God Will Meet All Your Needs | Philippians 4:10-20

Show Notes

Episode 801: 
In this episode, we dive into the theme of God's provision, exploring how He meets our needs and the importance of generosity. We focus on a passage from Philippians, where Paul discusses contentment and the generosity of the Philippians. Paul, writing from prison, reflects on how he has learned to be content in all circumstances, whether in abundance or need. He emphasizes that he can do all things through Christ who strengthens him, a verse often taken out of context.

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You're listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun, in practical ways. Hey, everybody, we're so glad that you decided to tune into the episode of The Bible Guys. And I'm glad you showed up for the podcast today. Chris, Well, you know what I thought about missing and then I thought, I. Was like, yeah, it's Chris Day. It's all all of our listeners. They're doing the same thing. Yay, Chris is here. Yeah, right, Okay, it's Jeff Day. Yeah, all right. So anyway, enough of that. Welcome to The Bible Guys. And hopefully if this is your first episode, then you'll be encouraged after this to watch you think people at the end of this, we'll want to watch another one. I think they should. Yeah, and give us. What we're really saying is give us, give us a try. Please, please base it off of one thing, and would you hook us up, give us a hook up and follow us on Facebook? Right, subscriber, Yeah, subscribe with that forever. Uh. And then and then the same thing on YouTube. Subscribe on YouTube. Right. That's that's really it. So all the things anyplace you can find the Bible. Guys, follow us or whatever, but on YouTube, it would really help us if you subscribed. Yeah, and tell all your friends about how incredible Y is. Whatever. All right, So, hey, we're in the middle of a series talking about God's promises and this week has a theme, and the theme. Is God's Provision. God's provision. God provides, He provides. And before we get into that, though, we have a segment and uh Desiree has entitled it social media minutes. These are cool, yes, well we like we appreciate it. Yes, so we love all of our listeners. And so let's take a minute and just shout out some of the ones that have written into us. Okay, I think that's kind of cool taking time to write to us. So, Escanor, Escanor is that is that? That's the name Escanor? I guess so. And apparently Escanor is young because of the comments. Yes, it's this special episode today, No care app you guys are a blessing. Yeah all right, So what does no cap mean? It means no lie, no lie. Okay, there you go. Yeah, he's not lying. So he's not lying. It was a special episode that day. He must mean that you have Riz Jeff. Yeah, and you guys are a blessing, which is really cool. So it makes us feel great. Okay number two Nick p since again, Nick says, this is such a huge commitment of time and energy from you guys. Thank you for acknowledging that. I am so grateful for you both. The messages are so valuable, enriching and encouraging to me. Thank you very much. Wow, that was extremely thoughtful. That was very nice because because it was it was actually like putting himself and our shoes going wow, thank you for doing the work. That's cool. It's usually about three hours or so for. Us yepes for episode five, episode half actually yeah, three and a half. And then but who's counting. I was like, I have to sit next to this guy for an extra half. Hour, wand for it because I have to time my appointments. Yeah, that's true. That is true. That's true. And uh, and then we have the team that's helping, you know, make things work. Wayne. We never shouted out Wayne no on this episode on our podcast. We never know. So Wayne is helping with all the tech side of things, yeah right now, and Dez is the one that's actually making all this happen. Hold On, hold on, they get the wa Wayne Wayne. Doing Gang sign west side Yang sign for Wayne. Okay, well there you go, Hey, Nis Wayne Nick. That was super super encouraging to us, and we're glad that you find it valuable in enriching and encouraging for sure. Right, That's that's what we're trying to do, is add a little bit of benefit and usefulness to your day, get you thinking about God's words in a fun and practical way. So you want to read the last coment. So Sharman Sharman d Hi Charman. Charman d not to be confused with Sharman Ultra. Oh right, See, TP is like a big thing for you. It is, it is. It's a big thing for you. He Jeff, I know what I like. Yes, but Sharman, this is a different spell for Sharmon. Yes s h A R M A yes. So Hi Sharman and in Sharman comments often or sends us messages really a lot of times online. Yeah cool. So so I think she's like a super fan. Oh really yeah, Yeah, we're gonna we're gonna designate Sharman a super fan. We've got a couple. You got a couple. If they write it, we'll also designate them that way. Sharman's one of them. Okay, So you two are just so perfect together. I can only imagine both of you witnessing something big and both having completely different accounts of it. That is so funny. Chris would reference it in movie terms, and Jefford referenced it in a step by step account and then explaining the whys and whares. I love it. Well, she nailed that, nailed, she nailed it. She nailed it. Would make it sound like a dramatic movie movie scene, and I would I would hear the score as I'm telling it. So we were just in a meeting a few minutes ago before we walked in here, and you were talking to Chad our executive pastor at here to a church. Yes, the church we both work out, Yes, And as we were going through things, you both made a reference and then you made a movie reference. And then he immediately embraced that movie reference. He goes, good job, yeah, yeah, And for a second I'm processing what's he talking about? Oh, I get it. You guys are right there on it. Everything goes to a movie first. It's so funny. It's funny. It was a clever comment. It was very very very much. Yes, it's great. So Sharman and Nick and escanor you guys are awesome, and you guys are why we keep doing it as people keep listening. So we're like, this is eight hundred and one, this is the episode. Yeah, wow, that's done eight hundred of these things and it's worth it. It's worth it if you guys are getting some from it spending time in God's word and then we hope not you're not just listening, but you're actually deciding to apply the things that you're picking up on God's words. So yeah, that's awesome. Yeah, and it's very encouraging for a lot of people who do it daily. And I know that we just get done talking about how many people listen to it, you know, and we look at the stats a little bit, but I can't tell you how much I my motivation for doing this comes from people like Nick p who comes up and just says, hey, man, thanks for doing it, because it really does mean a lot. Yeah. Yeah, so yeah, it was super encouraging. Yeah, for sure. You know who else is super encouraging Jesus and Paul. And Paul and the Bible to you and me, God the Father. That's right. Yeah, So Paul was super encouraging and in especially the End of Philippians, he's trying to encourage the people and kind of challenging them. And so he's kind of a funny guy because usually, like the first several chapters of whatever book he's writing, he's like really digging in, talking charman about the step by step hows and whys. That's what he does usually at the beginning of a book, and then his last chapter he goes, oh, and don't forget this, and don't forget this, and they'll forget this. Right. He just throws in all these and don't forgets in the last chapter. Right. So we're kind of coming to the end of the Book of Philippians and we're reading Philippians chapter ten and we'll read through I don't know or something never twenty. So he's been challenging them on the joy in believing and following Christ. He's talking about shining brightly for Christ. He's talking about living as citizens in heaven. He's talking about joy and suffering. The whole book is how to find joy in life, joy in the struggles you're going through how to find joy in serving other people, how to find joy in connecting with other believers. The whole book is this way. And then he gets down to the end and suddenly it pivots from you can have joy in these situations to him thinking about how people have been so kind and loving to him. Yeah, and so he goes, how I praise the Lord that you are concerned about me again. I know you've always been concerned for me, but you didn't have the chance to help me. Not that I was ever in need, For I've learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I've 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. Even so, you've done well to share with me in my present difficulty. As you know, you Philippians were the only ones who gave me financial help when I first brought you the good news and then traveled on from Macedonia. No other church did this, even when I was in Thessalonika. You sent help more than once. And I don't say this because I want a gift from you. Rather, I want you to receive a reward for your kindness. At the moment, I have all I need and more. I'm generously supplied with the gifts you sent me with epaphroditis. They are a sweet, smelling sacrifice that is acceptable and pleasing to God. 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. Amen. So well there you go. I love this. This is one of my favorite passages. Yeah, but I'm from We're going to say that now from now on every single faceage. I mean, how many people every Christian Jim has I can do all things to Christ. That gives me strength, right. Yes, sure it does. So yeah, here it comes story everybody. Here's the bad part. This is like in the middle of the afternoon. Yeah, I know, this isn't even later or more. That's that's proof that it is not darkness. Yeah, it's just not me being tired because people say, are you that tired? No, I'm not. I just yawned in low lighting situations and I always have. I know, it's so strange, so strange, it's so funny to me, it's so strange. Okay, So I want to read this note here in the Study Bible. It says Paul did not see their gift as simply coming from believers in Philippi. He saw it as the supply of his need from heaven. Paul's trust was in the Lord. There is an interesting contrast between verses eighteen and nineteen. We might state it this way, if we were to paraphrase, Paul, you met my need, and God is going to meet your need. You met one need that I have, but God is going to meet all of your needs. You gave out of your poverty, but God will supply your needs out of his riches and glory. Isn't that great? Yeah? And so the contrast between eighteen and nineteen eighteen says, at the moment, I have all that I need and more, I'm generously supplied with the gifts that you sent me with aphroditis. And then he says they are a sweet smelling sacrifice that is accepted on pleasing to God. And then he says, and this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from His riches and glory. So that's just amazing how Paul throws a promise in there to the Church of Philippi. But yet you and I know that this is a promise about God, which means we could apply that to us. Yeah, so I can do all things to Christ, who strengthens me, and my gods will supply all your needs. Are embedded in a passage about people being generous and taking care of other believers, right right, and Paul also talking about contentment. So I can do all things through christy strengthens me. Is all about contentment, and my God will supply all your needs is the result of the fact that you've been generous. Because you're being generous, you don't have to worry about the fact God's going to take care of you because you're taking care of me. Right, that's those two things. It's funny we usually take both of those passages out of context. Yes, man, I can do all things through Christ. It gives me strength, meaning I can do anything I want to do. That's how most people feel it. Well, you know what, let's go back to that because you made reference to it already. Yeah, my biggest moment for laughing at this, like people taking this out of context, was there was a poster in my Bible College. In my Bible College, right, the Bible College that prides itself on, like, you know, teaching. Teaching scripture, keeping it in context. Yeah, keep it in context. I mean that's sort of their number one thing, right, I mean they were sort of behind culturally and and everything else, but the one thing that they said that they were right on top of was that. And I go up to the taekwondo room. Did you know? Did you know I took taekwon dow? Yeah? Well you're a tough guy. It's why I'm a little scared of you. You know, did you did you know this thing? Yes? You did? Really? Yeah? I meant you've mentioned of course. Okay, So anyway I know a lot about you, Chris, I pay attention. Okay, good. So anyway, I go up to this techwon over room, which was also the weightlifting room, which meant there's like a nineteen fifties broken down, ready to throw out workout bench in the corner. And right on the poster behind this workout bench was a guy lifting weights and he's pushing and he's and he has like too much weight, I guess, or you know whatever. He's just striving for that one last push and he you know, his veins are popping out and he's you know, like this, and it says I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me. I'm like, wow, I didn't realize that's what that verse match. I didn't realize heavy weight. Hey, slap another plate on their right because Paul says, right, It's like, it's like, that's not what it means. It literally means generosity, and you. Can well, yeah, contentment on the on the I can do all things through Christ as a contentment. Yeah, yeah, it's his application. Yeah. So just for perspective for our listeners, Paul's in prison when he's writing this. Not only that, he mentions being in chains. So a lot of Paul's imprisonments are house imprisonment. He's under house arrest. Right. He was a Roman citizen. Roman citizens are usually treated better than regular prisoners, that as long as it's nonviolent offending offense, right, right, So they were accusing him of teaching to have another king besides Caesar because of Jesus, all these kinds of things. But he's a Roman citizen, so most of the time he was under house arrest for sometimes years at a time. But in Philippi he writes a couple different times, Hey, I'm in chains, and so in that context he says, I've learned to be content in whatever situation I'm in because I can do all things through christ Or strengthens. I have everything I need. Yeah, he said, I've learned what it means to live with nothing, and I've learned how to live with everything. You know, when he was the was when he was on the Sanhedrin, he would have been wealthy and powerful, right, he'd have everything he would have had. He would have lived in the nicest neighborhood, he would have the nicest clothes. He had a lot of prestige and power. And then when when he my chair keeps slipping. Can you see it. No, it keeps going down, going down, going down. I like it because it. So he had everything. So he says, I know what it's like to live with everything, and I know what it's like to live with nothing. And he said, listen, I can power through this. I can make it because I've learned contentment. Contentment isn't about what I have it's not the station I have in life. Contentment is the fact that I understand God's in control, he has a plan, and then I'm fulfilling his mission. So hey, I'm content that matter. And so hey, guys, I'm not asking for anything. Thank you for taking care of me. But I'm content. And then in that context, I can do all things for Christ's contentment, honoring God, I can do all those things. And then at the end, He's like, but man, you did take good care of me. And I don't say that, you know, to ask for more. I'm saying, I just hope God blesses you and you guys get the credit you deserve for the fact that you sacrifice for me even when I wasn't even in your town anymore. Right, And this is also it's not just a promise about God's character about providing, you know, and taking care of those who are generous. It actually is a direct financial principle promise too. Right. So in this case, Paul specifically says that they gave out of poverty. So when they gave, you know, to take care of the man of God, you know, the traveler who comes in and they know he's God's man, and so they scrouns together. I'm assuming he's writing to a collective group, not the one person. Right, yeah, this is the whole church, the whole church. I think he writes it to the elders of the Church of Ephesus. I think it's how he starts this off. I mean, go ahead, I mean Philippi. Yeah, Philipie, I'm sorry, yeah, yeah, yeah. This letter is from paulm oh This letter is from Paul and Timothy, slave of Christ Jesus. I am writing to all of God's holy people in Philippi who belonged to Christ Jesus, including the church leaders and deacons. Well there you go. Yeah, so he wrote to all the Christians in town. Yeah, him, and this letter probably would have been handled by the church and read aloud. Right, yes, so again it's a principle about God. But it's a principle about finances, because even Jesus talked about this, you know, when he was teaching everybody about giving. Do you remember that story. I don't know where it is. I don't know if you remember where it is, but in one of the gospels where the widow who gave two mites, yeah, right, and then this woman gives a fraction of a penny offering, and then there's a rich man who comes in and throws in a big wat of money. And Jesus makes a comment and says, I tell you the truth. She gave more because it's not the you know, it's not the amount that mattered. It was the sacrifice. And so because she sacrificed, if you know, she gave everything she had, Jesus said that God's going to honor her. So it's it's all about the heart. And these people, in their poverty sacrifice to take care of Paul. You know what that reminds me of. Did I tell you about that time we went to that village and they gave us a chicken? Yeah, they tell you this, I've had stuff like that. Yeah. So so we go to this village in Africa and uh and uh. As as we're going there, I was told that we were going to a village where they haven't seen no white people. Have you ever been to a place like that? A few times? Which is hard to believe that that place even exists in the world. It's not as exciting as they thought it was going to be when you showed up at first. That's right, Hey, we white people going to their village and they're like, this is it? Yeah right, right, look at that guy, he's a. Losing We had we had some children think we were ghosts. Yeah yeah, yeah, oh wow, yeah I told you that, right. They pulled our shorts out to check see if we were men. Oh they didn't. They didn't believe we were really men. Wow. Yeah, they thought we were ghosts. Yeah. So yeah. So we're all overweight at the time, walking through the desert and we're going down a ravine like a dry river bed, and we're going up and all of us are swuse. We had driven a couple hours, then we had to walk an hour and as we're walking, we're like, we can't catch our breath. All of a sudden, this lady walks by us at full speed with forty pounds of water on her head, balancing it with a child on her back, with a child on her back, and she literally goes down and up and goes good. No, it passes all of us, and here we are like sweating out of shape, right, and we look at each other and we're like we're pieces of garbage. But they walk with like five gallon buckets on their heads. Yes, like water. So anyway, we get there and at the end of their meeting, the entire village only had two chickens, right, their entire village, and they said, we want to give you a chicken. Well, our leader, who is there leading the mists ship, says, uh, no, thank you. We have much and you have little, is what he said, right, And he says, we're not going to take it. And they said it would be an insult for you not to take this. And they were honoring these these you know, we were godly men from a church coming to talk about Jesus. And actually we were there with hopes of providing water one day in their village. So anyway, they give us this chicken. Well, they hand it to me and they say, you hold it in the back seat. Well, I mean I didn't grow up handling chickens like he did, right, because you know chickens, they. Could be chickens. Yeah, you can be grumpy. Yeah. So I'm holding this chicken. Of course it's doing the feather thing, and they say, you got a grip it tight, You got a grip it tight. So I'm holding this thing really tight, and you know, it's plucking at me and all these different things, and I'm just like, I got to hold it. Guess how long I held it? Eleven hours? I held this chicken eleven hours. That's not true. They trade it off, but I held it the majority of the time. And we get back and then the next day, instead of having mrs which is you know, the army rations, they have soup. And I'm like, this soup is great. And it was the chicken that I named Norman. I named him. I got to know him. He was my name, your food, don't need I. Did not realize they were gonna cook them. Yeah, but I ate Norman. Yeah. Anyway, all that to say. That's funny. They gave out the proverb I just recently had a village give me a goat. Oh yeah, And so I told him. I said, I don't think I can fit it my suitcase, but I accepted it, accepted it from the chief, and then I said, I don't know. I made some little speech about how grateful we are that they're willing to sacrifice, and then I said, if you would give me the dignity, I would love to now give it back to the village for a party tonight. Well then the people cheered which put the chief in a position where he needed to accept the goat back because all the people were happy to have a party. Yes, all good. Right, So then the village killed that goat and ate it that night. Yeah, yeah, that's how I got out of having to carry a goat on my lap for eleven hours. And what was the goods name? You don't name your food, man, don't name your food. So anyways, it's in that context. Then he says, at the moment, I have all I need. I'm generously supplied with the gifts that you sent me with a pafford eye itis, and he said, your generosity compels me to ask God to bless you. And of course God is going to bless you. This same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs. It's interesting because he's saying, I'm being supplied for from you, and the God who took your stuff and supplied me with it is also able to take care of you. He will supply all your needs from his glorious riches would have been given, which had been given to us in Christy said, listen, when you take care of others, God's going to take care of you. God's never going to be in debt to you. You can't outgive God. I was just gonna say that, That's what I was going to say. I was going to say. It reminds me of that phrase, you can't outgive God, right, And I bet you if we were to try to market that phrase and come up with the Bible verse, because obviously it's rooted in principle, right, this would be one of the better ones, wouldn't it, right, Because there's obviously a lot. There's over two thousand, how many verses, two thousand plus. Verses right about money? Yeah, And God knows that money is our chief competitor for our affection, which is why he talks about it ten times more than any other topic in the Bible. And he challenges us to be generous. You know that on Sunday I spoke on serving others Yesday and Saturday. Yeah, and so at the end of my but here's what you don't know. At the end of my message, we go into a meeting, and for those of you who don't know, at Heritage Church, we do a thing called make It Better meeting. And what we do is we all get together and say, Okay, here's what went well. On the first service, and here's what didn't go so well, and we can make it better for the next three services. So it's a fifteen minute meeting. And so we go in this meeting and then we have a person who listens to every word of the sermon and times it and everything else. It's very helpful. And then he rates us and so one through four on different categories, and one of the categories is practical, so he wrote he rated me four, four, four in the other categories, right, and then in practical three and I've never I don't think I've gotten a three before. I've gotten a three point five, I've gotten a four, but three it was like one step down. And I go, hey, I've never gotten a three before. And he goes, he said, well, you didn't give us practical steps to serve people. And I said, what do you mean and he goes, he goes, yeah, he goes, well, he goes, there are things that you can say to just encourage us and say, hey, the next time you go out, have some money with you and prepare to bless somebody. And I thought, oh, my goodness, that is unbelievably He's right, Like I didn't give examples like that, I gave principles, but I didn't give practice. So I started thinking of all the different things, and I thought to myself, that is so brilliant, and so so I came up with several and one of the things that I said was and as I said it, I was getting all these encouraging things, and then I said this one comment that it was kind of like a Debbie Downer I said, I said, this is kind of a bad I said, this is kind of Debbie Downer comment. I said, did you know that most Christians only give away two point five percent of their income? Did you know that that's true? Yeah, And I. Said, and I said, and we have to get to ten percent. God's training wheels is ten percent, I said, you know, I said, that's the beginning of generosity, and we only on the average give two point five Not saying that there aren't plenty of people that tithe, sure as there are, but anyway, I just. Thought, the most fulfilled people I find are not the ones that are trying to figure out how to get to the point of the level of obedience. The most fulfilled people I find are the ones who are trying to strategically figure out how do I go beyond ten percent? And that's not exaggeration, there's no ulterior motive behind it. I'm just telling you people who are like, okay, I'm at obedience. Now, what's a strategic way where we could give a little bit more? How much can we give this year? It goes from just trying to measure up to what's required, to what's our opportunity? What can we make an impact? That seems to be what he's celebrating with the Philippians here. They're not giving their ties to the temple in this situation. They're going above and beyond their tithe to help provide for him for sure. Yeah, something they're not required to do, they're just doing it right. Yeah, in a moment, I love it, man, I love this whole passage and I love his attitude. Doesn't matter what situation in I'm going to be content and then God will supply everything we need and I can do all We're generous, you. Can do all things, even left three hundred pounds. That's right. Well, that's not what it means, but that's okay. Hey, thanks for listening. That's our time, so hopefully we'll see you tomorrow. On the Bible guys