Philippians

1
Philippians

• The Great Secret

2
Review

• Overcoming Anxiety and Finding Peace
• 1. Substitute anxiety for prayer
• Gods peace is supernatural

3
Review

• 2. Choose what I feed my head
• 3. Do what I know is right

4
The Great Secret

• I rejoice greatly in the Lord that at last you
  have renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you
  have been concerned, but you had no opportunity
  to show it- vs. 10

5
The Great Secret

• The Philippian Christians had every reason not to
  send a financial gift to Paul
•  
• BToL- Good intentions are meaningless if not
  backed by Spirit-led action

6
The Great Secret

• The things that take faith will always involve
  looking beyond circumstances to obedience to
  Jesus
• Why does Paul rejoice greatly in the Lord?

7
The Great Secret

• 2 Types of Gods Work in His Creation
•  
• Miracles- supernatural intervention into the
  natural affairs of this world
• Providence- God working through natural events of
  this world to accomplish his purposes

8
The Great Secret

• Providence trusts that Gods ways and Gods
  timing are always right, even when they allow for
  suffering and pain

9
The Great Secret

• How can understanding and trusting in Gods
  providence change our reactions to the
  circumstances of life?

10
The Great Secret

• When the support suddenly stopped, Pauls boat
  wasnt rocked

11
The Great Secret

• I am not saying this because I am in need, for I
  have learned to be content whatever the
  circumstances- vs. 11
• Content autarkies- self-contained, without need
  from outside, independent of external
  circumstances and the opinions of other people

12

• The word content actually means contained. It
  is a description of the man whose resources are
  within him so that he does not have to depend on
  substitutes without- Wiersbe
• Whom have I in heaven but Thee? And besides Thee,
  I desire nothing on earth. My flesh and my heart
  may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and
  my portion forever- Asaph

13
The Great Secret

• I am not saying this because I am in need...
• Locked-up
• Sometimes lonely yet constantly chained to a
  guard
• Continual pain from beatings, stonings, etc.
• Hungry
• In danger of the death penalty

14
The Great Secret

• But...I dont have the right color shoes to go
  with this new outfit!
• But, my old stereo wont even connect to my new
  iPod...lifes just so hard!

15
The Great Secret

• Im not popular at school!
• People laugh at the old car I drive...

16
The Great Secret

• If we are going to be content, where should our
  sense of worth come from? How is that
  counter-cultural to our world today?

17
The Great Secret

• I know what it is to be in need, and I know what
  it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret
  of being content in any and every situation,
  whether well fed or hungry, whether living in
  plenty or in want- vs. 12
• in need- Humbled, humiliated, seen as deficient,
  seen as lacking....

18
The Great Secret

•  It is true that some preach Christ out of envy
  and rivalry...supposing that they can stir up
  trouble for me while I am in chains- 115,17
• I appeal to youI, Paul, who am "timid" when face
  to face with you, but "bold" when away!- 2
  Corinthians 101

19
The Great Secret

•  
• Was Paul actually saying he was content with
  being in jail and going hungry? How could he be
  content with that?

20
The Great Secret

•  
• How can contentment keep us safe when we have
  plenty?

21
The Great Secret

• Complacency vs. Contentment- I should never be
  complacent in my relationship with Christ (Phil.
  313-14), but I should always be content in the
  circumstances because of who God is in my life

22
The Great Secret

• I have learned- Not a spiritual gift, but a
  lesson learned in the school of life
• What am I learning right now in my trials and
  hard times?

23
The Great Secret

• It seemed intended by the blessed providence of
  God that I should be blind all my life, and I
  thank him for the dispensation. If perfect
  earthly sight were offered me tomorrow I would
  not accept it. I might not have sung hymns to the
  praise of God if I had been distracted by the
  beautiful and interesting things about me- Fanny
  Crosby (All the Way My Savior Leads Me)

24
The Great Secret

• I am glad that I am blind, for "when I get to
  heaven, the first face that shall ever gladden my
  sight will be that of my Savior!"

25
The Great Secret

• BToL- If Im not satisfied in Christ, Ill never
  be satisfied with anything

26
The Great Secret

• I have learned the secret of being content...I
  can do everything through him who gives me
  strength- vs. 13
•  
• How is this misquoted today?

27
The Great Secret

• The secret of contentment- I can make it through
• every situation
• every circumstance
• every trial
• every relationship difficulty
• in the strength Christ provides

28
The Great Secret

• I can do anything God asks me to do, be anywhere
  God wants me to be, go through anything God
  allows me to go through, through Christ who
  continually, supernaturally strengthens me

29
The Great Secret

• Air and water are two entirely different
  elements or spheres, and it is impossible to have
  a vessel filled with air and water at the same
  time. One that is filled with air must have the
  air displaced in order to be filled with water.
  Similarly, if a mans life is given over to the
  pursuit of material things, that life cannot then
  be filled with Jesus Christ. Until that love for
  material things is displaced, that life cannot
  and will not be filled with Jesus Christ

30
The Great Secret

• When a man gives himself to the pursuit of all
  that is involved in this world and makes its
  position and its material things his goal and his
  standard and the center of his life, he will not
  find the satisfaction that comes from making
  Jesus Christ the center of his life. To be
  content is the opposite of to be covetous, to be
  greedy, to be worldly, to be materialistic...

31
The Great Secret

• To be content is the opposite of to be covetous,
  to be greedy, to be worldly, to be materialistic.
  The reason material things can never make a man
  content is that a man is never able to get enough
  of them to satisfy him Dwight J. Pentecost