Hey. Well, welcome to church, everybody. I'm so glad you're here. I want you to know this: I look forward to Sundays. I don't know if you feel that, where you're leaning in, waiting to get to worship with you. When we were singing "I Speak Jesus," there's some power to that song. So listen, thanks for prioritizing being here. 

 I just left upstairs, where there's a college student from South Louisiana who went home for fall break and came back on Saturday night to serve in KXP on Sunday morning. Let's give her a hand. You want to talk about a culture? That is incredible. I wish I'd been like that as a college student. 

Speaking of college, let me tell you a little bit about last weekend. Last weekend, we took a college visit. You guys know this: I've got a senior in high school. So last weekend we went to a college football game. We spent the weekend in another town checking out that college. Sunday morning came around, and let me tell you what we did. This is going to be crazy. We went to church together as a family. I'm going to tell you, preachers don't do that. I walked up in this church, came in, they had free coffee. I got about three cups, loaded it up. We sat together on the same row, me and my wife and my kids and some friends of ours. We went to church together. I would tell you, it was incredible worship. We heard a great message. We went to eat lunch after, and it was a really good day for us. 

I say all of that to say to you: Thank you. I need to thank our elders and you guys for believing in a vision where we have a team of teachers, and it's not about one personality or one person. It makes me a better husband. Can I just tell you this? It makes me a better dad, because there are weekends where I'm not thinking about a message, and instead we went together as a family. So thank you for being a church that's willing to do things a little bit differently. 

Let me catch up a little bit on our series. For several weeks, we've been studying the book of Philippians, and we've challenged you. We've said, I want you to read that whole book. It's only four chapters. You can do it. We've got two weeks left: this week and next week. And then I want to tell you about the series that's coming. I'm going to kick off the next series, and the series is called The Bible. I am so excited about it, because we're going to do a deep dive. I want you to mark it on your calendar, because I want you and your family and your kids to be here. I want your appetite and your passion for the Bible to go up. I've needed that in my life in some different seasons. We're just going to help you get to know your Bible. So that's the next series that's coming. 

But as for today, how many of you would agree that there are some things that are really easy to talk about but hard to do? It is easy to talk about how I wish I could play the keys. I'm going to tell you, I can't play the keys. It's easy to talk about, "I want to get in shape." It's really hard to be disciplined to go out there and work out. It's easy to talk about, "We're going to begin to save money." It's really hard to be disciplined to save money. It's easy to say, "We're going to have a great marriage." It's really hard to prioritize people week after week, day after day, decision after decision. 

The chapter we're in today is going to give you three things. These three things are easy to understand. They're not going to be over anybody's head. They're not complicated. But I'm going to tell you, they are really hard to do. 

So I want you to join me. We're in Philippians 4. I hope you've brought your Bible. We've been challenging you to do that. You may have had to get a new one. You may have had to find yours. I don't know. But open up your Bibles with me to Philippians 4. 

Here's one thing we've been doing a little bit. I'm going to ask you to do something. All of our campuses, I want you to stand up while we read the Scripture today. There's nothing wrong with sitting and reading. Go ahead and stand up with me. But this is the most important thing we do all morning, so I want you to stand just so you don't miss it. Okay? So here we go. We're going to read it together. It's on the screen, or you've got your Bible with you. Philippians 4, starting in verse 4. You ready? Here we go. 

"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all." That's a challenge. "The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Incredible promise. "Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me, put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you." 

You can take a seat. 

All right, here we go. I'm going to give you three things straight out of this text, the ways I'm challenging you this week to keep pressing on, to keep enduring, to keep going. 

Here's the very first one. It's right out of the text: Rejoice always. 

Now, when you see that, I know what you're thinking: "Hey, bro, I don't know what your life is like up there on the stage, but there's not much in my life right now that I'm rejoicing about. I don't know what it's like when you're in ministry, but when you're in the real world, there are some real things that are really hard to deal with." One of them may be sitting right next to you. Don't look at her. Don't look at him. 

But look again at the text, because you need to see this. It's going to make you feel better. "Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!" 

That's the part I need you to see today, because I understand there are some circumstances in your life that are really difficult. The world we live in, the economy, the team you're on may not be winning. But what he's telling you is, listen, there's something bigger. And you need to know this about the perspective of the one writing this. This is Paul. Where is Paul in this season? He's in jail. He's in chains. He's by a candle with some kind of writing utensil. This isn't a guy with a posh life right now who's got it all easy. So when he writes this, he understands what it's like to be in a difficult situation. 

Maybe you're watching today and you didn't have the courage to walk into one of our campuses. Maybe you're defeated. Maybe you're in the hospital. Maybe things are hard right now. The courage, the inspiration, is to say, "I'm not going to look at these different circumstances. Instead, I'm going to look within. I'm going to rejoice in the Lord." 

Here's an easy way to think about it. You ready? Joy grows when my focus shifts from what is happening around me to who is with me. 

Somebody needs to hear that today: that you're not alone. That you can rejoice despite the difficult things you see around you because of who is within you, because of who is close to you. Rejoice. Rejoice always. How? In the Lord. 

Now, I want you to see this perspective, because James gives us another angle here. He says, "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete." Don't you want that? 

I love the way he starts: "Whenever you face trials of many kinds." Do you guys have a junk drawer at home? Anybody got a junk drawer? I've got two. You never know what you're going to find in my junk drawer. You may find a credit card. You may find a gift card. You're going to find paper clips. You're going to find notepads. Lots of notepads. My mother-in-law loves to give us notepads. Lots of notepads. You may find a pack of gum. But the reality is, when you open up those two drawers, you never know what's going to be waiting for you. 

When I talk to a church like ours, with five different campuses and people watching online, there are so many different trials you're facing. There's a variety. There are trials in marriage. There are trials with kids. There are trials in your health. There are trials in your mental health. There are all kinds of different trials. But what he says is, listen, when you face all those different trials, persevere. You remember the name of the series: Press On. Why? Because eventually there's a sense of maturity and completeness. 

I was at men's night this past Wednesday night. I hope you went. We had almost 300 men gather together, and we sat in different circles. I was sitting in a circle with one guy who just moved down here from Chicago. One of the first things he and his mom did was jump online and find a house church. My friend Matt brought him in, and they came together for the first night. Matt and his friend from Chicago were in the circle. Two other coaches were in our circle. The friend who came was a little younger than me. Matt, who brought him, is about my age. But the two other guys, who were retired coaches, were a little bit older than us. 

Can I tell you, when those two men began to share with us, the whole room went quiet and we listened. I don't know if you've ever had somebody a little older than you speak into your life. You know what they kept saying? Persevere. "Hey, I've been where you are. I've faced some of those same things. You know what you need? I'm going to tell you what you need: Persevere. Stay close to Jesus. The Holy Spirit's not gone. Press into your walk with Jesus." These were men who had seasons in their lives where they didn't know how they were going to pay the bills. There were seasons where their marriages struggled, too. There were seasons where their kids weren't perfect, either. And as two older men speaking to three younger men, they said, "Press on." 

Somebody needs that today, because you are in a season and you don't know when it's going to end. And there's vision here to say, don't give up too soon. Sometimes you need to hear it from someone else. Keep going. Press into your walk with Jesus when it's really difficult. Rejoice. How? In the Lord. 

Here's the second thing, and there are just three. Here's the second thing he says: Be gracious. 

Be gracious. Let me break this one down a little bit and show it to you in the text. "Let your gentleness..." You say, "Wait a minute, was it gracious or gentle?" I'm going to show you. "Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near." 

Now, when I read that about gentleness, can I tell you what I think about? This is just my mind. Maybe your mind goes here. I think about being on the golf course. I hit a beautiful drive right down the middle. Then I get out the little rangefinder, and it says, "Okay, from here to the pin, it's 170 yards." And I look in my set of clubs and I go, I don't have that club. I don't have a club that can hit 170 yards. I'm out of luck. That club is not in my bag. 

Some of you, when you see this word "gentleness," that's what comes to your mind. My father was never gentle with me. I didn't grow up in a home where there was a lot of gentleness. "We've been married for a lot of years, Craig, and not yet has she been gentle to me." What I'm telling you is you may not have that club in your bag today. But this whole text is about Paul saying, if you'll press on, if you'll press into Jesus, then you're going to see some things come into your life that you don't have currently. One of those may be gentleness. 

There are three different words for it here. Maybe it's gentleness; that's the NIV translation. Maybe it's graciousness: extending grace in the way you treat people. Maybe it's reasonableness: being willing to listen and respond fairly. What I'm telling you is, again, that may not be a club that's in your bag. That may not be something that comes naturally to you. That may not be the way you've dealt with people, with your spouse, with your kids, with your co-workers. 

But what Paul is saying is, I'm watching this church, First Baptist Philippi, and I'm seeing some things in these women, and I'm about to show it to you, that don't match up with what they've been teaching. Now, you're saying, "You're picking on the women." It just happens to be First Baptist Philippi. Watch. Let me show you. 

"I plead with Euodia," I believe that's how you say that, "and I plead with Syntyche," two ladies he'd been doing ministry with, "to be of the same mind in the Lord. Yes, and I ask you, my true companion, help these women since they have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel, along with Clement," our good buddy Clement, "and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are in the book of life." 

He's not bashing these ladies. These were incredible ladies. These were bold, powerhouse women who stood with Paul in the trenches, who were declaring the gospel, who were teaching, who were serving. But they didn't get along with each other. And Paul's saying something isn't matching up. "Hey, my man, my companion, I'm sending you down here to work with these two ladies, because they're saying one thing. They're teaching one thing, but they're not modeling unity. They're worshiping. They're sacrificing. They're bold in their faith, but they can't get along." That's not practicing what you preach. 

And he says, no, I want you to be known for a sense of gentleness. I want people to think about you and think about the grace and the compassion they experience from you. 

You say, "Craig, how am I supposed to do that?" Look at the text again. It's the same thing. Go back to our original text, where it says, "The Lord is near." See if you can do this: "Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near." 

You say, "How? I don't have the club. It's not in my bag. No one's ever modeled gentleness to me. I don't know what it's like to even have a sense of compassion and kindness and patience. What is the key? I've never experienced that." The Lord is near. It's beginning to start a new habit where, instead of reacting out of your flesh, you draw in, you press in, you lean in to Jesus. 

Let me give you an illustration, because I think this is going to help you. I remember when Katie and I were dating. We've been married somewhere over 20 years now. When we first started dating, I heard that she loved lemon icebox pie. So I got the idea that when she came home to visit me, I would make a lemon icebox pie. She's driving in from Tupelo. We're home for the holidays, and I want her to feel special when she comes to my house. So I start making this lemon icebox pie. That's what they always have at the holidays. 

So I've got it going. I made the first part, no problem. Then it came to the meringue. I don't know if you've ever made meringue. That ain't easy. I started trying to make the meringue, and it wasn't happening. It wasn't in my bag. I didn't have that club. I don't know how to make this lemon icebox pie. The meringue ain't happening. 

So I called my grandmother. My grandmother came over. I still remember her coming down the driveway. She had a green Ford Taurus. She rolled in there, got me out of the kitchen, out of the way. She started whipping up this meringue. It was beautiful. It had waves in it, golden brown. 

Katie comes over. She sits down at my dinner table, and I bring her this lemon icebox pie. "Who made that pie?" "I've been thinking about you all day." You think I ever mentioned that the key to that lemon icebox pie was my grandmother? No. And my grandma wasn't there to defend herself. So I took all the credit. "How in the world did you make that meringue?" They're still talking about that meringue. And I'm still saying, "I don't know, man. I don't know. It's beautiful, wasn't it?" 

What was my secret? My grandmother. I called my grandmother. She came into my life. She pushed me back from the table. She took over, and all of a sudden, things were different. You've got to see that today. 

I don't know how many years of marriage we've got to go up against to begin to turn the tide. I don't know how many generations there have been where there wasn't a sense of gentleness. I don't know how many churches you've been in that have a story just like First Baptist Philippi, where two ladies are at each other. That's not what we're supposed to be known for. So how? The Lord is near. We're going to have to begin to invite him into our circumstances. 

 That's what I want for you this week. I want people to begin to ask, "Hey, what is going on with him? There's something different. I'm watching the way he's treating you, and something has changed. I've heard her talk down to you for years. What changed?" Got a new bag. Got a new club. My grandmother came over. The Holy Spirit is ready to press into you and give you the gift of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and, you ready? Some of you know you need this, because I do, too: self-control. 

I'm asking you to press into those things. Let's confuse some people this week. Who came over? The Holy Spirit. 

Here's number three. Now hold on to this one, because this one's going to rock you for a minute. He says, don't worry. 

Now, I have been anxious about presenting this to you this week, because I understand that worry is difficult. It's heavy. We just sang a song about speaking Jesus over the weight of all the anxiety. If you carry around a phone everywhere like I do, that thing triggers rage. It triggers worry. Everything about the generation we're living in, the anxious generation, makes this really difficult. But what I want you to see today is not a verse that condemns you, but a verse that invites you into maybe a new way to handle this God-given emotion that is anxiety. 

So watch this. Look at the invitation right here. You ready? "Do not be anxious about anything, but..." There's not a period. See, a lot of preachers have put a period right there, and they've talked down to you and judged you and said a real Christian can't have real anxiety. That's not true. Real Christians face real anxiety. Sometimes it's clinical, and it's really, really difficult. Sometimes it's more natural and normal. But either way, anxiety is something we deal with. 

But watch what he says: "But in every situation," here's what I want you to do with your anxiety, here's an invitation, "by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." In other words, you don't have to hold it alone. 

Come on, listen. There are some college students who need this. There are some adults who need this. I need to hear this, because anxiety is heavy and weighty. It's like an elephant sitting on your chest. You can begin to think you're crazy and you're alone and you're never going to get better. That's not true. 

I need to give you some hope today. I need to give you some courage today to keep pressing on. Watch this. "Present your requests to God." You ready? "And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." 

Listen, I'm trying to give you hope today to press on. And I understand. I'm with you. I get the weight of anxiety. I'm helping you see that there's an invitation here, an invitation to keep praying through your anxiety. I know you're thinking through it, but he's saying, I want you to shift and push into this invitation I'm giving you to bring it to me. I know what it's like to be on that treadmill where all you're doing is thinking through it. But when that begins to trigger, I'm asking that it trigger an invitation to bring it to me. 

Now, here's what I want to do. I want to give you some ways to think about this, and I hope this helps. I want you to close your eyes for just a second. Would you close your eyes for just a moment? 

I want you to think about the most beautiful beach you've ever sat on. Just picture that beach in your mind for a second. Would you listen for the waves? I want you to hear the waves crashing in on the shore. I want you to smell, for just a second, the salt in the air. Now, while you're sitting on the beach, hearing the waves and smelling the salt in the air, go ahead and envision a cold drink in your hands. 

Now, I wasn't thinking that would be an alcoholic drink, so shift that just a little bit. Yeah. 

Now open your eyes. Do you see how powerful your thoughts are? Do you see the way they can take you places? 

Here's what I want to ask you to do, something that maybe is new to you. For so many of us, and sometimes this is me, our thoughts are like an open doorway, and you just let them in. They come in, and they come in hard. They come in heavy. I want us to do something today: We're going to put a bouncer at the door. And before we let these thoughts in, we're going to ask three questions. I want you to see it in the text. 

Here's the very first one: Is it true? Do you see this in the text? He says, "Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true... think about such things." If you just stopped right there and asked every single thought that came through, "Hey, hold on. Before I let this thought go, before I keep thinking on this thought, is it true?" You and I both have a negative bias when it comes to our thoughts. Imagine all the lanes of traffic of all the thoughts going through your mind. If you just shut down the one lane that was negative thoughts, you'd open up a whole other lane. So we're going to start doing that. When a thought comes to our minds, before we take that thought for a ride, we ask: Is it true? 

Here's the second thing: What is it growing? Look at this list: "Whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable... think about such things." 

I think I've got the best example for this one. We went to church together as a family this past Sunday. I told you we had the best Sunday. We all sat together. We worshiped together. We went to lunch together. Part of being a pastor is that's not something we experience every week. So what if my wife spent a lot of time thinking about that? "Boy, I sure wish we could sit together. I sure wish he was sitting right next to me. I sure wish we could have Sunday lunch together." Do you see what that's growing? That's growing bitterness toward me. That's probably growing bitterness toward our church. 

So when you catch a thought, a thought is like a seed. When it comes into your mind, I want you to ask yourself before you take off with it, "Hey, is this growing admiration toward my husband? Is this helping me love him more? Is this thought about my kids drawing me in to engage with them, or is it pushing me away?" What's it growing? What's that thought that just came into your mind about him or her growing? Because it's like a seed. 

Here's the third one. I love this last one. I'm starting to get better at this one. "If anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things." Here's the last question: Where is it leading? 

I love to sit on my back porch, especially now that we're getting a little bit of fall. And I think about what it's going to be like when it's just Katie and me sitting on our back porch, listening to music, cooking on my Blackstone. I think about what the next trip the four of us take is going to be like. I think about what the next season is going to be like, when we're going to visit my son somewhere. What's it going to be like as my daughter gets older? I wonder what our grandkids are going to be like. Do you see where my thoughts are leading? They're all leading toward us being together. 

You've heard this: Take divorce off the table. Why? Because where's it leading you? If I'm not thinking about her, then it's not leading me in a very good direction. So when that next thought comes, "Why did I marry her?" that's not leading you down a great path. Your thoughts are taking you somewhere. So I want us to begin to ask, "Hey, where is this one leading me?" 

Now, here's what I want to do. I want you to hear me say, I know how hard this is. It's hard to preach this message, and you think, "Okay, is this just going to be this easy, if I just start thinking differently?" No. I understand that sometimes there have been some habits, some ruts, some lifestyle choices, or there's just been some chemical imbalance in you where you need counseling, you need medicine, and you need prayer. I'm not telling you this all just gets better if you start asking these three questions. 

But here's what I am saying: This passage is asking us to go to war. To not just stay alone in your anxiety and stay isolated. This is an invitation that says, "Bring it to me." You say, "I don't know about rejoicing. That's just not natural for me." Well, listen: "I want you to bring it to me. I'm near. I'm close." "I don't know about gentleness. I've never been gentle, Craig. Are you sure I could even do that?" I don't think you can do it. But I do think Jesus working in you with the Holy Spirit can produce it. "Worry? I'm just a worrier, bro." Well, that's okay. But I want you to bring that to him, and let's begin to see if he can capture your mind and bring you some peace. That's the promise. 

So here's what I'm going to do. I want you to stand up at all of our campuses. We've thought a lot about this moment, because the song we're going to sing is about Jesus making the darkness tremble and silencing all of our fears. For just a moment, wherever you are, at each campus, or even if you're in your home or driving down the road listening to this, we're going to go to war. We're going to go to battle against some ground the enemy may have taken in our thoughts. I'm going to pray over you. I'm going to pray for you. We're going to ask God to give us some victory. We're going to ask him to give us some peace. 

But then we're going to sing in a way that is worship. It's a moment where we shift our concerns and our hearts and focus it all on the hope that Jesus is the one who breaks into the darkness, that he promises a sense of peace in time. Don't give up. So I'm going to pray, but then we're going to worship. I want you to worship in a way that says peace is coming. And I want you to pray and go to battle for people in your life for whom this may be a struggle and who need peace. So, you ready? Let's pray. 

God, I thank you so much for your word. God, I can't imagine what it's like to be separated from everybody, to be in jail, and still write these words that Paul wrote. God, he had vision that's different from mine. Sometimes I just see the things right in front of me, and I can't see beyond the circumstances. So God, today we're praying that you would help us rejoice. How? In the Lord, always. God, would you give us the fruit of the Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control. All things we don't have, but you do. 

God, worry is so difficult. But God, you invite us to bring this worry to you. And then you come in and you bring light. You bring hope. So God, as we worship, as we sing, we're looking for you, Jesus. Would you bring light into the darkness? Would you bring hope? Would you bring help? God, would you help us break some of the patterns that have caused us to slip away, to fall away? Would you give us light? Would you give us hope? Father, we love you. We need you. We want you, God. We sense when our thoughts are taken over and taking us down a negative path. So God, we're bringing this to you today. God, you break into the darkness. It's in your name we pray. Amen.