The Unknown Bible - Pastor Bevans Welder

Practical Instructions to Christians

Phil 4:1-8

1-27-08

These are practical instructions given by Paul to the Philippians on how to live their lives. These instructions are needful for us, as well. These deal with your:

Personal Life 1 – stand fast in the Lord [couldn’t stand any other way] – this is to keep you from losing ground – the best way to hold your ground is to hold on to the KJV and let it hold you – the church has lost a lot of ground since giving up the KJV – lower morals – worse music – worse standards – modern Bibles – very carnal – impoverished while claiming to be rich – these problems that are so evident in the church are the result of losing ground in our personal lives [you’ve got the right Bible but the Bible doesn’t have you] – we are allowing things today that Paul wouldn’t have allowed in his life [even our forefathers wouldn’t have allowed in their lives] – we have not held our ground – we’ve lost ground – we have allowed entertainment and personal pleasures and sports to steal our Sunday worship and our desire to live for the Lord – to many, Sunday is just another day of the week and few of those are truly devoted to the Lord

Family Life 2 – we ought to be getting along – of the same mind “in the Lord” – hard to be of the same mind any other way – some say that these two are women – some say the Euodias was the wife and Syntyche was her husband – that he is the one addressed as true yokefellow in the next verse – though Euodias and Syntyche could be women [in Christ they are still in the same family] – so, they need to be of the same mind in the Lord – the way to do that is to be humbly under the common authority of God’s words – you agree with God and therefore you agree with each other - we need to have family altars [traveler who stayed the night in home didn’t see family devotions and left because he said I will not stay where the family doesn’t have family devotions and moved to where the family spent some time in prayer and the Bible before retiring for the night] – you do that and you will be of the same mind IN THE LORD - we need to do things as families for the Lord besides go to church – Karpenko said that strong churches require strong families – true as long as those strengths are from the Lord [in the LORD] – in other words you can have a good family church but Jesus Christ better be preeminent or you aren’t going to have much of a church – must be in the Lord [obviously impossible when married to an unsaved person]

Church Life 3 – we ought to be helping each other as fellow laborers in the Lord’s work – glad to see you doing that – but the true fact in churches everywhere is that there are a few who pull the bulk of the load – they could use some help particularly where the work is for the benefit of the gospel – we have started a visitation team for that reason – the purpose is to get the gospel into more homes – to see more saved – to get more coming to church to grow and to lead others to the Lord

Spiritual Life 4 – Ought to be a life of joy and that joy is to come from the Lord – “in the Lord” is the source of our joy – joy in the Lord when souls saved – when prayers answered – when grace abounds like the grace to give [Macedonia] – when spirit-filled – when Christ and his words are magnified as in a preaching service - sad how the joy has been replaced by worldly pleasures

Public Life 5 – let your moderation be known to all men – moderation requires restraint – keep yourself from excesses – keeps down undue criticism and makes you more effective with people – “And the child Samuel grew on, and was in favour both with the LORD, and also with men,” 1 Sam 2:26 – “And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man,” Lk 2:52 – so avoid extremes – and be gentle and meek in your dealings with people – like the saying goes, too much of a good thing can be bad for you

Prayer Life 6-7 – be careful for nothing – don’t worry; worry is a sin – everything by prayer and supplication – with thanksgiving – and you’ll get the peace that passes understanding

Thought Life 8 – filter everything through this sieve – whatever passes through is that upon which you can think – always ask yourself these six questions when you begin to think about anything – is it true [or is it just speculation or conjecture or hearsay], honest [am I really being honest here with myself and with the other person], just [fair and right – would it stand up in court], pure [clean – can you have these thoughts before God and before men], lovely [charity – from a heart that loves God and men], and good report [or is this trash out of the trash can – digging up dirt on someone]