Winning the Battle of the Mind Pt 3

Where'd y'all stand? I want to welcome you to Calvary Chapel this morning. Those who are here with us here live and those who are online, we welcome you. Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers. And just happy day to all of those fellows and ladies that are mothers. Just give us a blessed day, we pray. Give the mothers a special blessed day. We thank you, Lord.

And Father John, we ask that you'd just encourage us this morning as we seek to worship you and as we seek to know you better as your word is taught this morning. I lift up each one in here this morning that you would just go before, encourage each one. You know each of our hearts and where we are right now and what we're facing, whatever it might be. Good.

Bad, ugly, wart light, whatever. We ask that you would just strengthen us. We know you are our strength. We can trust you in every area of our life. And we ask for your blessing now on our time as we worship you and study your word. In Jesus' name, amen.

Okay. Okay. Just, we may be doing this. The keyboard is boardless. Ah, there we go. Thank you. Got your mic?

There we go. I heard that wind come through there. Jesus, Lord of heaven, said you have a son.

I stand beside mercy beyond measure.

Jesus, Lord of grace, that you rise in the sky.

The sky is yours.

You may be seated. We do thank you, Lord, for your boundless love. That is always there for us. We thank you for that, Lord Jesus. You're worthy of our praise this morning.

Your earth forsaken rose again.

Your spirit again would die.

It was again.

Jesus, you bothered to think what you did for us. Barabbas being let go. The one who was actually the insurrectionist. The one who had done. What he had done, but yet you had done nothing wrong. But you died on that cross for us. And I remember, you remember reading where the thief, you know, the one thief gives Jesus trouble. He gave you trouble, Lord Jesus.

And the other thief said, we deserve where we are. This man has done nothing. And he said, remember me. Remember me, Lord. And Jesus remembered him. Amen. Amen. Oh, God is so good, isn't he? He loves us. So much that he died for us. Oh, you're worthy of being praised, Lord. Who do we think we are that we're anything without you? You're so good to us, Lord. Do you make praise your God?

Ever change God in the sky?

Lord, we thank you for your unfailing love. What an awesome thing to consider. The one we stand on. Oh, yes, Lord.

What may come, whatever it may be, we'll stand on the way of Jesus Christ. We thank you, Lord Jesus. Take my time, Lord.

How true that is. We have nothing without you. We need your strength to do it all. But we thank you for your faithfulness, Lord. Praise you, Lord Jesus. We just worship you now. We give you thanks. We honor you. We praise you.

Would you all stand? A little stretch time before you set again, huh? Yeah? Oh, Lord, bless. Just continue to bless our service. Amen. Father, we remember Jesus speaking to the disciples there in John 15. He said, I am the vine, you are the branches. My father is the husband. And, Lord, truly, when you think of a branch hanging in and connected to a vine, obviously that's where the source is.

You are our source, Lord, for everything. And, Lord, we know that in that whole picture of a vineyard, there would be that vine dresser who would be, you know, going by and doing a little pruning here and there, a little cleaning, doing that, those things that needed to be done to the branches, that would be all part of the vine, Lord. That would cause their ability to be sustained in the vine greater. And, Lord, you do those things in our life.

You do those things that cause us to have to look to you, to trust you, to... To be cleansed, to be purged in things in our life because we're just but sinners saved by grace and this old nature tries to creep up. And with the devil, the world, and our flesh, my, my, my, but greater are you who is in us than he who is in the world. And we thank you, Lord, that you are in us, Lord.

By your Holy Spirit, you're working in each of our hearts, Lord. Oh, strengthen us and help us to abide.

Yes, I.

Yes, I.

Yes, I.

Teach us, Lord. And we know. Teaching comes a process where you take us through, Lord. You work us through things because you love us. You're patient with us and you're kind. You're forgiving, Lord. We would abide in you today, Lord, and every day. Praise you, Lord Jesus. We give you thanks. We look to you, the author and finisher of our faith. We know you are faithful.

You're worthy of all of our praise. Father, just bless our time. And your word, as Pastor Ryan comes up, just anoint him by the power of your Holy Spirit. Would you fill us afresh with your Holy Spirit this morning, Lord? Just come upon us. Fill us afresh. Overflow us, Lord. That we might be encouraged and strengthened and build up in the faith. And we're, it's necessary, convicted and all those things.

Because you came, you said you would send the Holy Spirit into the world to convince us of the world. Sin, righteousness, and judgment, Lord. So you do your work and you'll do your work in this world in which we're living. We're just passing through. But help us pass through serving and looking to you and trusting you. In Jesus' name, amen. Lord bless y'all.

Have a little fellowship. You could begin to find your seat. Grab a bulletin. We'll get ready to go over some announcements.

All right. Welcome to Calvary Chapel. Welcome to Calvary Chapel. Welcome to Calvary Chapel. I'm glad that you have joined us this morning. I'd want to say happy Mother's Day to all of you ladies in here. And we have a little something for you. So if you would, on your way out, make sure that you stop and see the ushers. Because we want to give you a little gift to say how thankful we are for the work that you do.

You made it to church this morning. You made sure your family was dressed for church this morning. You might have even coordinated your family this morning. And let's face it, your husband would not be the man he is without you. So. So we're thankful for what you ladies do. In the middle, over on the left-hand side are all the things that go on throughout the week.

The only change for today is that it is Mother's Day. So no college group tonight. You should instead go hang out with your moms and let them know how awesome they are. And because that's how you have a happy home. And other than that, everything else is going on. Over in the middle section of your bulletin, a few things to take note of. Fellas. We have men's breakfast coming up this Saturday.

So come join us for that. Put it in your calendar and come enjoy some food and some fellowship with us. We have a couple of conferences that are coming up. June the 1st. June is going to be a really busy month, but all really good things. June the 1st is the Bible conference that Calvary Fellowship over in Wellington puts on. And several of us local pastors will be speaking at that one.

It is a free conference. I think it's from 830 to 430 ish. Something like that. And lunch is provided. So come join us. It'd be a great time. June 6th through the 8th is the prophecy conference up in Wellington or excuse me, up in Emporia. And it also is a free conference. You just need to provide lodging for yourself. And again, several of us local pastors will be speaking at that one as well.

And then we've got a couple of other things coming up. First of all, I'm going to have Erica come up and share about camp, right? True. Oh, we have a consortium of people coming up to share on, on camp.

So we are preparing for camp for our kids this summer. It is June 23rd through the 26th, right after VBS. So it's going to be a little crazy for everybody, but good. It's for second grade through fifth grade. So if you're in fifth grade this year, you can still go to camp this year, this summer. And it is $2. $225 a student. We just had breakfast this morning and thank you to everybody who came and gave money and helped donate because we definitely earned enough money to send at least four kids to camp just from that breakfast.

So that was awesome. Danielle is for sure going to camp with the girls. We are still looking for maybe dad volunteers or even a college student if they wanted to volunteer to go. High school students. High school students would be a great option, too. We would just love to have a guy be there to kind of be in the rooms at night mostly with the kids to kind of make sure they're our group.

All of it's great, especially if there's younger ones. Last year, I felt like our boys did really well. Oh, Ryan was there with them. But you kind of just want to, they just need people to make sure they get where they're supposed to go and they're not doing anything they're not supposed to be doing. Super easy. You get fed three times a day. And you kind of.

And you kind of get to sleep at night, maybe. But it's fun. Of course not true. There's a zip line if that encourages any men to want to go. That's fun. And swimming. I am considering going to camp again this year. I'm not sure about it. But we do know we're going to have at least six girls going. So we had a good group of like, was it like 13 kids last year?

We had one of the bigger groups. It was great. And everybody had so much fun. And my kids have talked about it all year. They're excited to go again. So I really hope if your kids are in that age group, you'll consider sending them. If you want to sign up and you know that you don't want to pay for it, just come and tell us. Because we, it is online, but we can help you do all of the sign up stuff.

So if anybody wants to continue donating to camp, just put the money in the offering box and mark that it's for camp. I think we're going to try to do another fundraiser sometime before camp. But. But since it's a really crazy schedule, I'm not sure when it's going to be. It's tentative right now. But was there anything else we needed to say about it? No, I think you remembered everything.

Did we? Okay. Oh, I was going to say, if your kids are not in the age group for this camp, we're going to Prairie View Christian Camp, which is here in Arc City. And it's wonderful. It's not very far away. And if your kids are in middle school or high school, they do a middle school and high school camp. If you want to go online and look at when those dates are and your kid's interested.

I would encourage you to do it. I'm a huge advocate for summer camp for kids because I went my whole life and I just always have loved it and feel like it's a great time to focus on God and kind of learn because you're away from the world for a few days. And it's just God speaks to you at camp. So if you have that interest, please check it out for yourself.

Thank you. And yes, fellas, it would be great to have a dad go. You don't get a ton of sleep, but it is a lot of fun and hanging out with the boys. It's fun. And when all is said and done, they say you're the coolest guy there. And so that part's kind of fun, too. So and then I'm going to have my wife come up and share about VBS.

VBS is coming. It's right around the corner. It's going to be June 19th through the 21st this year, 6, 8, 30. It's one of the biggest outreaches that we do in our church. And so there's lots of ways to get involved. Work day. Our first work day is going to be Wednesday, May 22nd. It's from 9 to noon. So if that fits your schedule, we'd love to have you. We'll be painting and preparing to turn our sanctuary and the whole church into the town of Nazareth.

So that's our that's our theme for this year. I also have volunteer sheets. They'll be out in the lobby afterwards. So if you want to serve with a group of kids or in any other way, there's a lot of different options. And you can come and see me after our church. So thank you.

Okay, very good. If you would make sure that your mobile device is silenced and for our it's going to be Eunice is Jared in here. No, I forgot to talk to anybody. My buddy's gone for our unison reading this morning. We're going to be in Psalm 42. We're looking at the new American standard for this part so that we sound the same. If you need a copy of the new American standard, there should be one in a row.

Around you and as you are turning to Psalm 42, if you are able, please stand in the honor of the reading of God's word. And I failed to procure a new friend today. And so we are just going to all read it together all in unison at the same time. Psalm 42. Well, we'll try anyways for the choir director, a mascal of the sons of Cora as the deer pants for the water brooks.

So my soul pants for you. Oh God, my soul. Thirst for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my food day and night while they say to me all day long. Where is your God? These things I remember and I pour out my soul within me for I used to go along with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God.

With the voice of joy and thanksgiving. I. A multitude keeping festival. Why are you in despair? Oh, my soul. And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise him for the help of his presence. Oh, my God, my soul is in despair within me. Therefore, I remember you from the land of Jordan and the peaks of Herman from Mount Mazar.

Deep calls to deep at the sound. Of your waterfalls, all your breakers and your waves have rolled over me. The Lord will command his loving kindness in the daytime and his song will be with me in the night. A prayer to the God of my life. I will say to God, my rock, why have you forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy as a shattering of my bones?

My adversaries reviled. While they say to me all day long, where is your God? Why are you in despair? Oh, my soul. And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise him. The help of my countenance and my God. And father, we do praise you for the hope that we have in you and the truth that there is in you. And so father, as we spend time in your word this morning, I ask that you administer to us by the power of your Holy Spirit.

In Jesus name. Amen. You may be seated. And if you would open up in your Bibles to the book of Philippians chapter four, Philippians chapter four.

Today, we come not only to the last of our series on winning the battle of the mind, but we come to the end of the book of Philippians. We've said that in Philippians, each chapter has is going to teach us a lesson about joy. As we come to the fourth chapter, we've said that joy comes by winning the battle of the mind. And we said that there. There are seven lessons all together.

We've covered the first five already. And today we'll cover the last two. And so picking up in verse 10 of Philippians chapter four, it says this. But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at last you have revived your concern for me. Indeed, you were concerned before, but you lacked opportunity. Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances.

I am. I know how to get along with humble means. And I also know how to live in prosperity in any and every circumstance. I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry of both having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. And so our next lesson about winning the battle of the mind is that if we are to win the battle of the mind, we need to learn to be content.

Content. We need to learn to be content. As the backdrop of this lesson on contentment is the giving of the Philippian people. Paul starts off by saying, I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that you have revived your concern for me. Remember, the entire reason Paul is writing this letter is because the Philippian people had sent an offering to Paul as he was there under house arrest in Rome.

They had sent it by the hand of Epaphroditus. And this was something that the Philippian people had done often for him. They were actually known for their generosity and for their giving to the ministry of Paul. And he says, I praise God that you have revived your concern for me. But he goes on to say, not that you weren't concerned before, but you lacked the opportunity.

He said, it wasn't that you didn't care. You just didn't have the opportunity to do anything about it. But once you realized you began to give again and you sent me a gift that was such a blessing to me. But lest they think. That all he cares about is this gift that they've given him. I want you to notice what he says next. Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am.

There's a couple of words I want to point out to you in there. And the first one is the word learned. Paul says, I don't speak from want because I've learned something really important in my life. And what he had learned is contentment. But that word learned is kind of an interesting word in the Greek. Because in the Greek, it means the entrance into a new condition.

An entrance into a new condition. So it could be translated like this. I have come to learn. In other words, this is not something that came natural to him. This is not who he was by nature. It's not who any of us are by nature. And of course, the thing he's going to learn is contentment. And I would say that the least thing that we are by nature as human beings is content.

We usually just want more, right? We want the next. We want the next new thing. We want the next available thing. We're happy with the car that we've got. But man, that other car would be really nice too. We're happy with the home that we've got. But man, that home would be really nice too. I don't know if you notice this if you're on the social media or not.

I don't know why I get things from the Oklahoma State social media page, but I do. Mike Gundy has listed his home, his ranch down in Oklahoma for $8 million. And I look at my home and I'm like, gosh, that home might be kind of nice too, right? Because we're not content by nature. Do you know why we're not content by nature? Because if you go all the way back to the Garden of Eden,

if you go all the way back to the very beginning, what were Adam and Eve told they could eat? They could have every fruit from every tree in the garden except one. Now, I don't know how big the Garden of Eden was. I don't know that we could put parameters on it, but I'm going to say it was a good-sized garden. I'm going to say there was more than two trees, right?

I'm going to say this is a decent-sized place. And yet, where were Adam and Eve hanging out? By the one tree that they couldn't have. What fruit did they find themselves eating? The one fruit that they couldn't have. They couldn't be content with the 555,000 other trees that were in the Garden of Eden. They wanted to be next to the one tree that they could not have.

You know why? Because contentment is not natural to us. And so Paul says, I have learned. I have entered into a new condition. I have learned. I have come to learn this truth in my life. Now, I appreciate that he phrases it that way because it reminds me that none of us does this naturally. None of us is naturally this way, so we have to learn it. So there's two things I want to point out to you about the learning.

Number one, it should give a great deal of patience to you because you may look at yourself right now and say, you know, I really struggle with being content too. That's okay because this is a learned trait in our lives. This does not come naturally to us. It's something that we have to learn. It's something that we have to come to a place of learning. And so be patient with yourself.

I would actually say that most of the things that we want to become as believers in Jesus Christ don't come in just one day. Because of our culture that we live in, we think that the day that we got saved, we should be able to do everything right. I should understand everything that there is to understand. I should be who God wants me to be. I want to be perfect, right?

But that's not who we are because we still wear flesh. Right? Flesh has to be disciplined and we have to learn. And so be patient with yourself as you are becoming who God wants you to be because you are in a learning process. But while it teaches us to be patient, it should also hold us accountable because you should be learning, right? It shouldn't be a situation where you say,

well, that's never who I'm going to be anyway, so I'm just going to give up. No, you should always be in a place of learning. You should always be in a place of growing. One of the smartest people that I've ever met in my entire life, said, I learned something new every day. And all I can think to myself is it would take me the rest of my life to know what you know.

And you learn something new every day because that's what intelligent people do because they're always pushing themselves to become better. Well, spiritual people are like that only it's with spiritual things. We're never like, well, I've arrived now. That's it. No, there should be a constant learning process that takes place in our lives. Paul says, I have learned to be content.

But the second word that I would say is, I would point out to you is that next word content. He says, whatever state I'm in, whatever circumstances I'm in, I have learned to be content. The word content literally means independent of external circumstances as defined. That's what the word content means. Independent of external circumstances. And if you think about it,

how do we usually base how good our life is? We usually base it upon, external circumstances, right? How are things going for you? Pretty good. I've had a great day. How are things going for you? Pretty good. I got a raise at work. How are things going in your life? Pretty great. I got a new car. How are things going in your life? Great. My kids got straight A's, right?

And so we base our lives on our external circumstances and how good we're doing is not based upon a core reality of me. It's based upon what's happening. It's based upon what's happening. It's based upon what's happening in my life. Paul says, I have learned not to be that way. I have learned to not be dependent on external circumstances because I have learned to be content.

Now, the interesting thing about this word content is that the Greek Stoics use this as a word to mean self-sufficiency and competency. Now, if you know very much about the Stoic philosophy, the Stoic philosophy is exactly that to not be moved by external circumstances. And you realize, reach a place where you are content. You're not moved emotionally one way or the other.

You're not moved in your life one way or the other. You are simply a content individual. And now you are self-sufficient. The same philosophy goes around in the world today, right? Self-denial and some of those things go around in the world today. But Paul took it and went even beyond that because Paul's independence of external circumstances came not from his self-sufficiency,

but from his God dependency. And we'll find, we'll find that in just a moment when he says, I can do all things through him who strengthens me. But we have to learn to become independent of all of these external circumstances. I love the way that he says it in whatever circumstances I am. If you were reading the old King James and maybe even the new King James,

you'll find that it says in whatever state I am. Now, my mom used to always joke and say, even if that's the state of Kansas, but let me tell you another funny story. Sorry about that. So when I was living in California, most of my friends were from California and they're in Bible college. And so we're in a prayer meeting one time with a girl who, by the way,

is on staff at a church in Kauai now. And so she's living in literally awesomeness, right? And so, so we're in this prayer meeting and, and she's like, Lord, just help us, help us to want to go wherever you want to go, wherever you want to take us, Lord, help us to be content to serve wherever you have us, Lord, even if that's, if that's Kansas legit, that's exactly what she said. And the whole prayer meeting, just I'm the only guy in the entire college from Kansas.

I'm not making that up. Everybody stops and just kind of looks up and looks at me. And we all burst into laughter, but that's kind of what Paul's saying here in whatever state I'm in. I can be content. I'm not held back by the things of this world, but I have a quick question for you. What is it that you think that you need in your life? And I don't want you to think about the right answer.

I want you to think about the real answer. What is it that you think you need in your life to be content right now? For most people, they have something that they think it has to do with the relationship that they want to be in. Oh, if I can just find a husband, if I could just find a wife, then I would be content. Sometimes it has to do with the relationship that they're in right now.

If my husband would just start, start acting this way. If my wife would just start being this way, then I would be content. Sometimes it has to do with our job. Oh, if I could just have this job, then I would be content. If I could just make this amount of money, then I would be content. Sometimes it has to do with your house. If my house was this big, then I would be content.

Maybe it has to do with your car. Well, if my car also had these other features, then I would be content. Maybe for some of you, it has to do with this look. Now I look, I look this way. I, I, I set out on the challenge at the new year to, you know, new year, new you. And if I look this way, then I'm going to be content. But you know what? The problem with putting your contentment in any of those things that I just said is

even when you get them, you still won't be content. You still will not be independent of external circumstances. Why? Because the thing that you, you thought would bring contentment was an external circumstance. And so Paul says, I have learned to be content in whatever circumstance I'm in. He goes on from there to say, to kind of describe this in verse 12,

notice what it says. I know how to get along with humble means. And I also know how to live in prosperity in any and every circumstance. I have learned, the secret of being filled and going hungry of having abundance and suffering need. Paul gives four kind of opposite scenarios there. Did you take notice of that? Four opposite scenarios where he has learned in either one to be content.

The first one he says is I've learned to be content in humble means literally that word is to be a based or to be brought low. I've learned to be humble when I'm brought low in my financial situation. And I've also learned to be content in prosperity. Now, I know what you're thinking. And I chose to camp out on this one word for one quick second. I know what you're thinking.

Of course you can be content in prosperity. Really? Have you ever seen people with a whole lot of money? You know what they're not? They're not content. You know how I know that? Because I follow a lot of professional sports and I like to follow these athletes. I remember the year that the Royals won the world series back in 2015. I think it was. And there was some really good guys on that team.

And you could tell those guys all like to play together, right? Like they seem to have a really good team chemistry. Obviously, I'm not in the locker room, so I don't know that for sure, but it's the way it looked on the outside and they're winning a championship. It was their second time going to the world series, but some of their contracts were due. And you know what everybody said?

These guys are going to have to get paid. Now, a lot of these guys were making pretty decent money as it was. And I just sit back and I go, do they? I mean, you're already making more than the average person living in Kansas city. And you're playing a game that you started to like when you were four years old, probably. And you maybe you're making a million dollars a year.

Then you've got your endorsements on top of that. Do you really need more money?

Because they're still not content even in their prosperity. You know who some of the most miserable people in the world are people with a lot of money. And it's not because they have a lot of money. It's because that money is not making them happy. They find that even though they've achieved everything they can, they still find themselves going. There's gotta be something more.

Paul says, I've learned whether I'm in humble means or whether I'm in prosperity to be content. I've learned that in any and every circumstance, in other words, no matter what's going on, even if I'm sitting in prison, which he was, I've learned to be content. I've learned to be filled and eat the best steak in the world. And I've learned to go hungry and have there be nothing sitting in front of me for three days.

I've learned what it is to have abundance and I've learned what it is to suffer need. He says in all of these things, and this one says middle of verse 12, I have learned the secret. Now the word learned is used again a second time in verse 12, but it's a different Greek word. The Greek word in the previous verse was to enter into a new condition. The word learned in verse 12 speaks of the unveiling of a mystery,

which is why the new American standard translates it. I have learned the secret. Paul says the mystery has been unveiled that no matter what situation I'm in, I can be content. You see your whole life. You thought contentment came from external circumstances. He goes, but I've actually learned the secret. I've come to the place where the mystery has been unveiled.

And now that the mystery has been unveiled, I'm like, it all makes sense. Now, what is the unveiling of the mystery that has allowed him to be this way? I can do all things through him who strengthens, me. Now quickly, this is one of the most abused Bible verses in all of scripture, right? Like this is, this is the power lifters Bible verse. This is the, the martial arts Bible verse.

This is the, I can run through a wall Bible verse. No, it's not. You can try to run through a wall. And as long as you get right in between the studs, you can probably make it. But if you don't probably not going to, right? That's not what this verse means. This isn't the gear up and be extra strong verse. This is the reality verse. Okay. So let's talk about what it does mean.

He says, I can do all things. So what are the old things? That's always the question. Everybody has, does it really mean all things? Well, if we look first of all, it's direct context. It has one specific meaning. It means that I can be content. That's the direct context of what this verse means. It means that if you want to learn to be content, it is only,

only found in Christ. That is ultimately where your contentment is going to come from. Listen, your contentment is not going to come from another relationship. Your contentment is not going to come from another thing. Your contentment is not going to come from more money. Your contentment is not going to even come from memorizing more of the Bible. Your contentment is only going to come through Christ.

Because as you find yourself content in him, when you know that who you are, that you are who you are in him, all of a sudden, the rest of the, the rest of the, things start to fall apart. All of a sudden, the rest of the things start to go away because you realize what he says is more important than what anybody else says in the world. I've shared this story lots of times, but I'm going to share it again. It's my favorite little kid's book ever.

I've always said, if you really want to know theology, read a little kid's book because they put real life theology on a level that a five-year-old can understand. And quite frankly, if a five-year-old can understand it, I'm probably in the ballpark, right? So there's this great story about a group of wooden people called the Wemmicks. You've heard this one before. I'm going

to share it with you again. These Wemmicks would give each other stars and dots based upon the things that they could do, right? This story by Max Lucado. If you did really good things, you'd get a star. If you did really bad things, you'd get a dot. And everybody walked around in this little wooden people village, giving each other stars and dots based upon what they did. Well,

there was one little Wemmick that had nothing but dots all over him. Some people would, would give him dots just because he had so many dots. He couldn't do anything right. He found no happiness in any part of his life because he was such a loser. Max Lucado doesn't call him a loser. Those are my words, okay? So don't think, my kid can't read this book. Anyway, well, one day he's

feeling so bad about himself and he sees this one little Wemmick girl walk by and she's got nothing. She didn't have stars or dots. People would try to give her dots because she didn't have any stars. They didn't think she could do anything good. Some people would give her stars because she didn't have any dots and they thought she did everything. Perfect. But none of them stuck to her. They all would just fall off when they put the star of the

dot on her. And one day he asked her, what is your secret? How are you able to do that? I'm covered in nothing but dots. How does nothing stick to you? And she said, well, every day I go see the maker. Well, that was a really scary thought to him because after all, he hadn't done very much with what he'd been given, right? He was full of nothing but a bunch of dots. And so he thought

about it that night. He thought about it for a couple of days and he thought, you know what? What else do I have to lose? My life is in the toilet. I'm going to go see the maker. And so he shows up, walks up the hill to the maker's house and he walks into the home. And the first thing that the maker does, he calls him by name. He said, you, you know, my name is that of course I know

your name. I made you. He said, it looks like life has been pretty hard on you. Those, those women have given you a pretty hard time. He said, yeah, I can't do anything. All the other kids do. And they just give me dots. And he said, but I talked to this girl and she didn't have any stars or dots. And he said, oh, yes, she comes. She comes and sees me every day. I tell her how special she is. And I tell her how

much I love her. And I tell her how much I care about her and that she is special because I made her. He said, I want you to do the same thing. I want you to come here every day so that I can tell you that you're special just because I made you. And the little guy said, okay, I'll do that. And he gets down and he walks out of the door. And as he walks out of the door,

one of the dots fell off. Isn't that a great story? You see, his contentment could not be in what other people said about him, because when it comes right down to it, why do we care about all the external things? Because we care what people say about us. Why do we need more things? Because we care about what people say about us. So where do I find my contentment? I find my contentment in

Christ because I can do all things through him who strengthens me. It's the only place of contentment. That's why Paul says, I found the secret. The mystery has been unveiled. I learned the secret of what contentment really is. And it's found in Christ and in knowing who I am in him. Now that's a direct context of the all things, but I do think that there's a broader context to the

all things. Not necessarily the fact that all of a sudden you're going to become some super human, super Christian, but I think it means the idea that you can do everything that God has willed for you to do. You can do all things that God wills for you to do in your life. You see, for some of you, God is calling you to a deeper level of responsibility, maybe within the church.

And you say, I can't do that because I don't have what it takes. And I can tell you, you can do all things through him who strengthens you. Some of you are being called to get off of social media and you need to stop comparing everything about your life to somebody else. You need to stop looking at everybody's filtered pictures of their vacations. Everybody's filtered pictures of their

homes. Everybody's filtered pictures of their lives on social media. And you say, Lord, I has test. It has such a grip on me, but you have to understand I can do all things through him who strengthens me. Some of you, God is calling you to repair your marriage. God says you have a broken marriage and it's time to repair it. And you say, I can't do that. And he says, but you can do all

things through him who strengthens you. And you say, I can't do that. And you say, but you can do all things through him who strengthens me. Some of you are being called to forgive someone who has hurt you in some kind of way. And God keeps bringing that person to your mind. And you're like, I know I need to forgive them, but I can't because they've hurt me so bad. I would tell you,

I could do all things through him who strengthens me. I don't know what it is for you, but if it's God's will and he's calling you to do it, then he's going to give you everything that you need to do it because you could do all things through him who strengthens you. Now, I want to point out a couple of other phrases. He says all things. We've seen both the direct and the broad context of it, but how can we do

all things? We can do all things through him. It is a Christ confidence, not a self-confidence. It is a Christ sufficiency, not a self-sufficiency. You have to come to the place where you come to the end of yourself and say, I can do all things through him who strengthens me. And God keeps saying, you can't do it. Jesus said, without me, you can do nothing. And Paul reminds us,

but that with him, we can do all things because it is through him. It's through Christ. Not only that, but he says it's through him who strengthens me. That phrase strengthens me literally means to infuse with strength. Now, this is the way that my cartoon brain works. Okay. What I saw was a Marvel movie, right? With the infusion. I picture me getting up in the morning

and like, I get hooked up to something that infuses something into my veins and I'm like, right. And all of a sudden now I've got everything that I need because I've been infused with strength. And I go out like Hulk man or something like that. I made up that name. I think it's the incredible Hulk and he man, but I put them together and I go out and I can do all these

things because I've been infused with strength, right? That's the picture physically of what Christ does in us spiritually. Only we don't get hooked up to an IV. What do we get hooked up to? We get hooked up to the word of God and prayer through an abiding relationship with Christ. And we don't get strengthened so that we can go out and be he man and the incredible Hulk. We get strengthened so

that we can go out and show the love of Jesus Christ to the world that's around us and live in obedience to him because I can do all things through him who strengthens me. And so if you want to win the battle of the mind, you need to learn to be content. But the last lesson, it is this when it comes to a starting in verse 14, it says, nevertheless, you have done well to share with me in my affliction. You yourselves also know Philippians that at the first preaching of the gospel, after I left Macedonia, no church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, but you alone for even in Thessalonica, you sent a gift more than once for my needs.

Not that I seek the gift itself, but I seek for the profit, which increases to your account. But I have received everything in full and have an abundance and am amply supplied having received from Epaphroditus, what you have sent a fragrant aroma and acceptable sacrifice. Well, pleasing to God and my God will supply all your needs according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. The last lesson in winning the battle of the mind is this. If you want to win the battle of the mind,

you need to rest in God's provision. You need to rest in God's provision. Again, the backdrop of this is the giving of the Philippian people. This is not a message on giving. It's just the backdrop of where he comes to this point. He says, nevertheless, you've done well. And that you've shared with me in my affliction. He says, I don't need anything. Or he goes, I don't want

anything, but I am blessed that you shared with me in my time of affliction. As a matter of fact, you guys have always been verse 15. He goes over the history. You guys have always been the ones who have been supporting me. You guys have always been the ones who have been giving to me. You have supported me in so many ways, almost more than any other church in Macedonia. But then in verse 17,

I want you to notice what he says. Not that I seek the gift, but I seek for the profit, which increases. To your account. Now, I want to point something out to you about this. Again, not a message on giving, but it is a message on blessing because it's a message on resting in God for provision. Paul says, I don't necessarily want your gift, but what I do want is for you to be blessed.

I want to see the profit that increases to your account. And in this, we learn a principle. And the principle is that when you give to any aspect of the work of the Lord, God credits that to your account. But let me give you the example of what I mean. So right in between the services here, we had the little fundraiser for, uh, for camp and, and Eric has shared that we could potentially send four kids to camp right now. Now let's say

one of those kids, you, let's say you gave some money to that. Maybe he's dropped a few dollars in there. And one of those kids goes to camp. When that kid goes to camp, the message of the gospel begins to sink deeply into their heart. And finally they realized that, Hey, I want to give my heart to Jesus. And they give their heart to Jesus. And they give their heart to Jesus. And they

get set on a course where they start following Jesus with all of their heart. And then they go on and they minister to other kids as well. Maybe they go on and grow up and go about the work of the ministry, Sunday school teacher, pastor, raising a family that loves Jesus. All of the fruit that comes about from their life in Christ is credited to your account because you dropped $4 into the bucket of a fundraiser for a bunch of kids that are going to go to camp.

That's exactly what it means. A few weeks ago, we had the basketball fundraiser for, uh, for those folks that are going down to Guatemala on the mission strip so that we could relieve the financial burden on them so that they could go and minister. Now, if you dropped a few dollars in there or, you know, you paid off the referees so that your team could win or however it works, you know, when, when you gave money to that, now, uh, now these guys are going to go to Guatemala. When they go to Guatemala, they're going to do the work of the ministry. Some of them are going to be

working in medical clinics. Some of them are going to be working in the ministry. Some of them are working, uh, in construction projects. Some of them probably be doing like VBSs and stuff like that. And as you gave to that, now, whatever they do in Guatemala gets credited to your account. So let's say they go down there and they minister to some folks and some, some, some Guatemala folks

get saved and then they go and start ministering in their church and then other people get saved. And then those people get saved and start ministering to other people. Do you realize the limit to which there is, that there is no limit to which God can use you when you give just a little bit to the Lord. There's a great song in the nineties. It was called thank

you for giving to the Lord. A little bit of a cheesy song, but I always kind of enjoyed the message. It always got me when it came on the radio, even as a teenager. And this guy has a dream and this dream, he arrives in heaven and there's this whole group of people that start coming up to him and talking to him. And he's like, I don't know who these people are. And

the angel says, these people are all here because of you. And he says, I don't understand. I was never a pastor. I was never an evangelist. I never did anything. He said, yeah, but you gave, you gave to the Lord. You taught my Sunday school class. You gave to the missions work. You held the door for me in church. You greeted me one Sunday morning. And now I'm here

because of you. Friends, we think serving God has to be some huge elaborate thing and it doesn't because any sacrifice of you giving to the Lord, whether it be giving of your money or your time, it all gets credited. Back to you. People say, thank you for giving to the Lord. It goes on from there to say, but I have received verse 18, everything in full. And I have an abundance. I am supplied having

received from Epaphroditus who actually brought him the offering and then brought the letter back to the Philippian people. I have received what you have sent. And I want you to notice how he describes this offering. It is a fragrant aroma, an acceptable sacrifice. It is well, pleasing to the Lord. Now, if you were to go all the way back into the old Testament to like the

book of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, you would learn about some sacrifices. And there was one particular sacrifice called the whole burnt offering. And what they would do is they would just make this consecration offering unto the Lord. And they would bring an animal and the animal would be slain and it would be laid on the altar. And the animal would just be completely

burnt. All of it would belong to the Lord. And we're told of a response that God would have when that whole burnt offering would take place. It says that it was an aroma that was acceptable and pleasing to the Lord. And from that, we know two things. A, God loves barbecue. And B, God loves a sacrificial heart, right? And that's what he describes this as. He says, your giving was like an acceptable sacrifice to the Lord. But as

I told first service, one of the biggest things that holds us back from really giving to the Lord finances are tight, right? Money's kind of tight. And so he says, and my God, verse 19 will supply all your needs according to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus. Worry over money is one of the most dominating things in our culture today because everything is really expensive. Everything

keeps costing more money. And I bet you think about some of the things that I think about sometimes. How are we going to fit everything into the grocery budget this month? How are we going to afford to save for retirement? How are we going to afford to send our kids to college? How are we going to afford to pay for weddings? Two of them, two daughters, two weddings, right? That was on my mind quite a bit. How do we afford to do all those things? How

do we afford to pay the bills this month? And God forbid some medical thing come up. And now we've also got to pay for that. Now we've got to pay what our insurance doesn't cover, which anymore it seems like insurance is a 20% off discount code, right? Like, how are we going to do this? And we worry about these things. And listen, some people stay up at night thinking about these things. They, they worry themselves

to death over it. Or you think, or it causes issues in your marriage. And now you guys are arguing about money all the time because somebody's spending too much because we know that in every relationship there's a saver and a spender, right? And so you're, you're arguing about saving money. And now you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're

you're arguing about how to allocate the money. How are you going to pay the bills? And there's so much worry over it. And the reason why there's so much worry over it is because we're not taking in what God has to say. I want you to notice what it says. And my God will supply all your needs according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Who is the one that's going to supply for us?

My God. My God. My God's going to be the one that supplies. My God is going to be the one that takes care of every financial need that I have. Now, why does that make you feel better? Well, who created everything? God did. Who gave man a mind to work? God did. Who owns a cattle on a thousand hill? God does. Who knows where all of the oil in the world is? God does. Who put all the gold in all

the hills? God did. So if God owns all of the oil in the world, who put all the gold in all the hills? Why am I worried about my money? Because my God shall supply, the word supply literally means fill to the full everything that I need. What are you worried about God providing for right now? What are you worried about that is not going to get paid? What do you find yourself stressing

about? I'm here to tell you that God can take care of that because that's who God is. God is a God who provides and we can rest in his provision. Because my God shall supply all your needs. There's a great story from history about a guy named George Mueller. If you want to read any kind of a great biography, read a biography about George Mueller. And I probably shared this story before. But George Mueller ran an orphanage in Germany.

Late 1800s, early 1900s. I'm a little fuzzy on the time frame, but somewhere in that general range. And his philosophy was this. He did not want to ask anyone for money because he believed this verse so much. Because he believed this verse so much. He believed this verse so much. Because he believed this verse so much. Because he believed this verse so much. Because he believed this verse so much. Because he believed this verse so much.

Because he believed that God would supply all of his needs. And he lived completely on faith, ran an orphanage on faith. So one morning he woke up and the ladies that were supposed to cook breakfast came to him and said, George, we got a problem. There is no food in here. And all these kids are about to get up and we got nothing to serve them for breakfast.

What are we going to do? He says, have everybody gather around the table. And we're going to sit down and we're going to pray. We're going to thank God for the meal that he's going to provide. And they're going, dude, you're nuts. Okay. So they get all the kids together and they sit around this table. And George Mueller said, we don't have any food, but we are going to pray and thank God for the meal that I believe he's going to provide.

And so they got ready to bow their heads and close their eyes and start the prayer. And about that time there was a knock on the door. And so he got up and went and answered the door. And at the door, there was the bread man, the baker in town. And he said, I've got a bunch of extra leftover bread. That's going to go bad if it doesn't get used. And I noticed that you're in an orphanage and I thought maybe you could use it.

And he said, that would be fantastic. We can absolutely use it. And so they sat down. Now they got bread. This is a beautiful thing. They've got something to eat now. And so they sat down again to thank God for what he had provided. And there was another knock at the door. And this was in the time when there were milk trucks and the milk truck had broken down.

And the guy that drove the milk truck knocked on the door and he said, hey, listen, my milk truck's broken down. This milk's all going to spoil. This milk's all going to spoil because I can't get it distributed the way it's supposed to be. I noticed that you're in an orphanage. Could you use this milk? And he said, absolutely. And so then they sat down and they thanked God for the meal that he did provide.

Why? Because my God shall supply all of your needs according to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus. A little story from my own life. About 10 or 12 years ago, I think Nora was a baby. And we were just broke, right? We didn't have any money. And we were having a garage sale this day. And our air conditioner broke down at the house. And listen, I am too hot-blooded and way too hairy to go without an air conditioner, right?

It's just, it's not good. It's a bad situation. I see the looks on your faces, you know, right? And so we're like, oh, Lord, we need to get the air conditioner fixed. So we call the repair guy out there and he goes, okay, you're this. I don't know. I think it's a fan motor. We're now, it's going to be, I think, like $300, $325, something like that. We're like, we don't really.

We don't really have that kind of money. And so we went about the day. And, of course, we're having a garage sale. Guess how much money we made at the garage sale? $325. And we were like, wow, how do you do that? How do you plan that, right? You don't. Because my God shall supply all of your needs according to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus. Now, I want to point out the second phrase.

My God shall supply. That's really important. But he's going to supply all of your needs. Now, he's going to supply. He's going to supply all of your needs. But he's going to supply all of your needs, right? One of the issues we have in this Western culture right now is differentiating between want and need. My favorite story from the past two or three weeks is that I don't want to get into whether or not whatever's going on on college campuses with protesting.

Actually, no, I'll get into it. They're morons. But they gave out a list of things that they need while they're protesting. First of all, I didn't know you could do that, right? I'm going to start protesting so that someone will bring me groceries. And in the groceries, you know what they were asking for? Gluten-free. I mean, all this list of things about what they needed in order to continue their protesting, right?

It had to be like free-range chicken and gluten-free food and all this kind of stuff. And you're just going, that's our culture, right? Right? Right? Right? Right? Right? Right? Right? Right? Right? Right? Right? Right? Right? Right? Right? Right? Right? Right? Right? Right? Right? Right? Right? Right? Right? Right? Right? But I have needs. No, you have wants.

And that's one of the things that God's really good about doing with us is teaching us to separate out want and need because he'll always provide all of your need, right? I'm reminded of the story of, I'm running out of time here. Sorry, guys. I'm reminded of the story of Jesus feeding the 5,000, right? So Jesus is teaching all these people, 5,000 men plus women and children, and the disciples

come and they're like, Jesus, it's getting kind of late. And quite frankly, we're kind of hungry. These people need to go eat. You should send them into town to get some food. And Jesus goes, why don't you guys feed them? And they're like, because we don't have that much. We got five loaves and two fish. And they came from that little guy over there. And little does he know, we stole his lunch, right?

And so that's not how the story goes at all. But the five loaves and two fish part, that's legit. He says, okay, bring them to me. So they give the five loaves and two fish to Jesus. And what does he do? He prays. And he starts distributing. And he keeps handing it out and keeps handing it out and keeps handing it out until all the people are fed. Fed to the point where they don't want anything else.

Filled to the full. And then there were 12 baskets left over. Now, can you imagine if some of the people sitting there receiving the bread and the fish were like, I ordered steak, right? Like I had the chicken. No, because God provides our needs, right? According to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus. And so I'll point out one more thing about this. It says, according to his riches, not from his riches.

And that's an important differentiation. Let me give you. An idea of what I mean here. If, if I knew Warren Buffett really well, and I was like, Hey, uncle Warren, um, I need some money and he floated me a hundred bucks. Well, that's not really giving according to his riches. That's giving from his riches. But if I went to him and I said, uncle Warren, I need some money.

And he gave me a million dollars. That's not him giving from his riches. That's him giving according to his riches. Does that kind of make sense to you? And that's what it means when it says that he gives to us, he supplies all of our needs according. To in accordance with all of his riches and glory in Christ Jesus. So if you want to win the battle of the mind, you need to rest in God's provision.

All right, let's wrap up this book. Verse 20, the benediction. It says now to our God and father, be the glory forever and ever. Amen. Greet every saint in Christ Jesus. The brethren who are with me, greet you. All the saints greet you, especially those of Caesar's household. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Three things I want to point out to you.

Number one, to God be the glory because Paul's life was lived to the glory of God. And quite frankly, if we want to join our lives, we should live our lives to the glory of God. Number two, he says, we greet you. Greet every saint in Christ Jesus. And all of these saints greet you guys. You know what that means? Brothers and sisters, you and I, we're saints.

Isn't that great? I don't feel like a saint. Well, if your faith is in Jesus Christ, if you've been born, you're a saint. If you've been born again, you're a saint. I always love J. Vernon McGee's take on this. He says, now, my friends in the world today, there are only two groups of people. There's the saints and there's the ain'ts, right? Because you're either in Christ or you're not in Christ.

But I want you to notice who else he says, greet you. All the saints greet you, especially those of Caesar's household. Now remember, Paul's in Rome and who's guarding him every day? A Roman soldier who probably also is a guard that ends up in Caesar's household. What do you think Paul was doing? Every day when he was chained to a Roman guard, can I talk to you about Jesus, right?

He starts talking to him about Jesus and one thing leads to another. Those guys are like, that short, weird dude just convinced me to follow Jesus. And then he takes that into Caesar's household. Now, all of a sudden, there's a little mini revival going on in Caesar's household. Friends, the word of God is not chained and the word of God cannot be bound. So he then closes off with the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.

Because the grace of Jesus brings about the joy. The joy of Jesus. Amen. Let's all stand.

Moms, make sure that you see the ushers afterwards to get yourself a little gift. I'm so blessed that all of you could be here with us this morning. And I'm blessed that you guys are my family here. Shall we pray? Father, we come to you and we thank you for the time that we have in your word. Lord, I thank you for who you are. I thank you for the grace that you show to us.

And Lord, I thank you that you are the God of all joy. Because you are the God. You are the God of all grace. And so, Father, we praise you for who you are. In Jesus' name. Amen. Be blessed.

Thank you, Lord, for your wonderful love. The willingness to die on the cross for us. Now, raising from the dead and ascending up. You're up there at the right hand of the Father making intercession for us. And so, Father, we ask for your blessing now on everyone as we leave now. Give us a blessed and safe week. We thank you for your Holy Spirit that leads.

And guides us, Lord. Continue to move in our hearts. Strengthen us with your might to walk and live for you. In Jesus' name. Amen. Lord bless you all. Have a great week.