Philippians 4:4-9 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
8 Finally, brothers, 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. 9 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.
Paul talks about rejoicing in the Lord when he is sitting in prison writing the letter to the Philippians. Paul knew hard circumstances, but he know that peace of God even more. At youth group last night we looked at four things in this passage that we need to remember.
1. The Lord is near.
2. We need to ask God to meet our needs with an attitude of thankfulness. We can be thankful because God has met our needs in the past and promises to be with us. If we think that we are entitled to things or that God owes us we have the wrong attitude and we will not have peace.
3. We need to think about things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and praiseworthy. This means not allowing negative messages and lies to shape our thinking.
4. We need to follow godly examples and practice right living.
Questions to respond to.
1. What kind of attitude would we have if we always remember that the Lord is near?
2. What kind of attitude do we have when we come to God for help?
3. What are we thinking about? What kind of things are helpful and what are harmful to peace?
4. What does a godly example look like?
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