THE JOY OF PEACE

Text- Philippians 4:1-7

Introduction

Two churches were located only a few blocks from each other in a small community. They decided it would be better if they merged and became one united body, larger and more effective, rather than two separate struggling churches. It was a good idea, but they couldn't pull it off. The problem was that they couldn't agree on how they would recite the Lord's Prayer. One group wanted, "forgive us our trespasses," while the other demanded, "forgive us our debts." so the newspaper reported that one church went back to their trespasses while the other returned to their debts!

This morning we are going to begin the last chapter in our study that we have been doing from the book of Philippians.

As we have been examining this book I have been emphasizing the central theme of joy.  This morning our text is found in Philippians 4:1-7 and the title of my message is "The Joy of Peace."

Real, genuine joy can only be experienced when we have the peace of God abiding in our hearts.  Without peace our joy is only external with no inner substance.  RE Phillips once said, “To be at peace with one's self is a joy unspeakable.”

As we study these verses today there are three aspects of peace that I'd like us to notice.  Let's look now more closely at our text and see how important it is to have the peace of God in order to have true joy.