thankfulness. Thankfulness is in the heart of every saved soul.

Now, we were gathered around the Lord's table this morning, and the part of that is to be thankful

for what the Lord has done for us. And we're not in a state of thankfulness. We're not in a state of

thankfulness. We're thankful for Christ's work on Calvary. When we come to take the bread and to

take the wine, and we take it in remembrance, these are emblems. And what are they doing?

They're speaking about the great redemptive work of Calvary. And as we gather around the table,

we're coming to worship the Lord. We're coming to thank Him for what He has done.

And when we bring our praying and our supplicating, we have the foundation,

the thanksgiving in every changing scene of life for us. Whether, friend, you are on the mountaintop

of great blessing, or you're in the valley, and you're going through some very tight times,

as we are thankful, we should never be silent in what the Lord has duly and richly blessed us with.

Oftentimes, I hear people say in their hard times, health-wise, well, I'm not as bad

as someone else. You're in the hospital, someone in the bed next to you, you think you're in there

for some hard thing, and you find, my, the person next bed's got a far worse situation than mine is.

And that is a repeated scenario oftentimes in our life. It's not a bad way to be because it

leads us to be thankful to the Lord.

For what He has allowed in our life, He is working through us. And what have we to be thankful for?

Well, we know it well. The Lord has saved our souls from our lost eternity. We will never be

in hell. We have received the atonement. We've received the relationship that we have with our

Lord. We will be in glory with Him. We have been forgiven a great debt that we,

we never could have repaid ourselves. Death has been swallowed up in victory.

In Habakkuk chapter 1 and verse 12, it says this,

Art thou not from everlasting, O Lord, my God, mine Holy One? We shall not die.

Amen. Our soul is living forever, and we have,

the knowledge of our sins forgiven, and we are alive with our Savior for all eternity.

Oh, friend, we have all the riches of Christ and all the wealth that the Father has given to Him.

It is our possession. Then all that we have, every spiritual and temporal blessing of the Scriptures,

they are ours and so much more.

Dear friends, not much is left out when we are to bring everything before God in prayer,

in thanksgiving. And one final thing I leave with you. There is a most generous invitation

that is left in this verse of Scripture. For we are told, let your requests be made known unto God.

Now here, it's the true character of God. It's the true character of God. It's the true character of

the Lord that is brought out. He has an abundance for His people. He has so much that He wants us to

receive of His hand, and He opens the cupboard widely, and it's jam-full of the blessings that

He has for His people. So therefore, tonight, let us bring our petitions before our God.

Let us bring all of these things in an act of faith,

in an act of obedience to Him. The Lord will not be better informed, by the way, when we bring our

requests to Him, for He knows all of our needs before we ask them. But He wants us to come and

ask. He wants us to present our needs before Him, because in so doing, it is an act of trust,

an act of rest, an act that we confidently believe that He is able to do.

He is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.

Ah, friends, don't think that when we come to the Lord, what we have to bring is too small.

I must admit, sometimes in my mind, I say, Lord, I cannot even ask You about that,

because there are so many other matters that are so much more important that other people have,

greater burdens. And I know many of them as a pastor of the congregation and of the wider

denomination. And I know many of them as a pastor of the congregation and of the wider denomination.

And I know many of them as a pastor of the congregation and of the wider denomination.

Serving as the privilege that I have of being moderator, many things come to my mind and my

attention. And so much so that sometimes the Lord, that thing is just too small. But is it too small?

Is the Lord not interested in the very small things of our life? Yes, believer, He is

interested. He's concerned. That's why He says, bring everything to Him, all things. Because

when we get to His presence, we are not interested in the very small things of our life. We are not

interested in the very small things of our life. We are not interested in the very small things of our

life. We are not interested in the very small things of our life. We are not interested in the very

small things of our life. We are not interested in the very small things of our life. We are not

interested in the very small things of our life. We are not interested in the very small things of our

life. We are not interested in the very small things of our life. We are not interested in the very

small things of our life. We are not interested in the very small things of our life. We are not

interested in the very small things of our life. We are not interested in the very small things of our

life. We are not interested in the very small things of our life. We are not interested in the very

small things of our life. We are not interested in the very small things of our life. We are not interested

in the very small things of our life. We are not interested in the very small things of our life. We are

matter and we might find out that he took as much pleasure answering that small thing

as he did answering that large request because to him there is no more effort extended

to answer the small or the great in our mind in our life that's where we want to be close with

the Lord he wants to hear from us you know when you bring your complaint to a family member

or to a friend they may hear you for a bit but if you go back to your friend day after day after day

you know what they're going to do the next time they see you coming up to their door they're

going to close the blinds the next time they're going to they're going to block your contact on

on your online it's not this person again I've got I don't want to hear any more of that I got

my own troubles I can't keep hearing from them no

you

but the Lord never does that he always says my child come now there might be occasions where

if we are coming back to the Lord with our complaints of distrust and our complaining

that leads to rebellion the Lord will have a different answer for us but when it's because

our hearts are grieved and burdened he said let your requests it indicates

that there is an intelligence in our praying we are bringing to the Lord not boiled

repetition but we are bringing those things which are on our hearts and on our minds

our prayers do not have to be long prayers for the Lord to respond in no way naomiah when he

prayed in the Bible his GRAAH took one minute and forty-seven unotes or seventy-four minutes to get that pray

a prayer took one minute and forty-seven unotes in changing over the years here is an example of

prays individually in the Bible there are minds they want God to give a one purpose somebody else

when he was alive in Leviticus he hisuna did a good job he low and congruence was one grand price for

his friend but instead of giving paulシ еще denouncing that to society who wasThis morning when he's

ones church as a believer and so onto this old church place hang on to what he said he's going to this church and

seconds. I've timed them. The Lord's prayer itself takes 35 seconds to pray.

And Solomon's dedication prayer at the temple was less than 10 minutes. That's the longest prayer

in the entire Bible. What about our praying? Our prayers don't have to be long, but we do

need to pray and bring our hearts before God. It's not the duration of a prayer. It's the content

of the prayer. It's not the quantity of words. It's the quality of what we are expressing before

our God. Whatsoever ye shall ask, Jesus said in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be

glorified in the Son. Let us not miss that,

because we want to pray.

We want our prayers, our supplication, we want those answers to be glorifying to the Father.

And therefore, believer, we don't want to ask anything that is not going to glorify God.

Therefore, we say, Lord, let my praying be in the center of Your will.

Let my requesting and my asking be for the honor and the glory of our God. Believer,

let us also begin the new fall season with our minds in the right focus, and let us be in the

right attention. And let the Lord encourage your heart and lift you up, and let us be rejoicing

and be thankful for Him. Tonight, friend, you may not be a believer. You may not know the Lord.

You're watching our service online tonight. You're out of Christ. You're out of Christ. You're out of Christ.

I pray that you would be in Christ

because to know Him

is to be in a living relationship with Him.

To know Christ is to know

that your sins have been forgiven.

To know Christ is to know

you have a home in heaven.

To know Christ is to know

that He will be interested

in the prayers that you bring to Him

because He wants you as His child

to walk through this life

not full of anxiety

but full of peace,

full of love,

full of patience,

full of all of those attributes

that the life of Christ

so fully and perfectly mirrors

and displays for us.

May the Lord write His truth

upon our hearts tonight.

We're going to close our service

by singing hymn number 526.

I need Thee every hour

Most gracious Lord

No tender voice like Thine

Can peace afford

I need Thee every hour

Stay Thou nearby

Temptations lose their power

When Thou art nigh

Brothers and sisters

let us rededicate our hearts

and our minds and our lives to Him

standing as we sing.

The Lord may judgment be done

at night

when theabi

cry he is good

I need Thee every hour

most gracious Lord

No tender voice like Thine

Amen, Jesus, Lord.

I need Thee every hour

most gracious Lord

with every sound

I need thee, every hour I need thee, O bless me, O my Savior, my God, to thee.

I need thee every hour, say love me, O God,

temptation to survive, when thou art mine.

I need thee, O I need thee, every hour I need thee,

O bless me, O my Savior, my God, to thee.

Amen.

I need thee every hour, in joy only, come with me at the wine, for life is gain.

I need thee, O I need thee, every hour I need thee, O bless me,

O my Savior, my God, to thee.

I need thee every hour, say love me, O bless me, O my Savior, my God, to thee.

I need thee every hour, teach me thy way, and thy rich promises, in me your way.

I need thee.

I need thee, O I need thee, every hour I need thee, O bless me, O my Savior, my God, to thee.

I need thee every hour, say love me, O God,

temptation to survive, when thou art mine.

I need thee every hour, say love me, O God,

Pharaoh, come when I need thee.

A slow words, consequently I will say, confess it, because the fever, we all died,

and yet I have died of the extreme fetter.

A wink from my eyes, a gentle voice speaks to me through the armor.

I grasp and Iimasu from my body a unicycle, a crisscrossed knife.

How just to larger eyes see beneath the brim O Wür heaven,

O I know I need thee.

I need thee every hour I need thee, O bless me, O my Savior, my God, to thee.

I need thee every hour I need thee, O bless me to the brim, O I need thee, O my Savior,

my God, to thee.

Amen.

Father, we are thankful for this closing hymn

and how it just reiterates to our heart, Lord,

our great dependence

and everything that we have endeavored to draw

from the Scripture tonight.

Lord, in trial, in suffering,

in carefulness, in pain, in anguish,

but all of these things, Lord,

we would say again to Thee, our God,

come near, pour out Your Spirit upon us,

help us in every time of our need.

And Lord, when the devil would tempt us

to depend on self

or to look at the circumstances

and try to figure out

or to figure it all out,

we will come again with renewed trust.

We would cast all our care upon our God.

Lord, teach us what it means

to be filled with anxiety for nothing.

Lord, part us now in Your fear

with Your rich and Your mighty blessing.

Lord, pour out Your Spirit abundantly

upon every heart.

Lord, pour out Your Spirit abundantly upon every heart.

Lord, pour out Your Spirit abundantly upon every believer,

every household.

We ask in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Thank you.