"Philippians-A Manna Study" Week 5

In the final week of Philippians — A Manna Study, Pastor Jake closed the series by highlighting Paul’s powerful call to live with joy in all things. Even in hardship, Paul reminds us that our joy isn’t rooted in circumstances but in Christ Himself. This message invites us to anchor our hearts in Jesus, trust His faithfulness, and choose joy no matter what we face.
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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:02

Welcome to the Manna Church Stafford Podcast, where we're all about equipping God's people to change their world. We're thankful you're here, and we're praying that this message encourages you to love God, love others, and love the world more fervently than before. Now, let's get to it.

SPEAKER_00 0:27

Thank you, Jeremy. Thank you, worship team. Can we give it up for the worship team too? They did such a good job leading us today. Man. How you guys doing today? Anybody here run the Marine Corps Historic Half and still make it to church? Anybody? Man, that's a bummer. You know, we had one year we actually had a guest speaker in, and uh the historic half was happening, and he wakes up on Sunday morning and calls me. He goes, Jake, I can't get out of my hotel. What? I can't get out of my hotel. It's blocked off. The road to get to church is blocked off. So he barely, barely gets here because you know the historic half had had made it impossible for him to leave his hotel. I'm like, how does that even work? So yeah, fun. Well, hey, well, we're gonna get into the word today. We just did some worship. It was awesome. I got something for you guys at the end. Um, the Lord, man, I I really feel like he's impressed uh a good word on me for the closeout of this series in Philippians. So you guys know we've been going through the book of Philippians, week one, we talked about these crazy miracles and kind of what God did in the book of Acts, Acts chapter 16, to launch the church in Philippi there by saving the first person in Europe, Lydia. So it's kind of cool that the church actually started in her house. Uh there was even an earthquake in uh prison there, which ended up saving the entire family of the jailer. Super cool. Week two, we talked about how Paul he's more focused on the mission than the means. There were some people who were preaching the gospel while he was in prison, hoping to make it more difficult for him while he was in prison. And he goes, look, I don't care as long as the gospel goes forward. That's what I'm focused on. Super cool. Then week three, we talked about living our lives in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ and not being a bunch of complainers because that's what Paul says, man. Do all things without grumbling or complaining. And then last week, I challenge you guys with Paul's writings here that we need to reset the balance sheet of our life. We need to look at what God says are supposed to be the assets and count those as assets, and everything else we count as loss for the sake of knowing Christ and gaining Him. And so this week, we're gonna close out this study and we're gonna go through what is actually the prevailing thought of the book of Philippians. Um, it's something that we've touched a little bit each week because Paul mentions what we're gonna talk about today 16 times in this four-chapter letter. 16 times he talks about it, and it is joy. We're gonna talk about joy. Anybody need a little bit more joy in their life? Yes? Could you use a little bit more joy? Like we all we all need some more joy. And so today, what I'm gonna what I'm gonna share with you is I'm gonna attempt to give you five lessons to learn to bring more joy in your life. All right, so we're gonna we're gonna kick it off here. Chapter 4, verse 1. We're gonna go through the whole chapter today. He says, Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved. Then he says, I entreat you, Odia, and I entreat Syntiche to agree in the Lord. Yes, I ask you also, true companion, help these women who've labored side by side with me in the gospel, together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers whose names are in the book of life. So I said, I said, ways we can become people of joy, ways we can learn to get joy, not ways we can continue to be people of joy, because, frankly, I think a lot of us have a hard time when it comes to joy. It's something that doesn't always come naturally to all of us. So it's something that we gotta learn. Paul's gonna show us later how we learn some of these things. And so I'm gonna give you five steps. The first one is this learn to be unified. Learn to be unified. So, so if you you might have missed it when he was talking to Yodia and Syntachi, he said, they're these two women in the church and they got some beef with each other. He said, I encourage you, Eodiah and Siddechi, agree in the Lord. And also, hey, the rest of you, the person I'm writing this letter to and Clement, can you actually help these two ladies figure it out and get along? There's a lot of conflict that we see in the book of Philippians. And Paul just regularly is reminding them, like, hey, let's be united. In fact, in in chapter two, he says, if there's any encouragement, if any fellowship in the Spirit, if any love, fulfill my joy by being like-minded. And and and unity is one of the things that we need in order to have joy. And we don't know what it was, we don't know what the conflict between these two women was, but we know this it was significant enough for the news of it to get all the way back to Paul in prison. Think about that. Like, we all got some tea that could be spilled and people could gossip about us. But these two ladies had enough issues that it got all the way back to Paul, who was in a different country in prison. And he he he decided it was worthwhile to write a letter. Now, what we don't get, and what I think is interesting, is Paul doesn't actually adjudicate who's right and who's wrong. That's not what he's focused on. He's focused on making sure they find a path to unity. Any of you ever had an attitude that's more focused on justice than it is on unification? Like I can be all justice, Jake. Like that that's so easy for me to do all day. But the the thing is, our our attitude towards unity and how we approach that can actually affect the joy of the people around us. And unity, it's not always easy. In fact, the opposite, disunity feels way more natural. It's much easier to fight than it is to make peace. The psalmist talks about how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell together in unity. You know, if you have a home where there's strife among your children, it doesn't feel very joyful, does it? We we we have that we try to have family game night. Oh, I'm not trying to dunk on my kids here. Man, Danielle's shaking her head like, ugh. Every Wednesday in our house, it's sacred, it's family fun night. Sometimes family fun night ain't super fun. Because of disunity. Disunity steals our joy. This kid's fighting, this kid doesn't want to eat at this restaurant, this kid thinks that they got cheated out of their turn at the game. It's a mess. And and in the same way, in the body of Christ, disunity can steal our joy. And listen, it that being unified, it's not just for other people. Being unified is actually for us. And when we're constantly in conflict, we're we're trying to prove who's right, joy is super elusive. So I want to encourage you today, if you have somebody, like there's somebody right now that you're probably thinking of that you just have a little beef with. A little bit of an issue. If you saw them on the street and you were in a good peppy mood, you would immediately go. Like you would go from all smiles to right? Think about that person. Jesus wants you to fight for unity. Jesus wants you to fight for reconciliation. And in this next verse, in all this, he's saying this in the context of being in the middle of a feud or a fight or kind of a holy war between these two women. He says this rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice. That's not the first thought that comes to my mind when I see somebody that I'm in conflict with. Oh, I should just rejoice in the Lord always. And again, joy comes easy for some, but for other people it's a struggle, and we have to be reminded of it regularly. I think it's funny how when we're younger, we don't actually need to be taught how to rejoice. Have you noticed that? Little kids, they just naturally know how to rejoice. They jump up and down, they cheer, they shout. Now, sometimes we need to teach them when to rejoice because they'll do it at the most inappropriate times, right? They'll cheer for things. You're like, you shouldn't be laughing at that right now. I know it's kind of funny. Don't rejoice. Just just calm down. So we need to teach them when, but as we get older, I think we actually forget both sometimes. We forget how to rejoice, and we forget when to rejoice. And Paul is telling us here when we rejoice. Always. All the time. We should always, always, always be rejoicing. And this is a crazy thing to say to a church with people that are that are in conflict. It's a crazy thing to say to a church that you're like, yeah, I know some of you are preaching the gospel to try to make it worse for me in prison. You're trying to add to my affliction. He said that in chapter one. It's a weird thing to say, man, just rejoice in the Lord always. I'm in prison. Rejoice always. It reminds me of a story of another person who was in prison. It's a true story. She, her mother, her father, her brother, and her two sisters were actually taken to jail by Nazis in World War II. Um, you probably heard of her. Her name's Cory Tinbury. And she was taken to the Ravensbrook concentration camp. And they were they were taken there because they were helping Jews escape the Germans. They were helping some of the resistance hide from the Germans, and they were turned in by one of their Dutch um neighbors. And so they got taken to prison. Umties when when this all happened. And she goes to Ravensbrook concentration camp. Um most of her family got separated, but her sister was there with her, Betsy. And um they got put in a place called Barracks 28. And barracks 28, for some reason, was just the worst barracks in this concentration camp. But concentration camps are bad anyways, right? So this this space was a space that was supposed to be for 200 people, and they packed 700 women into this small area. They were constantly ridiculed, they were they were beaten, they were uh, I mean, the the mental abuse, like all of it, I mean, they were a threat of their life all the time. Um Corey actually recounts, you can you can watch a video of this. Corey actually recounts one of the things that her sister said to her. So so they walk in to this um this barracks, and there's a cot that they're supposed to sleep on. You know, they have to like share cots, 700 people, 200 spaces. The math doesn't math, right? And it's not like they have nice living areas, right? They're they're laying on top of each other. And so she goes in and there's lice and fleas all over this this cot. And her sister, her sister tells her, First Thessalonians, another letter from Paul that says the exact same thing that this letter says. She says, Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus. And she says, Corey, we need to thank God for the fleas. And Corey looks at her and says, I actually don't think I can do that. I don't think I can thank God for the fleas. That's a ridiculous statement. And if you think about some of the things that you've gone through, you think about some of the things that you've dealt with, and you say, Yeah, I get it, he's saying rejoice always. He's talking about circumstances where things are generally like, maybe you have something a little bad. He's not talking about stuff that's really bad. He's not talking about the stuff that happened to me. You don't know my story, Pastor Jake. Paul doesn't know my story. You don't know the evil that this person perpetuated on me. If you knew, there's no way you would suggest this. Corey's sister suggested it. That was a verse she chose to use to encourage her sister. Paul wrote this again from prison. He's writing this. Thank God. Thank God for the fleas. And you might say, like, that's great. That's great. That's great encouragement. Just do it. Just be thankful. Rejoice always. How though? How do I do it? You told me when, when is always, how do I do it? So, so there's actually some really practical steps we're going to get into from the rest of this message about how we rejoice. Verse 5. He says, Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord's at hand. Do not be anxious about everything, anything, 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. You can't even comprehend the level of peace that you get, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. He's saying, Be reasonable people. Another translation says, Let your gentleness be known to all. Have you noticed how like reasonable, gentle people, they they just kind of seem to carry joy? And unreasonable people, you see them, you're like, man, you seem like a really angry person. You seem really turned up about a lot of stuff. It's just very unreasonable. It's hard to be joyful when you're not reasonable. And he says, listen, if you get anxious about things, if you get frustrated about things, present that to God as a petition. That's the second thing that you need to learn is you need to learn to pray through anxious thoughts. I learned a word this week. It's kind of a funny word. It's called, it's the word is exhaust or well mulated. It's when you're exhausted, overwhelmed, and overstimulated all at the same time. Anybody out there, can you relate to being exhaust or well mulated every once in a while? Yeah. That happens. Like sometimes we just get like so much stuff is going on. And anxiety, anxiety is actually, it's a concern about a potential future outcome. Most of the anxiety we experience is not in the moment. It's about something that might happen in the future. And it may be a very, very high possibility. Like if you're pregnant and you're anxious about having the baby, it's gonna happen. Very high possibility that there's a baby that you're gonna give birth to. And you may be anxious about it, but it's about something that's gonna happen in the future. It's not something that's happening right now. And what happens is that anxiety, it's seated in your mind and it's seated in your heart. It's usually not seated in your hands. And what the word is telling us here is that you're gonna find it difficult when you're being assaulted about all your stuff tomorrow, next week, next year. It's just just barraging you in your mind. And so Paul is saying, when you're anxious, present your petition to the Lord, and he will guard your heart, and he will guard your mind. In fact, he says the peace of God will guard your heart, and the peace of God will guard your mind. How cool is that that in moments where you may feel the most stressed, the most anxious, he is saying God Himself will set a guard up to protect your thoughts and to protect your heart. And we want to protect our heart because out of the heart proceeds the it's the wellspring of life. You want to protect that. It's so good. So let peace be your guard. And some of us, some of us we don't ex we don't experience joy. And in fact, instead, we experience so much anxiety, depression, and frustration because we just don't talk to God. We just don't go to Him. It's our last resort, it's not our first response. Prayer should be a reflex that we all have. Anytime you start to feel a little bit of frustration, teach yourself how to pray. I can't tell you how many times I've had a circumstance that I've been going through. I get like one or two days in, a week into it, and I'm reminded, like, man, did I even pray about that? This is something you have to learn. You need to learn how to pray without ceasing. Learn how to pray over all these things. And and sometimes you might not even know what you're supposed to pray. What's cool is if you have the Holy Spirit inside you, the word says the Holy Spirit will pray for you when you don't know what you're what you're supposed to pray for. Did you know that? Paul, same guy, wrote this letter to the Romans. This is what it says. Likewise, the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit's a person, the third person of the Trinity. Holy Spirit's a he, he is the third person of the Trinity. For for we do not know what to pray for as we ought. But the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. So sometimes you just need to pray in the Spirit. And sometimes there may be groanings too deep for words. You can't even make out the words that the Spirit is praying through you. This is what praying in the Spirit looks like. And I'll tell you, I do this like every day. Every day. I just let the Spirit pray through me, like, Lord, what is it you're trying to say? You know what I need today. And it will actually set up a guard over your heart and over your mind. And so Paul, he gives us some help here about things that are gonna help keep us oriented towards joy and away from anxiety. And and the eighth verse, man, this is a banger. This is a good one, okay? So we're gonna we're gonna camp on this for just a minute. He says, Finally, brothers, finally, whatever's true, whatever's honorable, whatever's just, whatever's pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there's any excellence, if there's anything worthy of praise, think about these things. A lot of times joy is elusive because we have the wrong thoughts in our head. I tell I tell my kids, one of the things I tell them, you know, there's that verse, take every thought captive. They say things, and of course, we know out of the mouth proceeds things that are in the heart. They're saying things, and I say, Is that a good thought or is that a bad thought? Like, I don't know. I'm like, well, the the word says we should take every thought captive. And I like I like how it says every thought. It doesn't say take some thoughts, it says take every thought captive. It's almost like you got one of those, one of those metal detectors that you go through, and every single thought has to go through the detector. It's like, beep, is that a good thought? Nope. Okay, great. Leave all that there. Let the rest of the thought proceed. Every single thought you have, you gotta run it through this scanner. Is this a holy thought? Is this a good one? Is this true? Is this commendable? Is this pure? Is this lovely? Those are the things that I gotta think about. So step three is we gotta learn to shift our thought focus. Learn to shift the things that we're thinking. Again, this is this is not easy, all right? Some people, this comes really easy to you. Some people you're gonna say, like, this is the hardest thing for me to do. But Paul's trying to teach us how to do this. You may say, Listen, I don't know about things that are true. That first part he says, whatever is true. Think on these things, right? You may want to highlight that in your Bible. Whatever is true. You ever heard lies? You have lies in your head? You you you start to want to rejoice, but you're like, you know what? I'm not worthy. I'm a terrible person. I've made all kinds of mistakes. Nobody likes me. God doesn't even like me. There are lies you hear about yourself, there are lies you hear about God. Sometimes you need to remind yourself what is true. You're thinking about these negative things. What are true things? I'll I'll tell you a couple true things, all right? You say, I'm trash, I'm worthless. Ephesians chapter 2 says, We are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. I am not worthless. He has a purpose for my life. And you say, Well, that's just for good people, Pastor Jake. That's not for me. Oh, no, no. Romans 5, 8. But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Christ loved me even when I was messy. Amen? And then you say, Well, yeah, but that's general. That's not specific. He just kind of died for everybody when they were all messy. Like, no, no, no. Luke says this even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, you are of more value than many sparrows. Some of you have more numbering than others, but but God says, even the hairs of your head are numbered. That's how unique and special you are to him. Wow. You say, Yeah, but but Pastor Jake, as soon as I make the choice to follow God, what I know is really true is Satan's gonna attack me. John says this, my sheep hear my voice, I know them, they follow me, I give them eternal life, they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. I don't care if Satan attacks you. It doesn't matter if Satan attacks you. Nothing is gonna steal you from the hand of God. You say, Yeah, but how could he love me? I'm such a mess. I deserve condemnation. Romans 8, 1. There's no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. You see what I'm doing? You have these thoughts that you hear, you need to assault these thoughts with the truth of the word of God. You're like, yeah, but he's gonna leave me. Jesus said, No, no, no, uh-uh-huh. Behold, I'm with you always to the end of the age. Hebrews 13 says, I will never leave you, I will never forsake you. So we can confidently say, the Lord is my helper, I will not fear. What can man do to me? You need to shift some of your untrue thoughts and replace them with true thoughts. What about things that are honorable? You have dishonorable thoughts in your mind, it's gonna steal your joy. Man, gossip is a huge one. Gossip will rob you of joy. There's all kinds of gossip. Man, we see gossip on the news, we see gossip about politicians, about celebrities. You hear gossip from your neighbors, something Pastor Chris Hodges says, I stole it. So I'm just going to say that it's what I say now. He says, practice selective ignorance. Like when people come up to you and say, Did you know? Did you hear? Say, nope, and I don't want to. Because I want to be a person of joy. When I see Steve, I don't want to think like, oh, Steve, I heard about you. That's going to steal my joy. I want to be a person of joy. Whatever is honorable, I want to think about those things. Whatever is just. Man, don't give evil people your brain cells. When people do evil to you, or you see people do evil to other people, and you just think about it, what's it do? It gets you turned up, doesn't it? None of us rejoice over evil. None of us rejoice over injustice. But when we when we think about it, what happens is it robs us of joy. Listen, the news, they get paid. They make money. This change changed my whole like thought process. They make money to make me anxious. The more anxious I get about injustice in the world, the more money they make. They figured out a way to monetize my frustration. That's crazy. And then I just keep going back and get more and more of it. And I'm not telling us to be oblivious, but instead of thinking about all the evil, think about the justice that can be done. Like, let's do justice, let's do good, let's, let's, let's fight evil with goodness. Whatever's pure. Impurity will rob you of joy. Here's a little test. Husbands and wives, I this may cause some some trouble. And I actually don't care. Husbands and wives, you got a social media on your phone? Swap your phones. In fact, this is something I do in premarital counseling, so any of y'all think about getting married, just know this is gonna happen. When couples sit down, I'm like, okay, um, unlock your phones. First step, like, now trade them. If they feel any anxiety, I'm like, you should not get married. Like, first step. You should not get married. Yeah. Husbands, wives, you should do this. My wife has full access to my phone. Anything. And and if you go on your Instagram, do this. This is a little purity check for yourself. If you go on Instagram and there's a little magnifying glass, like a search for me, hit that. It's going to show you what your thoughts are looking at. Because you can't cheat the algorithm. The algorithm's going to show you what you're kind of lingering on as you're scrolling. And if it's scantily clad, impure things, that's what you've been pondering. I don't have Instagram on my phone anymore, but you can look at Instagram on my phone. It's dumb stuff. Like dogs and AI-generated weird, it's it's my kids look at it, they're like, What? Dad, your algorithm's so jacked up. 2 Timothy 2.22 says, flee youthful passions. Run away from things that are impure. You want to be joyful? Get away from impurity. Whatever things are lovely, are you focused on ugly things? Do you want to be focused on ugly things? I don't. I want to be joyful. And then he has this whole, this little trifecta at the end. Whatever's commendable, if there's any excellence, if there's anything worthy of praise, think on these things. Those are the things that are going to give you joy. All right, let's go on. Let's go on. Philippians 4 9. He says, What you've learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. He's saying, Listen, I have experienced this. I have done this. This is how my mind works. This is how I'm processing things. So, so what you've learned and received and heard and seen in me, that's what you need to do. Paul's, he's not a soft guy who doesn't speak truth and doesn't challenge, but the tone of his letters, they're not brow beating. They're encouraging. He's trying to encourage them to live a better life, to live a more holy and wholesome life. And he's saying, listen, you've heard and seen me do this. Just walk it out. And peace is actually just as prevalent in this passage as joy is. Peace and joy, they go hand in hand. Rejoicing is something we do, but but peace is something that we possess. People of peace are the most joyful people. Peace is actually a fruit of rejoicing. When you rejoice and you leave, your spirit's not in turmoil as much anymore. It feels peaceful after you rejoice in the Lord. Anybody need a little bit more peace in your life? You know, just a little bit more, it'd be great. Rejoice more. Follow Paul's example. He goes on. Verse 10, he says, I rejoiced in the Lord greatly. Again, he mentions this 16 times in 104 verses. He talks about joy and rejoicing. I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. Not that I'm speaking of being in need. Get this. He says, For I have learned, I have learned, all right, in whatever situation I'm in, to be content. He didn't start, he didn't come out of the factory understanding this. He says, I learned this. I learned how to be content. I know how to be brought low. I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. Paul didn't say, Yeah, I am a content person. He said, I have learned to become a content person. That's the fourth thing we need to do, is we need to learn to be content. And these are baby steps a lot of us take. Every single one of us can learn to be a little bit more content in life, can't we? None of you ever probably get impatient when you're driving, do you? Any of you, you're probably always content with the food that's put in front of you, right? You're probably always content with what your bank account looks like, right? You're probably always content with the gifts that people give you, right? You're probably always content with the relationships that you have, right? No, you you have to learn contentment. You have to learn that. Some of us, some of us actually, we don't know how to do without. If we were put in a situation, this is one of the reasons that missions are so important, in my opinion. Going on missions trips, going to places. When my oldest Gabriel, he's 20 now, when he was a fifth grader, I took him to Haiti. And it changed his life because he had no comprehension of what it was like to live in those kinds of circumstances. Missions are so good, even if just for the perspective, because some of us, we need to learn to be content with less. We need to be okay with it and not be looking at the person next door and saying, Well, yeah, but look what they got. I would really like to have that. Hey, just just be content. Be content with that. And the the opposite is also true. He didn't just say, I've learned to be content in having little. He said, I've learned how to abound. I've learned to have plenty. There's some of us we don't know how to have plenty as well. And listen, if you're faithful with little, he's going to trust you with a lot. And some of us here, we are so blessed with so much, and we don't know how to steward it well. Our life feels empty because we keep wasting the resources that God has given us on things. We're not being generous towards God, we're not being generous towards people, we're not saving it, we're squandering it. But Paul said, I've learned to be content in whatever situation I'm in. How to be abased and how to abound. And he says, There's actually a secret to this. I have learned the secret. Did you guys catch that in verse 12? He said, There's a secret to this. You guys want to know the secret? The secret. This is a verse that everybody in here has heard, and I would be willing to bet almost all of us have misapplied. Here's what it says. Ready? How do we learn this? I can do all things through him who strengthens me. I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. A lot of times we use this to say, like, I need victory in this situation, God. Or we use it to say, like, man, I feel just so low, or man, I made a mistake, but I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. That doesn't mean this isn't necessarily not true in those instances, but that's not the context that he actually gives us this verse. The context of this verse is I know how to do without, and I know how to have a lot. That's what he says. I can do all of those things. Whatever condition I find myself in, I can do it because my strength comes from Christ. I think the reason that Paul was able to do this is because he found purpose in his circumstance. He knew, he believed in the depths of his soul that God had a purpose, that God made him on purpose for a purpose. And so he could suffer, he could be in jail, and he would still be okay with it because he knew that that was part of God's plan. He could have plenty, and he knew that that was part of God's plan. Some of us, we we struggle with finding strength and joy in Christ because we don't actually believe that God made us on purpose for a purpose. We don't actually believe Ephesians 2.10, we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that I should walk in them. You don't actually believe that. If you did, I guarantee it would change your life. Listen, if you're blessed, it's in order to be a blessing. If you're suffering, it's in order to help other people see what that suffering looks like and be able to help them walk through it and give Jesus glory in the face of some of the worst trials and worst struggles. Amen? You guys know this verse too. Romans 8 28. What's it say? It says, We know that for those who love God, all things work together for the good for those who are called according to his purpose. You want to get some joy? Recognize like there's a purpose in this. I know I've talked a couple times during this series about when I lost my job years back. And I remember I told Danielle, if I knew God was with me, I could sleep under a bridge and eat off a hot pot. Like we have a nice house, God has blessed us. I have a healthy family. If I knew that God was with me, though, that's all I need. Just to find the purpose. And sometimes, some some of you just need that. You just need to know that God made you on purpose for a purpose, and you could find some joy in your circumstance. You could see through the mess that you're dealing with in relational conflict with other people. You could deal with some of the lack that you're experiencing in life. You could deal with those things if you just knew that there was a purpose that God had for you. I'm telling you, He has a purpose. You might not see it right now, but He has a purpose for you. I love how Paul closes this section. And um, Catherine, you can come on up. Verse 14, he says, It was kind of you to share in my trouble. And you Philippians yourself know that in the beginning of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving except you only. He's saying, Nobody supported the ministry that I was doing except you guys. You guys sent me some stuff and it blessed me. He said, Even in Thessalonica, you sent help for my needs once again. He's saying, Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit. I've received full payment and more. I'm well supplied. He knows how to be content, whatever situation he's in. He says, I know how to be content. I receive full payment the more I'm well supplied, having received from Epaphroditus the gift you sent, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God. Excuse me. And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus. To God and Father, to our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen. Greet every saint in Christ Jesus. The brothers who are with me greet you. All the saints greet you, especially those of Caesar's household. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Paul was in prison. Paul was traveling all over the place, doing ministry. And what he's telling the church here is he's telling them, like, listen, you've learned to be generous. Some of us, that's a that's the fifth thing we need to learn. When you're generous, when you take care of other people, when you consider their needs, it actually builds joy in you. Especially those people that you're in conflict with, the ones you have beef with, if you can find yourself being generous to them, man. When it comes to giving, if you're stingy with your resources, you're like, man, I'm not gonna give. I'm not gonna I'm not gonna support that person that I see. I'm not gonna give to the church. I'm not gonna do that. Like this is mine. When you do that, there's actually this breakthrough in your soul. The word says the Lord loves a cheerful giver. He don't he don't want you to give to him under obligation. It's one of the things we we always talk about here. Like we don't ask people for money. We ask God for money, God moves the heart of people to give. And but sometimes giving, it's it is it is part of discipleship. It's a very important part of discipleship. No matter how little you have, you can still be a blessing to others. Think back of Corey Tinboom and her situation. She didn't have much. One of the things that they did do though was they had smuggled a Bible in. And if a Bible was found, it was contraband. They were they were there was gonna be severe punishment, probably capital punishment. Because the Nazis did not want any of that. So they had smuggled the Bible in and they used to wear it on a little rope around their neck. That's how they would hide it. And so twice a day, they would do a Bible study. Corey would actually lead a devotional with these 700 women in barracks 28. And she would she would tell them the word of God in the midst of their worst situation. And they were always worried that the Nazis were gonna come in and they were gonna arrest them, they were gonna take them all out, beat them, make an example out of them. That was just a regular occurrence. Nobody ever came in, nobody ever interrupted. Like it was like God just kept protecting them. It wasn't until later that they found out why. It was because the Nazis didn't like the fleas. Fleas were so bad that the Nazis would not come in to Barracks 28 because it was so infested. And they didn't want to be around that. Now Corey didn't know that. Betsy didn't know that when she said, Hey, we should rejoice in the Lord always. They didn't have a clue. They just said, This is the circumstance I'm in. I'm gonna learn how to be content. Thank you for the fleas, God. Some of you, you got some fleas in your life. You got some stuff that you're dealing with that you're like, this seems awful. Like this is worse than fleas. I mean, fleas, fleas are annoying, they're painful, you can't sleep if you're getting bit by them all night. You feel disgusting, it's embarrassing, it's shameful, whatever, whatever it is you're feeling. God has a purpose in it. And there is a way that you can rejoice through that and give him glory. And that's the predominant message from this letter to the church at Philippi. Paul is saying, I'm in prison, and I'm telling you, there's a way to rejoice. You're my joy, my crown. I'm in prison. Listen, just be unified. I'm in prison. Just don't be anxious about anything, just pray. Man, I'm in prison. Just change your thoughts. Change the way that you're looking at the world around you. Think about good, pure, holy, lovely, commendable, excellent, praiseworthy things. Be generous, people. That's gonna that's gonna actually give you some joy. I think sometimes we gotta remind ourselves of that.

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