Philippians: The Key to Joy - 1

Well good morning everyone, my name is Steve Walker.  I am one of the elders here at Faith Community, and I have the privilege this morning of introducing our study in the New Testament letter to the Philippians.

SURFACE STUFF

A.  The Story of the Church at Philippi (Acts 16:6-40)

As background, we are first going to look at Acts chapter 16, the kind of the back story of Philippians. So take your Bibles and turn to Acts Chapter 16. Then we will be going to Philippians. If you have a mobile app,

If you don't have a mobile app, I would. Recommend EU version. It's free and it's easy to use and you can download it anywhere you want, but hopefully you also have. A paper Bible too someplace.

Acts, chapter 16. Let's  pray. Please open our hearts Father, open our eyes so we see, we feel, we understand and we respond in a way that would be good for us and honoring you in every way. Now speak to us in Jesus’ name.

Amen.

So when I read the New Testament, I'm often struck by how attractive the Christians experience was. I mean, they seemed to pray more quickly, more often. They saw more obvious answers to their prayers. They seemed to sense

God's guidance, feel God's power. They seemed obsessed with Jesus. I mean, he's what they talked about, he's what they thought about, he's what they cared about, he's what they sacrificed for. And all of this despite lacking in what we consider life's essentials.

I mean, a lot of them were really poor. Nobody had a car or a TV or a computer or an iPad or the Internet. They didn't have supermarkets. They didn't have packaged food. IPhones weren't even invented. They didn't have a reliable mail system. The sewer and water systems were primitive and for a very long time, because they didn't have buildings and it was sort of the out, it was sort of an outlawed group.

Christians would meet wherever they could, in houses, sometimes in cemeteries, anywhere where there was some privacy. And when they got together, they didn't have individual copies of the Bible like we do today. Scriptures were often read to them and they had to remember what they

heard, and if they were lucky, they could share copies or fragments of scrolls or letters. I mean, we have it really good.

Now they did have their problems because they were people just like us. Sometimes they didn't get along with each other. Shock of shocks.

They were tempted. Sometimes they gave in to the temptation. They sometimes bought into the spiritual fads of the day. They needed to be corrected. They gravitated towards some teachers, they ignored some other teachers. They fought selfishness in comparisons and discouragement and frustration and judgmentalism. But, despite all of those things. It seems to me that their experience spiritually often seems deeper and more profound and more genuine. And more consistent than the average believer today. And there's a reason for that.

The reason surfaces clearly in this letter that we know as Philippians in the New Testament. This short letter has just 4 chapters, 104 verses, just a couple of pages in our Bible, and yet the impact of the letter to the Philippians is far greater than its size suggests. Then that's because of the themes that it addresses and the unusual insight it reveals about living joyfully as Christians. It's as encouraging as it is challenging. So let me first say that the key to a

joyful Christian experience isn't just your just your determination. Simply making a decision doesn't always lead to a life change. You know that.

Our choices and our resolve certainly are crucial. But you're going to see that the key to genuine Christian experience isn't simply to make a choice or grit your teeth or try harder. All of us have done that, only to find ourselves frustrated and out of gas and deeply discouraged. It's not just about your will.

So starting today and for the next few months, we're going to be focusing on the letter to this vibrant church and listening to what shaped their genuine Christian experience. And in the process, I think you're going to see what God

has in store for you and for me.

A deeper, more vibrant, more joyful experience of Jesus in what he has to offer. So let me just start with surface stuff. How did this church begin and what was it like? So I'm going to read the story of the church in Philippines.

I went back and forth with this. I thought, am I going to read this whole section? You know, that that just burns time. And then I thought, what would be better than just to read the scripture and hear the story? I mean, and then if I drop dead right here, at least you'd hear this God. So that's what we're going to do.

Acts chapter 16, I'm going to read verses 6 through 40.

“And they, Paul and Silas, went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. It doesn't say how. And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go to Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. And so, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, Come over to Macedonia and help us. And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on to Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

“So setting sail from Troas, we knit a direct voyage to Samothrace, and the following day to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We remained in this city some days, and on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to the Riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together. One who heard us was a woman named Lydia from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshipper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul. And after she was baptized and her household as well, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, to have believed in the Lord, come to my house and stay. And she prevailed upon us.”

“As we were going to the place of prayer we were. By a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gained by fortune telling. She followed Paul and us crying out that these men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaimed to you the way of salvation. And this she kept doing for many days. Paul having become greatly annoyed. Turned and said to the Spirit, I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And it came out that very hour. But when her owners saw that their hope of gain was gone, they seized Paul and Silas, and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers. And when they had brought them to the magistrates, They said, “These men are Jews, and they are disturbing our city. They abdicate customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to accept or practice.” 

“The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates tore the garments off them, and gave orders to beat them with rods, and when they had inflicted many blows upon them. They threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely. Having received this order, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. And about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God. Let that sink in. And the prisoners were listening to them.”

“And suddenly there was a great earthquake. So the foundations of the prison were shaken, and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's bonds were unfastened. And when the jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul cried with a loud voice, Do not harm yourself, for we are all here. And the jailer called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas. And then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household. And they spoke the word of the Lord to him, to all who were in his house. And he took them that same hour of the night and washed their wounds, and he was baptized at once. He and all his family, and then he brought them up into his house and set food before them, and he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God.”

Now I want you to notice that God was guiding them. “They are traveling through Asia Minor, which is modern Turkey, and they decide to head South toward the bustling city of Ephesus. But God stops them. I don't know how. It doesn't really say, just as the Spirit said, "you can't do that.”

You can't go there. I guess if God wants to say no to you in a direction, he's capable of doing that, right?

Well, he does, and so they try to turn into Mysia in Bithynia, but they get dead ended by God again. So the only way that's open is ahead. That's true as a small port city, when they stop and what they preach to fish, I mean, but as Pastor Dave has taught us to say, “God is up to something”.

And that night Paul gets a dream from God of a man from Macedonia on the other side of the sea. And so they set sail to Philippi and do they find a Greek man from Macedonia? Nope, They found a woman. A Jewish woman from Thyatira. There's no church there, just a few faithful Jewish women by the Riverside gathering to pray together.

Well, Paul proclaims to them the gospel, the great message about Jesus and in the coming days or they believe that the woman and apparently some of the other women believe and are baptized right there on the river in the Riverside. They go back to her household and believe that the Philippian Church was born there.

In the coming days, they encountered this demonized slave girl with this dark power of fortune telling. And Paul confronts her, commands the demon to depart and it does. And she believes the gospel, the good news, and she's baptized and she's welcomed into the church. But her handlers, who had profited from her powers, were angry and they were politically connected. So they had Paul and Silas beaten without any trial. Any trial and tossed into the local jail, into the inner jail.

Their feet fastened in the stocks. Which, to put it mildly, is uncomfortable and painful. And so what do they do? Threaten. Bitterly complain. Cry. No, they sang. They worshiped the Lord. They prayed aloud, so loudly that that all of

the other people in the jail stopped talking and listened to them long into the night. And at midnight, God intervened, quaking the earth, and the doors to all the cells shuttered open, and they were set free. And did they leave? Well, no, they didn't. Had they left, the night guard would have been executed because he would have allowed the prisoners to escape. That's why he said, well, I might as well kill myself because they're going to kill me because I let all the prisoners go. Instead. Paul said, "Don't we're all here. He keeps everybody there for the sake of that man. And Paul took the opportunity to tell him the good news of Christ, and he too believes and was immediately baptized. OK, so think about this new church.

B.  What was this church like?

1.  It was a mixed church

2.  It was a healthy church

3.  It was a suffering church

Well, it was a mixed church. You got a wealthy Jewish business woman from Thyatira. A poor Greek slave girl. A Roman military. A guard. The jailer. And many in their households who were related to them, that was the Philippian fellowship.

  C. The Letter to the Church

1.The Author: Paul, a servant of Christ (1:1a)

And those few dozen people formed the core of the church, and they couldn't have been more different in religious backgrounds or political affiliation or economic status. And yet they were held together by their belief and trust in Jesus. So it was a mixed church and it was a pretty healthy church. In the decade between the founding of the church and Paul writing this letter to the Philippians, they encountered relatively few problems. Let me just point out a couple that they had. They're pretty small.

Philippians 1:15, “Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others

from good will.” Vs. 17, “The former proclaimed Christ out of selfish ambition.

Not sincerely, but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment.” In other words,

the church was exposed to some people trying to undermine Paul’s ministry.

But apparently his critics and his competitors did not appear to succeed in diminishing the Philippians' respect and concern for him. So there's that. Not a big deal. And then also there were two prominent women who were getting on each other's nerves.

Chapter 4:2, “I entreat you, Odia, and I entreat Sentiki to agree in the Lord.” because apparently they weren't. But other than that, the church was remarkably free from a lot of the internal troubles that afflicted other churches. But it wasn't just a picnic for them. It was a suffering church as well. The same people in Philippi who orchestrated Paul's arrest and imprisonment. It caused a lot of trouble for the Philippian Christians as the years progressed. He said, how do you know that?

Look at chapter one, verse 29, chapter one, verse 29. Notice what it says.

“For it has been granted to you, that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him. But also suffer for his sake, engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had, and now hear that I still have.”

So you read between the lines and you see the cost involved in being part of that church. Paul had been beaten and treated unfairly and he said look what I went through. You're going through now. Whatever else you can say about these believers, it's really clear that their commitment to Christ. It wasn't casual.

You become a part of that church, your target. OK, So what is this letter about to this church? Well, the author is really clear in chapter one verse one first half of that first sentence, Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus. I want you to notice how Paul described himself not as the founder of the church, though he was not as God's empowered and sent apostle to the non Jewish world. That's exactly what it was. He described himself as a servant or slave of Christ.

In other words, his job description. Was to do Jesus bidding. His whole purpose in life was to please Jesus. He was to listen to Christ. Who is to follow Christ? He was to obey Christ. He was to be answerable to Christ. He saw himself as a servant or slave of Christ. That's why he's writing this letter.

2. Readers: Saints in Christ (1:1b)

The second part of that sentence, “To all the Saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons.” He's writing to the whole church.

From, you know, from the youngest to the oldest. And notice he calls them Saints. Now. Saints literally the word means holy ones. We think of Saints

as designated really good people. Oh, she's a saint, good person. Or we think of them as dead people. The Catholic Church, for instance, proclaims those individuals as Saints. Only after they've finished their lives. Because then you know what the impact of their life was that you can assess what their life meant, right? So I understand what they're doing. They're saying, look, we don't know if they're Saints or not until they're all done. So Saints in the Catholic way means that they're dead. And they've assessed their lives. And they say, whoa, good job. But Paul rightly uses the term to describe living and imperfect people. Isn't that amazing? Saints, because he knows the truth to be a saint. means literally to be set apart for God, to belong to God, to be claimed by God, and that is exactly what you are.

You can just turn to the person next to you and say hi, my name is saint and then add your name. Go ahead and do that. Great.

Yeah, right. Yeah. It kind of feels weird, doesn't it, you know? I just heard somebody say, no, you're not. You are a saint and though this was written to the Saints in Philippi, you have every right to read over their shoulder and take to heart. What they what, what was said to them, it seems because you're a saint as well.

3. The Overview (see chart)

So let me just give you a bird's eye view of the book. Excuse me, there's a chart on the back of your outline and you don't have to look at it. (Its attached down at the bottom) 

Paul wrote this under house arrest while facing trial before Cesar Nero. Now this Caesar Nero was not a nice man. If you know anything about New Testament history, you know this guy was not wise. He was not effective. He was power hungry. He was morally depraved probably. Likely he was out of

his mind. He murdered family members. He had sex with little boys. He set fire to a section of Rome to force its reconstruction because the Senate had rebuffed his grandiose expansion plans. And he blamed Christians for the arson.

Shortly after Paul was released from house arrest, he began this wide persecution that resulted in many Christians being martyred. He was known to take believers in Christ, Christians. Impale them while they were still alive on poles and roll them, or dip them in pitch and set them ablaze, using them as human torches to light his garden parties. This is not a good guy. That's the man that Paul was waiting to face as he wrote this letter. And this was the man who later, after rearresting Paul, would be beheaded. Kind of makes our problems seem a bit more insignificant, doesn't it?

So we read this story of how this church was born about a decade before this

letter was written to them. And we know that right from the very beginning, they understand who Jesus is and his importance to them. On the surface, the letter is a thank you note for their supporting him as a missionary. You can look at that.

Look it up on chapter 4, verse 15 says thanks so much for your support.

But Paul is taking the occasion to highlight a number of very important themes. And let me just point out four recurring themes that pepper the letter.

First, joy, rejoice, be glad, occur 16 times. It's a prominent and recurring idea because it is something that a lot of us desire and we don't always have. We lack. Many people think that this is the main theme of the letter, being a joyful Christian, and it certainly is important, but it isn't the main idea.

The main theme is not what we hope to experience. We want joy, yes, but it's how we come to experience that joy. It's not just joy we're trying to feel. It's how we come to live joyfully as believers. Joy at all times. Joy in adverse circumstances.

A deep joy that doesn't evaporate when things don't go our way. He's urging us to find our joy in Jesus, not in our situations. Which can be really volatile. And I want you to hear that joy is the byproduct of living our lives consumed with Christ. It's the result of seeing things from an eternal perspective, not from the narrow here and now.

We're going to really play that out in the coming weeks 19 times. There are words that mean to think or to consider or attitude, have an attitude or have a certain mind, and that theme shows up at critical points. It's a key to the letter, and we're going to talk more about that in just a minute.

The third theme is the gospel, the basic Christian message that when understood. And when believed is life changing. It's the foundation of all Christian experience and Christian thinking. And it's very clear despite our lost condition, our hopeless condition, God took the initiative and loved us first. And he sacrificed his Son to pay for all of our guilt and sin.

And then God raised Jesus from the dead, who is rightfully proclaimed Lord of all and for all who changed their minds and put their full trust only. In who Jesus is and what he did for us to make us right with God, God grants complete forgiveness. And an unending new life with him. And that's the good news.

That gospel or good news is mentioned 8 times in the letter, but it colors every other thought and every other verse. The 4th theme. Is the Lord Jesus Christ, it shows up 59 in 102 verses and you say, well Steve, come on. I mean, this is the New Testament, so you can't count references to Jesus. I mean, you kind of expect it, right? Well. Maybe, but Philippians references Jesus more times per verses than nearly any other book in the New Testament. Isn't that crazy?

It's as if Christians should be obsessed or consumed with Christ if we're going to live a Christian life.

In fact, in each of the four chapters, the focus is on some aspect of our relationship with Christ:

Chapter 1 it's living for Christ.

Chapter 2 it's thinking like Christ.

Chapter 3 it's pursuing knowing Christ.

Chapter 4 it's relying on Christ.

Together it portrays what Christian experience ought to be. We should be full of joy as we focus on and follow Jesus the Christ.

The key verse.Those dozen

words will change your life if you believe them and live them out. And that's the Christian life, not just the spiritual life.

Not just a moral life, but a life full of Christ, a Christian life.

So how important is Christ to me? How much do I value in my daily relationship with him? I have said that one of the critical things was to think or to consider our attitudes and mindset are addressed in this letter as if our thoughts and attitudes are a critical part of living as Christians. I think it's one of the most important lessons of the Philippians that Christian experience requires. Christian thinking. I just want to. Look a little deeper into that.

Christian experience requires Christian thinking.

So go back a couple of months, you know how much a commercial this year during the Super Bowl cost. Any guesses? So why do you think giant corporations spend 7 figures for 30 seconds of airtime during the Super

Bowl? Why would they do that? Do you think it's because they're just underwriting the game for us? It's an expensive proposition to put on Super Sunday, and so the NFL can't write the whole check for them for us. And so out of the goodness of their hearts, big businesses step up to help fund the game so we can enjoy the afternoon. You think that's what's going on? No.

If that were really the case, then we wouldn't have any commercial breaks

at the end of the game. There would just be a list of donors. Or commercials would be pretty straightforward. Hey, when you want a beer, we got some Coors. Now back to the game. That's all it would be.

Instead, what you see is creative, colorful, seductive, offbeat, funny ads for products and services repeated numerous times again and again throughout the afternoon at 8,000,000 bucks a pop.

Why? Well, because they know. That if they can get into your head. They can

influence your choices. If they can alter your thinking, they can shape your experience. They actually believe the insight that the Bible has taught all along, that your mind matters and is a key to the experience in your life.

A number of terms are used by Paul to reference our thinking 10 times. Paul uses the word, a special word. It means just to think about, just to think about. 6 times. He uses a word which means to count or to consider something, to evaluate and consider it as true. He uses still another word which means to suppose. There's another word that he uses which means to assume, and still another to mull over. In other words, the letter is concerned about our thinking, our minds, our perceptions, what we assume and see is true. And why? Why? Why is that all the way through this letter?

II. A DEEPER LOOK

The Conviction Taught!

Christian experience requires Christian thinking.

Too often, churches go to extremes on one end of the spectrum. Is this emotionalism? Feelings for feelings sake? My feelings tell me what's true and right, and believe me, they don't. Not always. I know because I talk to people all the time. In fact, I fight this myself. You know, if I feel close to God, I must be no. No. No, not at all. If I feel he doesn't care or has abandoned me, it must be so, no? No.

Feelings are feelings. They may or may not be right, and they certainly aren't the measure of true Christian experience. But hear me again. True Christian experience should result in feelings. You should feel something.

See the tension? On the other end of the spectrum is this what I would call the heady church? People who think wrongly that we just need to learn more about the Bible and theology. And of course we do. But it isn't just knowing the facts of the Bible or theology that will change us. It's learning to think like Jesus thought, to adopt his perspective, his priorities, his values, his convictions, his attitudes. And that will allow us to experience all that God has for us in the Christian life.

The letter to the Philippians is intended to tamper with our heads. And with our thinking and to shape our perceptions and our experience. I think one of the reasons why our Christian experience is often shallow is because our Christian thinking is often thin and muddy. The lack of real Christian thinking is behind a mass of young people.

Today, deconstructing, that's what they call it, deconstructing their faith. That's just a fancy way of saying they're exiting the church because they no longer believe the Bible.

But in Philippians, we observe attractive and compelling Christian experiences.

Because these people believed and thought and saw life and saw themselves.

Like Jesus does. So let me just probe your thinking a bit and show you what this looks like.

Again, this is just the overview. I can't wait till we get into it. Joy in adverse circumstances. Look at chapter one, verse 12. “I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel.

Drop down to verse 18. “What then? Only that in every way, whether in

pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed in that I rejoice, yes, and I will rejoice.”

Notice what has happened to me. He was under house arrest. He was facing a capital charge before Nero, and yet he saw his imprisonment as an opportunity, and the guards chained to him heard the gospel. And so he rejoices, even though he's not really certain what's going to happen to him.

He's been maligned. He's been provoked. He's been. Just think back to the prison night when he was bleeding and bruised and he's in stocks and he's praying and worshiping God. What was he thinking? Exactly.

The Experience Modeled

1.  Joy in adverse circumstances (1:12, 18)

And yet Paul experienced joy in the midst of all of it. And it seems that our experience of deep joy can occur even when things are going badly for you, even when things are uncertain or unpleasant. It depends on how you think about it. The experience includes perseverance in the face of opposition to (1:27.) “Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you, or I'm absent, I may hear of you, that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind, striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, not frightened in anything by your opponents.”

This is a clear side to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God. For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him, but also suffer for His sake engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have. So they continued to believe and live out their Christian faith despite.

The real prospect of suffering. So wait, where did they, where did they find

that strength? Where did they find that resolve? Where do we get the ability?

To not flinch spiritually when other people misunderstand us or we feel misrepresented.

2.  Perseverance in the face of opposition (1:27-30)

Maybe even we get pushed back on our faith. Persevering is not just about your will. Or your determination. It's about how you see what's happening and how you see what's coming. Christian experience requires Christian thinking.

3.  Care and concern in a me-first World. (2:3-5)

You've probably heard that you've read this do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count. There's that word that counts others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus. In other words, when everybody else. Absorbed with their own concerns in their own lives. How do you get to the point where you find the time, the energy, the ability to really care about and serve other people well, you?

You learn to think like Jesus. And thinking like Jesus means you look up to others, not down on them. It means you look out for them, not just out for yourself. So there has to be a shift in your perception of every, every person. One of the things that's really changed my life was I started to say quietly in my own mind with every single person that would step in front of me. This is

a person. For whom Christ died. This is a person for whom Christ died. You talk about a massive shift in how you see people that will do it.

4.  Passionate for for Christ despite others who aren’t (3:12-15)

That Christian experience includes being passionate for Christ despite other people who aren't.

“Not that I've already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own because Christ Jesus had made me his own. Brothers. I don't consider that I've made it my own, but one thing I do, one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind, straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the gold of the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.  Let those of us who are mature think this way. And if you think otherwise, God will reveal that to you also.”

Now, probably not everybody that's sitting here this morning. Is obsessed and passionate about Jesus. I get that. There are seasons. Some of us might not ever have responded to the gospel. Some of us responded so long ago. And now we're just kind of trying to live it out and things have gotten cold and OK.

But as we mature, we should think differently. And this isn't something that we can fake very easily. So what kinds of things must happen in a person to make him or her that passionate to know and experience more of Jesus? To be wholehearted in following Him and passionate about knowing Him? I just want

to know Him and experience my relationship with Christ better.

Well, I can tell you this. It starts not only in your heart, but in your head. Those who do are clearly thinking differently. When they pursue Christ

with all their hearts.

5.  Peace in unsettling situations (4:2-3, 6-7)

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanks -giving. Let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

So what makes a person able to rest, to be at peace, even though you know relationships are troubled or things aren't going as you'd wish or circumstances are beyond your control? I can tell you this, that the keyword in this is not prayer, but in everything by prayer, it's not Thanksgiving. The keyword there is God.

It's God. In everything by Prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. Well, it depends on what you think about God.

A couple of weeks ago on Monday night, my heart just went nuts. 160 was going back and forth. It was crazy. I'd ended up in the ER and they're like, oh wow, you're in trouble. Oh, thanks.

I have to tell you, I was really dark in my head for about an hour. I'm laying there on the gurney and I’m thinking about how great it's been because I had an issue about 15 months ago.

And I'll tell you how I got out of it. I started thinking about the faithfulness

and goodness and grace of God. And if I go, I go.

And believe me. It wasn't what I was feeling. It was what I was thinking

Peace and unsettling situations and contentment regardless of what we have,

6.  Contentment regardless of what we have (4:11-13)

4:11-13)” Not that I'm speaking of being in need, for I've learned in whatever

situation I am in. To be content. I know how to be brought low. I know how to abound, abound in every circumstance. I've learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger and abundance in need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.”

You have to ask, wow, what convictions, what kind of perspective allows a person to say, hey, it's enough?