Speaker 1: 0:00

Welcome to Heed the Word, the online teaching ministry of Calvary Chapel, southwest Metro. Today, in our study of Philippians, chapter 4, we'll be looking at a very well-known verse. Join us as we study the secret of contentment. Open your Bibles this morning to the book of Philippians, chapter 4, as we continue our study in this prison epistle of the Apostle Paul. Now, again, for the sake of context, I'm going to back up in our reading to verse 4, but our study today really is going to focus on a very well-known verse. A very well-known verse In fact. It's a verse that, to me, is probably one of the most frequently quoted verses in scripture. You see it everywhere. I've seen this verse on the backs of letterman's jackets at high schools all over the country. I've seen this verse on key chains and on dog tags that people wear around their necks. I've seen this verse tattooed on men's shoulders or women's wrists. People print this verse on their journals and on their on on their walls.

Speaker 1: 1:30

Right, it's a a well-known verse and it's a verse that brings people great hope and inspiration and for many people I've heard them say that it's their life verse. Maybe you count yourselves among them. It's the verse that declares I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Now I don't want to detract in any way, shape or form from the application of that verse to the various aspects of people's lives to which they have applied it. Certainly, we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us, and that is a true statement. Jesus himself said in the gospel of John that I am the vine and you are the branches right. And he said apart from me you can do what? Nothing Apart from me you can do nothing. So clearly, if apart from him we can do nothing, then through him we can do everything. So I don't want to detract from the meaning of that verse. I do want us to recognize this morning the purest application of that verse by returning it for a moment or two this morning to the context in which the Apostle Paul first employed it. If I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, and apply it as broadly as people do to the various things of their life, through Christ who strengthens me, and apply it as broadly as people do to the various things of their life, then certainly it is even more applicable to the purpose for which Paul originally intended it, wouldn't you agree? So there was something very specific that Paul was referring to when he made the statement I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me. When Paul said that he wasn't thinking about running a marathon or lifting a heavy weight or scoring a touchdown at the Friday night football game, he wasn't thinking about losing a hundred pounds or about being really strict with himself about his diet regimen or about, you know, making it through to graduate from college with a degree summa cum laude. Those were not the things to which Paul was applying the verse I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me, though that is something that we often apply it to. All of those things, these are things that we often apply it to. Paul was talking about something much different, but no less important.

Speaker 1: 4:12

Again, going back to Philippians, chapter 4, verse 4, paul writes Rejoice in the Lord. Again, I will say rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving. Let your requests be made known to God, and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds. Through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there's any virtue and if there's anything praiseworthy. Meditate on these things and the things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me. These do, and the God of peace will be with you. But the conjunction, but he's shifting gears. Now he's saying listen, I want you to not be worried about anything he says. I don't want you to be anxious over anything, but I want you, through prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, to make your requests known to God. I want you to turn away from those negative, destructive thoughts and focus on the good things that God has done in your life and given to you, those things that are good and pure and holy and of good report. Meditate on these things.

Speaker 1: 5:45

The word meditate is an important word there. It's like a cow chewing its cud. Right, you take it in and you chew it a little while, and then you swallow it down. And then what does the cow do? He brings it back up and he chews on it some more. I know it's kind of a gross metaphor, but the idea is is when we take in the word of God and meditate on it or when we think about these good and pure and holy and noble things, when we think about them, we bring them in and we think about them and we internalize them and then at some point, when we're struggling with something, perhaps, we bring those thoughts back out, those verses back out, that word of God back out, and we meditate on it some more, and then we take that into ourselves and then we bring it up again and we think about it some more. That's what the word meditate really means in this context. It means to ponder or to consider or to chew on that for a while. Right? So when you read the word of God, when you're doing a devotion or when you're spending some time just reading the Bible, don't just read it and move on and just see how many chapters I can get through tonight, but meditate on it, in other words, chew on it a while, think about what it is you've read. I'd rather you read one chapter in a sitting and really think about that chapter than read six chapters and just treat them as though they were a novel of some kind. Right To meditate on the word. That's the important thing, because that's what brings the nutrients from it into our hearts and into our souls.

Speaker 1: 7:12

And Paul says these things which you've learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you. But I rejoice in the Lord greatly. Paul says man, I gotta tell you I am so happy right now. I am so filled with joy in the Lord greatly. Paul says, man, I got to tell you I am so happy right now. I am so filled with joy in the Lord right now. I rejoice in the Lord greatly that now at last, your care for me has flourished again, though you surely did care, but you lacked opportunity.

Speaker 1: 7:39

Now in your Bible, as in mine, you might see a little verse there 2 Corinthians 11, 9. I'd like us to just put a little marker or put our thumb here in Philippians and turn to that verse there in 2 Corinthians 11, verse 9, so that we can see what it is that Paul was referring to. See what it is that Paul was referring to, because you see, when he was talking about their care for him, he was making reference to the fact that they had sent Epaphroditus, one of their number, to bring to Paul a financial gift, to bring assistance monetarily to him in the work that he was trying to accomplish, and this is something that the Philippian church had done from the very beginning. Now, the Philippian church was made up of Lydia and the jailer and his household and however many others had gathered there, and they were the first church established in Europe right and they're in Macedonia, and Paul wasn't there for very long, but as soon as he left, even when he was just over a few towns over in Thessalonica, they had already begun supporting his ministry financially. Now, you know that here at Calvary Chapel, we don't typically talk about giving unless we come across it in the scriptures, but this is a place where we do come across it, so I do want to address it. The work that Paul was engaging in was a work that was worthy of the support of the people that he had ministered to previously and, in gratitude for the work that Paul had done in their hearts and in their lives, they wanted him to be able to continue to do that work in the hearts and in the lives of others, and we find an example of that here in 2 Corinthians, chapter 11, as Paul makes reference to them in it. Chapter 11, as Paul makes reference to them in it. Second Corinthians, chapter 11.

Speaker 1: 9:50

Let's go ahead and back up a little bit to verse five. Paul says for I consider that I am not at all inferior to the most eminent apostles, even though I am untrained in speech yet I am not in knowledge, but we have been thoroughly manifested among you in all things. In other words, you know the value of my ministry to you because you have benefited from it. He said did I commit sin in humbling myself that you might be exalted because I preached the gospel of God to you free of charge? Now, you see, the issue is is there are other people who've come into the church there in Corinth who are trying to undermine Paul's ministry. And so Paul is in the process of giving a defense for his ministry to the church in Corinth and he's saying listen, maybe you think more of what they're saying, because they're charging you for ministering to you, whereas I ministered to you free of charge. He says but there's something that you need to know regarding the fact that I ministered to you free of charge. I was able to minister to you, paul is telling them, because there were other churches who were ministering to me.

Speaker 1: 11:00

He says in verse 8, I robbed other churches taking wages from them to minister to you. Now, typically when a church gives money to the minister, it is so that the minister can minister to that church, right, but the church in Philippi had been giving Paul financial support so that he could minister to others. How unselfish was that. In verse 9, he says and when I presented and when I was present with you and in need, I was a burden to no one for what I lacked. The brethren who came from Macedonia, that's the church in Philippi, they supplied, and in everything I kept myself from being burdensome to you. And so Paul was saying to the Corinthian church the whole time I was with you, I was receiving support from other churches, and when I was in great financial need, he said the church in Macedonia, they sent money to supply my need when I was ministering to you.

Speaker 1: 12:13

And so when Paul says here to the Philippians and we can go on back there to Philippians, chapter four now when Paul says to the Philippians that he rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at last their care for him has flourished again, he was saying that he was very grateful that they had again remembered to send support to him in the work of his ministry, and he said, though you surely did care, but you lacked opportunity. In other words, he wasn't blaming them for not having sent a support check in a long time. He was simply saying I know you didn't have the opportunity to support me and that that's why you didn't, but now the opportunity has presented itself to you again and you have taken advantage of that opportunity. So Paul is commending that church for supporting his needs. Now I'm blessed to say that we have a similar opportunity to the church in Philippi. Just as the church in Philippi supported Paul so that he could minister to them even so, we have had the incredible privilege of helping to support Pastor Raul and his family so that they can minister to the church in Pachacutec. So in many ways, we are the Philippian church to his ministry there in Peru, and that is an amazing thing to me that we're able to do that. And honestly for me and I don't know how you guys feel about this, but I wish we could do even more. I wish that we had the opportunity to support them even more fully we have yet to meet our true support goal.

Speaker 1: 13:55

Our goal for supporting Peru is a gift of $1,000 a month, as being 10% of our gross income in the church here, and there was one month this year that we were able to or was it last year, just toward the end of last year, isn't that right, john? There was one month where we were able to do that. We were able to send a check for $1,000 to support their ministry. Our goal is to be able to do that every month, because if we can supply them with $1,000 a month, that will meet their financial need and allow them to really maximize the ministry that they're doing there. And I'm not bringing that up because I'm trying to tell you hey, give more. I'm telling you this is exciting and this is something that I think is wonderful that we're able to do.

Speaker 1: 14:40

I mean, if I could just take a second aside from our study to just tell you about the wonderful work that is going on there, I would probably get distracted and never make it back to the study. So I'm not going to do that right now, but I'm just saying that the joy that the Philippian church felt in supporting the ministry of Paul we also have the opportunity to feel as we support the ministries that we are a part of as well. And so Paul is saying not that I speak in regard to need. He's like I'm not glad that you sent me money, because I need it, for I have learned. In whatever state I am to be content, and this verse is the key to the verse that we're talking about, to Philippians 4.13,. I can do all things through Christ, who strengthened me when Paul said that he was talking about this verse. Right here, paul says again I have learned. In whatever state, I am to be content. Now, first of all, I want you to notice the verb in that sentence. What's the verb? Someone tell me what's the verb. Someone tell me Learned. I have learned, learned.

Speaker 1: 16:13

Did you know how to walk when you were born? No, you had to learn, didn't you? Did you know how to talk? You had to learn. Did you know how to ride a bicycle? The first time you got on it? You had to learn. Some of you might not know yet. Did you know how to swim? The first time they threw you in the water? No, you had to learn. So many things in life that we take for granted, we had to learn.

Speaker 1: 16:40

I love the fact that Paul says that he has learned to be content. That means that in the beginning he wasn't right. So if you are a person who struggles to be content, I have good news for you you can learn how to be content. Contentment is an attitude that can be learned. Paul had to learn it. Let's see how he describes that process. He says not that I speak in regarding to need, for I have learned, in whatever state I am, to be content. I know how to be abased and I know how to abound Everywhere and in all things. I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. He says listen, I have learned to be content when I have a lot, and I've learned how to be content when I have a lot, and I've learned how to be content when I have nothing. I've learned to be content when I am full. I need to learn that I've. Also, I've learned to be content.

Speaker 1: 17:57

Paul's contentment was no longer dependent upon his circumstances. He had learned to be content not because of his circumstances, but in spite of his circumstances. In spite of his circumstances, paul told Timothy that having food and clothing with these, we've learned to be content. Right, paul was content. If he just had food and clothing, would we, as Americans in particular, be content with just food and clothing?

Speaker 1: 18:54

Are we content when our air conditioner goes out? When your air conditioner goes out, you're like I can't stay here, I got to go. I got to get a hotel. Right, I can't live in this. This is ridiculous. We got to go, yeah, no, do you realize that? You know, like 75 years ago, there was no air conditioning anywhere. Maybe my time's a little off there. You know, like 75 years ago there was no air conditioning anywhere. Maybe my time's a little off there. But I'm getting ready to read the Great Gatsby with my students and you know we're looking at that and they're all sweating and hot. And they got the windows open and there's no air conditioning. Back in the 1920s was there? No. So where did they go? They went out on the porch, they opened the windows, they were content. They might have said, wow, it's a really hot day. That's why kids were able to sell lemonade on the corner. Probably, you know it's like it was hot, but that was life, right.

Speaker 1: 20:02

We live in a society that has become so addicted to its pleasures that we've lost sight of how to be content with just food and clothing, right, with just the basic necessities of life. I'm reminded of the Jungle Book. Suddenly Remember that song that Baloo sings Just the bare necessities, the simple, bare necessities of life. Right, baloo the bear, he knew how to be content with just the bare necessities. Do we know how to be content with having our needs met? But you see, something that's interesting to me is that Paul said I learned how to be content when I was abased, but I also learned how to be content when I abounded.

Speaker 1: 20:46

So we have a tendency to look at life and think about our walk as Christians and say, oh well, we have to live humbly and be poor and not have this and not have that, and we somehow look at the alternative as being somehow unspiritual. And yet Paul, at times in his life, had plenty. He abounded at times in his life, and there are many instances of people throughout the scriptures whom God blessed with material possessions and wealth, and those who trusted him and knew him knew how to be content with those as well. So I'm not trying to suggest for a moment that being poor is somehow better than being wealthy, although the Bible does say that it's easier for a needle to go through or a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into heaven. It does say that that the wise young ruler, when Jesus said, sell everything you have and come and follow me, went away sorrowing and upset. Why? Because he was very wealthy.

Speaker 1: 21:44

So yes, there are some, some, some difficulties there. In fact. Let's just look at Proverbs, chapter 13. Turn there with me if you will. I did remember to write this one down 1 Timothy 6.8. I was even in the wrong book. Look at that. No wonder I couldn't find it. Proverbs 13. Glad we're not live on the radio or anything right now. I might be humbled or something you know.

Speaker 1: 22:21

Proverbs 13, verse 9 says the light of the righteous rejoices, but the lamp of the wicked will be put out. By pride comes nothing but strife. But with the well advised is wisdom. Wealth gained by dishonesty will be diminished, but he who gathers by labor will increase. Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when the desire comes it is a tree of life. So there is this idea presented in scripture that with work comes increase.

Speaker 1: 23:14

So do not misunderstand me. Do not think for a moment that contentment is the same thing as laziness, because it isn't. Godliness with contentment is great gain, yes, the scriptures tell us that the scriptures tell us that we can learn to be content when we abound and we can learn to be content when we're abased. But you know what the scriptures also tell us in the epistles to the Thessalonican church? That those who do not work shall not what Eat right. So contentment should never be confused with laziness. Contentment, rather, is an attitude of the heart that is at peace, regardless of its circumstances.

Speaker 1: 24:10

Turn with me again to Philippians, chapter 4. In verse 12, paul writes I know how to be abased and I know how to abound everywhere and in all things. I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me. In other words, I can learn to be content with my life. I can learn to be content even in the midst of difficult circumstances through Jesus Christ, because it's Jesus Christ that gives me the strength to find the contentment that I need. In other words, it is when we recognize that Christ is our sufficiency, that he truly is all that we need, that we truly find the power to be content.

Speaker 1: 25:18

Now there are other philosophies and other religions that talk about some of these same issues, this discontentedment, if we want to call it that. In ancient Greece, there were the Stoics, who believed that all of the physical world was evil and that only that which was of the spirit was good, and so they disdained earthly pleasures and passions. They thought that to be over emotional, to be either really really happy or really really sad, was foolishness, and that's where we get the term stoic. Someone who is very stoic is someone who doesn't show a lot of emotions. Well, that detachment from worldly things, or from the things of the physical world, was a tenant of the stoic philosophies of the ancient Greeks.

Speaker 1: 26:09

The Buddhists, even today, teach that desire results in suffering, and so the way to eliminate suffering is to eliminate desire. You're sad not because you don't have food. You're sad because you're hungry. If you could eliminate your desire to no longer be hungry, then you wouldn't be sad that you don't have food. Does that make sense? You're sad because you don't have a date Saturday night. Well, your desire for a date Saturday night comes from your desire for companionship. If you could just eliminate your desire for companionship, then you won't be sad about the fact that you don't have a date Saturday night.

Speaker 1: 26:59

Do you see where their thinking is? You won't be disappointed if you don't expect anything. So the best way to approach life is to never expect anything, sort of a really twisted version of Murphy's law. Right, murphy's law? What does it say? If anything can go wrong, it will. A way of flipping that around is to say if you always expect the worst, you'll never be disappointed, right? Well, that's to me, that's the way that that idea works. It's like the idea that simply by not wanting anything I'll be happy. Right?

Speaker 1: 27:31

The Bible actually talks a little bit about this too, though in the book of James. Only it puts it in the appropriate perspective. Turn with me to James, and I hadn't planned to go here, so hopefully I'll remember the chapter and verse that I want Chapter 4. James, chapter 4. You see, the Bible doesn't teach that desire causes evil. The Bible teaches that evil desires cause evil. The Bible doesn't teach that desires cause suffering, but rather it teaches that evil desires bring about sin and death. So it isn't the desire that is in and of itself wrong or evil or is to be avoided, but it is the nature of the desire that needs to be taken into account. Let's look at James, chapter four.

Speaker 1: 28:32

Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure? That war in your members you lust and do not have? You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war, yet you do not have because you do not ask. And you do ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss or in the wrong way, that you may spend it on your pleasures.

Speaker 1: 28:56

Adulterers and adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you think that the scripture says in vain the spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously, but he gives more grace. Therefore, he says God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. Therefore, submit yourselves to God and resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts. You double-minded, lament and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and he will lift you up of the Lord and he will lift you up. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and he will lift you up.

Speaker 1: 29:47

You see, the Bible doesn't teach against desire itself, not in and of itself. No, in fact, the psalmist writes that if we delight ourselves in the Lord, he will give us the desires of our hearts. So the question isn't whether desire itself is bad or good. The question is whether you desire those things which are bad or good. And if your desire is set on Christ, then he will fulfill that desire by giving himself to you. And Paul's point in Philippians was that he could do all things. Through whom? Through Christ, who strengthened him. In other words, paul's commitment, rather Paul's contentment is what I was trying to say, is what I was trying to say. Paul's contentment was found in the fact that his greatest desire was not for wealth or for land, or for property or for the praise of men, but his greatest desire was fellowship with God through Jesus Christ, his son. And because he had that, he recognized that food and clothing were all he needed in addition to it. And he knew how to be content.

Speaker 1: 31:04

Philippians, chapter four, again, verse 11,. Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned, in whatever state I am, to be content. I know how to be abased and I know how to abound everywhere and in all things. I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me. Nevertheless, you have done well that you shared in my distress. In other words, paul acknowledges that he was in distress, he was in financial need and he's learned to be content even in the midst of that. He was going to be okay whether they sent him that gift or not, but it was good that they did. It was good for him and it was even more good for them because in doing so it allowed them to be partakers of his ministry.

Speaker 1: 31:56

He says now you Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church shared with me concerning giving and receiving, but you only. In other words, when Paul left them at the time that he had established the church there in Philippi and he went on to Thessalonica and then down to Athens and then over to Corinth. All that time, as he's traveling through there, no other church supported him but the Philippian church. They stood by him and they supported him financially and Paul was grateful for it Verse 16,. For even in Thessalonica you sent aid once and again for my necessities, not that I seek the gift. In other words, paul is saying listen, I'm not saying thank you for the gift that you sent me and I'm not acknowledging the gifts that you had sent me previously. Because, you see, the Philippian church not only gave, but they exhibited a pattern of giving. It wasn't as though they said you know what we're going to make, this one-time donation, but no, they said we are going to provide continuing support, and that's what they had done. He says, not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account. Paul is saying I'm glad that you gave to the ministry, not so that the ministry could be given to, but so that you could be blessed for having given. You see, you can't out give God, you can't loan to God and God not repay. When you give to God that which God has first given to you, god returns that reciprocally upon you and his blessings pour out to you.

Speaker 1: 33:46

Jesus told the Jews, he said listen, his disciples that were following him at that time, he says don't store up treasures for yourself here on earth, where rust and moths can cause it to deteriorate or thieves can break in and steal it. But what did he say? Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, for where your heart, for where your treasure is there, your heart will be also. You know, this is a free event, but charge for admission. And that sounded strange to me. Why would you do that? It seems like if you wanted everybody to come, you would just make it free, right. That way there's no impediment to their coming.

Speaker 1: 34:33

But what invariably seems to happen in these situations is, when you have a big, let's say we're having a concert, we'll say, hey, it's a free concert, come on down. People will be like, oh yeah, that sounds great, I'm going to go. But when the day arrives, something else may come up and they're like, oh, you know, I was going to go to that, but this other thing has come up. I guess we'll go do this instead. Or oh well, you know what, they want me to come into work, and I guess you know, I guess I'll go ahead and go into work. So you know, or whatever.

Speaker 1: 35:04

But let's say we had advertised a concert and we had charged $10 per ticket and those same people who were previously saying they were going to go for free have now paid $10 for their ticket and all of a sudden something comes up hey, can you come in and work today? Oh, you know what I would, but I bought tickets to this concert. I'm already committed, I'm going to go. Why? Because they put money down. They pay. They don't want to not get what they paid for, right? So there's this idea that if you charge just a nominal fee for your ticket to whatever event it is, you're having that more of the people who said they would come actually show up and statistically it's borne out to be the case, and we're only talking about five or ten dollars, right. But because they've got a financial stake in what's going on.

Speaker 1: 35:51

Where their treasure is there, their heart is also. It's human nature. We want to get what we paid for, don't we? And so when we invest in something, then we have a vested interest in it rather than a casual interest. And so the fact that Jesus said where your treasure is there, your heart will be also, is born out through human behavior. Not that it needed to be, it's true, whether we believe it or not, but we see the evidence of its truth in the way that we act, even in our own lives. And so Paul is saying in verse 17,. Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account. Indeed, I have all and abound. I am full, having received from Epaphroditus that was their messenger the things sent from you a sweet, smelling aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well pleasing to God and my God. Here's another famous verse amen and my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory, by Christ Jesus. Now here's the thing God will supply all your need, but that doesn't mean he's some genie in a bottle who's there to supply all your greed. Right? Because the fact of the matter is we need a whole lot less than we think we do.

Speaker 1: 37:20

If you've ever traveled outside of the United States and seen how people live in other countries, you understand how little we need. I was at a dinner last night. The JROTC at our school district had their big military dinner last night, and I had the incredible privilege of being invited to attend it. And as I was sitting at the table, I discovered through conversation that the couple sitting next to me had been to Peru over the summer, that they had been on vacation to Peru, and so we started comparing notes on our trips, and what I discovered pretty quickly was the Peru that I had seen was not the same Peru that they had seen. You see, we had been in Pachacutec, they had been in Miraflores.

Speaker 1: 38:20

For those of you who've been, you know the difference. Yes, and the world sees the Miraflores of places, right, even Americans, when we travel overseas so often, we stay in the resort areas. Right, we stay in the developed areas. Why? Because it's safer for you there. Yes, it is safer for you there. Yes, it is safer for you there. It's also safer for your conscience there, because if you go and you see what's really there and what people really live like, sometimes it's hard to go back to that resort. Now, don't get me wrong, I love a good resort, I enjoy a nice vacation. I've got the pictures to prove it to you.

Speaker 1: 38:56

And even when we go to Peru, we try to at least spend a little bit of time going to some of the nicer things, like Miraflores or other parts of Lima, where the people who've joined us can take a moment to enjoy the Peruvian culture and to see that it's not all like Pachacutec, right? So we do recognize that we can learn to be content when we abound, but we can also learn to be content when we abound, but we can also learn to be content when we're abased. Why? Because we can do all things through Christ, who strengthens us. But the point that I'm making is is that that couple that I was talking with, very wonderful, nice people, were talking about just how beautiful and how nice and how clean and how all these wonderful things. Peru was on their trip and I was able to share some photographs with them and they're like oh yeah, no, it didn't look like that, you know. No, it didn't look like that. But you see, there are people who live in Pachacutec, people that I've met, people that Philip and John and Lance and Jeanette have met. John and Lance, and and and and and Jeanette have met. There are people that we've met who who live in houses no bigger than than this platform, right? Not the whole platform, like this part of the platform, that's the whole house, right? We?

Speaker 1: 40:17

We walked into a house once to stop and pray for a man who was very ill, and you know, it was one room with a stove and a table, and then another room where the bed was, and that's pretty much it. There was dust everywhere and, you know, the light fixture is just one little thing hanging down from the ceiling, and there's no television, and there's no central heating or air, and there's no. I mean, the list of all the things there aren't would just go on and on and on if we were to continue it. But you know what? I didn't get the sense that they were unhappy. I didn't get the sense that they were not content. They were living the life that God had given them. And before we left that room, after praying together, they were singing praises to God. It was one of the most moving moments of our visit to see the trust that they had in the Lord, to see the joy that they had in the Lord in spite of great want and physical suffering. And yet they had learned to be content.

Speaker 1: 41:34

And yet here we sit in one of the wealthiest nations in the world, with clean water, readily available toilets that you don't have to worry about flushing the toilet paper down, because there you have to put it in the basket. It's kind of gross, but that's what you have to do. We live in a place where, if I want a drink of water, I can walk down to any place on this street and ask for a glass of ice water and not even be charged for it, and most of them, right. We live in a place like that and yet, so often, though we have clothes, though we have food, though we have clean water, though we have access to medical services even though they may be more expensive than we'd like them to be, we still have access to them. There's an emergency room down the street that you can walk into if you're having a heart attack, and they're going to take care of you, no matter whether you can pay for it or not. Right, it's there.

Speaker 1: 42:27

We have access to all of this, and yet so often we are not content. Why? Why are we not content? I can't answer that question for you. I have to answer that question for me. Why am I not content?

Speaker 1: 42:50

I need to examine my heart and my life, if there's areas that I'm not content in, and say why are you not content? And there are areas in my life, I assure you, where I do not feel content, and God is asking me that question even now why are you not content? You have me, am I not enough? The truth is, he is enough, but I need to get it really through my skull that, that, that that maybe my eyes are on the wrong thing, that maybe I need to learn to be content. And where am I going to find the strength to do that? Through Christ Jesus, who strengthens me, because through him I can do all things right. So when we think about I can do all things through Christ, which strengtheneth me, remember that the first thing he was talking about was not scoring a touchdown on a Friday night or getting that promotion at work or overcoming some sickness or disease. The first thing he was talking about was learning to be content. I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me, and so can you.

Speaker 1: 44:10

Amen, let's pray, heavenly Father. Lord, we thank you that you have given us your word and that in your word we find the truth that we need to know. Lord, we thank you that you will supply all of our needs according to your riches in Christ Jesus, our needs according to your riches in Christ Jesus. We thank you that you will teach us contentment if we will seek you with all of our hearts. Be our supply, be our provision, be our strength. And as we delight ourselves in you, we know that you will give us the desires of our heart. Glorify yourself in us. We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.