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. – Philippians 4:11-12 (NASB)
Content: αὐτάρκης – satisfaction in one’s circumstance or position in life, specifically related to the idea of “self-sufficiency”
Secret: μυέομαι – to learn the secret of something through personal experience or as the result of initiation
I can do all things through Him who strengthens me – Philippians 4:13 (NASB)
UP (Keep Focused on Christ)
Look up to unshakeable (vv.4-8)
I experience peace when I grow my life
“The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart.
– Luke 6:45 (NASB)
I experience peace when I guard my life
I experience peace when my faith is
IN (Invest in Community)
Invest in as a of (vv.10, 14-16)
CHARACTERISTICS OF COMMUNITIES THAT STRENGTHEN:
1. Community is a place people share
Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ. -Galatians 6:2 (NASB)
2. Community requires genuine
3. Community requires a measure of
4. Community requires a
OUT (Life on Mission)
Live out on to true
(vv.15-16)
What do I with my resources?
How am I to be used?
Who can I in my everyday life?
The Attitude of the Person who Lives Out on Mission:
Now I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel, so that my imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well known throughout the whole praetorian guard and to everyone else, and that most of the brethren, trusting in the Lord because of my imprisonment, have far more courage to speak the word of God without fear. Some, to be sure, are preaching Christ even from envy and strife, but some also from good will; the latter do it out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel; the former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition rather than from pure motives, thinking to cause me distress in my imprisonment. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed; and in this I rejoice.
– Philippians 1:12-18 (NASB)