Philippians 4

Intro

Well we have reached our last sermon in our Philippians series

And if you are counting and you know how many chapter in the book Philippians than you know that means this is chapter 4

That being said with it being our last week

my Pre-sermon quiz

There is technique that we have used every week in this series to go through our scripture What is it? EXEGESIS

What is Exegesis? A scholarly practice of interpreting and explaining biblical texts.

Very good, also if you remember, the book of Philippians was more than just some stuff thats in the bible

It was a letter that was written by the Apostle Paul to the city Philippi

hence the name Philippians

Now, at the time the city of Philippi was under the control of who? The Roman Empire

With Rome being in control they pretty much only had 2 rules

Because of these 2 rules Christianity was not popular in Philippi

And so Paul is writing this letter to the Philippians to encourage them

Now, As Paul writes this letter does anyone remember what was happening to him. He was imprisoned

As he was imprisoned while he wrote with one main theme in his book

What is the main theme of Philippians? JOY

And so today as we dive into chapter 4

one of the main themes that we will see from this chapter is “how to have stability in our relationship with God?

the state of being steady and firm, with a resistance to change or disturbance

So When you guys think of Stability what do you think of?

We have practical things like our buildings or bridges

We have mental things when we get upset, or super angry we are unstable

We have medical things. we take medicine to make our heart rate stable, blood pressure

So as we talk today I want you to think about that stability

1. Prayer is essential for our stability

Philippians 4:6–7 “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.”

How many of you guys have ever had a friend that has moved schools? or moved away before?

Delaney has a friend named Lizzie

Grew up their whole life together

Best friends

She was in our wedding Delaney in hers

Just recently Lizzie moved all the way to Atlanta

And so this connection that they once used to have isn’t the same

They both realized that if they really wanted to keep stability in their relationship

If they still wanted that closeness. they had to make sure that they kept up with communication

And so same for your friend that switched schools

If you have a friend and you want to stay friends you gotta spend time to talk to each other.

I bring that up because Paul is talking about prayer

And he says “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done”

Pray about what?? EVERYTHING

“Are you saying pray all the time Adam” even if I am sleeping”

Paul is being literal here, but he’s using an exaggeration on purpose here

He’s trying to get us to understand

“Look don’t forget to include God”

And truthfully just like a friend moving away, if we want to keep that connection we need to stay in communication .

There is always stuff going on our lives

Start a new sport

Bomb a test

Do great on a test

Meet a new friend at school

Get sent to the principles office

Right there always things going on

And God’s always saying, “Hey include me”

I want to be apart of these things

ALL THINGS

I want to walk with in life

BUT HERE IS MY FAVORITE PART

Paul doesn’t leave there. This is what he says next

Philippians 4:7 “Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.”

Here is what I want you to hear

God gives the peace that anchors our relationship with Him, but prayer is the practice that helps us live in that peace.

God can bring real peace into our lives

anxiety can be taken away

Mental and even physical battles that we face

we have an opportunity to live in PERFECT PEACE

BUT IT COMES FROM OUR PRAYERS

2. Our mind is essential for our stability

Philippians 4:8–9 “And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.”

Easy Mac

Run me through the process of making Easy Mac and Cheese

Who has ever made it before and forgot to put the water in

What happens if you don’t ?

You burn it

You missed a crucial step in the process right?

You can’t just heat it up and start eating

It needs to filled first before you can have it

Adam why are you saying all of this?

I bring this us because Paul telling us about what to focus are minds on

And he is talking about all things that we SHOULD be thinking about

You should be thinking about things that are right

You should be thinking about things that are honorable

You should be thinking about things that are true

I believe that those things are important for us to hear

because I think that for many of us our view of Christianity is about all the stuff that SHOULDN’T DO

“remember if youre going to be a christian that I gotta make sure I don’t listen to this kind of music”

Make sure I don’t say cuss words

Make sure I don’t forget to read my bible

YES THERE IS TRUTH TO ALL OF THOSE THINGS

But its more than just NOT doings things about what should fill that space

If we want stability with God. what we fill our minds with matters

Just like the Easy mac and cheese right

You can’t just throw it in the microwave and say “oh yeah its good to go”

What you put in it matters

So in the same way we don’t truly have stability in our relationship with God, when all we do is try to not be bad for him

“Alright I’ll make sure I don’t do that “

There is a space in our minds that God wants to fill

and when he does it provides stability for our lives

3. God can give us Contentment when we are anchored in his Stability

Philippians 4:11–13 “Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.”

I need a volunteer

Which seat did you feel more content in?

Why?

Because it was more stable. it had more stability to it

Paul is talking here and he says ““Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything.”

He is trying to tell us. regardless of what situtation I find myself in. I’m good

It doesn’t matter if I am rich

poor

struggling for food

got a full belly

I am content

But why, how can Paul be content? he’s literally imprisoned remember

Verse 13 “For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.”

PAUSE

This is one of the most misused Bible verses of all time

Athletes use it

celebrities use it

people put it in their Insta bio’s all the time

This bible verse is not about us trying really hard at a sport and God us the winning touchdown

This Bible verse is not about “Oh God just gave me the strength to put out this trash pop album when all the haters said I couldn’t do it

This verse is about surrendering to the Lord

Be anchored to who he is

And living in his contentment

Here is what I want you to hear

We live content and stable when we stop depending on our power and trust the power of Christ.

So many of us forget that our power will keep failing us again and again

and guess what even the power of others will keep failing us again and again

Last week we talked “about things that last”

even the stability that we think that other people can give us will not last

it solely comes from the power of Christ

4. Stability in Christ means knowing that He will supply our needs

Philippians 4:19–20 “And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus. Now all glory to God our Father forever and ever! Amen.”

Paul wraps up his letter here

In a few verses prior to this he gives thanks to a few of the people that have helped him on his ministry journey

But he ends with a simple reminder “ of Look the same God that has been taking care of me. will take care of you.

Simply put God will supply us with our needs

When we come to our God we will provide for us

How many of you guys have heard someone say that before?

“God will provide” or “ God will provide for us”

for alot of us I think the idea that God provides can become very numb to us

Or even more so, you have had a time in your life that you have prayed for someone or something, and what you prayed for didn’t happen.

And is a thought I want to close with this morning

God provides our Needs that we really need. not the needs that we think we need

I know that was a mouthful so let me explain

When we go through our lives there are so many times when we say that we “need” things

“I need to figure out how to do this”

“I need to make sure this person likes me”

“I need to get first in this sport”

However God knows the things that we really need, and even more so he has a plan for our life

Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”

And so with that being said

We have a God who knows the plan for our life, and he knows our needs

And so this morning I want to end by praying for our needs

James 5:13–15 “Are any of you suffering hardships? You should pray. Are any of you happy? You should sing praises. Are any of you sick? You should call for the elders of the church to come and pray over you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord. Such a prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make you well. And if you have committed any sins, you will be forgiven.”