The Real Meaning of Philippians 4:13 (05/27/2018)

You know the Bible is such an awesome book. I hate that I forgot that it was Memorial Day weekend So I don't have a

Memorial Day message, but it'll be something you can use on Memorial Day. I'm sure The Bible is such an awesome awesomely complete book and It gives us all the answers even when we don't know what questions to ask which which is amazing

And there's so much that the Word of God has to say About our mind and about the way we think and and so much happens in the arena of thinking and the mind

I was thinking about a verse this morning in Matthew chapter 22 where it says thou shalt love the Lord thy

God with all thy soul And all thy all thy heart and all thy mind. How do you love the Lord with your mind?

Have you ever thought about that? How do you love the Lord with your mind? You know, we can just go home think about that the rest of the day, yeah

Did you have you ever thought about thinking You ever think about thinking like every have you ever thought about what it means to think?

It's an amazing like we are so fearfully and wonderfully made and we have this mind

That that we have to be very intentional about Because if we're not intentional about if we're haphazard about our thinking then the enemy can come in and he can corrupt our thinking and He can get us going in a direction that is not in our own best interest

And it's not in the best interest of those we love and certainly not in the best interest of our Lord we have to be very very aware of the intentionality around our minds and There's a verse in Scripture that I believe is

One of the most it's one of the most misapplied So it's it's one of the most quoted verses by Church going folks that they have no earthly idea what it's saying and I almost want to so I'm gonna read the verse to you

And then I'm gonna tell you what I almost named the message Which I didn't name it that but I could have so I'm just gonna read one verse and then we're gonna go back and look

At this is a verse that's been taken so out of context and by the way when you take a passage of Scripture out of context

Then you're basically making up doctrine right there are no isolated doctrines in Scripture There's no isolated teachings in Scripture all

Scripture supports the rest of Scripture so so if you take a passage and you lift it out of its context and you try to make it exist in a vacuum then

It doesn't it doesn't mean what you're making it mean. So really it doesn't mean anything to you Because you're assigning meaning to people say well, yeah, it means one thing to you and it means another thing to me

Here's what here's what's important. It doesn't matter what it means to me and it doesn't matter what it means to you It only matters what it means to the author and that's

God It only matters what God says it means right and so I'm gonna read the verse to you And this is one of those verses that people love to put on t -shirts

People love to post it on Facebook, you know, and they love to talk about they love to tweet it and retweet it, right?

But most of the time when this passage when this verse is used it is used out of context

So we're gonna bring this passage back into context today. It's Philippians chapter 4, but y 'all can guess what verse

Verse 13 and it says I can do all things through Christ was strengthened of me and It's amazing to me how people attempt to use this verse in a vacuum

And when I hear people use it, I want to say I'm not so fast Not so fast.

You can't claim 13 unless you're practicing 4 through 12 Right 13 is it's a crescendo right it's a climax and You can't claim verse 13 unless you're practicing verse 4 through 12

So we're gonna do is we're gonna look at how we can begin to practice Verses 4 through 12 so we can come to verse 13 and nail it

Amen Father, thank you for your word. Thank you that it is truth We pray that you open our eyes that we behold wonderful things out of your word and we pray that you'd you'd give us the

Willingness to yield to your word and apply it And we thank you in advance for the work that you will do in us and the work that you will do through us as We apply this word to our lives in the name of Yeshua our

King our Messiah Amen. All right, so I can do all things through Christ was strengthened of me people act like well, where you going?

I'm gonna go skydiving without a parachute. No, you shouldn't do that. No. No, I can do all things I mean, that's how people do it, right?

Like that's how they attempt to make it like it doesn't like I can do anything I want to do because Christ strengthened.

It's not what it's saying It's not what it's saying. So let's go back to verse 4 and this is where it begins

I'm the whole like Philippians the book of Philippians Could be called the good attitude gospel

Amen, like Paul is writing this from prison Like I don't know if you've ever been to prison or not.

I've been to prison Fortunately to speak they're not but I've been to prison and Like like that's not we're great attitudes about Can I get a witness but Paul's writing to a church and he's writing to followers of Christ who are being persecuted

Like in one of the earlier one of the earlier chapters Paul says beware of dogs beware of concision beware of evil men

Like Paul is Paul knows that the people he's writing to are going through some circumstances

He knows they're going through some situations, but it's still writing them this good attitude gospel In fact in chapter

In chapter 3 verse 1. He says finally my brethren rejoice in the lord These are these are people that are being persecuted

Hey now we can we can pretend that when our boss doesn't like us because we quoted a bible verse that that's being persecuted

That ain't the kind of persecuted they were People were being killed People being arrested people being put in prison for preaching the gospel right

And paul writes from prison says rejoice in the lord And so let's look at verse 4.

It says rejoice in the lord always and again. I say rejoice now This is one of the most redundant verses in the bible

We have to understand when we're looking at the word rejoice the prefix re

Means to do again Right So rejoice means again have joy

In the lord and then it says always and then it says and again, I say rejoice for again.

I say again have joy so I'm gonna say it like that so you can really wrap your mind around what what the apostle paul through the inspiration of the holy

Spirit is telling us to do he said again Have joy in the lord always again.

I say again have joy Wow I know you're being persecuted.

But again, I say again have joy in the lord. And again, I say again have joy I know some of you are sick, but Again, have joy in the lord always and again.

I say again have joy. I know i'm writing to you from prison And I know you miss me. But again,

I say I again rejoice again. Have joy in the lord always again. I say again have joy

You say brother man, what's your point why do you keep saying this because I want us to understand That what the scripture is telling us to do here as followers of yeshua hamashiach

Jesus to christ we are supposed to live in a state of perpetual joyfulness

Joyfulness Is our it's our identity Joyfulness is our

Ability joyfulness is our infusion of strength And the scripture tells me that i'm supposed to live in a state of perpetual

Joyfulness why because only when I am living in a state of perpetual joyfulness

Do I have any strength at all? How do I know that because the scripture tells me what but the joy of the lord is my what?

Okay, so the joy of the lord is my strength. So he's not just telling me walk around pretend that you're happy Even though things are going wrong

First of all, when we say things are going wrong when we say that things are going wrong. We're assuming we know what right is

And what we mean when we say things are going wrong What we really mean is things are not going the way I would like them to go

But that doesn't necessarily mean they're going wrong Right, how many y 'all know that sometimes okay i've talked about this in this church before right so so so So the next king

Right, so he would send him With an anointing and the bible says what this that samuel anointed david where in the presence of his brethren

Why does it tell us that because when the anointing came when god sent the prophet to anoint someone that anointing was an announcement

It was an announcement. It was a pronouncement from god This is this person's purpose and he also he was revealing that person's purpose to them and to the people around him

Right, so when god sent samuel to anoint david, we know that the anointing

Was for an appointing right The anointing was for a wedding and appointment.

Talk to me church was for an Appointment. So so Our human brains sometimes we are we are so kindergarten -esque in our brain, right?

Because we think that because the anointing is for the appointing as soon as I receive the anointing that must mean i'm ready for my appointing

And here's what god said not so fast Because god has ordained that there is a season between the season of anointing and season of appointing that's called the season of disappointed

That's where saul Che king saul chased david for probably 13 years before david ever sat on his throne.

Why has god ordained? that for all of us That after our anointing we've got to go through disappointing is what god is where god prepares us for what he has prepared for us

See the disappointing is where god gets us ready for what he already has ready for us The disappointing is the place where god makes us strong enough to stay there when we get there

You know, I can only think of one person i'm not saying there's only one person But only I can only think of one person in scripture who went straight from anointing to appointing with no disappointing in the middle

You know what i'm talking about, don't you king saul Remember king saul he got appointed he got anointed next thing, you know, he's sitting on the throne what happens next next thing

You know god rejects him why because he didn't go through a season of disappointing To make him strong enough to stay there when he got there

So here's what we got to learn how to do. We got to learn how to apply everybody say apply We got to learn how to apply james chapter one.

Don't what's james chapter one my brethren count it all Joy when when you fall into diverse temptation

He didn't say if you fall into diverse temptation, you know, why because he said when because it's coming It's either here.

It's been here or it's on its way You count on it And then the reason that the reason god set it up that way is because when you go through that season of disappointing

That's where you get to practice rejoicing in the lord all the way and again, I say rejoice We're not talking about i'm not talking about happiness

I'm talking about joyfulness. I love what my brother. Mike says my brother. Mike was a pastor in pennsylvania He says see god never tells us to be happy.

He said happiness happiness is based on happenings But see joyfulness joyfulness is based on your position the joy of the lord is my strength see see

Well, i'm going to get to it. So The next so it says rejoice in the lord all way and again,

I say rejoice So again have joy and lord all way and again, I say again have joy like like I'm gonna i'm gonna make this statement when we do you understand that my things we say with our mouth

But a testimony is the things we say with our mouth that are backed up by the things we live in our lives And when the when the things that we say are not not backed up by the life that we live witness right

See you just because somebody jumps on the witness stand and trial doesn't mean that their testimony is going to be taken seriously

If they if they've perjured themselves in the past if they have if they've lied on the stand in the past If they've not demonstrated that they are a person of character, then they are not a credible witness

See when i'm not operating in joyfulness. I am not a credible written witness of christ

My joyfulness is what is what is what? proves

That I am in christ my joyfulness in all things Okay, we're getting there so So because he's not just he's he's like one of the things

I love about the word of god God never gives us a command without giving us the capacity to fulfill the command He never gives us an assignment without giving us the ability to fulfill the assignment

He never tells me to do something without me having the ability to do the thing. He told me to do

So if he tells me to do it, I don't I can automatically know I can do it because he told me to do it

Because he god's not in the habit of frustrating his children. He doesn't tell us to do things we can't do How do

I know this well over in philippians chapter 2 verse 13, what does it say for it is god That worketh where in you both to what will that's the desire and to do

That's the power of his good pleasure. God's the one that gives me the desire and the power to please him So he's not telling me to do something.

He's not empowered me to do. Okay next verse verse 5 Then it says let your moderation be known unto all men for the lord is at hand now

What moderation means it means appropriateness self -control let it be known unto all men

I was so confused Like this is one of those passages we memorized in ace school when

I was uh my teenager And when I memorized it, I said what does self -control have to do with joy?

What is what is what is I don't I don't get it Well, it says All you gotta do is keep reading right?

It says it says Um, it says let your moderation be known unto who all men

Do you understand that that i'm supposed to let other people see my appropriate gentle self -control?

How do I do that? Well, I said let it be known unto all men for the lord is in hand. This is so good He's saying in verse 40

Can't help but come out How do you do that? It says it says let your moderation let your joy be known

By reminding yourself that you have to be welcome. You use your self -control.

You're appropriate You use your your your at hand.

Where's that hand? Right here Right This is so good.

Why do I Because in his presence is finisher fullness of joy

So I don't have to I don't have to hype myself up. I don't have to make I don't have to hype myself into happiness

All I have to do is remind myself that the lord is present Why because in his presence is fullness of joy see see

No one was able to work on an ark for 120 years because the lord was present

People were mocking where's the rain He was more aware of the presence of the lord

He said god shall provide

Not ready to bring it down because he was more aware of the presence of the lord

Moses was able to endure Was able to um

Endure righteousness rather than to enjoy see him who is it was more aware of the presence of the lord

You understand every time Every time you face those like this, you know for me you are aware of something other than jesus

You here's what you I don't know what you're thinking about But I know what you ain't thinking about.

I know who you're not thinking about You ain't thinking about jesus because jesus You ain't thinking about jesus because when you're thinking about jesus

Jesus like when you're aware of his presence, he's present the lord is at hand. He's present. He's right here with me

Hey, do you remember some do you remember some young fellows that were they were units? They were slaves and on a flag called babylon and the king said everybody bow down when you hear the news

And thousands and tens of thousands hundreds of thousands of people bowed in their faces in this false Island and in the sea of humanity that is prostrated on the floor bowing down to a false god three people were standing up Why are you standing they were more aware of the presence of the lord than they were the presence of the king

Amen, you understand that the expression on our face all that's doing is proclaiming our awareness

That way that means that means when david's in the presence of goliath and goliath

Everybody else is running from the lord. David can run at goliath toward goliath because david's more aware of the presence of the lord

I'm gonna feed your carcass this day to the birds in the air. I'm gonna take your head for you

Why he's more aware of the presence of the lord Like what are you thinking about? The lord

You gotta stop letting the lord stop letting movies and other people and people that don't like you in the end

You gotta stop letting them control your thoughts. You gotta make sure that you use your discipline to remind yourself

Hey, dude, did you hear me say you're fired? I did The lord heard it too because he's a man

He's a man The doctor like did you hear what I just see and you're wrong.

You're in a great position. I'm hungry. He's a great position Do your thing I'm more aware of the presence of the lord than I am the presence of anyone or anything

Why because that's and if I am professionally aware of the presence of the lord,

I don't have the ability to be anything But professionally joyful because in his presence his fullness is good.

There's so much joy in the presence But he's no good

Like he's telling us what to do. He's telling us how to do it. Hallelujah He didn't leave you without a clue

He said go do this figure it out on the way What's the next verse says it says and be careful for nothing.

It's one of my favorite passages The word careful there is have anxiety

Don't have anxiety over anything. There's so many places when never ever have anxiety

Because anxiety is the thief of everything. That's good that god has for you The enemy knows he can't take it from you, but he can get you to reject by giving you anxiety by making you more

But I lost my job nothing but the doctor said nothing Do you understand there's nothing

That could be the name of this message. There's nothing to worry about I could be the name. There's just nothing to worry about. What do you mean?

The bible says have anxiety over nothing. Let me give you i'm going to give you a definition of anxiety Well, i'm going to tell you what anxiety causes you to do then i'm going to give you um

The definition of anxiety so so anxiety This is this is the definition of anxiety anxiety is wasting present energy

On a future outcome. I'm gonna say it again anxiety is wasting present energy

On a future outcome it's undesirable, you know, did you ever notice nobody anxiety and worry are the same thing nobody ever worries about the past Even if people think they're worried about the past they're not really worried about the past They're worried about how the past is going to affect their future

Nobody worries about what's happening. What's already happened. There's no need to waste that I thought it was gonna be a disaster turned out.

Oh, i'm so glad he gave us the word Or are y 'all picking up what i'm putting down Hey, hey, hey the bible says be careful for Nothing that means we ain't supposed to worry about our finances.

We ain't supposed to worry about our health We're not supposed to worry about our family. We're not supposed to worry about anything Nothing What did jesus say jesus said in matthew chapter 6 same thing didn't he jesus said

Take no thought for tomorrow that word take no thought is the exact same words be careful for nothing same words

Be careful for nothing. Take no thought for tomorrow. Don't worry about tomorrow.

Why did he say don't worry about yesterday? Don't worry about tomorrow because jesus knew to only pick the time somebody worried about tomorrow

The way to worry about right now. I'm just thinking right right now. It's just right now.

Jesus said don't waste today's energy worrying about tomorrow's problem

In fact, that's what he said what take no thought for tomorrow for tomorrow shall take thought for the things of itself It's official until the day of the evil error.

Don't waste today's energy worrying about tomorrow's problem use today's energy to solve today's problem Because when tomorrow gets here, it's gonna have some brand new problems all on its own

So jesus, here's what paul said paul said be joyful Be willful willfully willfully aware of the presence of the lord

Then he said don't be careful Be prayerful That's what he said he said

You know prayer is probably another one of those really misunderstood So He said he said be careful for nothing but in everything my prayers so anxiety

Here's what anxiety does to us if I have anxiety How many of y 'all have ever seen somebody that says way too much information?

So so what happens when the heart starts complicated Heart starts beating really fast, right?

How do I know What's gonna happen if you do that long enough

So many people have heart attacks worrying about stuff then what are you gonna happen anyway

You don't need to worry about it anyway, but let me ask you a question like come on now Is god in control

Okay, so i'm gonna tell you like a good friend told me when his daughter went off to college came to me said pastor

Worry about it.

God loves her more than he's gonna be up on that anyway Stop we need to stop wasting all this energy.

We can see so clearly The thing that we don't desire as if it's already somebody say amen out there.

Let me know i'm in the right church Stop worrying

Don't be careful About prayer and supplication

He said don't he said why worry when you can correctly i'm teaching on truth versus tradition.

I love the word truth word truth in hebrew And of is the first letter of the hebrew alphabet the first letter of the alphabet and it always represents god and means strong Right.

So ala is the first letter of the alphabet men is the middle letter pow is the last letter

And it's showing us that truth you can't you can't understand the truth about anything unless you can look at the beginning the middle and the end

Then that's the only way you can know the truth In fact, the word for falsehood is the word shekar.

Now the word shekar is really interesting because the word shekar is shin co -british

And all those letters are right beside each other if you come to that and and but in the word shekar they are out of order

When you're looking at something from a really small perspective and it's out of order you can almost assuredly count on that thing

When you're looking at the beginning middle and the end of everything anything then you know the truth by the way The beginning the middle and the end of everything

What's a moving picture of us is a snapshot of god the past is no different to god than the future It's all present in him.

That's why he's the I am what I am. I think I was what I was He's the I am what I am why he's ever present

See we are in time time is in god But I don't know how

I think god himself calls himself the god lord truth.

I love men I can't think of a very good thing when two people enter into agreement and they swore by their own existence

They swore on their own life to keep their word to the other person So god is a god

Who keeps his word because he didn't he would have to die and he died everything would cease to exist

So god is a god that exploded Talk about a big day, okay

So What i'm saying is we don't have anything to worry about why he's got us

He's saying the same thing to us in 2018 That he said to abram in genesis chapter 15 verse 1.

It says the word of the lord came unto abram saying Fear not abram I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward.

He said i'm your protection your shield your exceeding great reward. I am your provision Don't worry about anything pray for it.

Don't be prayer. Don't be careful. Be careful. He said with thanks He said but in everything with prayer and supplication with prayer and supplication with thanksgiving.

He said be thankful i'm gonna tell you something We See when you're thankful that means you realize that everything that you have is what it's a gift

If it was a gift, I don't have it because i'm so awesome so awesome In fact, i'm thinking about giving myself the awesomeness of the year award.

No No I got a call from my beautiful daughter

You know when you have children Sometimes when you have children you and your children ain't even always in the same book

I just me and john were just sitting here talking I said what brought that on she said

I don't know. I was just thinking about it, you know Be like I think if I got this and I had that and this and I did just because i'm so he said

You know people live in love. This is what she said People live in love And she said and all these and she said

I just wanted to call and say you're awesome She said if you like me take out all the sauce and stuff and I like because i'm so awesome

But I really have because you're so i'm gonna tell you something We all really need to sit down and just give god a dollar say lord.

I just want to come to you and thank you I can be

I can be a lullaby Well, you know What do you have what do you have that you did not receive

I just throw You realize if you have you have eyes you can see do you understand there are people in this town

Did you make your eyes see today I was reading the book one time and this guy said

I was with this really rich fella And we walked into the parking lot Smile We think the purpose of prayer is what we get his will line up, okay

We're on one of these two of those three and three one of them. I need my next Thursday now Hey, that's how we do it

I don't think that means The answer is no.

Do you thank God when you have that desire? But it's so much, and you can feel it, and you desire it so much that it's like, oh, it's almost.

You should be thankful that it's actually, you're not ready for that. OK, be careful.

Don't be careful. Be careful. Be thankful. And then he says, and the peace of God, which passes all understanding. Here's what he said.

He said, you can be peaceful even when you don't understand. You can be at peace. You know what this is showing us?

This is showing us. This is showing us what the manifestation of the kingdom of God looks like in our lives.

What does the Bible tell us in Romans that the kingdom of God is? The kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but it's what? It's righteousness. What else?

It's peace. And it's what? Joy in the Holy Ghost. See, when we are walking around in joyfulness, all we are doing is we are demonstrating that the kingdom of God is coming to our lives.

We have recognized that God is the king of my life, and he's the king of everything going on in my life.

I got no words. Like, I don't have a worry in the world.

Now, Satan wants me to believe that I have a worry in the world. Satan's a master at distracting our attention and getting us to shift our focus and to look in the wrong direction.

Y 'all do know that magicians don't really do magic, right? So magicians, like somebody does a magic trick, you do know that it's not really magic.

What's it called? It's called sleight of hand. They get you to look over there, and they do something over here. Get you looking at this hand, they do something with this hand.

Right? That's Satan. Satan got Adam and Eve focused on the wrong thing.

He got them looking in the wrong direction, because Satan knows when you change what you see, it changes what you say. OK, I'm going to stay on track.

I am on track, y 'all. Trust me. It may not seem like it, but I really am. OK. Don't be careful, be prayerful, and be thankful, and you will be peaceful.

The peace of God which passeth all understanding. You'll have peace even when you can't understand. You'll have pain, but guess what? You'll have peace in the pain.

You'll have problems, but you'll have peace in the problems. You'll have peril, but you'll have peace in the peril. Paul said, I'm in prison, but I have peace in prison.

Y 'all are being persecuted, but you can have peace in your persecution. How do you do it? Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I say, again, have joy in the

Lord always. And again, I say, again, have joy. How? By reminding yourself that the Lord is at hand. And don't worry about anything, but pray about everything.

With thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God which passeth greater than understanding, it'll guard your hearts and your minds by Christ Jesus.

So good. Do you understand? If you don't know Christ, this is not even possible for you.

We have the ability as followers of Christ to live in a state of perpetual joyfulness.

People who don't know Christ can't do it, and we that do know Christ won't do it.

OK, I'm going to keep reading. Verse 8, this is so good. Then he says, be mindful. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things.

He's telling us. Now, he's already told us, he's already told us, don't think about things that cause us trouble.

He's told us to be aware of the presence of the Lord. And then he said, finally, brethren, whatsoever things are lovely.

See, here's what the Apostle Paul understood thousands of years ago that we don't understand today, that when you get a fact in your head, that fact in your head will always send a feeling to your heart.

And that feeling in your heart will always produce a function in your hand. People, I don't understand why I do it. Well, the reason you do it is because you felt like it.

We do the things we feel like doing. Now, the question we have to ask is, what makes me feel like doing the things

I do? Well, the things I think. How do I know this is what the Bible teaches? Well, because Paul said, you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which you delivered you.

Obeyed, that's the function in the hand. Where? From the heart, that's the feeling in our heart. That form of doctrine which was delivered to you, that's in the head.

So it goes from the head to the heart to the hand. It's a fact, it's a feeling, it's a function. Are y 'all picking up what I'm putting down? Paul said, he's talking about the very same thing.

He said, I want you thinking right. He said, if you'll think right, you'll feel right. If you'll feel right, you'll do right.

He said, finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest. So true, honest, just, and pure.

Now, I want you to notice, true, honest, just, and pure, those are character words.

It's talking about your character. It's talking about doing the right thing. True, honest, just.

How much emotion is in that? None yet. Right? True, honest, just.

True, honest, just, and pure. And then he says, and then whatsoever things are lovely, and whatsoever things are of good report.

Then he named the aesthetics last. Let me tell you something. One of the, we have all these churches.

A lot of times people, we have all these churches, and they're really big churches. We think that big is great.

Big can be great. It doesn't necessarily mean that. Sometimes churches are big because they're better at doing marketing than they are.

I'm just saying that I'm a metropolitan.

He said it'd be pretty easy to find a church. Like, he used to work. I'm telling you, people don't know what to do.

You need to have a view on a Bible. A view on a Bible. God said, he didn't start with the building.

He didn't start with the lovely and the good report. He started with the origin. It says the wisdom that's from above is what?

First, pure, then peaceful. He didn't say first, peaceful, then pure.

See, what we have here, purity is more important than peacefulness.

All I'm saying is we need to get back to God's way. So, what's our, you know, everybody always think about, I want you to think about things that are,

I want you to think about things that are true. I want you to think about things that are honest. I want you to think about things that are pure. I want you to think about, then

I want you to think about things that are lovely and things that are of good report. Things that are pretty, nice to look at, or instead, things that sound real, that are good and important.

Let's start out with what's true, and what's honest, and what's pure, and what's just.

Why? Because in God's economy, function, functioning in character is more important than form in beauty and aesthetics.

I'm not saying aesthetics aren't important. God told us what to think, what he taught us, what we're gonna do.

So, then we get down to verse number nine, and then Paul starts talking about how, okay,

I'm not just telling you to do this. This is stuff you've seen me do. This is stuff you've heard me do. You've watched me live this, so you know

I'm not just preaching. Paul's saying, I'm not just preaching a sermon. Look what it says. Those things which you have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me do.

Paul's saying, don't just do like I say, do like I do. He said, you can watch, you don't just, hey, don't just live the sermon you hear me preach, live the sermon you watch me preach.

Seen in me do, where was I? Verse nine. And the God of peace be with you.

He said, but I rejoice greatly now that in the last, your care of me hath flourished again, wherein you were also careful, but lacked opportunity.

By the way, that word careful is not the same word careful that was in verse six. This word careful means you were just attentive.

It means that you were aware of the stuff I was going through, and because you were aware, he said, in these last days, man, you've been taking good care of me when nobody else gave anything to me, you gave to me.

I'm in prison. You made sure that while I was in prison, I had a blanket. You made sure while I was in prison, I had a coat. You took care of me while I'm in prison.

By the way, he said, I'm not saying that because I want to receive something from you. That's what he said in verse 11. Not that I speak in respect of want.

In other words, I'm not telling you this because I'm lacking something, and I want you to give it to me like these preachers today that are selling blessings for $58 at a pop.

Tell you what, you just send me $60, and I'm gonna send you a blessing of anointing oil and a prayer cloth, and God's gonna bless you with a 58 -fold blessing.

Beware of preachers that have blessings for sale. Okay, anyway, just thought

I'd throw that out there as an aside. Okay, he said,

I rejoice in the Lord greatly that now at the last, your care of me hath flourished again.

In other words, you're taking care of me again, wherein you were also careful. In other words, you wanted to do it in times past, but you lacked opportunity, but now you have the opportunity.

He said, not that I speak in respect of want. I'm not saying this because I want you to send me something. Another verse people take out of passage, out of context.

Not that I speak in respect of want, for I have learned whatsoever state I'm in there with to be content. Paul said, if I got something,

I'm content. If I have nothing, I'm content. People try to use this verse to justify being lazy, right?

Well, I don't really care that much about blah, blah, blah, because I've learned, no, don't take the passage out of context. Paul said in the next verse, he said,

I know both how to be abased and how to abound. He said, I know how to do with little, I know how to do with a lot.

So if all you've done is with a little, then you don't know how, you don't know, you ain't been in enough states to know if you can be content in all of them or not. If you only have a lot, you haven't been in enough states.

Paul said, I know whatsoever state, if I have a lot, I'm content. If I have a little, I'm content. Why is he content? Because he's content in the presence of Christ.

So I know both how to be abased and how to abound. Everywhere and in all things, I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.

And then he says, I can do all things through Christ's strength of me. Do you see how he built up to all, he's like, you gotta build up to it, you gotta practice the presence of Christ, you gotta live in a state of perpetual joyfulness, you gotta be mindful, don't be careful, you can't be worrying, can't be worrying about tomorrow.

And to walk around talking about, I can do all things through Christ, no, no, no, no. Don't get it twisted.

He said, I can do all things through Christ with strength of me. Notwithstanding, ye have well done that ye have communicated with my affliction.

Communicate means you've given to me when I've been in affliction. The last thing Paul's saying, he's saying, be bountiful.

In other words, give, like give, like look for opportunities to give to somebody other,

God does not have a desire for us to be consumed with ourselves. By the way, the other thing, besides the fact that we're not aware of Christ, when we, you know, we got our face on upside down, right?

Besides the fact we're not aware of Christ, we're not aware of anybody else. The only person we're aware of when we have, we're only aware of ourselves.

What do we have to do? We have to be more aware of Christ and more aware of others. The presence of Christ brings me joy and the serving of Christ, of God's people brings me fulfillment.

If I'm not serving God's people, that's why I don't feel fulfilled. I mean, look at what it says down in verse 19.

I'm gonna jump down. Here's what it says down in verse 19. Verse 18 and 19.

But I have all and abound, I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you and the odor of sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well -pleasing to God, but my

God shall supply all your need according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus. He said, if you will be bountiful, you will be plentiful.

Here's what he said, and I'm done. I'm gonna wrap it up. Be joyful, happy, perpetual.

Be willful, willfully. Be prayerful and be thankful.

If you'll do that, you will be peaceful. That's the promise. If you'll do those things, you'll be peaceful.

And then he says, be mindful. He said, if you'll be mindful, get down to verse 13, you can be power of life and do all things through Christ's strength in you.

And then if you will give, if you will look out for somebody other than yourself, you'll be a giver, not just a taker.

He said, he that soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly.

He that soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. The Bible. The Bible is so full.

It is all connected. So from now on, when we get ready to quote the verse,

I can do all things through Christ's strength in me, let's make sure we do it from a position of perpetual joyfulness, not from a position of worry, doubt and anxiety.

Father, I thank you for your word. I thank you that it will do what you intended it for it to do in your church today. and we bless you for being the

God who's in charge of everything. There's not a maverick molecule in this entire universe. I don't have anything to worry about because you don't have anything to worry about.

And we bless you for who you are and who we are in you. In the name of Christ our