Blake Jennings

Grace Bible Church Southwood

“Pathway to Peace”

Philippians 4:4-9

Stress, anxiety, worry... these are often our companions in this hectic world. But while we can't eliminate stress from our lives, we can learn to manage it well; to reduce and gradually replace it with the supernatural peace of God. In this passage, Paul gives us a four-step pathway to God's peace: show others grace, practice thankful prayer, discipline your thought-life, and practice obedience to Christ.

1. Show others Grace (v5)

– “gentleness” – “to not insist on your rights; to yield; to show grace”

James 5:8-9
You too be patient; strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near. Do not complain, brethren, against one another, so that you yourselves may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing right at the door.

2. Practice Thankful Prayer (v4,6-7)

– Anxiety = fear over real or imagined problems in the future

– Pray about “everything”

– Pray “with thanksgiving”

– Result: God’s peace will protect our thoughts and feelings from anxiety

3. Discipline your Thought-life (v8)

– “Dwell” on what is…

▪ True

John 8:44
“You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

▪ Honorable, righteous, pure

▪ Lovely, commendable, excellent, worthy

4. Practice Obedience to Christ (v9)

– Disobedience creates stress

1 John 1:5-6
…God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth

– Obedience yields God’s peace

Hebrews 12:11
All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.