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Good morning. If you have your Bibles, and I hope you do, I want to invite you to join me in
Philippians 4, verse 13. If you do not have a Bible, back at the back here to my left at the
table, we have some black Bibles that are back there. We would love for you to stop by at the
end of the service, grab one of those. It's our gift to you. If you have a Bible, but let's maybe
say it's written in a translation that's maybe hard for you to read and to process,
and you would like to get one of those, please stop by there and get one of those as well. We
would love for you to have one of those. For all of our first-time guests, thank you so much. I echo
what Pastor Dave said. We're so glad and privileged that you would be here with us this morning. I'm at
the end of the service. I'll be back there at that table where the Bibles are. My wife will be back
there with me. We would love just to have an opportunity to meet you and to thank you for being
here in person. This morning at the nine o'clock hour, we started our summer study that we are doing
as we gather together. We got our kids ministry doing what our kids ministry doing, our youth
ministry doing, our youth ministry is doing, and then our adults were all kind of gathering here
together. We had a wonderful time of discussion as we are talking about the previous week's message,
and so if you weren't here this morning for that, I want to encourage you. Get up about an hour earlier
is what you need to do, and come on and hang out with us and spend some time with us. Wonderful
conversations. People getting to meet each other. They've been worshiping with each other for
weeks, months, or even years, and to be in community together, so I want to encourage you to come and to
be a part of that. Also, I want to make you aware that we do have a missions team heading up to New
York City to serve with Pastor Walter Valencia at New Life Church. Josh Nix will be leading our
young adults. There's about 17 that are going, and so be praying for them as they go and serve. They're
going to be doing some part ministry right around in the area where the church is located, and modeling
some outreach and helping to engage the community in the life of the church, and so we want to pray for
them as they are traveling up there to do that. And then last but certainly not least, we will be
partaking in the Lord's Supper together at the very end of the message, our very end of our worship
time together. So at the very end, I'll come back up on stage and walk us through that, but if you are here
today, if you are a follower of Jesus Christ, regardless if this is your church home or not,
and you would like to do that with us, we do have these Lord's Supper cups. Hopefully you got one
on your way in. If you do not, if you did not, I'm sorry, you can go at any point in time and grab
them there right at the back here as we will partake in this together, like I said, at the very
end of the service. So let me read our focus verse this morning. It's found in Philippians 4.13,
I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. Would you join me as we go to the Lord in prayer?
God, what a wonderful morning it has been so far. God, to gather in this place as a church family to
talk about Your Word, to discuss Your Word, to sing praises to You, to see the teaching, to join together
in worship with our kids. God, such a wonderful, wonderful blessing. Lord, I pray that as we open
Your Word, Lord, I pray for the power and the Spirit of God to work and move in our lives, to draw us
closer to You, so that we leave here, Lord, not the same as we were when we came in, but more like
Christ. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. So we're doing a new study called Misunderstood, and
we're taking some common verses from the Bible that are common in that most of us know them, but
honestly, all too often these verses, even though most people know them, are misunderstood and then
therefore misapplied. Well, when it comes to our theology, we have the theology that we know, and
then we have the theology that we apply. And everyone has that, regardless of how spiritual you think you
are, about regardless of how much of the Bible you think you know or that you don't know. We all have
this concept within us of applied theology that takes what we know or what we believe we know of God's
word, and then practically speaking, how we apply that and how it plays out in our lives. We say,
this is what the truth, this is what I believe the truth of the Bible to be, and then I will then apply
that in my life. The danger comes with that when we believe the truth of the Bible to be one thing,
but it's actually something else. And so then we misapply that in our lives. And it can be a dangerous road to go
down, and as we'll see in a moment, can cause men and women of faith to doubt their faith, to doubt the
insufficiency of God, to doubt the power of God. Our focus verse this morning, I'll read it again,
Philippians 4.13. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. I think the way that we've
probably heard it phrased the most is, I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.
Let me share with you kind of a lighthearted, maybe example of the misuse of this verse. I love sports,
and honestly, I've heard this verse used a lot of times in sport settings. So let me give you an
example of how, a little lighthearted, how this could play out. It's the bottom of the ninth inning.
There's a runner on second, there's a runner on third. There's two outs. The count is full. Three balls,
two strikes. The team at bat is sending their best hitter up to bat, and they're the ones down by one
run. A single wins the game. As he steps up to the plate, puts his back foot in first,
stares at the mound, stares at the pitcher, and he says, I can do all things through Christ who gives
me strength. Same time, there's the pitcher. Guess what? He's a Christian too. He feels the pressure.
He feels the pressure. He feels the pressure. He steps up onto the mound, puts one foot on the
rubber, comes in place, receives the pitch, what he'll throw from the catcher, comes into play. Please
don't pick apart my form. And he says, I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.
He goes into his windup. He releases the ball. Ball comes in. The batter prepares.
He swings as hard as he can. Here's the problem. The pitcher has claimed the verse over his pitch.
The batter has claimed the verse over his swing. And here's the deal. They both cannot get the victory
they seek. Now, this sports illustration is a little lighthearted, and you laugh. For most of you,
you probably knew exactly where I was going when I stepped into this illustration. And you may think
to yourself, you know, I would never do that. But the problem with that is, there are many real honest
moments in life where the danger of the false application of, I can do all things through Christ
who gives me strength, comes into play. And you see men and women of faith, you see their hope rocked.
You see their faith challenged. And you see their perception of God lessened.
Let me give some more real life examples. We got our students in here. They don't want to think
about school. They're out of school, right? And we got some teachers in here, and you don't want to
think about school, but you're out of school. But chances are, the one thing that we all have in
common is, at one point in time, we were all in school. Now, I'm about to use an illustration about
receiving an A, and maybe you didn't fall into that category. Well, join me, right? I like to speak
about this like we all did. Here's the hypothetical. You're in school. You're getting ready for your final
exam. Final exam. And on this final exam, you need to make a 93 in order to keep your A average in the
class. You've worked hard all semester. You've given all of your time, your effort, and your energy.
You've focused in. You've done the extra. And you desperately want an A.
So you study. You prepare. You pray. And you claim the verse, I can do all things through Christ who
gives me strength. You take the test. You make an 89. I don't understand. I did the work. I did the
effort. Got to claim the truth of your word. But yet, my expectation is not met. You're up for a promotion
at work. This promotion will create a better life for you and your family. It'll create a greater
opportunity for you to make money and therefore be generous. It'll give you more time off so that you
can go on mission trips. You'd like to fund some missionaries. You'd like to continue to do the work
of God. It'll give you different hours so that you can be at church more consistently and you can come
to small group. But you have to interview because there's three other individuals up for the same
promotion. But you feel comfortable. You feel confident. You've been a faithful worker. You come
in early. You leave late. You're always a team player and you lead when you need to lead. But you know
that you struggle in interview settings. You polish up the resume. You get with friends to help you with
practice interview questions. And you head to your interview and you claim the verse.
I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. But instead you don't get the promotion.
Even though you prayed about it. Even though you had admirable goals if you get the job.
Even though you claimed Philippians 4.13 over it. Instead someone else gets the job.
You go to the doctor. Routine checkup. Sure, you're once a year physical what's there. But yet there's
something there that's just kind of different than last year. So you share with the doctor about what's
going on in your body. And you get a negative result. You get a bad, really bad result. One of those where
the doctor begins by saying, I'm sorry. But the doctor says, don't worry. We're going to fight this.
And you do. You fight. You take your medicine. You decide that you're going to eat healthy.
You work out. You acknowledge that there needs to be a spiritual aspect of this. And so you pray.
You bring people together. They pray for you. You read your Bible. You serve. And you claim the verse.
I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. But yet your health doesn't improve. In fact, it
declines. I can give you example after example that people like you and I claim this verse for positive,
godly reasons. Not selfish reasons. Not sinful reasons. They want to see God glorified in their life.
They want to see Him work and Him move.
But they don't get the outcome they desire. And this becomes the danger in this verse when it's improperly
applied. And the conclusion can be God, if I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength,
but yet I can't do this, then God, either I failed you or you failed me.
You know, when we use this verse and we get the outcome we desire, it's a great day, right? In our
perception, God fulfills His promises. He does give me strength. He gives me ability. He gives me means.
God does hear my prayers and He loves me and He answers me. God hears me and God does. He desires to
bless me. And look at how God has blessed me with knowledge. Look how God has blessed me with finances.
Look how God has blessed me with health. We walk away when the misuse of this verse happens.
But we get the outcome we want. I am strong. My strength comes from the Lord.
But when we misuse the verse, right? The opposite. God has failed. God must not have heard me or He didn't answer. He doesn't care.
Is God punishing me? Is God punishing me? Am I weak in my faith? Is God weak in His strength?
When taken out of context, the danger becomes that God made a promise that God didn't fulfill.
When taken out of context, when taken out of context, when we get the outcome we want, it puts us on the foundation that won't hold over time.
The problem is, does the Bible say, I can do all things through Him who strengthens me?
Yes. Yes, it does.
It's the verse that we read. It's the verse that was on the screen. It's the verse that's in your Bible.
That's what the Bible says.
But this verse needs to be understood and applied in context and not in isolation.
When Paul writes this, what I want to say is more, what does Paul mean by strength?
What does Paul mean by all things?
What is Paul communicating? Who is Paul communicating these things to?
Let me give you the context of this letter.
Philippians was written by Paul to the church at Philippi.
Philippi was the first church that was started in Greece.
And Paul desired to write them.
We see the formation of this church in Acts 16, when a woman named Lydia comes to faith in Christ.
Powerful, powerful part of Scripture.
The church at Philippi would be a church that would grow numerically and spiritually and become a very healthy church.
In fact, the church helped to fund the work of Paul and other church plants.
And so we begin to see this healthy, vibrant church funding the work of Paul.
We see the work that's being done in and amongst them.
But also very early on, they understand, what we understand as a church is that it's not just here so that we can bless ourselves, but how can we bless God?
And how can God use us in the work all over this world?
And so even though they are young as a church, they're still looking to how can we help plant other churches?
And so Paul writes them a letter, and Paul writes them a letter for some reasons.
It's so important that we know the reason why an author writes something.
And this is what we see.
So here's what Paul is doing.
He's thanking the church for their support.
Very early on, this is what we see.
He's thanking the church for their support.
He's updating the church on the work that is being done.
He's encouraging them in their faith.
They're growing, they're maturing, well done.
But he's also exhorting them, right, to move forward in their faith.
And even as we see, like, maturing in faith and being in obedience, there's always how God is so good in your life and mine.
There's always the next step of faith.
There's always the next step of growth, right?
If we feel like we've arrived, if we feel like we've achieved, boy, are we way off.
And so there's always that next step where we can go.
But specifically for Paul and the church at Philippi, what we see is he does not want them to become attached to the world.
And instead, what he wants them to see in their lives is consistent joy that comes from a growing relationship with Christ.
Not necessarily a joy that is found in the situations that surround them.
Maybe a little bit of what Paul is living out as he's imprisoned, where he may be executed.
My circumstances that surround me cannot find my joy, but the relationship for Christ can.
And what he is seeing in the life of the church, when we begin to focus in on our circumstances and not in the relationship with God,
what begins to creep in is worry.
And I see, worry is the opposite of joy.
Worry is oftentimes found in the circumstances and things around us.
But our joy is set in Christ, in Christ alone.
And that's the danger when it comes to worry.
Worry creeps in and hijacks our faith.
And when worry hijacks our faith, it hijacks our obedience.
It hijacks our joy.
It begins to wreck our perception of God, of how God wants to use us, and the contentment that I have in Him.
Jesus, when He gives the purpose of the parable of the sower in Mark 4, 19,
says this,
the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for things enter in
and choke the word.
And it proves unfruitful.
So when we begin to focus in on the cares of the world and all the things that are surrounding us,
it begins to choke out the very word of God.
Now God wants to work and move.
In a book that I was reading about worry, it says this,
that the truth is when we are wrapped up in worldly things and distracted by our circumstances,
it hinders our spiritual growth and squelches our usefulness in God's kingdom.
So Paul is going to encourage the church to stand firm in faith.
Stand firm in faith.
And this is going to be hard work.
This isn't easy.
Stand firm.
Foundation.
Landed.
Stand firm in your faith.
And toward the end of Philippians, he begins to give them and walk through this.
He says,
in this, as you are a part of the body of Christ and you are his and he is yours,
that you need to view yourselves differently than the world.
Philippians 3, 20.
But our citizenship is in heaven.
And from it we await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
That we view ourselves differently than the world.
And if we view ourselves differently from the world that are standard,
and it's because not one day we're citizens of heaven.
That's hard.
When the chaos of what's around you, when it begins to feel like, how can this world get any worse?
Oh, but my citizenship is in heaven.
And while this life feels like it takes an eternity, it is but a vapor.
But what is waiting for me is eternity with him.
The second thing that he encourages them, he exhorts them to, is always rejoice in the Lord.
Philippians 4, 4.
Rejoice in the Lord always.
Again, I will say rejoice.
Now, always, for me, is difficult.
Some days seem easy.
Some days seem harder.
And all too often, on the days that seem harder, seems like the days that I can't.
But in all reality, it's the day that I just won't.
I can, but I won't.
Why?
Because it's easier to be miserable than it is to rejoice.
From his prison cell.
Execution awaiting.
Rejoice in the Lord always.
Again, I will say rejoice.
Then he tells them,
Refuse to be anxious.
Easier said than done.
Refuse to be anxious.
And instead,
pray about everything.
Philippians 4, 6-7.
Do not be anxious about 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 understandings,
will guard your heart and your minds
in Christ Jesus.
Today,
I choose joy.
Today,
I refuse to let the lies of this world consume me.
And here's why.
Refuse to be anxious and instead pray about everything.
Come in together.
Because with the understanding
that the miracle of God in the moment
is, God,
I'm depending on you
because every part of me
wants to run to the sinful idol of anxiety.
But God,
today,
with everything,
Lord,
I come to you.
I can't imagine
Paul's
sleepless nights.
But in everything,
in everything,
in everything.
Paul says that they need to fix their minds
on the things of praise
and excellence.
Paul says in Philippians 4, 8,
finally, brothers,
whatever is true,
whatever is honorable,
whatever is just,
whatever is pure,
whatever is lovely,
whatever is commendable,
if there is any excellence,
if there is anything worth
of praise,
think about these things.
Paul says focus.
Put your mind on the things of God.
Put your mind on the promises of God.
Put your mind on the work of Christ.
Put your mind and your hope in Him
and fix your mind on those.
Get away from me, Satan.
Because let me tell you who God is.
And let me tell you of God's love for me.
Here's what Paul wants them to get.
Living by faith
is not always easy.
It's not.
Living by faith
is not always easy.
Anybody who tells you
that it is,
I'd love to have a conversation with them.
I want to know
why it's easy,
how it's been easy.
Because here's the thing,
God doesn't promise us an easy life.
Jesus didn't have an easy life.
God doesn't let us get too comfortable.
God wants to work us
and move us
and shape us.
Paul's life.
Paul's life
is an example of this for them.
Paul's not writing them
out of a concept
that he learned in seminary.
Paul's not writing them
and sharing with them
some story of some martyr.
As Paul sits
in luxury,
Paul writes them
from prison.
Prison that he knew
all too well.
And he's speaking to
when the pursuits
of this world,
when the harshness
of this world,
when the struggles
of life come,
the joy of God
produces a gift of God
in the life of believers
and it's the wonderful gift
of contentment.
Of contentment.
Philippians 4, 10-13.
Paul says,
I rejoice 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 am speaking
of being in need
for I have learned
in whatever situation
I am
to be content.
I know how
to be brought low
and I know
how to abound.
In any
and every circumstance
I have learned
the secret
of facing
plenty
and hunger
abundance
and need.
I can do
all things
through Him
who strengthens me.
Paul's strength
is not in the act.
Paul's strength
is from the Lord
and what
can he do
in prosperity
and in punishment?
What can he do
in riches
and in poverty?
He can be content
in Christ.
I can do all
things
through Him
who strengthens
me.
When we understand
that this world
is not our home.
When our joy
is fixed
in the Lord.
When we refuse
anxiety
to become
the king
of our heart
and embrace
prayer
about everything
we fix our minds
on the things
of praise
on the things
of excellence
on the things
of God
the pains
of this world
may still
ring true
but joy
and contentment
are promised.
Paul's the example
of this.
This isn't
the first.
2 Corinthians 12
7-10
Paul says
so to keep me
from becoming
conceited
because of the
surpassing greatness
of the revelation
a thorn
was given to me
in the flesh
a messenger
of Satan
to harass me
to keep me
from becoming
conceited.
Three times
I pleaded
with the Lord
about this
that it should
leave me
but He said
to me
my grace
is sufficient
for you
for my power
is made perfect
in weakness.
therefore
I will boast
all the more
gladly
of my weaknesses
so that the power
of Christ
may rest on me.
For the sake
of Christ
then
I am content.
I am content
with weaknesses
with insults
with hardships
persecutions
and calamities
for when I am weak
then
I
am
strong.
So how do we
take this?
How do we
take
I can do
all things
through Christ
who gives me
strength
and apply it
to the situations
in my life.
you didn't
make the grade
well done
you prepared
you tried
you did
your best
and you
can be proud
of what
you've done
and I know
that you didn't
get the grade
that you wanted
but ultimately
the things
of this earth
do not
define you
but Christ
does
so in that
you can be
content
with who
you are
in him.
How about
when you don't
get the job
that you
wanted
that you
prayed for
that you
planned for
that you set
godly
aspirations
for
you didn't
get the job
but you're
not going
to get
bitter
you're going
to celebrate
and be happy
for the person
who did
because God
has a plan
for them
and guess
what God
has a plan
for you
and you
will be
content
with where
God has
placed you
and the
purpose
that he
has
and show
up every
single day
prepared
for the
mission
field
that he
has.
What about
the
doctor's
office?
What about
when the
report
comes back
and you've
done
everything?
The
medicine
the
prayers
the
diet
the
reading
your
Bible
man I'm
trying to do
all the
things the
doctor
I'm
trying to do
all the
works of
God
that God
has for
me
God
is going
to see
you can
do all
things
through
Christ
who gives
me strength
that while
your health
and your
body may
fail
God's
plan
for every
moment
of your
life will
not
and he
has
purpose
and he
has
reason
and every
moment
that God
gives you
breath
on this
earth
he's
using you
for his
purpose
and because
of that
because
of that
I will
give him
praise
in every
single
moment
on this
earth
in sickness
and in health
and in poverty
and prosperity
because here's
what
we
know
there's an
eternity
of praise
for him
that he
will give
us
and that
we can be
content
that our
life
is in
his hands
and our
eternity
is secured
in his
as well
in closing
if you're
asking yourself
this question
this morning
but how
can I be
content
how can I
be content
of the
things that
I'm dealing
with
the things
that I'm
going through
of the
things
that I'm
facing
while I
wish we
could take
those away
we can't
but what
we can
acknowledge
is the
sacrifice
of the
cross
and the
miracle
of the
tomb
that
Christ
came
and he
solved
the
unsolvable
problem
that you
face
that I
face
he solved
the problem
of our
sin
and in
solving the
problem of
our sin
he took
the punishment
that we
not just
deserve
but that we
earned
and that
should be
due
for us
and the
wrath of
God that
I deserve
and the
wrath of
God that
you deserve
he took
on
on our
behalf
and he
bore
the burden
of our
sin
he was
punished
and took
the death
that you
and I
deserve
we can
be content
in the
joy
in Christ
because the
sacrifice
of the
cross
but also
in the
miracle
of the
tomb
because see
his body
doesn't
still lay
there
but three
days later
that he
arose
and so
while our
life here
will not
end here
our life
when we
are found
in him
has the
promise for
a hope
and a
future of
eternity
and so
regardless
of what
this world
may bring
I can
find
contentment
in Christ
because I
can do
all
things
through
Christ
who
gives me
strength
my joy
my
contentment
my hope
and my
praise
is found
in him
would you
pray with
me
God I
thank you
for the
beauty
and the
truth
of your
word
God
whether it's
a baseball
game
or a
test
a job
interview
a doctor's
appointment
or to
any other
situation
that we
may find
ourselves
in
God the
outcomes
of those
events
do not
define who
we are
but God
we're
defined who
we are
in you
and in
you alone
so while
Paul writes
this from
being
imprisoned
talks about
the joy
that he
has in
Christ
and in
God
and in
the reality
of where
we find
ourselves
today
we can
cling to
the same
hope
and joy
in you
and in
you
alone
God
give us
and the
power
and the
working
of your
spirit
or the
ability
to cling
to the
promises
of your
word
God
that we
will not
find
ourselves
defined
by the
moment
we will
not find
ourselves
defined
by the
event
but we
will
define
ourselves
defined
by Christ
and Christ
alone
whatever
situation
there's
joy
God
I pray
for those
of us
here this
morning
God
I pray
salvation
in eternity
with you
would not
simply be
an event
that we
are waiting
for
but it
would be
a reality
that we
live in
every day
that the
joy of
my salvation
is evident
in me
now
it's a
testimony of
your faithfulness
to me
it's a
testimony of
your faithfulness
to others
and that
God we
would give
you
all the
praise
and honor
and glory
Lord
and it's
possible
not through
our works
and our
means
but possible
only
because of
the work
of Christ
and what
he did
in our
place
and what
he overcame
for us
God as we
prepare
ourselves
to go
into a
time of
response
a time
of worship
Lord
I ask
for the
working
movement
of your
spirit
as we
acknowledge
through
communion
the work
of Jesus
and it's
his name
we pray
amen
that's it
for this
week's
message
be sure
to check
back next
week for
a new
episode
and in
the meantime
you can
visit us
online at
willowridgechurch.org
or by searching
for Willow Ridge
Church on
Facebook
Instagram
and YouTube
thanks again
for listening
and YouTube