Fruit Of Contentment (pt-2)

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But I'll start reading the scriptures as after folks get to Philippians chapter 4 like to continue on this evening beginning reading in Philippians 4 and verse 14 after where we left off this morning
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Philippians 4 14 Where Paul wrote this church and said notwithstanding you have well done that you did communicate with my affliction
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Naive Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel when I departed from Macedonia No church communicated with me as concerning giving and receiving but you only
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Or even in Thessalonica you sent once and again unto my necessity not because I desired a gift
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But I desire fruit that may abound to your account But I have all and abound I am full having received of Epaphroditus The things which were sent from you an odor of a sweet smell a sacrifice acceptable well pleasing to God But my
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God shall supply all your need according to his riches and gory by Christ Jesus Now unto
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God and our Father the glory forever and ever And we can all say amen.
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Amen. That's those are the verses that we'll be looking at this evening Let's go to the Lord and our
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Father We do come before your throne thanking you once again for for the throne that we come to as your word says the throne of grace it is a place that we can come to obtain mercy and then find grace to help in time of need and We live in a day and age where we are in a time of need as our brother asked the question even beforehand
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How do we combat these things? How do we how do we? Look at the things in life and and not complain and be content
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And we're thankful for the grace of God that teaches us to live so and to live, right? We pray that you take your word and open it to us this evening may it be a blessing to us to have been in this place together and sharing in fellowship and looking at the word and talking one to another thank you for the songs that we were able to sing already that Encourage our hearts and point us to the
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Savior and thank you for your great grace and may Jesus Christ be magnified The The issue that I wanted to remember to get on tape is that after the message this morning
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Someone came to me and I so appreciated this said brother Dave Great message.
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I just want to let you know just for a point of clarification That on one of your points there was just a little bit a little bit of a mistake and I said this okay this is very good when
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I when I made the Quotation and it's a tough one to do when it's not in your notes and it's off the top of your head
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But when I made the quotation that Jesus the Lord Jesus speaking to the Roman soldiers
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Said to them be content with your wages. It wasn't Jesus. It was John the Baptist. So I stand corrected and Bruce You should have said something while I was preaching.
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You should let me know but John the Baptist I thought I'd get that straight and that way if those two tapes go together on one on one
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CD At least people will have that have that correction Okay Here we are Philippians chapter 4 and I said we wanted to look at the fruit of contentment if I can entitle this message
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Or how does contentment show itself in the believers life? How can we identify a truly contented person who has this satisfaction on the inside?
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How does it manifest itself from the inside to the outside on that person's life? And of course by listening to the message this morning
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We we know that the this type of person would have a confidence in God They would be a person who's not grumbling and complaining
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They would be they would be a person who is not anxious and fretful and worrying and like Paul said in this
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In this book. He says be careful for nothing in this chapter verse 6 But at everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto
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God this type the the contented person would be the person that is as we
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Said this morning also one who's committed to grow one who knows that they're not to be stagnant that that they're pressed to press on in the faith and to grow in the grace and in knowledge of the
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Lord and Also, they are a person That when everything is stripped away like we heard this morning.
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They still have that joy. That's unspeakable and full of glory There's an inner joy in their life
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But in particular I want to look and I like to look at the context tonight of this chapter the remaining part of it and I want us to see that there is really one one big area that shows up in the in the life of a person who is
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Content and we're going to kind of see it in the in the Philippians and we're going to see it in the Apostle Paul But the point is is that We are going to see that contentment truly manifests itself or shows itself in Unselfishness in a person's life if a person is content they are to be they are going to be unselfish
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They are going to be totally preoccupied with the well -being and the benefit of others
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And we see that as we look look in here. They're going to be more concerned about others than they are going to be about themselves
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So people who live for themselves then would be people who truly when it comes right down to it if you examine their lives a person who lives for themselves a
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Person who is selfish truly is not content That's pretty evident when you see people who are are living for themselves and not caring about other people
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They're not happy because they're never satisfying and therefore they are never content But when it comes to those people the folks that are content
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Their concern is going to be for others The Philippian Church was a contented
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Church, and we are going to see what they had done I want to give you an example of somebody who who
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Paul as he instructed him It helped him to have this mindset to be thinking about others in chapter 2
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We have Paul's desire for Timothy to come to this church and to help out and to minister there and in Chapter 2 in verse 19
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Paul says these words I trust in the Lord Jesus in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus Shortly unto you that I also may be of that.
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I also may be of good comfort when I know your state For I have no man like minded who will naturally care for your state and what
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Paul is saying here There's no one who is similar in mind like he was there was no one who?
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Felt the same way toward the Philippians that he felt and how did Paul feel toward the the
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Philippians well? He was fondly affectionate of them he cared for them, and he ministered to them
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He had God had used him to go in there and and begin the church And he says this here particular verse 21 for all
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Seek their own not the things which are Jesus Christ. He said there are others who are selfful
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Selfish and they have carnal pursuits, but Timothy is somebody who is different Timothy is somebody who is thinking about other people and Paul Back in chapter 4 and in in Verse 14 when he speaks of of himself as a relationship to them and them to him there is this great care one for another and there is this these examples or these manifestations of unselfishness in verse 14
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Paul said that they had done well in communicating or or sharing with him in his affliction
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And if you consider that word when they had done something well that word well in in the
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Greek is Kalos in it. It is something that is beautiful Beautiful in its character something that is noble something that is right and something that is lovely
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So they did something that was right, and it was lovely and it was beautiful I mean you could probably think of a whole lot of things that a person could do for somebody else
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And it be termed that but what they did well for him something that was
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Beautiful in its character was that they gave to him They shared with him.
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They were they did not hold on to their possessions or whatever It was that they they gave to Paul.
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They didn't hold on to it But they they were selfless and unselfish and because they were content with what they had and they they loved him and they gave to him
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They had done very well in the military Most all folks that are in the military they get what is a metal on their uniform Which is called a good conduct metal
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I worked at a place called pioneer flour mills in San Antonio, Texas And they had in the customer service department
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They had a bulletin board and they had an attaboy section and the attaboy section of that bulletin board would go somebody's name
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For someone who had helped that department out And it was really kind of cool because your name went on there
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And then they would call you down the department and you wouldn't know it one time They called me down there So I had fixed something on their systems, and I don't remember this day what it was
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But my name was up on the attaboy Part of the bulletin board because I had done a good job for them
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And what they did was they had a spread they called you about lunchtime They had food and cake and all that and it was it was really kind of nice pat you on the back
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You know you had done because you because I had done well or anybody whose name was on there had done well
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That's what Paul is doing to the Philippian Church He's patting them on the back and saying attaboy.
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You did a you did a good job You did you did well and what they did was they shared with Paul in his affliction and in his pain and his trouble
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You see we remember the Paul is in prison And he's in need and times he is suffering and they helped out and they entered in as it says in chapter in this
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Verse 14 it says that they shared with him or communicated with him with my affliction
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Paul says They shared with his affliction It was it was as if the affliction that Paul had they felt it themselves, and they entered in it was their affliction
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Because they cared for him they wanted to do something to relieve his suffering and to to meet his need and Paul gives them a lot of praise
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Paul not only appreciated this most recent gift But he appreciated all the other gifts that they had sent to we see how he mentions this in verse 15 verses 15 and 16
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Now you Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel when I departed from Macedonia No church communicated or share with me as concerning giving and receiving
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But you only for even in Thessalonica you sent once and again unto
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My necessities the Philippians had repeated their act of love and kindness to Paul Now Philippi is in this region called
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Macedonia and when Paul left Macedonia he went to a Ki another region where Corinth was and The Philippians sent a gift to him while he was there and we can read this in 2nd
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Corinthians Those of you taking note 2nd Corinthians 11 and verse 9 But when he was there he didn't want to burden the
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Corinthians Because while he ministered there some and then what because he didn't want to burden them while he was ministering there some of the brethren from Macedonia or Philippi Had brought the gift and supplied his need in Acts 18 verse 5 and following when
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Paul was in Corinth Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia Macedonia and Paul was able to teach there for a year and a half but before this time he had been making tents with Priscilla and Aquila and They had sent him a gift the
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Philippians had sent him a gift Now in the book of Philippians in this book chapter 4 and in verse 16
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It tells that even before Paul had completely left Macedonia He went to Thessalonica after he left
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Philippi and they sent him gifts there more than one time So these folks really cared for him
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They were committed to supporting his ministry by giving of their substance to meet his needs
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They love the Apostle Paul. I wonder why Any idea why they love the
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Apostle Paul? Well, they appreciated his ministry as I said even this morning because God had used him to bring to them
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The good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ, which had saved their souls Which had brought them to faith
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God had visited them and God saves Lydia and God saves the Philippian Jailer, and I believe there was a young woman that was was used and abused there she was saved also in the church had begun through his powerful ministry under his preaching and They showed their love by supporting him
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They gave as much as they could and whenever they had the opportunity Paul was dependent upon what he what he could earn for himself when he made tents but there was times still when he was without and he was in need and and Then he was not only the things that that he could provide for himself the
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Lord giving him jobs of making these tents But also he was dependent upon what he received from other people the
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Philippians knew this Paul had lived among them. They knew how he lived among them and They understood that there were times that he had need and they wanted to do whatever they could to help him again
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God had used him to come to their city and Be the messenger of the gospel which saved them the gospel that brought forgiveness of sins and peace with God resulting in their lives and an inner set inner satisfaction or The subject matter true contentment they wanted to see this message
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Go to other cities. Not only did they want Paul taken care of but they also wanted to see this message
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Go to other cities and so that they could benefit from Paul's powerful ministry.
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And isn't that true? There are times in our lives when someone Especially ministers to us
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Maybe some of you have thought this way when it comes to pastor Mike there's been times when you've been dry or you've been going through a
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Just a difficult time and the preaching has been powerful and you know that he's been studying and or maybe he's called you on the phone maybe he's visited and you just you just really appreciate what what it is that he's doing as far as his ministry as Pastor here at BBC and then when it comes time
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Where the word goes out that we're going to put together a special offering for pastor Mike It's not tough to put it to give is it?
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I mean you just want to because because you love him and you appreciate his ministry. I think that's what's happening here
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They saw his need and they wanted to take care of him now in verse 17 It's a little bit of a
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I alluded to this this morning We have a little bit of a phrase here and something. I just want to take a take a peek at Just to see this dilemma that Paul is in after Telling them that they had done a good job up in verse 14
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Down in verse 17 in that good job of course is in sending the gift and after rehearsing all the kindness that they had shown him in verses 15 and 16
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Paul gets to this point in verse 17 where he says not because I desire a gift
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But I desire fruit that may abound to your account and I want to park here a little bit and just kind of look
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At this and see what it means so that we might be encouraged by this Why was Paul?
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rejoicing in the Lord Why was Paul so thankful? Why was
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Paul so happy? Why did he recognize their act as a job?
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Well done Why I want to submit to you that it wasn't because He wanted the gifts for himself these the support he was just Grubbing, you know what wanting these things?
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It wasn't it wasn't that or it wasn't that he wanted the money or the goods for his account
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It was because he wanted the spiritual profit or this he says here
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I desire fruit that may abound To your account or that there may be profit for your account this this
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Greek word is Kapos and it it means fruit that is plucked but it has a has a meaning of banking terms this word here and it and it means a benefit or an interest or a
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Dividend that is paid and what he's talking about is a spiritual interest that is compounding to their account
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Proverbs 19 in verse 17 speaks to the fact that the
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Lord does Bless those that give and there has something to do with the
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Lord Looking at that what God does Proverbs 19 and verse 17 the
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Word of God says he that has pity upon the poor Lends to the Lord and that which he has given will he pay him again?
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That God is going to take care of those and there is this idea of this of this paying back or and I'm not talking
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About you know that we do this with that motivation But this is just a spiritual principle that if we provide for others and if we give
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That that God sees that and it is this this as we're going to see later. It is something that acceptable and pleasing to the
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Lord And God blesses those who are or have a liberal heart as it says in Proverbs I think it speaks many times in there that the liberal soul shall be made fat not fat as far as body wise, but it's is that there there is this blessing that comes to them and Paul is not happy because he desired the gift and he was made more comfortable after receiving the gift
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He's rejoicing because the Philippians are laying up treasures in heaven there it is Matthew chapter 6
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We're to where we're to lay up treasures in heaven He is he wasn't concerned with receiving you see any and he has this thought here
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He and he and he puts it very clearly because not because I desire the gift And it's not because he doesn't want the gift.
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He knows he needs the gift, but it's not that is not his focus The focus that he has you see is because he's content and he knows that what he has is from the
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Lord and God is providing in his life and It is not the gift that brings him the contentment here
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There's this kind of switch in his in the in the in the verse here He's looking at them and the benefit that they receive what it is that is going to go to their account
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He knew that they after obeying the Lord in the area of giving
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He knew that they would be blessed beyond measure we must ask ourselves are we a
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People or an individual that are always wanting to be on the receiving end
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There is something in the scripture where it said is it is more blessed to give than to receive and in this case here
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Paul is looking at this and he's considering their lives and he's considering what they have done and He knows that they're getting the blessing from this
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He knows that their account is accruing and compounding the interest it's a Spiritual interest that is compounding.
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I wonder if we enjoy seeing others being blessed Are we content to see others accrue?
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Eternal benefits as the Philippians gave they were making an investment They were making continual deposits in the bank of heaven so to speak and those deposits would multiply
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With compounding interests, I'll read you a couple of verses I was thinking of just this one and I'm pretty sure
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I'm gonna go back and look at it because I'm pretty sure this is One that the Lord Jesus quoted. I'm gonna be careful tonight in Luke chapter 6 and in verse 38
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Where our Lord Jesus said give and it shall be given unto you Good measure press down and shaken together and running over shall men give unto your bosom
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But with the same measure that you meet with all it shall be measured to you
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Again, and another verse that I'd like to look at is in 2nd Corinthians Chapter 9 if you'd like to turn there that's close to Philippians You could hold your place in Philippians, but look with me in 2nd
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Corinthians chapter 9 2nd Corinthians 8 and 9 are two good chapters that deal with giving if you ever wanting to study the subject of Giving and how to give and we're going to touch on that again also again this evening
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But those two chapters are great. But in 2nd Corinthians 9, we're not gonna look at all of it We're just gonna look at a couple of verses right now where Paul wrote the church in verse 6 and he says but this
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I say he which sows sparingly shall reap also sparingly and He which sows and he's talking about this sowing it is giving it is it is giving of your of those
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Material things that you have unto the Lord and for the work of the Lord. He says he which sows bountifully
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Shall reap also bountifully Every man verse 7 according as he purposes a purpose within his heart
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So let him give not grudgingly or of necessity for God loves a cheerful giver and some principles we see here is is this this law of Spiritual this law of spiritual action and reaction if you if you give a little
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Then you'll be blessed a little but if you give a lot and you so bountifully You shall also reap bountifully in your life
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And he says if you purpose in your heart to give and that's a reason a way that we're to give We got a purpose in our heart to give it and when we purpose to do it
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We should do it and carry through on it He says so let him give not grudgingly or of necessity not like I have to do this
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For God loves a cheerful giver and I believe that word Cheerful in the Greek is hilarious
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Someone who is just so excited and they're beside themselves hilarious giver I wonder if you ever thought when you're when the plate is going by if anybody could accuse you of being hilarious
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You know just so glad that you can give we should be beside ourselves when it comes to giving because Because as we're going to see it is it is a tremendous spiritual act of worship
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It is it is something that is contributing to the Lord's work This is what excited the
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Apostle Paul back in Philippians chapter 4 in verse 17. What excited him was that he long
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What he had longed to see in the churches this attitude was a fruit of Contentment in the
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Apostle Paul's life and that he was focusing on the well -being of others And he didn't really focus a lot of what he had received, but what they were going to receive
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That there was going to be this spiritual interest to their account and he was glad about that He was thrilled that when those he had led to the
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Lord began to live out their faith and to seek God's kingdom first And to make deposits in the bank of heaven that they truly would be blessed now in in this chapter
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Paul speaks to and I remember I had said that basically the overarching Principle this evening or the fruit of contentment is that the person who is content is unselfish and they will be focused and preoccupied with the well -being of other people and And that is demonstrated of course here in in this chapter and at the end of this chapter in this in the idea of this
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Giving to the Apostle Paul and what I want to do is spend some time speaking about the giving aspect and principles of giving that we see here because I believe that will help us to see that if we if If we want to put feet to this message of what it means to be content if we truly want to be content people we want and should desire to be people who are
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Preoccupied with the well -being of others and we want to be those who give so we'll look at a couple of these principles here in chat in this chapter 4 in verse 10
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We see that first our giving must be from the heart and then chapter 4 in chapter in verse 10
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Paul said I rejoice in the Lord greatly that now at the last your care of me notice those words there your care of me
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Has flourished again Wherein you were also careful, but you lacked opportunity.
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There's there's this Care that they had from him they gave out of a true love and concern for the
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Apostle Paul They didn't give to get You know the curse of the of the health and wealth prosperity gospel
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And you know what I'm speaking of those that teach it a little a whole lot differently opposite opposed to the scriptures
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They say that if you give God is going to give tenfold or a hundredfold or thirtyfold or whatever and they give for the purpose of getting more back
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That's why they give it is it is a selfish attitude It is wrong and that is not what the
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Philippian Church did and we're going to see something a little bit later That we're going to see to the point that they gave to where it hurt
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That's has something to do with with giving these folks gave to help
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The Apostle Paul who was in need and giving must be from the heart and we give to those in need because we're concerned about Them and because our hearts are touched with their need and so we give secondly
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We see also in verse 10 He says that they lack the opportunity to give and I'm just using that that phrase because he uses it elsewhere
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I believe in 2nd Corinthians 9 there talks about that when we have the opportunity That we ought to give or our giving should be done when we have the opportunity to give and what
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I mean by that When it is possible for us to give and when we see a need don't wait and let the need slip by We should give when we see the need when the need is arrived has arisen and it's right in front of us
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We should give not letting someone else step in but taking the opportunity as led of the
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Lord to meet that need and and show our true love and care and Compassion for those folks that the
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Lord's leading us to do it Then we should follow through and do it thirdly. We ought to give to support those who we are serving
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This allows us to become partners with them in their ministry Notice that in verse 14 again when the
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Philippians gave to him or they shared with the Apostle Paul in His affliction and he commended them and said that they had done something beautiful something that they had done very well
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He says it says he communicated or shared with with his affliction. They entered into His life with him.
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They they had to have known about his need They had to know where he was and what he did not have and they and they somehow maybe through Correspondence or whatever they found out about where he was at and when they gave and supported him
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They as it were entered into that ministry with him and I know brother Bob Dunn has brought this out in the in the
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Sunday school classes on missions and supporting missions and praying for missions there is this there is this idea when we support
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Bob and Judy Bowman or we support the Williams and the Smiths at the PTI the pastoral training
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Institute in India that we are partaking with them in the ministry and In a in a way we are going to reap with them
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Also as we're praying and as we're so supporting with it they are some place where we cannot be but our hearts are with them wherever they are and we're supporting that ministry and when the final day comes
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That giving that we did that service to the Lord in promoting the gospel is something that we will be judged upon whether we're doing this or not and when we did it do we do it with the right heart with the right with the right intent or we did we just write off the check because That just kind of eases our conscience as far as supporting missions
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Or is it something that we truly believe that we have a mandate from God to go into all the world to make disciples to teach the nations and to baptize them in the name of the
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Father and Son and the Holy Spirit for people to be saved and for the message to Go forth and we are we are accountable to that We are to to uphold that Great Commission and when we give like that maybe we can't go but we can support those who are going and enter into that ministry and Reap from that also the blessings now and the the commendation from our
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Lord later Well to move on our giving also ought to be consistent and that comes out to us in in verses 15 and 16 our giving is to be consistent and by that we see that here in that the
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The Philippians gave to the Apostle Paul more than once it was a continual practice in their lives
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They they didn't just give one time like I said but they gave over and over again to meet his needs and I believe and we've talked about this at elders meetings that if we're going to take on a missionary if we're going to start
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Supporting someone it is it is the right thing for us to continue to do
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So if we commit to somebody and say we're going to supply you with so so many dollars or whatever the gift is
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Every month Then we as a church ought to be there and be praying for them
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Consistently and supporting them in any way possible That we can and we see this here in the
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Philippians that they did this And he says that they'd sent once and again to meet his need and sometimes
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It's going to take an effort on our part to find out what the needs might be when it comes to missions missionaries or anybody who it is that we're ministering to we can't just sit back ostrich with the head of the sand and say somebody
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Else is going to take care of it. I'm not going to see and if I can't see it It's it's not my responsibility But what we ought to be doing is is like the
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Philippians And I think I think it has been evident in the church since since my family and I have come to this church that we have seen people who have provided for the needs of other people and Those other people were completely taken off -guard because of it they just didn't know that it was coming because those folks wanted to provide that need and they found out about it and They took care of that need in a consistent manner until until the need was over so we ought to get our giving should be consistent in the
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When Paul wrote the church in Corinth first Corinthians 16 Verses 1 and 2 you'll remember there.
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He said that they ought to When they gather In the morning that they should have already taken the offering and having having it ready every
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Lord's Day They should be ready and giving in a consistent manner Our fifthly our giving is to be generous
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Our giving ought to be generous. We see this in verse 18
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Paul said he was full and abounding because of their gift to him He he
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I believe it says in the New American Standard was amply supplied Amply supplied he was overwhelmed by their generosity and I believe
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I Believe that that is how we ought to give the Lord has saved us and the
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Lord has provided for us everything that we need spiritually and forgiveness of sins and brought us into the into the church and Adopted us into his family never never to kick us out.
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We're not on trial as adopted children We're in the family of God forever We're in the hand of our
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Lord and no one can pluck us out as it says in John chapter 10 We ought to be so grateful to the
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Lord and what he has done and because of the love that we have We should support the work of the Lord We should be giving and some of you may be new believers and you you haven't really considered giving
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But when it comes to giving there's so many different principles and you could preach a lot of messages on it but I know my wife and I what we do is rather than Write all of the bills out and see what's left over and give that to the
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Lord Write the Lord's the giving to the Lord with that check or put that money aside first I'm going to purpose to give this much and put it aside and Honor the
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Lord by giving him as I use the Old Testament Phraseology of the first fruits give it to him
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And this is my personal conviction I believe that we we ought to give at least 10 % At least 10 % that's
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I mean we keep 10 % we keep 90 % and give the Lord 10 %
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There was a mr. LaTerno. I believe I don't know if he's related to the LaTerno's that we know
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Man in Texas had a technology school I believe and he got to the point in his life where before the
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Lord he purposed that he would keep 10 % Give the Lord 90 % and God blessed him in his
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Business in his school in his business and in his life, and he did not go without That's a that would be a pretty term.
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I'm not saying Oh brother Dave is really I mean people after this morning's message there boy You're really laying on his heavy brother
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Dave this morning now. You're telling us. We got a giveaway 90 % We only keep 10 know you do with the Lord What what you purpose in your heart before the
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Lord to give but give we should we should give over and above I believe when it comes to benevolent offerings and free will offerings and love gifts missionary support
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Designated offerings whenever we hear of the need we should we we should if we have the ability to do so Be there and the
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Philippians were they gave they were generous They did not hold back and Paul says in this verse that he received in full
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That he that he abounded he received an abundance and all of this because this group of generous believers
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Gave in generous measures Sixly our giving is to be an act of worship
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And this is something that I think many folks may not even think about in verse 18
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Paul puts He puts it this way at the end of that verse he says
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I have all and abounded and full having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you and the odor of a sweet smell a sacrifice
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Acceptable well pleasing to God uses this Old Testament sacrificial expressions
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Which means that if the sacrifice? was a Sweet aroma, and if it was well pleasing to the
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Lord Then it was acceptable to God in the Old Testament if God except if it was a sweet smelling
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Savior you remember when they when the two priests sons, I believe it were what burned the strange fire the incense and God consumed them because of it.
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They worshiped him correctly. It was unpleasing to the Lord. It was unacceptable because it wasn't God's way
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But when it came to this giving we have we have this Anthropomorphic Thing of the
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Lord here in that I mean we know God is a spirit The father cannot he does not have a nose as so to speak like we do and can smell but the but the wording is
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That way alluding to the Old Testament that if something that that they had done was well pleasing to the
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Lord He would accept it like this sacrifice. That was a sweet aroma and it was it was acceptable to the
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Lord and Paul is Giving them high praise as he is acknowledging their gift
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Not only as an act of sympathy toward him but not only as a as an act of great love and concern and care for him as as as one of their friends in need and that it was and Paul benefited from that but It was a genuine offering given given to God and it was acceptable to the
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Lord and I think sometimes When the plate is passed or maybe when we're writing the check at home
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We're putting the cash aside and we're getting ready to come to the services and the plate is passed
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I sometimes think well, it's I mean, this is something we're just supposed to do And we we kind of leave it there
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But when we consider that this is a spiritual act When we give we're not just paying the bills.
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It is an act of worship And we gather each week and bring our our offering in and the and the plate is passed
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This is part of our worship to God no different than when we're singing and and praising the
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Lord No different than when we're we're listening to the Word of God and desiring to learn
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No, no different than When we're adoring the Lord It's part of worship and this excited
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Paul It wasn't because of what he had gotten again from them But because God was well pleased with them for their faithful consistent and obedient giving and it's it's a joy
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I think of the Apostle John in 2nd or 3rd John When when he speaks in there that it gives him great joy to see his children walking in truth
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Those that God has been instrumental in using us to leave for us to lead them to the
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Lord like the Paul with with the Philippians or maybe those that you have Administered to and God or God has put
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Under your tutelage so to speak in discipling and you see them growing in the grace and knowledge of the
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Lord You see them acting out in obedience You see them making good decisions based upon the
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Word of God and isn't that exciting? That's encouraging because you see the grace of God in their lives working the grace of God like it says in Titus 2 the grace of God teaches us to deny ungodliness and to live soberly and justly in the world and We see that a person's life and encourages us and Paul is is saying that here
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You didn't just give and just meet my need and it was a great thing But God saw it and God was well pleased with it
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And I think that is something that can help us when it comes to giving if we would Think that way when it comes to giving you know in our lives as a content person
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Paul was preoccupied again with the well -being of others because he just rejoiced in what
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God was doing in their lives and the growth that He saw and this is how contentment manifested itself in his life now there's one last element of giving that I'd like to cover and that we've already touched on it, but it's really great and It's in verse 19
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Giving it our giving is to be sacrificial Our giving is to be sacrificial
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I want to put a little disclaimer in here first This may not always be the characteristic of every time that you give
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But there may be some times when God leads you to give in such a way That it truly is
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Extremely Sacrificial and that it puts you in a position of hurt now, let me try to explain this
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Verse 19. I'll read it. But my God shall supply all your need According to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus There's something about these
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Believers at Philippi Paul knew that these believers were not wealthy In 2nd
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Corinthians, he speaks of the deep poverty of the mess Macedonian churches He knows that when they gave
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They most likely put themselves in need It kind of reminds you of The of the widow in Mark chapter 12 verses 41 through 44
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Who it says when she gave? She gave all that she had
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The others who gave Jesus was watching he was by the treasury and is watching who's giving and the others gave out of their abundance
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They had a lot and they gave out of it, but they had enough to go by on But this woman was so moved
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With her her act of worship That she gave her two mites and she gave everything that she had
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That's all she had when she gave it. She had nothing left. And when she walked away from the temple, she was in need and sometimes when we give
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It's possible that we can give and I believe that for the Philippians and I it comes out in this word need in verse 19
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My God shall supply all your need that they Possibly and most likely put themselves in a situation
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Where they gave to where it hurt and they had put themselves in need
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He knew that they were going without to supply his need What a challenge that is for us.
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I wonder if we've ever done that in our lives Maybe it is that that we were saving up some money or whatever for an item that we felt like we needed but a greater need comes up in a brother and sister's life or at some work of the
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Lord or some aspect of ministry and God leads us to give and maybe maybe we're without that thing
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Maybe it was a water heater. We were saving for because after three kids take a shower
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We we're freezing, you know, we just whatever whatever it might be But but Paul knew that they were not rich and how they gave till it hurt and in verse 19 he is saying to them that even if you put yourself in this position and and I'm not really absolutely a hundred percent sure as far as the wording of this if he's speaking to them and Knowing that they had a need or speaking to them in such a way that if they ever put themselves in this type of position
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But no matter what the promise is here. The principle is still sure
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God my God shall supply all your need according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus he assures them that if you are in Christ His the riches of God are yours and he is saying that God will and not maybe but God will supply the needs of those who give to the needs of others
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God will supply our need and he will supply Not just some of the need
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And he will supply not just a few of the needs and remember as I said this morning
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It is needs not wants it is not things that we want There's a difference between needs and wants its needs things that we absolutely
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Need to have if it's food or clothing or shelter or heat or whatever
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It might be in times of extreme cold, but everything all that we need
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He will do it in his way and in his time. God shall supply and he'll do it according
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Notice the phraseology there According to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus And that means he will do it according to the measure of the standard of his riches
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And that's incredible when you think about this not out of his riches But according to his riches an example of this would be if there were a millionaire
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Could give you if you asked five dollars That would be out of his riches
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But if the millionaire gave to you according to his riches, then he'd cut you a check for maybe a half a million dollars or $50 ,000 whatever it might be
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The idea is is that our God who possesses? Infinite riches. I mean think of it.
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I Believe the psalmist said that the Lord owns the cattle on a thousand hills
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I'm gonna say that the Lord owns the cattle on a thousand hills But I think elsewhere it says the hills of the
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Lord's because the earth is the Lord's and all the fullness thereof The whole earth is his everything is the
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Lord's and He doesn't give his people drip
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He doesn't give us the bottom of the barrel the Lord gives the best and he gives according to his riches
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Just think of how he has spiritually given us of the riches that are in Christ Jesus His son and when it comes to the physical needs that we have what an encouraging promise here
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What a what an encouraging principle that if we ever get to the place where we give and we put ourselves in need because we are
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Truly concerned about the need of others That God will supply he's saying this to these people in Philippi I believe personally because I believe they're in those shoes
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They're right there and he knew that he knew them He had been among them and lived among them and he knew what they had and did not have and when he received these gifts it was incredible what he had received from them because he knew that that The heart that was behind what they gave and what it was that it was coming from He knew basically the balances in their checkbook.
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So what was in their bank accounts and he was blown away by it He was so encouraged and that's why I believe that he said it's a it's a it's an odor that's a sweet -smelling savor under the
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Lord God accepted it and Because of that gift was so great and so they were so generous
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Plus putting themselves in need. He wants to encourage them here by saying to them
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Because they gave out of their need to supply the needs of others God will meet their needs
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Psalm 23 says the Lord is my shepherd doesn't it and I shall not lack
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I shall not want for anything in the same psalm We read this phrase.
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My cup is half full, right? No, my cup run it over.
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That's how the Lord gives and I'm not preaching a prosperity gospel I'm not saying let's go away from here and just give so that we can get
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I'm just saying this is the type of God who knows us and we know him and whom we serve
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He's a God who gives according to his riches and he will supply of every need that we have according to to that He just doesn't fill the cup.
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It's overflowing This was good and encouraging news to these faithful obedient sacrificial
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Philippians You can't expect to experience this if you are not obedient to the
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Lord in the area of giving in the area of true contentment Finally Paul was so excited about the rich blessings
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These Philippians would receive from God that he bursts out like he does so many times with the doxology in verse 20 and he says now unto
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God and our Father be glory forever and ever. Amen He is just so praising the
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Lord. He just gets kind of caught up in it and he's not getting caught up in you know the the The Super Bowl and he's not getting caught up in you know
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The things that are around us that can really get us excited He is just so excited that God is doing a wonderful work in people's life
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And he is seeing the grace of God working in these people's lives and in this church and in this area
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And I just wonder when it comes to our lives again as I kind of tried to challenge us at the end of the message
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This morning. Do we see these things? I think it was Philip in in Acts chapter 8 or 11
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When he went into that area after the gospel had gone in he was kind of excited because he saw the grace of God It says that in the
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Bible. He saw the grace of God when he went into Samaria That's amazing.
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And that's what Paul is saying here And when we see that when you see someone saved I mean doesn't that that encourage you when you see this thing flipped up here and somebody gives their testimony that I'm a
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Christian and they and they go into the waters of baptism to Identify with Christ and say
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I'm standing for him and to be a disciple. Isn't that encouraging? I mean sometimes you just want yes, you just want to get up and get excited
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I'm gonna get excited about other things and When we see somebody like this as Paul looked at their lives and saw these people who would love him so much
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And give and put themselves in need That was encouraging to him and I think we should look for those types of things and be encouraging
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Not only when God does it in our own lives and it kind of surprises us But when he doesn't other people's lives and surprises what it us what he does in their lives too because Paul Had the inner satisfaction
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His circumstances didn't faze him Concentrated his efforts on the complete well -being of other people and that is the fruit of contentment.
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Do you know people like that? Are we a contented church do you think we act that way?
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I'm just asking the question. Are you a contented person? There aren't many people in this world who are content and I challenge you tomorrow.
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Just don't say anything tomorrow when you go out to the store and you go out to work just listen to what people are saying and They will give you every evidence that they are not happy that they are not satisfied and that they are not content
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People are so preoccupied with themselves that they rarely have time to think about the things of others
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But Paul learned to be content the Philippians I believe learned to be content and we can also may our
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God teach us this valuable lesson And I encourage you just to kind of mull over these things and meditate on them even this week