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Today's scripture reading is taken from Philippians chapter four, verses six and seven. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. Let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, who surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. This is the word of the Lord.

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Church Avail, good morning. Welcome to our first Sunday together as a family, together with the children. Indeed, it's such a joy for us to gather in God's name together. So every first Sunday we are coming to the end of this, but I'm not sure whether you are kind of truly aware. But we are actually having a spiritual formation series from superficial to spiritual. And today we are looking at prayer and prayer according to what Paul encourages us in Philippians 4, 6 to 7. So Philippians 4, chapter 6 to 7 is part of a unit of thought that begins in Philippians 4.4, which reads, Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say, rejoice. Here Paul calls the whole church to rejoice in the Lord. This is followed by further exhortations by Paul to express our devotion before the world and in our personal lives in Philippians 4 verses 5 to 7. In fact, the focus of Philippians 4, 6 to 7, or the text before us today, is really about our devotion to God. And our devotion to God is expressed in two ways. One, it is expressed before the world. Philippians 4 5 says, Let your reasonableness, that is the ESV translation, NIV says, let your gentleness be known to everyone. Right? So how the believers are called to live out their faith is to simply live out the gentleness such that everyone who sees them will be pointed to God. Not only before the world, but in their personal lives. So Philippians 4, 6 to 7, Paul says, Do not be anxious, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, let your requests be known to God, be made known to God. Let us pray. Father, we pray this morning as we gather before you as your people. Lord, we pray that your word will speak to us clearly. Lord, that you will once again take your truth and by your spirit apply to our hearts this morning. And Lord, we ask that your presence will continue to fill the sanctuary and also fill our hearts, that we will truly choose to follow you and allow you to lead us through our lives. We praise you and give you thanks in the name of Jesus. Amen. In in a in a slide. If you can uh just uh follow me to sorry, the second slide. Thank you. So uh Paul calls the Philippian believers to rejoice in the Lord always and allow as a consequence of that that their reasonableness or gentleness be made known to all. And we see, we will see at the heart of it, it's really because the Lord is at hand, the Lord is near where they are. And because of that, in everything, they are to make their requests known by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. And as a result of that, the peace of God will guard their hearts and so on and so forth. So this is a kind of a uh a framework or the big picture of uh what we are looking at in the text before us. So we go on to the first point: Paul calling the Christians to rejoice. And not once but twice he says, rejoice in the Lord always. Again I say, rejoice. That perhaps comes from uh the song that we always used to sing in the past, a familiar chorus. Maybe we have sung it when we were younger in Sunday school, but we do not sing that often, but I'm sure if I start to sing it, you will kind of recall the words. It says, Rejoice in the Lord always. And again I say rejoice. And you know the song, right? It's uh it's so familiar to us that sometimes we take it for granted. But for Paul and for us as Christians, joy is not based on something that we receive in the world today, it's not based on temporal joys, but it's not based on what we go through in terms of our circumstances, but the joy and the call to rejoice is predicated on one's relationship with the Lord Jesus, and it's an abiding, deeply spiritual quality of life. In other words, we can be joyful even if circumstances works against us. Philippians have been called the epistle of joy because Paul is full of joy, he's not bound by his circumstances. He was slightly under house arrest in Rome. That was the life context which was which he was in. So he was facing uh a situation where he wasn't sure uh whether he would be uh trialed before Rome and therefore he would die uh for his faith or he would be kept alive. So he was in this state where he's not sure what the future holds uh in terms for him in Rome. Yet in under house arrest, Paul reminds the believers that we can rejoice even if circumstances works against us. So two times in Philippians 4, verse 4, Paul exhorts the believers to rejoice in the Lord. Again, I will say, rejoice. The choice of the Greek verb being used here is a present imperative command, meaning that it has ongoing significance. The call to rejoice is a command. God said, uh Paul says, rejoice in the Lord. I will say, rejoice. And this command to rejoice is written in the present tense, meaning that it has to be a continuous thing. It's not rejoice at one time and and then you forget about it. But the rejoicing is a constant rejoicing because of what the Lord is doing in our hearts, and for Paul, it's really because of the partnership of the believers in the gospel, because he saw how the gospel itself is bearing fruit, and therefore he rejoices. So the word joy or rejoice occurs about 16 times in this short epistle. Paul begins by reminding the believers of his own joy as he prays for them. Philippians 1 4, he talks about his own joy. He feels joyful as he prays for them. And he feels that joy also when they send a recent gift to them, according to Philippians 4, verse 10. Paul expects to be with the believers again for their progress and joy in the gospel. Philippians 2 25. Indeed, there will be his joy and crown when Christ returns. Philippians 4 verse 1. Meanwhile, his own rejoicing in the Lord always in his imprisonment or underhouse arrest in Philippians 1.18 serves as a paradigm for the believers to rejoice in what they are going through. They were suffering as a result of their faith, which I will explain later. Nevertheless, their joy, their rejoicing is not affected because of the supernatural joy that comes upon the believers. The believers will also rejoice in the return of Amphero Titus in Philippians 2, verse 28 to 30. So one of the hallmarks in the 1970s, in the charismatic renewal that swept across Singapore, especially the Anglican churches, the Methodist churches, was a renewed sense of joy. People were just joyful, they don't know why, but they were filled with the joy of the Lord. And the joy of the Lord comes from the His presence, his radiance in our lives. And I believe the Lord wants us to adopt this joyful, this posture of experiencing God's joy, to rejoice in the Lord always, regardless of our circumstances. So the command to let your reasonableness or gentleness be known to all. So as the believers continually rejoice in the Lord, even in the face of opposition and suffering, what others is to see is their gentleness. Something different. They exhibit gentleness or they are reasonable in terms of their conduct and the way they relate to others. So in the midst of their present adversity, the Lord to whom they belong has graciously set them free to rejoice always, and this becomes a testimony and witness to all, including those who are currently making their lives miserable. As I mentioned, one of the uh contexts that the believers were experiencing was a kind of suffering and persecution upon their lives. Another issue that was happening among the believers in Philippians, among the Philippian believers was that there was internal squabbling, right? Disagreement between two ladies. But the the live context tells us that they were going through certain forms of persecution and suffering. So Paul had to remind the believers that the Lord is close at hand. It's important to know that the Lord is close at hand. Why is this important? Because historically, Philippi owed its existence as a Roman colony to the special grace of the first emperor, the first Roman emperor. So citizens of Philippi will were very proud of being Roman citizens. So in order, because of the special grace given to Philippi by the first emperor, they needed to ensure continual loyalty to the emperor in order to show uh to build good relationships with Rome. So by the time Paul wrote the letter to the Philippians, the primary titles, titles used for the emperor were the two words Iscirios, which means Lord, and Sotia, which means savior. So the emperor was called the Lord and Savior. So each time the people gathered, they have to honor the emperor, especially in Philippi, which is a very strategic city in which the emperor is always honored. So the cult of the emperor in those days was honored to the point of approaching deification. It's almost the worship of the emperor, the emperor cult. And so in public events and performances, giving honor to the emperor was necessary, and often it requires citizens to make the acknowledgement of the emperor as Lord and Savior. So as a result of that, believers who dishonored the emperor or who failed to acknowledge him as Lord and Savior were persecuted and were at a disadvantage. So it's significant that Paul says the Lord is at hand. It's not the Lord as in the Lord, the Curios, the Roman Emperor, but the Lord Jesus Christ. And Paul reminded them that the true Kurios, the true Lord is at hand. The true Lord and Savior, it's not the Roman Emperor that were persecuting the Christians, that were causing a lot of fear that will come upon their lives in the time where Paul wrote in the life setting of the letter, right? Paul wrote to remind them the true Lord, the true Kyros is at hand. And because the true Lord is at hand, because the Lord Jesus is at hand, the believers are therefore to live without anxiety, instead entrusting their lives to God with prayer and thanksgiving. So Paul reminded the believers in Philippians 4 verse 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. Again, the Greek verb here being used, do not be anxious, is a present imperative, it's a command, do not be anxious, do not allow anxiety to weigh you down. And it's written in the present tense, meaning that the believers are commanded to not be anxious as an ongoing posture in their lives. Similar to the command to rejoice, they are not they are commanded not to be anxious in the present. In other words, Paul is saying that being anxious, constantly anxious, should not be the key characterization of a believer in Christ. Because the true Lord, the true Curios is at hand. And because he is at hand, we are not to be anxious, we are not to be enveloped with worry. So Paul would echo the words of Jesus in Matthew 6, 25 to 30. Jesus said in Matthew 6, verse 25 to 30, therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you eat or what you drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. It's not life more than food and the body more than clothing. Look at the birds of the air. They neither sow nor reap nor gather in barns. Yet your heavenly father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you, by being anxious, can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They neither tall nor spin. Yet I tell you, even the great King Solomon in all his glory and splendor was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive, tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you? Oh you of little faith. So as God provides for nature, he will provide for us the food we need, the drink we need, the clothes to wear. So instead of apprehension and anxiety, Paul urges the believers in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. In situations where it's so easy, even as Christians, to fret and to worry, as believers in the Lord, we submit all our varied situations and predicaments to God in prayer, accompanied by thanksgiving. In so doing, we acknowledge our utter dependence on Him. Finally, Paul deliberately conjoins the peace of God with the exhortation to prayer. As believers submit their situation to God in prayer with thanksgiving, what will happen is the peace of God will come into their lives, will guard their hearts and minds as they remain in Christ Jesus. Peace comes because prayer is an expression of our trust in God. So, what is the implication of this text for our lives today? I believe most importantly, the orientation of our prayers must always begin with the presuppositional understanding that the Lord is near. Regardless of our circumstances, regardless of our life situation, whether we are being persecuted or we are going through uh battling a physical element or we are struggling to keep our job, keep keep afloat in our job, or challenges at the workplace, all this peels in comparison to the fact that the Lord is at hand. Because He is at hand, there is a way out in the situation. And the way out is to cast all our anxiety on Him and to trust Him to keep us. So, as a consequence of the Lord being at hand, we are to live without anxiety. Instead, we are to entrust our lives to God by making requests in everything through prayer and supplication. As we pray in this way, God's peace will guard our hearts as we trust and commit everything to Him. And because the Lord is close at hand, we can also rejoice in Him always. And let our reasonableness or our gentleness be known to everyone. The theme for the sermon today is on prayer and how we can grow in prayer and to allow prayer to form us such that we will move from approaching prayer in a superficial way. And what do I mean by a superficial way? I mean that oftentimes we only pray when we are in trouble. We only pray to God when we encounter problems or where we are at the end of the road. We say, Ah, no choice. Uh now must depend on the divine. Right? That's that is superficial because often we we approach God. Only when we have needs. But how can we approach God in such a way that we move from in prayer from superficial to spiritual? It is with that understanding that the Lord is at hand. How can we allow the presuppositional understanding that the Lord is at hand to orientate our lives daily? Our daily waking and sleeping moments. The Lord is near. And because the Lord is near, we can call upon him. The true Lord is near our lives. John Preachard, which is the former bishop of Oxford and the chairman of the Church of England Board of Education, he writes in a small booklet, and I like the way he defines prayer or the way he describes what prayer is. I mean, there are many ways to describe prayer. Prayer is talking to God, listening to God. But I like the way he puts it very simply. What is prayer? Prayer is simply being present to the presence of God. Prayer is being present to the presence of God. Philippians 4, 5 to 7 informs us that being present to the presence of God is possible because the Lord is close at hand. If prayer is simply being present to the presence of God, we can be present to God in a multitude of ways in the midst of life, as well as when we give God intentional time and space in our lives. So what can we do to grow in prayer? If prayer is being present to the presence of God, what can we do to grow in this area? I'd like to encourage us, as I did before, to build a daily rhythm to be present to the Lord. Build a daily rhythm to be present to the Lord. Some of us, that may take the form of an intentional quiet time. For some of us, it's a certain routine, a certain posture of our hearts each day. Often we will notice his presence through sometimes impressions that he will place in our minds when we pause and pray, or when we are going throughout through the day, or we may reflect something of how the Lord has helped us through a situation, brought us through. We also may notice his presence in creation as we travel to work, or by reading scripture while we pause and pray. The whole idea is for us to build a daily rhythm to be present to God. That's the only way, I believe, to cast out anxiety in our hearts. In the context of Singapore, we live in uh uh in a way with many uh uh anxious thoughts, perhaps, because of the economy, because of the pressure of uh earning a daily living and uh bringing enough for the family. There are many things that will cause us to be anxious, but there's no way other than there's no way to deal with our anxiousness other than to enter into the presence of God and to recognize his presence in our lives that the Lord is near. So the solution to overcome anxiousness is really being present to the presence of God, being assured that the Lord is near in our lives. So we build a daily rhythm to be present to the Lord, and I find it helpful that we find an appropriate time of the day to be present to the Lord. We all have different uh uh kind of uh rhythm of life. For some of us, the morning is the best time while we are fresh to pray and to connect with God. Some of us it's a midday, right? We begin the day in a very hectic way, but midday, somewhere around lunchtime, uh we are we have some window of time to uh get away, uh to pray, to seek the Lord. Or some of us, maybe at evening time before bed, uh, at the end of today. So, whatever appropriate time, we must choose a time. We must set aside a time to be present to the Lord. I find it also appropriate that we, other than finding an appropriate time, we need to find an appropriate place to be present. Where is the the place where you can actually pray best? Right? For me, now when I travel and commute to work, I always use the time, my traveling time uh on the bus to pray. And also as I walk to church along the way, I'll pray. So I find that is the best time for me to pray, and not always in the office itself, right? Because once I get in the office, I'm I'm always always in a work mode, uh, things to get to do and to attend to. So I try to connect with God when I'm out of office in some way, and I find the best time for me is actually in the morning as I commute to work, uh, to bring the day before God, to pray. And all of us need to find an appropriate place to be present to the Lord, appropriate time of the day to be present to Him. And along with that, we can find appropriate resources to bring along, to be present to the Lord. Some of us will have our Bibles, uh, spiritual journal, uh, Christian music playlist on Spotify. Some will use candles to remind you that the Lord's presence is there. So in a home, if you all like to uh candles, you know, that could be a point. Uh for those of us who are homemakers or work from home, lighting candles, candles always point to the light of Christ. So we are reminded that Lord is near. Um, yeah, or we can use perfume or scenting uh the smell of the sand and so on. All these are reminders of God's presence. For some of us, we prefer a more systematic way to pray. We may even use uh prayer beads to pray. So all these are appropriate ways. The whole idea is to posture ourselves before God. Let me close with a story shared in John Preachard's small book on how do I pray. He shares this story. Um he quotes Margaret Sleef in a chapter of a book called Taste and See. Using the illustration of a bird watcher, a bird watcher, someone who watched watch out for birds, that a bird watcher sometimes goes into his height, hiding away, but who actually learns to listen to the birds all the time, right? Down in the forest, a bird watcher, even though sometimes he goes to rest but and and to hide, he's always listening to the birds, not just when he goes into his special place. The bird watcher gradually becomes tuned in to the birds permanently, even when he's not in his height. He notices all the patterns in the songs and the subtle changes in modulation and pitch, and indeed the whole parallelama of sound which the rest of us screen out. So our special time of prayer, our times in the height, when we hide away from the world to pray, helps us to tune in to the fullness of God's voice, which is constantly with us, but is usually unheard against the background hiss of a busy city life. So, just as a bird watcher who is so in tune with his surroundings that even when he's not watching the birds, he's in tune with uh the sounds of the forest. So, similarly, we are to build our capacity of being present to the presence of God, such as even beyond our so-called quiet time, we are still able to hear God leading us and guiding us in the present. So the ultimate goal that all of life, all of our life should become prayer. Because all of our life is live in the presence of God. So we can be attentive to the presence of God more and more in our life. So a life that is full of the presence of God is a life sold in prayer. Is it possible for us to be more conscious of God through prayer? I think it is. Such that others will see our gentleness because they sense and they know that the Lord is near us. So I pray that the Lord will help us, you know, to really understand the way to handle anxiousness is really to grow in our prayer life, to grow in living our lives in the presence of God. Because only then and only in God's presence will our life be live in the right perspective. Let us pray. Father, we want to thank you for the reminder from your word in Philippians 4, 6 to 7. Lord, reminding us, Lord, that the Lord, you are near. Lord, that in everything we should not be anxious, but we should commit everything to you in prayer. And we do so when we make time to posture our hearts before you, to allow you to speak to us, so that your presence will pervade our lives, banish anxiety, and cause our hearts to be enlivened so that we will radiate your joy, your presence, your gentleness to all. So, Father, we pray may you help us, fill us with a sense of joy, supernatural joy that will radiate through our lives. Joy that is not subjected to our circumstances, a joy that comes from the Holy Spirit. So, Lord, we pray lead us forward and fill us with your presence now, each day, and all our lives. We pray and ask all this in the name of Jesus.

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Amen. We pray that you've been ministered to by the Word of God today. If you'd like to know more about Ishun Christian Church, please visit our website at ycanglican.com. Have a blessed day.