Unlimited Grace

Bryan Chapell: Do not be anxious about anything, but by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God, and the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Guest (Male): So glad you joined us for today's Unlimited Grace, the audio broadcast ministry of pastor and author Brian Chappell. In today's episode, pastor Brian shares the second half of a lesson from Philippians chapter 4. Dr. Chappell highlights the sovereignty of God that allows us to find joy even amidst the pain of this world. You can find this lesson and many others when you visit unlimitedgrace.com. And while you're there, look for the children's book Anyway and Always, written by pastor Brian and his wife Kathy. Through this book, the Chapells present the promise of the covenants fulfilled by Christ in a personal and meaningful way for young children to understand.

Let's hear now from Dr. Brian Chappell as he shares the second half of the lesson Near Joy.

Bryan Chapell: The passage that I'm speaking on today, which is Philippians 4, Philippians 4 4 through 7 is one that I I look forward to preaching about because it's one of my absolute favorites. I did not anticipate how much it would mean to Kathy and me in this week. Philippians 4 verses 4 through 7. Let me ask that you would stand as we would honor this portion of the Lord's word. From prison, the apostle Paul writes these words. Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand.

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, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. I thought of that when I met this week at the National Religious Broadcasters Convention that you all have given us the privilege of being a part of. But I met a man whose work I've admired in the past. I'd not met him before, Sean Thorton, known because of a book he published just a little while ago called All But Normal.

What he talks about in that book is his own childhood, which was all but normal. Started out normal, kind of the the typical wonderful home in the suburbs, mom and dad who watch after their kids, the Leave It to Beaver households so wonderfully described until the automobile accident that gave his mother a concussion at a time that we as a society did not understand what that could mean. He said from the time of the concussion for the rest of his life, every day his mother would swear at him and call him the vilest names she could come up with.

A mother previously loving and kind and sedate in manner, it would come and go. Angry one moment, calm the next. Put the dinner out, serve the kids, and then he says I could remember the night that she took the kitchen knife and stabbed my dad in the chest. Why? Don't know. Rejoice always. I will say it again, rejoice. I thought you might be interested in some of the words of Sean Thorton. He wrote this. In our desperation, we learned dependence. My father, who was a blue-collar worker, learned how to pray. And he taught us despite the tragedy of our daily lives, the trajectory of our family was toward eternity.

I learned to trust God's sovereignty even more than my circumstances. A father's prayer turning a son's heart to God despite the tragedy not failing to face it. You could not but face the tragedy, but to believe that that God is pushing us beyond the moment to dependence upon himself. He's shown his love in his son at the cross. And in doing so, he's still beckoning us not to make this earthly circumstances all that we would consider, but rather to remember the eternal plan. God is working the end game not just for Sean Thorton, but for all to whom he ministers whose life also bear tragedies and hurts that now are listening to him because they know he understands and he knows the savior who understands, who bore tragedy with a purpose as well.

When Sean writes about the sovereignty of God, I think about how familiar we are in Presbyterian circles about God's sovereignty, that he's in charge of all things, and not only in charge, but compassionate to all his people. He's all powerful, all wise, and all loving. And we say it so easily. But what we ultimately have to believe is that God's sovereignty is ruling over our sorrow. After all, what good is it to believe in the sovereignty of God if you're going to keep worrying? But we do, don't we? Even with all the truth, even with all the things that we can check off on the list, I believe that, I believe that, I believe that, then the tragedy comes and our hearts struggle.

Again, from Tim Allen, the comedian, I'm still more anxious than I want to be. I'm just less anxious than I used to be. Would that be your testimony? It would be mine. How does God deal with that reality of our own hearts struggle, with the anxiety that we may say isn't even reasonable if I believe in a sovereign God? But still, I got to deal with this world today. How do I deal with that? Well, you deal with a pastoral Paul who said 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.

I love the contrast. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything go to God in prayer. Now, I must tell you that the the instruction to take everything to God will not be much help if you don't believe that everything means everything. Not just the big stuff, not just the formal stuff, not just with the these and thou's behind it. Do you really mean that I can take everything to God? Yes. That is what the apostle is saying. When our own hearts are struggling with the anxiety, I can't fix it, I can't make it right, I don't know what's going to happen.

He says take it to me in prayer. I learned that at a stage of life when my own family was coming undone, my senior year of high school, when my own parents' marriage was coming unraveled, and I went on a internship for the summer working at a church on a construction project. And I was working with other people who had volunteers one day working with a carpenter. We were putting up drywall and trying to stay ahead of the tapers and the painters who were coming behind us. And as we were nailing up the drywall, the carpenter who knew so much more than I did at some point just kind of stopped.

Well, I was concerned we had to keep up the pace to stay again ahead of the tapers and the painters. And so as he stopped and began kind of looking at the floor and looking around, I said I said I said what's going on? We we we got to make some progress here. And he said well, I I I dropped a nail and and I was just looking to see if I could find it. Well, we got lots of nails. So I said we got lots of nails. He said well, I prayed to God that I could find it, so I kind of figured I owed it to him to look for it a little bit.

And I said to him maybe we shouldn't bother God with little things like nails. And he said to me no, Brian. The Bible says in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Do you believe that? Everything. The big things, the little things. You're facing the the boss who's hot and you say God, give me the right words and keep my heart responding with integrity. The child who hasn't come home yet, Lord, please bring her back safe. The bank book that won't balance, God, help me to do the math. In everything.

And I remember how that's so much the mark of people who love their communion with God, to just know they can constantly be sending those arrow prayers up. They're not they're not waiting for the right moment. Have I said all the right words? Do I have the right formula that that they teach me right in Sunday school? I I think of the words of the the great prince of preachers Charles Haddon Spurgeon who distressed his congregation one day when he simply confessed I hardly ever pray even 5 minutes or go 5 minutes without praying. That there was just this conversation with God through the day.

I do it when people meet me at the door at times and and ask me to pray for a family or friend or hospital, and I say I'll pray for you. And and people wonder how I remember. I don't remember. I pray right then. Right then, right that moment. I send that prayer arrow up to God because I believe in everything. I can offer the prayer to God and he is listening. He's at hand. That's what the apostle is saying. And so in everything, I can go to God and ask him to be concerned about those things that concern me.

And I do it with thanksgiving. Did you catch that? In everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is just that little pause before we go on the journey of asking God for what we want to say. And God, I thank you for what you have supplied, my faith in you that I would even be asking you, the breath that I can ask you, the family that I'm asking for, even if it 's a mess right now. All that you have done in my life to even give me hope in you that I would now be approaching you.

God, before I start, I offer thanksgiving. And what it does is it takes our prayers and it takes them from selfish whims to true prayers in the light of God's heart. Our affections change. Our priorities change as we just begin saying Lord, with thanksgiving first, now offer you this request. And it can be anything, absolutely anything, because he's encouraging us to pray in that way. And then what happens if you're actually kind of recounting God's past faithfulness and you're asking his help for the present or future challenge? What happens with that kind of prayer and everything?

Peace happens.

Guest (Male): You're listening to Unlimited Grace, the audio broadcast ministry of pastor and author Brian Chappell. Raising children to love the Lord can sometimes feel like a daunting task. The physical, mental, and emotional energy needed to engage with the child can also lead to feelings of inadequacy and doubt for parents. How then can you effectively talk with children about Jesus or demonstrate to them he is love? Written by pastor Brian and his wife Kathy, Anyway and Always is a heartwarming children's book designed to help explain the love of Christ to a child. The Chapells present the promise of the covenants fulfilled by Christ in a personal and meaningful way for young children to understand.

Page after page of beautiful illustrations complement Brian and Kathy's captivating storytelling. Whether you read this as a bedtime story or share it around the family dinner table, this book is sure to become a favorite of children and parents alike. You can request your copy of Anyway and Always when you go online to unlimitedgrace.com or by calling 844-41-GRACE. That's 844-41-47223. And now more from Brian Chappell on today's Unlimited Grace.

Bryan Chapell: Verse 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. The peace that surpasses understanding, we need to remember that. It may not add up in this life. We may not be able to make sense of it in this life. It is the peace that surpasses understanding. It's that profound understanding that God's wisdom and plan is beyond our own, and yet he is still at working. And I trust that because he's shown me his love and the person of his son. And because I've seen Jesus, I I trust God to work in the moment even if I cannot understand what is happening.

Because I was preparing this message, I was reviewing the biography of Corrie ten Boom. A number of you were following her blog last year before she succumbed to cancer as a young mother in Colorado Springs. And as I was relooking at that biography biography, there was just a sentence that that jumped out at me. These words. Faith takes away the dread, not the tragedy. If I truly believe that my father in heaven is working an eternal plan, then I recognize even as Joseph would have said long ago to his brothers you may have meant it for evil.

He meant it for good. God is still working all things together for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose. He does not say everything feels good. He did not say everything seems good. It may not add up. But my trust is in the God who is sovereign overall. And and that takes away the dread of the circumstance even if the tragedy remains for the moment. And because of that, the effect is actually the end of verse 7. God will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Amazing wording if you think about it.

Here is the apostle Paul in prison chained to a Roman guard. That's his reality. And yet he is saying and yet when I pray with an understanding of who God is, he is guarding. Not this Roman soldier I'm changing. My God is guarding my heart and my mind in Christ Jesus. I'm at peace. Not because of the circumstances, but I'm in the Lord, in his plan, in his purpose, in his heart. Again, because I was preparing this message, I was rereading the letters of Kenneth Baid. Do you remember that name? Kenneth Bay was the longest held American in North Korean captivity.

A former student of mine, a missionary. And we prayed for him as a church when I first came here. And later, he was released. I wrote him afterwards of our prayers. And this is what he wrote back to me. Thank you. And Grace Church for praying for me while I was in prison in North Korea. I never felt alone nor abandoned. He did not know we were praying. He knew the Lord who held him even in the prison. The tragedy did not go away. The dread did. I'm still being held by the heavenly Father. And for that reason, he says I never felt alone.

What does this peace look like? I know you can go to churches where they will tell you it means all tragedy will exit your life. No more worries, no more concerns. I must just tell you that 's not the life I believe any apostle ever lived. It wasn't because their prayers failed. It's because they in the heart of God believed they were still being used for his purpose and they had peace of heart and mind even when they were being tortured and crucified and martyred for the faith, believing that through God's purpose they were going to be used for a purpose grander than they could imagine, better than they could do.

As I think about Kathy's great great grandmother on her knees praying the night that she died, she could not have imagined five generations of faithfulness unfolding. But God was at work. And it's knowing he is at work that reminds us even in the trial of what gives us a cause for peace. When I was a senior in seminary training to be a pastor, one of my professors in a chapel sermon gave an illustration that I've never forgotten. He said there were two artists who were in a competition to paint the best portrait of peace. The first painted this wonderful pastoral scene, green rolling fields, blue skies, white puffy clouds, sheep on the hills.

The other artist painted a sea at storm. The winds blowing the waves, the waves crashing, the foam building. And through the storm riding on the waves, a pelican seemingly unconcerned riding the waves. Which artist won the competition? Not the one who said that peace is the absence of trouble, but the one who painted what we know. Peace is confidence in the midst of trouble. I've heard lots of illustrations in my pastoral years. The reason that one sticks with me is because the same pastor professor who told it made another announcement in our chapel service about 2 weeks later.

He said his wife had been diagnosed with a terminal cancer and she was dying. And he asked us to sing a hymn whatever my God ordains is right. I will not fear for God is near. He is my God though dark my road. He holds me that I shall not fall. Henceforth to him I leave it all. I remember because the picture he painted was the faith that he lived. And the prayer I hope you can make rejoice in the Lord always. I'll say it again. Rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to all. The Lord is near.

Do not be anxious about anything, but by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God and the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. So he will. Amen.

Bryan Chapell: Hi friend, this is Brian Chappell. I'm so glad you chose to spend some of your valuable time studying the scriptures with me today. If God has spoken to you about an issue, a problem, or situation you're dealing with and you'd like to ask him to help you get things straightened out, I'd like to pray with you right now for his guidance. Heavenly Father, your understanding of this world is beyond what I can imagine. And your love for me more than I can fathom. So I come seeking your wisdom and trusting your heart. I turn this concern over to you and I entrust it to you.

Please show me the path that I should take by guiding me with your word. Help me to take the next right step and then trust you to do as you know is best. For then we shall be truly blessed. I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Guest (Male): That's pastor Brian Chappell, and you've been listening to Unlimited Grace. If you've missed anything that you'd like to hear once again, just visit unlimitedgrace.com. And when you do so, you can sign up for pastor Brian's daily devotional sent right to your inbox. While you're there, also be sure to request a copy of the book from Dr. Brian Chappell and his wife Kathy called Anyway and Always. We'll send you a copy right away as our way of saying thank you for your most generous financial support.

Bryan Chapell: Please be sure to join us next time as once again we endeavor to put Christ at the center of our efforts so that lives might be transformed by his unlimited grace. This ministry is brought to you by Unlimited Grace media and continues to be made possible with your generous financial support.