Greetings, everyone. So this is nice to see you from this side of this desk. I'm usually looking the other way. Please turn to Philippians chapter 4. And it's going to take me a few minutes to get there, but we're going to be looking at Philippians 4, verses 10 through the end of the chapter. Well, would it not be nice if the Apostle Paul was a contemporary of ours, and we actually supported him as a church, prayerfully and financially, and we could look forward to the news and prayer that comes out via email, and we could read an update from Paul and his co-workers, people like Silas or Barnabas or Timothy and others, And wouldn't it be nice if he would come to visit our church every three or four years, meet with our pastor and missions committee, and then share from God's word? I think we'd have to do more than just one service if it was the Apostle Paul. I think we'd have at least a three-day conference, if not a five or six-day conference. We'd certainly have to have him in the 4D men as our speaker for the fall kickoff, if that worked out. The Apostle Paul is just an unbelievable man of God. There's not that much extra biblical material to tell us about Paul, but what we learn from Paul comes from what we read in the book of Acts, of course, and what we read from his writings and find out a little about him as a person and what type of person he was. So Philippians has been such a joy to study together since January 9th, when we first started this series. And I think it's appropriate that we, although we recognize that Paul was not perfect, he was flesh and blood just like us, I think it is appropriate to look up to him. In fact, if we look at chapter four verses, starting at verse nine, right here in this chapter in Philippians, it says, the things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things and the God of peace will be with you. So it's like Paul said, look at me. I'm doing everything within God's power given to me to live out what the Christian life should be like. And I think in another passage he said, follow me even as I follow Christ. So we know he wasn't perfect, but what a role model he is. So we're thankful for Paul, and we should be. He was an amazing man of God. He authored at least 13 letters, 13 books in the New Testament. And he's the one who really brought to life, maybe more than anybody else, as we study the Gospels and the life of Christ, and even everything that the Old Testament prophets said about him, Paul is the one that kind of explains to us What all that meant, what the life and ministry, the incarnation, the death, the burial, resurrection, what does it all mean to us? It's like Paul brought it alive to us. And he did it here in the book of Philippians in only 104 verses. And when we started this winter Bible conference, I made it a practice to try to read that every day. That was my goal. I didn't actually accomplish that goal. A lot of days I read it, though, because it's not that long. It doesn't take that long to read. And I read it in different translations. And I came with excitement every time to hear our speakers. At least one of those or two of those I missed, and I had to do it with the live stream recording. But I came expecting to learn all I could from this great book. And I was always asking myself, what is the primary theme of this book? And the thing that jumps out to all of us is probably that, well, it's about joy, because the word joy and rejoice and all that is mentioned so many times. That's true. Don't want to do anything to take away from that. But what's really the theme is the Christ-centered life is the only way to live. In fact, those of you into words, you know, the different types of words we have to use when we write or speak, we have nouns and we have verbs and we have adjectives and so forth. The noun that appears most frequently in the letter to the Philippians is the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior. So that tells me that, like Paul did in all of his books, he made Christ the very center of it. And I'm glad I go to a church where Christ is the center and where the Bible is lifted up as the centerpiece of why we're here. Paul also used the word gospel nine times. Think about this. This is a very short book, but the word gospel appears more in this book than any other book he wrote. It appears nine times. Many of them were in the first chapter of Philippians, the word gospel. That's what's changed all of our lives, the gospel of Jesus Christ. So it's joy-centric, and there's more in here, more themes. There's this theme of unity, which is really loud and clear. Some of our speakers brought that out. And there's this fellowship that we have in Christ. That's really a strong theme throughout this entire book. Because I'm the last speaker in this series, I want to just very briefly give you a quick overview of some of the things that our speakers talked about as they reviewed various texts, chapters one all the way to the middle here of chapter four. Can't spend much time on that because we need to get to our passage, but Pastor Jim kicked us off by a level set for us by going back to Acts chapter 16, where we read about how the church at Philippi began. We learned about people like Lydia, probably a very successful businesswoman who came to Christ. First convert in Europe, if I'm not mistaken, and we read about the Philippian jailer, and we learned that there was spiritual warfare there. Satan wanted to oppose what Paul was doing, and I think we had a young lady there that was actually possessed by a demon. Paul had to cast that demon out. Everywhere the gospel goes, there's going to be obstacles and oppression from Satan. And we saw that when this church in Philippi was founded. Pastor Jim, I believe, spoke on the second portion where he pointed out to us the perspective in this book. The perspective of the author, the perspective of the church, and this perspective of heaven. And he also talked to us about the enduring love that the Apostle Paul had for this church. In fact, Paul had that love for every church that he ever was involved with, even if he didn't know individuals personally, he had this unbelievable love for them. And it comes across really loud and clear. So, Paul is an amazing guy, and we look to him as a role model of one who modeled Christ. I would like to invite you to do something along that same line tonight. In addition to admiring the work of Paul and the message that he has for us here in Philippians, I'd like you to think of someone in your life who has been a profound influence upon you. kind of mentored you, perhaps it was a parent, a grandparent, could have been a pastor, could have been a youth leader, could have been a counselor, could have just been a friend, could be your spouse. Could you just pause for a moment and think of somebody like that who's kind of like an Apostle Paul to you, maybe not at that level, certainly not at the level of Christ like we all want to be. but think of someone that's a gift. So as I'm going through the text here and talking about the principles here in Philippians chapter four, and also this quick review, if I use the word gift, like think of the gift in your life, I'm talking about a person. Think about that person that's been a special gift to you. So I'll be doing the same, and I'll be talking a little bit about that gift as I go along. I've always been intrigued by the music industry and the music business. I'm not very musical myself, but I love music. And I remember as I was young and growing up in the 70s, I used to listen to Casey Kasem's Top 40 Hits. I don't know if you're familiar with that. That's a big memory for me. And I remember looking forward to hearing what the top 40 hits were in the country. Later in the 1980s, I got into more country music, and I started following a group called Alabama, and they had a lot of hits. You see, when a recording artist, whether it's an individual or a group, when they have a studio album, the record label decides to release singles from that album, commercial singles, they believe will be a hit on the charts. And in the case of Alabama, I think they might have been with the RCA label, at least in the early days. And the RCA label would introduce or release singles. And Alabama, starting in the 1980s, their very first 21 singles made it all the way to the top of the country charts, number one, 21 times in a row. My Homes in Alabama was the first song that they had hit number one. had a lot of others. But then the record label released a song that kind of killed the streak. They released a song called Tar Top. and it only made it to number seven. So their 21 consecutive number one hits came to a stop, a little bit of a pause. However, the record label released six more singles after that, and they all made it to number one. I'm sure they looked back and wished they wouldn't have released that one single, so they would have had even more than 21 in a row. I spoke about Casey Kasem a moment ago, and back in the 70s, I can remember that there was a single that came out by Debbie Boone called You Light Up My Life. Casey Kasem was amazed that that single stayed on the charts for 10 weeks in a row. It was the number one song in America, You Light Up My Life. Now, you may or may not like that life, that song. I hope it doesn't stick in your head now as you reflect back on that. But 10 weeks is about how long we've been doing this Bible conference, so that's a long time. Week after week after week, that was the number one. hit in the music industry. What I want to say about the Apostle Paul as I turn now to the scripture and I think about everything that he wrote, no it wasn't music, but he had these incredible verses that are like, they're like chart-topping hits. It's like sometimes the very first time you hear that verse, that's like a number one hit, that's a number one single. I think of verses like, Romans 5 8 but God commended his love toward us and that while we were yet centers Christ died for us That's like a number one hit you don't even have to have other scripture with you You could talk to somebody with just that one verse and you can share the gospel I think of 2 Corinthians 5.21. He made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf or to be sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God in him. That's a hit. That's a number one chart-topping verse from an album that Paul has written. There's plenty more. If Alan Davis were here, I'd look at him and say, how about Galatians 2.20? I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And we could go on and on. And sometimes we can go to whole chapters, like 1 Corinthians chapter 13, the love chapter, or chapter 15, which is the great resurrection chapter. So here in Philippians, it's just loaded with hits by Paul. Pastor Jim got to speak of one there in Philippians chapter one. I think it's a top hit. It's, I'm confident of this very thing that he who has begun a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ. So Pastor Jim got one of those hits. Brian Wilson had a couple of hits. What about this one? For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain. It's kind of like the first time you ever hear that verse. I know as a child when I first heard it, it got my attention. So Brian got to tell us in the section of the text that he did about how important it is to be fiercely loyal to Christ. and how to have a different view of death if Christ is the center of your life. That was pretty powerful. When I think about the gift that I'm thinking about, I think of that person that had such an influence on my life. He was fiercely loyal and committed to Christ. He really was, and I want you to think about your person, the one you have in mind. Phil got to talk to us about the church standing together and striving together, all in unity, even in the face of conflict, and with courage. And that kind of led us into the next message that Andy Martin brought us on a Sunday morning, and right in, tucked inside of chapter two of Philippians, is this Jesus Psalm, if you will, where it talks about, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. And it talks about how he was equal with the Father, but he obeyed the Father, came to Earth. We call that the, help me out, Pastor Jim, the incarnation, the incarnation of Jesus, where he became flesh and blood, just like all of us. lived a perfect life, had a wonderful ministry of faithful obedience to his father, and he went to the cross and died in a very humiliating way, and then he rose again. And one day he will be exalted, a name above every name. So Andy was able to share with us a takeaway there that Jesus is the supreme model of humility, also of unity, by the way. He was in lockstep with his father, like he was gonna obey his father every step of the way. And he told us that over and over again, especially in the Gospel of John. We learned that. Pastor Ernie went on with the next, section where he talked about faithfulness. God just calls us to be faithful. We don't need to worry about the results. God takes care of the results when we faithfully serve him. And there were some great passages there in that section, too, including work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Why can we work it out? Because it is God who worketh in us and through us to work it out for his good pleasure. That's in chapter 2, verse 12. Then Paul gave us a couple of examples of faithful men. So Steve Thurman talked to us about those two examples. One was Timothy. Timothy was like an elder or a pastor that Paul was mentoring, so he held an office. He had these incredible talents, and God could use him in a faithful way. He was faithful to the Lord. And then there was this man, Epaphroditus. He didn't necessarily hold an office. He was just a layperson like many of us. He just maybe didn't have as many gifts as Paul or Timothy, but he was the first to volunteer. He was the first to obey and do whatever it took to serve the Lord and to serve others. In fact, he's the one that journeyed 800 miles taking a gift of money to Paul in prison. and he became very sick. And then it appears as though Paul wrote this letter, dictated it to someone else perhaps, and Epaphroditus hand carried it back to the church at Philippi. There you have an example of somebody that we can all be just faithful in the way that we serve Christ. So two great examples. And then Jonathan Hibbets talked about everything's in Christ, it's not of our own, talents, gifts, abilities, our own works, not our pedigree, not our resume. Paul had everything going for him. Actually, Saul of Tarsus, you know, he was a Hebrew of the Hebrews and all that, and Jonathan talked about that, but it all added up to nothing. If Paul would have died before the Damascus Road conversion, he would have stood before God. And God would have said, depart from me, I never knew you, because he had never found Christ. The only way to have righteousness is not through our own righteousness, but it's through the righteousness of Christ. So he had the zeal, but he didn't have the imputed righteousness of Christ. Cary got to continue speaking to us from chapter three. I think there's a couple of great hits there, too, including another great verse about the gospel. I love this verse, it's like just a summary of what this idea of the righteousness of Christ. Chapter three, verse nine says, and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. It's kind of like Paul there just summed up about two or three or four chapters of the Book of Romans. He just kind of summarized it in one verse there in Philippians. And then also this great verse, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings. Carey talked to us about that. And then Dr. Bob told us about the race we are in. Christian life is like a race. It's the race of a lifetime. And Paul wrote that we need to press on toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. And he also said in 320 that our citizenship is in heaven. Then Pastor Ernie opened up chapter four, continuing many of the great themes already introduced, and basically said we have a roadmap to joy and we have a roadmap to peace. And you can do it, and you need to do it without conflict. You need to have unity. And he even had to call out a couple of ladies in the church that were in conflict, and he encouraged someone to come and mediate for them. And there's just some beautiful passages of scripture that Ernie got to cover. Unforgettable verses like rejoice in the Lord always and again, I say rejoice that's in four four Four six is be anxious for nothing, but everything By prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving. Let your requests be made known unto God. I And this is one of the favorite verses that the gift that I'm thinking about happens to be I. One of his favorite verses was, and the peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Peace that you cannot even explain. That's the peace that comes through that relationship with Jesus. And of course, Ernie emphasized that we need to think right. We need to think like Jesus thought. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Things that are true, honest, pure, lovely, of good report or good repute. If there be any virtue and if there be any praise, think on these things. So that's another way to live a life of joy, a Christ-centered life, is to think about the right things. So that's a quick review, and let's now look, let's focus our attention on chapter four, verses 10 through, I won't go all the way to the end, let's go 10 through 20. But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at last you have revived your concern for me. Indeed, you were concerned before, but you lacked opportunity. So this is kind of like a thank you letter, in a sense. Paul started out the letter that way, and now he's come back to it here toward the end, with so much thankfulness and appreciation for this church at Philippi. Verse 11, not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. Nevertheless, you have done well to share with me in my affliction. You yourselves also know, Philippians, that at the first preaching of the gospel, after I left Macedonia, no church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving but you alone. For even in Thessalonica you sent a gift more than once for my needs. Not that I seek the gift itself, but I seek for the profit which increases to your account. But I have received everything in full and have an abundance. I am amply supplied. I, or having received from Epaphroditus what you have sent, a fragrant aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well-pleasing to God. And another chart-topping hit here, verse 19, and my God will supply all your needs according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. And now a doxology, now to our God and Father, be the glory forever and ever, amen. So with that, we'll pause and talk about what we just read, and then we'll go to the closing remarks. A couple of things I want to say about the passages that we just read, and we'll go back and look at a few of these verses in more depth here, but some of my study that, as I told you, I read Philippians a lot, just because I wanted to saturate my mind with it. But I also referred to commentaries that would help me understand what the Lord was teaching us. I read commentaries from men such as John MacArthur, Stephen Lawson, Kent Hughes, D.A. Carson, Tony Moretta, and Francis Chan, and William Barclay. So some of the things I say tonight were certainly some things I learned from reading from those commentators and Bible scholars. The main idea, I think, in the 10 or 11 verses that we just read is this. As Paul expresses his gratitude to God for the church's support, he carefully highlights some aspects of giving and receiving. So we need to think about what's going on here in the passage as far as who gave and who received and how did they do it and why did they do it. So the theme is like giving and receiving. And Paul is certainly a model of someone who receives, and the Philippian church is a great model of someone who gives. The first word I want you to focus on is gratitude. This is something I believe in. That gift of mine that I'm thinking about, he really was a grateful person. Gratitude is an amazing thing. It allows us to be resilient in times of trial. In fact, at work, my boss figured out that I like to practice gratitude in my daily thinking and in the way I live. And she has, she's very intrigued by that, and she's actually asked me to talk about that spirit of gratitude and how it helps you through hard times. And whenever I can, of course, I tap into the scripture, and I've even shared with her the entire book of Philippians. where I tell her that joy just jumps off the page here. Gratitude is very important, so one of the practices that I like to do is when I get up in the morning, that's the time I like to have some prayer and Bible reading before my day actually starts, and it's very good to just meditate and reflect on what you're thankful for. Even if you're not feeling well, even if you're tired, even if you're having financial struggles, even though you have worries about the future. During the COVID time, of course, a lot of us had worries on our mind, going through some hard times with that, and there's other things in our life. Gratitude is extremely important, and it's really emphasized here. Paul is saying, you know, in verse, starting in verse 10, that he's grateful. It says in chapter, sorry, verse 10, I rejoiced in the Lord greatly. And he's acknowledging the fact that he's grateful for these Philippians who are supporting him in his ministry and in his chains there in prison. Gratitude is something that is incredibly important here. Another major thought or word that we should look at in this text is found in verses 11 through 13, and it's the word contentment. Paul really wants to emphasize contentment no matter what is happening in your life. Verse 11, not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. So here, we actually learn that contentment is not connected to our circumstances. You can be poor, you can be rich. You can be in poor health, you can be in great health. Contentment should not change according to the principle that Paul is teaching here. You can be content in whatever the situation is. Another takeaway here is that Paul didn't learn this by somebody, you know, sitting in a classroom, even at the feet of Gamaliel, and just learning like a, a scholar in academics, like you can be content no matter what circumstances you're in. He learned it because he lived it. He may have had some times of real comfort. He may, for example, been in the home of Lydia. Maybe the first church in Philippi was in the home of Lydia. Maybe they had great food and warmth and comfort and fellowship together. Those were good times for Paul. He could be content in that. But more often than that situation, he was in a different period or a different lot in life, and he was content anyway. So he makes the emphasis here in verses 11 and 12 that he learned it. Not that I speak from want, verse 11, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstance I'm in. And he uses that word learned again, I believe, in the next. He's learned the secret of being filled, going hungry, having abundance, and suffering need. Now, I probably don't need to remind you, but in 1 Corinthians and in 2 Corinthians, Paul, in graphic language, tells us some of the difficult times that he went through. I can assure you, I doubt that anyone in this room or even on livestream has ever gone through trials like Paul went through. For example, in 1 Corinthians 4, up to this present hour, we are both hungry and thirsty, poorly clothed and roughly treated and homeless. And we labor, working with our own hands. When we are verbally abused, we bless. When we are persecuted, we endure it. When we are slandered, we reply as friends. And I could read on, but 2 Corinthians 4 is along the same theme. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed. Perplexed, but not despairing. Persecuted, but not abandoned. Struck down, but not destroyed. Paul was still content in those situations. In 2 Corinthians chapter 11, He really gives some personal examples of what he went through. Five times I received from the Jews 39 lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. A night and a day I spent adrift at sea. I can't imagine that. I have been on frequent journeys in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen. dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers at sea, dangers among false brothers. I've been in labor and hardship through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. So Paul could say that he was content in any circumstance, and he had those types of circumstances, and he was serving God. doing what God asked him to do, traveling, planting churches, caring about people, ministering to people, doing what the Great Commission called him to do, to go and make disciples, and in all of that, that's what he went through, but he was content. He was content. Amazing testimony. You know, and if you think about it, Jesus was content, too. As we looked in chapter two, he was equal with God, and he left the glories of heaven to come down to this broken, cursed earth and to obey the Father every step of the way. And he was content in doing that. In all the suffering and pain and humiliation that he endured, he did it to please his Father, and he was content. and he completed his mission. So, wow, what a message, what a theme of contentment that flows from Philippians. And then, we actually get to another great hit of Paul's, a one verse message that is powerful. It's found in chapter four, verse 13. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. So the commentators say that in the Greek, the chronology of the words is actually all things comes first. All things I can do through him who strengthens me. Now, this verse has been taken out of context a lot because the all things that Paul is specifically talking about here is actually what he was just talking about. All the things that he went through on any portion of life's journey, of the continuum that he was on, in the really good days and in the really tough days, he could do that, he could be content because it was Christ. that he was doing it through. The strength and the power was coming from Christ, and that is clearly taught here in four, verse 13. In fact, the NIV has a great translation of this. It says, I can do all this through him who gives me strength. Now, it's not to say that we can't do everything we can do in life, even physical strength to get out of bed in the morning really is a grace that comes from God and comes through Christ to us. It's common grace for mankind. Whether you're a believer or not, many of the things that we can do in life comes because of God's grace and goodness. It wasn't necessarily the intent of this verse to talk about all those things. But it is true that when we step out in faith, there's amazing things that we can do. We don't have to worry about the results because God takes care of the results. But you can step out on faith and do some great things for God, just like Abraham did, and other people we read about in the Bible. You know that gift I've been thinking about? He did that. He stepped out on faith. The guy I'm thinking about came to Christ when he was 29 years old. And you know, he fell in love with the Bible, just like that. The Bible had been like a foreign language to him, did not make any sense at all. But when he came to Christ, it's like, wow, this really is an incredible message from God. It's like a love letter to us that tells us how to journey through life. One day, this gift of mine, this guy, was reading in Luke chapter five about the disciples. Peter and his brother Andrew had a boat. And apparently Jesus sat in the boat just off the shore and a large gathering of people listened to him preach. And after that sermon, Jesus said to Simon Peter, I want you to launch out into the deep and go fishing. And Simon Peter's like, okay, I'll do that at your word, although it doesn't make a lot of sense to me because we fished all night and caught nothing. But he went out and they caught a lot of fish. We know the story, Pastor Jim preached on that passage not that long ago. The guy that I'm thinking about read that verse and said, you know what, that's what I need to do. I need to launch out in faith and go into full-time ministry. didn't make any sense, humanly speaking, that he would do that. He had a great job. He was in the airline industry, and he had three kids and a fourth on the way, and his wife was a stay-at-home mom. So to give all that up, sell your house, and move to another city to attend seminary didn't make a lot of sense. but he did it, you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you. So in addition to gratitude and contentment that we learn from these verses that Paul's teaching us, there's also a third word and it's partnership. Let's look at verses 14 through 16. Nevertheless, he's talking to the Philippians, you have done well to share with me in my affliction. You yourselves also know, Philippians, that at the first preaching of the gospel after I left Macedonia, no church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving but you alone. For even in Thessalonica, you sent a gift more than once. for my needs. So here we see that there's an inseparable partnership in ministry. People can't serve the Lord in full-time ministry typically unless someone is supporting them in some way financially. The Philippian church, kind of like a new church, not that many people, right after Paul left Philippi and he went to places like in Macedonia, like Amphipolis, Apollonia, Thessalonica, Berea, and then on to Corinth. This was the one church that was sending him financial support, and Paul never forgot that. Now, apparently they had a lapse where they could not send financial resources, but here later on, they do it again. And Paul is letting God know, hey, Lord, I'm so thankful for this, that you provided these people in this faithful church to support me financially. The fact is, in a lot of churches, we don't like to talk about money. People feel like, oh wow, that's a topic we should stay off of, but the truth is, to support the full-time work of God, we need people who serve by supporting others in ministry, and they do it with prayer, and they do it with finances. So, here we see this incredible partnership. Again, Pastor Jim really emphasized this when he was in chapter one. about the love and the bond that Paul and this church had. A fourth word in this section here has to do with fruitfulness, and we'd find that in verse 17. Paul's saying, hey, I'm not just really wanting to speak about the gift itself, but I seek for the profit which increases to your account. This translation, the NASB here, talks about profit. A lot of other translations talk about fruit, eternal fruit. When you sacrificially give financially to support ministry, there's eternal fruit. This church right here in Ypsilanti, raised approximately $75,000 in the last six months or so for a church in Peru that needs extra space. That is producing fruit. Right now, currently going on, we're supporting another church in Peru and we raised money through our Awana ministry. I think there was a Bible study group that raised money, and we have this rummage sale that's coming up to raise money for the same missionaries in the same location. God keeps track of that, and he produces eternal fruit. Sometimes I listen to Alistair Begg on the radio, And Alistair says, you know, we've all heard of IRAs to prepare for our retirement, individual retirement account. Alistair says, those are good, you should have IRAs, that's a good thing to plan for your retirement, but you also need some IEAs, individual eternity accounts. Investments that you make in ministry to produce fruit. So Paul's focus here was like, hey, Philippians, you're gonna have rewards in heaven. You're producing fruit through the financial sacrifice. Another word here is worship. That's found in verse 18. The word is not necessarily found, but the principle of worshiping is here. But I have received everything in full and have an abundance. I am amply supplied, having received from Epaphroditus what you have sent, a fragrant aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well-pleasing to God. So Paul makes the reference to the Old Testament sacrifices where the people in ancient Israel would bring an animal for a sacrifice and there would be priests that would make sacrifice as offerings to God all day, probably every day of the year. And sometimes incense was used. and it would produce a fragrant aroma to God, and God was well pleased with that sacrifice. So when Paul's saying these words, he's actually saying, it was an act of worship when you financially supported me. You were actually worshiping God. I don't know if you think about it that way, if you give a love offering to a missionary, or you faithfully give to support your local church. you're actually worshiping God. So worship comes out strongly, and God is well pleased. God was pleased, Paul was pleased, Paul's needs were being taken care of, and the Philippians were pleased because they were involved in the ministry. They were co-laborers, they were partners. A final word in this particular section would be faith, and that comes strongly in the next two verses, we see the importance of trusting in God's provision. This is another chart-topping hit of the Apostle Paul. Chapter four, verse 19. And my God will supply all your needs according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. So, primarily, of course, Paul's talking about material provisions. A prisoner in Rome They weren't provided things by the state or by the government. They had to rely on people who would provide support to them. And that's what's going on here. And Paul is letting us know that it's actually God who is using other people to meet the needs of Paul. My God will supply all your needs according to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus. But I think the principle applies to all of our needs that we have. God supplies it. And again, it's gratitude that we can express and that Paul expressed. Now, you know, we get to verse 20, and Paul introduces a doxology to us here, as if it's the last verse. You know, when I read at the end of, Chapter two, after Paul had talked about being like Christ, and he had talked about the gospel, and he talked about being faithful, and then he gave us the examples of Timothy and Epaphroditus, it almost seemed like he was about to wrap up the letter then, but then he, God inspired him to keep talking about all this great theology. And here it seems like in verse 20, he's doing a wrap up and he's gonna lay down the pen or finish his dictation, so to speak. Now to our God and Father be the glory forever and ever, amen. So he concludes this paragraph by giving glory to God, and it's in a response to the theology that he had been teaching here. But he decides he's going to keep going, and he actually ends the letter with three verses here of greeting. You know, he had opened the Book of Philippians with a greeting where he says to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, including the overseers and deacons. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. And now he's gone full circle and he decides to say it again. He wants to extend grace to them and so forth. So he says in verse 21, here's the second greeting, if you will. The first one was right at the beginning of the letter. Now we get to the second one. Greet every saint in Christ Jesus. So it's like he just, I just want you to know I'm greeting every one of you individually. It's coming from me, it's coming from my heart. And then he goes on to say, the brethren who are with me greet you. So people like Timothy, maybe Dr. Luke, whoever was with him, they would have been nodding their heads and say, yeah, send our greetings as well. And then thirdly, there's another greeting. All the saints greet you. You know, all the saints in Rome, people that I've led to the Lord, they don't, they've never met you, but they send their greetings as well. And then there's a fourth greeting, and it's from an unusual group of people here. Verse 22, all the saints greet you, especially those of Caesar's household. This would be a highly unlikely group of people. These are people that serve in the day-to-day administration, of the Roman Empire, and maybe they're custodians, maybe they're musicians, maybe they're guards, maybe they take care of animals, maybe they're builders, whatever they are, Paul, we know, shared the gospel with them, and some of them came to Christ, and Paul is saying, some of these people, saved by grace, trophies of God's grace, they send their greetings as well. So my gift, and I hope you're thinking about your gift, has probably lived a life in front of you that pointed to Christ and probably When you look at some of these great verses in Philippians, you could say, yeah, the person who made a profound impact on my life through that Bible study or during that time when I was going through a serious trial, they lived like Paul talks about here in Philippians with Jesus right at the center of their life. And it was all about grace. So my gift was my dad. My dad passed away on February 2, 2022, right kind of in the middle of this Bible conference that we're having. In fact, I was supposed to speak earlier. It didn't work out because I needed to go to Texas to the funeral and all that because of the timing involved in that. But my dad had a profound influence on my life, and he lived out a lot of the principles that Paul taught right here in the letter to the Philippians. He just lived it out every day. I knew he had that enduring love for me. He never really said it verbally that often. He just showed it by the things that he did. He was faithful to his country. He served in World War II. He was faithful to his wife. He was faithful to his children. He was faithful to reading God's word. He was faithful to every church where he served. He was faithful to the Lord to the very end, from age 29 until age 99. That's just how he chose to live his life. No, he wasn't perfect. He was like you and me. He was on this journey, but he was trying to walk with Christ as the center of his life. The preacher in the funeral, or the celebration of life that we had for my dad, he had four simple points, the preacher that day. I happen to know the preacher pretty well, because he's my brother. The first point was the things that we learned from my dad by the way he lived his life was don't look back. My dad never looked back. He left a life that had no room for God, and he was all in from 1951 all the way to 2022. The second point, after don't look back, it was walk by faith. And the preacher that day gave the example of Joshua and the leaders of Israel stepping into the Jordan River. They got their feet wet and they had faith to believe that God could give them the land of Canaan. So my dad was like that, he was willing to get his feet wet, not look back, just serve the Lord. His favorite verse of all time was Hebrews 11, six, but without faith it is impossible to please God, for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, must believe that he exists, and that he's the rewarder of those that diligently seek him. So it was don't look back, walk by faith, and the third point was don't just know it, do it. James tells us that. James tells us be doers of the word and not hearers only. Make sure your walk aligns with your talk. My gift, the gift I've been thinking about and speaking about here in the last couple of minutes, he did it, he didn't just say it. And then the fourth point, don't look back, walk by faith, don't just know it, do it. The fourth point was run the race well. All of these points are closely aligned, by the way. Take whatever God-given talents you have, and we all have different talents and abilities. And some of us seem to have a lot of talents. Some of us, like me, have fewer talents. But take whatever they are, and use them for God's glory so that one day, you know, like the Apostle Paul, I don't know if he's heard the words yet or if he's going to hear them at the judgment seat of Christ, but he's going to hear the words, well done, now good and faithful servant. I know my dad will also. So the question for us tonight is, what have you learned from the Apostle Paul What have you learned from that person that made that influence in your life that would cause you to live out what Paul teaches from the letter to the Philippian church? What have you learned and how are you doing at living a life full of joy that comes from Christ being in the very center of your life? That's the question for all of us to ponder tonight. as we close this Bible conference on the letter to the Philippians. And with that, we will close in prayer. And think about, as we pray, why don't you give a word of thanks to that one person that you might have been thinking about during this message? Let's pray. Father, we thank you for the wonderful messages that Paul wrote to the church at Philippi that apply to us today. I pray that we would actually apply these in a practical way in our lives. Thank you that we have the opportunity to serve you wherever you've placed us. And perhaps we're at a point in life where things are going very well for us, or perhaps there's struggles and trials. Help us to realize that we can be content wherever we are. We can still have Christ as the center point of our life. Thank you also that we can provide financial support to those that are in full-time ministry, and may that be something that produces fruit and counts for all eternity. And thank you for those gifts in our life that made impacts and influence upon us. Yeah, just like Paul wrote, our God shall supply every need according to his riches in glory. by Christ Jesus. So we thank you for your blessings to us. Help us to have grateful hearts and to follow Jesus. In his name we pray, amen.