You're Not Strong Enough

STRENGTHENS ENDURANCE

What did Paul endure?

Paul had many instances in which the situation he was in would have been easy to just give up.

time and time again we see him in prison or on a lonely road heading to his next stop on his journey.

We see him shipwrecked and snake bitten.

We find him at odds with several different brothers in the faith

We find him battling the inner man time and time again. Romans 7

What about Joseph?

What about Daniel?

What about Jesus!

What do we endure?

We bring a lot of suffering on ourselves with our sinful choices

We must also endure tough times because God requires it of us

STRENGTHENS FAITH

Illustration: Surrendering to preach

Look at the pattern that Paul lays out for us. In this pattern we can see how his faith was made stronger:

Look at the pattern that Paul lays out for us. In this pattern we can see how his faith was made stronger:

He says he was broke and financially stable

time and time again we see him in prison or on a lonely road heading to his next stop on his journey. We see him shipwrecked and snake bitten.

We find him at odds with several different brothers in the faith

We find him battling the inner man time and time again

He says he was broke and financially stable

He was hungry and he had times when he was completely full with more than enough

He was in need but also had an overflow

He found that his situation didn’t have to dictate his outlook because in each situation his faith was made stronger!

We find that our faith is only made stronger when we face the most difficult tasks and trials in our lives.

The key is how do you respond to these times.

We can all relate to what Paul is talking about.

STRENGTHENS CONTENTMENT

Strengthens Contentment

Strengthens Contentment

3. STRENGTHENS CONTENTMENT

How do we view contentment today? How many times have you upgraded your phone even when it was working fine?

Paul’s view on contentment was much different from ours.

Because he had endured some hardships and came through them, because he had learned that God is faithful to provide and protect, he learned to be content.

There were some periods of time in the early years of Paul’s conversion that we know nothing about. I’m sure there were times as he was growing and maturing into the man of God who wrote these epistles that he wanted more or better than what was happening at that time

In , the great “faith” chapter, the writer says in verse 15 (speaking of all the ones mentioned earlier who had endured hardships but faithfully pressed on,) “and truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return.”

The point is at any point in time, they could have wanted to give up because times were tough and go back to the old way of life, but they didn’t!

The old way of life is not what God has in store for you

Coveting what you had or what other people has weakens you

Being jealous about other people does nothing but destroy you!

These feelings you have do not come from God, but from the father of lies, the prince of this world, Satan himself

But it’s the strength that we find being IN CHRIST that allows us to see past the lies, to overcome our doubts and fears, to face today because we know who holds tomorrow and therefore we can learn to be content with what God has given us and we can be thankful for the blessings that he has poured out.

Our contentment begins to grow and become stronger and stronger because we can see the hand of God covering us and providing for us until we no longer desire the things this world has to offer and the only thing we desire is to be in God’s will!

I don’t know how long it will take. I don’t know how long it took the great Apostle Paul. I do know he was nearing the end of his life when he wrote these things to the church at Philippi. It may be a lifetime of learning.

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Conclusion: I do know one thing. Being a Christian is a life long commitment and not everything is going to be easy, but you can take comfort in knowing that God says he will never leave you or forsake you and that takes strength to endure those hard days and sleepless nights, that takes courage to put everything in His hands and patiently wait on Him. But when we add this all together we learn to be content with whatever God gives us and we never stop living for Him.