You're listening to the Sunday Morning Sermon from Faith Bible Church in Sharpsburg, Georgia. You can find podcasts and other resources at www.faithbiblechurch.us. Well, this morning we have the privilege of hearing again from Boyd Johnson. He preached to us a while back, shared God's Word with us. I've had the privilege of knowing Boyd for a couple years now. We started seminary together at the Master's Seminary, entered orientation, and got to know each other throughout and shared a lot of classes together. So it's been a joy knowing Boyd. After seminary, Boyd and his wife Ingrid sought to plan a church in Athens, Georgia, and have since obviously moved here. And Lord willing, they are set to start Sunday morning services, regular Sunday morning services next week. So praise God for that. Hopefully, you've been praying for them already in that work as you've been made known about it. But if you haven't, please join in praying for the work there in Athens. Boyd, I know, has some cards for you to grab afterward so you can put on your refrigerator or wherever you like to as a bookmark in your Bible and just as a remembrance to pray for them in that work there. I'd like to welcome Boy Johnson up to preach God's word to us yet again. Well, it is a joy to be here with you again. I'm so glad to be in this church. I feel a special kinship with your church and with your pastors. This is where my wife and I. on our journey and planting a church in Athens took some of our initial steps. In October of 2013, that was about 16 months ago before we moved here, I flew from Los Angeles out here to Atlanta in order to make another, our second visit to Athens. And when we, when I made that trip, we had already committed to planting in Athens, but we didn't know anyone in Athens. And so when I was here and preached to you last time, I began that week-long trip with delivering the sermon here, and I asked you to pray. And at one point in the sermon, I said I was just praying for even 10 people, even 10 people to help us plant a church in Athens. And you prayed, and by the end of that week, we had 10 people. I should ask for 20. We moved to Athens several months later and landed in Athens on March 1st, almost one year ago today. And since then, we've held interest meetings in Athens to tell people about our church plant. Last August, we began meeting on Sundays to study the Word together, to lay that foundation of everything that we did. Like Robert talked about, everything that we do in church has something to do with the Word. And since then, we've grown. We baptized two people in November and two more in last Sunday. We filled up a pool, an inflatable pool in my garage. and baptize them there. It was near freezing temperatures. It was the coldest baptism I've ever done. And next Sunday, as Robert said, March 1st, one year after we landed, we will, for the first time, launch public services, Sunday morning services, and receive into membership our first membership class of Treasuring Christ Church. We call it Treasuring Christ Church because just like Paul saw in Athens, Greece, he said when he saw Athens, Greece, it was a city full of idols. And Athens, Georgia, like Greece, is a city full of idols. And in a city full of idols, we want to be very clear what we treasure and who we worship. And so, Treasuring Christ Church. A couple of your students who now attend the University of Georgia are now part of our church. Some of you receive our prayer email updates and have been praying for us. Those of you who do know that we've had a hard time finding space in Athens, a space to rent that's both affordable and available. We've asked city and county officials. They told us, no, they don't rent to churches. We've asked businesses and hotels and they wouldn't rent to us either. We'd always hoped to be close to the University of Georgia, near the campus, so that students would have every opportunity to come and visit our church. We sent out a prayer email request that people would pray for us and for a spot for us to meet, and the Lord answered that prayer in really an amazing way. Next Sunday, our launch date, The new home of treasuring Christ Church will not be just near the campus of the University of Georgia. It will be on the campus of the University of Georgia. We'll be meeting in the UGA Hotel and Conference Center, which is just right across the street from the basketball arena, right next to some dorms, really in the heart of campus. I'm thankful to God for this church, for your prayers, and consider it a privilege to be here once again. There's been one verse that has been, for my wife and I, Ingrid, sort of a theme verse for us as we planted, started planting treasure in Christ's church. It's a familiar verse. It's one perhaps that you've memorized or have written down somewhere. One pastor said that it's perhaps the greatest promise in the entire Bible. It's great, he says, because it includes all the other promises. It may be the fullest of all the promises in the Bible. It's been a promise that Ingrid and I have repeatedly gone back to, to receive encouragement. I'd invite you to turn in your Bibles to Philippians 4, verse 19. Philippians 4, 19, as we study God's word together. And as you turn in this verse, we learn of God's promise of provision. Specifically, we'll see three aspects of God's promise of provision. And to set the context, I want to begin reading in verse 10 through verse 20 with an eye to verse 19. Paul is writing to the church in Philippi that he planted 10 years before, and he closes this letter with a note of gratitude for the church. He writes in Philippians 4, verse 10, I rejoiced 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'm 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. Yet, It was kind of you to share my trouble. And you Philippians yourselves know that in the beginning of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving except you only. Even in Thessalonica, you sent me help for my needs once and again. Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit. I have received full payment and more. I am well supplied, having received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God. And my God will supply every need of yours according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen. Now, like all the promises in the Bible, verse 19 has a context. Lest we pull it out of context and make it mean something we don't that doesn't mean we would do well to understand the context as Paul has set it out so that we can properly apply this rich promise to our own lives. As I said, verses 10 through 20 are Paul's, you could say, missionary thank you letter to his supporters. Paul expresses his gratitude to the Philippians, not only for their love, but also for their generous support. and their gifts that have aided Paul in his ministry. He planted this church in Acts 16. He planted his church on the second missionary journey. And during his third missionary journey, he visited it twice, once on the front end and once on the back end. This is a church that knew Paul well. They loved Paul, their first pastor. They loved Paul's God, who had become Their God. They love Paul's gospel. It should become life to them. So naturally, they were eager to aid Paul and spreading to the gospel to those who hadn't heard it. There's just one problem. They were poor. They were poor. They had given to Paul more than once, but for a time, verse 10 says, they lacked the opportunity to share in his ministry through their giving. Why they lacked the opportunity, we don't know. Perhaps they couldn't find Paul in order to give him a gift, or perhaps it had just become too difficult for them to give. We aren't told specifically, but what we do know is that they were poor. And we know this because of what Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians. Turn with me over to 2 Corinthians chapter 8. In 2 Corinthians chapter 8, Paul writes this letter only a few years after planting the church in Philippi. And here he writes to the church of Corinth to stir them up to generous giving. And by way of motivation and example, he references the churches of Macedonia, of which Philippi was one of those churches. And we read in second Corinthians chapter eight, beginning in verse one, we want you to know brothers about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia. For in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part for they gave according to their means and I can testify and beyond their means of their own accord begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the Saints and this not as we expected but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us. So mark this in verse two, he says, they were experiencing these churches in Macedonia of which the one in Philippi was one of them. They were experiencing extreme poverty and the grace of God came down. while they were experiencing extreme poverty and affliction. And when the grace of God came down, their joy went up and their giving went out to assist the relief of the saints, specifically in Jerusalem. And then in chapter nine, Paul tells the church in Corinth to make ready the generous gift that they had promised earlier. And he concludes his message on giving like this, chapter 9, verse 6. The point is this, whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. And whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly. or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that, having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. As it is written, He has distributed freely, He has given to the poor, His righteousness endures forever. He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God. For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints, but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God. By their approval of this service, they will glorify God because of your submission flowing from your confession of the gospel of Christ and the generosity of your contribution for them and for all others while they long for you and pray for you because of the surpassing grace of God upon you. Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift. So in verse 13, Paul attributes the grace of giving to their confession of the gospel of Christ. Now, verse eight in chapter nine, which was our meditation verse today, is another way of saying Philippians 419 verse eight says, and God is able to make all grace abound to you so that having all sufficiency and all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. And the context is the grace of giving. And Philippians 419 says, And my God will supply every need of yours according to the riches and glory in Christ Jesus. And the context there is Paul giving thanks for the grace of generosity in the Philippian church. They mean essentially the same thing. And he stirs up the Corinthian church. by the example of the church in Philippi who excelled at giving, excelled at the grace of giving despite their poverty, despite their affliction in response to their confession of the gospel. Now go back to Philippians 4. Now we see the context is that this Macedonian church, the church of Philippi gave to Paul out of their poverty. And Paul encourages them by writing, verse 19, that God will give to them out of his storehouse of riches. They caved to Paul and became poorer. Yet God in his riches will be sure to supply their lack. Which is what Paul said in 2 Corinthians 9, whoever sows bountifully, that's the church at Philippi, will also reap bountifully. Now the promise of verse 19 is so great, every phrase needs to be savored. And so once again, we see three aspects of God's promise of provision. We see first the scope of provision, the scope of provision. This promise is lavish in its range. He says, and my God will supply every need of yours. This promise is open-ended. It has no limitations. Every need will be supplied by God. For the Philippians, imagine you were there. Surely, there would be a temptation to worry in giving a gift to Paul. They had little, and they gave generously. Now, how are they gonna meet their own needs? They're extremely impoverished. How will they meet their own needs? And Paul says, in effect, in verse 19, you won't have to. You won't have to. God will fill the gap with everything you need. That phrase, will supply, comes from the Greek word pleureo. It means to make full. It's like a ship's sail. that gets full of wind when on the sea or the or the smell of fresh baked cookies floating around in a house. It means the cause to abound. It means to supply liberally. This is just a promise that is gushing. It's like the rain. Paul uses the same verb in verse 18. Look up there. He says, I receive full payment and more. I am well supplied. Same word. I am well supplied having received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent. So Paul is saying. You have amply supplied my ministry through your giving. And now into that void that you now have in your bank accounts. Into that void has now been left from you supplying my needs, God will pour into and amply supply your needs as well. This is a great encouragement to us. We can be free. We can be free. To give ourselves fully to the work that the Lord has given to us. All that is required he has laid up for you. to do what God has required you to do. Surely the principle isn't just of money. As we pour out our lives and sacrifice to Him, serving one another, surely there comes with that a poverty of time, a deficit of energy, a depletion of our resources, sometimes even a poverty of health. You know, if you serve in that children's ministry, you're gonna get sick. You're gonna get sick. So what, don't do it? No. Don't you trust that God will supply your needs? It's not that Christians never have needs. Paul just wrote in verse 12, he said he had needs. He said in verse 12, that he faced hunger. He faced need. So yes, we have needs. Listen, God supplies those needs and all that he's called you to do. And you know, there are needs that we have that we don't even recognize. I read a story of Harry Ironside. He's a a fairly famous evangelist and pastor and theologian of the early 1900s. The story goes that on one occasion, he went to preach for two weeks in Fresno, California on a crusade of kind. And while he's there, he ran out of money and had no funds even to eat. In fact, he had to check out of his hotel room because he couldn't pay the bill. And he began to feel bitterness and to have a complaining spirit And he thought of Philippians 4.19. And his spirit complained. If Philippians 4.19 is true, why then doesn't God meet my needs? It seemed to him that God had made a promise. And that God was no longer keeping his word. We've been there. During dark days, we've been there, wondering where is God, wondering whether we could trust in his promises. We've all been there. That night, as he settled down under a tree on the lawn of the courthouse in Fresno, he began to pray. And he realized, in praying, that he had a complaining spirit, and also that he had grown careless in his praying, so that it had become rote, routine, check the box. The next day, as his time in Fresno went on, old friends found him and provided for his needs, and there was even a church that took up an offering and helped meet some of his needs so that he could return home. But before he returned home, he received a letter from his father while he was in Fresno. And his father quoted Philippians 4.19. His father wrote, he has promised to supply all our need. And then his father wrote, someday he may see that I have need of a starving. If he does. He will supply that. Ironside would later remark, oh, how real it all seemed, then I saw that God had been putting me through that test in order to bring me closer to himself and to bring me face to face. With things that I have been neglecting. This story illustrates, if nothing else, that we often make poor judges of what we need. Harry Ironside needed a spell of homelessness. He needed a spell of lack of food. And God knew he needed that. Harry didn't know he needed that, but God knew he needed that. And so God brought that to him because God knows best what he needed. And you know, God knows your needs. He knows your needs. If we were to catalog all the needs in this room, how many books would we fill? God knows every need of yours. God knows needs that you don't even know you need. God knows the needs you will have before this day is done. Will you trust Him with that? Will you trust Him to supply your needs? I love the scope of the promise. God will supply every need of yours. A second aspect of God's promise of provision is the certainty of the promise. The certainty of the promise. Paul says, my God will supply. Paul is confident in asserting this promise. There's no cause for doubt here. No hesitation in making this promise. No qualification. This is a hope that is certain. Who do we have to put our hope in like God? The reason Paul is so confident in this promise is that he knows the one who will fulfill it. He says, my God. My God. Do you know God that way? Do you know God is yours? You know, God will be either for you, your father, or he will be your judge. Have you met him? You can. He freely offers himself to you. He did so by making a way. By sending a son to the cross. Killing his son on the cross. So that you could have the righteousness that you don't have. and that you wouldn't have to pay the sin penalty that you cannot pay. He made a way, and simply by trusting in Jesus Christ, dying on the cross for your sins, repenting of your sins, you can have everlasting life with the Father. And He can be for you. Before you walk out that door today, He can be for you today, your God. And you can say with Paul, and so many in this room, my God. Paul knows from his scriptures and he knows from his experience that my God, his God, will keep his promises. In those days, Paul's scriptures, of course, were the Old Testament. The New Testament wasn't completed yet. And Paul was an expert in the Old Testament. He knew it well. He surely had large amounts of it memorized. He knew of how God promised to Abraham and Sarah that they would have a son in their own age. And he knew how God had made good on that promise. He knew of how God provided manna and clothes and shoes that would not wear out. to the Israelites as they wandered around in the wilderness, and he knew how God had made good on that promise. He knew of how God promised David that he would be king over Israel, despite his sin, and how God made good on that promise, and on and on and on. Perhaps Paul even thought of Psalm 34, verse 8, Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack. The young lions suffer want and hunger, but those who seek the Lord lack. No good thing. Has it ever occurred to you that what you don't have, you don't have because it wouldn't be good for you. As you've compared yourself to someone else, or the mommy blogs, or you're the person sitting next to you, and you see things that they have and you don't have, has it occurred to you that if you had them, it wouldn't be good for you. Those who seek the Lord lack no good thing. Paul used the Old Testament in God's record of keeping his promises to increase his hope. And so there's a reason for reading through the Old Testament How you doing on your reading plan? How's Leviticus going for you? There's a reason to read the Old Testament. Paul writes in Romans 15 verse four, he says, for whatever was written in former days, that's the Old Testament, was written for instruction that through endurance and through the encouragement of the scriptures, we might have hope. When you read through the Old Testament, Your target, your goal, is to amass hope. Amass hope to carry on so that you have endurance in hard times. Paul had a confidence in his scriptures. He had a confidence that God would fulfill this promise of chapter four, verse 19, because of the scriptures. He also had a confidence from his experiences. Paul knew from his own experience with God that he keeps his promises. The catalog of hardships that Paul suffered is extensive. In 2 Corinthians chapter 11 he says, verse 24, five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. A day and a night I was drifted at sea on frequent journeys in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger from the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers, and toil and hardship through many a sleepless night, and hunger and thirst, often without food and cold and exposure. And apart from all other things, there's the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. So Paul knew what it meant to have needs, didn't he? He had needs for physical protection, he had needs of food and drink, he had needs for healing, he had needs for companionship. But then he goes on. In chapter 12, verse seven, he says this. So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations. He just said that he had received revelations straight from God. A thorn was given 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 upon me for the sake of Christ. Then I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions and calamities. For when I am weak. Then I am strong. Oh, what a blessing it is to be weak and to have needs. Don't begrudge your weakness. In the weakness of Paul, in the needs of Paul, the power of Christ was clearly seen. When everything crumbles around you, And yet, like Paul, you are content and there is a deep rooted joy. It's not a plasticky smile, but something deeper, a joy, even when there's no smile on your face. What other explanation is there except Christ? Paul knew from his experiences that God would supply everything he needed, even when everything was crumbling all around him. Sometimes what Paul needed was hunger. Sometimes he needed thirst. Sometimes the things we need from the Lord are hardships, bitter providences, the discipline of the Lord. But in those needs for the Christian, God will supply all of them. God will supply them. You always have what you need or will have what you need to do what God has called you to do. No exceptions. He'll provide. And if He doesn't provide, it's because you didn't need it. Just by way of personal testimony that I hope to encourage you with, and I hope you hear that in that kind of spirit, Ingrid and I have experienced an abundance of a supply of the Lord. over the last year and a half as we've sought to plant treasure in Christ Church. We've seen God supply our needs over and over again. And though they've been difficult, I would do it all over again. There isn't time enough to give you all the details, but I just give you some highlights. As we were preparing to leave California, and beginning making our way to Athens about a year ago. In fact, on the day that we were vacating our apartment to leave California and begin making our way over here, my son, who was about 16 months at the time, landed in the emergency room at about midnight. After having experienced 11 days of an extreme stomach illness, My daughter, who is almost three, was experiencing the same stomach illness, but Elias, because he was so young, I think, was experiencing it on a scale that she wasn't. My wife is a nurse. She was a nurse. And so she has lots of experience. And she knew that when he threw up about midnight, on the day we were supposed to leave and vacate our apartment, And his eyes started to roll back into his head. And he was lethargic. And if you lifted up his hand, it would fall straight down. She knew this was serious. And so we had to go to the ER. We almost called the ambulance, but he perked up just a little bit in order for us to go to the ER. It got so bad. that a few days later, after we got released, a doctor declared him unable to recover on his own and admitted him to the hospital. When we put him in the hospital, he looked like a third world child. His eyes were sunken to his head. His face was gaunt. He looks sick. I can barely look at the pictures even today. We actually wanted to be admitted to the hospital. It was so bad because we knew we couldn't care for him. Meanwhile, our lease was up. We had nowhere to go. You can't go stay with, we had friends, but you can't go stay with friends with this kind of illness. Even Ingrid and I were feeling some sort of effect of something. And a doctor offered us his cabin outside of L.A. to stay in. God supplying our needs. We stayed there some days, but ultimately it was too far to get down to the hospital. So we began staying in hotels. We were effectively homeless. Elias stayed in the hospital for four days. They ran every test that they could think of from one of the best health systems in Los Angeles, if not the country. There were specialist after specialist who came in. And at the end of it all, all they could say is it's a mystery. We have no idea what caused your son's illness. We don't know how he got ill. We had sold my wife's car and a number of our belongings in order to pay for the move and initial living expenses once we got out here. By the time we got through that ordeal and made it out here, most of those funds were gone. We came to Athens really with those other people that we knew, but no support network in place. And I hadn't anticipated working bivocationally, but God supplied that need as well. He allowed me to keep the same job that I had in California, except do it out here at the Master's College. And so again, God supplying our need for the funding that he knew we would need, not only to pay for our own expenses, but also the church's startup expenses. One time in the last several months, our funds got so low, and I haven't told this story publicly before, until this morning, our funds got so low that I told Ingrid, if the Lord doesn't provide in the next four days, we'll run out of money and we can't pay our bills. And if we run out of money and can't pay your bills, we have to be done. We have to close up. We were willing to put everything we had at risk, but we couldn't put what we didn't have at risk and to go into a debt situation that we couldn't get out of. It got so close, I began drafting a letter, which was never sent, but I began drafting a letter to supporters just in case we had to close. The first line of that letter is, we knew we were trying the impossible to plant in Athens. And just in time, just in time, we received the largest gift in our church's history. And it was that gift that kept us open. And we wouldn't be here today without it. And then there was my wife's help. Thinking back here to the last time I was here in October 2013, a couple days after I preached here. Again, I was here on a journey to investigate Athens. My wife called me from LA. She had gone to see a couple of doctors because she was experiencing a number of health issues. And while I was here, she called me to tell me she received tests back and that she had the markers for an autoimmune disease. Since then, she's been to Emory and other doctors. They've run tests and they can't figure out what it is. She's doing fine, but presumably she still has the markers. And then beyond health and financial issues, we've experienced rejection in Athens, harassing phone calls and emails. Look, if you plan to plant a church, You wouldn't do it the way we did it. Long before we moved to Athens, I had a plan. I'm a planner. I had plan A vetted by my church planning professor who's planted 18 churches. We had a plan. We had hoped to move to Athens with full health. We had hoped to move to Athens with full energy and rest, with full financial support, with a full team that moved with us and was ready to go when we got here. In other words, we'd hoped to plant in strength. But God's providence has been very different. His plan for us was to plant in weakness. Why? So that His power would be clearly seen. And that when we launch next Sunday, this church will not have been planted in the strength of void or the strength of circumstances, but in weakness and in the power of Christ. Through it all, though we've had some needs, God has supplied us with all that we truly need. And we can say with David, the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. We've had no lack. The Lord will supply your needs too in your plans and his plans for you. Thirdly, finally, God's promise of provision here is a third aspect of God's promise of provision is the fullness of the promise, the fullness of the promise. His promise doesn't just cover the breadth of needs, it's also grounded in an unfathomable depth, the rich storehouse of Christ Jesus. He says, and my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Now, just two quick observations. Very simple. First, it says, according to his riches, not out of his riches. If you asked a rich man. To help you. in your time of need of say, let's say you had a need of $20,000 and he gave you $10. That would be out of his riches. But if he supplied all your need, all 20,000, that would be according to his riches. God's supply is commensurate with the riches that he possesses. And second, whatever these riches in glory in Christ Jesus are, the supply is inexhaustible. The value incalculable in its infinitude and the glory indescribable. And we know that because Christ's sufficiency is inexhaustible, Christ's valuable, incalculable in his infinite value and Christ's glory is indescribable. And he says that his supply comes. According to his riches in glory. In Christ. Jesus. So this promise is very full. It's full enough for any need in this room. So brothers and sisters, let us consider the freedom we have to serve and give our lives to one another. You are free without the need to hold back. Love moves toward need, and God is the God who is able to take five loaves and two fish and abound in a feast for thousands. He can take your five loaves, he can take your two fish, and more than the supply, what you need. And as you give and serve one another according to your means not according to anyone else's according to your means within this body you need not fear that God will not supply your needs because my God will supply every need of yours according his riches in glory in Christ Jesus father Oh, how great the needs are that we have. And oh, how great the supply. You are an overflowing fountain that provides us with all that we need for a life of godliness. So now we're trusting you. You gave your promise and we're trusting you to keep your promise. And we know from scripture, we know from testimony that you in fact keep all your promises. You set a rainbow in the sky to remind us that you keep your promises and kept your promise. You have all of them. Father, thank you for the greatest promise ever given, Jesus Christ dying on the cross for us to give us our greatest need, the need for salvation and to know you, to have our sin penalty paid for and to have the righteousness that we don't have and given to us so that one day we can see you face to face. Thank you for all these things. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.