fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right and pure and lovely and admirable
8 Finally, brothers, whatever things are true, whatever things are honorable, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report; if there is any virtue, and if there is any praise, think about these things.
Paul praises the Lord that the Philippians were concerned for him, and states he has learned to be content
10 But I rejoice in the Lord greatly, that now at length you have revived your thought for me; in which you did indeed take thought, but you lacked opportunity.
11 Not that I speak because of lack, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content in it.
Paul says he has learned the secret of living in every situation, full or hungry, plenty or little
12 I know how to be humbled, and I know also how to abound. In everything and in all things I have learned the secret both to be filled and to be hungry, both to abound and to be in need.
the Philippians were the only church to give Paul financial help, sending aid more than once
14 However you did well that you shared in my affliction.
15 You yourselves also know, you Philippians, that in the beginning of the Good News, when I departed from Macedonia, no assembly shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving but you only.
16 For even in Thessalonica you sent once and again to my need.
Paul says he has all he needs, that their gifts are a sweet smelling sacrifice pleasing to God
18 But I have all things, and abound. I am filled, having received from Epaphroditus the things that came from you, a sweet-smelling fragrance, an acceptable and well-pleasing sacrifice to God.
godliness with contentment is great gain, love of money is the root of all kinds of evil
6 But godliness with contentment is great gain.
7 For we brought nothing into the world, and we certainly can’t carry anything out.
8 But having food and clothing, we will be content with that.
9 But those who are determined to be rich fall into a temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful lusts, such as drown men in ruin and destruction.
10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some have been led astray from the faith in their greed, and have pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
This was a Monday night study wrapping up the book of Philippians, with Carl reading through chapter four and Nick speaking on it. The group spent time in Paul's closing words about contentment, generosity, and where lasting peace actually comes from. Several people shared from their own lives during an open conversation after the message.
What was said
Nick opened by naming the themes that run through all of Philippians: humility, selflessness, unity, thankfulness, steadfastness, rejoicing in all things, and God's peace. He held those up not as a checklist but as a picture of what a church actually looks like when it is operating the way God designed it to, and he admitted he needed to hear the message as much as anyone in the room.
Philippians 4:8 came first. Fix your thoughts on what is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, and admirable. Nick described lying in bed that week with his fists clenched, unable to sleep, and then actually trying what the verse says. He said he felt himself open up. The point was simple: the peace Paul describes does not arrive first and then prompt obedience. You do these things, and then the God of peace is with you.
From there the message moved into Paul's words about contentment. Nick noted that Paul was in house arrest when he wrote them, had been shipwrecked, had likely lost family relationships when he came to faith, and still said he had learned the secret of being content in any situation. That word "learned" mattered to Nick. Contentment is not a personality trait some people are born with. It is something you arrive at, and Paul got there through Christ, not through circumstances improving.
That led directly into the familiar verse, "I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength." Nick was candid that the verse gets pulled out of context and put on T-shirts in ways that make it sound like self-determination. In its actual setting, Paul is saying he can endure prison, hunger, and hardship because Christ gives him strength for that. The verse is about steadfastness under real difficulty, not about achieving personal goals.
Nick then paused on Paul thanking the Philippians for their financial support and acknowledging they were the only church that helped him. He used a personal story about making Christian films years ago and receiving granola and toilet paper from his own church while another church poured thousands into a similar project. He said he spent years being resentful about it, and that reading Paul's grateful, non-begrudging tone toward his supporters convicted him. Paul wanted them to receive a reward for their kindness. He was not keeping score.
During the open conversation, a member who is preparing to raise funds to return to Romania said the passage about gifts being "a sweet smelling sacrifice pleasing to God" gave him a new way to think about asking for support, something he had always found uncomfortable. Another member reflected that Paul's contentment comes from drawing from a very deep well, the kind of relationship with Christ where you can say "to live is Christ and to die is gain." A third person brought up that obedience to God often does not make sense to the people around us, and sometimes not fully to ourselves either, but that walking in obedience lifts the weight of trying to manage everything on our own.
Nick closed by circling back to the final verse of the letter: "May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit." He framed it as the whole book in a single line. All the thinking on good things, all the contentment, all the steadfastness under pressure, it flows from grace received and then extended outward to others.
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Nick described lying in bed with his fists clenched and then deliberately turning his thoughts to what is true, honorable, and lovely, and feeling himself release. Has there been a time when you tried that kind of deliberate shift in your thinking? What happened?
Nick said that Paul's 'I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength' was written from house arrest, after shipwrecks and beatings, and is really about contentment in hard circumstances, not self-determination in good ones. How does that context change the way you hear that verse?
another Monday night, and thank you. Where's is Scotty here? Scotty help with oh, there you are. Thanks for helping with food. We're wrapping up the book of Philippians.
Nick is gonna share the last part of chapter four. We'll have a little conversation time before we get there. Can we worship in song together? Here's Jesus from Luke. And the very hairs on your head are all numbered.
And so don't be afraid. You're more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows. That's good. We are loved by God, dearly loved.
And if you would, please stand too. All throughout my history, Your faithfulness walked beside me. The winter storm made way for spring. Life. I see your promises in fulfillment all over my life, all over my life.
Help me remember when I'm weak. You feel me come but feel you lean. You lead my heart to victory you are my strength and you always win me I see the evidence of your goodness all over my life, all over my life. I see your promises in fulfillment all over my life all over my life.
See the cross,
the cross, see empty grave, the evident is
in
See the cross, empty grave. The mess, all my sin rolled away because of you, oh Jesus. I see the evidence of your goodness all over my life, all over my life. And I see your promises in fulfillment all over my life, all over my life. And why should I fear?
So why should I fear? Oh, the heavens is here.
Thank you tonight as we sing that song for how dearly loved we are by you, that you know us, you've created us, you've sustained us this far, and, Lord, we trust that you'll take us the rest of the way. Thank you. Amen.
To make a rich his treasure how great the pain of searing on the father turn his In Christ alone, my hope is found. He's my God, in victory, since curse his loss, it's grip on me. Ride your mist, he is mine, but with the precious blood of Christ. No guilt tonight, my fear in
Oh, those lyrics are so powerful. So powerful. We could do just a sermon on those. You can have a seat here for a moment. So we're we're in Philippians.
In fact, we're wrapping up the book tonight. And I asked Nick if if he would wrap it up. But before he speaks on it, I would love to just share the scripture through so that we can see it read all the way through. And it's Paul thanking the Philippians for their gifts, and he's sending his final greetings. And there's some there's some gold there.
So let me just read it, and then, Nick will speak on it. It says, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. We covered some of this, last week, but it rolls right into this week. One final thing. Fix your thoughts on what's true and honorable and right and pure and lovely and admirable.
Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise, and keep putting into practice all that you learned and received from me, everything you heard me and see me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you. The result there as they do these things. Verse 10. How I praise the Lord that you concerned about me again, Philippians.
I know that you've always been concerned for me, but you didn't have the chance to help me. Not that I was ever in need, for I've learned to be content with whatever I have. Oh, boy, that's good. Verse 12. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything.
I've learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it's with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little, for I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength. Even so, you've done well to share with me in my present difficulty. As you know, you Philippians were the only ones who gave me financial help when I first brought you the good news, and then I traveled on to Macedonia. No other church did this. Even then, I was in Thessalonica.
You sent help more than once. This church was very helpful. Verse 17. I don't say this because I want a gift from you. Rather, I want you to receive a reward for your kindness.
At the moment, I have all I need and more. Are you getting the impression that he is content with what he's with with what he has? I heard somebody say recently, the secret of life is, being content with what you have rather than what you don't. I think that's good. But I'm here to read the scripture, not not say stuff.
So verse 18. At the moment, I have all I need and more. I'm generously supplied with the gifts that you sent me, Epaphroditus. They're a sweet smelling sacrifice that's acceptable and pleasing to the Lord. At this and this same God who takes care of me will supply all of your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.
Now all the glory to God, our father forever. Amen. Give my greetings to each of God's holy people, all who belong to Christ Jesus. The brothers who are with me send send you their greetings, and all the rest of God's people send you their greetings. Greetings.
Greetings. Greetings. Especially those in Cedar Caesar's household. And then he ends verse 23. May the grace, God's favor, always extended in your direction.
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you and be with your spirit. Excuse me. Amen. That's great. What a oh, such a good book.
And, Nick, you wanna share a little bit more? Do you want me to give you this mic microphone right here?
Carl. Oh. Sorry.
No. It's okay. Yeah. Most people are a little there we go. Thanks, Carl.
And can we give Carl and Scott a hand for running out to get the food? It's a good thing we're doing a message about Grace tonight because I need it because I accidentally ordered pizza for tomorrow, which is not tonight as it turns out. So there's a little correlation there. I I really love the opportunity to be up here tonight. I have to admit, I needed this more than I think anybody else, for what that's just been going on in in my mind, and it's it's a gift to be here.
I think Carl was ready to preach it. Like, he can tell it's just pouring out of him, this message, but I'm sitting there going like, I have some work to do. Have my own heart. Right? And and what kinda came to mind, the sermon illustration for all this that came to mind sounds a little strange, but it was health insurance.
I I I was going through my health insurance emails that they sent me, junk mail, junk mail. And they sent me, during the summer, a little thing that said, hey. If you submit your receipt, you get a $100 back. And I was just thinking, like, gosh. If I read my health insurance policy policy, imagine all of the benefits I would get if I read it.
And it kind of felt like a Philippians here. There's all these promises, all these things you can get if you apply them to your life, and it's not insurance. I get it. It's not that exactly. But that's kinda what reminded me is, like, if I if I went over this more, participate in this, I would also get something back.
And that's one of the things that I love about scripture too is that, you know, from the world's perspective, it's this set of laws, all these things we have to do, all these things we we have to do. Not thinking about how it helps us. You know, God has designed us to interact with him and interact with the world in a specific designed way because we operate best that way. And I think this this chapter in Philippians here really shows us how best we can operate. It's our it's our operating instructions to live a better life and and and to live more for him.
So let's go ahead and click through some of these here. So this is these are some of the themes I picked up in the whole book of Philippians. And, humility, selflessness, being at the work of God, unity, thankfulness, steadfastness, rejoice in all things, and God's peace. A pretty great list of attributes. Right?
Don't you want those to, like, describe you and the church body in general as being full of these things instead of panic and fear and worry and doubt and anger and, you know, infighting? Imagine the life not only we could show to other people, but think of the amount of peace you would have in your life if these things described you, humility, selflessness, being at the work of God, unity, thankfulness, steadfastness, rejoicing in all things in God's peace. And I think we actually see a lot of those come up in this passage as well, including steadfastness, but we'll we'll get to that. Don't let me forget. That's a good one.
Okay. So now is it we'll start again where Carl was in 04/08. And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing, fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right and pure and lovey lovely and admirable. Think about all the things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Carl did an a wonderful job with this last week too, but it's it's worth, like, pouring over again.
I I was laying in bed this week just tense. Like, my my fists were clenched, and I I'm laying there trying to go to sleep, and we all know how well that works out. Right? Not super well. And I and I was like, you're preaching on the answer to this this week.
Maybe try applying it. And when I when I did these things, when I let go of all my worries and my fears and my doubts, and I started thinking about what was honorable and true and right and pure and lovely and admirable, I really did feel it. I felt myself opening up. I felt myself releasing. It's it's a good recipe.
Right? This this is something we can actually do on a day to day basis to live as God wants us to. He's not asking us to carry the whole world on our shoulders. Right? That's his job.
His job is is to keep it spinning in orbit. Our job is just to to do what he puts in front of us that day and not worry about tomorrow. What a gift. What a gracious God. Like, if you don't see God's grace anywhere else in the world, how about this?
You know, that we don't have to carry the burden. You're not in charge of saving the whole planet. Okay? Just be about God's business where you're at. My mom actually got me a book when I was a teenager.
It was I think the title was don't sweat the small stuff. I'm one of the people that works the opposite. I wanna hold on to this. I wanna fix everything. Anyway, enough about me.
Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me, everything you heard from me and saw me doing, then God, the God of peace, will be with you. I think that's an interesting word that, like, then, that that little that little, you know, clause there, that little thing. Then you have to do these things first, and then you get peace. The peace doesn't come to you, and then you do these things. You you get peace when you start doing these things.
I think that's that's really important. Being at the work of God and focusing on what he wants you to focus on. It bears reading again. And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right and pure and lovely and admirable.
Think about the things that are excellent and worthy of praise, putting into practice and the all things you learned from me and received from me, everything you heard from me and saw me doing, then the God of peace will be with you. That's gonna come up again later. We're gonna need that. And we're gonna keep going. It how I praise the Lord that you were concerned about me again.
I know that you've always been concerned for me, but you didn't have the chance to help me. Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it's a full stomach, empty, plenty, or little. Here's another benefit.
When we live in Christ, when we live focused on God, we can be content with that. Because if the God of the universe is on your side, everything else should be taken care of. Right? God is with you. All those worries and all those fears, all the things you can't control aren't your job, and you can be content with that.
And I think we miss that a lot in our culture. Right? We always feel like we have to spin our wheels. We have to get a little higher. We have to make a little bit more money.
We have to do a little bit more. We have to have the right things, and we just miss it. Right? Life just kinda passes us by, and we wake up at the end, you're like, what what did I do with all that time? I could have enjoyed that more.
I could have been in the moment more. I think that really strikes me when I when I used to make Christian feature films, and I would I was just bullheaded, I would plow through everything and and do everything just, oh, I gotta get this done. Gotta get this done. Gotta do this. And I would get done with the movie and be like, I should have enjoyed that.
I should have paid attention to the people that were around me. I should have I should have loved that more than I did. And and I think it's bearing it's worth looking at the definition of of contentment. And by the way, yes, I usually have pictures of animals in there for Florian. He mentioned he loved that one time.
So a dog sitting on a chair, I think that's a content being right there. You know, satisfied with what one is or has, not wanting more or anything else. Doesn't that sound like a gift right there? And I I think, actually, Carl, you may have heard me say that that little bit. What we tell try to tell young people is if you find contentment, you've won.
I try to tell that to all all young people we we mentor and talk to because you'll see people fighting their whole lives. And then once you get to be an older age, you're like, those people who who are content, who are happy and peace at peace, boy, that's that's the most desirable thing. Forget the Ferrari, forget the giant house, anything like that. That contentment, oh, it's so attractive and desirable. And there's a lot of actually, there's a lot of verses about contentment in the Bible, and I just think it's worth looking at some other ones too.
But godliness with contentment is great gain. There's your recipe right there. Godliness with contentment. Obey him, follow him, and be content that that's enough. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.
But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and entrap and into, many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. Some people eager for money have wandered from the faith and pierced themself with many griefs. We only needed the first sentence.
Right? I need the rest of that tonight because that's one of the traps for me is is the money thing. I get caught up in swirling around in that. So that's I love that in there because that's a conviction to me. But, really, godliness with contentment is great gain.
Like, that's that's the goal. That's what we really need. When I I walked across Spain this summer, we had a lot of great conversations with people. And what what ended up coming up across a couple times, there were two basic conversations. One of them was, and this is the most frequent, was God desires obedience and not sacrifice.
That's a big one. Right? Because we all wanna we all wanna push. We all wanna strive. We all wanna prove something to God.
We wanna prove something to people around us. What he he he desires obedience. He wants us to follow his will his way. And then that's that's the main thing, not sacrifice. That's the big one.
But the the second one was that people were trying to add things to the gospel. Right? Like, we we spend a day with this guy who he said that he believed in Buddhism and Christianity because he believed in all of the mindfulness stuff of Christianity or or mindfulness of Buddhism, not really the actual Buddhist religion. I was like, you know, Christianity has a lot of that stuff in there, right, of just being in the moment of letting things go, But we don't focus on enough. I guess, maybe I'm not always the best example, but I think it's it's important to, like, godliness with contentment is great gain.
It's already built in there. God wants us to be in the moment taking care of his business right where we're at instead of being out of the moment worrying about something. And here comes the a really popular verse. The and I'm so glad Carl stopped in to talk about this one. This is continuing on still in Philippians, for I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength.
What's he talking about there? Is he is he talking about being a football player and winning the Heisman trophy and, like, standing there and going on the money? May may yeah.
May
is he is he, you know, making T shirts like Steph Curry's I can do all things? Not mentioning through Christ who gives me strength. There he I'm not I don't know if he made that shirt, but it is a real shirt. Or this one, it says, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. The bottom.
Nothing wrong with it. It's not a condemnment. Yeah. Maybe you own that one. It's it's great.
But I think it's important to look at that because where was Paul when he wrote this? He's in house arrest. He's in he's in prison. He's been the guy's been shipwrecked. He's been beat up.
He probably, you know, he lost some of his family when he decided to follow Christ. And he's he's talking about being contentment and finding strength in that. That's what he's talking about. He's talking about all all the things we just went through, all of the let's back up actually the those first few verses there about being content. But also, yeah, thinking about things that are excellent, worthy of praise, what is true, what is honorable, what's right.
He's called to continue to do those things when he's in prison. Like, nobody would fault him for being grumpy and, you know, angry and disappointed with how his life turned out. Like, oh, I'm supposed to be leading a church of 10,000 people. It's all about numbers. I should be making this amount of money.
He's in prison rejoicing in the Lord. What an incredible example to those of us who are free and can do things, you know, whatever we wanted to. These are the instructions we're supposed to have. Yeah. It's great to win Heisman trophies.
Yeah. It's great to do all those things too. But no matter your circumstances, if you're in prison, if you're poor, if you're rich, anywhere in between, like most of us here, continue to follow Christ. Continue to focus on him and give him the attention and and release. Yes.
I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength, but it may it may mean being in prison. It may mean dealing with some disappointments or things didn't didn't go right or when you thought you ordered pizza for everybody, but it's supposed to come tomorrow instead of tonight. You know? I can do all things. So I think that's an important thing to remark.
I guess a a lot of people use that as a as a sign of strength that, like, self determination. It's all about me. I can do these things through Christ. Let's be doing his work through Christ. You know, let's do what he calls us to do with strength.
And notice how the church shares in his burdens throughout this. I think it's really beautiful when when a church can do that. I work here at First Be Now, and sometimes we do that right, but we're also human. Sometimes we fail in that regard. But I kinda like his attitude about both sides, the people that help him and the people that don't help him.
So as as you know, the, you Philippians were the only ones who gave me financial help when I first brought you the good news and then traveled on from Macedonia. No other church did this. Even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent, help more than once. I don't say this because I wanna get from you, rather because I want to, I want you to receive the word for your reward for your kindness. Couple different thoughts with that one.
One, please thank people when they help you out. That's really nice. And if somebody's touched your life, it doesn't have to be at the church. Someone someone's touched your life, thank them. Let them know.
I like Paul's example here of that. Like, be aware of the people and acknowledge them when they're a part of your faith. Help help them out with that. And then the other part, like, really goes back to, like, when I was saying we used to make movies and I was grump I was grumpy. I I started making movies at exactly the same time as the the short picture of you guys who made, like, fireproof and all those.
I literally signed my deal on the same table at the same time as they signed theirs. And their church, like, just donated thousands of dollars to make these movies. I got granola and toilet paper from my church. And I remember just being so grumbly and unhappy. Granola and toilet paper.
How could they and I missed that I got granola and toilet paper from from the people in my church who were trying to do their best. Paul decides to take the hyroid here and be thankful for what he does have instead of jealous for what he doesn't have. Another place where I missed it. I'm sorry to make this about myself, but by golly, this strikes me hard. This is it's so incredibly practical.
At the moment, I have all I need and more. I'm generously supplied with gifts you sent me from Paphrodis. Again, this guy's in house arrest. They are a sweet smelling sacrifice that is acceptable and pleasing to God, and the same God who takes care of me will supply all of your needs from his glorious riches, which I have been which have been given to us in Christ Jesus. Is he saying you'll have the newest thing you'll be take you know, you'll you'll have this big car.
You'll live in Jackson. That's not what he's saying. This is a guy who's in house arrest who says he'll God will take care of me, will supply all of your needs from his glorious riches. It might look different than you think, but it's kinda beautiful when you stop for a moment. And a part of that that gratefulness of thinking what's true, what's honorable, is realizing what you do have.
Right? Just stopping for a moment and and praising the Lord for the breath in your lungs, the the house that you may have, the the blanket that keeps you warm in your car if you're sleeping in your car, the the conversations you have with the people around you, and getting out of all those disappointments. That's that's something that's really been big in my life is trying to, like, just close down those thoughts. Like, close those windows on on your computer in your mind that that's they're open and they're feeding you all that junk. Just close it and and think about what what God has provided for you.
And now all the glory of our God and father forever and ever. Amen. Final greetings. Give my greetings to each of God's holy people, all who belong in Christ Jesus. The brothers, are are, with me, you sent and send their greetings, and all of the rest of God's people send you greetings too, especially those in Caesar's household.
There are people in Caesar's household who are Christians. I just I love that. That must not have been a very comfortable, easy place to be, but here they are standing up for Jesus in a place that probably would have been awful for them too. I just love that he ties them and saying, we're all in this together. Let's love on each other.
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. What what it we just what a pleasant way to end it. What a what a good exhortation for these people. Let's let's review real quick. Our eyes should be on the things of heaven, not on the things of earth.
I think that's that's a a good takeaway for today. What what does God have for us? What is he providing for us? What is he asking us to do and go for there? When we were in Spain, another one of the common things is like, how do I know what God wants me to do?
It's like, we'll read his word and start there. And in in this one, in in in this letter, we can also take all those things that he's given us and just start putting these into practice too. Not to review it too many times, but I feel like you can't read this enough. Fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right and pure and lovely and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.
It's a great place to start because there will always be fires somewhere. There will always be political unrest. There will always be landslides and all that other stuff. Start there. Fix fix your eyes on the things that God's calling to and and focus on that, 100%.
Let's go back to those themes too one last time. Humility, selflessness, being at the work of God, unity, thankfulness, steadfastness. Now there's a word we don't use a lot, but that's that's where you just you keep going. You you stick with it. No matter what comes your way.
And that's, again, Paul's great example here is this steadfastness. He's he's in prison. He's been shipwrecked, all these things, and his faith is still alive. In fact, it's still on fire. He's still encouraging other people.
It's that ongoing thing. It's like we had when I worked for, a youth group years ago, have this one kid who said, when my grandma dies, I'm gonna stop believing in God. And then you're like, your grandma will definitely die. That's a guarantee. So what are you gonna do to prepare for that moment when she does die instead of drawing these lines and these boundaries that say, I'm not gonna go here.
I'm not gonna go here. Get that steadfastness in your mind is like, I'm in this for the long haul no matter what happens. If I if I get two more days in my life or I get eighty more years, how am I gonna live it towards the Lord and just continue to follow him in that steadfast way? Rejoicing in all things. I probably beat that one to death, but let's face it.
We need to do that and God's peace as a reward. Pretty good things to to fill ourselves back up on. Philippians is wonderful book. You can read it in a, you know, maybe an hour if you wanna take your time to go through it. It's been a blessing to me, Carl.
Thank you so much for having me up here tonight. I wanna pray for ourselves too as we wrap up this book. So, Lord God, thank you so much for who you are and that you have everything in control, lord, that you are in charge, lord, and we just give up control that we hold on to, lord. All those things that keep us up at night, lord, whatever it is, if it's our finances, our familial relationships, our moving to some place else, Lord God, and I I just pray that you would you would take those things and guide us, lord. Guide this church, guide this valley, guide your people across the world, lord, to to be your hands and feet, to do your work, Lord God, and then to let go of the things that we need to let go, lord.
To be that example of thinking of what's true, what's pure, what's righteous instead of holding on to the ugly stuff of the world and trying to manhandle everything, lord. We put it all into your hands and ask for your grace and forgiveness, Lord God. Would you give us your peace and forgive us for for holding on white knuckled to everything lord in your holy name. Amen. Thanks gang.
Appreciate you so much. Do we wanna share, do we wanna share the microphone too? We've got that microphone.
Yes. I love this book very, very much. As I mentioned, and I don't wanna boast. I don't wanna say things that are show, look at me. How great I am.
I used to memorize this book because I love it so much. Not anymore. I don't remember. So my brain is not functioning super well right now. But it's such a great book.
Oh my goodness. We can learn from understanding the work of God, understanding who Jesus is, understanding what what is our call. But I have to admit that I have never ever pay attention to the, closing, of the book like tonight, especially, with the financial situation. I've I've always went through fast because it didn't apply to me much. But now I'm in the process of raising funds to go to Romania, and then I it's so difficult for me to ask for funds.
It's it's I've been here for sixteen years. I have never ever lacked food on the table. I have never ever been in the position not being able to pay the rent. I work. I have money.
Right? And I'm thankful for that. So and, actually, I'm on the other side. I wanna give when someone needs some. I wanna be part of giving.
Not in that position to receiving, so I think I need help with that. But I love how what Paul said that it's a smelling sweet sacrifice pleasing to God. And as I was listening to you preaching, I was kind of internalized and or thinking. I said, Lord, whoever gives because I'm happy when I give. That means it's a sweet smelling sacrifice acceptable to you.
And I said, okay. With that in mind, I'm gonna go to the churches in the valley and present what I wanna do. So thank you, Nick, for your encouragement. I really needed to hear that. Yes.
God is at work. I promise you even in the last very few words of the book.
I
think what what really grabbed me in this this whole book is well, especially tonight, it's the content is what stood out to me. He's learned to be content with whatever, and it really is whatever. It was whether well fed or or not. Whether he was in in prison or or free, he learned to be content, but that secret of contentment truly is his relationship with Jesus. And he's drawing from a very, very, very deep well.
And I think that's what really grabbed me tonight is when to be truly content, we're drawing from the deepest well, the well that doesn't run dry. We're drawing from a relationship with Christ and in Christ. And that's how he can say to live is Christ and to die is gain. And so that right there, the rejoicing and being thankful and, you know, all these these themes right here, they come from remaining in the vine, having that deep relationship with Christ. And it it's it's inspiring.
It's truly inspiring to to look at that and then put our lives to match our lives up to that and go, is that where I'm at? So that's what I got from Philippians. Anybody else?
Yeah. I think the part that's struck me was just obedience is greater than sacrifice. And, yeah, I think when we obey God, a lot of times our life doesn't make sense, right, to the world, to ourselves, to people closest to us. And yet the I think the mystery of that obedience ends up getting revealed to us, right, just walking it. And yeah.
But it's yeah. I think it's just that. A mystery until until we're living it, until we're walking it. And sometimes it's revealed fully, and sometimes we don't we don't even understand it completely. But that invitation to obey whatever he says, whatever he calls, I think is such a privilege, and it is it takes the weight off of our of our life just to hear the Lord, to obey instead of trying to figure things out or plan things ourselves.
Yeah.
Thanks, Marie. I
agree with everything that's been said so far. One thing, though, that occasionally comes up and makes me ponder, And that is if you are confronted by out and out on the part of another person, out and out sin, what should your response be? In other words, we're put in the position of perhaps judging this person because of whatever he or she has done. And, you know, I start thinking along going down that road, and then I realize that that's not what Jesus would how he would approach whatever the situation is. You know, he'd forgives.
He'd forgive what even the the most heinous kind of a a sin. He'd enter into a relationship with that person that would help that person overcome, you know, what what he'd stumbled into. So it's easy to feel judgmental, and yet that's not what Jesus wants at all. So
Yep. Amen. And I like in in Philippians that he said, hey. Is there any encouragement from belonging to Jesus? Is there any comfort in his love?
Is there fellowship in his spirit? Are your hearts tender and compassionate? Because those are the kind of things right there, I think, that when we think on what Christ has done for us, then it helps us to extend that grace toward others. So I absolutely agree with you, Alan. Thank you.
Yep. You can always say, I love you, but I hate your sin. And just get get that fact in that, you know, that make them aware of it in a way, but still know they can be loved.
Should we stand and sing one more song?
Down this dark and painful road I can't face. Every fear of the unknown I can't us, lives in us. We have hope. We have hope. Why his promises are true, he's stray.
There's nothing we can't do. Yes, we know. There are greater things in store. We will not be overtaking. We will not be overstocked.
Same power, same power that rose Jesus from The same power that moves mountains way to speed. The same power that can call the rate and see lives in us,
That is a really good word to us. That same power that rose Christ from the dead lives in us and allows us, gives us, empowers us to to do just what we've mentioned here, what was mentioned here in Philippians tonight to fix our thoughts on what's true and honorable, right, pure, and lovely, and admirable, excellent, and worthy of praise. God's power enables us to do those things and to live with contentment. That's a good word. That is such a good word.
And and this too, let's let's keep this right here in our back pocket here. May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Be in your spirit, carrying that, being gospel bearers, being showing favor that God has shown us, extending that to others. In Jesus' name, amen.
