To follow you. It is in his precious and holy name that we pray, And all God's people said, "Amen". You may be seated, How we doing today. How we doing today, . There we go.

I like to give people a second chance. I tried to assume the best, Not that you ignored me, but that you didn't hear me. So just trying to have fun. If you have your Bibles, we're going to be in Philippians, chapter 4. Today.

I have, Y'all know I'm from Arkansas right?. Yeah, . Don't make fun of me like that. It's jacked up.

Every person who comes from California knows immediately that I did not come from Arizona, where you from. Every time, Every time Never fails. And as who's been spent most of his life in Arkansas, I, I've been in small towns. I've been in big cities. There is a big city in Arkansas.

It's not as big as Phoenix, but I've been in cities. I've been in small towns And since I've left Arkansas, I've been in, like New Orleans. I've been in Charlotte. Now I'm in Phoenix. I lived in a smaller town called Jofflin, And it's small man.

Some of the people y'all know here from Joplin. You see how quiet they are. Goodness, It's a little sleepy town. It's okay, It was good to me. I've been in small towns, big cities and I don't like to generalize too much but like, you ever seen the movie Up in the Air?

Like, like the actor said in Up in the Air, George Clooney. He said generalization sometimes quicker, But what I've, what I've learned, is that there's a general city vibe and a general. I was trying to say rural in the first service but I just changed the small town because I didn't want you making fun of me. The whole service: Rural, rural, rural, rural, rural. Don't don't make fun of me because I've got an accent.

But small towns have a vibe. Big cities have a vibe. It is not a science, Meaning there are people who are happy and unhappy in one and happy and unhappy in another. This generalization is not a science. But there is one generalization that I've noticed it, and it's about happiness.

 You can go into a big city and see people at the pinnacle of wealth, yet also see unhappiness. Y'all seen that before. It's like. I've seen some city people. They get unhappy sometimes.

You, you think about it's less now than it used to be Back before cell phones and smartphones. The contrast between a big city and a small town with regard to information was way different back in the day. Now everyone's got Tik Tok, Instagram, Facebook, It's pretty easy to hop, skip and jump to a bigger city. So you're, you're, there's a distance between all the frontline trends and what people are doing and information and all of that versus a small town. There's a little bit of a gap sometimes, but back when I grew up, the gap was is pretty wide.

Like a trend would start, people would start wearing stuff And I think five years later we would get that trend. In the small town that I lived in, That was a trend: Jenos- Y'all remember Jenos I think. It came and went in two months, but it came to my little small town and got stuck for about two years. The guys were like wearing those giant pocketed jeos for like two years. I couldn't afford them, so I didn't get them.

Praise God, Hallelujah. But my point is there: there's. There's a difference not just in the processing of information, but in the level of engagement with culture. That causes us to feel happy or unhappy. I give you an example.

I was talking to somebody recently. They lived in a condo and like central city of a large city in the United States and I was talking to them and they were like: man, the world is just crazy. And I just I'm struggling. I said, tell me about how the world's crazy is. Like, well, climate-, don't laugh at this-, climate, man, the country is going crazy.

 They're super stressed about politics and stuff like that And, they're having a hard time earning enough money to purchase a house. And then they start talking about and the Sedan in India And man, the world is just crazy. I, It's hard to even get out of the house And I don't have to go back to a small town to talk to somebody- This is more recent- the person in the condo, But I grew up in this- And so you go to a small town and, like all that stuff passed them by sometimes. I'm not making fun of them, I was that for a while and there was a piece about it that I really appreciated. So you go there.

It's not like their life is perfect. I, I spent several years in a, in a trailer park, and you hang out in a trailer park and you don't have anything that these people in condos are having and you're just hanging out, someone you know they might have type two diabetes. They're coming from the hospital and they run into a deer on the way back, break their windshield. They have to file for insurance in order to do it. It raises their insurance rate.

Then they get home to their kids And since you didn't get home in time, the kids had to do ramen noodles. They put it in the microwave because they didn't have pots in the pantry in order to put the ramen noodles in a pot to do it properly. That's the proper way to do ramen noodles. I learned that eight, nine years old And all of these things can be happening. But you go ask somebody in a small town how you doing.

The condo person was: "Man, it's hard to get out of the house". Ask them about kids. I don't want to raise kids in this world where you go to the small town and they're like "Well [sighs], God's good", Like been better but still breathing. Like that's kind of the stuff you get. And I'm not saying that one's better than the other.

I'm saying that there's a mentality that I think, in the way that we are raised and in the way that we operate, we miss That there is contentment to be had. No, you can't acquire it just by pulling up your bootstraps and saying "Yes, I'm going to be happy today". I think there's something deeply rooted in Christ Jesus. The secret to contentment is in a relationship with him. But I do think that contentment is something that you choose, And so, as I was thinking about the contrast between City Boys and Smalltown Folk, I decided to do a country song this week.

It's a country song made popular by Travis Trit. Anyone know Travis Trit?. Here it is. It's gonna be behind me.

Look at your neighbor. Tell them it's a great day to be alive. Anyone know that song? Raise your hand if you know that song. I appreciate you.

I appreciate you. I appreciate you. It's. You want to sing it for me?.

No, I'm going to try. I'm. It's a great day to be alive, Still shining when I close my eyes. I don't know. I haven't heard it in like 25 years, But I was struggling to come up with a title.

I was like I got to go country. I almost, almost did that John Denver song. What's it called? Something about country, Country, roads. They say that's the most popular country song of all time.

I don't know, But there's something about it. I get so stressed and consumed in the dayto day, the busyiness that I have, So much so, that if someone comes and asks me they say "How you doing today" I'm like "Busy stressed out", And that might be your response to people. But I think there's a secret layer in your walk with God that will breed [snorts] contentment, And I'll explain what contentment is today. But I just wanted to. I want you, because I hear you tell your neighbor, I want you to tell them, in case they forgot, that they woke up this morning, that they have breath in their lungs, that they're capable of having a good day.

Look at them and tell them how much is happening in a moment. Don't tell them. I'm going to explain to you what's happening for a moment. I think we just forgot you. It's a great day to be alive, isn't it?

It's like, Let me challenge you with this: Pick a better time. You going to say: 1800s, Have fun, Go back, Get yourself some tuberculosis. The 1500s, the medieval times, Go, get yourself the bubanic plague and get into a bunch of wars, because you're in the feudal system and the king's going to tell you when to fight just because he's not happy with the person next to him. Go back to Jesus's day and age, where the Roman Empire's got you completely subordinated and you can't do what you want and they can kill you at the drop of a hat and ain't nobody going to do anything about it. I know there's problems today, but it's a great day to be alive.

I mean, I was. I was doom scrolling the other day on TikTok and I was. I was just watching the Adobe keynote. I, if you know what a keynote is. It's every year when they come up with some updates to their software and they start talking about it like it's the best thing since sliced bread.

And I'm going tell you- I mean it kind of was. It's so cool what they're able to do with AI. And then I found out that Canva bought Affinity and now Affinity is free forever, meaning I don't have to pay for Adobe anymore if I don't feel like it. But we're going to talk about it, Kaylee, wherever you are. I was just so excited.

Y'all don't care about any of that stuff, but you could think of something in your own category: the fact that you got an iPhone, the fact that you know what's happening in the world and you can pray about it, The fact that, you have more information than you've ever had. And I know that information can be stressful, but you got it. A bunch of people throughout the entirety of history just live their life: eating, sleeping, drinking, having kids and then dying. But we got Netflix and Tik Tok and Instagram. I know you're like "Well, I don't want none of that stuff".

I mean, I want simpler times too. I'm I'm a country boy at heart, growing up playing Sweet Home Alabama and trying to figure out how to live in contentment, But at the same time, it's pretty cool that if you're in high school right now, you don't even have to try to do a citation because you got Chad GPT. I look at you high school people. It's so hard Probably is Just type your prompt in the chat: GBT, use your brain a little bit, It's not that hard. Said: "Well, but does M dashes".

Remove the M dashes and your teacher won't even know. I'm kidding, They'll know, because Turnitincom apparently can find out if it's AI. Just you know. I'm not telling you. I didn't tell them to cheat, did I?

I'm not telling them to cheat, I'm just saying it's a great day, to be alive. Look at your neighbor. Tell them. Tell them, it's a great day. It's a great day, to be alive.

I think the sun's shining out there too. It's a great day. We got a Sunday picnic celebration after this. Yeah, I, I'll know you got the sermon if you stay back and hang out with us for a little bit, because it's a great day to be alive. So come celebrate with us that you're alive.

Many of you, you came to church on purpose today. It was an intentional thing. And if you just walk out, hop in your car and go do whatever boring thing you were going to do instead of hanging out with us for free burgers and hot dogs, man, you're going to miss out on an opportunity- because it's a great day- to come out back and hang out for Sunday picnic and get to know somebody, fill out a connection card and, you know, actually find not just contentment, not just Christ, not just peace, but actual community for once. So I want to encourage you, celebrate today by coming out and hanging with us. Right after the message, Paul is finishing up his teaching, encouragement, his plea to the Philippian church, And we're going to be in chapter 4, starting in verse 10.

And what I'm going to do is I'm gonna walk through this fairly slowly, because that's what I do, because I love the word of God. And what he's going to do is he's going to talk to us as he closes his message to the Philippian church. He's going to talk to us about his secret of contentment. And here's what he says, starting in verse 10. He says this: "I rejoice greatly in the Lord that at last you renewed your concern for me.

Indeed, you were concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it". Now let me break that down for you for a second. Paul's writing this letter to the Philippian church. He's writing this as a return letter because they sent a man named Apaproditis with a letter, with maybe several letters, with an offering from the Philippian church. While Paul is sitting in Rome, the city- he's a big city, right, Philip Phil, Philippi is not a small city, but it's not as big as Rome- Paul's sitting in a prison cell, house arrest in Rome, receives this letter from Apaproditis and he is writing this letter back and he tells them in verse 10, I rejoice greatly in the Lord that at last you renewed your concern for me.

What I love about Paul is he talks like a normal person. He's writing this letter. He's writing it on papyrus. I'm not going to teach you how papyrus was put together, but let's just say it didn't come in a ream of 500 sheets of paper that he could put into a printer, Type, retype, print, say "Oh, screwed up here" And then reprint it. It was way harder to do it.

So Paul writes this thing, probably a little quickly. He says: "I rejoice at last, or that at last you renewed your concern for me". Now, the Greek word there doesn't necessarily or strictly mean renewed, but he says renewed. Now that could be taken as a negative thing. He says: "At le I'm I'm glad you finally renewed your concern for me".

But Paul, Paul's not trying to say that. So what he does is he corrects himself really quickly here. This isn't part of the sermon. I just want you to know how Paul writes and what the text of Scripture looks like. He couldn't erase it with an eraser, so he just wrote this extra sentence.

Well, yeah, indeed, you were, Like you, already concerned, but you'd have the opportunity to show me until now. He says "I'm grateful". In verse 11, he says: "I'm not saying this, but I'm grateful because I'm in need". They give an offering, encouragement, a letter, Apaproditis, who's a friend. I'm not saying that I'm grateful because I'm in need, For I have learned to be- say this word with me- content Whatever the circumstances, For I have learned to be content, Whatever the circumstances.

Let me ask you a question. I want a yes or no. If you, if you're willing to give me one Based on what Paul says here: is your natural starting place to be content, Yes or no?. It's not Some people naturally happy, It's just because they don't know how the word world works right now.

I'm kid, I'm kidding, I'm kidding. It's like you don't know enough. I mean, ignorance is bliss. They say, but then you know, something bad happens and you get unhappy. It is not natural for us to be happy.

So what I'm not doing is trying to communicate a message to you to say: just be happy, Don't worry, be happy. I didn't choose that song, did I? -, It ain't that easy. We live in a hard world. There's a lot of cool stuff in it, but we live in a hard world.

When I get the news in my feed that overnight in the Sudan, the rebel forces came in, took over a city and you have, I think upwards of two plus thousand people massacred in a night, to the point where they see from satellite images, like bodies and piles and blood stains on the ground Like man it. That's terrible information. Why in the like that's so difficult to receive And that's just something across the world? It's crazy. But you think about what happens in your life.

It is not easy to be happy because there really are things that go wrong. So I'm not trying to tell you just, don't worry, be happy, . But Paul says: "I have learned". He knows he does not default to this place of happiness and contentment. He knows he doesn't start out in the morning just cheer like, cheered up, without coffee.

Paul knows where he starts. That's what I love about Paul: He's honest and authentic. Paul's not saying he's perfect. Paul's been very imperfect throughout his life. Paul can think of the times where he screwed up and he can think of the times where he's done a good job.

And Paul says: "I have learned to be content". It's a learned attribute, contentment. And just like Paul says in Philippians, chapter 3, I press toward the upward calling of God in Christ Jesus. Just like he says: to have the same mind as Christ you have to humble yourself. Just like he says in chapter one, he's sitting in a prison cell in a humble state.

Paul knows that the art of learning contentment is not an easy one And I want you to know: if you try to just conjure up happiness without Paul's secret to contentment, you'll never grasp what you're looking for. You can't just make yourself be happy. Now let me be clear. Paul says: "Think on the things that are true, right, honorable, pure, lovely and of good repute". Paul says to think positive.

That's not only going to give you unity, but it'll give you a good mindset for contentment, Like there is a level where you simply have to choose contentment. But in the process of daily choosing contentment, you have to. You have to learn a little bit, And many of us we refuse to take the posture of learning unless it's something academic. You know, when you got out of school and you stopped learning, it's like I totally forgot how to do normal math. I know this every time my son tries to do homework, and he's only eight years old.

That's easy math, Monte. And I look at it. Parents know what I'm talking about. I'm like, "What the heck? I know they changed it up a little bit" And I look at it and here's what happens.

I know I got to learn it in order to teach him, but I'm like "I already did it, I already learned it" And like they said, I was going to use it one day and they lied, I don't want to use it again. Sometimes it's the same thing in our spiritual walk with contentment. It's like I'm walking through life. I'm a full-g, grown adult, I got my stuff. THIS IS JUST WHO I AM And I want you to know.

You have to have a teachable mindset in the Lord if you're ever not just going to maintain unity, not just have the mind of Christ, but to have the contentment and peace that you are grasping for. It's a learned trait. You say, "Well, okay, cool, You got to learn it, You got to learn it". Why you keep harping on learning it? It's because I've been in the church.

For a minute, 15 plus years I've been in the church. And my biggest struggle with people: I love you. I love you with the love that comes from Jesus, because sometimes my flesh doesn't want to love you. You know what I'm saying. Like it's tough, but one of my biggest struggles is that people will come here, say I love Jesus, but refuse to learn what he wants to teach them.

And here's what Paul says. We'll continue. Verse 12. I know what it is to be in need. I know what it is to have plenty.

I have learned the secret of being content. He says: "Learned again". What did I say about repetition in Scripture? You got to pay attention to it. He says: "I learned in verse 11.".

He says, "I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation". In verse 12, whether well-fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or living in want. Now, verse 13, . He's going to give us the secret. And this isn't a secret that you proclaim just because you want a sports game.

This isn't a secret that you proclaim when you win an award at the Oscars. This isn't just some throwaway text that we quote because it feels good or feels accurate to the moment. This is something that is deeply rooted in our walk with God, And it is the living secret of contentment. Here's what Paul says: In plenty or in little, I can do. Say it with me, All this through him, who gives me strength.

Let me give you my first point. I've only got two, Don't stress. Give you my first point That the secret to contentment is not self-sufficiency, It's Christ sufficiency. The secret to contentment is not self. Are y'all back there?

Because I think I got the point. Y'all back there? There's a point on the There. There we go. I had that memorized because it went up there.

The secret is not self-sufficiency, It's Christ sufficiency. This is what Paul's saying, And I know he says: "I can do all things through Christ, who gives me strength". What he's saying is not I can do all things, not, I'm reliant on every individual. He's actually telling the Philippian church: I'm, I don't, I'm grateful, but I don't need it. He's saying it is Christ in me that produces the very thing that gives me contentment: It's Christ in me.

Now let me break this down a little bit for you, because- because I'm a little nervous to do it, because I don't want anyone to be unnecessarily offended- If the Gospel offends you, so be it. It is what it is That's going to happen. But if I offend you and God didn't want to offend you, then I feel bad like all Sunday. So I don't want to offend you. Just know that my posture is not to offend you.

But many of us try to live a life of self-sufficiency. I read a book when I had book letter- whatever you want to call it- Henry David Thorough, when I was in high school. It was called self reliance, and that has a huge cultural impact on the way that we operate as a church, Even in the pursuit of the American dream, even when it comes to immigration. It's like I can go to America and, to quote Hamilton, be a new man. I can.

I can pull up my bootstraps and make something of myself. Now I love that mentality to an extent, But what that's produced in many of us is this innate drive to do all things on our own, And I need you to know that a relationship with Jesus requires you to rely on him, not just yourself. In order to trust in Jesus, you have to be reliant on him. You have to say "I can't be good enough". So Jesus had to die on a cross and rise from the grave so that I and my sin can be covered.

The basis of our faith in Jesus requires us not to be self-reliant but to be Christ reliant, recognizing that the only thing sufficient to get me to heaven is Christ. The only one sufficient to give me the peace that surpasses understanding is Christ, The only one who can give me contentment, happiness, literally the physical things that I need. The only one who can bring my entire life to what God wants it to be is Christ, in me and through me. You cannot do what God wants you to do on your own, But that didn't stop people from telling me to do it on my own. Many of us were like "Hey, I earned my.

I earned my money", But I want you to know that even the money you earn is a result of the grace of God on your life, whether you've trusted in him or not, Because there was an infinite amount of scenarios that could have occurred, and every step that you took and every step that every person you ever interacted with took had an infinite set of scenarios that God knew about and you had no clue about. So the very goodness that you're walking in right now is a result of God locating you where you were born and putting you around certain scenarios until you got what you got. I know that sounds confusing. I get stressed out thinking about it, because everything that I do has some sort of effect in the world. So let me say it this way: where you are right now, sitting in this seat, Whatever level of income you have, whatever level of emotional intelligence, whatever level of friend groups, whatever level of greater wealth, whatever job you have.

Anything that you have right now is by the grace of God, Because you could have been sitting in a foreign country without solid healthcare. I'm I'm. I'm thinking of something recent. You could be sitting in a foreign country and the best case scenario for you wasn't that you would be able to drive your nice car to and from church, to and from work, to and from sports activities to vote in a booth for a person that, if enough of us vote for, will be elected president. You could have been put in a place where you didn't have anything that you needed, where you didn't have the schooling that you wanted and where the best place you could be in life is driving a rickshaw in a foreign country.

It could have been. You did not get yourself here Now. You made some good decisions along the way, I'm sure, And I'm sure you made some bad decisions that God was good enough to kind of alleviate over time so that you could get yourself back into a good position. But I need you to know that, regardless of whether you trust in Jesus or not, the fact that you're sitting right here in this room breathing air is because of the grace of God, . So we need to recognize.

I'm just going to be honest with you- Like, how dare I be cocky enough to stand up here and say I got myself here? It was a collection of stupid decisions that God reworked so that eventually I could stand up here. And sometimes he's still like, should it have been him, Could it have been somebody else? It was the grace of God. So this self-reliance thing- I don't know It don't fit within the church, because you're going to have to rely on God.

This self-reliance thing is very tightfisted. You're tight fisted with your money. You're tight fisted with your work. You're tight fisted with your kids. You're tightfisted with just about everything.

Why? Because if you let go of it, it's on you. But it's so beautiful when I just release that a little bit and say, "God, you're in control. I'm going to seek you, I'm going to find you, I'm going to come to church, I'm going to open my Bible, I'm going to trust you with my finances. I'm going to do just about everything I can.

Because when I look at Christ, I see how he operated in relation to the father, And so I'm going to operate in relation to the father just like he did. I'm going to follow him, I'm going to look for him, I'm gonna open the Bible, I'm gonna understand all of his attributes. Guys, this is a little. This is a very simple thing to do, And I know the Bible can be complex to understand. But if you want to follow Jesus right and rely on him, all you have to do watch, open this.

If you don't understand it, copy paste that stuff into chat, GBT and tell it to explain it. Like dummies- Like you're a dummy- That's what I do half the time. If I don't understand something, I had it explain to me. What offsides was in soccer the other day? Don't judge me, I had to look, I didn't know, I didn't play soccer.

You look at this. You see Jesus. You see Jesus, you follow Jesus. You follow Jesus. You start to look like Jesus.

You start to look like Jesus. You feel peace, you feel contentment, you feel secure, you feel anointed, you feel what he wants you to feel, and then you're fulfilled, Filled, feel. That's what he wants you to do. But then there's another side of it. This is what I'm scared about.

We're not called to be self-reliant, We're called to be Christ reliant, But we're also not called to be overtly reliant on superficial things. See, I was raised in such a way that you need to be self-reliant, Pull up your bootstraps and do what you're supposed to do, and you don't ask for help from anybody. But there was a season in my life and there are people that I know really, really well. They were raised not thinking that way. They were raised thinking I need to rely on everybody for everything.

I'm trying to be really careful here because I don't want anyone to be offended. I know the political atmosphere is interesting right now, but, God called us to rely on him, not on superficial things, And I think there's a level where, when we lean into Christ, he looks back at us and he says: "Don't you see how I lived? Don't you see how I operated? Look at Paul. He receives what they gave him in terms of encouragement and in terms of financial help.

The Philippian church gave him an offering and he's like: "Yeah, that's great. Rome's really expensive. I got some cost of living difficulty here, Philip, Phil, Philippi is a little cheaper. I'm super grateful". In fact, you guys were super helpful when I was in Thessalonica as well.

I'm super grateful for you guys as a church, But I want you to know, while I'm grateful, I didn't need this. I'm going to use it for the glory of God, but I didn't need it. And so many of us are in the place, not where, not where we're pulling up our own bootstraps and being self-reliant, but where we're so scared of relying on God that we ask for help from everybody, even when it would take us two seconds to think of a solution. Not trying to make you feel bad if you're receiving help. There are times where you're going to need help from your brother and sister in Christ, and maybe even from the government, But I don't want you to have a mindset that says, "You know what I'm going to grab help from here, here, here, here, here, here", Because help, help from these different sources, won't give you contentment any better than finding a way to do everything yourself.

It's still reliance on Christ Jesus, And when I look to him, he calls me to live in a particular way. There is a weird balance in the way that God called us to live. Where we're reliant on Christ Jesus, We open up our hands to receive from him so that he can shift us, change us and transform us, And we're to be reliant on those who are called to bear one another's burdens in the Lord, the church, God's people. There's nothing wrong with receiving help, And so what I want to encourage you to do- if you're in this place where you're constantly receiving help, what does it look like for you to follow Jesus in a different way? Because many times we're asking for help from somebody, but God's given us a solution right in front of us.

Paul is not reliant on the Philippian church to survive. Paul said: "I will figure this stuff out in Christ Jesus". And you know what Christ did. He says it in chapter one. What has happened to me has served for the advancement of the kingdom of God, of the Gospel.

Paul is saying that the weird balance we're called to live in is be reliant on God and his people when he calls us to, and also be excellent in the way that we live. He says: if there's anything excellent and worthy of praise in Philippians, chapter 4, think on those things. This is this weird balance between contentment and you will never get there by choosing either, or The only way you get there is by you get. You got to put the image of Christ and what he's done right in front of you the entire time. That is why we say: revolving everything around Jesus, Everything.

And Paul says this: that's the secret. I can do all things through him. Who gives me strength? It's not superficial benefits And it's not me figuring it out on my own. It's looking to Christ.

Hebrews tells us this: Fix your eyes on Jesus, the author, the perfector of your faith, who, for the joy set before him, endured the cross and didn't despise the shame. When we look at Jesus, we get what we're looking for And you're like "Oh man, that's so simple. It's just like every Baptist Sunday school answer: Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. Yeah, it is. It is the most lame, but also the most lifegiving answer that exists.

All you need is Jesus. This is what Paul is saying. I can give you theology. I can give you pragmatic tools. I can give you a self-help book.

All I got to do is change a little bit of this spiritual language and it'll be just like the books that you read in college or in grad school. I can give you some of this practical advice, but if I don't give you Jesus and if you don't have Jesus, contentment is away from you Peace, not in your life. And Paul says in verse 14, he starts to shift to more of a personal conversation. He's going back to the Philippian church and he says this: "Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles". He said: "I don't need anything, but y'all thought about me Good, It was good of you to share.

When I first read this I thought, Paul, you're being cocky, Just accept the gift. But Paul's trying to teach us, He's trying to teach the Philippian church. He says: "I don't need it because I got what I need in Christ Jesus, But I'm grateful, but I don't need it, But I'm thanking you. I don't need it, But it's great of you to remember me, to renew your concern for me, And also, I don't need it. I'm not saying when someone helps you with something, you say: "I don't need it, but thanks".

That's not what I'm saying. But this is Paul teaching them. He's trying to help them understand, because they were stressed out about what was happening to Paul, And Paul's trying to tell them: "Hey, I'm grateful for the gift that comes from your fears about where I'm at in prison. I'm grateful for your encouragement that comes from your prayers that stem from your fears about where I am in my imprisonment. But I need you to not worry about me, because wherever I am, whatever situation I'm in, I'm content because of Christ.

Plenty little, I've got him and I'm good, And so this is where we've got to live. Verse 15. Moreover, as you Philippians know, in the early days of your acquaintance with the Gospel, when I set out from Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you. Only. He doesn't want to downgrade the compliment he's giving them.

He's like: "You were the only ones, For even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid more than once when I was in need". Verse 17 again. Not that I desire your gifts- Let me translate that for you- Not that I'm sitting here in prison cell waiting on your gifts. Paul's working. He's doing what he's called to do regardless.

But verse 18, I desire this. Verse 17, second half. What I desire is that more be credited to your account. I have received full payment and have more than enough. I am amply supplied.

Now that I have received from Epapraditis the gifts you sent. They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God, And my God, who will meet, will meet all your needs, according to my, according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father, be glory forever and ever. Amen. What he's saying here is: I'm grateful for the stuff.

I didn't need it, but I'm grateful. But here's what my goal is in you giving to me. This is Paul talking to the Philippian church. My desire is that more would be credited to your account. So let me give you my next point, and I'll finish it really quickly Here.

It is Christ's sufficiency. Relying on Christ Jesus makes you thankful, generous and satisfied. So what Paul's doing is he's teaching them about contentment in Christ Jesus. He talks about himself first, but then he walks it back to them, Says: "Thanks for the gift. By the way.

You giving, here's what it does for you. You being thankful, here's what it does for you". He's saying: if you will be content if, in the way that you operate, you follow Jesus And as you follow Jesus, how many of you, when you wake up in the morning, if your first thoughts about Jesus you're frustrated. Crickets- right, I mean babies- do that all the time. That's just how they roll, Like they wake up frustrated, ready, but then they're satisfied when you teach them who Jesus is by loving on them.

You know what I'm saying? Okay, But for the rest of us, we wake up and our default position might be negative or frustrated, But if we think about Jesus, it's. I'm not saying it's impossible. I know a lot of people who say "Oh Lord, in Jesus name, I pray this away from me" And then they go say a bunch of negative stuff. But if you genuinely meditate on the character of God, you genuinely meditate on what he did, the fact that he died on the cross for you.

He rose from the grave. He gave you his Holy Spirit to dwell in you, to convict you and to seal you into eternity. He gives you the power to overcome the negative things in your life. He gives you the power to have a mindset that's positive. Jesus does all of these things and he's super cool in the way that he says stuff.

And he gave us a church, He gave us people. And again, I'm listing all this stuff that you still think you don't have enough of And I'm like, but? But you're breathing, But you're sitting, but you're driving, But you're working, But you're in America, Goodness gracious. The median income here is 105,000 for a family, Goodness gracious. We need to stop complaining about where we are and think about Jesus for about two seconds, because when we do, we'll realize how blessed we are and we'll be thankful.

Right? Christ's sufficiency makes us thankful. Christ sufficiency makes us generous. And I'm about to do a series on finances, And it's not just going to be about giving. I'll talk about it next week.

Don't skip it yet. You can skip it after next week. If you're going to skip our giving series, Right, You can skip it, But come next week I'll explain it a little bit further. Don't have time today, But what I do know is this: I know that when I focus on Jesus and I'm grateful for what he's done, it makes me more generous in terms of my encouragement and in terms of what I do with my finances. I move from closedfisted to open-handed.

If God gave me all that he gave me, guess what? I'm gonna trust him with the rest. It makes me more generous. And so what Paul's saying to the Philippian CHURCH IS: "YEAH, Y'ALL gave to me. I didn't need it, yo".

But you gave it to me. And you giving that to me shows me that you're focused on Christ. And since you're focused on Christ, you're thankful. And since you're thankful, you're generous. You weren't just generous to me now, You were generous to me even when I was in Thessalonica.

You get it, Philippians. And Paul says: "The secret to being content is relying on Christ Jesus". And the final thing that happens when we have trusted in Jesus and followed him wholeheartedly is: we're satisfied. We're satisfied. We don't look at the glass as half empty or completely empty.

We recognize that our cup is full. And for many of us in this room, we struggle with the idea of contentment and being satisfied. To quote Hamilton once again, Some of us will never be satisfied. I don't know why I keep quoting Hamilton. I've never done that here.

So, whatever, Enjoy it. We're not satisfied with anything. Might it be Because, because you don't have a personal relationship with Jesus. I need you to know this. You may not feel it, but it's a great day to be alive, And what helps me is when I close my eyes at night.

It's dark outside, but God's son is all that I'm seeing, And so I want you to know that you can have that right now, And all it takes is what the Bible says: to confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead. That's all it takes to be saved. So if everybody would. If we bow our heads and close our eyes, we're going to pray this prayer out loud together, for the benefit of those who are praying it for the first time. Y'all repeat after me, Say: "God, I believe that Jesus is your son.

I believe he died on the cross and rose from the grave. Forgive me of my sin, Make me new, Help me think only on you, and I will follow you for the rest of my life. It's in Jesus's name that we pray, Heads bowed, eyes closed. If that was you and you prayed that prayer for the first time, it's not magical. This is you confessing that Jesus is Lord and allowing him to come into your heart.

If you made that decision today, I would love to know about it. So, with everybody's head bowed, eyes closed, no one's going to be looking around. Maybe someone will, but they don't know you. So at the count of three, would you just shoot up your hand and let me know, so I can be praying for you and maybe help you take your next step toward God? So if that was you and you trusted in Jesus just now, shoot up your hand at the count of three: One, two, three.

Come on, Amen, Amen, Amen. I see all of you. Come on, Celebrate.